#forced roboticisation

[transhuman-priestess]

A High Place in El-Bariyah

The crew of the Huntington grieves the loss of one of their own, while a malevolent force in a distant corner of the solar system forges its newest weapon.

The highly anticipated continuation of The New Flesh is here.

This story contains graphic violence, sexual content, depictions of surgery, brainwashing, identity death, dismemberment, implied rape, abusive parents, firearms, anti-queer slurs, and healthily moderated but melancholy consumption of alcohol.

As always, this story is for adults 18 years of age or older, it's also the third in an ongoing series. Get caught up before you read it!

Chapter 1: The New Flesh Chapter 2: The Third Law

Remember, if you like it, reblog it, and tell me what you liked! I thrive on feedback and shares. I write this stuff for the joy of sharing it with others. Your reblog puts validation directly into my gay little soul.

January 24, 2253 1800 Earth UTC

The Hildas, 530 million kilometers from Jupiter

7 hours. It had been 7 hours since the Huntington had escaped her assailants, and Chester Silvera, First Mate, hadn’t seen the Captain in 6.

He’d just gotten out of the shower. The entire crew was in shock. Most of them had served with Jenna Powell for years. She was their friend, and despite the frequent clashes between her and Holder, Silvera knew that the crew respected and liked both of them.

Silvera surveyed his quarters, a moderately-sized suite of around 20 square meters, containing a modest bed, a small galley, a lavatory, and the shower he had just vacated. The Huntington’s crew accommodations were far from palatial, but they were home.

Chester walked to his dresser, donned a black band T-shirt (The Carowells, Jovian Tour 2250), khaki shorts, and sneakers. He grabbed his portable radio off the table, clipped the handset to his belt and the remote mic to his collar. It chirped reassuringly as he turned it on.

Keying the mic he said, “This is Silvera, anyone seen the Captain?”

A moment later, Jill Campbell’s voice crackled to life on the speaker. “Door logs say she’s still in her quarters. Her radio’s off, want me to ring her?”

“No, I’ll just walk right over, thank you.”

“No problem.”

He opened the door to the hallway outside. The corridor was well-lit, and lined with short-pile navy blue carpet and fake-wood-grained wall paneling that had probably been quite fashionable 20 years ago, but now gave the ship a hopelessly outdated look. Chester actually quite liked it. The old girl was past her prime, but she had a sense of style, and you had to admire her for that.

Holder’s quarters were 10 meters down the hall, on the same side as Silvera’s, adjacent to the bridge entrance. Between their rooms was a corridor that led to the now-vacated Engineer’s quarters, the mess hall, the rec room, and the crew dormitories. As he passed the hallway, Silvera caught a glimpse of Powell’s door. It was closed, and unadorned. He thought about peering inside, but decided that wasn’t his place, and instead he continued to Holder’s room.

Silvera knocked a syncopated pattern on the Captain’s door, and was greeted with a dull, “Enter.”

He turned the knob and swung the door open to reveal the darkened bedroom beyond. A window faced out towards space, looking aft over the ore holds. The #3 bay was still open, its massive door blocking the view of the engines’ yellow-white exhaust plumes.

The captain was lying in her bed, eyes open, staring at the ceiling. She hadn’t shaved her face yet today, and her stubble was creeping in. Silvera never liked to say anything, but he always thought it gave Holder a dashing, roguish look. Right now though, she just looked exhausted.

“Can’t sleep?” Silvera asked, casually, as if this were a normal cruise under normal circumstances, and he had not a care in the solar system.

Holder just lay there, still staring at the ceiling. Silvera waited for her response. When none came, he asked, “Mind if I come in?”

“Sure,” was all she said.

He turned the lights on to their lowest setting and closed the door behind him. This was the first time he’d managed to get a good look at the captain’s quarters. She hadn’t yet put up any decorations, but she had managed to situate a small bookshelf, her favorite armchair, and a small table that currently held a laptop terminal.

“Love what you’ve done with the place,” Silvera joked, “Feels just like home.”

“Chester,” said Holder, without looking at him, “can you fucking not right now?”

Silvera smiled, though Holder didn’t see that. He knew his captain, and he knew he had to get her on her feet to keep her out of trouble. Holder was a problem-solver. She needed dirt on the tires and grease on her hands or she got restless. With the ship moving and no burn scheduled for another 10 days, Silvera had to become that problem.

“Terry, the crew needs to hear something from you,” he said, “They’ve just been through hell. They’ve lost a friend. Now they need a leader.”

“Some fucking leader.” was Holder’s bitter reply.

“You can’t be everywhere at once,” he said, “It’s not your fault Powell didn’t put the tether on.”

“Tell that to the court martial.” the captain said, rolling to face away from him.

“I will,” he said, “and so will the rest of the crew.”

Holder sat up and looked at him, “Are you sure about that? They knew her for years. They met me last month. You don’t have to be a physicist to figure that one out, Chester.”

“The crew will stand by their captain.”

Holder stood now, apparently she’d lay down to sleep in her blue khaki work uniform, “Why? Why will they stand by me? I got Powell killed, Chester. She is dead, because, I fucked up.”

“And how did you do that, hmm?” he asked, “By not breathing down her neck and by treating her like a responsible member of the crew?”

“Chester,” Holder’s voice got louder and she began pacing, “You just told me, right before all of this,” she waved her hands in front of her for emphasis, “that I had to drop my grudge against her. That we’d been butting heads for a month and that I was too hard on her.”

“Terry,” Silvera kept his voice even, “you are not the first Captain to lose a crew member to that crew member’s carelessness.”

“Her carelessness?” Holder said, incredulous, “Chester, I am the Captain, everything on the Huntington is my responsibility, the cargo, the safety of the crew, the integrity of the ship, everything!”

“You are one person.” Silvera could feel his fist clenching

“Who is tasked with maintaining discipline and order,” Holder shot back, “I failed in both. Jenna Powell is dead because I couldn’t control her,” Silvera thought he saw tears in her eyes, “I should have supervised the EVA, I should have checked the suit inventory,” she was shouting now, “I should have turned back and looked for her!”

“And gotten yourself and the rest of the crew killed?”, it was Silvera’s turn to shout now, “With all due respect, shut the fuck up, Theresa!”

Holder was momentarily speechless, incandescent with rage. Finally, she found her voice. “If you ever speak that way to me again, Silvera, I will personally make sure you’re-”

“Yes, yes,” he cut her off, tired of the show, “you’ll personally make sure I’m cleaning out waste reprocessors on Io until I’m old and gray, I’ve heard it before.”

“What is your problem?”

“You! This!” was his response, “Your crew just suffered a trauma and you’re sitting in here feeling sorry for yourself like some first-year cadet when you should be out there, tending to your crew as a captain should.” Holder collapsed into a sitting position on the bed and buried her face in her hands, muttering something Silvera couldn’t quite hear.

“What was that?” Silvera asked.

“I said,” Holder brought her hands away from her face, and Silvera could see the tears lining her cheeks, “That they deserve a better captain than me.”

Chester Silvera had been friends with Holder for half a decade. They’d met on a cargo hauler, the Venture, where Silvera had an engine technician. She’d stayed up helping him study for his command examine, and he’d been her first mate ever since he’d gotten his commission.

“Terry,” he said, choosing his words carefully, “I have served under,” he counted in his head, “4 captains, including you. Now, maybe it’s just my incredibly wise influence,” he paused briefly, and Holder cracked a tiny smile, “but I would say that you are, by far, the best.”

“Yeah, well, that’s just, like, your opinion, man.” Holder said, bashfully.

“I wasn’t finished,” Silvera continued, “I’ve never had a truly bad captain, but the ones who’ve impressed me the most have never been the ones that put on a stone face and hide behind their command. The best captains are always those who suffer alongside the crew, who laugh and cry with them. You need to be out there. They don’t need you to be their rock, they need you to be beside them in the flotsam while they’re adrift, so that when someone spots land, you can lead them back to it.”

They sat in silence for a long moment. Finally, Holder grabbed her radio, keyed it, and said, “This is the captain. We’ve had a bad day, probably the worst any of us has ever had. Let’s all meet in the mess hall at 1930. Drinks on me.”

* * *

Time Unknown

Location Unknown

Jenna wasn’t sure if she was in hell yet. She couldn’t possibly be alive in this state. Every signal her body sent was telling her that she should be dead. Her face felt like it was still on fire, her shoulder was in pieces, and she was pretty sure her rib cage was caved in, too. Every breath was agony. She had long since stopped trying to move any part of her body. Even with concerted effort at stillness, though, new pains danced and bloomed throughout her.

Time was behaving strangely, too. She was dizzy, like she’d had too much to drink. Her stomach felt like it was being twisted on an auger. Through the haze of it all, in the back of her engineer’s brain, she knew that if she wasn’t dead yet, she soon would be. She’d taken at least 50 grays of hard fusion radiation. By all accounts, she should have been dead by now.

And yet, she lived. The thing—for that was all that Jenna could call it—that had taken her from the emptiness of space had carried her over its shoulder to some kind of medical facility. It lay her on a cruel-looking steel table and cut her suit off, injecting her with a syringe of some oily substance that filled her mouth with a rusty taste she couldn’t shake. Even now, what had to be hours later, it remained.

She drifted in and out of consciousness for some time. Each time she woke, her head felt slightly clearer. After what felt like half a day, she woke and found that she could move her neck without feeling the crunching of bones beneath it. How long have I been out?

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a wave of intense nausea swept over her. Though the pain had dulled slightly, it still felt as if she might shatter when she reflexively rolled onto her side, and wretched. Nothing came out. She braced herself with her right arm and was surprised to find that she could bear weight on it. She marveled at this only a moment before another convulsion gripped her stomach. This time, she threw up. The room was dimly lit with a warm light, but even the yellow glow could not hide the contents of her stomach as it spilled onto the floor.

Blood. Lots of blood. Some clotted, some not. Some was bright red and some was nearly black. Jenna heaved again. More vomit, more blood. Her engineer’s brain chimed in again. Sodium-24.

The deuterium-tritium fusion that drove the Huntington’s main engines took two hydrogen atoms, one with an extra neutron, the other with two, and smashed them together to form helium and heat. The helium atoms, technically they were alpha particles, were of little harm to the human body normally, though the sheer quantity of them in fusion exhaust posed a danger. The real problem, however, was the neutrons produced as a byproduct. It was them, she knew, that would seal her fate.

It was the sort of thing that had captured her imagination as a young boy in Dublin. A particle so small and nonreactive that it could pass right through solid objects. Except sometimes, it didn’t. Sometimes, the neutron would hit an atom’s nucleus square-on, and stick there. The nucleus would become unstable, rippling like a drop of water falling from a cloud, and then it would break apart. Do this to the right substances, and you could generate power, build a bomb, trace the flow of blood through the human brain. Do it to the wrong substances, the ones that made up your body, and you became a bomb in slow-motion, destroying yourself, unable to prevent your own demise.

Much of the sodium in her body had absorbed neutrons, changing from stable sodium-23 to radioactive sodium-24. While fusion exhaust had neutrons and alpha particles, both of which penetrated relatively little, sodium-24 emitted gamma rays, and those gamma rays could pass through almost anything short of lead, including the human body. As they did, they stripped the ends off her chromosomes, shredding her DNA and leaving her cells unable to replicate themselves properly. The result was that she was dissolving. As the fastest-dividing cells in her body reached the end of their lifespans, they died. Rather than being replaced, her organs were simply shutting down.

But it didn’t make sense. She had taken so much radiation she should have died within an hour. Why hadn’t she? She was pondering that question when the thing that had brought her to this room stepped through the door.

Jenna’s head was clearer now and she was better able to absorb the figure’s appearance. It had a human shape. Bipedal, standing about 180cm tall. The basic outline of it implied that it was, or at least, had been, female. Cybernetic prosthetics were not unheard of but this lay outside the extreme end of that. The thing’s joints were covered in layered segments of metal with a dark oxide coating, tubing ran over its limbs. The only skin that Jenna could see was its face. The face was almost human. Dark lines ran as veins underneath the skin, the lips gunmetal gray, as if the blood inside had rotted. There was hair, a short tangled mess of raven black. One of the eyes was distinctly mechanical, a bright, electric blue. The other was green, and looked natural.

“You are awake,” was all the thing said.

Jenna made a dry croaking sound as she tried to speak. After several seconds of halting attempts, she finally found her voice, “How...how am I alive?” It hurt to speak. She thought she might have burns on her larynx from inhaling fire.

“We have been able to repair your DNA to a degree,” the figure replied, “However the process is not sufficient to ensure survival. Do not be afraid. We will make you one with us.”

“Let me die.” Jenna begged.

“You have been selected to become an assimilator unit for the hive.” was the figure’s flat reply.

“It hurts.” Jenna felt tears running down her face, “Please, let me die.”

“Your body will be modified and augmented to assimilate others into drones for the hive.”

“Like…you? No...no...”

“Do not be afraid. Your body will be altered surgically and mechanically. Due to the extensive mechanical and radiation damage your body has endured, most of it will need to be replaced with a synthetic chassis.”

“No...god, please”

“You will remain conscious during this process.”

Jenna tried to scream but all that came out was a dull rasp

“You are afraid now, but you will enjoy it, soon.”

The figure placed an anesthesia mask over Jenna’s face.

“As your external tissue is so damaged,” it said, in that flat, synthetic voice, “we were unable to administer the nanites in the usual manner. Instead we have given you a 10cc intravenous infusion.”

“Please,” Jenna whimpered, “please kill me”

Her pleas fell on deaf ears, however, “Usually,” the figure continued, “The surgical procedures would have begun immediately, but the nanites needed time to stabilize your biological processes. We will now begin.”

It grabbed Jenna’s wrists with shocking strength and fixed them to cuffs on the table. She struggled and pulled and twisted, trying to break free, but she wouldn’t have been able to, even with all her strength in her. And she was so tired. Her heart had been racing since the thing had come in, and the adrenaline had worn her down. It wasn’t so much that she resigned herself to whatever happened, she just couldn’t keep up the fight anymore.

Jenna heard a hissing sound come from the mask as the figure reached beneath the table and twisted something. A sharp, sweet chemical aroma curled into her nostrils. As she inhaled, she could feel herself relax. For a moment she almost forgot about her troubles, but her engineer’s brain started sounding alarm bells. They’re drugging you. It had to be that.

“Please,” said the figure, its voice friendlier, more familiar now, “do not resist the gas.”

“I...I don’t,” she croaked out, “I don’t want this.”

“You do not know what it is you want.”

Don’t I? Jenna thought to herself, Maybe, maybe it’s right.

It was like falling into the arms of a lover after a long day at work. Warmth, softness. Jenna’s mind wandered to an encounter she’d had with a young naval officer she met at a Titan bar not that long ago. How her consort’s uniform had glided so effortlessly off as soon as Jenna’s quarters door closed. How her soft fingers had wrapped around Jenna’s cock at the same time she’d suckled at Jenna’s tits.

Jenna realized her pain had subsided greatly. She also noticed that she had an erection.

“Subject arousal maximized,” said the figure beside her. Jenna looked over her again. She was female, decidedly. Broad-shouldered, but delicate. An artisan’s body. How had Jenna failed to see the beauty there before? “Initiating neural reroute.”

The pain quickly came roaring back, different than it had been before. Before, it felt like her body was on fire. Now it felt like tiny teeth were chewing up her insides. She tried to scream but even as she opened her mouth, it subsided, a beautiful warmth replacing it. It was like falling into the softest bed after the most filling meal in the coziest house in the world.

The world took on a brighter, sharper appearance. Jenna could hear people talking, but couldn’t make out any words. Next to her, the figure spoke, “See, isn’t that better?” As she spoke, the woman ran a mechanical hand up Jenna’s leg. Jenna couldn’t help but curl her body up in pleasure. She closed her eyes and let herself fall into the pleasure.

Oh, she thought, I guess you know how to treat a girl.

We have much experience in providing pleasure. Jenna’s eyes shot open. She had heard the woman, not with her ears, but in her head.

The neural transceiver is already functioning? The woman said, You are a promising candidate.

Jenna’s engineer brain was working double-time in thick, deep mud. Neural transceiver?

Jenna could hear the voices again, more clearly now, and realized that they, too, were inside of her. Though every rational fiber of her being screamed to pull away, her curiosity overtook her, and she reached out.

It was like stepping through a door into a crowded amphitheater. Sights, sounds, smells, textures, tastes, movement all seemed to stream into her head from everywhere at once, as if she were both infinite and singular. She flew around the ship, it was smaller than the Huntington. She saw dozens of people and yet felt only one presence. Her mind flicked through them all, letters and numbers appearing with each figure before finally slowing to a stop in the room where she was. The assimilation chamber. Sigma-26 stood above her, warmth on her face. The nascent drone on the table, what had it’s name been?

Deep within Jenna’s mind, a part of her began fighting, kicking, screaming that this was wrong, that there were people out there who missed her. Jill and Karl. Iris and Phoebe. Chester Silvera and Jack Thorton. And Theresa, her captain. Holder hadn’t left Jenna out of spite, or anger. She had been doing her job. She had been trying to keep the others safe and alive.

And yet, the drone now in her head thought, she didn’t even try to save you, did she? She could have tried to scoop you into an ore bay, or given you a few more seconds to make it to the airlock. Instead, she left you out there, adrift. The hive found you. The hive took you in. The hive healed you. Shouldn’t your loyalty lie with them?

Jenna didn’t care. She knew that it wasn’t Holder’s fault. She resisted, trying to pull herself back from the warm light of the Hive. She could feel them working their way into her head. She felt the Hive push into her memories. No, not those!

She was 10, a boy in a flat in Dublin. Her mother has taken her sister, Penny, to the doctor. Her father is asleep, and she’s snuck into Penny’s room. She’s trying on Penny’s dresses when her pa walks in. She’s never seen him so angry.

She was 14, in the boys’ locker room at school. Everyone is showering but she can’t bring herself to take off her shirt. 3 of the other boys corner her. She hides the bruises from her parents.

She was 20, a student at University College Cork, sitting in a doctor’s office. The doctor is writing her a prescription for estrogen. He seems uncomfortable, but says nothing.

She was 21, seeing her family for the first time since starting hormones. Her mother opens the door. She’s confused, but polite. Her father sees her and screams to get out of his house, that he won’t have a faggot for a son. She leaves. It’s the last time she sees her family.

She was 27, on shore leave at Olympus Station, orbiting Mars. She’s leaving a bar, alone, again. After a few minutes of walking, someone hits her hard in the back of the head, knocking her to the ground. The man shoves a chrome handgun in her mouth and says if she makes any sound he’ll blow her tranny brains all over the decking. She thinks about her mother.

She was 28, assigned to MV Huntington, her first posting as chief engineer. The crew are kind to her, but none seek her out. She never grows close to any of them.

She was 30, her new captain wears a nickel-plated .45 on her hip. Jenna’s heart races and suddenly she’s back on Olympus. She runs to her quarters and vomits. The new First Mate knocks on her door. She opens it with tears running down her cheeks. He asks her what’s wrong. She cries for 10 minutes before she can say a word. When she finally speaks, she begs him not to tell the captain. He promises he won’t.

She’s 30. Her face is burning, she’s floating through an abyss, abandoned and alone.

Thinking back on all of these things, the last bit of Jenna Powell, the part that was fighting and screaming for her humanity, grew weary. She had never desired power, or money, or the secrets of the universe. The only thing she’d ever wanted was home. She’d never had it.

The last part of her let go of the cliff it clung to. It fell, backwards, through an infinite abyss. And where it had been, only the drone remained.

“I am a drone of the hive.” she said, “Shape me to a razor’s edge.”

* * *

1930 Earth UTC

MV Huntington mess hall

Captain Theresa Holder stood just outside the entrance to the mess hall. The crew was seated in 2 rows at the long table, nine on a side. Chester was sitting on the left side nearest the empty chair at the head.

The Captain had not told the crew to wear anything special. She didn’t like the formality, and the crew, in turn, had donned their ragtag Sunday best. Jill Campbell wore a navy blue polo. Karl Miller had tied his hair, normally past his shoulders, into a tight bun. Iris Owens was actually wearing a dress. A bright, neon-pink dress with a skull printed on the front, but a dress nonetheless.

Holder, for her part, was wearing her blue dress uniform. Deep navy wool with brass toggles, her captain’s pips on her shoulders. The Civil Navy did not award medals to be worn with dress uniforms, and so on her left breast was a patch that simply said “HOLDER” in light grey letters above the embroidered silhouette of a Shinkelobwe-class ship.

As she entered the hall, Silvera stood, “Captain on deck!” he barked. The crew stood with him. Holder stopped half a meter beyond the threshold. Funerals at sea were one of the times that regulation permitted her to wear the pistol strapped to her hip. Despite this, she made a show, while the crew watched, of removing the belt and hanging it on a hook next to the door. She pulled the pistol from its worn leather holster, and racked the slide back. She had not loaded it prior, and so manually locked it open before replacing it in the belt and turning to the crew. “At ease,” she said, and the crew sat.

She walked, not to the head of the table, but to the foot. She remained standing, and spoke.

“We are here, tonight, our number one too few,” she began, “We have lost our colleague and friend, Genevieve Powell.” She paused, she hadn’t written anything down and was struggling to remember the bits she’d thrown together in her mind as she’d shaved and showered.

“Look,” she said, dropping the air of pretense she’d held before, “Nobody comes out here expecting to die. We didn’t join a combat fleet. We didn’t sign up to be shot at or blow up troop depots or raid supply outposts. We’re miners.”

She looked around at the crew a moment before continuing, “And miners die. It’s been happening ever since humans started digging holes in the ground. Tunnel collapses, methane explosions, tidal shifts. But what happened today, that’s not something, I think, that any of us expected.

“Jenna and I didn’t exactly get along. It feels a bit ghoulish to be up here, praising her, to tell you the truth. Like I’m taking credit for something I didn’t earn. But I need you all to hear this. What happened today, it’s my responsibility. You all performed admirably in a situation that none of us was prepared for. This morning, you were asteroid miners. This evening, you’re heroes, all of you. None more so than the woman who should, by all rights, be sitting at the head of this table.”

Holder gestured in the direction of the empty place setting, “Jenna Powell died trying to get you all to safety. When you tell your friends and families about today, don’t sing praises of your captain. Heap your praise on Jenna Powell, whose loyalty and courage cannot be disputed. Chester, the bottle.”

Silvera stood, grabbing a bottle of whiskey that he had placed on the floor next to his chair. He walked towards Holder, and handed her the thick, ornate glass vessel.

Holder broke the seal and uncorked the bottle. She walked around the table, gently pouring a finger of the amber liquid into each crew member’s glass. When all had been served, she poured herself a glass, and holding it in her left hand, raised it. “To Jenna.”

“To Jenna,” the crew replied, smiles and tears all around, and drank.

After downing her glass, Holder placed it on the table and picked up the bottle. She held it high and said, again, “To Jenna.”

“To Jenna!” the crew said once more.

And with that, Captain Theresa Holder silently drained the rest of the bottle out onto the floor of the mess.

Timecode Error: Format Not Recognized

Hive Interdictor K-14

The drone lay on the table, no longer restrained. Her tired flesh would soon be discarded, replaced by metal, composite, and plastics.

Sigma-26 stood above her, “The radiation has severely damaged your body,” she said to the new drone, “your augmentations will be rather more extensive than most.”

The new drone silently confirmed receipt of this information. 26 began hooking life support tubes into the new drone’s neck. The plan was already clear in her mind. She was eager for it, eager to leave behind the flesh that had confined her and become one with the hive. To feel the electricity run through her wires and hear the thrum of motors and pumps.

26 approached, pulling down an armature from the ceiling that held a large band saw. Wordlessly, she turned it on, and began lowering it towards the new drone’s hips. The blade bit into the damaged flesh of her right leg first, right where the femur met the ball of the hip.

The new drone heard the hive through the wire, It is not clear yet how much of your body will need replacing, it said, the process will proceed in stages to ensure stability.

The blade ground through the new drone’s leg, spitting bits of meat out to the side. As it struck bone the motor bogged down slightly, and the drone felt a high-pitched vibration through her entire being. Waves of pleasure overtook her, the ecstasy of death and rebirth. The nanites in her system worked to seal off the femoral artery and other blood vessels, protecting the brain from losing its precious supply of oxygen. The external life support systems were not yet needed, but that time would come soon.

26 removed the severed limb from the table and began amputating the other leg. Another fine mist of gore sprayed out. It felt so good, the new drone felt itself grow hard as the last bit of skin was severed.

In order to assess tissue damage, the hive spoke again, we will need to access your abdominal cavity. The life support systems will take over now.

Wordlessly, 26 plunged a scalpel into the new drone’s abdomen, just above the pubic bone. She worked it around to the right hip, then back and down almost to the table. She turned then and cut upwards, under and around the lower segment of the rib cage. The new drone’s cock was nearly bursting now, and she gave in, releasing herself, firing juices all over her stomach.

When the scalpel had circumnavigated the new drone’s belly, 26 reached in just under the sternum, and peeled the skin back. It pulled and twisted and sucked, a mass of skin, fat, and muscle a few centimeters thick. It, too, was tossed aside. Another drone came in the door and retrieved the severed legs and the skin flap, whisking them away to a reprocessing terminal.

26 examined the new drone’s organs. The new drone could not see them, but could hear the hive as it wordlessly assessed the situation. The radiation damage was too severe. Her body, even with most of the skin and organs removed, was too damaged to remain.

Full submaxillial amputation necessary, the hive declared.

26 grabbed a port with several needles on the end of various bores. She gently cupped the new drone’s head in one hand, lifting it up, before gently pushing the cable in to the base of the skull. Nanites in the port flooded in, connecting themselves to nerves, building microducts to carry oxygenated blood to the brain after the next step.

When the connection was complete, 26 reached into the open abdominal cavity and began paring out organs. She started with the bladder and intestines. The new drone watched as meters of glistening tubes were removed from her. She could feel herself becoming lighter. The stomach came next, along with the pancreas. Each cut was like an orgasm in and of itself. A blast of pleasure that washed over the new drone like fire consuming kindling.

Her liver and lungs were removed. The new drone could feel her brain stem panicking, trying to force her to breathe with lungs that could not draw air. It was driving her mad, she could feel pressure building up behind her genitals again, and once more she fired off, her glistening seed spurting into the now-empty cavity.

At last, all that was left was her beating heart. It was pounding so fast, and her body was so much lighter now, that she actually thought she might be popping off the operating table under the power of its palpitations. The new drone met 26’s eyes as the latter reached for the band saw. 26 switched the tool on, its blade accelerating to full speed almost instantly. In anticipation, the new drone opened her mouth wide.

26 brought the saw down between the new drone’s jaws. It first caught her cheeks, tearing into them and spraying blood inside her mouth and out the side. She could taste it, the hot, metallic taste of her own body, the last thing she would ever taste. As the blade continued downward it met her mandible, the blade shrieking inside the new drone’s head. It passed out the back side of the bone and immediately dug into the drone’s throat. Blood spurted down it. The pleasure of it all was overwhelming. Finally, 26 angled the blade to pass up through the top of the spinal column, just below the brain stem.

As the blade exited at the end, the new drone felt her body disappear. A nuclear bomb of pleasure went off in her, her eyes rolling back in her skull. The few muscles that remained, as well as the stumps of mandible that had not yet been removed thrashed wildly, for 12 minutes and 22 seconds. When the last wave of orgasm subsided, the new drone opened her eyes.

26 was standing above her, smiling. She felt her hivemate grasp her on either side, and lift her up. It was a curious sensation. She felt so light, so free. Wordlessly, 26 strode over to a person-sized case standing in the corner of the room.

Behold, said the hive, your new form.

The mechanical body was slightly taller than the new drone’s old one. It was sturdier too, with a more muscular look. On top of the neck sat a mechanical mandible. There was no skin, that would be artificially grown over it after assembly. 26 carefully placed the new drone atop the stack, and, using a scalpel, cut away the last bits of her original jawbone.

The artificial mandible responded without command, screwing into the joint sockets on her skull and connecting artificial muscles to mechanical ones. Soon, the drone could feel small actuators gripping the blood vessels inside her and making permanent connections. 26 stood back and watched the process. Finally, she reached behind the new drone and removed the life support tube from the plug. The new drone became momentarily dizzy during the changeover, but 26 was quick to connect the body’s hookup to the port on the skull.

Step forward, came the voice of the hive.

The new drone complied. Wordlessly, she turned around, facing herself away from 26, who began fixing armor plates to the back of her skull, covering up the sensitive port. When 26 was finished, the new drone turned back to face her. She stared down at her new hands, sleek and metal. She flexed her fingers, feeling the power of them. A full diagnostic ran automatically, the results appearing in the corner of her vision, confirming all systems were functioning as designed.

“What is your designation?” 26 asked the new drone.

The new drone looked at her, and said, “I am Sigma-38, assimilator unit.”

Welcome, Sigma-38, came the voice of the hive, we will do great things together.

[neometalsilver]

the inherent horror of the roboticised sonic theory. you’re dead, forced to become something unnatural and made to work for the same man who killed you. your entire being has been transformed and reprogrammed until there’s nothing left of the original you, just broken bits of memories and white hot burning hatred for the world that let this happen to you. if even a single scrap of your orginal self still exists, it’s the part of you that won’t stop screaming about how you’re the real you. there’s a fake version of you running around that is alive and happy and has your face and your name. you are the real sonic. he doesn’t know you’re the real you him. none of his friends know you’re the real him you. you are the real sonic. you have to kill him you and regain take his your place. nobody believes you when you say you’re the real you, and the only people alive who know are you and the man who did it to you. you are the real sonic. he is your inferior copy. you are the real sonic. nobody will ever believe you.

[lilac-rose-writes]

do you guys ever think about how penny clings to her memories of innocence and childhood pre-accident to cope and finds so much comfort in simply acting her age, but she's withheld from doing so by her mother for so long that she physically cannot take it anymore, and the moment she breaks free from that, her life is cut so short that she's never able to grow and move past the childhood she lost? :)

there's a potential parallel to be called on with cindy here too. cindy also has the doll for a while, and we see that playing house is one of her favourite games. however, where penny is stripped of the chance to act like a child, cindy takes a child's game and integrates elements of adulthood into it. cindy wants to be mature, and to feel powerful. she likes to be a danger so she carries a knife, she copies the adults around her and tries to get on their level. penny just wants to feel safe. the doll could be some sort of metaphor for protecting their inner child. despite her own experiences, cindy treats her 'daughter' like a kid. penny 'plays' with the doll in a way that's undeniably innocent. but the world they live in doesn't give them time to act like kids, no matter how much they want to.

neither of them get to keep the doll, and if they hold onto it too long they get hurt- which could be representative of how acting their age is quite literally dangerous, and they have no way of holding onto that innocence without being injured or killed.

also- cindy's constant switching of boyfriends correlates with the impermanence of her other experiences. her dad stays and leaves and comes back again. her mom has boyfriend after boyfriend after boyfriend. biscuit's there and then she isn't. same goes for billy, then later for lily in kg2. she goes from school to school to school.

cindy adapts quickly, and doesn't linger on what's gone. she won't date the same person twice. however, there are elements of her life which stay steadfast because she forces them to. cindy doesn't want to be a vegan, but she doesn't give up the diet. nobody tells her to, but she bullies lily every chance she gets. she wears the same hairstyle every day. she clings to biscuit's disappearance because biscuit was hers and biscuit cared.

cindy never lets herself form a close bond with anyone, because the moment she does, they seem to disappear. it's easier to impress the boy of the day and drive away any attempted friendships than it is to deal with another loss, so that's what she does. cindy likes to pretend she has a family. the dolls can't run away. cindy likes to feel wanted, and to feel loved. even the victory of having a boyfriend listen to her is enough for her to feel a little more in control of her life. she's lonely, and refuses to let herself be anything but.

penny, however, wants friends. she tries to make them at every chance she gets, stashing bracelets in her pockets and offering a smile at every chance she gets. penny longs for a connection, to find someone who likes being around her. the other kids think it strange that she's so chirpy, so even aside from the android aspect, she's considered an outcase.

i think that the contrast between cindy being "popular" because she's mean to people and penny being a "weirdo" because she's nice is especially interesting considering that neither of their strategies actually work.

the accident caused by her mother prevents penny from having any chance at a normal childhood, and the subsequent roboticisation of her body makes her a threat to them. she wants to retain her innocence and have friends, but she can't because of outside influences.

cindy actively tries to get people to leave her be, only interested in the company of her latest boyfriend. buggs let himself get attached to her, but cindy refuses to entertain him for long. she's afraid of forming those sort of bonds, so doesn't want to.

penny's forced to shoot, cindy wields her own knife. both of them are alone.

cindy seeks stability and money in her relationship with felix, and he views her as a good investment for applesoft. both of them are mimicking their parents and putting their core beliefs into action. felix prioritises the company and familial expectations over his own desires, and cindy won't let herself form a connection until she's certain it'll last. felix seems like the epitome of stability. he's a billionaire, he likes her back, and he reciprocates her nicknames and sappiness.

penny doesn't mind who connects with her. when kid does, she's overjoyed. but even that still gets her hurt. if the female principal catches kid in the hallway, she says it's suspicious that he's been hanging out with penny, and has him sent to the principal's office. penny is forced to kill her only friend. and if the mission lasts until the end of the day, she's killed by the magnet kid fixed. there's no way for her to win.penny hurts people who get close to her. she's a minion for the person she loves most; her mother sees her as a weapon, so that's what she's made to be, regardless of her own feelings. cindy kills the janitor out of grieving rage after finding out he killed biscuit (biscuit, who meant more to her than any person could). she stabs kid when he doesn't play along, and sends him to the principal when she's mad at him. cindy doesn't care about getting others hurt, and will gladly do so if it means she's left to her own devices or gives her a way to enact vengeance on those who've forced her to be so alone.

neither of them can act their age, because doing so simply isn't safe enough. thank you for coming to my ted talk xx

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80’s/90’s syndicated cartoon? Episode 66: Summary (part two)

This is part two of my summary and conclusion to my blog series investigating how the ArchieSonic comics were remarkably similar to the format of a syndicated cartoon from the 80’s and 90’s. If you haven’t already, you can read part one here.

Okay, back to it!

Episode 40: The one episode that’s unique to the show’s premise and characters

I chose four arcs for this one - Mecha Madness, Return to Angel Island, Iron Dominion, and Spark of Life.

Episode 41: Recap origin story in yet another clip show

They didn’t do it as more clip shows, but the origins of the series were further explored in new stories multiple times in both pre-boot and post-boot. Perhaps the most memorable instance is from Sonic #43, in which King Acorn was trapped in his memories and reliving Robotnik’s coup.

Episode 42: Haunted house

We got this in the Sonic X comics, with issues 13 and 14 bringing in King Boom Boo from Sonic Adventure 2 and that one episode of the anime. Oh, and he was possessing everyone he could get his non-corporeal mitts on.

Episode 43: Hero suddenly becomes elderly

This one happened in Sonic Super Special #8. It wasn’t pretty.

Episode 44: Hero suddenly becomes six-to-eleven years old

This is another one we didn’t get in the comics, unfortunately. I used that episode as a good time to talk about the Sonic Kids comics, which gave us stories from when the Freedom Fighters were younger.

Episode 45: Boys vs. girls

I feel like this episode is supposed to be about boys and girls on the same teams turning against each other, so for this one I’m going to say no, that didn’t happen in ArchieSonic. The closest we got was that one time in Sonic #14 when Robotnik and Snively kidnapped Sally and Bunnie because they thought, “lulz girls are weaksauce.” They got more than they bargained for.

Episode 46: Unusually serious “drugs are bad,” episode.

Sigh, yes. The Chaotix Caper in Knuckles #13 - 15 is infamous.

Episode 47: Evil alien invasion

In pre-boot there was the Xorda in Sonic #124 - 125. In post-boot there was the return of the Black Arms in Sonic Universe #59 - 62. 

Episode 48: Benign Alien Visitors

The most memorable example is Ceneca-9009 of the Bem, who came to Mobius to change all roboticised Mobians back to normal. After first testing champions on both sides, of course.

Episode 49: Hero becomes blind. Magoo jokes aplenty. Ableism ages episode horribly.

Another one that didn’t happen in the comics. The closest instance was in the godawful Sonic Super Special 15, which featured ten freaking pages of Sonic wandering around in the dark or in a blizzard and unable to see crap.

Episode 50: Major event that dramatically shakes up status quo. Turns out to be a dream. 

I’m going with Sonic #37 for this one. Some might argue that Bunnie’s nightmare wasn’t really that big an event, but I would argue that one of the main characters slowly becoming a robot and turning on her friends definitely counts.

Episode 51: Villains team up

Oh, so many times. So many times in fact that I had to make a second post for all the examples I forgot. Let’s go with that time in Sonic #62, when a whole bunch of locked up villains thought Snively had been responsible for their jailbreak and signed up to work with him.

Episode 52: Rashomon homage

Yes, in Sonic Super Special #5. Sonic, Sally and Antoine all argued about how they each single-handedly defeated a combot that had attacked them.

Episode 53: Henchman joins heroes for one time only.

Snively did team up with the Freedom Fighters in a couple of issues when Robo-Robotnik invaded Mobius before agreeing to work for the new Eggman. He would later join the Freedom Fighters for awhile, starting in Sonic #152. He eventually went back to the Eggman Empire again, of course, because he’s awful. Post-reboot he had left Eggman's forces and was supposedly working for GUN, but was secretly plotting his own conquest from within their ranks.

Episode 54: Random child rescues hero. The episode’s all about them now.

There weren’t really any good examples that fit this one. Hope Robotnik and Ken Penders’ son and niece from the Sonic Live! special certainly had prominent page time in the stories they were involved in, but they never actually rescued Sonic, despite what this cover might have you believe.

Episode 55: Invisibility potion

Yes, but it was so effective that everyone (even Sonic himself) thought that he was dead.

Episode 56: The Writer’s Barely Disguised Fetish

Oh god, where do you even start with this one? Let’s just say yes, it happened on multiple occasions, and leave it at that.

Episode 57: Can’t eat favourite food

Weeeeell, I guess so. There was that one time in Sonic #11 where he ate too many chilli dogs before bed and had a trippy nightmare. When he woke up he decided to go on a diet for about thirty seconds. (cue canned laughter)

Episode 58: We have to save the environment, and so do you!

A lot of the early issues focused on stopping Robotnik from destroying the environment, but the best example of this one is probably the nuking of Robotropolis. Sonic managed to trick Eggman into turning on his city’s forcefield after the nuclear missiles were already inside, meaning that all the destruction and radiation was safely contained in an impenetrable bubble. In later issues Eggman and other villains would try to penetrate this shield, to release the radiation out into the surrounding environment.

Episode 59: Stranded in the ocean

I’m going with Waves of Change from Sonic #260 - #263, where Sonic, Amy and Rotor had to go to the underwater city of Meropis on their quest to restore the shattered planet.

Episode 60: Stranded in the desert

There are two instances here that fit this one best. The first one is Sonic #62/63 again, where Sonic and Tails crash their biplane in the desert and are “rescued” by the inhabitants of Sandblast City, who worship Sonic and refuse to let him leave. The other is the Knuckles mini-series, in which Knuckles and Archimedes were yeeted into the desert by Enerjak (something that seems to happen a lot with the various Enerjaks, I noticed).

Episode 61: Stranded in the snow

Continuing right off from Sonic #63 when Sonic and Tails escaped from the desert, they ended up trapped in the snow in the very next issue when their biplane failed them yet again.

Episode 62: Stuck in an elevator

I wasn’t able to find any instances of specifically being trapped in an elevator, so I broadened the category to its base trope, which is two people, usually enemies or rivals, being locked in a room together. There were lots of cases of this, such as when Dr Eggman and Dr Wily were locked up together during the Worlds Unite crossover.

Episode 63: Clip show to set up two-part finale

Well, Sonic #283 was a set-up story for the finale of the Sonic Unleashed adaptation. It had two stories - the first featured Sonic and Sally calling their allies around the world to explain their plan and ask for help, and the second featured Eggman watching the pirated footage of that video call and making a counter-plan. Is it a clip show? Not exactly, but it’s close enough.

Episode 64 - 65: Two-part Finale

I cited various finales (or planned finales, in the case of Endgame), including the end of the Knuckles series, the end of the Super Specials, the end of the Sonic X companion series, the end of the pre-reboot era, and the end of the post-reboot era. As I said in the final post, in my mind the proper finale of ArchieSonic is Sonic #287, despite the cancellation of the series not happening until three issues later and the fact that the last ArchieSonic comic ever published was actually Sonic Universe #94.

So out of the 65 episodes listed, we didn’t get the hiccups episode, the Wonderful Life parody episode, the hero has a cold episode, the origin recap clip show episode, the hero regressing to childhood episode, the boys vs. girls episode, or the hero blinded episode. That comes to only seven out of sixty-five episodes that we never saw happen in the ArchieSonic series. But does this mean that the comic wasn’t really a comic at all, but actually a syndicated cartoon? Well, let me just quote myself from the very first post I did regarding this topic.

So there you have it - of course ArchieSonic is a comic book series, there was never actually any doubt. 

Before I finish up, I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has read this series, especially those who commented with encouragement, ideas and suggestions. 

In particular I feel that I once again owe a big thank you to former ArchieSonic contributor Aleah Baker, who not only read and commented on my pieces but also gave her precious time on more than one occasion to offer behind the scenes insight and answer my questions about certain issues or characters. She was incredibly generous with me and I’m extremely grateful for all the help. 

This has been an extremely interesting topic for me to explore, and I’m going to miss writing about it. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with this blog after this. A few people have suggested that I go into a full commitment to review the entire series rather than just portions of it like I’ve been doing with this blog series, and I have certainly been considering doing that. But on the other hand there are so many others who have done that so well - a few of my personal favourites are @robotnikholmescomicblog (who has branched out to video essays after finishing his initial reviews on Tumblr), the ArchieSonic Digest podcast, and of course, Bobby Shroeder’s @thankskenpenders. If I was going to do a full ArchieSonic review series, I would want to find a way to put my own spin on it rather than just rehashing what they have done. So I’m going to have to keep thinking on that. Thanks again for reading, everyone, and take care!

[miloscat]

[Review] Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood (DS)

Sonic's first and last RPG.

When Canadian studio Bioware, famous for their computer RPGs like Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic, decided to branch out into handheld games, they secured the Sonic licence for their first effort (and again, last (not counting an iOS Mass Effect spinoff)). To some extent the purported passion the team had for the series shines through. On the other hand, speculation goes that the company being bought out by EA partway through development resulted in some parts of the game being rushed or underdeveloped, and this also shows.

Like Sonic Forces, the game's opening features a timeskip for some instant character development to set the stage. Eggman is gone (or is he), and Sonic has taken a sabbatical, which has caused Tails to mature a bit. But the new threat of the mysterious Marauders stealing the Chaos Emeralds gets the gang back together. Eggman of course returns, but spends much of the time reluctantly working with the heroes (even becoming a party member for a while), which makes for a very fun dynamic as he tries to resist being a proper good guy while chumming around with Tails. It turns out the baddies are a sinister clan of technologically advanced echidnas, and Sonic and pals have to venture into a very alien pocket universe to stop their plans.

Bioware specifically wanted to create a story that really dug into Sonic lore, and it ends up functioning as a last hurrah for continuity before Unleashed set a new standard of standalone games. The Nocturnus echidna clan are tied to Battle's Gizoids, there's some good character notes, plenty of references to past games, and even some nods to the old cartoons and comics. For example, Swatbots are a recurring enemy, and roboticisation is briefly featured, both being important to the 90s American cartoons. The Nocturnus clan also is very reminiscent of concepts from Archie's comics... so much so that a certain odious writer sued for copyright infringement. The case was thrown out multiple times, but Sega remains leery of referencing the game to this day, perhaps because of this individual. It's a shame because the concept is very good, and makes for a good story. Sadly, the blatant sequel hook was never followed up.

Another strength of the game is its art design. The action plays out over maps hand-drawn in a nice cartoony 2D style. Character design is solid, with stylised humans resembling Unleashed's, and the latter half of the game featuring some quite cool alien concepts... they're maybe a bit out there for a Sonic game, but that adds to their alien appeal. I do have to note the animated cutscenes too, which were seemingly animated in Flash so have a silly off-model feel similar to that of fan animations you might see on Newgrounds back in the day. Kind of nostalgic.

I'm now running out of good things to say about Sonic Chronicles. As a counterpoint to the visuals, the sound design is laughable. The music is ok, ranging from "a bit flat" to "distractingly plinky-plonky". But the sound effects in battle are just bizarre. Attacks are accompanied by stock cartoon sound effects that sound straight out of Looney Tunes, and every victory comes with a chorus of children cheering. Huh!?

My big complaint is just that the game is a slog to play. Many factors contribute to this. Battles are slow and overly difficult, while character progression is gradual and heavily gated. There's a big effort to incorporate action elements, so the game is entirely stylus-controlled; overworld exploration is DS Zelda style, and battles are full of Mario & Luigi style action commands. Moving around is tough because the backdrops can be hard to parse as traversable spaces, and you often need certain characters' abilities to progress which can require backtracking past respawning enemies to a switch spot. Battles are a total ball-ache requiring constant vigilance and quick reactions on the many tap and swipe targets in order to avoid devastating attacks and to land your own special moves. It is so agonising to miss a single touch, causing your healer (Cream is the obvious choice for this, but only has one action per round to Sonic's three) to totally fail their essential life-saving function. And it still uses up their PP!

There are so many off choices about the battles. There's frequent difficulty spikes. There's a buttload of different status ailments, good luck remembering what they all do. Your visible stats only determine your probability to hit or be hit, while actual damage and armour modifiers are hidden behind vague descriptions on equipment menus. To get any decent damage output you need to use your special moves, but each character's PP totals are miserably small. So you're expected to use a lot of consumables, but you only get one random drop from a successful battle (and no rings, and if your level is high enough EXP gain is negligible). I felt I had to save my items in order to sell them at shops, because otherwise your ring currency is only found in finite amounts on the map, and nowhere near enough to actually outfit your characters (especially when they split into two parties at certain times), and there are points of no return that cut you off from earlier maps and shops! The economy is just totally out of whack and it always feels like an uphill battle to just be scraping by.

Also found on the world maps are Chao eggs, which go into a little Chao Garden screen. These Chao are essentially another equipment slot but they do show up in battle which is cute. Unfortunately they are also finite, and the results of an egg hatching is random. Their effects are pretty minor, but can be boosted a bit by... trading with two other players? There's also special Chao in the data that would have been distributed at events, but only one was ever released legitimately. Like other gameplay aspects, the Chao mechanic feels undercooked and awkward. I was lucky enough to get one that caused automatic success on special moves without having to do touchscreen minigames. I wish all the characters had this by default! I also nabbed an EXP-boosting Chao from an existing save file on my second-hand cart, trading it via a copy of the game on flash cart on borrowed DS and 3DS units... but not everyone has this luxury.

There's a lot to like about this game... in theory. I love gathering a party of Sonic characters, including the cool edgy OC, with different skills that suit their personalities. I love the idea of exploring the overworlds, using each character's skills to traverse and find new stuff tucked away behind intricate paths. I love the story and the new dynamics it brings out of eg. Eggman or Knuckles, going from familiar settings to alien ones and building alliances in a world that richly draws from the history of the series. I just never ever want to touch this game again, to sit through the tedium of the battles, to sift through the jank to get to the nuggets of gold. The inconsistent state of the game speaks to development troubles more than any tell-all interview could, and it makes me long for a world where The Dark Brotherhood was... you know, good. But I guess that's our friggin' universe for you!

[luescris]

*SCREAMING* SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

WAHAHSHWHEHSJHDHWWUWHAUAGSHAAHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

OH MU GOD. MY HEAD IS SO FILLED WITH THOUGHTS. MY HEAD IS SO FULL I CAN'T FUNCTION NORMALLY RIGHT NOW ON GOD

SONIC IS SO FUCKING STUPID. BUT SO FUCKING SILLY AND ADORABLE AND AUAGAUGAUAGAUAGAHAGAG I LOVE HIM SO FUCKING MUCH YOU GUYS I CANT HANDLE HIM

HIS "Fascinating. But what I want to know is, how... Did you get in here???" AND "Are you ignoring me?? :( You're ignoring me. >:( Why is everyone ignoring me?!?! >>>:(((((" WHILE HE HAD HIS FACE PRESSED AGAINST SOMEONE ELSE'S IM- AHSGGEJEDG AAAAAAAA

I WILL HAVE THOSE TWO PARTS FOREVER STUCK IN MY HEAD IT'S TOO GOOD

ALSO. AMY??? RUSTY????? OH MY GOD. WAS HER TRANSFORMATION FORCED??? DID SHE CHOOSE TO BE ROBOTICISED???? OR WAS SGE CAPTURED??? SONIC IS RIGHT THAT IS SO FUCKED UP.

AND THE HELL WHY DID SHADOW DO THAT IN THE END

I mean I'm guessing cuz he thinks Sonic fucked shit up again (which. Sonic kinda did) BUT STILL BEING HIT IN THE NOSE IS A LITTLE UNCALLED FOR LIKE PLEASE??????

AND SPEAKING OF BEING PUNCHED IN THE FACE WHY THE HELL DID HE HIT HIS FACE SO MANY TIMES IN ONE EPISODE!??!??!? I MEAN I KNOW IT'S A GAG NOW BUT MY GOD SONIC HAS TO AT LEAST HAVE A CONCUSSION NOW POOR THING AGDGDGS

IM SO JUST. HOOOUGHHHHHGGGGHGGHHHHHHHHH

[mallisia-ring]

Mallisia stood to attention as the land’s ruler stepped up. Previously, she’d been part of a resistance force against them, now she was a roboticised drone who only knew loyalty.

[hrodvitnon]

Some Abraxasverse Gigan headcanons/possible ideas

Just spewing out some new ideas and thoughts of mine about what Gigan could be like in the Abraxasverse and his backstory, for anyone who's interested in writing him.

(1) A big part of Gigan's descent into psychopathy in his past was existential dread over being unable to fulfill the purpose he existed for. Maybe Gigan had the express standing order to either: (a) Permanently kill Ghidorah when Ghidorah attacked his and his creators/roboticisers' world, or, (b) To always protect his creators/roboticisers against threats to their species. Either way, Gigan obviously failed his standing mission - and he didn't know what to do with that when he outlived his mission's failure.

(2) Gigan's cyborg biology forces him to keep going so long as some piece of him is left, no matter how badly damaged, mutilated or dismembered he is - but unlike Ghidorah, Gigan can't regenerate his body on his own, and he needs to be put back together by outside forces such as Gigan's fleet.

(3) Adding onto (2); maybe early in Gigan's start of darkness before he had his fleet, he got completely torn to pieces by Ghidorah or another rival Titan. And once that rival Titan left, Gigan's remains were left stuck, immobile, forgotten and alone, but perpetually-conscious, for god-knows-how-long, which contributed to Gigan becoming more Ax-Crazy than he already was.

---

Interesting! Perhaps, not helping Gigan's situation in 3, is that thanks to some communication parts of his cybernetics, he's forced to listen to the people he was charged with protecting as their screams are suddenly cut off, or their cries turn into wet gurgling, until the ensuing silence is so deafening that Gigan can almost hear distant screams howling on the wind.

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

rambling more about nova bc I love her she’s my edgy Sonic oc from when I was eight and also metal sonics own edgy deviant art oc but something I really love is that she’s so fucked up. i mean like. yeah. she’s literally metal sonics organicsona she’s a t1000 who’s gone through severe child neglect and hates the world she’s extremely fucked up and commits atrocities but like. in the Later parts of the timeline where she’s more well adjusted she’s still Definitely a fucking problem. like she won’t kill you solely bc she knows that’d upset her friends and she doesn’t like that but she knows Far Worse things to do to a person than kill them. she's just as much lawful evil as Sonic is chaotic good which means she abides to a very strict ruleset and now she's nominally working with the good guys then doing something to piss her off is generally something pretty easy to avoid if you’re not a villain (unless you try and go after her father and sister, i guess, but pissing off Eggman and or Sage means you're probably fucked either way) but if you do… well, she Is a mad scientist at heart and she needs test subjects for her roboticiser before she can use it to “fix” her friends so have fun losing all your sense of self and forcibly having your brain rewritten with code to make you into whatever arbitrary idea of useful an extremely inhuman robot poorly pretending to be normal might have. and if you stupidly break the One Rule everyone knows to follow and try and killsteal her quarry from her, you can instead enjoy having your mind and purpose specifically overwritten to leave you in emotional agony for eternity with absolutely no possibility of fixing it without destroying your sense of self entirely, because the worst punishment she can think of is forcing you to feel the despair and hopelessness she once felt. just ask infinite 🥰

[thankskenpenders]

Pre-reboot, Bunnie was captured by Robotnik's forces but rescued partway through her roboticisation. Post-reboot, she was injured in Eggman's takeover and Chuck saved her life by roboticising her mangled limbs. Which backstory do you prefer? Personally, I like the pre-reboot one because it makes Bunnie a direct victim of Robotnik and gives her a motivation to fight him. However, I do like how, post-reboot, she struggled to learn to walk again - it's nice disability representation.

Both have their strengths (and I haven't read the post-reboot yet, so I can't really judge that take super accurately), but I think that the roboticization angle adds for some really interesting wrinkles to her as a character. The story where we learn that Bunnie has nightmares about fully turning and becoming a threat to her friends is still one of my favorites. The thing that gives her her power to fight Robotnik might also be putting her at risk. It also makes her a bridge between the Mobians and Robians, and you could do SO much more with the Robians as a concept. These are some of the few stories that take advantage of the unique storytelling opportunities of roboticization as a core concept of the series

[tarripup]

Tails was the fox most voted in August's Mini Art Elections, so I drew Tails in my style but also went with SatAM Tails, because I can. :3

Also because I can, I threw in my Sonicsona because Tarri the Fox was runner-up and I though it would be cute. Also the prospect of living in Knothole is both a fun idea, at least until I remember that at any moment we could potentially be discovered by Robotnik's forces and be roboticised at any time.

Fun! :D

[astro-ali]

Hmmm would anyone be interested in a magick/medieval/steampunk AU Sonic fanfic I’m working on? I’m super low on motivation and I’m thinking maybe if I started posting bits and pieces of it as well as ideas, then maybe I’d be more motivated on working on it. I mostly want to know if enough people would be interested though. I’d love criticism and ideas for it too. If enough people are interested, then I may even make a separate blog for it.

The main ship starts out as Sonadow and then later on forms into Sonshadighty (cuz I’m a sucker for those three). The summary (albeit kinda scattered and messy) is as follows:

Tails wants to learn magic so he goes to be an apprentice to Shadow but Sonic doesn't approve so he secretly stalks Shadow and Tails during their lessons only to fall in love with Shadow. Prince Shadow of the Lunam Kingdom (kingdom of dark powers) is expected to marry Princess Blaze of the Sol Kingdom (kingdom of light powers) to unite the two kingdoms (which have been at war for some time now) and to produce a child of half dark and half light to seal the treaty of peace. However, he later on falls in love with Sonic which complicates things. His father is forcing him to marry Blaze but he refuses and runs away with Sonic and Tails. On their way throughout the various kingdoms, they meet Mighty who joins their adventure (whom they also both fall in love with). Together they travel and meet new friends and enemies, etc.

Some of the lore for this world is:

Everyone is born with an innate ability or power of sorts. Humans on one side of the planet and mobians on the other. Humans don't have powers but they have technology. They also rule as tyrants over mobians and hate them in a racist manner. Humans fear what they don't understand and that fear turns to hate. Dr. Robotnik rules robotropolis (aka steampunk city) and he uses his roboticiser to turn mobians into robots so he can wield their powers.

I’m fully aware both the summary and lore are kinda written messily with bad grammar and punctuation, but these are mostly just my scattered thoughts and a rough idea of what I have in mind/where I plan on going with this. Let me know your thoughts/opinions in the comments!

[kinglarrykoopadx]

Some Nintendo/Sega game ideas cause bored.

Paper Bowser and the Sealed Away Evil

After another humiliating defeat in the hands of Mario, the ferocious Bowser stumbled upon a curious temple. Upon exploring it, a sealed away creature swears to grant him eternal power should he unseal him from his fate by gathering the 8 Rainbow Heart Needles.

Join Bowser and his elite minions in this TTYD-esque RPG as he goes on a journey to gather the Rainbow Heart Needles before Mario and Twink can do so. Battle untamed minions, perform interesting attacks, use the power of the Heart Espers bestowed upon you by the Rainbow Heart Needles, and find out the secret behind this malevolent, unknown being.

Sonic Advance 4 Episode 1

The nefarious Dr. Eggman is at it again! Not learning from his mistakes, he decided to use the power of the Chaos Emeralds to power his Great Battleship and hypnotise the Earth so that he can rule it with a fist of metal. Unfortunately for him, Sonic and friends are not into the idea of being turned to mindless slaves, and so they must act quickly.

Join Sonic, Amy, Knuckles, Tails, Cream and Metal Sonic (for some reason...) to stop Eggman and one of his older robotic comrades, Mecha Sonic from turning the world into their own personal playground. Run through hills, break down Eggman machines, and obliterate the mad doctor's plans to conquer the world.

Sonic Advance 4 Episode 2

The ruthless Dr. Eggman is at it again! This time, he decided to use the Chaos Emeralds to power his space station to fire a beam that will not only roboticise the Earth, but the entire universe as well! Unfortunately, Sonic and pals don't like this idea one bit, and now the fate of the world is at their hands.

Join Sonic, Tails, Cream, Amy, Knuckles, Shadow and Rouge on an adventure to once again, shatter the mad doctor's dreams of grandeur. With intense, speedy action, memorable locations, and thrilling bosses, this is an adventure you'll regret missing out on!

Mushroom Warriors

A new, evil, otherworldly threat known as the Aurum has taken over Bowser's Castle and now, Bowser and Mario must work together to stop the rising threat that will doom every living thing that existed in the planet known as King Auremus, ruler of the Aurum, and his Aurum forces.

In this Dynasty Warriors like game, join Mario and gang as they destroy the Aurum bit by bit and disable the shields of Aurum Fortress Ultimate to plan a charge towards the Aurum army's base of operations and stop King Auremus from turning the world into an empty void. Battle Auremised enemies, meet and get to know iconic characters, and explore the fantastic worlds that lie in this thrilling adventure.

Nintendo/Sega, hire me as your ideas man

[alfie-etherington-fmp-year-1]

you know definitely didn’t expect the opportunity to be recommend to check out comic covers for one of my favourite shows but hey I’m all for the opportunity, to put things short I’ll being reviewing some covers from futuramas comic series how their composed the backgrounds and placement of characters

robots go wild goes for a very sci fy movie aesthetic for it’s colouring and background with the city of new new york being viewed from a slight upper angle from where the characters are, in terms of of composition it’s also very well done with mom being a larger menacing background element within herself taking up the entire middle background of the cover with much harsher shading and expressions to signify she’s a major and obvious antagonistic force, the roboticised Leela and Fry going off in a general direction with both in differing positions to show off their new robotic features and bender being the most simple of the 3 with him just recoiling at the whole scene

issue 13 stick it in a fork it’s fun, goes for a more outlandish and interesting covers that tells it’s own mini narrative, with a giant devil bender barbequing a mini fry and Leela that might be a play on the whole adam and even being the devil, in terms of character placing it’s great, the light and darker reds that shine over the devil bender body as well as the lighting on the barbeque and the general craziness of the whole thing really gives it a sense of memorability like it’s a narrative within itself outside of the actual comic, which might be something I may want to try with my second cover, that being creating one that’s less connecting with the plot and something that feels more experimental and wild.

while issue 68 may fall short of but a single digit away from peak comedy it’s got some solid composition and concepts to show with the camera being show from from the front with bender trying to hold back the robot, I kinda wanna recreate this one honestly, both for research and just cause I like futurama a lot

issue 73 supply's us with a really cool one, being a rif on a  zombie apocalypse but with the sci fy twist of it being zombies, with the main trio being surrounded from front to back from multiple well known robots throughout the series, Roberto calculon clamps hell even the little tiny tim robot is here, in terms of compostion it’s  also really neat with many robots in the front being seen from behind perspective and those in the back being darker shadows with glowing eyes as they all surround the planet express crew, I kinda wanna redraw this one as well, which is worrying since were only 4 in and I’ve already been tempted to redraw my own spin on two with how fun these are

issue 58s cover looks great genuinely it’s an awesome cover, the composition us seeing things from a behind view of the planet express crew being in some sort of shootout in the middle of a restaurant is really fun and well done here as well as all the characters within the cover itself all doing unique things from each other, leela engaging in the shootout bender throwing a flaming molotav while fry is just oblivious to everything around him as he eats his spaghetti adds some much depth and character as well as the the unique positions of the robot mafia and the more harsh shading style that was seen in robots go wild probably makes this one tied with issue 73 for my favourite cover of the bunch

issue 65 is more simple in terms of how it composes things, with leela and bender frozen in ice as wormstrom and the professor have some sort of sky battle it’s simple but it works, the colouring on the ice looks really good though.

issue 7 is a simple and neat one, with it being bender dressed as the terminator, while there isn’t much to talk about in terms of composition the shading and colouring for the jacket specifically is really well done.

issue 9 while more simple in colouring makes good advantage of perspective with the travel tub and the place and position of the planet express crew

issue 16 provides some more fun perspective and fun composition between the main trio as each are in a more certain position towards or further away from the where the cover is facing with a large side view of fry while Leela and bender are further off in the background.

alright one more were on the home stretch and since it’s the last one let’s do something special and review a movie cover instead

composition this one is great with all the character being on a lower levels with darker shadows staring up at the TV featuring bender which is far brighter and eye catching, even the movies title seems to be positioned to be intertwined with the TV itself almost as if we were meant to see it from a front angle but are instead seeing it from the rest of the casts perspectives.

[scruffyplayssonic]

Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 64 - 65: Two Multi-part Finale (part 10: Sonic the Hedgehog #247)

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

Last time I discussed Sonic Universe #50, where Shard made his heroic final stand, Metal Sonic went from being a repeatedly blown up chump to a very, very scary robot, and Eggman implied that he had something big in the works. This brings us to Sonic the Hedgehog #247, the final pre-boot issue of the series. Team Fighters had chased the Death Egg all the way to its fueling station in the Arctic, and joined forces with the Arctic Freedom Fighters (who thankfully were NOT characters that Ken Penders was claiming copyright for). 

The heroes smashed their way into the base and were surprised to be joined by none other than Silver. At the end of the Secret Freedom Fighters’ arc in Sonic Universe, Harvey Who had told Silver that he’d figured out who Silver’s supposed traitor was, and offscreen he explained everything he’d found out. Then at the end of Endangered Species, Shard had contacted Silver to tip him off that Team Fighters were heading to the Arctic, hence him showing up here. Sonic really didn’t have the patience for any more of Silver’s shenanigans, which is fair when you remember that Silver tried to first kill him, then Rotor, and then blamed the comatose Antoine, all in the name of stopping his supposed traitor. But Tails put together that Silver was part of a team working with Elias (or “the true king,” as they were now forced to refer to him as), and convinced Sonic to give him one more chance. 

If Silver was trying not to get Sonic angry again, he was failing abysmally.

Back in New Mobotropolis, Nicole and Team Freedom were officially presenting the newly rebuilt Castle Acorn when the latest in a series of accidents involving the city’s nanites occurred.

Fortunately , Cream and Cheese had finally managed to figure out what was causing all these problems around the city. And so Cream took her theory to Rotor.

Meanwhile back up North, Silver was explaining to everyone why Sally was his “traitor.” 

When Sally saved the planet from the world roboticiser only to fall victim to it herself, she inadvertantly kicked off a series of events that would doom the planet anyway. Sonic still wasn’t thrilled to have Silver there, but since the time traveller had now dedicated himself to saving Sally like the rest of them, Sonic let him tag along. Their first task was to infiltrate the Death Egg from below via an underwater tunnel.

Whoops. Well that didn’t work - Eggman’s forces attacked and sounded the alarm. And Eggman, who was busy getting ready for his next big move, was not pleased with this new development. 

“Albert,” you say? Well if there was any doubt left that Eggman had already met Dr Wily - and after hinting that Metal Sonic would be working with Bass, there really shouldn’t have been - it seemed pretty clear now.

Back in New Mobotropolis, Team Freedom had laid a trap for the Tails Doll, expecting it to try and destroy the city’s power plant when it was left unsupervised. Sure enough, the creepy little jerk took the bait. There was just one small problem. …well actually, it was a large problem. 

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again anyway - I don’t know what was going through Evan Stanley’s idea when she was drawing the Tails Doll’s kaiju form, but I guess I get the genital general idea of what she was going for. 😛

Back in the Arctic, things were looking pretty grim for Team Fighters and their friends. Mecha Sally had been authorised to shoot to kill, and she and her brain laser (called the “Boom Fant” by Ian Flynn) were on a rampage. Tails knocked Sonic out of the way of her point-blank shot, but both of them were hurt in the process.

Amy tried to protect Sonic and Tails as Mecha Sally moved in for the kill, and I feel like in the original timeline that Silver’s future was a result of, this is where all three of them died. However in this time an injured Silver swooped in at the last possible second and used his psychokinesis to disable Mecha Sally. 

Unfortunately they only got a few seconds to enjoy their win before another Genesis Wave went off and the world faded to white. 

And… that’s it. That’s how the preboot era of ArchieSonic ended. With the creative team facing the incredibly daunting task of having to take the story in an entirely new direction, the incredibly well-timed Sonic and Mega Man crossover gave them an extra few months to figure out where to go afterwards. So this latest Genesis Wave was set off by both Eggman and Wily, who used it to reshape both of their worlds.

Sonic’s world was changed to one more like the games, set after the latest game in the series, Sonic Generations - wow, that makes me feel old - while Mega Man’s world was catapulted forward in time to after Mega Man 10. Combining their technology and robots, Eggman and Wily captured all of Sonic’s friends, transformed them into “roboticised masters,” and tasked them with retrieving all seven Chaos Emeralds. This would allow them to set off one last Genesis Wave that would essentially make them gods. Just like last time, Sonic transformed into his super form - this time with Mega Man joining him - and attempted to restore their worlds to how they were. While Mega Man was successful, Eggman threw a hissy fit and got in the way of Super Sonic, which… well… broke reality.

The end result of this was a rebooted world for Sonic, absent of not just the characters that Ken Penders had claimed copyright over, but all the characters created by anyone who wasn’t part of the current creative team at the time. I guess that Archie wanted to play it safe and prevent any further copyright snafus from happening, and considering that Ken Penders wasn’t the only former employee who gave them trouble, I think this was probably the right decision. But it was nonetheless a decision that had a heavy impact on the pre-crossover storylines, most of which were either quickly resolved or just discarded entirely. The Secret Freedom Fighters no longer existed (except for Silver, who was doing his own thing), and neither did Geoffrey St. John. Naugus was still around and causing mayhem in Mobotropolis, safe from the purge due to him having originally been introduced as a character in the SatAM cartoon.

But he quickly ran away with his tail between his legs and didn’t return for quite awhile. Team Freedom and Team Fighters were dropped in favour of bringing back the Freedom Fighters, who had been scattered across the planet so that they could be reintroduced one by one.

Rotor had gotten buff and was busy building the team’s new mobile flying base, the Sky Patrol.

Antoine was no longer in a coma and had been assigned guard duty of “Uncle” Chuck, who was now no longer Sonic’s literal uncle but more of a “uncle to all.” I believe that was one of the dreaded SEGA “mandates,” as the Sonic cast were no longer allowed to have relatives (except for Cream, of course). I hated that, but at least Uncle Chuck survived the purge. As did Sonic's former pet dog Muttski, who had undergone what was probably the most dramatic change.

Same, Sonic and Tails. Same.

Bunnie was undercover among the Egg Army, and had gone back to being a cyborg.

And Sally was no longer a robot, and was infiltrating the Death Egg but had to leave in a hurry when Eggman sent Metal Sonic after her. Within a few issues the team were all reunited, along with Big and Cream, just as everything went to Hell. Remember how I said that Eggman broke reality?

Yeaaaaaaaah. This led into a massive adaptation of Sonic Unleashed, which went on for almost the entirety of the rest of the series. This was a pretty brilliant idea in my opinion, as a game that was so heavily focused on travelling the shattered planet was the perfect way to re-introduce Sonic’s new world. We got to visit a variety of different locations and meet friends and enemies both familiar and new. Mighty, Ray, Lupe and Dulcy all returned with new looks and backstories, as did the former Super Special Sonic Search and Smash Squad and most surprising of all, Breezie. And a bunch of new characters quickly became fan favourites, such as the pronghorn sisters Cassia and Clove, the underwater mobians Coral, Pearly and Razor, and Shadow's new dark nemesis, Eclipse.

The reboot era of ArchieSonic lasted for over three years, but eventually it came to an abrupt end when SEGA pulled the plug. This leaves the last two (completed) arcs in post-reboot ArchieSonic for me to talk about: Terror in the Skies, the end of the Sonic Unleashed adaptation in the main book, and The Case of the Pirate Princess, a Chaotix arc that ended Sonic Universe. Even though it came after the Unleashed adapation ended, I'm going to be talking about the Chaotix arc first. Terror in the Skies feels like the best way to end this series. However I will be taking a bit of a hiatus, as I’m currently preparing to move overseas. So please be patient and wish me luck, and I'll be back with these three goobers before you know it!

[ask-mallisia-ring-blog]

Elliot: "Then who was?" She asked curiously. Charlotte loved hearing Xila's past expoditions to unknown worlds.

“No idea.” She said, “Our ancient ancestors used to live on the surface, though they were forced into the caverns at some point. Later still, their descendants became obsessed with robotics, leading to them roboticising the caverns & even themselves, while those who had remained on the surface had mutated.”