#but just like sonic there was no reason to believe its green hill

[sonknuxadow]

i KNEW sonic prime was wrong about sonic (and everyone else) living in green hill btw. at this point im taking "sonic prime is set in the game universe" as "all sonic media is equally canon and set in the same multiverse but theyre different dimensions so the games and sonic prime are still separate" until proven otherwise. they kind of seemed to be hinting towards this idea at the end anyway

[big-cheesy-productions]

SXSG - RADICAL HIGHWAY Analysis

Okay, I absolutely love all of the "Black Doom just really likes Radical Highway" jokes, because same, bud.

But, like, I'm actually obsessed with the symbolism of it and its inclusion.

It makes sense for the game to keep coming back to this level for a number of reasons. It was Shadow the Hedgehog's first level in his first game. Of course it would be a central callback in the game, just like Green Hill Zone appears again and again for Sonic, and celebration of his first appearance. This is the nostalgia and callback game after all (and it does it so well). But the way Radical Highway is included and used in SXSG is actually so brilliant.

Okay, bear with me while I talk about Radical Highway as a level and its symbolism originally in Sonic Adventure 2 (My favorite game ever of all time) to set the scene.

Radical Highway is the second Dark level in the game, and the first Shadow level, and the way this level perfect sets up Shadow as a character and how he compares to Sonic is *chef's kiss*.

Sonic's first level is the famous City Escape. City Escape takes place on the San Francisco-inspired streets of Central City. Sonic is on the streets, running past houses and cars, through parks and neighborhoods. It feels grounded (literally and figuratively). Sonic is among the people. There's a small G.U.N. presence, as they are trying to capture Sonic, but it's a pretty peaceful, sunny day otherwise. Perfect introduction for our boy, Sonic.

In stark contrast, Radical Highway is the complete opposite of City Escape in every way. While City Escape was on the streets of Central City, Radical Highway is above it. There's no cute townhouses, no cars going about their day. It's on high, Golden Gate Bridge-inspired streets, in the dead of night. While City Escape had a small G.U.N. presence, Radical Highway has fighter jets dropping bombs on you as you sprint through the streets and there are G.U.N. robots EVERYWHERE. Even the music is the opposite of City Escape, which is upbeat and campy, with famous lyrics we all know and love. Radical Highway’s music is purely instrumental and has a darker tone, and a more serious hint of urgency (while still being a banger of course). 

While City Escape serves to set up our beloved blue leading man as the carefree speedster who goes where the impulse takes him, Radical Highway sets up everything for Shadow. Assuming you play the Hero Story first, you really don’t know much about Shadow, other than he serves as a rival for Sonic. He only has a few scenes where he crosses paths with Sonic, and in all put the last one, he is always positioned above Sonic, until their final confrontation where they are on even ground, literally and figuratively, because Shadow sees Sonic as an equal in the end, whereas before, he saw Sonic, and everyone else in the world, as beneath him. Hence, the brilliant symbolism of Radical Highway being above everything. He literally starts the level at the highest point on the bridge while looking down at the G.U.N. forces and calls them “pathetic.” (This is where that all began.)

He’s above it all, he’s disconnected, he believes himself superior, and in the cutscene before this level we learn about Maria, and her death, for the first time. We see a flashback to that canon event and when we come back to the present, Shadow promises her revenge, and we learn Shadow’s goals aren’t what they initially seemed when Eggman released him.

It is not until the Final Story that we learn what is going on: Shadow was not originally made as a weapon, but Professor Gerald modified him after the ARK incident and Maria’s death, including modifying his memories. The Shadow we see in Radical Highway is not really Shadow. It’s Gerald, in his insanity and grief, in his righteousness and fury. The promise for revenge is Gerald’s, not Shadow’s.

Later games have Shadow rebuild his memories and sense of self in the wake of all of the meddling from certain Robotniks. Shadow the Hedgehog ‘05 and Sonic ‘06 leave us with a Shadow who is still devastated by his losses, but his mind and convictions are his own, and a Shadow who remembers Maria’s true, unadulterated wish (2010s Sonic games go on to forget all of this, but we’re not talking about that right now). He might not know exactly where his place in the world is, but he knows who he is and what he fights for.

Okay, now where am I going with all of this with SXSG? Why does Black Doom keep bringing Shadow back to Radical Highway, from a storytelling perspective?

Black Doom is manipulative. It’s his whole schtick. Shadow ‘05 constantly has Black Doom trying to use the ARK incident to bring Shadow over to his side and serve him. He is trying to use Shadow’s traumatic memories to get Shadow to remember his hatred for humanity, but good/True Story playthrough Shadow recovers his true memories and remains true to his convictions (God, that game would be so good if it was good). Black Doom’s manipulation doesn’t work and Shadow defeats him. 

Now, in SXSG, Black Doom is back. He knows he can’t use the same tactics as last time. Shadow has his memories. There is nothing that could convince Shadow to willingly join Black Doom. Shadow never flinched when Mephiles was trying to manipulate him in Sonic ‘06. So what does Black Doom do? Memory manipulation is still his thing, so he decides to drag Shadow to Radical Highway, to this moment in time instead, because this moment represents everything that went wrong.

In this moment in time, Maria is dead, Gerald is dead, Shadow’s mind is not his own, he has initiated Gerald’s plan to destroy the world, and the promise he made to Maria is corrupted. And now Black Doom is here too, further warping this memory. There’s definitely a theme of autonomy in many of Shadow’s stories: He was made as a cure for Maria, Gerald modified his mind, Eggman did too, and Black Doom tries to enforce a claim on him. 

Black Doom is trying to psych Shadow out, because he knows he can’t claim him through pure force. There’s definitely a theme of autonomy in many of Shadow’s stories: He was made as a cure for Maria, Gerald modified his mind, Eggman did too, and Black Doom tries to enforce a claim on him. And he’s using this memory of Radical Highway to push this, to drag him back to his past he’s trying to move on from, to say “you are just a weapon. You are just a tool, to be used and modified. You were never anything more.”

But then, Maria and Gerald are there, saying “you are so much more.” Gerald is there calling him “son,” saying he’s proud of him, and asking him to live for himself. Maria is there saying “you are more than your anger, more than your past, more than what you’re made of.”

And all of this is represented by Radical Highway.

I fucking love Radical Highway.

[project-changeling-zero]

[ s**cide warning ] - a big problem i have with sonic prime s3 ( amongst several other ones i have ).

.

i've talked about this at length ( more or less ) with a friend of mine and this bothered both of us, so i wanted to see if anyone else had this issue.

according to one scene in s3, Sonic is canonically suicidal. not self-sacrificial ( which can mean the same thing, but often doesn't ), but suicidal.

for comparisons sake, let's talk about Leonardo from ROTTMNT, who was the example of self-sacrificial.

Leonardo and Sonic are in a similar boat. they made a mistake ( though, i firmly believe Sonic's was less of a mistake and more of an unfortunate circumstance ), and they try to fix it throughout the story.

while i'm not going to debate Sonic's characterization here ( cuz i think it's utter dogshit and is for an entirely different post ), i will talk about the mindsets that make these two different.

Leonardo didn't want to die here. he was fine with doing so, but only because he believed that would keep his family safe. if he did want to die, we wouldn't see Leo put so much thought into his actions.

we see that he isn't looking for the opportunity to die. throughout the entire movie, he's self-destructive because he knows that, at least to some extent, the plan going wrong was his fault. he knows ( or believes, depending on how you view the movie ) that Raph sacrificing himself only happened because Leo didn't listen.

so, Leonardo isn't suicidal, but self-sacrificial. because he just wants his family back.

now, let's move back to Sonic.

( this is not the scene where he's suicidal, obviously )

when Sonic goes to confront Nine on his own, Nine says at some point:

"you want to save everyone. friends, foes, total strangers. you say it's because you're a hero and that's what heroes do, but deep down... after what you did, destroying your own home, it's the only way you can ever live with yourself. even if that means you won't live at all."

this is Sonic's self-destructive behavior.

rather than focusing on one goal, Sonic focuses on all of them ( to varying degrees, cuz the writer's don't know what they're doing ) at expense of his own. yes, he wants Green Hill to come back, but it's more of for his friends ( Shadow included ) than for himself.

at first, he misses Green Hill. he really wants to go home. but by s3, it's more or less him just wanting Green Hill to exist again. it's like he no longer cares if he's in the picture.

and considering how Sonic was the key to everything ( due to his Prism energy ), he'd have to become a sacrifice at some point, but this confrontation is different.

for one thing, Sonic is alone.

he tries to push his friends away before talking to Nine.

he doesn't deny that he can't live with himself if he doesn't try to save everyone.

the only reason Sonic stopped was because his friends intervened.

of course, Sonic might not show all the symptoms of a suicidal person ( unless ofc, you're looking into this as deep as i am ), but that's not because he's no longer suicidal. that's not how it works. it's because right after the intervention, it's never brought up again. it's just bad writing and it's disrespectful.

but as i see Sonic as someone who's suicidal, according to the suicide prevention resource center, the symptoms are:

feeling unbearable pain

Nine's comment on how it's the "only way he can live with himself" can be seen as Sonic feeling unbearable pain from his own guilt. this can also be related to Sonic in s2 when he's in Ghost Hill for the first time.

Sonic has been going left and right trying to help everyone else in their respective Gateways that his progress on returning home slowed. especially since he didn't know Green Hill didn't have its own Gateway, but instead was destroyed.

death, or a recent fascination with death.

his sacrifice could be seen as such. especially since this was after what Nine said.

feeling hopeless, worthless, or trapped.

throughout s3, Sonic repeatedly has doubt or hopeless about himself or the situations around him. of course, the moments are fleeting, but the amount of times he does this could lead to something a suidical person would say or do.

feeling guilt, shame, or anger.

aside from his guilt, Sonic has expressed shame ( it doesn't help Shadow kept beating it into him that it was his fault every 2 seconds ) in s2-s3, and anger was prominent within s3. it was towards Nine, mostly, but it felt almost unnatural or uncharacteristic anger.

feeling like a burden to others.

Sonic had tried to isolate himself from everyone else more than once, emotionally or physically, and only stopped once his friends made it clear they weren't leaving.

changes in behavior or mood that are relevant to Sonic specifically:

recent attempt ( again, sacrifice )

withdrawing from family, friends, or community ( his repeated attempts to do things alone // isolating himself due to his guilt )

losing interest in personal appearance or hygiene ( more or less out of Sonic's control, but we've only seen him take even a little bit care of himself when he was on Dread's ship )

a recent episode of depression, emotional distress, and // or anxiety ( repeated emotional distress, having to be pulled out of the cave, shaking or fidgeting hands, etc. )

changes in eating // sleeping patterns ( again, not totally within his control, but it would affect one's mental state regardless )

becoming violent or being a victim of violence ( ...*COUGHS* sha- *COUGHS* ni- *COUGHS* )

expressing rage ( Sonic's borderline threats about Nine )

recklessness ( ... )

again, because this is never brought up after, i wouldn't be surprised if people didn't think too much into this scene beyond "oh, Nine's evil and mean".

purely from a writer's perspective, i don't think Sonic Prime is a good show. it's what i consider a "junk food show". something to laugh at for its quality. but i don't consider it a good show.

so, i'm not surprised that Sonic's suicidal behavior or the talk about Sonic's mindset isn't brought up again, but it is still disappointing and offensive to those who struggled or continue to struggle with suicidal ideation or acts.

this is probably the only official Sonic media that has a suicidal Sonic, and they don't even treat it with respect. because of course they don't. what does it matter? Sonic's a dumb little guy anyway!

anyway, this is just my long way of saying that i see Sonic as a suicidal hero, not a self-sacrificial one ( or not only a self-sacrificial one ), and why Sonic Prime pisses me off for this reason.

it's fine to have a suicidal hero character. it brings a lot of things up for discussion.

but it's not okay to use it as a way to make your audience sad for a few minutes, then pull the rug from beneath them.

[cheetahsprints]

Prompt #10: Ghost

Inspired by this post

• Sonadow Prompt Fills •

• Ambience Music •

Content Warning: Implied Major Character Death (of a sort)

*

Green Hill is restored, but Shadow feels like the luscious greenery all around and clear blue skies above are mocking him. He skates from one end to the other day to day without aim. He does what he can to watch over the island, the planet, its life. He promised.

He promised Sonic he would take care of them.

Time blends into a shapeless, colorless blur, empty and sullen. The days turn to weeks that lack a certain spirit. They no longer experience intense, fiery rivalry between a remarkable pair of hedgehogs. Sonic’s friends try to go on to the best of their ability. Tails hasn’t given up, not entirely, but Shadow can see that it’s wearing him down. He practically has to bully the young fox into eating and sleeping some days.

Shadow should tell them that he’s still… seeing him.

He shouldn’t burden them.

They would just think he is insane.

Shadow uses Chaos Control each night to secretly enter the locked up obscured structure where the Paradox Prism is contained. He has to be near it. The night that he found out, he told Sonic’s friends… but for some reason it hadn’t worked for them. Though they didn’t express it in so many words, he could tell they believed he was just dreaming.

Maybe he is deluding himself, maybe has cracked.

It doesn’t stop him.

He rolls into a tight ball and clears his mind. The Prism energy seems to prickle through his quills. It took him a while to actually calm himself enough to sleep after the first time, where he had been unusually exhausted and had practically passed out. He exercises extensively, then drinks relaxing tea before evening. He avoids caffeine and sugar, and he meditates whenever he gets the chance.

The void materializes before him, and he rockets toward Sonic’s usual spot. Sonic immediately perks and smiles when he notices Shadow’s arrival.

“Shadow!”

The enthusiastic cry of his name is pleasing for his ears.

If Shadow doesn’t examine him too closely, Sonic looks completely solid. He isn’t a dream, he isn’t a ghost. He’s real, and Shadow can definitely still smell a mix of coconut and sweat on him. He would be able to hear his heartbeat and feel his breath, if he tried.

Shadow lands next to him at a reasonable distance. He can’t risk brushing against him… because he has an aversion, he tells himself, per usual. No other reason. Nevermind that touching Sonic recently became easier… before the disaster found its costly conclusion.

“Sonic.”

“How is everyone?”

“Well enough. I made sure Tails took a break.”

“Good… good.” Sonic taps his foot. “Um… so what have you been up to? Besides keeping an eye on the team.”

“Your team,” Shadow points out. “I… just run around, I guess, or brood, as you’d call it.”

Sonic scoffs and wags a disapproving finger at him. “Mister Diligence. Workaholic. Don’t you have any hobbies? I know you like music. Make sure to jam to your favorite tunes. Wait, I know! You should try gardening. You could grow your own veggies or flowers and bring me some - uh, forget that last part. Hey, you’ve been eating plenty of chili dogs for me, right?”

“When I can tolerate them,” Shadow admits.

“I’ll take it!” After a moment of silence, Sonic says in a low, gentle tone, “Thanks.”

Shadow briefly pushes his black and red quills back. “Yeah. You’re welcome.”

“Not just for… but for visiting me as well.”

Dread sinks into his stomach as Sonic darts forward and tries to hug him. He slips through Shadow, and Shadow shivers. It doesn’t feel like anything, and that’s what makes his fur stand on end. Sonic gives an awkward chuckle.

“Sonic…”

“I - man - I forgot.”

“You’re not real,” Shadow mumbles. “You’re a figment of my mind to make me feel like… I’m honoring your memory. Like I didn’t fucking fail.”

Sonic crosses his arms and frowns. Shadow hates it… he wants him to only smile… Why’d he have to ruin that? Shadow looks away. Whatever fucked up part of his brain keeps this charade going, it doesn’t allow him to manipulate Sonic to his preferences. Sonic’s pose is too reminiscent of his own tendencies.

It makes him feel even more like this specter is simply an extension of his broken mind and aching heart. It’s a twisted reflection created by his guilty subconscious to torture him.

“That’s not true. I am real. Don’t be so hard on yourself, asshole. You didn’t fail, you did your best. It’s not your fault! It was my choice. What happened, happened. You could’ve just… not bothered. Left the island or something. You’re a good friend, Shadow.”

“Friend… I’m no friend.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Sonic places a hand on his hip. “We’re pals. Buddies. Amigos. Good old regular chums. Confidants, even. Face it. After everything, you can’t deny that.”

Shadow roars, “You’re dead or worse, a ghost trapped in an eternal void, you damn self-sacrificing hedgehog! I didn’t give myself a chance to appreciate what I had, what we could’ve had, until you were gone!!!”

You’re one to talk about sacrifice, a little voice in the back of his mind reminds him.

Sonic’s ears droop, and he flinches back. Shadow balls his hands into fists, wishing he could dig his claws into his palms through the gloves. He wishes he could actually hug Sonic, or at least punch him, whether he’s actually there or not. He wishes, not for the first time, to trade places with someone he loved.

He wants to remove his inhibitors and Chaos Blast this stupid, horrible limbo until he is totally drained.

“Never too late,” Sonic whispers, looking down and scuffing his shoe on the rock. “Plus it’s not so bad here really, since I get to see you, and I have plenty of time to think about how to be a better friend to everyone when I get back.”

“But it is. It is too late. It’s too late for me to love you like I should have,” Shadow insists.

Sonic’s head jerks up and his mouth falls open, his eyes searching Shadow’s hard stare. Shadow closes his eyes as Sonic steps forward, reaching as though to rest a hand on his face.

Shadow wakes up, chilly and alone in the dark cave. The world may not have truly ended, but it feels even more like a ghost in the shadows than it had when the Prism was shattered. Shadow and Sonic were shattered in its place, in different ways, instead.

*

[smartzelda]

Okay

Sonic Prime theory time

(Because I'm going through it right now)

Specifically I want to talk about my own answer to the question "How will the show end?"

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Thoughts/Analysis under the cut

Season 2 Spoilers

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So, as I see it, there are about three possible endings.

Ending 1: Goodbyes are said. The universe is reverted back to its state before the shattering and Sonic gets his original friends back. (May also come with sonic being the only one who remembers what happened, but I can't rule out the concept of his friends remembering anything as well)

Ending 2: Sonic comes to terms with the fact that he can't bring back the original Green Hill and his old friends as they were. The shatterverse continues as is. (This most likely constitutes in a bit of a bittersweet ending where everything continues as is, but Sonic swears not to forget what things were like before)

And Ending 3: Sonic gets to have his cake and eat it too (He manages to fix ghost hill and bring his original friends back while the new shatterspaces and his new friends/all the new characters also get to stay around)

ㅤ

Originally, while being partial to option 3, I assumed option 1 would be most likely. After all, option 3 originally originated as my happy "everyone lives" idea. I liked (and still do) imagining the possibilities that would arise from the universe from Sonic Prime entering a Kingdom Hearts-like state (where either the characters can travel freely between worlds while still needing to be conscious of each shatterspace's order, or travel between them is nonexistent/extremely limited). While I liked the bittersweet nature/possibilities of option 2, I found that outcome to be more unlikely given the show's audience.

I'm not saying that shows that keep an audience of children in mind can never end bittersweetly or that it's never happened before. It's just more like I find it hard to see those involved in the show effectively rendering beloved characters as dead/gone forever and make Sonic move on while with "different versions" of said characters.

However, now I'm a bit more inclined to believe in version 3 (the "everybody lives" ending), and here's...my long winded way of saying why

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So, about where I changed my mind is when I realized that Sonic Prime...isn't a typical alternate dimensions/multiverse storyline, especially with what seems to be it's basic framework.

So, when Sonic shatters the paradox prism, all of his friends and Green Hill are shattered as well. So it stands to reason that 5 different facets of his friends became splintered between 5 different versions of green hill, right?

Wrong.

I've seen a few different claims on what's going on here (usually to explain the other versions of Sonic's friends and their personalities). One of the most prominent is that each of the Amys, Tails, Knuckles, what have you, are meant to represent different pieces of those characters (i.e. that Rusty Rose and Thorn Rose represent different parts of Amy Rose's personality), and thus each versions of a singular character make up the whole of the original one. This of course functions on the idea that there *are* five different worlds of which there five different alternatives of any given person (or at least of those caught in the original blast) and that they all (personality wise and/or objective wise) are different necessary pieces to make up the whole of said characters (should Sonic want his original friends back).

But the inconsistencies in this framework (for which most of this theory's merit hinges upon) start beginning in the very first episode of season 1 "Shattered".

After "The Shattering" Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik returns as The Chaos Council (five different versions of Robotnik from seemingly different points in a singular lifespan, who refer to each other by nicknames). Of course it would make sense if these 5 (the chaos council) all came together after conquering their respective shatterspaces, using New Yolk as a central headquarters; however, we soon learn that this is not the case. The council only begins to learn about the shatterspaces and more about the shard energy they posses later in season 1, and season 2 elaborates upon the state of (formerly) Green Hill during it's conquering (building upon what the audience can gather from Renegade and Rebel's testemony of the event). Specifically we note that the five conquered (formerly) Green Hill and built New Yolk together. Evidence of course suggests that the five came to be in the same shatterspace, even possibly at the same time. No matter how perfect it is that there are five of them (one for each shatterspace as they set out to conquer the shatterverse), they all originated in a single universe rather than being split up across five separate ones.

And speaking of there being five eggmen, why don't we move onto inconsistency two?

Outside of Eggman, there exists only three alternate versions of Sonic's friends (this includes Amy, Tails, Rouge, Knuckles, Big, and Froggy). The only alternates exist in New Yolk, Boscage Maze, and No Place. Otherwise, The Grim is devoid of all life and has a repetitive (but distinctly non Green Hill landscape), and "Ghost Hill" just contains...ideas or blueprints of Green Hill and Sonic's original friends. It's strange that the Eggmen would all originate in New Yolk while the rest are the only one of themselves in each given shatterspace, and stranger still that there would be five eggmen but only 3 of the rest, if we intend to follow the framework of this being a usual world shattered into multiverse story.

And so, there are two final inconsistencies.

The first is the idea that each of the alternates of Sonic's original friends (and Eggman) are just...pieces of the originals, that each piece represents a different goal or personality trait. I won't dig into peoples' complaints about the characterizations of the alternates in relation to the original characters, and another theory/analysis of mine (reasoning as to why each of the alternates in each shatterspace are the way that they are) is best left for another post. So for now, I hope you all settle on the fact that...the alternates aren't actually presented as separate facets of personalities or goals personified? There's no separation by "Oh this is is the impulsive Amy, and this is the loyal Amy, and this is the nature loving Amy" or "This is depressive Knuckles, and this is angry Knuckles, and this is hopeful Knuckles", or even "This Rouge who loves shiny gems more than life, and this is Rouge who gives her all to fight for her home, and this is Rouge who is a seductress" (please understand that this is just an example of what I'm talking about, not character analysis of Sonic's original pals). In fact, even after season 2's end there is still no mention (even from sonic's end) of the idea of them being pieces of his friends (and more to suggest that they are their own, whole, well rounded people). But, as I said, that's all I'll say about this until I get on that character analysis post.

The second inconsistency is Green Hill itself and (frankly) the mere *existence* of both Ghost Hill and The Grim. Like I previously mentioned, under the typical "multiverse x splintered universe/people" framework it would make sense that Green Hill would exist in each of them (especially given Sonic's fixation on it with it being his home, but again, Sonic's influence on the shatterspaces is an analysis post for another time) as well as his friends and Robotnik. Yet, there exists a shatterspace with nobody on it (and if we're going under the assumption that each version of Sonic's original friends are splintered upon each universe, needing each piece to be whole again, it would be tragic for one of those "pieces" to be dead before Sonic even arrives, wouldn't it?) and an embryonic shatterspace.

A shatterspace where no one and nothing exists, not even Green Hill. Sonic pinpoints the landmarks of Green Hill in each shatterspace (always the loop de loop and Hedgehog's pass, and sometimes Tails' lab), only to come across a shatterspace where...none of that seems to exist or ever have existed (and if so, there is no trace of it).

A shatterspace where nothing quite is yet. A shatterspace stuck in the stages of forming. A shatterspace that is...identical to Sonic's Green Hill and even contains his original friends?

Well, isn't that fascinating

It's almost as if the idea that Sonic's original friends and the new characters cannot possibly exist at the same time is a misdirection at absolute best and at worst–

Ah ah ah. We'll get back to that later. For now let's continue on.

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So, these "inconsistencies". What does the existence of them mean? Bad writing?

Well...I think not. Stories about multiverses with alternate versions of the same people or ones that depict the future outcomes of different choices are not new or hard to find examples of. The animated Spiderverse movie did it, Marvel did it, DC did it, the Invader Zim comics did it, Futurama did it. Heck, even the Archie Sonic comics did that in the 90s. The same can be said about stories that feature horrible accidents resulting in singular people split into multiples of themselves or multiple personalities, or even stories that feature physical representations of a characters motivations, emotions, personalites, or goals. There are *too* many examples to draw from for inconsistencies like this to be on accident. Heck, anyone right now could write a multiverse story about a person who shatters their world into five separate worlds and the people on them into five separate people, that each dwell in the five different worlds, and each represents a facet of the original world and the personalities/motivations of the original beings that lived on the original world, after a freak accident, to which said person may need to merge the pieces of the worlds and people to restore the original world and the original people who lived there (now that I think about it...isn't this kind of one of the plots of Yugioh Arc V😅😂 I haven't fully watched that anime, but...random thoughts, you know).

So all of these "inconsistencies" I think are conscious choices by the writers.

Conscious choices that are *meant* to make us realize that *something* isn't right or usual here.

This story does not run upon the framework one would originally assume (and one that plenty of people think it is running upon even now). That's what I believe the inconsistencies mean.

So what does this have to do with the possible ending of Sonic Prime?

ㅤ

Carry forward our theme of picking the story apart from its assumed framework and analyzing what we see rather than what we initially assume or are told.

And let us begin with the season 2 finale before we backtrack.

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So, uh

That finale, eh?🥲

I rewatched it again myself just today, and (although I did see it in my first watchthrough) it hurts to watch the buildup to it. It shows in the way Shadow distrusts Nine from the moment Sonic mentions him. It shows in Sonic and Nine's first conversation together in The Grim. It shows in the way different people try to get Sonic to stop trusting Nine, in the way Shadow tells him point blank that they likely don't want the same thing. It shows when Nine meets the other alternate versions of Tails and meets his apparition. And it comes to fruition the moment Nine finishes working on the paradox prism (save one shard).

Shadow was working towards the goal of reverting everything back as it used to be before the shattering (after all, he doesn't consider Nine and the others "real")

Nine was working towards the goal of building a home—a new home for he and Sonic to be together in the Grim. (After all, he is real, he could care less about anyone that's not Sonic, and he doesn't believe it's even possible to ressurect what he believes to be gone)

And Sonic was working towards the goal of restoring Green Hill and bringing back his friends while the shatterverse yet exists.

Yes, you heard me right.

Sure, way back in season one his goal was just to make everything "normal" again, and in a way that’s still true (it's just his definition of normal has shifted from "everything should be exactly how it was" to "my old friends and home need to exist again"), but his perspectives on the shatterspaces and the new characters are different from how they were back then.

Back in season one he'd considered them just *basically* his old friends shifted to the left or like his old friends were buried inside them. It took him a little while to call them by their own names/titles rather than referring to them by the names of his original friends. He'd believed that Thorn would come around to friendship because she was like his Amy deep inside, and that Dread would return to captaining his crew because he had Knuckles' loyalty deep inside him.

But we begin to see this shift in real time, and the proof of it all is something Sonic tells Shadow in their first conversation about Nine.

Nine is real to him. They're all real.

And if Sonic didn't think they weren't, he would not have pushed Nine to take him back to New Yolk so he could save Renegade and Rebel and the people from being killed/beaten down. If they weren't growing on him, if he didn't still want them around, he would not have admitted that he wants Nine to meet Tails (or any of his original friends)

But again, full character analysis (even that of Sonic) is best left for another post (so I don't go off on too many tangents). So, I'll make my point.

I think Shadow and Nine each represent two opposing goals/outcomes (the outcome where everything reverts back to how it was originally versus the outcome where everything continues as is and Sonic has to move on) while Sonic is stuck between them (no longer quite as willing to erase all of his new friends and their realities, despite how desperately he wishes to have his home and original friends back). And what this framework (of Sonic being stuck between two different theoretical outcomes and ideology (whether he should try to get everything back just how it was or move on and start anew, possibly even forgetting what was before)) seems to lead up to is Sonic's inevitable choice.

Our original choice of Option 1 and Option 2. Will Sonic choose to restore everything to as it was before, or will Sonic choose to keep everything as is?

And yes, some people think he's already made his choice (whether he's come to terms with the possible fact that he may have to sacrifice one for the other is irrelevant). Some people are already planning the funerals of our new characters as Sonic can't bear to choose anything over his old home and friends.

But...really. Who says he has to make that choice? Is choosing between reverting everything "back to normal" or moving on as if his friends/home are dead and gone really his only choice, or is it what the characters (and some of us by extension) have just assumed?

ㅤ

Let's go back to earlier Season 2.

While Season 1 primarily focuses on Sonic trying and failing to collect the Paradox Prism shards in hopes it might fix something, Season 2's focus (aided by Sonic now making acquaintances out of the once strangers of the shatterspaces) is primarily Sonic's race against the Chaos Council to gathering and assembling all five shards (so Sonic can restore his home and friends and thwart the council's plan to conquer the shatterverse).

But while in Season 1 Sonic's attempts to gather the shards often fail once he accidentally touches a shard,

In Season 2 Sonic's attempts fail because of the conscious choice he makes to protect his new friends over making off with the shards.

Season 2 Episode 2. "Battle in the Boscage". Sonic takes the Boscage shard in hopes of luring the Chaos Council and their eggforcers away from Thorn, Prim, and the Boscage gang, allowing their lives to be spared as he takes off with the shard. Not long after he begins running, Dr. Babble throws a tantrum, throwing around his own eggforcers as he continues to fight the Boscage gang and topple trees. Seeing that the council did not follow him, Sonic is given the choice to keep running and make it out with the prism without trouble, or to save his new friends. Upon choosing to come back for the Boscage gang, he saves them at the cost of the council stealing the Boscage shard from him.

Season 2 Episode 4. "No Way Out". Sonic and Dread (in the midst of the 3 way battle between Dread's crew, Sonic, and the Chaos Council) begin a one on one fight over the shard. Sonic, who sees Rusty Rose about to be ambushed by an eggforcer, gives up taking the shard from Dread in favor of saving her life instead.

And then again in Season 2 Episode 4 "No Way Out". The Chaos Council, who has Sonic surrounded, gives him an ultimatum. The lives of his friends, or the No Place shard.

But the other two examples mostly stand to show off to the audience Sonic's morals and that he cares about the wellbeing of his new friends (and are more subtle about it being a choice, given that in Boscage he didn't assume saving the gang would result in him losing the shard, and earlier in s2 ep4 he had technically gambled on still being able to get the shard back despite his choice). This choice is much more clear and on a grander scale. Mr. Dr. Eggman outright says "Hand over the shard, or say goodbye to your friends forever". This is not just a choice in the heat of the moment. This is "the shard, or the lives of your friends".

And this scene of "give us the ultimate power we want and we'll spare your friends" too is not an uncommon scene in media (the season finale of mlp fim s4 does come to mind here).

Except, once again, despite the numerous examples for the writing team to draw on, there is again an "inconsistency".

Because Sonic *doesn't* make a choice within the framework the council gives him. Unlike in the earlier examples, unlike in similar choices in media, the story does not go down the route of Sonic willingly and easily giving up the shard as some of his friends yell "No!"

Batten makes clear her stance that Sonic should hand the shard over for their lives, Rusty makes her stance clear that her life is expendable if it keeps the Chaos Council from taking over everything, and Nine motions at him to keep gathering the shards as in the plan, to not give it over.

And just as everyone thinks Sonic is going to give the shard over, he throws it, and he tells the council to get it themselves if they want it so bad.

Yes, in the end the council ends up with the shard again while Sonic's friends are safe, but he did not yield to the "this or that" choice. He was stuck in the middle of getting the shard (possibly necessary to save his home) or giving the shard to the council (and making his goal of restoring his original friends and home harder), and he took the middle road (a choice which seems to please even Nine).

Taking the middle road allows him more certainty that his friends (save Nine of course) will be saved and allows him to gamble with the possibility of also getting the shard back. It is a choice that gets him closer to what he wants on his own terms.

And the narrative rewards him for making this choice.

Because after choosing to protect his new friends, which are equally as real as the old ones, and choosing to take the middle path he's on rather than succumbing to the "this or that" choice he's been given, so happens season 2 episode 6 "Double Trouble" and episode 7 "Cracking Down".

Sonic is allowed to get all 3 shards (which includs the two he'd lost as a result of his choices) and save Nine, and the two travel with Shadow to ghost hill.

Keep this in mind. What could have been a season long endeavor of plan (or plans) to get the shards back from the council (even after Sonic let them go to protect his friends) became a successful escape plan in which he and Nine stole them away.

ㅤ

So, back to the season 2 finale and beyond.

Just like with Sonic's ultimatum in Season 2 Episode 4 "No Way Out", Sonic is idealogically placed between Shadow (who is distrustful of Nine and assumes Sonic is trying to revert everything to as it was before with him) and Nine (who doesn't share Shadow's goal and assumes Sonic is on board with his goal to turn The Grim into a new home for the both of them).

(Perhaps Sonic, Shadow, and Nine's problems with assuming one of the other is on the same page as them would be another good essay topic, or perhaps it would function as a small piece of the analysis topic on why Season 2 ends the way it does)

But Sonic...doesn't get to make a choice. The shard is almost finished, but it’s incomplete still, and Nine takes it with him. Shadow isn't even in the room to exert his opinion as before. The scene is well, frankly, filled with miscommunication on the same scale as Nine and Sonic's first conversation in the Grim, because they both get something different out of it.

But I want to make my view clear. Sonic is still fundamentally in the middle of the two goals I mentioned. He is *still* stuck between Shadow and Nine (the difference is just that Nine thinks Sonic shares Shadow's goals, and Shadow most likely thinks Sonic shares Shadow's goals, and Sonic just...wants everything to work out fine for everyone). And I think Sonic will eventually be raised the outright choice or ultimatum (or at the very least, these assumed outcomes will come back for him to wonder over).

In Season 3, we will most likely see major parties fighting over the paradox prism (the council, Nine, etc).

I believe it's possible that Nine (because he's more attached to Sonic possibly than he even believes, and because he'd *still* made plans with Sonic after S1, even after he had every right to feel left behind and betrayed by him) may attempt to use this power not only to transform the Grim into his home, but to bring Sonic to his side. Likewise, as with the miscommunication that began Sonic and Shadow's fight in S2 Ep1 in Ghost Hill, I think it's possible we could see a similar fallout from the s2 finale with Sonic and Shadow (because I believe Sonic will make it clear that he believes his new friends' lives can be preserved), and I can see Shadow also trying to get Sonic to take his side (because he doesn't understand what there is to be attached to).

And I think when Sonic is raised this ultimatum (save Nine and the shatterverse or save Green Hill and his original friends), I think he will make his own choice.

The idea that he even *has* to make one of those two choices is a red herring.

For what other than speculation suggests there is no middle road?

I mean, the fact that for a moment Ghost Hill becomes Green Hill, Sonic's old friends begin to exist in the shatterverse while the Chaos Council and Nine work unperturbed show us that perhaps Sonic *can* have his cake and eat it too.

ㅤ

Tl;dr: Sonic Prime isn't a typical multiverse x shattered universe story. The narrative is building up to an eventual choice Sonic will seemingly have to make between his old reality and his new reality as it pits him between Shadow and Nine's respective goals. However, the choice itself is a red herring, as I believe Sonic will make a choice on his own terms (the choice to allow his old friends and home to coexist with his new friends and their homes). I think this story can plausibly end with an "everybody lives" ending.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[skaruresonic]

The double standard gets more annoying when you realize fandom don't ACTUALLY care for canon...if it means abitrarily bringing back chars or reffing stuff

Like, fans are mad Iizuka didn't know what Choco Island from Tails Advejtures was regarding Forces dev. Ignoring that it's NOT a game made by Sonic Team, and very blatantly contradicts Tails having low self esteem and being bullied before he met Sonic (then you have other Aspect Games do dumb shit that contradicts Sonic Team stuff, along with weird rehash of Green Hill). I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game. Same for Fang being canonized, Triple Trouble isn't mentioned

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet. At least one can argue that Doom was mem hacking, but people genuinely believe that the memory is legit and don't care cuz "OMG, SHADOW VS EMERL FIGHT"

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

People hype up Emerl being in the Shadow short ignoring that the literal diary entries note that Shadow wasn't even awakened yet.

Admittedly I couldn't remember the content of Gerald's Battle diary entries, so I had to look them up. Reading through them, I realized that Shadow fighting Emerl renders Gerald's problems nonsensical in hindsight due to the way establishing Links works, as stated by Battle.

In addition, Gerald says it was the researchers who managed to subdue Emerl and seal him away. For some reason, the researchers kept giving Emerl more and more weapons to absorb:

---

Journal 5

The higher ups are threatening to shut down this research facility. I had no choice but to hand them the Gizoid to buy more time for my research. I tried to be careful and commanded it to never absorb any dangerous technologies. However, I have heard that other researchers have been making the Gizoid absorb weapons. Apparently, the way to cause the Gizoid to form a new "Link" is to show it power that surpasses that of its former master. While this poses immense danger, I cannot risk losing Maria.

---

Journal 6

My worst fears have come true. The Gizoid has absorbed enough weaponry and technology that it has started to go out of control. The resulting rampage resulted in the destruction of most of the "Ark." ... I have deciphered the rest of the stone tablet. It says, "When the Gizoid had learned all that it could, it became a god of wrath, and all was destroyed." The researchers somehow managed to subdue the Gizoid and sealed it away. Luckily, it only had one "Chaos Emerald" installed. If it were to have all 7 Emeralds installed, it might destroy the whole planet. The Gizoid is too much of a liability. I tried destroying its core, but nothing I did worked. I understand too little of the technology that built him. My best hope is to try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI...

---

Assuming this fight is indeed real, and that Shadow wins, that raises an entire slew of problems.

If Shadow fights Emerl, and inadvertently establishes a Link with the Gizoid by defeating him, Gerald's dilemma vanishes instantly.

All Gerald would have to do then is order Emerl to follow Shadow the way Sonic did:

Therefore, Gerald would have no reason to "try and reprogram its AI into a free-willed, emotions-based AI" in a last-ditch effort to bring the Gizoid to heel. He would have had no reason to install the final program or a soul identical to Maria's into Emerl. The events of Sonic Battle would never happen in the first place. Shadow's interference would have rendered his efforts moot.

tfw the fight is so peak that it threatens to break canon

Now, again, granted, this scenario is predicated on the assumptions that

A.) the fight is real; if it isn't, I just have to question why our time is being wasted on a fake scenario,

and B.) Shadow wins the fight. If he loses and Emerl goes on to destroy the ARK, that'd be another issue - how do the researchers manage to subdue him where Shadow cannot? And wouldn't that kind of feed into Shadow's complex about being unable to protect Maria?

Idk, the implications become weird and untenable the more you think about them. Maybe Black Doom really is sticking Shadow in a scenario where he makes him feel as WEEEEEAK as a certain masked villain, but I must ask once again what the point of that is. I ain't playing SxS Gens just to watch this motherfucker get woobified, you know what I mean?

---

I'm aware Sonic Channel recently reffed it last year, but notably don't mention events of the game.

Just because ST references things doesn't necessarily make them canon.

(coughs)

---

Same for people treating Neo Metal as a basic Super Form that can kick Sonic's ass, when no, it's just a recepticle to gaining DNA needed to tutn inyo a Perfect Chaos based form

A Super form? Why?

Metal couldn't complete his transformation without everyone's data and Chaos' ability to metamorphize. In Charmy's words: "Incomplete freak!"

---

A lot of this really just boils down to "canon be damned, I want char fights, or any game is canon cuz Aaron Webber said so"

It's a mess

Peak fiction often hinges on the aesthetics of a scene rather than the logistics. Who cares if Shadow fighting Emerl is so acanonical that it has the potential to retcon Sonic Battle as an entire game? It feels right, therefore it must be right.

Personally, I feel like it detracts from both Shadow's backstory and the ARK's unique identity as a research facility somewhat to have all of these disparate elements link (pun not intended) back to Shadow in some way. The ARK needs to be able to stand as a bastion of scientific progress on its own merits, with all the implications that brings to the table, and not just be regarded solely as Shadow's birthplace.

It should be stressed that the ARK developed tools of destruction alongside projects of medicine and healing. That is worth taking into consideration when examining the colony's purpose as a whole.

When people speak about the colony's darker underbelly, they tend to portray its horrors as those of unethical medical experimentation. In actuality, the real horrors reside more in the general territory of the politics of WMD development. "What the fuck did they have to create a planet-destroying cannon for? Who commissioned it? Why? What was its intended use?"

SA2 and Battle both touched upon the dangers of weapons of mass destruction. In particular, the ethical considerations and mindset of those who created them. These themes reflected the cultural anxiety of the early aughts concerning their development and use.

SA2 is more subtle in that it leaves Gerald's motivations in developing such a weapon ambiguous - Eggman raising questions of whether it was Gerald's legacy and intent to destroy mankind. Battle, on the other hand, is so blatantly anti-war that you're practically hearing War Pigs by Sabbath in the background.

The Gizoid counts as a WMD. Nothing can prevent it from going on a rampage and destroying everything, and flexing your power in order to retain control only escalates risk the more you do it. The only real effective countermeasure Gerald could think of was to give it a soul to dissuade it from ever pressing the nuke launch button. Or, in more allegorical terms, temper one's destructive impulses via conscience.

It takes Eggman forcibly overpowering and dehumanizing Emerl in order to reduce him to a WMD again. Except he loses control of Emerl immediately thereafter and winds up having his Final Egg Blaster getting aimed at the Earth without his consent, much like how nuclear bombs cause indiscriminate destruction.

It's such a brilliant and multi-tiered message, artfully delivered by Battle. Which is why it becomes undercut if we can have Shadow solve Gerald's problem in an instant.

[squeiky]

Shadow in Sonic Prime is so funny

First he gets blasted with that weird blue boom and gets a vision of Sonic- a full ass future prophecy thing because he see's sonic in a position that literally HAS NOT HAPPENED YET.

Like- Shadow's just minding his business looking for than damn chaos emerald by smashing rocks and shit- and then gets interrupted by the big boom- has a lucid ass vision of Sonic- immediately goes "he fucked something up, didn't he?"- and fucking caps him.

Then mid-fight he's giving him tips like, "Focus"- which in my own translation basically means "Stop getting distracted with whatever going on over there and focus on fight ME." "KEEP ATTENTION ON MOI." (I find it kind of funny that Shadow isn't even saying much. Sonic's making this entire.. conversation?)

(Man flips back and forth between bordering on giving helpful/common tips to beating up Sonic. I find this humorous. Though at least one person has his priorities aligned. )

I can't even blame him from stalling Sonic? He was going to head up there to where he believed the blast came from anyways.

-------

So basically, while in the shatterspace- Shadow:

Found out what the fuck just happened ("Every thing is all wrong"

Realized it was Sonic's fault

Figured out how communicate with sonic from shatterspace

Made a plan on how to bring Sonic too shatterspace ("Keep going!")

Realized that this is some weird dimension shit ("Home is gone because of you")

Realized he literally can't go home, because it doesn't exist really exist anymore.

Which is pretty damn impressive seeing as he had literally no one to guide him or whatever.

(I like to imagine he was just pondering the orb-err- shards to peak into what was happening. That or he listened in on Nine and Sonic's interactions.)

----

Also, I hope you all understand that Sonic and Shadow are the only two remaining "originals" right? That means they're going to be interacting.. A LOT.

Those two are the last remaining entities that are aware of the past "green hill." They have to count on each other to bring home and their companions back whether they'd like too or not.

So yes, "its complicated" indeed.

I'm curious to see where this resolves. My guess Is that they'll have their big fight but end up having to either parts ways and look for a solution, or be forced to have a temporary truce- if you could call it that.

All I know, is that for once- Shadow's anger towards Sonic is very justifiable. He's got a right to be mad- or angry, and he's actions seem reasonable to his character. (At least that whats I think.)

Apparently Sonic and Shadow have "hallucinated" each other at least once in this season.

[ghostenluvs]

my little sister's rewatching s3 despite Also watching it yesterday and its just. so funny to me. like first off bc the fight against nine is paced like a rpg boss battle (which. nine also talks like an rpg villain so that tracks. he just keeps spawning minions and saying things like "you fools. bring me sonic")

also nine is just so. rotating him. id put him in the microwave but i do not think that would end well for anyone. BUT HES LIKE. "well i tried caring and it just got me hurt." and hes just so so scared of being hurt again, so he cuts everyone off and hurts the people he wants to care about him. bc he cant let anyone get close. robots are the only ones he can depend on, they won't turn on him because they can't. and he HAS to believe that sonic betrayed him, that sonic wanted to hurt him and never really saw him as a real person or cared about him, because if he does then he has to confront that He is the one lashing out. etc etc etc. i am one of those goopy eyed white grandma dogs and nine is the squeaky toy i am furiously shaking around and disemboweling.

ok so yes all of this.

nine just keeps doing such edgy boy anime villain in the background of a tvshow cover poses during this season.

nine is like. so cool to me. squeezing him like a stress ball. patting he on the head and giving him a nintendo switch and a hot chocolate. blasting a character analysis of him through my headphones at an irresponsible volume.

i have so many thoughts about him. like. so many.

most of them [many of them, not all] are like.

"hey nine is like [insert other character here] but [insert adjective here]" sort of. and like comparisons or situations and such.

for some reason after i realized "hey nine is like elsa but boy and technology" my brain immediately went: ctubbo dream smp

and i couldn't figure out why.

and then my brain went:

"hey nine is like ctubbo if he never had someone to lead him around places and just entered his 'ive been traumatized must build incredible technologies to defend self' phase wayyyy early."

so yeah i'm insane about him. because ive somehow made ctubbo connections to tails and nine now. [tails prime also he is like disc era-l'manburg ctubbo in my brain]

because like. he's a kid!!!!! that's a child!!!!! bro is like 8 years old!!!!!

he should be having beef with jessica over the swingset seat at recess!!!!! and instead he's getting horribly traumatized and left alone to deal with any injuries or fears on his own, feeling there's nobody else in the world like him and not seeing sunlight for years on end.

oh gee i just had more ctubbo nine thoughts dang it.

[tommy valueing the discs over tubbo even in the split second of an arguement and not meaning it really / sonic taking about the original people and green hill like he was this whole show despite the huge care he has for everyone in the shatterspaces]

IM NORMAL I PROMISE.

[wswe-autism-fic]

seeing as ive already given my opinions on the entire mario timeline, i may as well do sonic. no, it will not be as in depth. why? because oh my god have you ever tried piecing together the sonic timeline??? dont.

basically, i believe most alternate universes to be canon. and by the way, if its an au i havent enjoyed, im not counting it lmao.

classic games!!!

i like the generations version of things, where the classic games are when they're all younger. i'd say sonic's probably about 12, tails 5, knuckles 13 and amy 11. robotnik can be about mid to late 30s at this point and i cant be bothered with any other characters lmao

and before someone goes 'bit odd that sonic's eye colour changed lmao' ik but like it reminds me of my brother. he had the same colour eyes as me when he was a baby (really dark brown) but now his eyes are hazel (or, as my dad calls it, 'autumn'). i also like how the only reason they specifically chose green was for green hill zone. i think that's really sweet.

i also like to think the OK KO crossover happened about here, if not, very early on in the modern games. maybe sonic underground??? actually, no, i dont think sonic underground could be canon.

modern games!!!

the modern games happen in the order that they happen in. dont ask me about the weird bit. actually, just dont ask at all - nobody knows what to do with this bit. im also counting the idw comics as modern games seeing as they're apparently canon now? yeah idk either.

as for fleetway, archie and any other comics i cant think of, i havent read them, i dont know.

for the ages, generally, sonic's 15, tails 8, all canon ages, yada yada EXCEPT for amy. i dont like amy being 12, so in my head she is 14. i dont even ship sonamy, just the entire thing of her being 12 when sonic is 15 and those two being probably the most canon sonic ship out there that isn't technically canon (STOBOTNIK DOES NOT COUNT JUST IN CASE IN THE FUTURE ITS EVEN MORE EXPLICIT) really makes me feel grossed out.

oh yeah and seeing as he doesnt have a canon age, robotnik is vaguely 40.

post-timeline stuff!!!

this is mostly where actual theory comes into play, because before this point its like, yeah? we knew that? i get that sonic boom is an alternate universe, but i... i like sonic boom. i like it a lot. so it's canon in my eyes. tbf they do all look and act much older, so i'd imagine boom is a future where they're all adults. as of posting this, sticks has only just been made canon, with that mention in frontiers, so if she really does end up in any mainline games, they just happen before this. probably. i dunno, maybe they'll ruin this entire portion.

i think that robotnik is probably late 40s, early 50s by this point, and tbf i think the main cast overall is only rough suggestions, because i could imagine sonic boom happening over the course of a few years. sonic is probably about 19-25, knuckles 19-26, amy 17-24, tails 11-15, and im pretty sure sticks is about knuckles' age canonically? so we'll say she's 19-25.

i get that shadow is 50 and whatnot, probably about 55-60 at this point, but i generally think he's like, a few months older than sonic if we're going based on why we count age (experience and stuff), so probably 19-26, like knuckles.

this is where i think most crossovers take place: mario & sonic, all the weird sega sports games from the late 2000s to mid 2010s (im looking at you, sega all stars tennis/sonic and sega all stars racing (but specifically for the wii (because thats the best version))), stuff like that. with the mario timeline, i said most crossovers aren't canon, but with sonic, anything is possible! because of that, the only crossover than comes to mind that definitely wouldn't be canon is smash, and thats because smash is canonically a kid playing with their toys.

the bit where i lose my mind (aGAIN OMG THIS HAPPENED WITH MARIO)!!!

I AM NOT DOING FULL RAINBOW FOR THAT TITLE OK I CANNOT BE BOTHERED SO YOU GET IT IN PURPLE INSTEAD BECAUSE I LOVE PURPLE.

anyway, this is the bit that couldnt possibly be canon. or hell, maybe it could, the sonic lore is never logical. basically, if you havent read the mario theory, i ended up linking it to undertale, saying that undertale is basically the future of mario, at least for my favourite characters, wario and waluigi. this is like that.

hear me out:

my hero academia?

i'm sorry, but i cant help but think mha is like sonic now. its definitely more of a stretch than undertale and mario, so this one i count as being less reliable, but like... yk how shadow in every tv show has to beat tails to a pulp? shadow is bakugo and tails is deku. as for rouge, rouge is transmasc legend, kirishima. idk who omega is, but tbf he doesnt have a life, so maybe thats why.

and sonic is like all might! and knuckles is like kirishima again! but knuckles can also be iida, if he likes! and amy is uraraka! and i need therapy!

sorry. again. im very sorry. i formally apologise. i could never make this up to you. sorry.

[killer-instinct-xiv]

T⃞    H⃞    E⃞     H⃞    U⃞    N⃞    T⃞  

I open my eyes to the world around me, and feel the sun upon my skin. The warm glow calms me, no longer blinding I realize as I look out upon a field of green, rolling hills and proud, domineering mountains that loomed above the valley. I am home. I run fast, laughter rattling from my lungs as I sprint towards my people. I know they are there if I find them. The grass folds beneath my bare feet, caressing each step as I walk. Its been years since I'd ever felt anything so divine. The grass begins to thin out, the terrain shifting from verdant green to white sands as I approach the coast. I'm almost there. I see a figure standing in the distance, her back to me as she faces the sea. I recognize her. "Mother?" I call her, my legs carrying me even faster until I almost collide against her. She turns slowly. She has no eyes, and there's a gaping wound in her chest. It weeps, as do the empty sockets upon her face. I stumble back, falling into the sand. I finally see them - bodies scattered across the coastline. They start to push up, and each member of my tribe slowly stands. They're all bleeding. Wounded. Dead. They walk towards me, arms outstretched. I hear my mother's voice, and er cold hands touch my cheeks. She whispers something to me.

I wake.

ᴡᴇᴇᴋꜱ ᴇᴀʀʟɪᴇʀ…

Reality is a harsh antithesis to his dreams. The warmth of the sun is nonexistent in the cold, damp, dark. There are no expansive plains or rolling hills, nor the caress of lush blades of grass beneath his scales. Just the cramped confines of his enclosure and the heavy weight of shackles upon his wrist and neck. His shoulders ached from bearing his weight, arms raised high to hinder any movement. It was not an insignificant strain, and it pained him but over the years he had remained in service to his lord, he had learned not to complain.

Sometimes his master left him in the dark for days. Boredom and the shadows alone could consume the mind, but he had grown accustomed to it. Adapting in ways that others could not. In the dark was where he saw the brightest. Meals were not always delivered either, but he had learned that if he stayed very still, the rats would venture close enough that he could kill or concuss them with a sharp burst of sonic energy, leaving them still enough for him to coil within his tail and lift to his lips to feast. They never learned, and by consequence, he never starved.

When the doors to his purgatory finally opened, it was never to set him free. There was a time in his youth where he had once hoped for it. Where the flood of light that penetrated the darkness from the open door filled him with the desire to escape, but he had grown accustomed to that actual reason for that open door. It wasn't to set him free - it was to unleash him.

"Who am I to kill today?" He asked pre-emptively, turning his skull to look towards his captor though he could barely make out his impression against the blinding light. He fought the urge to hiss and spit, and he kept his composure in check. Impassible. Emotionless.

The doman lord looked upon him with a level of disdainful amusement, though he kept his distance. Whether out of fear, or disgust to the enclosure or the shackled beast was a toss up. Rather than approach directly, Tanaka no Goro took a bundled up heap of clothing an tossed it at his knees. Even from the distance, he can smell her. A woman.

"Your new task. I have reason to believe she is working with my rival.They say she has the kiss of death. She is to be tracked. Find out who she reports to. Kill them. Kill her, too. I do not want problems."

Tomobaatar's head tilted, curious as an animal. Distinctly predatory, like a shark smelling blood in the water. "...Do you expect problems?"

He felt tension in the air, even if he could not see the bunch of his master's shoulders, the tightening of his fists. "There will not be, am I understood?"

There's a long pause, the silence embraced for a moment. "I understand, my Lord." His growl reverberating throughout the enclosure. The walls seemed to vibrate, a nearly imperceptible tremor of sound that sunk deep into the metal of his cage.

"Do this, and you will have freedom to roam in this space. I tire of the stick. Complete the job, and we shall see about the carrot."

For once, the xaela found himself surprised. His head canted, and Goro moved forward, undoing the shackles but maintaining the man's collar. It still served to keep the beast in check. Tomobaatar knew that something had changed. Tanaka did not often move this far into the damp, dark space that smelled of rotting flesh and mildew. He did not often seek out Tomo on his own, either.

The chains fell away and the xaela fell forward on his hands and knees. He took a moment to rub the rawness from his wrists, and then he stood, taller and taller until he was at his full height, an imposing seven fulms and two ilms. His massive tail swept absently against the ground, sending water droplets up in a cascade from its weight.

He towered over Tanaka, and the doman knew that he could easily be crushed by this creature. Yet, he had been trained well and stood by awaiting his next order. Tanaka no Goro tilted his head for the door. "Go. Find her. Tell me what you see." Tanaka smiled, knowing full well the creature was blind. Or at least, some aspect of it.

Tomobaatar did not find his joke so amusing, but he disregarded the feeling of irritation that bubbled up. He had a task. A job. He dipped his head, body tilting forward into a stiff bow and then he was off, slipping out into the night. Despite his height, he remained as silent as a shadow and disappeared into the darkness.

[sonknuxadow]

Everybody in Green Hills just trying to ignore that their neighbor has alien kids in the roof meanwhile those alien kids are making up new and exciting games like ‘how far can knuckles hit sonic with this lead pipe he found’ and ‘can tails hotwire every car in town before someone gets mad at him’

im always wondering just how many people actually know sonic is living there . like obviously a lot of people must have seen him considering the stuff that happened at the end of the first and second movie. but how many people know he LIVES there and is tom and maddies kid how many people have met him and actually talked to him and stuff.

at certain moments in the second movie he seems to be more comfortable with letting humans he doesnt know see him without a disguise or anything on but the prequill comic said that sonic still isnt allowing himself to just casually walk around town and let people see him and is still doing that thing where he runs around and pretends to be friends with everyone

so does everyone know hes there and its just an unspoken rule to not say or do anything about it. or did they assume he just disappeared after the events of the first movie or convince themselves they imagined it. i need answers

[multicolour-ink]

Tails referring to Green Hills as a village and then later revealing he came from one makes me think Tails' village is a worst-case version of Green Hills, a place that didn't live up to the motto where it's "the small town with a big heart": Sonic felt like he had to hide from the community despite how truly tight-knit it is, but Tails had to distance himself from his own because of how unwelcoming they were

Ah so Tails' village would basically be the opposite of Green Hills, completing the parallels?

That is a good idea 🙂 Although reading this ask got me thinking about what defines a village and a town.

I'm not sure if it's different in other countries, but in the UK, the population amount is determined like this:

Village: 500 - 2,500

Small town: 5,000 – 20,000

City: 300,000 - millions

The reason I bring this up is because Green Hills is considered a town, yet Tails calls it a village. I believe this could mean that Tails has never seen a town before. The part of the universe he's from might be remote or just populated by small settlements, and that's all he's grown up around. When I think of a village populated by Mobians, I tend to think of Knothole Village from the Archie Comics, or Fortree City from Pokemon (yes it is called a city but its aesthetic is more like a village).

[mahoutoons]

Sonic Dimensions: Chapter 4 - Alternative Tails - Miles

AO3 link

The group landed in the next dimension. This one looked more peaceful than the last. They were in an area that looked like Green Hill Zone. “Alright, time to find Eris and Eggman,” Sonic said. “No time to waste.”

Suddenly, the ground shook. A giant robot came into view - the Death Egg robot. “Looks like we found him,” said Amy. “Alright everyone, get ready to fight!” said Sonic. The group went into fighting position.

“HO HO HO HO!” Eggman’s voice echoed through the robot. “This time, I will finally defeat you, Sonic the hedgehog!” “Not if we defeat you first!” Sonic exclaimed. A figure dashed past them just then. It was as fast as Sonic. “I’d like to see you try, Egg face!” the figure quipped. The group got a closer look. It was….. Sonic again? “Wow I wonder how many me’s I’m gonna meet before we get all the emeralds back,” Sonic commented. “My lovely assistant helped make this robot! With that I’m sure to defeat you!” Eggman bellowed. “Regardless of whether that kid made this robot or not, its going down!”

The current dimension’s Sonic and Eggman got into a showdown. “Something isn’t right here,” said Sonic. “Where is this dimension’s Tails?” “Yeah, after all I’m always accompanying Sonic on adventures,” Tails added. The showdown ended in the other Sonic’s victory. “Curse you Sonic! You’ll pay for this!” Eggman grunted. And then, a familiar voice spoke. One that made Tails�� fur stand up. “Sonic the hedgehog, next time I’ll destroy you for ruining my inventions!” the voice was like a child’s and sounded eerily like Tails. “Try it, I’ll keep destroying your toys, Tails!” the current Sonic said. “No…. no it can’t be!” Tails said softly. “Stop calling me that!” the other Tails demanded. “And its a promise! I will destroy you!” Eggman retreated in his Egg Mobile, taking his assistant with him - a two tailed fox.

“That was easy,” the current Sonic said. He looked behind to see the group standing there. “Oh, hello there! Come to get my autograph?” he asked. He noticed Tails and suddenly was on guard. “Oh, you’re here too? I thought you threw a tantrum when I destroyed your last toy!” the current Sonic teased him. “I…. this Tails…. He isn’t really evil, is he?” Tails asked. “What are you talking about?” At that moment, the current Sonic noticed Sonic. “Oh wow, do I have a lost twin or something?” “Listen, uh, Sonic, we’re from another dimension. I’m, um, you. These are my friends, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Blaze, and Serena.” “Another dimension, huh? And Tails isn’t evil?” “N-No, of course not!” Tails exclaimed. “Sonic is like my brother, I’d never betray him, I….” “Wow. Because in this dimension, Tails is Eggman’s assistant. He’s made a lot of Eggman’s robots. I’ve destroyed them all and he always goes home crying and throwing a tantrum like the spoiled brat he is,” the current Sonic said. “I…. I can’t believe this. A dimension where I’m evil and fighting with Sonic? I don’t know how to process this!” “Its alright, Tails,” Sonic assured him. “What matters is that you are on our side.” “Sonic is right,” Amy said. “This is an alternate dimension, so anything is possible. So don’t worry about-” “I’m gonna go speak to this Tails. Try to make him see what he’s doing,” Tails announced. “If he’s me, then we’ve gotta understand each other.” Saying this, Tails went away. “Hey, I wasn’t done talking!” said Amy. “Lets follow him,” suggested Blaze. “Good luck trying to reason with Tails. He’s as stubborn as a rock,” said the other Sonic. “I meant this dimension’s Tails, if that wasn’t clear.”

The rest of the group soon caught up with Tails. “Hey Tails, if you’re gonna leave, at least let us help,” said Sonic. “Thanks guys,” said Tails. “I just want to reason with this version of me.”

They soon came to Eggman’s base. “Now how are we going to get inside?” asked Sonic. “Maybe if I punched it!” Knuckles exclaimed. He punched the door, to no avail. “OWWW!” he screamed. “Whatever this material is, its too strong!” “Um…. guys….” Serena said, having noticed something. “Why don’t I try my hammer?” Amy summoned her hammer. “Guys….” Serena’s voice was so soft it was almost a whisper so no one heard her. Amy smashed the door with her hammer, again to no avail. “What is this thing made of?” she asked. “A good old spin dash might do the trick,” said Sonic. “Guys…. P-please look here…. I-I found something” Serena tried to get their attention but no one noticed her. Sonic spin dashed at the door, but it didn’t work again. “Perhaps my pyrokinesis can be of use,” Blaze suggested. “Y-Your highness….. Everyone….” Serena tried again, but no one listened. Blaze conjured up flames and aimed them at the door. She blasted them, to no effect. “Its fire proof too. How peculiar,” Blaze commented. “Serena, why don’t you try your light powers?” Sonic asked. “W-Well…. Actually…..” “Did you find something?” asked Tails. “Th-This door opens with f-facial recognition…. I was thinking since this dimension’s Tails was…. Eggman’s assistant then….. Our Tails could ah….. W-Well, maybe it won’t work b-but, ahhhh……” “Ohhh, I get what you’re saying now,” said Tails. He went to the pad that Serena was near. The device asked for him to stand in front of the camera. He did. It instantly recognized him. “Welcome, Miles Prower,” the AI voice said. The door opened. “It worked! Good observation Serena!” Sonic said. “Ah… uh, thank you,”

The group walked inside the base. “How long did you know that was there?” asked Tails. “F-For a while. I…. I was trying to g-get your attention but…..” “Maybe you should’ve spoken up,” Tails said. “Ah…. I tried but…” “Your voice was soft though. We couldn’t hear you.” “Ah…. I’m sorry…” “I know how you feel,” said Tails. “I used to be pretty shy too. Its mainly because I was bullied for my twin Tails and no one would really listen to me. But after meeting Sonic, I became more confident in myself. I wasn’t afraid to show off what I’d done. And Sonic was always interested in what I had to say. And then I met Knuckles and Amy too. Now I have a wonderful friend group by my side.” “Ah….. I… I also was bullied…. For a lot of r-reasons…. I d-didn’t have many friends growing up. The only people who r-really cared about me were my p-parents, so…” “Well you don’t have to worry here. We’re all your friends so when you want to say something, you can speak up. We’ll listen, no matter how stupid you think it sounds.” “I…. Alright, I’ll try….”

“This is almost too easy,” Sonic said. “Where’s the invisible lasers and the alarms?” “Well, Tails in this dimension is Eggman’s assistant so of course it’ll be easy,” said Amy. “Miles!” a gruff voice called. The group turned around to see Eggman. This Eggman was the same as their Eggman except he didn’t wear his signature glasses. His eyes were blue. “Wow, he looks weird without his glasses,” Sonic commented. “Miles, I thought you came back already. You didn’t tell me you were going out again,” said Eggman. “Ooh, are these your friends? My Miles is making friends now?! Have they also come to serve the Eggman empire? Ooh, and you’ve captured Sonic too. You’ve outdone yourself, Miles.” “Uhh…..”

“Dr Robotnik” a voice very similar to Tails said, with the slight difference being it sounded a bit monotone. “I have arranged the papers as you asked. Is there anything…” The other Tails looked at the group and froze in shock. Eggman looked at Tails, then the other Tails. “Wha-HUH?! Since when were there TWO MILESES? Unless there’s another two tailed fox somewhere!” “Who are you?” asked the other Tails. “You’re this dimension’s Tails, right?” Sonic asked. “You will not refer to me by that name!” the other Tails snapped. “You will address me as Miles!” “Oh, alright. Makes it less confusing at least.” “Miles, I’m you from another dimension!” Tails said. “Wait…. Really?” “Yeah! Look, we’ve got the same tails and everything!” “Oh…. my…. Gosh! This is SO EXCITING!” Miles ran over to Tails. “The existence of other dimensions was only a theory, but to see it proven right before my eyes! And with another me, no less! Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh, I have so many questions to ask you!” Miles seemed like an excited kid and less like an evil scientist’s assistant. “Dr Robotnik, I told you other dimensions exist! Living proof is right in front of us!” “Well, I found out long before you, Miles,” said Eggman. “I’d like to introduce you to a new friend. Well, two friends.”

The Eggman that Sonic and co. knew and Eris came out. “Eggman! And Eris!” Sonic exclaimed. Miles made a little noise of excitement. “This is so exciting!” he quaked. “I bet you’re every bit as genius as this dimension’s Robotnik!” He then turned to Tails. “And I bet you’re just as much of a help to your Robotnik as I am with mine!” “Um, actually…” Tails began. “Well, quite the opposite, actually. Our version of Tails is just as much of a thorn on my side as Sonic. Man are you lucky your Tails-” “Its MILES!” “Er, Miles, is actually your assistant. You don’t have to deal with twice the annoyance.” “Wow, I can’t imagine a world where I didn’t have Miles as my assistant. He sure is handy,” the current Eggman said. “Wait, so you’re not Robotnik’s assistant?” Miles asked. “No. Actually, I fight alongside Sonic against Eggman.” Some of the excitement in Miles’ eyes seemed to vanish. “I can’t believe this! Were you ever bullied in your dimension?” “Yeah, but-” “Then why are you working alongside him?” “Miles, I actually came here to reason with you. You don’t have to work alongside Eggman. Maybe you can talk to Sonic. I’m sure if he understands you, then-” “Stop! STOP! I don’t want to hear this! ROBOTS! Take all of them away! Throw them in the prison!” Robots appeared and grabbed Sonic and co. “Except him,” Miles pointed at Tails. “I wanna ask him a few more questions.” The robots hauled Sonic and co away. Sonic looked at Tails as if to say ‘I’m counting on you’. Tails nodded.

Miles led Tails to his room. It was a large room, most of it being coloured orange. his bed was in the shape of a car, and he had posters of his favourite musicians all over his room. There was a computer set for Miles to work. There was also a little table in the middle. He had a bookshelf practically climbing with books. There was a toolbox underneath his bed so he could work. Miles room was a stark contrast to the rest of the base, which was plain and lacked colour. It really drove home that despite being an evil scientist's assistant, Miles was still a kid after all.

Miles motioned for Tails to sit down. He clapped and a robot appeared before him. "Get us some cookies and tea, please," Miles ordered. The robot put plates and cups in front of them, poured out some tea, and set a plate of cookies in front of them after making it in two seconds. Tails was amazed. "Dr Robotnik made this for me," Miles said. "It can cook anything in less than a minute." Tails tried one of the cookies. "Mmm, this is really good," he said. "Isn't it?" Miles puffed up with pride. “Do you have robots do your bidding in your dimension?” “Well…. No. I’m actually taking cooking lessons from Amy. I can make decent cupcakes now thanks to her,” Tails said. “So I’m curious…. How come you are friends with Sonic?” asked Miles. “Me? Well, I was always bullied for my twin tails,” Tails swung his tails around. “The other kids would tease me, the older kids would play with my tails even when I told them to stop. Mom and dad tried to stop the bullying but it was just no use. Then one day, I met Sonic. I was fascinated by how fast he could run. So I followed him. He let me tag along and…. Then I met Amy and Knuckles. And now we’re friends. Sonic is like a big brother to me. I can’t imagine my life without him.” “Well, at least your parents tried to do something,” Miles sighed. “Mine couldn’t care less if I lived or died. And like you, I was bullied for my tails. They called me ‘Tails’ as a way to mock me and I hated it. And it didn’t help that my parents forgot I existed at times. I tried everything to get their attention. Fixing computers, changing tires, inventing things…. Nothing was ever enough. One day, I decided to make an airplane. I thought that would surely get their attention. I started working on it. And at that time, two fox kids came up to me and started teasing me as usual. They tried to ruin my plane. That’s when Dr Robotnik came in. He chased those kids away, then started complimenting my design. I told him all about the things I’d invented. He said a genius like me is needed. He took me in, and I began to assist him. Dr Robotnik is like a father to me. He even gave me this room.” Miles pointed around. “So you see, Dr Robotnik saved me. That’s why I’m fiercely loyal to him.” “But…. he’s done terrible things before. He uses small animals as living batteries for his robots, and he plans to take over the world.” “I know that. At first I was skeptical too. I thought the using animals for batteries thing was too much. But Dr Robotnik made me see it was a necessary evil, that robots can be more effective like this.” “But its still wrong!” Tails slammed his hands on the table. “They are living creatures. They deserve to live their life, not be used as some kind of battery for a crazy scientist!” “And you don’t understand,” Miles said. “Science only moved forward because at times, sacrifices were needed.” “Well that doesn’t make it right,” Tails said. “No matter what I’m going to make sure my inventions help people, not hurt them.”

Meanwhile Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Blaze, and Serena were in their prison cells. Knuckles kept punching the cell, but it didn’t work. “Knuckles that’s not going to work, just quit it already,” Amy said. “Just a little bit more….” Knuckles ran back and charged forward, letting his fists meet the cell wall but to no avail. “GRAAAH!” he growled. “Hey Serena, mind using your light powers to break us out?” “Oh…. uh, w-well, I m-might destroy this place a-a-along with us all…. So….” “Aw come on, you should have control of your powers by now!” Knuckles exclaimed. “I-I’m trying!” Serena defended herself. “Gaining control of the Rings of Light is no easy task, Knuckles,” Blaze explained. “I know how its like to try and control your powers. It took me years to learn to control my flames. I’m sure with time, Serena will control her light too.” A visible blush appeared on Serena’s face. “Alright, fine.” “Ugh, I hope Tails is trying to convince his evil counterpart to get us out of here,” said Knuckles. “Let me try something,” said Amy. “You guys may not know this but I have telepathy.” “WHAT?!” the others gasped. “Okay I knew about the tarot cards but TELEPATHY?! I did not know that!” Knuckles said. “That explains why your voice is in my head sometimes,” said Sonic. “I’m still working on it, okay? But I’ll try to contact Tails through telepathy,” Amy said. “I’ll need no distractions.” Amy closed her eyes and concentrated. “Tails”, she thought. “Tails, can you hear me?”

Tails was still in Miles’ room when he heard Amy’s voice. “Huh, Amy?” Tails was surprised to hear her voice. “Amy? Is that really you?” “Yeah, its me! Looks like the telepathy worked.” “You have telepathy?” “I’m working on it, but it looks like it worked for now. Anyways, how’s things going with Miles?” “He just won’t listen! I’m trying to get him to see that Eggman is evil, but he’s quite stubborn.” “Can you get him to try and free us?” “Hmm….. if I ask him he won’t listen but maybe I can try and trick him,” Tails said. “Good. We’re counting on you.”

“So Miles,” Tails said. “Would you mind giving me a tour of the base? I’m fascinated by all the tech here. Our Eggman doesn’t have half the tech here, and I’ll bet its because of you.” Miles was flattered and he showed it in a blush. “Ha ha. Okay, I’ll give you a tour.”

Miles showed Tails around the base. He showed Tails the room where Robotnik designs his robots, where kitchen where the chef bots work, the tech room where the robots are actually made, even Robotnik’s room itself. Finally, Miles showed Tails to the prison. “This is where we keep anyone who defies us,” Miles boasted. “Don’t do anything we don’t like or you might end up here too.” Tails spotted a button to open all the prison cells. He ran over to it and pushed it. “Hey, what did you do?!” Miles shouted. Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Blaze, and Serena ran out of their cells. “Thanks Tails! And thanks for showing him here, Miles!” Sonic taunted. “You…. you tricked me!” Miles snapped. “I won’t forgive you!” “I’m sorry Miles,” Tails said. “But I’m not abandoning my friends no matter how interesting the prospect of another me sounds.” “Come on now guys, we gotta find Eggman and Eris!” Sonic said.

The group ran out leaving Miles fuming. “You…. you…. Ah if only I was allowed to swear right now I would hurl a thousand insults at you!” he screamed. “I’ll show you! I’ll show you all!”

The group ran towards the main room of the base, only to find the two Eggmen and Eris weren’t there. “Strange… where are they?” Sonic mused. Suddenly there was an earthquake. The group ran outside. They saw the ground begin to open and a robot came out from it. It looked very similar to the Egg Emperor. Eris was sitting on the shoulder of the robot, an aura of darkness still surrounding her. “Ah, I see you have escaped,” Dr Robotnik said. “I’ve always had this but the nice alternate version of me helped enhance it. His catgirl friend is really powerful. I feel energy flowing through my veins as I sit here! You rodents don’t stand a chance!” “We’ll see about that!” Sonic exclaimed. “We’ve fought a similar robot in our dimension!” “Wait you have?” asked Blaze. “It was before we met you,” Tails said. “And even then we did it as a team!” “Well then, lets beat this thing to the ground!” Sonic declared, pointing at the Egg Emperor. “Yeah!” the group echoed.

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy charged forward towards the Egg Emperor. Eris jumped from the robot and pinnes Serena down. “W-What are you…” “The rings! Give me the rings!” she tried to take them off Serena but they simply wouldn’t budge. The Rings electrocuted her every time she touched them but she was undeterred. Blaze rushed forward and shot a fireball at Eris. “Current princess of the Sol dimension, leave me ALONE!” Eris’ attention turned to Blaze. She came charging towards her and caught both her hands. Blaze shot a little fireball from her hand. “That won’t stop me!” Eris hissed. She kicked Blaze in the stomach. “Y-Your highness!” Serena ran towards Blaze. A black void appeared in Eris’ hands and she pointed it towards Blaze. “Give me my rings if you want your princess to live!” she demanded. “N-No! No chance! A-And even if I wanted to…. Well, you saw, th-they just won’t let anyone else…” “Curse you Harmonia” Eris seethed under her breath. “Even in death you continue to make me suffer! No matter, both of you will die!” Eris raised her hand up. A black beam came from her hand and pierced the clouds. The ground began to shake.

Meanwhile, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy were having a hard time with the Egg Emperor. Unlike the one they had fought, there was no visible weak spot. Knuckles’ fists and Amy’s hammer were useless against the metal. Sonic’s spindash didn’t work either. The Egg Emperor robot shot out energy waves at the quartet. “Don’t give up, guys!” Sonic persuaded. “We never would!” Knuckles exclaimed. “There has to be a weak spot somewhere!” Tails mused. “Ho ho ho!” Dr Eggman bellowed. “With the power Eris bestowed upon this robot, you four stand no chance!” “You see, Dr Robotnik is invincible!” Miles came into the scene. “Miles.” “I won’t forgive you for tricking me even if you’re me! Dr Robotnik, get them!” “Anything for you, Miles!” Robotnik said from inside the robot. The Egg Emperor launched missiles that landed near Sonic and co. They avoided them narrowly. One almost caught Amy, but Sonic reached her in the nick of time. “Its just too powerful!” Amy said. “What can we do?” “All we can do is keep fighting!” Knuckles balled up his fists.

It was at that moment the ground began to shake. Thunder flashed and lightning crashed. “What’s going on?” Amy asked. “Ah, the catgirl is bringing chaos to this dimension!” Eggman exclaimed. “Ooh, how exciting! Your friend sure is interesting!” Robotnik said. “Chaos to this world…. But if the world ends then…. We will perish along with it!” Miles realized. “DR ROBOTNIK!” Miles waved his hands. “DR ROBOTNIK THIS IS A BAD IDEA! THAT CATGIRL IS GONNA TAKE US ALL WITH HER!” But Robotnik didn’t listen. “He… he’s not listening… maybe he can’t hear me… DR ROBOTNIK..” “Miles, my child” Robotnik said. “Maybe you should go back to your room.” “But-but that catgirl…. She… she’ll end the world!” “Exactly! Now be a good boy and go to your room.” “What?” “I have to stop this somehow!” Tails said. He ran over to Blaze and Serena.

Meanwhile Blaze and Serena were still fighting Eris. Serena ran over to Blaze’s side. “Your highness, a-a-are you…. Are you a-alright?” she asked. “Yeah, I’m fine” Blaze caught Serena’s hand and got up. “Guys, what’s happening?” Tails ran over to their side. “Eris is a-already causing chaos in th-th-this dimension…” Serena said. “I got a plan that may help us get the next set of Chaos and Sol emeralds!” Tails said. “I’m gonna need you two to distract Eris first.” “Whatever you say, Tails!” Blaze said. The two girls ran in front of Eris. Blaze conjured up flames and hit Blaze with it. “Insolent princess,” Eris said. “Your fire won’t hurt me.” “E-E-Eris, just s-stop this already,” Serena said. “Wh-What will you g-gain from a-a-all this?” “I will gain satisfaction at having exacted my revenge!” Eris said. “Now get out of the way.” “Serena, use your powers,” Blaze said. “I-I’m not sure. I-I-I still d-don’t know to c-control them.” “Its alright. I will help you,” Blaze assured her. “Just trust yourself. I trust you.” Serena closed her eyes and conjured up a ball of light. When it got big enough, Blaze held her hand. “Y-Your highness?!” “Now Serena!” Serena threw the ball at Eris, stopping her for a while. “Why you-?” But before she could do anything, something exploded behind her - not enough to hurt her but enough to knock the next set of Chaos and Sol emeralds out of her. “Wha- How? Who did that?” Tails flew towards Blaze and Serena, holding the next set of emeralds. “Tails! What did you do?” asked Blaze. “I pinned a dummy ring to her!” Tails held out a ring that looked normal except it was a darker shade of yellow. “They’re explosive - not enough to grievously injure you but enough to knock you out for a while. They’ve come in handy before.” “You stupid little fox cub!” Eris screamed. “I won’t forgive you!”

Tails, Blaze, and Serena rushed towards where the rest of Sonic and co were. “Guys, we got the next Chaos and Sol emeralds!” Tails said. “That’s amazing.l” Sonic said. “Because we’re not doing so hot. That robot is quite powerful with Eris’ extra boost.” Serena noticed Miles staring at the robot. His eyes were sad. “M-Miles! Are you….” “He isn’t listening to me,” Miles said softly. “The world will end if that red catgirl causes chaos and there will be no world for us to take over.” “Miles, do you know a weak spot for that robot?” asked Blaze. “His shield. If you can get rid of it, then its power will lessen significantly. Then you have a chance of beating him.” “Sweet! Thanks Miles.” “Don’t get the wrong idea,” Miles retorted. “I’m only helping you because Robotnik isn’t seeing clearly here. I’m not on your side.”

“Alright guys, lets distract the robot by fighting normally. When the time is right, our two powerhouses, Knuckles and Amy, will run up to the robot’s hand and destroy the shield!” Sonic said. Everyone agreed. They began to fight the Egg Emperor again. The robot shot energy spears and missiles at the group. Blaze used her pyrokinesis and Serena her photokinesis to land hits on the robot. Serena conjured up a light beam in her hands, but then it became too small to do anything. “Wha-” An energy spear struck her and she was sent back. “Serena!” Blaze rushed to her side and lifted her up. “Knuckles, Amy, now!” Sonic whispered. Knuckles and Amy nodded. They ran forward and climbed up the robot’s shield. “Wha-What’s this?!” The robot shook its arm violently to get the two off. “Aah! Hold on!” Knuckles shouted. “Amy, summon the biggest hammer you have!” “On it!” She closed her eyes and summoned a hammer bigger than both her and Knuckles. Then she hit the shield in the middle, causing it to crack. Knuckles delivered the final blow, causing it to break completely. “N-N-N-NOOOOOO! My shield!” Robotnik screamed. “Now everyone!” Sonic said. “Tails, give me a boost!” Tails took Sonic by his arms and flew over to the robot. He dropped Sonic at the head of the robot. Sonic first looked through the eyes to see the two Eggmen. “Hello!” he taunted. He did a spindash into the middle of the robot pushing it down. The group then rushed forward. “This is for Serena!” Blaze exclaimed. Sheshot fire through her arms, heating up the robot and causing both the Eggmen to run out in a hurry.

“Curse you! You all will pay for this!” Robotnik exclaimed. He rushed back, then saw Miles standing there. “Miles! I told you to go back to your room! You could’ve gotten hurt! Come now.” Robotnik went back into his base. “Hey, I’m sorry he didn’t listen to you,” Tails said. “No need to apologise,” Miles said. “This was a one time thing. He…. he’ll listen to me next time. He just got carried away…” There was a hint of hesitation in his voice. He then rushed back to the base. “Well, hopefully this is the first in a series of red flags that makes him turn over to the good side,” Sonic sighed.

“We have nothing more to do here,” Eris said. “Lets go to the next dimension.” “Yes, lets!” said Eggman. Eris created another tear and both she and Eggman jumped through it.

Serena slowly began to wake up. “Serena! Serena thank goodnes!” Amy said. “Are you alright?” asked Knuckles. “Are you hurt?” asked Tails. “Guys…. Yeah, I’m alright…” “That’s good to hear,” Blaze said. Serena realized Blaze was holding her. Her face suddenly turned red and hot and she pulled herself out and looked away. “Serena?” “I-I-I-I’m fine your h-highness. T-t-t-totally fine.” She was stuttering more than usual. Amy made a knowing face. “Anyhow, lets get into the next dimension before Eris causes even more chaos there.” Blaze said.

The group then jumped into the next dimension.

[bimboamyrose]

Unfamiliar - A Metamy Fanfic (Ch. 9)

First two chapters

Previous (Ch.8)

Ch. 9: The Thing About Sunsets

Mid-morning that Sunday, Amy and Metal lounged crossed-legged on the couch. She ate cereal from her bowl absent-mindedly, more focused on the day ahead than her breakfast. Metal was enthralled with some cartoon violence on TV. Amy watched him idly, wondering how-or if- Metal would be introduced to the team. She didn’t want to force it, but leaving him out entirely seemed unwelcoming. As much as she’d enjoyed her week or so off, it was only a matter of time before they’d all have to spring back into action. Sonic was supposed to discuss something with everyone today, and she was just waiting for the call.

Noon was fast approaching as they watched TV, Amy only half paying attention. Annoyed, she decided to get up and make the call herself. They weren’t about to waste the day watching cartoons. Amy excused herself and made the call from her room.

On TV, piloted mechs battled one another in the vast expanse of space. Amy had flipped it on, figuring Metal would enjoy watching a pair of huge robots duke it out. That was entertaining enough, but Metal found himself more invested in the show’s drama. A romantic subplot followed two unwitting opposing pilots falling in love, only to confront one another in battle later. The climax found the two caught in the crosshairs until the soldier sacrificed himself for the rebel, turning against his own armed forces to protect her. It was almost ostentatious in its melodrama.

Illogical. Metal thought the soldier had plenty of opportunity to defend himself against his own team. Using his mech as a shield was played up for theatrics- his superior speed could have allowed them both to escape reasonably. Still, Metal could appreciate the character’s dramatic flair and supposed this could make the story more interesting down the line. He was eager to catch the next re-run the following Sunday.

The credits finished rolling and a few advertisements led into a cooking program. Not interesting. Metal flipped to the next channel to find an old black and white film playing. A gentleman escorted a lady out of her home, offering her his arm. She latched onto it as they walked across a promenade, the young lady chatting away as the man listened fondly. The scene reminded him of someone. He quickly flipped through a few channels as he heard Amy returning. 

“Well, it looks like we’re not meeting until tomorrow. Guess we can do whatever we want this afternoon.” Amy leaned against the back of the couch over Metal’s shoulder. “Anything good on?” He shrugged, pausing on a nature documentary. The screen showed a grassy plane speckled with violet blossoms, towering trees in full bloom losing flowers to the wind. Amy sighed. “Those are jacaranda trees- the first bloom announces the beginning of summer. I hope the one here flowers soon.” She looked through to the other side of the small living room, out the glass door. She motioned to a tall hill that sprouted from the opposite side of the valley.  “It’s up there, same place I like to watch the sunset. There’s a pretty cliffside that faces the ocean. Pain to get up there though- Well, not for you I guess.”

Metal followed her gaze outward. The hills were no longer blanketed in snow, small patches of green beginning to emerge. It was captivating, watching the landscape reshape itself through the glass door like a portal. It was only a few days ago they were trekking through muddy snow, but now, the palms stood proudly upright and the sun dried sand glistened gently at midday. And although the days were tepid, evenings were still too chilly to find Amy outside without a coat or blanket, who wasn’t the most cold-resistant. The scenery changed daily but still looked recognizable. He wondered how it would appear in a few months, and if he’d stick around to see it. Metal wanted to see all of it before it changed any more.

He stretched as he stood up from the couch. Amy grinned, amused at the thought that Metal would feel stiff when his entire body was rigid. But he had seen her do it and she noticed him mimicking her from time to time; She found it cute. 

He looked to her, pointing a thumb toward the back door. Amy frowned. “You wanna go now? It’s still too cold up there,” she reasoned. He placed a fist on his hip disapprovingly and cocked his head to one side. “No way, I’ve had enough of this never-ending winter. You go ahead, I had something I wanted to get done today, anyway.” Metal shrugged back at her, rolling his eyes. She waved him off, ignoring his sassy response in favor of picking up around the couch by rearranging throw pillows and fluffing cushions. He silently wished for the weather to get warmer. 

“Have fun exploring. It’s nice when you can fly,” she chuckled as she took her empty cereal bowl to the kitchen. “I’ll be here when you get back.” Not easily deterred, Metal accepted her proposal to go alone and waved to her on his way out. Amy paused her bustling and looked around the threshold of the kitchen to him as he slid the door aside. “Metal, promise you won’t watch the sunset without me, okay?”

The whirring of Metal’s engine intensified as a sudden alarmed sensation overtook him. That’s right, she’d promised to take him to watch the sunset- he didn’t want to disappoint her. But why did the thought of watching together make him so nervous? Amy was giving him a strange look now. He found himself staring back at her for longer than was conformable, trying to come up with an appropriate response. Shooting her a thumbs-up was all he could come up with.

“Aha… Okay, well, take care,” she said before turning back to her dishes.

Metal hurried out the door, practically shooting into the sky. There was nothing out of the ordinary about that interaction, so, why did he feel so embarrassed? Perhaps it was because he wanted to express that he found Amy so much more interesting to watch than a setting sun. 

He shook his head furiously, pushing the thought away. The world was at his feet, there was nature to explore. Whether he’d experienced much of it before his memory loss, Metal didn’t know, but it beckoned him now. He turned his head toward the spot Amy had pointed out earlier. Still wanting a preview, he decided to take a look up there later- before the sun began setting. Embarrassment. What a useless emotion.

There was a lot to see. Amy’s house was on a small private beach surrounded by hills big and small, some speckled with little hillside homes. A larger mountain loomed behind it all. The beach was just one of many valleys, a few of which were untouched by anything but the local fauna. They boasted little thickets of trees or small ponds. Metal spent most of the afternoon ducking in and out of wooded areas and up rocky hillsides. Grass was just starting to sprout everywhere he looked, slowly overtaking the rotted leaves littered across the ground from last autumn. He was surprised to find a clearing bursting with wild tulips that he examined for some time. Metal thought about bringing some back to Amy’s house, just as a souvenir. He then spent the better part of an hour picking only a few of the most perfect buds, the ones with the tallest stems and most symmetrical petals.

As his shadow grew long and Metal became satisfied with his very uniform bouquet, he decided it was time to head back home- that is, back to Amy’s home. But he was interested in taking a look at the spot she had pointed out to him. If that tree could really announce warmer weather, he was curious as to how long it would be before it bloomed. He flew, finding the rolling cliffside Amy had described- a long, flat strip of land overlooking the western coastline. A single mature tree sat atop it. 

Metal lowered himself down near the edge of the cliff. The low sun was radiating brightly, reflecting off the glistening ocean. It wasn’t quite ready to hit the horizon, but the view was still breathtaking. He didn’t have long to appreciate it before a rustling behind him caused him to turn his attention abruptly, however.

“I never could sneak up on you.”

Sonic hung off a low branch from the tree confidently. He looked a lot less aggravated than when he’d stopped by the day before. Metal now understood Sonic’s violent response, but it didn’t seem to make him any more tolerant of the hedgehog. Enemy flashed in his head like a siren. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to fight.” Sonic landed, taking steps towards Metal. The latter didn’t move. “Gotta say, I didn’t expect you to be the type to be a nature lover.” He stopped a few feet from Metal, not far from the cliff’s edge. “Did you come to watch the sunset?” Metal didn’t respond, instead turning away from him and starting in the direction of the jacaranda tree. Sonic noticed the tulips he was clutching in one hand. “Those for Amy?” he teased.

Metal’s head whipped back around to glare at him. Sonic didn’t return the stare, instead looking unimpressed. “You know, you can see Amy’s place from the other side of this cliff.” Metal remained still. “I’ve been watching you. You guys talked all night- well, Amy did all the talking,” he snickered. “I gotta say, you’re full of surprises.” 

Sonic was being a nuisance. Metal had no desire to stick around to be mocked. So, he continued on his way across the cliff.

“Me and you’ve been fighting for a long time, Metal. It’s weird seeing you on the same side.”

Metal stopped just next to the tree. It was the greenest thing he’d seen all day, as if it had never shed it leaves to begin with. He touched the trunk with his free hand, examining the leaves and branches. No vibrant purple flowers to be seen. It was still early in spring, after all. And Amy was right- it was much colder up here than on the beach.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw you at Amy’s house yesterday.” Sonic took a few steps back toward Metal. “But you know what, I’m glad you’re becoming friends. She’s a great pal; sees the good in everyone. Even you.”

Even him. This implied that there was something deeply wrong with Metal, as if he was exceptionally heinous. What little he remembered of his past and his master was from the day he met Amy. It wasn’t a lot, but nevertheless impactful. He recalled a heavy sense of subjugation, a governing influence over his body and mind that he could do little to control. But could he really blame it all on that?

Sonic was in front of him now, arms crossed seriously. “For her sake, I really hope you’re not here to take advantage of that.”

Metal felt the cracked bark under his palm. Rough and slightly jagged. Given that Amy wouldn’t be happy if Metal lashed out, he had to focus on something to keep from shutting up his irksome rival by force. Even if he could express his genuine feelings to Sonic, Metal found it unlikely that he’d believe them. He turned his body toward Sonic, meeting his eyes. Instead of going for his throat, Metal placed a hand on his hip and bobbed his head around mockingly. Sonic didn’t seem to find it amusing.

“Cute,” he responded sarcastically. “All I’m saying is, this better not be an act.”

Metal’s eyes rolled dramatically. He held the tulips out in the direction of Amy’s house, as if to suggest he had somewhere better to be.

Sonic sighed in frustration. Metal was pleased that he seemed as annoyed as he was. “I’ve been looking out for Amy since we met. If you’re gonna be her friend, you better be willing to do the same. You know, maybe cover up those knife-hands of yours,” he smirked.

Annoying. Metal amended his memory file. He figured he might as well cross out enemy and see if it made him want to punch Sonic any less. He logged a photo of Sonic’s smug look before walking past him towards the cliff’s east side. The sun was beginning to touch the horizon Metal didn’t want to break his promise.

“Bring her up here some time. Amy likes to watch the sunset.”

Sonic sounded genuine that time. Metal didn’t bother responding, taking off from the cliffside and making his way down toward the beachy valley. Sonic watched him over his shoulder. Maybe there was something to Amy’s plan.

The sky was yellowing as he landed, the last rays of golden hour illuminating the little cabin warmly. Metal could spot Amy sitting at the dining table through the back door. She was tinkering with something, her full attention focused on whatever was in her hands. He watched her for a moment.

Amy noticed the light rapidly declining and looked up from her work. She was hand-sewing when she realized Metal was home. Waving to him, she quickly put her project away in her sewing box. Metal then pretended to look around as if he wasn’t just staring at her. Bemused, she hurried over to open the back door. “Metal! I was beginning to worry you were enjoying the sunset without me,” she laughed. “Come in. Oh, it’s chilly out.”

She quickly ducked back inside as Metal sauntered through, sliding the glass closed behind him. Amy was picking up loose threads and pins from the tabletop. “Did you have fun? You were gone longer than I expected.”

The nervousness that had overtaken Metal that morning suddenly returned as he made his way to hand Amy the flowers. They were admittedly rather windswept and didn’t look as lively as when he’d picked them. He worried she would find them ugly, but he couldn’t just get rid of them now. She was turning back to him already. Panicking, Metal brandished the bouquet high above him as if proudly holding a trophy. 

Amy’s face brightened. “Oh! How lovely. Let me get you a vase for your tulips.” 

His tulips. As she walked past him to search a low cupboard, Metal felt somewhat disheartened. He wouldn’t admit to himself that he planned on gifting them to his host, but he felt cheated now that he hadn’t. She placed a tall fluted vase on the countertop from the other side of the kitchen. “Here, I’ll trim them for you.” Metal delivered them to her, and she took them in both hands, supporting the bulbs in one. That was probably the proper way to handle the delicate flowers, he thought.

Metal sat himself at the counter as Amy trimmed and arranged the bouquet. She filled the vase with chilled water from a pitcher to keep them fresh. Leaning over the counter, she sighed. “These really brighten up the place.” She turned to him. “You know, tulips are some of the first flowers to grow in the spring. They come out when the ground is still snowy. They represent new beginnings.” Amy giggled, her cheeks coloring slightly. “I think it’s really fitting.”

New beginnings. They were certainly suited to the occasion. Metal supposed it really did make it his arrangement, but there was no reason he couldn’t share. He reached for the flower that looked the most aesthetically pleasing to him, a sunny yellow bulb with gently curving petals. Picking it from the arrangement, he quickly placed it behind Amy’s ear. She looked rather bemused at his unexpected playfulness for a moment before bursting into laughter.

“For me? Thank you,” she giggled, adjusting it to sit more comfortably. “I love yellow- it’s so cheery!” She made her way around to give him a hug from behind. Metal’s engine buzzed. He wasn’t sure if it was due to excitement or panic.

She pulled away, looking back through the glass door. He joined her in watching. The sky was a hybrid of sunny yellow and romantic pink. Amy leaned on the back of Metal’s chair, enchanted by the dreamy colors. “I see it pretty much every day but it never stops being pretty, you know? I guess that’s the thing about sunsets.” 

Metal gazed on with her. He had grown to enjoy the daily event, never ceasing to be entertained by the brightly painted sky. It gave him a sense of calm that seemed to cure even the peculiar excitement he kept feeling around Amy. Still, he lamented that she was standing behind him and he was unable to watch the dreamy smile she wore whenever she sighed over something she found lovely. But it happened every day, after all. The opportunities were endless.

.........................................................................................................

hi babes, not much to day just wanted something cute for a lil transition. besos 

[crusherthedoctor]

Crusher Elaborations #1: Thoughts on the Aesthetic of Sonic’s World

If someone came up to me and asked “Which do you prefer, Classic Sonic or Modern Sonic?”, my answer would start off with “Well, technically Classic Sonic because...”, and then I'd get cut off by the other person immediately lecturing me on why I'm wrong and why I'm the worst kind of fan imaginable. Should they finish their rant, I would then explain to them in the midst of them basking in their flock of easy Twitter likes that I didn't necessarily mean it in the way they predicted.

If we were talking about the games, the characters, or the character design, I'd be fairly neutral, since I like both halves equally for the most part. In fact, when it comes to characters, Modern might actually have the edge believe it or not, since the sheer number of characters introduced from SA1 onwards naturally means a lot of my favourites were introduced from that point on, such as Tikal, Rouge, Gamma, Omega, Blaze... But then again, Classic introduced Eggman and Tails, and the Hard-Boiled Heavies are technically Classic as well despite being relatively new...

Anyway, the point is, I'm not talking about any of that today. I'm talking about the world that Sonic and his multicolored chums live in. Or rather, the aesthetic of it.

NOTE: This is purely about the game universe. While I do have my thoughts on Sonic’s world as presented in other continuities, that won’t be the focus here.

If you're familiar with my blog, you'll know that as a general rule of thumb, I much prefer colorful and creative worlds in my Sonic universe, and that rings true for my reasoning here. And I know what you're gonna say: “But Crusher, isn't there plenty of that in the Modern games as well?” Yes, there is, and I appreciate them very much. But this is why I feel the need to make a post of this sort to begin with, because I'm NOT saying “Classic cool, Modern boring” and calling it a day. There's a little more nuance to my tastes here.

When I say I prefer the Classic aesthetic for Sonic's world, I don't mean it in the literal sense of disregarding everything about the Modern aesthetic. Let's put it like this: when you're asked to paint a picture of these two sides of Sonic's universe in your head, a specific image will likely come to mind. When you think of Classic, you'll probably think of Green Hill first and foremost, whereas with Modern, you'll probably think of something like City Escape or Rooftop Run before anything else. In other words, when you think Modern Sonic, you're probably imagining the more realistic kind of locations first. And between the two mental images that come to mind, I personally prefer the Classic image. Shock, horror.

I wish I could swim in a sea that’s probably radioactive.

Now keep in mind, I'm not saying that City Escape, Rooftop Run, and all similar environments in the series look bad, because they don't. Unless they're painted with the '06 brush, they generally look fine, and the locations in Unleashed in particular are undeniably beautiful from an graphical standpoint. The problem is that although I can picture this as a world that Sonic could be in, I can't necessarily picture it as Sonic's world specifically. Because when it comes to the more realistic environments, I feel there's not much of an attempt to let it branch out as its own thing.

I know that might seem harsh, especially for Unleashed, since the real world angle was the deliberate theme of that game. And Sonic taking cues from real places is a fine concept, there's no issue there. I'm not gonna complain if there's a France Zone with an Eiffel Tower in the background. In fact, Sandopolis Act 1 has one of my favourite aesthetics in a Classic zone (mainly because the background is really pleasant to look at), and that zone is essentially Egypt Zone. But if you're making a Real World Zone, there needs to be more to it than that, otherwise you don't truly get a Sonic interpretation of our world... you instead have our world as it is with Sonic characters awkwardly stapled on.

When I look at City Escape, it may not be completely unfitting for Sonic (the posters and billboards in particular are actually a really nice touch), but when I look at it, I don't see Sonic's interpretation of San Francisco. I see San Francisco with Sonic shoved in. When they morph these places to Sonic's liking, they'll add rings, loops... and that's it. They rarely take the concept any further, which is a huge shame, particularly in the case of Rooftop Run, where I otherwise do like its visuals a lot, but it just doesn't go far enough with the concept for my liking.

At least you get to murder car owners, and give G.U.N. a legitimate reason to arrest you.

So which Modern games do I feel did the best job at making Sonic's world... er, Sonic's world? Well the truth is, most of them actually do a decent job in this area, regardless of the level design quality or the game’s quality period. SA2 has Pumpkin Hill, Eggman's Pyramid Base, and... SOME levels aboard the A.R.K (mainly the “outside” ones, like Final Rush). Shadow the Hedgehog, a game that reveled in how brown and gritty it was, still had highlights like Circus Park and Digital Circuit. Even '06 of all games had Aquatic Base, which was pretty cool from a conceptual standpoint. And although Unleashed as a whole might be a touch too vanilla in the creativity scale, it still had the glorious Eggmanland at the very end. But if I had to say which of the Modern installments did the best job overall...

- For starters, I'm gonna give a shoutout to SA1, because even though it was the first Modern game, and thus it was technically responsible for the more focused angle of realism in Sonic's world in the first place, it didn't take it quite as far as later games would, and although it may not be a perfect 1-to-1 representation of the world we saw in the Classic games, it does well enough with what it brings to the table that I can still accept it without any issue at all. Some of that has to do with the fact that you still have wilder areas like Windy Valley and Red Mountain to balance things out, but even with the other half, the game's use of colour is enough for it to go a long way, oddly enough. Take the At Dawn section of Speed Highway for instance:

From innocent times, when the radar wasn’t a piece of shit.

Technically, it's really not that different to the urban environments you see in SA2 or Unleashed. But something about the sleepy morning approach gives it a subtle, almost dream-like edge to it that I really dig, and despite it being pretty similar to the likes of City Escape, somehow I have an easier time buying into the idea of this place being part of the same world as zones like Sky Sanctuary.

And seeing how I already mentioned Red Mountain, let me compare it to Flame Core:

Yes, I know bringing '06 into this discussion at all is inherently and hilariously unfair, but let's put aside the game that Flame Core comes from for a moment. Aside from maybe the purple crystal caves indoors (and that's assuming you can even see where the fuck you're going in there), Flame Core is pretty boring to look at as far as Sonic levels go. Red Mountain is vastly more interesting, even though it's basically the exact same concept, and a lot of that has to do with - you guessed it - colour. Sure, it's day time, that's one thing, but you'll also notice that for a lava/mountain stage, it surprisingly has a few grassier sections, sort of like Hill Top in that regard. A little bit of green among the brown and red, and a great contrast to the volcanic nightmare you'll experience when you head inside.

Now this might seem like a fairly minor detail... and yeah, it is, but the thing that SA1 does so well is that it combines so many of those small details to make a complete, well-rounded package. This is why SA1 meshes well with the Classic style despite not being an exact replica, because just as the Classics excelled at, it wasn't afraid to use colour in interesting ways. It understood that a fire level could have more than just red and orange, in the same way that a grassy level could have more than just green and blue.

But of course, as I mentioned, SA1 is not an exception. There are other Modern games that did a great job on the whole...

- Heroes is an obvious answer, since it's translation of Genesis-style environments to 3D is probably one of the most recurring praises the game receives, and rightly so. Not much to say here, except that Hang Castle is still cool as hell.

And plenty of opportunity to admire the not-broken-in-half moon.

- Colours is another obvious one, though something of an ironic one given that the premise of the game involved going to other worlds, and those worlds were all converted against their will by Eggman. Yet, they did an equally superb job at creating fun, unique locales, and Aquarium Park in particular remains a favourite of mine.

Gotta love that red/blue contrast.

- The Riders series has a more futuristic bend compared to the rest of the series, but even when it's not all high-tech, it's got some pretty cool environments of its own, and I feel they even do well at mixing the real world side of things on top of that. Gigan Rocks comes to mind, as does Aquatic Capital.

Reminds me of when Perfect Chaos peacefully protested against Station Square.

- Regardless of my thoughts on the game itself, Secret Rings had some undeniable winners in this depertment. You tell me with a straight face that Night Palace doesn't look amazing.

A wonderful palace for a domestic abuser.

- And lastly, they might have had an early advantage since they're already 2D, but the Advance trilogy and Rush duology deserve a mention. They had some fantastic ideas for zones, like Planet Sonata Music Plant, and they did great with the colours as well. Hell, throughout these five games, the sky was practically every shade of the rainbow at one point or another.

Oh look, another completely whole moon.

Also, quick shoutout to another minor detail akin to the grassy sections of Red Mountain: these pink tunnel sections in Ice Mountain. No elaborate point to make here, just another perfect example of how much I adore these games' use of colour and contrast.

Seriously, I could go on for hours about good contrast.

Although I do bring up these small details for another reason, and in turn, another layer to my more nuanced take on Sonic aesthetics. By this point, we get the basic jist: Crusher likey when Sonic levels unique and pretty. But this can - and has - lead to a couple of misconceptions, so I'd like to address those and then laugh at them.

“So you want Sonic's world to be exactly like Mario?”

A common complaint that Lost World received was that it was too much like Mario, in more ways than one, and part of this was to do with the game's visual style. The zones may have been upbeat, but they often consisted of a bunch of things floating in the air and not much else, ala 2D Mario. While I didn't outright hate it, it’s definitely not what I have in mind for Sonic.

Of course, all complaints about being too much like Mario suddenly turn into praise when Eggette gets brought up...

And why is that? Because yes, I like my Sonic locations to be fun and lively... but I also want them to be firmly established within the context of this universe. The Lost World approach is fine with Special Stages and the sort, but outside of that... well, Studiopolis is a perfect example of what I'm talking about:

On one hand, it's very unique when compared to other cities in this franchise, and it's full of quirkiness, great use of colour, and all that good stuff I've went on about. But at the same time, it's grounded just enough so that it still feels like an actual city that the people of Sonic's world could feasibly live in, rather than a basic and empty video game level with a tacked on city background. Studiopolis may be a level from a video game, but you can totally believe it's a fully fleshed out place from its own perspective.

Naturally, this praise also rings true with the Modern games I listed earlier, and is yet another reason for why I approve of their settings.

“So you think Sonic can't have darker locations?”

It might be easy to take my compliments at face value, and assume that I'm immediately opposed to a zone that's not brightly colored. This is... very obviously false, as even the Classic games have their share of less-than-cheery areas, such as Scrap Brain and the Bad Futures in Sonic CD.

However, when you're making a grittier location in Sonic's world, regardless of the context, it still needs to be interesting. The problem with a lot of them in Modern installments is that they're boring. Crisis City is a generic city on fire. Westopolis is a generic city with aliens firing lasers from above. The prison levels in SA2 - and the indoor ARK levels not named Cannon's Core - are just grey hallways for the most part. That shit isn't exciting, and it doesn't get my mind speculating. It just makes me want to move on.

Let the eggsperts take care of this.

By contrast, Eggmanland is a prime example of how to do it right. Eggmanland is a magnificent theme park as envisioned by the good doctor, but it's also, at its core, a giant metal hellscape fueled by the energy of a dark entity, and it only gets more ominous the further you go through it or try to before you give up because it’s too fucking long and you died at the end. So it sets the mood to be sure, but it's still visually compelling to look at, and interesting to think about.

And since Eggman is apparently the only one who can show us how it's done, here's a shoutout to Titanic Monarch as well:

Like Heavy King, but Heavier and Kingier.

When comparing the final zones in Sonic games, I especially love this zone's visual approach, because it manages to be dark and colorful at the same time, and in a strangly organic way. It's got a spooky atmosphere, with a moody moonlight backdrop to match, and the titular robot is foreboding as hell as you climb up it and traverse through it... all the while having red floors, green and yellow wires, blue and pink buildings, and stained glass windows of Eggman and the Heavies for you to marvel at. So even putting aside the unique scenario of climbing up and then through a Kaiju-sized mech, the mood of the zone alone manages to be extremely memorable.

So what have we learned from all this? Aside from the fact that I’m way too interested in this subject? We now know that when I say I prefer the Classic “style” over Modern when it comes to the way that Sonic's world is presented:

- I don't mean that literally.

- There are certain qualities that although both of them possess, they tend to be more immediately associated with Classic in the collective consciousness, even within the fandom.

- The environments that I love the most in Modern games are often the ones that would also fit perfectly in the Classic style.

So whenever I express the basic nature of this opinion in the future... just imagine a small asterisk at the end of my sentence.

[beevean]

3 years of Sonic Forces, the biggest love-hate relationship of the series

[note: this is the translation of @latin-dr-robotnik​’s article]

Today is an almost special day, today it’s the anniversary of a rather peculiar game in this series.

On this day 3 years ago, the (to this day) newest game of Sonic Team was released: Sonic Forces. After waiting a year and a half since its announcement (and four years since Sonic Lost World’s release), it was finally time to see what the last chapter of the main series had in store for us, and the results were… okay.

There were so many warning signs in the months before the release: a marketing campaign that was noticeably absent until the very last month, opting to focus more on Mania (let’s not forget that we still get videos about Mania even after the game’s release, not so much about Forces), which added to the uncertainty caused by the footage already available at the time, which ended up being confirmed a few days before the release, when some people managed to get the game early and streamed a good chunk of the game. While one of the leakers was just a bad player, the quality of the game itself was put into question…

A harsh reality

I’m not going to soften up my words here: for being the latest Sonic game, in a post-Generations and post-Boom era, Sonic Forces fell short of everything it tried to do (if it tried). Anything positive comes from the roots of something negative, and in the context of this anniversary, after 3 years without knowing a thing about the next game, it only emphasizes the frustration and the disappointment it caused.

Sonic Forces promised a world devastated by Eggman, an epic battle to save the world and win against a powerful enemy. However, of so many promises, not even the first one, the most basic one, was kept: it was an empty takeover, explained poorly (because they didn’t even show it, they told it through text) and developed even worse. All the potential of such an exciting world was thrown away as soon as the game didn’t even try to explain some of its most important questions (like why Green Hill was in the process of desertification); to this day we still don’t know what the fuck does the Phantom Ruby do, in Mania it has some powers, in Forces it has different powers, and it’s not clear where does it come from or if it’s more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds. It is disappointing to not be able to discover all this untapped potential, and it is so disappointing that one of the oldest works on my blog was an attempt to rewrite the beginning of the game, give it more context and a better footing to start the adventure.

This old leak dates back to 2016, when the game was barely announced, and surprisingly it ended up being real, very very real. Even the title “Sonic Wars” is true, and if you don’t believe me you can open the game’s folder and read the names that appear. Source.

The confusion and disappointment don’t end here. If you have read the mess of opinions and emotions that is my analysis of the game [translator’s note: the link is in Spanish], you may have noticed that one of the biggest questions never answered was, what’s up with the order of the levels and why is it so confusing? Between 2016 and 2017, there were some leaks and statements going around places like Sonic Stadium that confirmed that the game went through numerous changes, not just in the plot, but in the levels as well. Right now I can’t find these old posts (I’m surprised that the fandom didn’t archive them), but it was said that the original idea for Forces, then still called Sonic Wars, was to shine the spotlight even more on the Avatar, or Buddy as it was called; the decision was unanimously rejected by SEGA of America and Europe, forcing SEGA of Japan to order that the game was modified. In fact, I remember that the leak that mentioned this meeting between the SEGA branches was rather bad, with a very tense atmosphere and lots of disagreements.

This is the closest thing to a confirmation of the scrapped plot that I could find. At least it’s proof that I’m not crazy and that Forces was indeed more focused on the Avatar. Source.

The mess that is the order of the levels, the questionable presence of characters like Classic Sonic, and some of the details of one of the leaked scrapped scripts such as that apparently they considered to reintroduce Mephiles – all of this shapes the network of a mediocre game, created under the premise of “from the creators of Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations” but taking all the wrong parts of those two games, using an engine that has been proven to be less efficient than Unleashed’s and Generations (and I’m not talking about the Hedgehog Engine, which is the graphical engine – I’m talking about the game and physics engine of Lost World), and with short levels and… polarizing bosses, to say the least.

The result is a game that shows a lot of potential, but in practice it doesn’t live up to it at all, be it for its own limitations (being rushed like hell) or for a noticeable lack of attention to details; it didn’t succeed in creating a cohesive and coherent world, with levels that could be worthy of what has been learned in these years. This is the reality of Sonic Forces.

And yet...

Despite everything I’ve just said, despite all the unacceptable errors that Forces made, and despite all the terribly wasted potential… we still talk about this game.

There are many reasons. On one hand, Forces and Mania have been the latest Sonic games for 3 years now, which is tragic in on itself (Team Sonic Racing disappeared from the face of the Earth); on the other, we still talk about Forces because there is something that still attracts us to it.

It’s not the same attraction we feel for Sonic ‘06, though. Forces is not a complete, almost-franchise-killing disaster like ‘06 was, it’s not a giant meme that spread from the fandom to popular circles and internet figures such as the Game Grumps. People have been trying to fix Forces’ mistakes, but not on the same scale as projects that tries to completely recreate ‘06 with a radically different engine, or fix each and every bug in the original version. Forces is nowhere near as infamous, and so the discussion goes in different directions.

Episode Shadow is still one of the most entertaining parts of the game, and one of the most important as well, as Shadow himself hadn’t been a playable character since… well, Sonic ‘06.

On one hand, there is a cult surrounding Infinite, one that I personally don’t agree with, and I don’t know if it’s bigger than Mephiles’ 15 years ago, but I do know that it exists and it’s still present. One of the ways Sonic Team tried to “go back to its roots” was to introduce a character like Infinite in a plot that was supposed to be “more serious”. Final results notwithstanding, Infinite managed to win the heart of a sizeable portion of the fandom, which still wishes for his return and development.

On the other hand, there is the Avatar, our personal OC with an impressive customization system, which allows us complete freedom, to the point that we could recreate characters introduced in Sonic IDW like Whisper the Wolf. What at first looked like a questionable idea, nothing more than a source of memes, ended up becoming the smartest idea Forces had, with a gameplay style that, in my opinion, retains a little of the old Adventure spirit, and even had some of the most fun levels in the game. While Classic Sonic ruined one third of the game, and Sonic was somewhat mediocre compared to his past feats, the Avatar’s gameplay style manages to keep its quality throughout the game, despite the fact that the plot keeps revolving around their presence instead of focusing on the other aspects of saving the world, which is... well, a little unfortunate.

Even I, who I’m not really into Sonic OCs, had a lot of fun recreating some of the characters.

And finally we get to the best part of the entire game: the music.

Even after three years my opinions haven’t changed much. Forces’ music isn’t perfect, it has its low moments (I feel like I’m the only one who doesn’t like Light of Hope) and some disasters (F*ded H*lls lol), but overall it has good intentions and it has some pretty good highlights.

The use of synths, as overdone and criticized as it is, was an honest attempt to follow a trend present in older games, like Sonic Unleashed, where this instrument symbolized Eggman’s influence. An interesting touch that, while wasn’t completely successful, is appreciated.

I still say that Fighting Onward is one of the best themes of the entire game, and Spaceport as the level benefits from having it.

Then there’s the best part of the entire soundtrack: the return of vocal themes, such as the main theme, the villain theme, and some of the level themes. I cannot explain with enough words how much fans were waiting for this, and it was brilliantly handled by the advertising campaign: a preview of the instrumental version of Fist Bump, a short peek of the Avatar themes, and finally the reveal of some of the major themes. It’s not surprising that it became one of the most appreciated parts by the fans. From the iconic intro of Fading World to the subtle nod to Green Hill in Set In Motion, every theme has something that makes it stand out from the rest of the game.

But even so, the rest of the music in the game has redeemable points as well. Forces in general distances itself from the music styles previously used in the series, especially from the variety of incredible sounds of Unleashed or even Lost World; but from time to time it still recognizably Sonic, like in the half-Megaman, half-Runners Network Terminal, in the extremely epic and underrated Last Judgement, or in the always-mentioned Ghost Town (not the only “good” Classic theme in my opinion, but the first one that comes to mind). Even the remixed Zavok theme sound better in Forces than in its original version.

A love-hate relationship

At the end of the day, the only thing left I could say is that Forces is still one of the most polarizing games in the series. 3 years aren’t enough to heal some of the wounds left by the 4-year hiatus, plus the disappointment of the time, but at the same time these 3 years kept alive the memory of its best moment, the discussions about the music and the uncountable groups of fans reunited to share OCs like the fandom has always done.

In this anniversary, I thought it would be interesting to revisit a bit the peculiar relationship I have with this game, as we wait for a new hype cycle for the next game. And maybe, just maybe, that will be the moment Forces will fade from our collective memory, at least for a decade, until new fans will look back to the good and bad this game has done. And I hope that, in the future, the situation of the franchise will also be different from what it has been these last years, in a good way of course.

This is all we have left of Forces today, a game that did not manage to capitalize on its opportunities, and a game that shames the legacy of the Unleashed-Colors-Generations era; but also a game that had some genuine, interesting ideas, and a different musical direction, one that (with some exceptions) was what the fans wanted. It’s a polarizing game, it’s a love-hate relationship.