#do boom and underground exist

[cuchufletapl]

The Sonic games (and "all types of media") existing in the Sonic universe is a very funny concept for many reasons and I'm having fun imagining all the implications of that, but also it's given me a lot of peace because I can finally put to rest the unanswered question of how the fuck Sonic X is Sonic's favourite anime

[bloombird]

Tales of the Underground Botbots Prologue

Everyone knows this story. The story of humans and monsters, now seen as nothing but a myth and a cautionary tale.

Long ago, two races ruled over the earth: Humans and Monsters. One day, war broke out between the two races. After a long battle, the humans were victorious. They sealed the monsters underground with a magic spell. Many years later. . . Mt. Ebott, 201X. Legends say that those who climb the mountain never return.

One mysterious night, a strange storm struck Mt. Ebott. It shook the Underground. It lasted for a few seconds and it stopped. The CORE shut down. The citizens underneath had panicked. Their king calmed them all down. The CORE came back on after a second.

The royal scientist noticed this strange energy from the earthquake, it seemed to flow around the entire Underground and then it disappeared within a few seconds. A particular strange flower caught wind of the observation. "Hmm.. Now this is interesting.. Very interesting..." The flower smiled as he pondered at the SAVE file. "Now what happens after that?"

The news spread throughout the entire Underground. Some say it was a huge storm from the outside of the barrier. Some say it was the CORE malfunctioning. After a week or so, the news died down.

The flower grimaced, "Nothing happened.." He looked at his SAVE file again and shut it off.

Little did he know, something had happened.

[powdermelonkeg]

You're big on Zelda, so I'm curious. How would you rewrite TOTK, if given the writer's room?

Fun question! *cracks knuckles* Let's answer it.

I've answered about the disconnect between BotW and TotK before, so I'm going to take some of those ideas and run with them here.

I'm taking the intended route, for the sake of keeping coherence rather than just making up an entirely new Hyrule from scratch. Link and Zelda are the same as they are in BotW.

To start off, I like the Zonai.

I like that they're an entirely new race of people in Hyrule. I love how weird-looking they are. I love that they're not human race #87.

I also love their bastard not-Zonai lovechild thing. If we saw more examples of Zonai, I would love for this funky lil dude to be part of them, kind of like how the Zora have a ton of variation between them.

So why don't we do that? Why don't we give them a kingdom?

And why don't we put some meat on the bones of what was already built?

There are Zonai-esque ruins all over the Depths, mostly in mines for Zonaite.

Their color palette matches. Rauru's braids and Sonia's earrings match brightblooms.

And the three dragons, who have Zonai features (segmented, color-edged hair, long ears, blunt muzzles, scale beard mouths), could have been a catalyst.

A catalyst for what, though?

It starts with the Depths themselves, and the dragons breaking free.

See, in TotK, the three elemental dragons all dive in and out of the Depths chasms. There's no explanation as to why, and the only explanation we have for the chasms forming is that it was like...geysers of Gloom.

However, the dragons in BotW are confirmed to have carved these canyons:

So let's go back in time a little.

The Zonai live in the Depths. They're underground, away from all the chaos that Hyrule has ever had to endure. They worship the bargainer statues as gods, they collect the souls of those above that drip down into the world below.

They have a rich mining industry, and coliseums for their greatest warriors to test their mettle against captured monsters.

They have their Secret Stones, and the one who's allowed to hang onto those is their leader.

That'd be young Prince Rauru.

The elemental dragons, Dinraal, Naydra, and Farosh, are testaments to why no one can be allowed to have the Secret Stones. They were consumed by their power, literally.

One day, they break free, as if summoned by an unknown force. They tunnel through the ground and into the sky, connecting the world below to the one above.

The Hylians cautiously venture below, or the Zonai above. Prince Rauru, keeper of the Secret Stones, and Sonia, High Priestess of Hylia, meet.

They fall in love.

They marry.

Their marriage marks a unity between the Surface and the Depths.

(Maybe throw in a lil Skyward Sword continuity, mention that while Hylia sent the humans to the sky, the Zonai fled underground to avoid Demise, to keep the Secret Stones out of his grasp. You don't even have to name drop him, just say they went down to avoid destruction.)

Suddenly, Hyrule (the center part of the map, based around the Great Plateau, not the whole sub-kingdom conglomerate it exists as in BotW) undergoes a technological boom. Ganondorf, neighboring leader of the Gerudo, is interested. He talks trade with now-king Rauru, but there's the sub-plot of trying to get his secrets, which he steadily grows obsessed with.

Meanwhile, the Gerudo make their own expedition into the Depths.

There. The stage is set.

Now Zelda falls into the past.

She's found by Rauru and Sonia. Adopted as their daughter, more or less.

Also, the two of them have a small child. Nintendo, you CAN'T set them up as "they're her ancestors" and then kill them childless, descendants don't work like that. Zelda's immediately endeared to the kid, who reminds her of Link. Lil half-Zonai girl with a wooden sword who swings it at anything that moves. There are memories, it's cute.

In the past, Zelda witnesses, real time, Ganondorf going mad with power. They get along well at first, he's cordial, polite, a model diplomat. But she finds his troops in places they shouldn't be, confronts him about it and gets brushed off.

She tells Rauru, he's unwilling to throw suspicion onto Ganondorf. They're semi-friends and diplomacy is important! He's got to run this kingdom right. He can't fail, this is the biggest thing he's ever done!

(Sprinkle in a parallel to BotW Zel's fear of failure)

Some of the memories fill in gaps about Rauru's power, also. He's got what Link can do, minus Recall. Ultrahand and Fuse mainly, but Rauru's been experimenting with Ascend, excited because it'll make passage between the Depths and the Surface so much easier, and we see where Zel gets her scientific excitement from. Regardless of how different they look, they ARE family.

Ganondorf and Rauru get into a fight one day. A BAD fight. Maybe because Zelda tipped Rauru off, and despite telling her no, Rauru looked into it anyways. Regardless, they march out in opposite directions, and Zelda overheard it in the hallway. As Ganondorf leaves, he gives her the most SCATHING glare.

He then declares war on Hyrule.

Rauru makes a bid for allies, trying to get enough manpower to fight Ganondorf's impressive military. It's a struggle at first, but Zelda steps in, being the leader she's skilled at being and telling the others how crucial it is that they help. Ganondorf, meanwhile, turns to forbidden arts in his rage against Rauru, gets infected by Gloom/Malice, becomes scarily powerful. First Blood Moon. The Gerudo are kind of unnerved by him.

We see Zelda and Sonia helping with the war. Sonia's got light powers, Zelda's are stronger, together they can destroy entire ARMIES of monsters, saving their warriors on the battlefield. A few instances of Little Princess trying to be involved like the grown-ups are, getting huffy when she's told no.

In the aftermath of each fight, Rauru runs around, sealing away the monsters' latent energy with green spirals. That's where the Shrines come from, though in the past, they're Luminous Stones—it's all faded by present day, the light bled out of them.

Sonia is on the battlefield against Ganondorf one fateful night, Little Princess wanders onto the field, both the girls panic about it, and Sonia tries to run away with her while Zelda affords them cover. THAT'S when Ganondorf strikes her—he's fast like a ninja, rushes past Zelda, strikes Sonia.

She falls. Little Princess tumbles.

Zelda races to Little Princess's side, picks her up to run away with her as Ganondorf gets Sonia's stone, and he transforms into the Demon King. He raises his army. Little Princess screams, and we see an uncontrolled blast of Hylia's power, like an erratic attempt at what Zelda did at the end of BotW.

It fritzes, Zelda hugs her tight and ducks down to shield her, and the power cascades across the battlefield, affecting monsters AND people alike. The war is in shambles. Ganondorf stares at the child and her guardian, and retreats in a hurry.

Cue Rauru running to their side.

He grieves his wife. Little Princess is kept safe by Zelda. The Gerudo shun Ganondorf and join Rauru's side, and everyone involved in the war dedicates everything to one final assault against Ganondorf, one trap to finally END him, to force him into the Depths and fight him on the Zonai's own turf. The Secret Stones are distributed. Rauru knows what he has to do, and at the climax of the final battle, he uses his Secret Stone to amplify his sealing magic, knowing it'll kill him in the process and locking Ganondorf away in the Depths.

Except, it's not that simple.

Gloom bursts out of the newly trapped Ganondorf's chest, flooding the Depths, eliminating everyone in its path. That includes the Sages, the assaulting army, and the VAST majority of the Zonai. Its sole purpose is to gather enough strength over time for Ganondorf to break his shackles, because the Gloom wants OUT.

(Subtly implied that the Gloom is the first iteration of Demise's curse of hatred, maybe.)

And Zelda is alone. Trapped in the past, stuck with Little Princess, her Secret Stone, and the last of Mineru's notes.

Gloom continues to fume out of the Depths, so they're sealed off. The Blood Moon keeps spawning new monsters, so Little Princess and the remainders of the construct caretakers are sent up to the sky, for her protection. Zelda's the one that orchestrates it. Her people once hailed from the sky, and it's always been known as a place of safety for them.

Is this self-referential to the history she's building, or a Skyward Sword reference? Who knows.

They go skyward.

Then the Master Sword appears, and Zelda knows what she has to do. It's compounded, of course, by crushing guilt over the fact that Sonia's death happened on her watch. She tells Little Princess to look out for the world ahead, tells her to be strong, and brave, and everything she wishes her dad had told her. Then ends it with a final message.

"I'm leaving you something very important. Take good care of it."

Then she goes off alone to become a dragon.

Present day.

Link's not guided by Rauru, he's guided by a strange, beautiful woman who looks kind of like Zelda (albeit with Zonai hair, eyes, and long claws), who has a deep regret for the world below and who knows the lonely world above like the back of her hand. She teaches him the basics of his powers as he visits the shrines.

The Great Sky Island is otherwise normal.

You go to Hyrule. The Light Dragon's the one that breaks the cloud barrier, and as she does so, she sheds a single tear. By the time you get to the tear's location, it's spread a mural of the memory it contains around it.

Whenever you Recall a tear, the Light Dragon sheds a new one somewhere else, and it's up to you to follow.

You're chasing Zelda, twice over.

Besides that, Hyrule's Surface is...largely unchanged. I'm still upset that the pirates assaulting Lurelin weren't ACTUAL pirates, so guess what, they are now. Splinter faction of Yiga. Also, River Zora take over Lake Hylia, there's a spat between them and the Sea Zora, and Yona is the princess of the Rivers.

Then you've got the Depths.

That's where you find the ruins of the Zonai civilization, and you start piecing together the world it contains on your own. You aren't told, you're SHOWN.

Rauru's ghost finds and guides you here. He has a moment of "hey, isn't that MY arm?", upgrades your abilities or shows you how to use them more efficiently (ups your build limit, shows you how to un-Fuse, teaches you DEscend, gives you Autobuild, things like that), then DIES-dies. You escort his poe soul to a Bargainer statue.

The biggest change to the Depths, though, is that under the Gerudo Desert, you find PEOPLE.

So remember how the Gerudo launched their own expedition into the Depths in the past? How the Gloom killed almost everyone and the world below was sealed off?

There were a sparse few survivors of the Zonai, and some unfortunate Gerudo researchers that also got trapped. The people down there now are descendants of both. They're not Zonai anymore, though.

They're Lomei. They evolved like how the Rito evolved from the Zora in Wind Waker. Their tribe name comes from the Zonai word for "loneliness."

Regardless, they're initially inhospitable to Surfacers, because Surfacers are how they ended up how they did. If you sneak into their city, you're captured, like a few unfortunate Zonai Survey Team members that have wandered in, only YOU can escape via Ascend. OoT Gerudo parallel.

You can earn the Lomei's trust by doing things for them (maybe beating all three labyrinths as a rite of passage?), and then they let you into their cities. They've got their own brand of tech based off of old Zonai designs. One of the Lomei scientists is working on a mechsuit—that'll be the sage that Mineru passes her stone down to. And it fits doubly, both because the Lomei ARE the descendants of the Zonai and because the Lomei technician and Mineru are both scientists.

The Lomei people give you more pieces to the complicated Zonai-Hylian puzzle, and they're the ones that first tell you the legend of the dragons-from-Secret-Stones. So you can either learn it from them OR get it revealed in Zel's later memories.

Besides that, the present plot is pretty much as normal. Still the same bosses. Still the same sages-help-with-everything, though each sage you rescue gives you another piece of what really happened at the final fight (rather than the same cutscene over and over), telling you about how Rauru sacrificed himself and the effect it had on the rest of the Depths.

I will change where the Ganondorf's Army fight takes place, though. It's ACTUALLY very hidden, like the game was trying to imply it to be when you chase around Kohga. You do still have to do that, but he accidentally directs you to a place that's hidden in the tiniest crevice near Hyrule Castle, one that's very easy to miss and sitting in a veritable sea of Gloom. Once you finish the Kohga quest, a poe hovers outside of the crevice, which leads into an even deeper chasm that leads to the Underdepths.

The poe's your help to get through the maze there, and wherever it goes, Sundelions bloom at the corners. If you go early, before getting everything done, you have to navigate that place yourself, and it's a nightmare.

But you do it. You get to where everything started, and you beat the army, then Ganondorf, then he shoves his fist down his throat and goes dragon.

As he breaks through the ground and curls around Hyrule Castle, he SHATTERS it. The building crumbles to smithereens, crashing into the Depths below.

You beat Demon Dragon, Zelda catches you on her nose, it's over. You're in the spirit realm over sleeping Zelda.

The poe appears over your shoulder, drifts away from you, then materializes into Sonia. She says nothing, just activates Recall, turns Zelda back to normal, then cradles her in her arms. She gives her a kiss on the forehead, looks at you, then says the same line Zelda said to Little Princess ages ago, with the single change of one word.

"I'm leaving you something very important. Take good care of her."

She fades, as does the Spirit World.

You're falling.

Zelda's falling.

You catch her.

She wakes up, sees you, then hugs you and sobs into your shoulder.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Roll credits.

Bonus for the memory completionists, the True Ending has Zelda meeting the grown Little Princess up at the Great Sky Island, reconciling with her, both of them saying how proud they are of each other. Then Little Princess turns into a poe, and Zelda promises to take her to the Depths so she can be with her parents again. As they walk away, Sonia's poe tails after them.

And THAT is a way longer post than I expected to write. Whew.

[crystaleclipse10]

A look into the Ninja's powers

Welcome to my analysis of the powers of each of the 6 main Ninja. How each power feels and its source for each Elemental Master, and how it reflects in their personalities. This has headcanons and canon explanation. Hopefully it all makes sense

Cole: Cole’s power comes from deep within the ground. He can feel the power of the earth in his guts, strong and steady. It’s grounding. It’s constant. The earth is always somewhere below him. No matter where he is, somewhere there’s earth—whether it’s deep within a mountain, everywhere; or leagues under the sea; or so far beneath the sky it is practically invisible—it will never not be there. It’s reliable. Yet it takes different forms: dirt, rocks, magma, sand; it’s all part of the ground, versatile. It’s protective; it encases and preserves ancient ruins and fossils, it gives shelter to those seeking refuge. It connects all living things—it reaches every part of the world. It cannot be forced to move, but it can be guided. It is the foundation of everything.

“You've never been farther underground. Never been more surrounded by the very thing that powers you. The Skull Sorcerer thought he was burying you, but what if he was actually bringing you closer to the earth? To the source of your elemental power?” “So what do I do? Try to connect with the earth?” “Perhaps. Or perhaps you just have to stop worrying so much and let the earth connect with you.”

Zane: Zane can sense his ice powers in his mind. It can exist in the coldest of climates, and when it melts, turns into something just as powerful; it is not wasted. It carves its way through anything—glaciers. The rivers of ice creep forward slowly but surely, taking everything in its path. It’s steady and cold, but its bite can be unrelenting. Frostbite, hypothermia—just as cold as ice is. And icicles, especially when shot as a projectile, are like daggers; sharp and dangerous. But it can numb pain. It tames something burning hot into something pleasantly warm. It is hard and strong, but it can crack—and if that happens, it can be made whole again with a little time. It is reliable and quiet. It can create a protective barrier. It’s there when it needs to be.

“This isn’t about numbers…it’s about family.” “He’s protecting us.” “I am a Nindroid, and Ninja never quit. Go Ninja, go!”

Jay: Lightning. He can feel it buzzing on his skin and nerves, able to be condensed and controlled. Pure energy, electricity. It’s volatile and dangerous. But it can be essential to life. It’s everywhere—thunderstorms, static, neurons firing in the brain. If it wasn’t for electricity, the brain would cease to function and life couldn’t exist. It’s quick—blink and it’s gone, just a thread of light that comes and goes. But its impact is remembered. A thunderous boom, a scar of soot, sometimes even a blaze set in its wake. Its glow is practically too bright to look at; a source of light for even the darkest of caves. Just one spark can start a fire or illuminate a building. It’s a source of power—for vehicles, technology, buildings. Even though it is not always visible, lightning and electricity are all around, ready to be called upon.

“Control the power inside you. When you feel a surge welling up, harness it.”

Kai: Kai’s power over fire comes from the breath—air is fuel for fire, and controlled breathing can control the blaze. It is not a matter of force—though hot anger can stoke fire—but harnessing the buzzing potential in the air. Fire can be destructive; a wildfire is chaotic, unyielding, and intense, burning everything in its path. But it can be life-giving, too. It’s cozy. It provides warmth on the coldest of nights. It can cook food, boil water, ward off frost. It is the essence of the sun—the largest blaze that allows life to exist. It burns with passion and ferocity, but if it loses strength, there will always be an ember remaining. Almost nothing can beat back a big, hot fire. It can be a weapon or a defense; it hurts to touch, and no one without immunity would dare go near. Without fire, life could not be sustained.

“I just wish I still had my powers. I was Master of Fire. I could've made a new fire like—like...like this.” “Oh, do not worry, Kai. Elemental Power comes from within, like courage. Sometimes it wanes, sometimes it waxes, but it cannot be stolen.”

Nya: The power of water flows through her veins. Water is ever-changing and powerful. Even the strongest rocks erode under the power of water. It’s relentless. It can defeat ghosts because it is always changing and shifting, while ghosts are stuck trying to be one thing and refuse to change. It cleanses and heals. The first thing to do for something dirty is to wash it with water. And it’s part of blood, something vital for people to live. It’s restless. The ocean never stays still; it does not like to be contained. The tides are as constant as they are powerful. The entire ocean moves with the tides; the constant in and out of so much water shapes the coasts. Rivers bend and flow around obstacles; no matter what is in the way, it will eventually reach the ocean—the largest body of water filled with plants and animals. Water supports life and creates ecosystems. It’s the heart of the wild.

“Jay, the ocean's good for much more than food. As we go deeper, I can feel its elemental power growing. It's almost overwhelming.”

Lloyd: Perhaps the most vague but also the most powerful element is Lloyd’s. Is it Power? Creation? Energy? Life? Lloyd is connected to the Source Dragon of Life, not Energy. Whatever the case, it comes from his heart. If it is Life, that is where it is strongest—the beating of a heart shows life in a living being; it is impossible to live without a heart. It’s everywhere—inside Lloyd, in his comrades, his students, his masters, nature around him. His love for the world is his true self and makes his heart powerful. His goodness gives him strength. His drive to save the world fuels his passion. Life is inside of him, but it can also be taken away. It can heal, but also hurt. When it is taken away, overused, or corrupted, it leaves him weakened and sick. But it can save his life in a fight—and it has. It is a combination of the core elements of Creation: Lightning, Ice, Fire, and Earth—LIFE (thank you @secretlyharumi for helping me realize this!). They can be utilized individually, but also combined into something potent and beautiful. Without life, nothing would exist. It is the thread of the universe, stitching together things similar and different; big and small.

“I’m already the Golden Ninja. How much more power do I need?” “You’ve only scratched the surface! You have the potential to move mountains. Power of the First Spinjitzu Master!”

I like the idea the Ninja's personalities and powers are mixed

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[essycogany]

Rare But Not So Rare Sonic Moments. Character Analysis.

Crying

A weird topic I’m more then happy to discuss.

Mandate: “Sonic’s not allowed to get overly emotional.”

I’m starting to think the mandates do break in a few instances. This one specifically is something I’m quite interested in because this is probably one of the rarest emotions Sonic displays. Getting sad/emotional.

Hopefully this essay will be a positive outlook on the mandate.

(Despite being a discussion about negative emotions.)

Examples Of Sonic Getting Emotional

I might not include everything, but the examples I have knowledge of will be stated. If you have anymore examples, I’d love to see them.

SATAM: Sonic cried when he and the Freedomfighters had to leave his Uncle Chuck in Robotnik’s lab.

Archie: The times Sonic cried/teared up was when the weight of a situation got to him, when something tragic occurred and all hope was lost, or when he was filled with joy after those instances ended. Those moments like others, didn’t go too far. (For the most part)

Pretty sure he never out right sobbed.

Underground: I think Sonic only cried when he was a little kid.

Correct me if I’m wrong.

X: In episode 52 Sonic allowed his tears to shed with his head turned away from us. He and Chris ran one last time before Sonic left through a portal to go home forever. It obviously crushed him even if we didn’t see his face.

Boom: Sonic cried/teared up in two episodes of the show. First when Tails was reminiscing about the Tornado and noticed Sonic wiping his eyes. Sonic replied, “What?” Then he, Knuckles, and Tails all cried when they thought the baby they took care of was gone. Also, in Archie when Stick’s rock friend broke or “Died,” everyone in team Boom morned it. Sonic included.

IDW: Sonic shed tears in the Scrapnick Island Issue. Even if it was “Mecha Sonic’s” tears I’ll count it anyways because it’s a good loophole and it came out of Sonic’s eyes.

Movie 1: It’s implied he indeed cried during the baseball scene. The sources being a deleted scene and story-board of the film.

Prime: This doesn’t really count, but Sonic teared up in the first episode when he was held captive by the Chaos Council and had light blasted in his eyes, when he was in darkness. Then Sonic actually cried in episode 7 when he ate a seadog. Either because he was home-sick or starving.

(In the last episode of season two it’s implied he might cry in the next episode. Especially with the shot of him looking on the verge of tears and then covered his eyes in the background of the last shot, but we’ll see.)

By the way. You can see the instant improvement from episode 1 to 7 of the tears animation. Just thought I’d say that.

My Overall Thoughts

Hold on because this is going to be a long ride.

First thing I’d like to discuss is the mandate itself.

I personally don’t believe it means, “Sonic shouldn’t cry.”

(Which has been stated a bunch)

If that were the case, I don’t think this majority of moments (specifically the recent ones) would’ve happened. I think the mandate meant Sonic couldn’t and or shouldn’t go too far with his emotions. I don’t think the mandate existing makes any since, but I won’t get into that.

My point is, Sonic can cry, just not in an overly dramatized way unless it’s done for comedic purposes.

(I say that because of Sonic Boom and the 7th episode of Prime examples. Which are obviously not meant to be taken seriously)

My opinions on Sonic crying.

It’s not necessarily needed, but I don’t mind if it’s done well. I do believe Sonic shouldn’t go too far unless the situation does.

One Issue in Archie when Sonic’s entire life was basically ruined, is a good example. If you’re going to have such calamities happen to him, especially since he has zero ego or mask to hold onto, I think it’s a fair enough scenario for him to react as drastic as his misfortune.

But I believe if he were to cry in something like the Metal Virus. (Just for an example) it could be like how Espio teared up after Vector’s sacrifice.

Crazy idea. Let’s talk about Shadow for a minute.

Shadow is one of the most stoic characters in the entire franchise. He barely smiles, gets excited, or displays any overly positive emotions. While Sonic rarely cries, gets angry, or shows any harsh negative emotions. Shadow and Sonic are opposites because of that.

Sonic’s overall a positive and outgoing guy who wants to keep moving forward. Whenever he has the time to worry, he runs. Faces his problems head on. Sonic only let’s a small amount of his true emotions out when helping someone else. In general Sonic’s a pretty optimistic character.

Shadow on the other hand is a reserved and serious guy. Who wants what’s best for the world too, but in a more calculated and planned out manner. But for some reason, in Sonic Adventure 2 after Amy encouraged Shadow to save the world, (Which reminded him of Maria’s real wish) He sheds a tear.

I repeat. Shadow is the most stoic character in the entire franchise. Who rarely shows his emotions. And yet he cries.

Why can’t Sonic? To be fair, Sonic usually doesn’t have time to think, let alone worry about how he feels. But if Shadow himself can have a short moment of releasing his emotional baggage, why can’t the blue blur?

Is Sonic even as happy as he let’s on?

I’d say he’s genuinely happy half of the time. Then the other half Sonic’s internalizing everything negative in him. Everyone knows Sonic’s overall upbeat, but we’ve seen plenty of times (In the Metal Virus specifically) when he’s thinking, or enduring the chaos around him, he doubts himself. Sonic has these insecurities and emotions he barely let’s anyone see.

Besides Issue #24

Even in Sonic Prime while Sonic shows the most guilt, sincerity, anger, fear, and sadness in the show. He sometimes still puts on a front and acts like everything’s fine.

Sonic Unleashed I’m pretty sure was the first and only time we’ve seen him mope for a minute. All because Amy didn’t know who he was. So, he does have some level of insecurities lingering every once in a while.

Can Sonic crying even work?

How I interpret him crying is when he’s alone. Some people theorize in certain instances like SA2 and Unleashed with Shadow and Chip’s sacrifices, he cried a little. I’m fascinated by this idea. I believe it’s the most in character way to let him cry. Maybe even something like X when his face isn’t shown, but you know how he’s feeling.

Even if we do see Sonic’s face, him crying or tearing up could be shown without being over the top. Normalize it in a way that doesn’t fly off the handle. His expression could have a hint of frustration, anger, or exhaustion. Crying is normal and I don’t see Sonic crying as out of character because it’s been done plenty of times.

It’d be nice if it happened in order to make Sonic feel more believable and sympathetic. As long as the dude’s not on the floor whaling, I’m sure it can work.

Final Thoughts

There are other ways to show Sonic’s emotions. Again, crying doesn’t have to happen, but it does help the writing feel less unnecessarily limited of what kind of emotions can be displayed on this character.

Though there are benefits too. Like finding fun loopholes or small animated details like in IDW and Prime. Sonic not crying so much makes the times he does (or may do in the future) feel earned and impactful. The examples before prove it can be done without taking away what makes Sonic who he is. It just needs to be subtle, quiet, and quick. (Or humorous) Depends on what you think.

At the end of it all, Sonic’s a tough hedgehog. Him shedding a few tears won’t ever change that.

Stay Creative! 💜

[dutiful-wildcraft]

Lies and Alibis

Have this totally unedited and margarita fueled piece of mafia!au nikolai x chubby!reader.

Part 2

It had been a survival tactic really, latching onto the bear of a man in a slick black suit, the gold chain around his neck glittering under the light of the chandelier. She’d done her best, slinking around in corners with a glass of champagne in her hand, trying to play at being casual at this lavish party she’d been sent to in the russian countryside. 

She had had a hell of a time trying to hunt down a suitable partner to go to the party with her. Someone who spoke english fluently enough meet her in the middle with her piss poor russian. She understood well enough, speaking was the problem, her accent clumsy. The little language app on her phone could only do so much. She should have known better really, should have caked on more makeup, wore a wig, something. But she’d realized her error to late as one too many suspicious eyes followed her about the place, one too many familiar faces watching her just out of the periphery of her vision. 

Better to at least attempt to camouflage herself, shifting her expression to one of vague confusion and worry. She’d spotted him through the crowd, big and bulky, with gorgeous brown eyes and a warm booming laugh. Black hair coiffed back neatly, the strands tickling his neck. He looked polite enough. So she feigned eureka. Slipping through the crowd and sliding her arm in his, praying to every god in existence that he would just be tickled to have a woman on his arm. 

–

Nikolai only stiffened a moment, hand shifting slightly toward his belt before dropping entirely as he took in the soft thing now clinging to his arm. She flashed him a sheepish smile, eyes pleading from under long pretty lashes. She certainly didn't belong here, all luxurious curves highlighted under a soft satin dress. He had his own mission to attend to, but one look at her face had him immediately following along with whatever sidequest this young lady was about to be. 

“Privet,  Zaychonok”  He greets, returning her smile with a warm one of his own, patting her hand against his forearm. Her relief is palpable as she scrubs her fingers against the fabric of his forearm. A subtle thanks as she takes a long swig from her glass.  He snags her another as the waiter passes, easing it into her hand smoothly. 

–

She’s beyond grateful that this russian saint, does all of the talking. He’s honestly a great conversationalist from what she can gather. He glosses over her arrival completely and continues casually, holding a glass of amber liquid in his free hand and keeping her hand tucked snuggly in the crook of his arm. She was supposed to be listening out for some sort of smuggling details, weapons, she was told, all she needed was a destination and that would be good enough. Naturally no such destinations are even mentioned, and when she ponders giving up, feigning a visit to the bathroom and shimmying out the door the large russian snakes an arm around her waist, guiding her along beside him as the group moves along. His palm is warm, and she can feel the rough edge of calluses through the thin satin fabric of her dress. 

Nikolai, she would come to learn, was up to as much good as she was. Of course he would be, she was at a fucking fancy dinner party for the god damn russian underground. Everyone here was either a politician or criminal, as if those things were different. It was both a worry and relief as Nikolai kept a firm hand against her side. As the group navigated toward a table, Nikolai pulled out her chair, sliding it close beside his own and taking her hand, guiding her down into seat like a gentleman before taking his seat beside her, unbuttoning his waist coat before settling. He leaned back,  draping an arm around her shoulders, settling an ankle against his knee as his fingers toyed with the strap of her dress. They looked like a regular couple, and she found herself a bit lost in the fantasy of it. Fake or not it had been some time since a man had held her this way, protective and possessive, with such nonchalance that it didn't feel suffocating. She didnt feel lesser next to this stranger, but cared for, watched over, with the underlying current that the man beside her can and most certainly has killed for less noble causes. 

The thought of it made something in her silly little brain purr and she leans against him, relaxing enough to play along just a bit more. For the bit of course. 

So much into the bit that she doesn't catch the conversation happening in her direction. Only blinks a bit owlishly as Nikolai looks at her with amusement. 

“Da, malyshka?” he asks with a chuckle. 

“Da” she chirps without delay, mustering up enough acting skills to at least repeat the simple affirmative with the correct lilt. 

Nikolai looks proud as he slides his fingers along her shoulder, cupping her neck in large palm, thumb petting along the baby hairs of her neck as he pulls her closer to his side in affectionate embrace. However rather than pull away, she stays there, cheek resting against his shoulder as he continues his petting. She feels warm against the man’s arm, safe and borderline sleepy, no longer concerned with the suspicious eyes that had followed her in the beginning of the night. Brave enough to legitimately excuse herself the the ladies room, she murmurs what she thinks is the correct phrase and he eases his arm away enough for her to wriggle out of the nest of his side. 

She’s washing her hands, listening to the soft music play through the corridor before an eerie silence has her freezing. The music stops, and all that can be heard is very angry sounding russian being barked across the music hall. She moves slowly, peering through the gap in the door to find her very saint throwing hands with far too many men to be a fair fight. Her bear sized knight crumpling to the floor when the butt of a rifle connects with his face.

Another man barks orders, pointing his finger across the hall. 

Nikolai was the first. And she was certainly next.

[grenade-maid]

Man, I think what makes me so sad about Guilty Gear is just knowing that there won't ever be anything quite like it. The cultural soup that spawned it just doesn't exist anymore. The edgy 90s counterculture boom can't really be replicated. Doom is something you run on thermostats and microwaves, Mortal Kombat is something your brother's friends played in college, spiked leather and heavy metal are things anyone might be into, arcades have been dead longer than they were alive, everyone is aware of JoJo. Everything that was shocking, transgressive, and exciting then is now pretty normal (if still beloved--nay, more beloved, even). They even made a new Matrix movie about this feeling. And the thing is, there were a lot of fighting games tapping into the same things as Guilty Gear was. They all died in obscurity, and Guilty Gear is the lone survivor, carrying the DNA of a cultural moment but unable to propagate, being the last of its species. Sol Badguy is a perfect protagonist for it, in that sense.

At the end of the day, there's just no real analogue. The genre of musclebound blood soaked anime it was drawing from like Fist of the North Star, Bastard! and Ninja Scroll don't really exist anymore. Rockstars of the hotel thrashing middle finger waving hard drinking hard partying variety don't really exist in the same way, either. Very few recent album covers would make for good stage backgrounds. There isn't really an "underground" subculture or counterculture--we're all just in different niches that are one online search away from each other. Nobody has to "introduce" you to metal, you don't have to know a guy, just look up a few whole discographies and listen on your commute. Fighting games themselves are a firmly established genre with it's own self selecting population--in the 90s it was pretty common for basically anyone to casually try a few rounds of Tekken or have some version of street fighter at home. That's not really the case anymore, and, as such, fighting games need to be designed differently and more thoughtfully than they used to be.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!None of these are bad things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it does mean that any attempt to do something in the same vein as Guilty Gear will necessarily be a pastiche. Hell, even Guilty Gear itself was pastiche by the time of XX. This isn't a bad thing either--I'm loving Little Goody Two Shoes, for example, which is the most lavish and loving throwback to 90s shojo and 00s RPG Maker horror games. But it would still be different. Because even the most loving reference or recreation, even the ones that surpass the quality of the originals, can't replace the spirit of expressing something quintessential to your current moment, whatever that moment is.

The moment that I cherish cause I grew up in its shadow is long gone. I don't know if there's anything in the current moment that could speak to me in the same way. Most of my favorite all time games, manga, anime, etc etc all came out in the last few years, so this isn't about old shit being better. I guess most of what I love that's currently being made just didn't lend itself well to riffing on in the same way. Unfortunately, high passion rock operas screaming your feelings just lend themselves perfectly to kickass games, and those aren't in vogue like they used to be. And, ultimately, on a strictly personal level, I'll never be 15 again, being shown the sickest shit I've ever seen before a D&D game for the first time.

[weavewithshadow]

Veilguard Theorycrafting Thursdays: The Evanuris & Their Lyrium War

Welcome, one and all! While I count down to Veilguard's Halloween release, I'm going to dissect one tinfoil hat theory I have per week.

This week: I think the Evanuris were waging war over lyrium, and I think that in their desire to Blight the world, they killed the only one standing in their way - Mythal.

Elaboration, brainstorming, and sources below the cut! Be warned: this post is LONG.

SPOILERS for the Trespasser DLC, Tevinter Nights, and all Dragon Age games so far, INCLUDING VEILGUARD PROMOTIONAL CONTENT.

"The First of My People:" from Earth and Sky

Before I talk about what the Evanuris became, it's important to lay out my theories about how they came to be. So, to start, let's talk about Elgar'nan, first of the gods, and what the wiki says about his origins:

He was the first of the elven gods, born of the sun and the earth.

Now, to understand the deeper meaning I glean from that sentence alone, I want to talk about how the ancient elves view "the sun" and "the earth," and how neither of these things are as simple as they sound.

First, we can talk about Skyhold: literally the place where the sky was held back, where Solas first created the Veil. With this translation, we can understand that to the ancient elves, the sky and the Fade are interchangeable terms.

From what we can glean from the wiki, we can assume that the elven word 'elgar' means 'spirit.' The word for 'sun' is incredibly similar: 'elgara.'

Therefore, I conclude that the sun and the Fade are the same. One part of Elgar'nan comes from the Fade, in my interpretation. As do all elvhen: I interpret it to mean spirit-essence or spirit-people, suggesting the elvhen are spirits given shape (versus the elven, ostensibly their descendants).

In the Vir Dirthara, you find this codex:

The pages of this book—memory?—show a solemn group of elves in an ampitheater of living wood, entire trees grown into seats and stairs for the listeners to recline on. Two other elves and a spirit of learning are speaking in turn on ways to bend the properties of the material world when casting spells. At the end, the spirit, with the air of a senior lecturer, floats forward and booms in a surprisingly deep voice. "The unchanging world is delicate: spells of power invite disaster and annihilation. The unchanging world is stubborn: the pull of the earth fiercely resists making fire run like water or stone rise like mist. The unchanging world rings with its own harmony. Listen with fearless hearts, and great works will unfold."

Note how these words are being used. The unchanging world is a reference to the waking world, what would become our side of the Veil. But in that world, there is a pull of the earth. This references the deep earth, and its own magic: the magic of the Titans.

Therefore, Elgar'nan is one part "earth" and one part "sun" or "sky." One part Fade, one part Titan magic. In my interpretation? One part lyrium.

I believe Elgar'nan and Mythal, first of the Evanuris, are spirits who became corporeal, somehow involving the magic of Titans. Even though Mythal is said to have risen from the sea, I believe Elgar'nan and Mythal both began their existence spontaneously. They made themselves corporeal, and would go on to create more together. (More on that in a different post!)

From lyrium they came; to lyrium they all would fall.

Mythal and the Titans

Before we go into the Evanuris waging war on one another, we must understand their relationship to lyrium in the first place. How did they go from their own domain to underground, and what laid the groundwork for this infighting?

In the light of the veilfire, the runes seem to shift, coiling and uncoiling like snakes. A thunderous voice shatters the stillness, shouting: "Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!"

If you've done the Descent DLC, the Inquisitor will go on to say, "The runes say the Evanuris fought the Titans. They mined their bodies for lyrium and... something else. It's not clear."

Personally, I'm not sure when Mythal and the Evanuris first began slaying titans. Maybe this precipitated their own corporeal origins. Maybe she and Elgar'nan became corporeal using the bodies of the slain.

What is clear is this: their demesne was given to the People. What is the Titans' property? All we know is that lyrium is their lifeblood. Other than territory underground, this is all that could be given to the People. (More on my thoughts on this and the origin of the other Evanuris in a later week, I promise.)

The Evanuris and Lyrium

For now, one theory I have is that the Evanuris then created unliving servants from lyrium. We see this in another Vir Dirthara codex.

The pages of this book—memory?—show a narrow plateau on top of a mountain, Two armored figures—one in gold, one in black—are fighting in the snow. Steel flickers so fast the air hums. Blood dots the ground. They do not stop for breath. The one in black makes no sound as a blade parts his throat. "Mythal, in her wisdom, interceded in an argument between Elgar'nan and Falon'Din. With clever words, she convinced them to settle their grievance through a battle of their champions. Elgar'nan and Falon'Din agreed, and set their champions against each other rather than declare war among the gods. May those knights long be remembered, and Mythal's wisdom be praised."

These things aren't human! They bleed, but don't breathe. They never stop fighting. This duel lasts 100 years.

But we know that the Evanuris' handling of the Titans and lyrium did not end there.

For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire. The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers: "What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all."

The Hubris of Andruil and the Origin of the Blight

Let me be clear. I think there is so much more to Mythal's murder than "Andruil and Falon'din were greedy and upset." But I do know that Andruil and Falon'din are both cited in Inquisition, from various sources, as being greedy and willing to push boundaries in order to further their own gain.

First, we have Andruil: goddess not of the hunt, as the Dalish believe, but of sacrifice, according to Solas in the Temple of Mythal.

One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking the Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning. Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn.

We know that blight disease is sometimes referred to as a "plague." We also know that prolonged lyrium use causes mutations in mages. We also know that red lyrium is Blighted lyrium - the blood of a Blighted Titan.

We also know that regular lyrium can, at the very least, empower a templar's anti-magic abilities. And we know what Mythal did to Andruil for her frequent trips to the Void.

[Andruil] howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn. So Mythal spread rumors of a monstrous creature and took the form of a great serpent, waiting for Andruil at the base of a mountain. When Andruil came, Mythal sprang on the hunter. They fought for three day and nights, Andruil slashing deep gouges in the serpent's hide. But Mythal's magic sapped Andruil's strength, and stole her knowledge of how to find the Void. After this, the great hunter could never make her way back to the abyss, and peace returned.

The moment I found out that memories are stored in lyrium, I had strong feelings about this codex. Especially since Solas, once absorbing Mythal's power at the end of Inquisition, gains the ability to use dwarven magic (turning people to stone with a thought). My interpretation is that Mythal has always been able to use this magic, for whatever reason, and was able to take Andruil's memories from her, storing those memories somewhere else. (There's a whole other theory branching from that, but it is not for this post.)

Point being: Mythal actively worked to prevent the other Evanuris from delving too deep into lyrium/Stone magic/the Void.

And it would be her downfall.

The Lone Voice of Reason, Doomed

Given the Evanuris' relationship to lyrium and the Titans, it would only be a matter of time before their desire to amass power would bring them too far, past the point of no return.

This would drive them to murdering Mythal, but not right away.

First, we can see countless examples of Evanuris greed leading up to Mythal's murder. Ghilan'nain created monsters of all shapes and sizes before the Evanuris raised her to godhood in fear. In Horror of Hormak, we gain a little insight into this process: a laboratory in the Deep Roads, an awful briny fluid, and a yellow-green lyrium crystal powering everything, which is then used to collapse the strange mountain above the laboratory, destroying it.

Later, Ghilan'nain encourages one of Dirthamen's followers to take a winged shape reserved for the gods, presumably a dragon. This sends Mythal into such quick anger that she turns this person to Elgar'nan for judgement, knowing his judgement is violent and cannot be trusted.

Second, Solas talking about Falon'Din in the Temple of Mythal makes me think that Falon'Din attempted a very similar rebellion, only to meet a similar failure.

INQUISITOR: Do you know any legends? SOLAS: It is said Falon’Din’s appetite for adulation was so great, he began wars to amass more worshippers. The blood of those who wouldn’t bow low filled lakes as wide as oceans. Mythal rallied the gods, once the shadow of Falon’Din’s hunger stretched across her own people. It was almost too late. Falon’Din only surrendered when his brethren bloodied him in his own temple. INQUISITOR: Did ancient elves believe all their gods so terrifying? SOLAS: Yes. I believe they did.

For a time, the Evanuris were on Mythal's side - at least when others were watching. I think, more likely, no one wanted to be publicly associated with failed rebellions.

Taken together, I conclude that the elven gods were quietly trying to rebel against Mythal for a long time, and would only succeed when they all worked together.

We know from the Veilguard trailer that the elven gods are all Blighted. This suggests to me that they all united on their desire to exploit lyrium and spread the Blight.

What Does This Mean for Veilguard?

Well! I'm a bit late in writing this all down, so the Veilguard Release Trailer has already hit a lot of my talking points. BUT. Tinfoil hat on, this is what I could see:

Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan are both Blighted. I'm guessing Elgar'nan's dragon form is also Blighted, and this will have implications for Solas/the Dread Wolf form.

I think the original valasslin used by the Evanuris were inked in lyrium, and since Solas' spell to remove them still works on a present-day Inquisitor, I wonder if some lyrium component is still involved -- and if it is, I imagine some of the Dalish might be puppetted by the Evanuris in DA:tV.

We know at least one Titan is Blighted, because of the existence and spread of red lyrium in DA:I. I'm thinking we see this not only spread, but mutate, due to the differently-appearing darkspawn in DA:tV and the existence of altered darkspawn in the short story Horror of Hormak.

We know Weisshaupt is supposedly dealing with its own "problems," and can also be seen with red lyrium in that one map trailer for DA:tV.

I think something is going to happen to everyone presently affected by lyrium. Vivienne and Solas both say that even regular lyrium permanently affects a mage who consumes it.

I think Mythal/Flemeth/Morrigan is going to tell us the intricacies of the lyrium war, as well as reveal secrets about lyrium's uses.

So... YEAH! If you got this far, thank you for reading this much. Let me know if you agree, or if I've missed anything important!

Happy 70 days 'til Veilguard, my dudes.

[aphroditesmoon]

Gwen x Gen neutral (fem) reader?? 👉👈 where reader is also a spider-person and Miguel introduces them to the others and it's basically like a love in first sight thing? maybe? reader's spider powers is up to you of course!! ^^

mirrored hearts

gwen stacy x afab!reader(gn)

summary: gwen has never met anyone like you before.

warnings: cursing, miguel being tired, made up multiverse(?), reader is inspired by trinity from the matrix.

a/n: such a cute req, hope this is to your liking!!

°°°°

WHEN MIGUEL O'HARA first met you, he saw in your eyes the kind of look he once had. An unbridled rage, towards the world, or towards yourself, he couldn't tell. But he did know that the anger, if untrained, could destroy you.

It is the year 80077, an anomaly has been seen in your universe, an additional problem to your already dangerous world. Spot, as you've identified, is not human, at least not anymore. Living in a world ruled by artifical intelligence with only 0.8% of trueborn humans existing, you aren't exactly bothered anymore with non human villains.

But 4 years since you became the remaiming human population's Spider-droid, you've yet to be met with one like him.

You would've caught him, of course, if you weren't distracted by a random multiverse hooe opening itself up in the middle of the underground wiring lab. The stupidly large looking spider-man did not hesitate to fling a badly designed watch towards you after a 15 minutes argument between the two of you gave Spot time to enter another spiderverse.

You would've flung the watch back at his face out of spite if you weren't curious to know where the road might lead you.

"That rebellious streak you have is going to end up costing you your life, you know?" The spider-man tells you after you're done insulting and cursing his whole family line. "I should hope so, because the only way I'll go down is with my head up high."

He rolls his eyes, muttering a 'cliche ass' under his breath before the two of you appear in the large headquarters.

You ignore the rapid spider-people around you, not wanting to betray your awe in front of Miguel. When another door opens for him, a much quieter space reveals itself to you.

"I don't like half of people we're about to meet either but I'll expect you to refrain insulting any of them in more than two languages, the only reason we're all here us because the fate of the mul-" "-multiverse depends on us, yeah I got that in the first 10 speeches you manage to give on our 1 minutes ride." You're pleased with the tired sigh leaving him.

You could see a few teenagers hanging around Miguel's desk, but what caught your attention was the dark skinned pregnant women making her way straight to him. "You should've called for backup." Her voice booms as she nears you both.

"Didn't need to, I had her." He says simply, nudging his head towards you before flinging himself upwards to his table. "Who the fuck opened dress up games on my tab?" You hear him yell, eyes directly at a man with a baby strapped to his chest.

You take a quick look at all of them before zeroing down on the girl, your eyes connected, and you sensed she was either uncomfortable or afraid of how your eyes are squinting on her. "Spider-droid, is what most people call me." You say, eyes still directly on her. "Droid? As in robots?" The big eyed looking teenager next to her asks.

"-And, who is she exactly?" The afro haired women ask, eyeing you up and down. A small crowd then began to form in front of you, Miguel then, finally has the curtesy to come back down in between you and the spider-people. "A spider-person. He responds with a sarcastic air in his tone, making the blonde with pink strands scoff aloud.

"Do you like, fight robots?" Miguel snorts at him, and you glared at Miguel. "Depends, most of my populations are robots, rather than trueborn humans."

The blonde opens her mouth to ask a question you already knew coming, you cut her off before she speaks. "I would be considered, a full human, if it werent for-" You wave your steel made left arm up, flexing the fingers, earning a few gasps and hums of understanding. "-this."

The silence came then, even Miguel seemed to be suprised, not taking notice of your arm before. "I-" She starts. You raise your brows at her. "I'm Gwen." You laughed, a short but unhelpable laugh. "Nice to meet you, Gwen." That has seemsed to snap Miguel out of his subconscious. It seems that man is allergic to social interaction that is anything but necessary.

"We can't let you go back for a while, I'll have your unierse supervised for any signs of Spot returning, but I have a feeling I know where he's going next, and I want you in." Your eyes snap at him and he gives you a look that challenged you to deny him. So you say nothing.

"Good. Penni, I want you to show her to the weaponary room, see if she can attach anything to that steel arm of hers, it'd be useful." Penni, who you just noticed exist, smiled widely, and you notice her gigantic robot-pet looking friend.

Before eitner of you moved, Gwen speaks up. "I can take her, I-uh, I need a new...new-uh, gun?" Miguel's eyes widen as he asks, "New gun? You need a new gun?" His voice in utter disbelief. "For backup, its handy-" She defends himself, resulting in him just waving her off, eyes shut in frustration. "Oh for fu- fine, whatever." He leaves in a split second away from you all.

Gwen and you watched him fly himself up his table before finally looking back at eachother. She's staring at you the same way as before, mouth open, confused.

You raised a brow in question and she just looks more confused. "Gwen." You speak. "Yeah?" "Will you take me to the weaponry room now, I don't bite, I promise."

Her mouth shuts close, and she lets out a wide eyed nervous laugh, shaking her head. "Right, the weaponry! I definitely um, remember, where it is!" She says, moving to walk in front of you as you follow her steps closely.

Your pace quickens until you're next to her, you notice she seema more relaxed than a minute ago. You were used to fear, and cautionary. You were raised by those standards. When your parents had died of mercury poisoning, you've taken their place in a fast succeeding company of scientific research at the age of 15, only a spider-droid for a year before the occurance.

All the tragedies that has happened to you, all to lead you here, in a building full of people who are just like you, yet nothing like you. When Miguel had told you of this, you almost tamed some hope of finding kindred spirits, but time and time again, you fall back into the hands of fear, and cautionary.

"We're here." She squeaked, making you flinch out if your daydream. "You gonna get your gun?" You ask jokingly. Gwen lets out a short laugh. "No, I don't think so. But um, I'll show you in." She offers, walking you in the guns and shooters section, the bulletproof suit vests' right next to it.

"I already have lasers, I don't think I'll be needing a gun either, or anything Miguel thinks can make me better." You explain, looking around the room. You see Gwen nods her head, eyeing your arm. "Well, If you want to take a shower instead, you can use a room im staying in here. How do you shower with that?" She asks. You give her a small smile, putting down a revolver you've been holding, back down to its place before turning to leave the room. "I take it off."

She was silent for a while, until you hear her mumble "Goddamn." As she walks behind you.

[honourablejester]

I’m idly reading through 5e’s Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, mostly the section on the ten guilds, because I enjoy reading about factions. And at the end of each guild section, they have a little box with the standard guild opinions on each of the other guilds, and some of them are fantastically bitchy. Like. Exquisitely bitchy. Each of the guilds has other guilds that they view either as ‘somewhat useful but just not us’ and other guilds they view as legitimate, competent threats, and then they all seem to have a couple of guilds that they’re just bitchy about. It’s fantastic.

Some of my favourite comments:

Azorius:

On the Golgari: "Their underground structures break numerous building regulations, but at least they fulfill their duties as garbage collectors."

(At least you’re doing your job. Your filthy, horrible job).

On the Rakdos: "An absolute blight on Ravnica. They are clowns who know nothing of culture and exist only to torment the functioning members of society."

(No pretences here, just seething hatred and condescension).

Boros:

On the Azorius: "Legalism. Arrogance. Hot air. The law in their hands is a bludgeon, and they use it to seize more power than they deserve."

(I just love ‘hot air!’. Arrogant douchebags who don’t do shit!)

On the Selesnya: "I almost envy the naiveté that leads them to retreat into their little communes and pretend they've built a just society."

(Wow, the condescension!)

Dimir:

On the Boros: "Not inherently dangerous. The true danger is that they'll drag down all we've worked for while chasing some romantic crusade. Continue to direct their righteous fury toward our strongest enemy—until the Boros threaten to become the strongest."

(Yes, yes, dear, just … go on a quest over there for me, would you?)

On the Izzet: "Even an overloaded, sizzled clock is still right twice a day. When Izzet experiments succeed, they can have unpredictable consequences for active missions. Their activities must be monitored at all times."

(Unfortunately, they don’t always blow up *just themselves*, and then we have to deal with it).

Golgari:

On the Izzet: "Perplexing. They are attracted to whatever flashes brightest and booms loudest. Their fascination with their toys will only hasten their own end."

(Idiots with ADHD who are distracted by the sparky boom booms).

On the Selesnya: "Their reverence for nature is the mark of immaturity and naiveté. They fear death, so they can't understand life. They can be dangerous when they fervently cling to their narrow-minded and inadequate view of life."

(Oof. Lots of people considering the Selesnya immature and naïve over here).

Gruul:

On the Rakdos: "The guild of fools. They waste their potential on acts of mockery while the real work of razing the city remains undone."

(Useless wastes of space who *could have been useful* if they put their minds to it).

On the Selesnya: "The Selesnya would coddle a wolf, teach it to fetch sticks, and call it a dog. We prefer to starve the wolf, let it hunt for its food, and make it a stronger wolf."

(Literally none of the other nature-based guilds have anything nice to say about the Selesnya, it’s amazing).

Izzet:

On the Boros: "All too often when we're on the verge of setting off a little explosion or a spell that tears a hole in reality, the Boros show up to spoil the fun."

(Just general spoilsports! It was only going to be a *small* explosion! Lighten up!)

On the Rakdos: "Steer clear of these senseless riot-fiends. Their enthusiasm is best appreciated from a distance."

(Just … leave them alone over there and don’t bother with them).

Orzhov:

On the Golgari: "Admirably resourceful and elegant, but tragically unhygienic. The swarmers may persist, as long as they don't try to force their aesthetic sensibilities on us."

(… ‘tragically unhygienic’. Wow. Lots of the guilds do condescension, but the Orzhov are *good* at it).

On the Gruul: "They know nothing of order and dignity, and therefore they serve little purpose as an organization."

(Again, just utterly useless. Just don’t bother).

Rakdos:

On the Dimir: "They crave secrets, but there's nothing they can get by eavesdropping that we won't freely scream at the top of our lungs. They lurk in the shadows trying to look mysterious, practically inviting our mischief."

(Aw, sweetie, would you like a trench coat so you can play spy some more? They’re just so condescending here).

On the Izzet: "Every performance benefits from prop masters and pyrotechnicians. They can be useful backstage, but they lack the charisma for the spotlight."

(Oof. Nice toys, darling, but you mustn’t let yourself be *seen*, you know.)

Selesnya:

On the Golgari: "They wallow in filth and rot, too preoccupied with death to appreciate the bliss of life's connections."

(The Golgari just get generally shat on, both figuratively and entirely literally, by basically everyone. They have a dirty job! That doesn’t mean they’re worthless!)

On the Gruul: "They are a desperate echo of what they should be, reaching blindly toward something greater. Such a waste. And a smelly, unreasonable, destructive one at that."

(Amusingly, the Selesnya, despite being a nature guild, just don’t seem to like dirty things. I love that with the Gruul, they start out all philosophical, and then just devolve at the end into ‘and they’re smelly and I don’t like them’).

Simic:

On the Azorius: "An absurd and inelegant construct, forever trapped in a maze of their own making. They would outlaw evolution if they could. And if any of them truly seek utopia, the rest are far too busy shuffling papers to notice. Avoid their attention at all costs."

(‘Far too busy shuffling papers to notice’. Oof.)

On the Izzet: "The Izzet have spent ten thousand years mimicking the appearance of research, producing more pyrotechnics than progress. Surely that is a performance to rival the Rakdos."

(… Ouch. The Simic are *bitchy*. Shots fired in science-land over here!)

-----------

It is just fabulous. The amount of seething contempt and condescension and generalised disdain in these sections is amazing and so much fun.

[the-starlight-project]

So, in this AU, I guess Mania, or at least the encore mode, the comics, Superstar, the tv series, etc. don't exist?

What is a part of the in-universe sonic franchise? Just the main games, as tv shows?

I've answered this a lot, so I think this'll be the last time I answer one of these BUT!

To be crystal clear, only the main series Sonic games are considered canon actual TV shows that the studio helped produce with Sonic as the main protag. Any other spinoff you can think off - Boom, Superstars, etc etc - are either animated TV shows, actual spinoffs that have nothing to do with Sonic, or simply do not exist.

For example, Sonic Underground doesn't exist! It's not an animated TV show or a spinoff, it just .. doesn't exist! SatAM, however, did exist as an animated TV show.

Maybe eventually I'll put together a masterlist of what exists and what doesn't, but for now, I hope this clears things up.

[mamawasatesttube]

OOF. There are so many good prompts on that list, I could barely decide! But I feel like I gotta go with “They’ll find me, they always do.” Preferably as spoken by Kon?

Kon doesn't know where he is.

Well—okay, he has a vague idea. It's... a box, somewhere underground, designed for holding Kryptonians. Designed for breaking Kryptonians, if he's entirely honest; courtesy of Luthor, of course. The walls are twofold, with all the air pumped out of the gap between the layers so that he can't hear anything from outside, and the strange, uncanny silence alone would be bad enough without the darkness, away from any sun.

The only light is, of course, the fucking kryptonite.

It's getting old, he thinks woozily. How many times is Luthor gonna pull this kinda shit? Does he really think he can break Kon's spirit just with a little (okay, a lottle) physical misery? Does he really think Kon will ever give up any of Kal's secrets just 'cuz of some pain, misery, and humiliation?

Admittedly, having to hand himself over for a bunch of civilian hostages just to get slapped with a kryptonite fucking collar is pretty heavy on the humiliation front, but still. Kon's a goddamn joke. He can take being a laughingstock.

He heaves a sigh, closing his eyes. At least the floor is cold and soothing against his flushed cheeks; the hot flashes are better than the cold sweats, so he's grateful, for the moment. He just has to outlast this, that's all.

At some point, the loudspeaker in the ceiling crackles and jolts him out of his doze. "You look pathetic," Luthor informs him. Kon musters up the energy to raise a middle finger to wherever the infrared cameras in here might be. "Classy as ever, Supernova. You could end this anytime, you know. And frankly, you owe me your existence; you'd think you'd be more grateful than this."

Kon rolls onto his back just to raise a second middle finger to the ceiling, too.

Luthor sighs. "So stubborn. Why do you insist on drawing out your suffering? There is only one way this ends, and we both know that."

"Yeah," Kon mumbles. He's too tired and achy to keep his arms up any longer, so he lets them fall back down to his sides. "There is. They'll find me. They always do."

Judging by the hiss of breath, Luthor doesn't care for that answer. Kon smiles despite the burning under his skin, and closes his eyes again.

Some time passes. Kon drifts vaguely in and out of consciousness, thoughts swimming; when the pain and the nausea grow too overwhelming, he retreats into the part of his mind that never left the tube at Cadmus and lets himself float away from reality.

He dreams about the swimming hole a little ways from the farmhouse. It's in a small copse of trees that stand out on the flat horizon; he took Tim there earlier this summer. They splashed around, swam, and made out sitting on the water's edge; right as they were about to leave, Tim stole Kon's shirt and jumped in wearing it, just to make Kon wear a wet T-shirt the whole walk home, and laughed at his own prank on and off all afternoon.

Kon likes when Tim laughs. The memory makes him smile; he can almost feel the warmth of the sunlight on his back as he reminisces. God, what he'd do for some sunlight right now...

Bang. Bang. Bang.

BOOM.

Light floods into the room, artificial, fluorescent light that does nothing for him. Kon squints vaguely at the silhouettes cast against it, but doesn't bother to lift his head; he'd rather dream of the swimming hole and the cool water lapping at his clammy skin.

"Is that a fucking collar?" Cassie's voice, frigid with rage. Warm hands brush against his throat as she kneels, and the sound of metal snapping reaches him from far, far away. "I'm going to kill Luthor. I'm actually gonna kill—"

"Not if I get there first," Bart says, his voice strangely taut. "Hey, Kon. Wake up!"

Someone else is at his side, too. Red, and black, and white eyes in a dark mask... oh. That's Tim, Kon realizes woozily, as a gloved hand cups his cheek.

"Kon," Tim says. His voice is low and urgent. He's not laughing. The kryptonite is gone, Kon realizes suddenly; there's a metal box next to Tim's knee. Classic Tim, he thinks. Always prepared. "Kon, can you hear me?"

Kon blinks at him. He probably should answer, but... he still feels like he's floating, and none of it can quite reach him. It's fine. It's probably fine.

Tim's lips press together in a thin, tight line. Kon doesn't like that; he shouldn't look so tense and unhappy. He likes when Tim laughs.

"Shit, that bastard really did a number on him," Cassie hisses. "Here, move. I got him."

Tim reluctantly pulls away. Kon whines a little as his hand drops from his cheek; he doesn't want Tim to go. But then Cassie is there, gathering him up into her arms, and Kon sighs, relaxing; she's warm, and he's suddenly acutely aware that he's freezing, and he knows in her arms, he's safe.

"Let's go," Cassie says, standing with Kon in her arms.

"He's shivering. Hold on." Kon watches through weary, half-lidded eyes as Tim fiddles with the clasps of his cape, pulls it off, and... oh. Drapes it over him like a blanket, then bundles him up like a baby, in Cassie's arms.

"If you guys have Kon, I can go murder Luthor real fast," Bart offers.

It's probably a sign that his friends are really, really pissed that no one immediately says no murder, Bart. Kon can't figure out what's going on, but he knows he's safe now. He closes his eyes and sinks into Cassie's arms and figures he'll just have to ask them to fill him in later.

[idkaguyorsomething]

favourite doctor who episode? (idk why I'm asking, still. have fun ranting about your favourite episode if you want to)

what an ask, there are so many incredibly episodes across all the eras that are outstanding in all these different ways, with so many characters i adore who all manage to stand out despite the lengthy history of this show. but when you asked, there was one standalone episode that came to mind immediately. so sorry to all those other ones, but for today we're going to discuss one episode (it's gonna be a long one):

dalek. nostalgia definitely plays a strong part in my choice here, especially since i saw it for the first time at a pretty impressionable point in my life. but hey, it wasn't always even my favorite episode with the a dalek in it (shout-out to asylum of the daleks), it all kinda shifted for my on my rewatch of the revival last year.

starting with my most obvious bias, NINE EPISODE <3 !!! i think a lot of us can agree that this episode has got a standout performance from christopher eccleston, one which undeniably carries so much of the episode as he channels his rage and pain into the character of the doctor. being pretty fresh off the time war, this is just about the first time where we get to see exactly how hurt the whole experience left the doctor, and it gives us just a hint of how utterly terrifying he was during a period where he lost everything. it's not just an episode where we get to see an iconic classic villain, it's one that's essential to fleshing out the doctor's character for newcomers and his development for classic fans.

speaking of iconic villains, oh my gosh the dalek itself in this episode is fucking terrifying. nostalgia is definitely playing a factor here again, but this is honestly one of the first times i remember being legitimately terrified by a tv show. we have exactly one alien to face off against here, and it's gunning down people left and right. this story does such a good job of establishing the menace of the daleks (among other things, we'll get to that later) and basically obliterating any of the jokes you could've come up with about how goofy it looks or other tone killers, it's a perfect reintroduction to the daleks. even when they reappear in larger numbers and act less effectively than in this episode, i can't help but think back to all the damage that a single dalek was able to do in this episode and think "ah fuck". if you don't know what a dalek is going into the episode, you're going to shit your pants by the end, and if you do know, then the buildup before the reveal and first confrontation is going to have you on the edge of your seat before it pays off spectacularly. top-tier tension.

the bunker is a pretty brilliant choice of a setting as well, since having it be on earth instead of a spaceship helps reinforce the feeling that the doctor and the dalek are very much alone in the universe. there's other places out there that we've visited, sure, but now they're both trapped underground in this dingy backwater planet, cut off from their respective cultures that don't even exist anymore and the wide open world.

it's a smaller thing, but i also love to hate on the villain of van statten here. he's such a puffed-up wannabe who thinks that his money can get him anything or out of any situation, and in an age of dunking on all these techbro ceos who make increasingly dumbass choices that screw over tons of people, his character has aged surprisingly well. fuck this idiot, i bet he'd have been one of the first to buy in on nfts or kiss elon musk's ass if he'd still had his fortune by the end of the episode. (also adam is here but i don't think we're actually meant to dislike him in this episode, so let's just pretend that he doesn't exist)

okay but this episode really gives us a lot of interesting stuff about rose as well. personally i think the world war three/boom town episodes do this the best, but this might just be season 1 rose at her most unhinged. she touches a spooky sad trash can alien, it starts killing everything, then at the end she discourages the doctor from destroying it despite the fact that it's clearly suicidal. we get to see the extent that her compassion for all things reaches, and how it can be a flaw as much as a virtue for her. i'm not saying she or the doctor were entirely right while the other was entirely wrong, but their opposite stances on what to do with the dalek at the end is the lynchpin of the climax, and the way she snaps him into revealing his trauma is a perfect demonstration of why he keeps around companions. (though bringing adam on board the tardis was 100% a stupid decision, okay that's the last time i'll mention him)

but then we have the dalek itself. and i think the most impressive thing about this entire episode is how it legitimately manages to instill a sense of tragedy in the dalek's existence even though it is demonstrably a complete monster. it's another really fascinating parallel to the doctor that the titular dalek becomes infected by humanity as a means of coping post-time war, and this completely emotionally annihilates it. unlike the doctor, who committed some... morally dubious actions but was still relatively fresh off the boat when humans started rubbing off on him, this dalek has committed atrocity after atrocity after atrocity, the only thing that a dalek can know how to do. so those human emotions rubbing off on it and shifting its nature so that it becomes aware that there are other things to do, and what it has done is indisputably wrong is kinda perfect karma. and from its perspective, the dalek is experiencing the most horrifying fate that a dalek could experience. the implications of what it's going through, of having the very foundations of its self shifted in a way that is fundamentally incompatible with what it has known all its life, to the point where clinging on to its old hatred and self destructing before this change can progress any further, has just stuck with me for ages. when you read into how it's a foil to the doctor, and remember that the doctor has changed so much over the ages, especially during the time war, it gives you insight into both characters. it's tragic and fascinating and there are so many ways that you can read into it.

(here's a picture of iris wildthyme just to break up all the text)

anyways, dalek is a really well-written, incredibly tense, magnificently acted self-contained episode that still manages to tie into an be essential to the overarching narrative. i thought about it so much that i started writing a fanfic what-if about it. if you made it to the end of this post have a cookie.

[the-quiet-fire-of-defiance]

Te Hōkioi, and Speculation on the Dietary Habits of the Great Eagles

He Hōkioi, i runga, he Hōkioi, i runga, hū.

(The great eagle, from above, made a booming call)

Kei te āputa koe, nā, o te rangi, e noho ana,

(In the open space, there, in the sky, it dwells)

Te hoa moenga, nō whatitiri mātakataka;

(Death's companion, with crashing thunder)

Hei aha, tērā, e tararua mārire, ona hikumaro?

(Why, then, do its tail feathers no longer split the quiet in two?)

Rua maro tonu, ona hakikau;

(Two fathoms wide, its wings;)

E huhū nei, i runga te rangi,

(It called, above in the sky)

Hōkioi, Hōkioi.

(The sound: hōkioi, hōkioi.)

- poem/chant by the great Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha

For @tolkienofcolourweek, I'm spending seven days bringing Māoritanga and mātauranga Māori to the world of Tolkien! Starting off on day 1 with: what did Manwë's Eagles eat?

Such massive animals, especially flying ones, would have required a huge caloric intake. We have little evidence about what potential prey may have existed in Beleriand and Middle Earth. The Hobbit mentions them eating sheep, and it seems likely that they would hunt other large animals, such as deer or bison. But there's nothing in our modern world that compares to or fills an ecological niche like Manwë's Eagles.

This is where I draw on Māori oral history of the largest eagles to ever live.

In English they're called Haast's Eagles, but in Māori there are several names. Probably the most well-known of the Māori names is pouakai/poukai, but my people called them hōkioi.

They were massive, weighing as much as 17.8 kg (about 39 lbs) and with wingspans as large as 3 metres (about 10ft). Their feet and claws were the size of modern day tigers, capable of punching through bone. They hunted prey more than fifteen times their own size.

(Granted, the eagles of Manwë are much larger than even the hōkioi! Still, it's similar enough for me to draw inspiration.)

[Left image: an artist's rendition of a hōkioi perched on a rock. Right image: an artist's rendition of a hōkioi attacking the neck of a giant flightless bird.]

The hōkioi's primary prey was the moa, large flightless birds similar to ostriches or emus. With no large land mammals on the islands, hōkioi were the apex predators.

Then, circa 900 CE, large mammals came to Aotearoa for the first time. They also preyed on moa, reducing the hōkioi's food supply. So perhaps it was natural that the hōkioi began to hunt these mammals as new prey.

Unfortunately, those mammals were us.

[Left image: an artist's rendition of a hōkioi attacking a Māori man who holds a spear. Right image: an artist's rendition of a child running from a hōkioi.]

Our stories of the hōkioi, or pouakai, tell of giant birds that could swoop down from the sky to kill and eat even strong warriors. They were also known to carry off small children.

I'm not saying that the eagles of Manwë ate elves or humans. (I think they were probably given firm instructions not to!) It would make sense for them to prey on orcs and other creatures of Morgoth, though. And there's one other group who we know were hunted like animals in Beleriand, due to... misunderstandings. A group who the Eagles may not have initially recognized as sentient creatures. A group who would have been an ideal size to pick up and carry off as a snack.

I'm just saying, I think there may have been multiple reasons that dwarves chose to live underground.

-

(Sources for further information about te hōkioi:

The man-killer that fell from the sky

NZ Birds: Haast's Eagle)

[crusherthedoctor]

Legacy. The Freedom fighters existed far longer than many of the official characters and the fleetway/Sonic X characters, and have endured the test of time.

Look at it this way, Jimmy Olson is a Superman character, right? Well, funny thing is that he didn't originate in the superman comics but came from a radio show of all things back when radio was the largest media (30s-50s)

Now does Jimmy Olson contribute much to Superman's story? No

Is he the most important character in the superman lore? No

But is he still a beloved character that people like? Hell yes.

Legacy should matter, the freedom fighters were there when the sonic franchise was faltering, and they deserve some recognition.

This is just a burial of characters that Sega owns unlike say the fleetway characters, they don't belong to Archie or Ken Penders and have every right to be acknowledged.

But here we are, Sega taking the backhoe and burying them deep, hoping we would forget them.

Meanwhile, they keep shitting out one mediocre game after the other.

The Freedom Fighters are not as important or key to Sonic's success as you think they are. They're no more essential to Sonic's world than characters from AoStH, Underground, Boom, or any other adaptation that's a thing of the past (before you mention Sticks, she was quietly retired as well following Boom's end). You preferring them doesn't change that, and neither does the popularity of Archie or SatAM. Because lest we forget, the movies are also quite popular, and so are a few of their characters.

If we're judging things by the loose definition of legacy, then the games themselves have a "legacy" of three decades as of this year, and what's more, Archie Sonic and SatAM would never have existed in the first place if it weren't for the games. Yet you're quick to trash them in favor of characters you believe to be superior solely because you say so.

Legacy alone, and standing the test of time (which in itself is debatable BTW), doesn't make a character good by default. Characters ought to be judged by their quality, not by how old or how recent they are. Characters like Sonic and Eggman do have a legacy, yes, but they are literally the main hero and main villain of the entire scope of the franchise, and are not comparable to some team from a dead cartoon and a dead comic that fans happen to like.

SEGA are not deliberately singling the Freedom Fighters out and trying to wipe people's memories of them specifically. They've simply moved on from a now-defunct branch of the franchise, as they did with every other adaptation that is no longer relevant. That's not to say you can't miss these characters, but attitudes like this highlight an inflated persecution complex shared by many of the most aggressive FF stans.

And if we're going to give the Freedom Fighters an obligatory pat on the back for simply happening to exist during down periods of the franchise, then we might as well do the same for all those game characters that also existed during those same periods.

[mama-qwerty]

The Knucklesverse Guide

Updated December 15, 2023

A group of us on our Knuckles-centric discord server kind of accidentally created an au inspired by the Spiderverse movies. The Master Emerald—who loves her guardian something fierce—creates a special place where all the versions of her guardian from across different universes can come and socialize, be safe, and not feel so all alone anymore. This place exists in a little pocket dimension the ME created, and is called The Sanctuary.

While at the Sanctuary, the different Knuckles are called by what media or au they come from. Movie Knux is called Wachowski, Sonic Boom Knux is Boom, etc. There are a few au Knuckles that were created in that server that we play with as well, so I figured it would be a good idea to make a kind of cheat sheet so readers will know who these other Knux’s are. I’ll update this if/when I add more to whatever bits of writing I do for the Knucklesverse.

I have done A LOT of writing for this au in the server. They’re a lot of fun to play with.

There are more Knux in the Sanctuary—Archie, OVA, and Underground, for example—whom I will probably not include, mainly because I am not familiar with their backstories and personalities well enough. My main group is the Shatter Triplets, Boom, Wachowski, and a few of the new aus.

Anyway. Here we go!

~~~~~

Boom – age 16-18

from Sonic Boom tv show

the most emotionally aware Knux

the tallest of the batch – stands close to 5 feet tall

acts as the “big brother” to the others, because of his size and emotional intelligence

is very open with physical affection, giving hugs and forehead presses whenever one of the others need it – he’s the only one some of the more stoic Knux’s will accept this from

he’s less stupid in the Sanctuary, because the lack of a ME in his world is what contributed to his spacey thinking

Wachowski – age 16

from the live action Sonic movies

he knew his tribe, so can pass on customs and traditions and the language to the others

lost his tribe at age 6 and wandered the galaxy searching for the ME shortly after, being caught and forced to fight in arenas and such at a young age

typically has the calmest head of all the Knux

Dread – age 22-25

from Sonic Prime tv show – the shatterspace No Place

he, Gawain, and Sinbad are the three eldest out of the rest of the Knux

the shortest of the Shatter triplets, and has a bit of a belly

has a special bond with Boom, and is protective of his brother Gnarly

being in the Sanctuary helps calm the madness within him – his lack of a ME in his world is what made him go kinda bonkers and the Prism Shard didn’t help matters

over time he becomes less selfish and more protective of the others – but he’s still him and will turn to violence if he deems it the best course of action

Renegade (aka Ren) – age 18-20

from Sonic Prime tv show – the shatterspace New Yoke City

no-nonsense and blunt – he’s Prime Knuckles’ sense of duty and protection ramped up to 11

the most responsible of the Shatter triplets, but still gets pulled into shenanigans by Dread and Gnarly (mostly Dread)

gets ‘bad vibes’ when something’s wrong

doesn’t really like Dread all that much, but will step up to help if Dread needs it

Gnarly – age 15ish

from Sonic Prime tv show – the shatterspace Boscage Maze

grew up anxious and paranoid, thinking the trees were talking to him – he’s Prime Knuckles’ chaos sensitivity, and was ‘hearing/seeing’ the chaos energy in all the living things around him

while in the Sanctuary, the ME calms his mind

he’s still fidgety and a little jumpy with anxiety issues

tall and lanky, like a gangly teenager – always hungry and isn’t picky about what he eats

Dark – age 47

from the Dark Mobius storyline in Archie comics

became Enerjak, almost conquered the planet

arrogant and cruel – sucked out people’s souls to make them his minions

when he lost his power he became this old and wrinkly lump of nastiness

none of the other Knux like him, but the ME pulled him in because he’s a Knux and she believes everyone is worthy of redemption (spoiler alert, he doesn’t want redemption, he wants his power back)

he constantly tries to play on the others’ weaknesses and insecurities, to manipulate them into giving him back the power he so desperately wants again

Gawain – age 22-25

from Sonic and the Black Knight video game

essentially forced to be king when Sonic noped out

very protective of his country and people

has strong sense of duty and honor and failing at any mission or task is NOT an option

Sinbad – age 22-25

from Sonic and the Secret Rings video game

a sailor who butts heads with Dread

can use his World Ring to control storms

treasure hunter, but doesn’t have the best luck

X – age 16

from Sonic X anime

shortest temper, easy to rile up

most gullible, but still has the Knuckles heart of gold

always believes in second chances, even for enemies who were trying to kill him a moment before

can be very rude, but cares deeply about his friends

From the various Knuckles aus created by folks on the Echidna's Parade discord server

Cyber - age N/A

created by folks on the Echidna's Parade server

he was made into an A.I by getting assimilated into cyberspace 

was saved from cyberspace but ended up with many ai behaviors

is cold but feels bad about it

more logical than other Knuckles’

can summon Holographic screen he can display information on

Jax – 20ish

created by folks on the Echidna’s Parade server

a storybook au that follows along the lines of Black Knight and Secret Rings, based on Alice in Wonderland

ex-knight to the Queen of Hearts (Rouge)

she abused him for much of his life – he put himself in harms way to keep others safe, especially his world’s version of Tails

suffered much of his life due to this mindset of self-sacrifice

the queen cut his quills short – in his world quills are held in high honor and cutting them is a sign of shame and cowardice

one of the more quiet and reserved Knuckles and can have panic attacks

Quetzal (aka Q) – age 16ish

created by folks on the Echidna’s Parade server

a shapeshifter, who can transform into a large dragon, or a mid-size form between the dragon and echidna

has abandonment issues – his parents were killed as they protected his egg and their hoard, and when he hatched he instinctively began to protect the hoard as he waited for their return

adopts his friends and loved ones into his ‘hoard’ and is fiercely protective of them

was prophesied to bring death and destruction in his world, but he simply doesn’t want to so avoided that whole mess

communicates in chirps, whistles, growls and trills while in dragon form

behaves a lot like a lazy cat – loves to nap and force others to nap if he thinks they need it

gives off golden retriever energy when excited

typically not a fighter

Zombie/Zombby (aka Z or Little Z) – age 12

created by folks on the Echidna’s parade server

he was raised by his tribe to be the guardian of the ME, taught and groomed by the priests since he was barely hatched

they betrayed his trust, wanting to use the ME’s power for themselves

when he came of age at 12, they attempted to connect him to the ME but were overzealous and flooded his little body with so much chaos energy it killed him

they tried to hide their crime by burying him in a small grave, but the ME worked her magic and over the course of thousands of years, she ‘marinated’ him in her energy, reviving him

he’s technically still dead, but the abundance of chaos energy within him reanimated him

he can detach his limbs for comedic effects

classic baby of the family – can do just about anything and the others can’t stay mad at him for long

he has a bit of a limp – the others tend to carry him on their backs or shoulders because of this

doesn’t remember much of his life

Nile (aka Mummy Knuckles) – age unknown

personality created by the folks on Echidna’s Parade server

the Mummy skin from the game Sonic Forces: Speed Battle

holds himself in a regal manner

can be cold and distant, but has special soft spot for Zombby

is usually followed by at least 3 ghosts, but can conjure others at his command

very blunt and to the point

went through the mummification process for reasons (I don’t think we’ve hammered those out yet) – it was his choice to do so and he feels very proud for the honor

didn’t retain much memory from when he was alive, so pieced together who he was from the murals on the walls of his tomb – which depicted him as this stiff, regal person

Metzli and Yunuen (aka ‘the twins’) – age 17ish

created by the folks on Echidna’s Parade server

the twins are fundamentally Knuckles split in two

Yunuen was a body-less eldritch being, billions of years old, who wandered the galaxy and inhabited the bodies of mortals to give himself something to do

he would seep into the body of a mortal, copy their mind and memories and personality, and eject the soul of that body, dooming it to roam endlessly or vanish into the ether without that mortal tether

he did this time and time again, sending countless souls to their damnation

one day he came upon a lone figure on a floating island, and decided to inhabit him

Knuckles was copied, and his soul was ejected (after a bit of a struggle, which was unusual) and the being moved in and assumed Knuckles’ life

Knuckles’ soul refused to give up and stuck around, using his new ghost-like abilities to try and contact his friends

after some time, the eldritch being was ‘reverse corrupted’ due to Knuckles’ pure heart and overwhelmingly self-sacrificing nature

wracked with guilt, the being begged for forgiveness, his past atrocities weighing heavily on his mind

the ME recognized true remorse, and refused to let the now changed being leave forever, so she constructed a new body for Knuckles’ soul to inhabit

to avoid confusion the two adopted new names – Yunuen for the eldritch being in Knuckles’ original body, and Metzli for the new body created for Knuckles’ soul

Yunuen is anxious and fearful, his past haunting him

Metzli is very protective of his brother – he holds no ill will toward the being he was

they each retain some powers from their previous forms – Metzli has the ability to astral project, and Yunuen can alter matter and tap into his eldritch form when necessary (I’m not sure what that entails – don’t think we’ve really hammered that all out, either)

Okay, I think that’s all the Knux I typically work with. I’ll update this with more if/when I get more writing out that includes someone new I forgot.

Check out my Knucklesverse bits under snippets!