#death and destruction. chaos blast. im losing my mind.

[hartxstarr-art]

my vision. luvdisc.

[superemeralds]

OH WOW thank you for answering so fast!! I wanted to ask because in my opinion, Shadow is written kind of... poorly.. at the metal virus arc :c and I love how you characterize Shadow!! I was wondering, if you could, how would you have written him in it?

okay so this got. RAELLY long. it’s under the read more.. hhaaa... get ready for rambles.

before i start on what i would love to see different, here’s a few things that i really liked about his characterization in idw:

shadow being persistent about what he thinks is right, being very straightforward and strict in wanting to execute his ideal

the way he stepped down and let sonic try his way instead of being stubborn because sonic made a very good point. Shadow wants to be fair, and if he of all people deserves a chance, then so should eggman. kind of ties back to maria also, which is a nice nod to have considering it seems like modern writers for sonic usually treat the ending of shth as “ok she never existed to him anyways”

i like that he uses his GUN affiliation to his advantage to do good and help people (even if by rouges account he does it because he doesnt want to deal with zombots)

he has great devotion to make sure the truck is safe and peole get a chance to get out, giving (according to the comics anyways) more than 100% of his power dealing with hundreds if not thousands of zombots alone

I like that there’s a nod to shadow being insecure about his status as ultimate life form, and he is tempted to get infected just to prove to himself he really CANT get sick and he really IS a perfect being. He struggled a lot with the high expectations that were laid upon him, the expectations he’s laying upon himself.

I like how he had a great sense of shock and defeat when he realized that he DID get infected. It’s very true for him to be thrown off by it, get a little careless due to shock. its natural. it’s good.

his “i told you something like this would happen” towards sonic in the beginning of #19 is justified. He hates that he was right, he always is, and he wishes he wasnt. he could’ve prevented this, but its too late now. then later he risks getting infected with the metal virus, and he DOES get infected. He suddenly wasnt right anymore. This sense of irony... it’s probably one of the reasons he has trouble to concentrate on the fight. it’s a nice parallel. IDK if ian intended it to be this deep, but that’s what i read into it.

(i also want to point out that i like that herms gives everyone slightly diverse “skin”-tones. like diverse undertones. im still peeved they are all pretty pale but its hoenstly a nice little nod)

okay so here’s what i think could’ve gone better:

I feel like shadow being the one to drive the truck into the city is a reference to 06, where he is driving around in various vehicles. That in itself is nice, and i think shadow is a person who prefers to do things himself if there’s a lot at stake (which there was a lot of peoples lives) but i also think that he would think of himself as a powerful shield. He would rather be the one overseeing the battlefield insread of being the designated driver. He knows he was created for the frontlines, and he is someone who knows he can survive the front lines. He is not a sacrefice tobe made, he is the one who will make sure that no one else has to sacrefice themselves. Shadow should’ve been on site from the very beginning. Where is the rest of GUN anyways? Those low level humans should make an effort to protect the life on their planet.

Shadow did absolutely NOT use 100% of his pwoer to protect the truck. He could EASILY have done more. He can lift trucks. He could use chaos blast. He could easily have prevented just faling victim to the zombots so easily.

As mentioned above it kind of DOES make sense for him to go down easily due to being infected, but I think this was the wrong time to let him get infected. I think he wouldn’t let his guard down and carelessly touch a zombot. He would not give in to the temptation to test his limits like this if there was not a greater cause. I think he would easily break if someone he cared about (other than sonic) fell victim to the metal virus. This is something that would get him emotional, to get careless. He knows sonic can outrun the virus, but rouge can’t. Amy, Tails, Knuckles, Vector, all of Sonic’s friends can’t outrun the virus. There’s a big chance that he is immune, there’s a slim chance he is not. But even with that slim chance, he knows he could outrun it, just like sonic. Losing someone he cares about to the virus would remind him of his superiority, of how fragile life is and of his responsibility to protect life itself. Any restrait would be gone. He would be driven by guilt and anger at himself, that he could’ve done better, that he HAS to do better. It’s something that spirals him totally out of control. It’s something that would make him want to prove to himself that he has the ability to fix it all. because it’s all his fault.

this is honestly something that is so important. he feels responsible for this, because he did what was right and gave sonic and eggman a chance. In his mind, sometimes the right hting to do is the wrong thing to do, because sometimes only wrong actions get you to the right goal. he is a gray character like that, and i think it’s not shown enough. his regret and guilt don’t surface enough so that anyone who is not as invested in the character would be able to read it out of #19. there’s a lot of stuff going on inside shadow in this issue and its just. not enough time to unpack it all. this whole deal of him getting infected was too rushed. (as mentioned above i wouldve preferred he get infected a little later or under other circumstances)

I think shadow is aware of his responsibility as living weapon to not fall into the hands of the enemy. he has learned what it means to be manipulated, he learned what it means if he was used as a weapon by an enemy of life on earth. he does NOT want to be used as an object of destruction ever again. He would RUN. even if hesitant, but his emotions would make him excell even in that. he would make sure he’d run faster than sonic. he’s want to make sure that he’d give 110% and cure himself, something sonic couldn’t do.

the way he would go down in my mind is him excerting himself. He would absolutely reject help. he would prefer to not have any contact with anyone at all. For one because he feels guilty and he doesn’t want to deal with that emotionally, also because he doesn’t want anyone to see him in this state of weakness. He absolutely would loathe the idea of anyone being able to see him go down and surrender to the enemy. He would absolutely exhaust his entire energy reservoir building barricades and being the sole and only front line protecting evacuation efforts from a distance, to make sure that they have enough buffer to escape, should he fail.

shadow is someone  who is rash and has a tendency to boast his strength, but he also is someone who tries to consider any and all possibilities, no matter how painful they are to admit to his pride. he will shove them to the back of his mind, but they are still there. and if it COMES to those scenarios, he will have a plan for them. only if unpredictable things happen, or things that shake him emotionally, he would lose grip.

also in all those talks abt things shaking him emotionally, i dont mean that other people who arent his friends are not important to him, its just that friendship has a bigger impact on people. i think that should be pretty obvious, but since people like to misinterpret shadow id like to make sure people understand that i think that shadow values all and every life on the planet. he griefs over random deaths as much as his friends, it’s just that it hits more personal. mostly because he thinks... of himself as someone who always protects, but never has to be protected.

shadows relationship with himself is complicated. he thinks very low of himself. he pretty much hates himself. but that is because he thinks oh so highly of himself. he is perfect, ultimate, unbeatable, unstoppable, immortal, immune.... he expects all this of himself... even though he knows that it’s not true. it’s the one thing that he knows of himself. The one thing he feels that he could maybe achieve if he tried hard enough, and of course he is never trying hard enough; and at the same time he is trying so hard. He gives 300% and yet he still feels like he halfasses everything and he still feels like he could do better. On the outside he presents it with his strict edgy persona, that looks down on everyone. but really he feels so small. most of all towards sonic. sonic is so so tall compared to shadow (pun intended).

he looks up to sonic so much, because he always manages to go out of hisway to do what is right. even if it meant risk, even if it meant weakness. Sonic, the guy that easily could just get killed and hurt and not recover. the funny jokes dude that never thinks more than a single step ahead. This boy is out there risking his life for the life of this planet on the front lines and he shows not a single care about his own safety, always putting everyone else before him. shadow envies him. he really really does. thats why he values his opinoin. thats why he listens to him and even steps back from his OWN ideals, something he would do for only VERY few people, because of course shadow is always right. this is referenced in various sonic games (sa2 most of all,shth,sth) and in sonic x (yea its not canon but like. They Really Got His Character).

ADDING SOME RAMBLING AFTER ISSUE #33 RELEASED

[lana-1526]

Dream smp timestamp | Dawn of the 16th

Oh hello 

so a friend of mine just started on the mcyt fandom and isn’t that familiar with the lore and i’ve been helping him catch up and we both watched sad-ist’s newest animation and he didn’t understand but still loved it nontheless and i procastinated and didn’t want to do my school work so i made him like timestamps for the animation explaining what’s happening and what’s the context in each scene it’s under the cut and if there are any mistakes pls tell me so i can change it to the correct information pr any info that can be added/any that i missed (also he already knows the charas and a few bits of lore so there’s no explanation on who’s who) 

here’s the video by sad-ist:  “Dawn of the 16th” | Dream SMP Animation

0:00-0:04 is the talk of tommy and wilbur during exile planning the revolution 0:05-0:07 is the bench that's like the friendship place of tubbo and tommy (their special hangout place) 0:08-0:11 is the caravan ruins of the first war 0:12-0:14 is the sapnap's fish which he had to release due to some fighting with tommy 0:15-0:18 shows the castle eret made (the dream smp team's castle essentially) 0:19-0:27 shows eret (the current king at the time of the dream smp team) and dream talking about respect and backstabing, which i think is funnny cuz he was the first ever traitor of lmanbrg and became king after dream even if dream was supposed to give the crown to george 0:28-0:40 shows tubbo overlooking lmanburg (he is a known traitor to schlatt at this point in time and he's planning the revolution with tommy) and then it pans to quackity (former fiance of schlatt and new traitor to him as well) joining tubbo in overlooking lmanburg 0:40-0:47 the dialogue between eret and dream continue 0:50 shows the declaration of independance of lmanburg made by the first president (wilbur) if u look closely u can see a big SUCK IT GREEN BOY on the side cuz wil did a joke while writing it XD 0:52 shows tommy overlooking the declaration 0:53-0:55 is the founding members of lmanburg before the first war 0:56 are tommy's discs (which started the first war and the current war that takes place after the animation's timeline) which are like aa keypoint to tommys chara 0:57-0:58 - tommy gives tubbo the discs as like a sign of trust and they do this in the bench place shown earlier 1:00 shows the aftermath of the explosion seen later 1:02 is the aftermath of the fight due to the terrorism act done by technoblade 1:03 shows dream and techno side by side with tommy's voice saying "the best pvp players" and then it pans to tommy saying to tubbo that it's basically them against dream (the literal puppet master of the smp) 1:10 dream leaves the palace 1:13 shows the election stand and basically the white house of manburg (lmanburg and manburg are diff due to schlatt being the dictator of lmanburh turing it into manburg also teh structures are diff as well in per era) and then it just zooms out idk what the symbolism of the fallen chair is but i think it's the chair wilbur and tommy sat in when they got exiled 1:19 the first appearance of philza who is the canon dad of techno, wilbur, and tommy (phil's chara is shown to have wings due to his experience in mc with hard mode where he always has the elytra on and also it's always white so the raven transition seems to mean about wilbur having dark wings, i think, not really sure but it's my interpretation to it) 1:20 is where techno shows his underground bunk to pogtopia (the rebelling/revolution party) which literally has so much shit 1:21 -1:30 is the bunker with the stuff needed in a fight, each chest is filled with stacks of one item ex. one chest is full with strength pots and the other with flaming arrows 1:30-1:31 shows techno saying the most iconic line, and also shows how his chara is an anarchist (someone who doesnt like any form of government) sadist seems to like remind people that hes basically chaotic in this scene 1:31-1:32 shows pogtopia getting the loot with an easter egg of tubbo taking all the emeralds of a chest (he actually did this on stream so kudos to sadist for that little detail) 1:37 techno actually gives a powerful enchanted sword to tommy personally and then the awesomme af transition of to tommy leading the pogtopia to kill schlatt 1:42 shows dream preparing 1:43-1:47 shows the all three parties, the first is lmanburg (maburg) party with schlatt and dream takig charge, second being the pogtopia party and if u noticed wilbur is the only one not happy and the only one without armor because at this point he became insane and want to blow up lmanburg but people do not know, the lastly the neutral party which showcases badboyhalo talking about that it doesnt really matter with flames in the bg (i think this references to the egg which is seen later in the future but at this point in time the weird egg is just starting to grow with bbh tending to it which made him go crazy up until the whole skeppy thing (skepp is bbh's best friend so yea)) 1:48 is the buttonn to blow up lmanburg but wilbur hasnt pushed it yet cuz he is still trying to figjt the urge to push it 1:49-1:53 wilbur is losing his mind and is on the verge of destroying everything with his black wings showing to represent his dad which shows up on the next scene 1:54-1:55 phil shows up and wibur doesnt know what to with his dad confronting him and knowing that phil wouldnt approve and would try to stop him 1:57 shows the bridge where pogtopia is running through to get to schlatt and it's iconic due to the fact of the coinicidence it being a sunset 2:00 is the start of the fight with an explosion then the fight sequence between pogtopia and lmanburg happen to get to to schlatt 2:10 happens and u see schlatt on the ground at this point in time hes an alcholic and hes drunk and surroounded by once friends turned enemy due to his tyranny 2:18 fundy explains why he joined pogtopia to schlatt 2:22 schlatt dies losing his last canon life due to a heart attack, tbh im suprised on how sad-ist made this so serious but in teh streams he dies while saying to quackity that his ass his flat or i quote "flatty patty" 2:23 tubbo is made the new president by wilbur 2:24 everyone rejoices but technoblade cuz he joined and helped pogtopia becauase he thought that after they won there would be no more governemnt 2:25-2:45 the act of terrorism of technoblade starts with him explaining his beliefs as an anarchist, he threatens tubbo which is serious because tubbo has only one last canon life left and tommy goes to fight him to save tubbo 2:45 pogtopia fights technoblade 2:47 we go back to wilbur where the button is that will start all the tnt hidden underneath lmanburg 2:48 the fight is still going on outside and people are unaware of what wilbur is going to do 2:51 wilbur quotes the first ever traitor: eret saying "it was never meant to be" and phil is shocked and doesnt do anything to stop wilbur from hitting the button 3:02 he couldnt stop wilbur pressing the button which in turn explodes everything even half the room but phil was able to protect wilbur from the blast 3:04-3:05 teh explosion happens and disrupts the fight between techno and pogtopia 3:06 tommy's closup to his reaction of seeing the land he fought for blowing up 3:07-3:09 wilbur hands philza his sword and says to kill him but phil refuses saying that he cant kill his own son 3:11 the other;s reaction seeing phil and wilbur in the room after the explosion dies down 3:12 tubbo is in shock 3:13  dream is watching in triumph as he sees wilbur blow everything up 3:15 techno prepares the withers //also fun fact when phil killed will he finds out techno is the traitor they were warned about who will bring destruction and chaos during the earlier stages of the revolution, it isnt wilbur as he exploded everything on his own volition rather than teaming up with dream like what techno did 3:16 techno's speech starts alluding to a previous conversation he had with tommy where he warns tommy that being a hero will result in a gruesome death 3:18-3:20 different scenes pop up, the first being tommy's discs being held by someone with armor (i think its dream due to the fact he has the discs later in the timeline to threaten tommy and lmanburg), the second being someone in a lmanburg uniform (not sure if its tommy or tubbo but if its tommy it seems like it'sthe exile), 3rd is the throne room with george on the throne and dream and callahan at his side , then last is the scene of the newest members, captain puffy, connor, and ranboo joining with emphasis on ranboo as he is  important to the plot later on the sequence also shows phil holding a now deceased wilbur crying and then techno realeses the withers on everyone (withers are very difficult to kill and cause so mch chaos even if its alone and its hard to summon it as you have to farm for wither skulls which is also hard so the fact techno has enough to make two is a big deal) 3:27  shows the lmanburg tree, it is a tree that represents lmanburg and has been there for both wars and is extremely important to the history of the nation and thats that :3