#good that malevolent is very popular now! it’s just that i got overwhelmed with the amount of malevolent posts and needed a break)

[artromanthur-lester]

a malevolent fanart? on a blog with a malevolent reference in the username? it may seem unlikely.

(doctor who quote my beloved)

[id: a coloured image of arthur lester from malevolent, drawn waist up. he is a white man with short brown hair and a moustache, wearing a white shirt with some red splashes. his skin is covered in scars which resemble cartoonish yellow stars and his left pinky is wooden. he is gently kissing his left hand while standing half-turned back to the viewer. next to him a text in big white letters reads “do you think i care for you so little that betraying me would make a difference?”. the background is yellow. end id]

[aion-rsa]

Venom: Let There Be Carnage – The Comics History of the Symbiote Rivalry

https://ift.tt/3APMTrk

Something that impresses me with a superhero movie like Venom is when it doesn’t rush directly into the expected villain. When there are four different Fantastic Four movies, and they’re all about emphasizing Dr. Doom, it’s a breath of fresh air when, say, Man of Steel only makes an Easter egg reference to Lex Luthor instead of going directly for that confrontation. The MCU Spider-Man has yet to meet an Osborn, guys like Thanos and Darkseid started out as ominous benefactors, and the existence of Heath Ledger Joker was merely a cliffhanger tease in Batman Begins.

Much like how the Justice League movie decided to take its time by giving us Steppenwolf of all people, the first Venom movie had Carlton Drake (who hasn’t appeared in the comics since the early 9’0s) and Riot (the most forgettable of all of Venom’s comic children). By letting Venom build himself up on his own, flanked by some rather mundane villains, it gave more meaning to Cletus Kasady showing up in the post-credits. Carnage, Venom’s main villain, gets more fanfare by appearing in the sequel where our hero is fully formed.

Since Carnage’s first appearance in 1992, the idea has always been to make a darker, scarier Venom. Venom was a villain at the time, sure, but he was also on the border of becoming more. Outside of his personal delusions and anger issues, he still claimed that he wanted to help the innocent and punish the guilty. Even when he was able to accept that Spider-Man was good, they couldn’t co-exist due to their different natures as vigilantes. Carnage was simpler because he was full-on evil and had no potential for redemption. He was something so sinister and malevolent that both Spider-Man and Venom knew it was worth it to put aside their differences and take this creep down.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage has hyped Carnage up as being out of Venom’s league and that was the initial push of the character. Over time, the two became roughly equals as Carnage became the go-to bad guy for Venom to punch.

So let’s take a look at the history of Venom vs. Carnage. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to define “Venom” and “Carnage” as characters wearing their respective symbiotes (excluding Peter Parker), or the symbiotes themselves. I’m not going to count Eddie Brock as Toxin, or Flash Thompson as Agent Anti-Venom or whatever.

Carnage’s Debut

Not counting cameos and build-up, Carnage’s first major appearance was in Amazing Spider-Man #361, starting off a three-parter. Spider-Man came to realize that he wasn’t enough to stop Carnage and he was going to need help. Specifically, he was going to need Venom. This was an awkward decision as Venom was at the time living his best life on an empty island, thinking that he had succeeded in killing Spider-Man.

Once Venom fully understood the situation, he accepted the temporary alliance. In the very first Venom vs. Carnage confrontation, Venom and Spider-Man tackled Carnage, got slammed into each other, then thrown into opposite walls. Carnage then caused a distraction by putting a baby in danger so he could escape. While he was dominant in that very brief scuffle, he still needed to run off, so I’m calling this a draw.

The handicap match continued into the last issue of the arc at a rock concert. In one-on-one exchanges, Carnage had Venom’s number, but Spider-Man was always there for the save. Spider-Man was able to use the sonics from the amplifiers to take out both of them. Technically a draw again, but it’s also a situation where Carnage regularly kicked the shit out of Venom and Venom only survived because he had help.

Maxium Carnage

Insert your Green Jelly cassettes and press play because it’s time for Carnage’s big ’90s crossover story. After the previous story’s popularity, Marvel decided to add more heroes, more villains, and make the whole thing a whopping 14 issues!

As Venom was a San Francisco vigilante at the time, he flew to New York to stop Carnage’s reign of terror. The first fight wasn’t even shown, as after the reveal that Carnage had Shriek and Doppelganger on his side, it cut away. A brutalized Venom was later found passing out while knocking on Peter and MJ’s door.

As Maximum Carnage was filled with so much filler and extra characters, there were various fight scenes of a group of heroes brawling with a group of villains. Venom and Carnage talked smack a lot, but nothing much ever really happened in terms of fighting. The story finally kicked into gear when Venom used a stolen sonic gun and blasted Carnage while Firestar assisted with her microwave blasts. This would have done the job, but Spider-Man got in the way and Shriek simply cut Cletus’ face open, causing his symbiote to respawn and bring him back to 100 percent health. Carnage and Shriek overwhelmed Venom and carried him off, along with the sonic gun.

Venom spent several issues being tortured until coming up with the plan to sneak some of the symbiote into the sonic gun so that Carnage would splatter Venom with more Venom. He punched Carnage down and escaped with gusto, hiding the fact that he was in no condition to fight.

It isn’t until the last issue that we FINALLY got a real Venom vs. Carnage fight. Venom was physically busted a bit, but Carnage was mentally busted. The heroes hit him with some MaGuffin device that caused him to be haunted by those who screwed him up in life. Venom pretty much just kicked Carnage’s ass around the city while Carnage tried in vain to escape. Every now and then, Spider-Man would appear and go, “B-b-but Eddie! Killing is wrong!” for the sake of giving Carnage a second wind.

Eventually, Venom punched Carnage so hard that Carnage’s brain ghosts went away. Knowing Carnage was more of a threat this way, Venom tackled him into a transformer. After the explosion, Cletus was knocked out and Venom got to weakly sneak away. Hey, good for him!

Venom: Carnage Unleashed

Venom was so popular that we got Carnage. Carnage’s initial storyline was so popular that we got Maximum Carnage. Maximum Carnage was so popular that we got a Maximum Carnage video game. Then we got Venom: Carnage Unleashed, a comic based on the popularity of the Maximum Carnage video game. It…wasn’t all too popular.

Still, it did give us the rarely used plot device that symbiotes can travel through phone lines and the internet! Symbiotes really are like pre-Crisis Superman where you can give them whatever power and people will just go with it no matter how ridiculous. As Carnage escaped from Ravencroft and commandeered a security tank, Venom eventually caught up with him and they had a fight on a runaway vehicle through traffic. Carnage eventually won when Venom got slammed by an oncoming train.

Their final battle here is a big pile of “That’s not how any of this works!” The two characters send symbiote tendrils into the internet, which were rendered on the Times Square big screen as the two brawled in cyberspace. Venom destroyed a nearby heatsink, which blasted both and knocked them out of the internet.

Carnage was ready for another go, but his kidnapped psychiatrist set him on fire and caused him to fall out a window. Venom reached through the phone lines and out the window to catch the falling Cletus because dying is WHAT HE WANTS. Which… no, that’s not true at all. Hell, even in Maximum Carnage, Cletus was freaked out about the possibility of dying.

Venom: On Trial

So there was a big Spider-Man/Scarlet Spider/Venom team-up called Planet of the Symbiotes that culminated in a 40-foot-tall Carnage, but there was never a specific Venom vs. Carnage moment, so I won’t go into it. Venom’s ’90s antihero run did have a storyline where Eddie was arrested and put on trial for all of his many crimes. Cletus Kasady was brought in as a star witness, which was an invitation for him to freak out and go on a killing rampage. I mean, seriously, guys. Come on. You should know better.

This story went all-in on Venom wrecking Carnage. Again, Spider-Man would interrupt and give Carnage a chance to turn things around. This time though, Venom decided to ride the wave by sneaking away while Spider-Man and Daredevil took on Carnage. Realizing that the two didn’t have a chance, Venom picked up a couple syringes filled with dopamine blocker and sprung into action. He smacked Carnage around, injected the blocker into his neck, and watched as the symbiote retracted into Cletus’ body.

Venom Triumphant

Howard Mackie wrote Spider-Man comics for a long while and he had an annoying tendency when it came to storytelling. He would come up with an interesting, if nonsensical, idea that would shake up the status quo, but instead of following up on that and using it to tell an actual story, he would just forget about it and move to the next idea that popped into his head. He was one of the main reasons why the Spider-Man Clone Saga was such a mess.

In the 10th issue of Peter Parker, Spider-Man, Venom broke into the prison where Carnage was being held. Despite the legion of heavily armed guards with flamethrowers and sonic guns, Venom killed them all so quickly that the artist didn’t even show it. Cletus, for some reason, figured Venom was trying to break him out of prison, but instead Venom was there to absorb the Carnage symbiote. Carnage barely put up a fight. Pieces of the symbiote were on him, but he didn’t fully transform or try to defend himself. Venom simply pulled the symbiote off of him and ate it, becoming stronger.

After this issue, there was barely any follow-up to this.

Venom vs. Carnage

This miniseries came out at a really weird time for those involved. Carnage was just a couple months away from being torn in half by the Sentry and being written out of comics for years. Venom was appearing in Marvel Knights Spider-Man where Eddie Brock got rid of the symbiote and it bounced around to different hosts until landing on Mac Gargan. Meanwhile there was a Venom ongoing that was more about a symbiote clone where Eddie Brock only appeared for a couple late issues.

In other words, in the Venom vs. Carnage miniseries by Peter Milligan and Clayton Crain, even the creative team had no idea who Venom’s host was supposed to be. Luckily, the story wasn’t about Venom or Carnage, but a new character who would quickly fall into obscurity anyway.

Venom and Carnage swung around New York City, giving the exposition. The Carnage symbiote was pregnant and Venom was explaining that there was nothing to do to stop the creature from going into labor. Venom was all about protecting the new spawn while Carnage wanted to destroy it, immediately. Carnage got the better of Venom by flinging him into the distance. Regardless, the explosive birth wore out Carnage so much that he could only plant the baby onto a nearby cop and escape to rest up.

When the two had a rematch, Venom was there to save the baby symbiote (Toxin) and its host (Pat Mulligan). As if getting revenge for that Carnage Unleashed story, Venom brought the fight to the subway and pushed Carnage into an oncoming train.

And… that’s really all the Venom vs. Carnage we get in Venom vs. Carnage! Once Venom sees that Toxin is a good guy and capable of kicking Carnage’s ass, he gets afraid of Toxin befriending Spider-Man and decides to team up with Carnage for once.

Carnage, USA

Carnage returned from his maiming at the hands of the Sentry, albeit without a bottom half. By then, a lot had happened with Venom. The symbiote was removed from Mac Gargan and joined with war hero Flash Thompson. Agent Venom went on to join the Secret Avengers.

Carnage, USA told the story of Cletus expanding his symbiote to overtake an entire town in the middle of nowhere. When various heroes went to oppose him, the Carnage symbiote ended up taking over Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye, and the Thing. When gaining a moment of clarity, Cap called in Agent Venom for help.

Read more

Movies

Venom 2 Trailer Breakdown – All the Marvel and Carnage References

By Gavin Jasper

Comics

Venom: Who is Carnage?

By Gavin Jasper

In their first meeting, Agent Venom easily took down Carnage with some explosive projectiles that came with sonic shrapnel. Then when getting ready for the kill – say it with me everyone – Spider-Man got in his face and went, “No! Don’t kill!” Carnage recovered, and overwhelmed Venom with his army of Carnage’d heroes. Then another obscure symbiote hero, Scorn, popped in to run Venom and Carnage over with a bulldozer and bring them into a facility that would blast their symbiotes off the hosts.

While Cletus and Flash had a fight based around the novelty that both were legless, the Venom symbiote latched onto a gorilla and ran for its life against an entire zoo full of animals with the Carnage symbiote. After almost being taken down by a Carnage lion (Spider-Man with the save), the gorilla returned to Flash and gave him the power to bring Cletus into custody.

As for the town-wide Carnage symbiote, most of it was taken out by an airstrike.

Minimum Carnage

Following up on Agent Venom, he had his own team-up arc with Scarlet Spider (Kaine) with the fun dynamic of a Venom who doesn’t want to kill and a Spider-Man who does. The two chased Carnage into the Microverse, where Carnage was able to create an army of symbiote clones. While Agent Venom was able to decapitate Carnage, the villain had attained some level of power where his body is more overall fluid and animated. In this case, Carnage could just reattach his head with no problem.

Although Flash had sedated his own symbiote and lacked the monstrous advantage, he was able to wipe out a bunch of the clones by amplifying his own inner sorrow outward through the Venom symbiote. Strangely, that’s not the first time Venom was able to do that. What’s left of Carnage slinked away, cackling.

Carnage and the clones returned to Earth and Voltron’d themselves into a giant Carnage. As Carnage tried to devour Agent Venom, Venom shoved a sonic grenade down Carnage’s throat and let the blast do the rest, taking out the enlarged Carnage symbiote almost completely. In the aftermath, Scarlet Spider jabbed one of his claws through Cletus’ eye and lobotomized him.

Venomverse

Venomverse is about a series of Venom hosts from different realities coming together to fight beings called Poisons. Under normal circumstances, Poisons are harmless. If one of them makes physical contact with a symbiote and its host, it transforms them into a nigh-unbeatable crystal-like creature with the Poison in control. By this point, Eddie Brock was Venom again and joined with all sorts of random symbiote heroes to the point that he came off as just a regular dude.

With their back against the wall, Eddie came up with an idea. They brought in Carnage from an alternate universe as a ringer. At first, Carnage fought against the Venoms, but they were reluctant to fight back. Once he saw the Poisons and understood that the Venoms wanted him to kill an army of twisted superheroes, he gladly joined their ranks. He just let them know that once he was done with the Poisons, he’d kill them next.

He ended up being a huge help, especially since the Poisons had a hard time bonding to the Carnage symbiote. Carnage died in an explosion fighting Poisons alongside Poison Deadpool (who was able to bypass his Poison’s mental control).

There was a sequel to this called Venomized where the Poisons returned and tried to invade Earth. They kidnapped Cletus, forced him to bond to an alternate universe Venom, and then bonded that to a Poison. While he was referred to as “Carnage” at times, the Carnage symbiote was never involved, so I’m going to skip this one.

But where was the Carnage symbiote during all of this?

The Red Goblin

At one point, Norman Osborn became the host for Carnage to give us a climactic villain to finish off Dan Slott’s lengthy run on Amazing Spider-Man. Knowing that Spider-Man was out of his league, J. Jonah Jameson decided to fight fire with fire by calling up Eddie Brock and blackmailing him into aiding Spider-Man. This led to a brief fight of Spider-Man, Venom, and repulsor-wielding Mary Jane against the Red Goblin.

Venom and Red Goblin brawled for a bit, but Red Goblin appeared to be immune to the usual symbiote weaknesses, so only Venom took damage. While he got some hits in, Eddie was too exhausted to continue. Instead he offered the symbiote to Spider-Man to give him the extra boost. This brief team-up allowed the two vigilante enemies to finally bury their lengthy rivalry.

Absolute Carnage

Now we get to Donny Cates’ bonkers run on Venom. Cletus had been resurrected and turned back into Carnage via a bunch of cultists who worshipped Knull, God of Symbiotes. Carnage then started going around eating the spines of those who were once host to a symbiote, getting stronger by the meal. Dark Carnage first fought Venom in a subway and easily overpowered him. Still, Venom got the win by grabbing onto the third rail while holding onto Dark Carnage. It was enough to knock Carnage loopy while Venom could get away and seek out help.

Venom and Spider-Man sought out Norman Osborn (who believed himself to be Cletus Kasady after the Red Goblin episode) and were ambushed by an army of inmates possessed by Carnage symbiotes. Overwhelmed, the two heroes broke through a wall and swung off into the night.

Venom got involved in another big fight against an army of Carnages and could have killed Osborn, but instead chose to save a wounded Mac Gargan nearby and brought him to safety. The Venom symbiote wasn’t happy with this and later left Eddie for Bruce Banner, giving us a fight between Venom Hulk and Dark Carnage. This turned out to be a dire choice, as Dark Carnage tore into Hulk’s brain, caused him to shrink back to Banner, then ate his spine. Carnage was stronger than ever.

Meanwhile, mad scientist the Maker had a machine that took the “symbiote codex” stuff Carnage was looking for out of former hosts without the nasty “tearing out their spinal column” part. Eddie unleashed the codex collection onto himself, turning him into a more powerful version of Venom. As he took on Cletus one last time, Carnage made note that Venom was screwed no matter what. Either Carnage killed and ate Eddie’s son Dylan or Eddie killed Carnage, which would wake up Knull and drive him to Earth.

Venom summoned the Necrosword to cut through Carnage, destroying him once and for all. For a time, at least.

Prelude to Knull

Wouldn’t you know it, killing Dark Carnage caused Eddie to absorb the Carnage symbiote into himself. Soon he was separated from Venom and stuck on an island while being bonded against his will to the Carnage symbiote. Dylan was able to remotely control the Venom symbiote and transformed it into a giant Venom T-rex. Like it wasn’t even bonding onto a dinosaur or anything. It was just the size and shape of a tyrannosaurus just because.

Eddie and Dylan had a dreamlike meeting in their minds while Carnage Eddie chopped down at the Venom dino. Eventually, the power of familial love was enough to overpower the Carnage symbiote and blow it up. Eddie rejoined with the Venom symbiote, and a little piece of Carnage latched onto a nearby shark to swim off and fight another day.

Okay, then! Phew! Going by every Venom vs. Carnage fight, I’ve judged them so that there have been six draws, eight victories for Carnage, and nine victories for Venom.

Congratulations, black ooze. Here’s hoping your red offspring doesn’t turn the tide at the box office.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage will be released in theaters on Oct. 1.

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The post Venom: Let There Be Carnage – The Comics History of the Symbiote Rivalry appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[okageshadowkingfannovel]

Book 1: Chapter 10

When Ari wakes up, the very first thing he sees is his bedroom ceiling, and for just the briefest moment, he’s tempted to believe again that the whole thing - the Pig Latin curse, the strange bottle, weird butler, Evil King Stan, fighting a ghost in the Church basement - was just a dream. But then the redundancy of it hits him and he pushes away the temptation.

“About time you woke up, slave.”

Ari hears the crabby grumblings as he slips out of bed. As Stan pops out from under his feet, he notices that he’s been changed into pajamas.

“What happened?” he asks, rubbing at the sleep in his eyes.

“In shock of my fury and rage, you promptly passed out. I disappear when you fall unconscious - which is a surprisingly frequent event it seems - but I saw idiots from the village come down a couple hours later to find you pathetically curled up on the basement floor. They noticed the low level ghost had been vanquished, praised my name, and quickly whisked you home to your family. You’ve been asleep for two days.”

“Two days?!”

“Pathetic, isn’t it? But then, I suppose my powers are considerably overwhelming. So, don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Ari sits down on the bed, memories of a burning white glow and the phrase ‘overdrive’ drifting through his mind. He pulls up the pant leg of his pajamas and finds a neat bandage hiding away the teeth marks. A twinge of tenderness aches his skin when he gently pokes it.

“I guess it was all the fighting. I-I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“Speaking of, slave,” Stan starts in an offended huff, “what was all that? I wasn’t aware you had any sort of actual ability.”

“Neither was I,” Ari admits, “there was a moment in the middle of it, where everything sort of froze, and … there was this gear …”

“A gear?”

“Yeah, it was just floating in front of me. D-Does that mean you didn’t see it?”

King Stan places a thoughtful claw to his bright yellow mouth.

“Maybe you’ve been blessed with power simply due to your proximity to me. Leech-like you utilize the great amounts of power, boiling over from my being.”

Ari takes this as a ‘no,’ and sighs in resignation that he won’t find answers here.

“Technically, you’re the leech here,” he says, but then suddenly notices the glass tube sitting on his desk. “The village treasure?”

“Treasure?! Pah! Never mind that garbage! I’ve been stuck in this room for two days. Get dressed and make yourself useful!”

Before Ari can respond or even comply, there’s a soft knock at the door and his mother’s voice.

“Ari? Are you awake?”

He can hear an eagerness mixed with relief in his mother’s tone. “Y-yeah, I just woke up.”

“Oh, Ari! You must come see! Get dressed! Everyone is out front, waiting for you!”

“Everyone?”

Ari listens to his mother’s footsteps disappear down the hall.

“Well, don’t sit there like a slug! Get going!”

Stan sinks back down into the floorboards. Ari is grateful for a multitude of reasons, but the silence to be able to think stands at a solid number 2 on that list. As he dresses, the strange, floating gear still ticks away in his thoughts, and the word ‘overdrive’ echoes back.

Why ‘overdrive’ anyway? Did I make it up? I mean, if I did, it’s not a very cool name for an attack. I mean, even Stan had ‘Burning Devil.’ Even for him, that’s sort of cool. And how did I even get an attack? It couldn’t have been the weapon … unless that was a magic stick. Dammit! The one cool, magic item to fall into my hands and it’s a stick!

Ari doesn’t actually believe it was a magic stick.

Once dressed, Ari grabs the glass tube and turns it over in his hands. He’s not sure if the village meant for him to take it or if they didn’t recognize it as Tenel’s most prized possession and thought it was just some trash. Either way, he sticks it in his pocket and plans on asking the Village Office or the Village Elder or someone what he’s supposed to do with it.

Leaving his room, Ari makes his way down the hall and down the grand staircase that leads to the front door. Despite living with five other people - six if he includes the evil butler - the house is surprisingly quiet and empty feeling. He imagines that everyone is already getting on with their daily business. When he steps out the front door and into the sunlight, he is immediately deafened by waves of cheering.

The entire town of Tenel seems to be standing in his family’s courtyard. Some of Ari’s friends balance on the wall of the water fountain, waving at him. A few late villagers stand in the back of the crowd, carefully shifting away from the ancient graves so as not to step on the haunted ground. But in the front are a cornucopia of familiar faces, all pressing closer to give their enthusiastic support and ask their burning questions. He even sees Julia there, looking up at him with a uniquely feminine look of worry and concern.

“Hey! Hey, Ari!”

“Good work, Ari! Way to go!”

“Thanks! That was great!”

“How did you get rid of the ghosts? Let’s hear it, Ari!”

“Yeah! Tell us, Ari!”

Ari stands there speechless. He’s never been so noticed by so many people all at once. An embarrassing blush rushes to his cheeks.

“Grrr, they’ve got it all wrong,” Stan growls from somewhere, “It was all my doing! Evil King Stan is the proper target of your affection! Oh well, this is good timing. They are all assembled to receive the wisdom I shall bestow upon them!”

Before Ari can react, he hears the familiar whistle and feels Evil King Stan loom up behind him. He looks over his shoulder to find the shadow towering over him, quaking with an evil laugh as he looks out over the villagers. Ari tries to read the faces of the crowd. They look surprised to say the least.

“Listen here, villagers! I am the reincarnation of the Evil King Gohma, the Evil King of Darkness! I am Stan!”

“Wh-what’s going on?”

“Say, isn’t that …”

Ari hears the confused whispers and murmurs bubbling up from the crowd.

“Now that I’ve returned to this world, all that walks, flies, or crawls shall be my subjects! As a reward for your willing subjugation, I shall grant you insects a long, delightful purgatory!” Stan punctuates with a hearty laugh and then adds, “hear this! My official declaration! I will saturate this land with a black cloud of astounding malevolence!”

Ari feels a breeze hit the back of his neck as Stan whips about in his fervor.

“My plague of evil will infect every corner of this world! Bow before your lord and master, Evil King Stan!!!”

The ominous echo of ‘Stan’ bounces about the courtyard, over the heads of the bewildered audience. It seems like even the birds and squirrels in the trees have stopped twittering and chirping. Ari swallows nervously, his throat suddenly feeling dry.

“Aha! They’re speechless!” King Stan hisses in delight.

The quiet is heavily unnerving.

Ari waits.

And then, waits a moment more.

Another moment.

“… Ha ha …”

“… Pffft, ha ha ha ha ha!!!”

“Ha ha ha ha! This is too much!”

One laugh unleashes another and then another in a chain reaction of hilarity.

“Ari! I didn’t know you were such a riot!”

“Oh wow, this is good! I’m gonna die laughing!”

“That shadow trick of yours is pretty slick!”

“What?!”

“Hey! You should perform at the next Tenel Festival!”

“Evil King Stan, did you say? That’s priceless! Ha ha ha!”

“YOU PEASANTS! What are you laughing at?! My great decree is to be taken seriously! You! That one there! Stop laughing!”

“He just keeps going! Ha ha!”

All of a sudden, Ari feels a strange heat radiating off of the clearly angered shadow and it occurs to him that it’s been quite a while since he last used that ‘burning devil’ trick.

“Ah-um, OK, everyone,” Ari calls out, waving his arms to get their attention, “thanks for stopping by! Um, n-no trouble at all about the … the whole ghost thing … I gotta get back to studying. I-I’ll see you around town!”

Ari whips around and darts back inside the house before Stan can incinerate the entire town with black fire. He sighs as he leans against the front door.

“Why? Aghh! I don’t understand! Why?!” King Stan laments, shaking with rage. “I am the Evil King! A harbinger of impending doom! Yet the humans mock me … They even laugh at me! I’m so humiliated!”

Awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck, Ari wracks his brain for something to say in response to King Stan’s tantrum of self-doubt.

“Well, I-”

“What am I … What am I supposed to do?! Am I a failure as Evil King? Am I a hopeless Evil King?”

“Uhhh …”

“So, it’s true?!”

“Wait, I didn’t-”

“Do I have to hear from this lousy slave that I am a lousy hopeless Evil King? I can’t take this anymore! I’m tired. I must rest for a while.”

And like a 2-dimensional teenager, Stan disappears to sulk in private. Ari waits a moment, frozen temporarily by the emotional whiplash. He’s not even sure how that conversation even happened.

“St-Stan?” he calls meekly.

Nothing happens.

“King Stan?”

“Silence! Don’t talk to me now! Curses!”

Ari supposes the shadow is well and truly upset.

“Oh, Ari!”

He looks up and finds his mother emerging from the kitchen, a huge sweet smile plastered across her face. She rushes up to him and catches him in a hug, squeezing him too tightly.

“Did you see them, Ari? The entire village came to see you! Oh, I’m so proud of you! My popular little man!”

“Mom,” he whines in a teenagerly way.

“You should go out into town,” she says excitedly as she finally pulls away, “I’m sure everyone wants to talk to you. Oh! And Stan too!”

A low growl rumbles up from the floor.

“Stan isn’t feeling too talkative right now.”

“Well, anyway, I heard even the village elder wants to speak with you! Apparently, there’s some rumor going around town.”

“What kind of rumor?” Ari asks, knowing full well that a rumor in Tenel is nothing new and usually nothing much to be excited about.

“I don’t know too much about it myself. Some kind of trouble happening in other towns. Go ask your father about it while your out. Go on!”

His mother practically pushes Ari out of the house. Once clear of the entryway, the front door slams shut behind him.

“Love you!” comes his mother’s muffled voice.

The courtyard now sits empty, its crowd of visitors having dissipated to carry on with normal, everyday Tenel business.

“I guess I’ll see what the elder wants,” Ari mumbles to himself … or to Stan, in case the shadow was still listening.

Before Ari sets off towards the gate, a strange noise pricks at his ears. It’s not the usual noises of nature - not chirping or twittering or snapping twigs - but it’s a sharp, mechanical clicking. It’s rhythmic and consistent. Instead of carrying on down the stone steps, he follows the noise along a small dirt path connecting the front to the back. Two balconies look down at him from the side of the house. Briefly, Ari wonders if the noise is leaking from one of those rooms. But no, it sounds much too close. Carrying on, he passes by a pile of firewood and a stump bearing the ax that made it. No, not from there.

Finally, Ari finds himself at the base of a tall, spindly steel tower. It’s an awkward marker for where the family property ends and the land suddenly drops off in a fair cliff, overlooking miles and miles of untamed, monster ridden wilderness. The tower is made up of lattice girders, spaced out at the base and joining together as the reach the top. The whole thing seems oddly squashed - as if a giant had grabbed it and squeezed - and it leans in a way that doesn’t seem safe.

“I found the source of the ticking,” he says to no one in particular, for no particular reason.

With an eye on the tower should it decide this is the opportune moment to finally keel over, Ari pokes around the tall grasses and tangled wild flowers. He swears the ticking is buried here at the tower’s feet. Finally, as he pulls aside a clump of weeds, a tiny gear comes into view. Nestled among the plant stalks, it fidgets in place, emitting that steady tick.

“Stan?” Ari excitedly whispers - though a beat later, he’s not sure why he felt the need to whisper since no one is around.

There is no response from the evil king. Feeling as if it might stop or disappear in a blink, Ari reaches out and gently plucks up the gear from its weedy nest. He lays it out in the palm of his hand. Overall, it seems completely ordinary. It fits neatly in his hand. It’s a dark, well-worn iron and has bits of dirt stuck in its crevices. If it wasn’t clicking on its own, Ari would have assumed it just fell off the tower. Naturally, he wonders if this gear bears any relation to that which he found (and broke) in the church basement.

Before he can think about it for too long, the ticking suddenly stops and the gear sits still.

I broke another one?

Ari wiggles hand in hopes of jiggling the gear back to ticking, clicking life, but the thing sits motionless, tickless, clickless.

I broke another one.

And of course, Ari’s now not sure if there was ever any noise at all. Perhaps it was all in his head. He wonders if hallucinations and mental breakdowns are typical symptoms of having one’s shadow possessed by a reincarnated evil king.

Anyway, Ari decides to pocket the little gear for now, just in case it start up again. If Stan will ever decide to talk to him again, maybe he can ask about it. But helpful answers don’t seem to be the evil king’s forte.

Chapter 1 • Chapter 2 • Chapter 3 • Chapter 4 • Chapter 5 • Chapter 6 • Chapter 7 • Chapter 8 • Chapter 9 • Chapter 10 • Chapter 11 • Chapter 12 • Chapter 13 • Chapter 14 • Chapter 15 • Chapter 16 - Finale

NOTE: Okage Shadow King is owned by Sony Computer Entertainment and Zener Works. This novelization is purely a fan-work and the writer claims no ownership over the characters, general plot line(s), etc.

[hi-i-love-u-bitch]

Rain Makes The Flowers Grow Ink and Candle AU

This is based on the beautiful Ink and Candle au by @sugarglider9603 where Logan is a quill and ink pot and Patton is a candle and also Roman is a rose and Virgil is a little rain cloud. I thought it was super cute and you should totally check out all of her art because she’s SUPER AMAZING!!! Anyway, I got in the mood to write some Prinxiety and will probably write something for Logicality later. Please enjoy!!!

The flower people were a very curious bunch, on one hand they were vain, loved to gossip, and easy were to offend but once they accept you as part of their own they’re sweet, loyal, and ready to fight for you. But being that they are faery folk that is something to expect of them. Still, Virgil had a hard time adjusting to their sudden switch in attitude, even if it has been a few months.

When Virgil first wandered into this land everybody feared him, being that he studied magic he was more powerful then your average storm cloud so it was to be expected. Then he met Logan, who was much too curious to be scared of him. He studied magic as well, more with ruins and alchemy, and was overjoyed to have someone to talk to and study with. Logan introduced him to Patton who was cautious at first, keeping his boundaries and speaking softly, but that lasted all but five minutes. The candle creature was an exciting being with a kind soul that gave hugs frequently and a bit too tightly. It was he that introduced Virgil to Roman.

Virgil and Roman did not get along at first, Roman was much too dramatic, boisterous, and stuck-up, and Virgil for the life of him could not understand how a sweet creature such as Patton could be friends with him. He questioned Logan on the matter, seeing as the ink man and rose also bickered just as much, and was surprised to find out that Logan too though Roman good company. It was then Virgil got a quick lesson on faery lore, they aren’t too fond of outsiders so it wasn’t really Virgil’s fault but there was also very little he could do about it. Least you bring an offering or gift, like Logan did, or are kind and sociable enough, like Patton, there wasn’t much Virgil could do except hope Roman warms up to him.

Though it wasn’t like Virgil minded all that much, he much rather keeps to himself and study his magic. It did really matter to him if Roman, or any other flower folk for that matter, liked him or not. That is until the summer months came in and with it the biggest drought the land has ever come to see. Droughts were quite common during summer so the creatures of the land were more prepared then most but it was still not enough for this drought. Everyone was suffering but there were none that suffered more then the flower people, who depended on water more than anything else. The lake nearby was drying up and it was beginning to get increasingly difficult to ration out what little water they still had.

Virgil was surprised when Roman came searching for him, begging for him to help his people, thinking that the rose would be too proud to ask for any outside help. Still, Virgil was a bit reluctant, asking why he hadn’t just asked Logan who was much more experience to which Roman replied: “As powerful as Logan is his expertise is in ruins and alchemy. You’re from the cloud kingdom and are studying the magical forces of nature, you’re the only one who can help me!”

So, the rain cloud obliged, conjuring up a medium-ish storm of sorts, not big enough to cause damage but large enough to give plenty of water across most of the land. It drastically helped a lot of creatures and made Virgil sort of a hero. Which isn’t something Virgil wanted but it made people less scared of him so he guessed it was fine. Afterwards, Virgil thought once everything was said and done his “fame” would die down, he’d be left alone again, and Roman and him would continue to bicker. Of course, he was wrong because not only did Roman NOT shoo him out of his village immediately but asked him to accompany him to help make sure that the other villages surrounding the lake had plenty of water as well. Again, Virgil was surprise that Roman, being a flower folk, would worry about other villages being that they were considered “outsiders”.

And again, Roman replied with a surprising yet obvious answer: “Just because we don’t like conversing with outsiders does not mean we wish them misfortune or harm. Our neighbors are our allies, in times of need we help each other.”

That would not by the last time Roman surprised Virgil with his chivalry. Though it really shouldn’t be that surprising, Roman was a knight after all, the best in not only his kingdom but in all the land. Sure, Virgil would hear in passing conversation how Roman would boast to Patton about his adventures across the land, climbing mountains, finding treasure, and fighting off something called a dragon witch, all of which the rain cloud would roll his eyes and scoff at. But he really should have been paying attention as to WHY he was doing these adventures. He asked Patton once he was finished helping Roman with the surrounding villages around the lake because surely, he was missing something. Which he was, Roman climbed the largest, coldest mountain not meant for any living, green being to collect a special healing stone to help a sick boy in his village. He hunted down treasure stolen by bandits, returned it to the neighboring village from which it was stolen from, and refused to take any reward. The dragon witch was a real thing too, it was a malevolent being terrorizing the flower folk’s once rival kingdom, the cactus creatures.

“Why didn’t he say anything?” Virgil had asked, confused and a bit guilty for having written Roman off so negatively “He boasts and shows off everything else, why keep the most important things out of it?”

The candle man smiled fondly, a look of wisdom that Virgil didn’t know he was capable of, “Roman may be of the fae but he is also a knight and knights are taught nobility, chivalry, and humility. It would go against his morals to use the people he’s helped as means to gain popularity.”

Virgil could understand that, still didn’t excuse Roman for being a jerk to him, faery or not, but he guessed the rose wasn’t so bad after all. And apparently it went vise versa for Roman as well. He came by the next day to apologize for treating Virgil so harshly and not giving him a chance as well as inviting him over to his village for a celebration feast the flower folk were making in Virgil’s name. Virgil, a bit overwhelmed, was about to kindly decline the offer but Logan wisely stepped in and accepted for him, inviting himself and Patton as well.

“It is a great insult to decline an invitation by a faery,” Logan warned him once Roman had left “especially if they are celebrating in your honor. But don’t worry, me and Patton will be there to…ease the excitement.”

To which Virgil will forever be thankful for because flower folk parties are very…extra. It was odd having people who once stared at you suspiciously and whispered behind your back now coo at you sweetly and marvel at you like some sort of “rain god”. It was odd and excessively overwhelming, Virgil had to excuse himself multiple time so that he could breathe without having someone in his face singing his praise. How long would he have to stay at the party? Would it be rude to leave early? How rude would it be if he left early? Like punishable by silent treatment or hunt you down and take your first born? Why do faeries have to be so complicated?

It was then he heard a familiar voice from a few bushes by the try he was hiding behind, “Are you alright?”

“Just peachy Roman, thanks.” Virgil gave a strained smile that told the rose he was anything but peachy.

“Are you not enjoying yourself?” Roman asked.

“It-it’s not that, it’s just…” Virgil paused, trying to think of a way to word his thoughts without offending Roman and his people “it’s a bit…mm…much. Don’t you think? I mean, all I did was a simple spell-”

“You saved countless lives Virgil,” Roman cut in, a passionate fire in his eyes “simple spell or not you have done a great serves and deserve a thank you the matches up to it.”

“It does, it does!” Virgil assured “This is more then enough, it’s great, and I’m extremely grateful for it all. It’s just…my kind isn’t all that into,” he made a vague gesture with his hands “big…extravagant…parties. We like to keep it simple and small…and quiet. That’s all.”

“Oh,” Roman frowned, the fire being replaced by worry “I see.”

“But this is fine! It’s fine!” Virgil put in quickly “It’s just me, I’m not…” another vague gesture “social, as you can probably see.”

“But we have made you uncomfortable when we wish to celebrate you.” Roman rebutted.

“I’m not uncomfortable.” Virgil said, lying through his teeth.

“No, this is all wrong,” Roman sighed, the roses growing from his body dimming from it vibrant red color to a dull maroon “I wanted to apologized for my rude behavior and make amends so that we can be friends so I thought we’d throw a party so that we could mingle and get to know each other but now I’ve just ended up making you feel uncomfortable and I-”

“You wanna be friends?” Virgil asked, cutting off Roman’s rambling.

“Yes, yes of course,” Roman nodded before biting his lips nervously “I’ll admit, I had ill judgment of you when we first met. You are dark and gloomy looking and with Patton and Logan being dear friends of mind, well, I didn’t think they’d be safe around you. I now know it was very wrong of me to think that, of any of us to think that. And it all should have been very obvious since the beginning.”

Virgil tilted his head curiously, “Why is that?”

“Rain makes the flowers bloom.” Roman said simply, as if it answered everything Virgil needed to know.

It didn’t but the declaration made the rain cloud flush a deep scarlet and tug the hood of his cloak over his head as he mumbled, “That, er, really shouldn’t be enough to trust a person. It’s a nice metaphor, yeah, but trust and friendship take time and it’s built on much more then ‘what’s supposed to be’.”

“I guess you’re right,” Roman sighed melancholy before he perked up a bit, the tips of his roses turning back to their bright red color “then how bout we start over, and slowly this time?” He extended an arm of salutation “Hello, my name is Roman and I would like to be your friend.”

Virgil looked down at the rose’s hand unsure before he looked up to meet his eyes which were soft earthy tones of moss and rich soil. They practically glowed with life, inviting and fresh with new adventures on the horizon. How is it these eyes could hold so much within them?

“I-I’m Virgil and I would also like to be friends.” Virgil finally replied, firmly grabbing onto Roman’s hand.

“Oh my,” Roman said breathlessly.

“Is something wrong?” Virgil asked worriedly. Maybe he had grabbed on to tightly? Or maybe his hood made him look creepy?

“No, nothing of the sorts,” Roman assured, staring more intensely at him, his hand seeming to tighten around his and bring them a bit closer “it’s just…I’ve always thought your eyes were just one color, like a dark stormy grey. But now…it seems they reflect a multitude of colors.” He smiled brightly, his flowers now fully bright and red “Like a rainbow of sorts, it’s really quite amazing. With the rest of you being so dark and gloomy they really stand out quite beautifully.”

Once again, Virgil found himself flushing at Roman’s words and realizing that there was more to him than meets the eye. It quite silly to think of it this way but Roman was so closed off to him before but now, after the storms passed, he’s bloomed into something beautiful.

[robotnik-mun]

Robotnik Retrospective Part Six: Rage Against The Machine

Hello again, everybody, and welcome back to another exciting (*coughBullcrap*) addition to the Robotnik retrospective! Well folks, you’ve stuck through five of these things already, and really I thank all of you for that, but the reality is that this crazy train is swiftly reaching its destination- this post here will be the last of the proper retrospective posts. After this we will conclude our series with an afterward, a summation, what have you, and at last this insane party of Robotnik fan obssession will come to an end. Been a fun ride folks, but all good things must come to an end.

So far we have covered how I came to enjoy this Robotnik so much, his design and the history behind it, an in-depth look at his character, a look at how he as a character is shaped by his relationships with others and how they are in turn shaped by him, and most recently we examined the other Robotniks that were spawned from this one and featured in both Archie Comics and Sonic Underground. Sufficed to say, over the course of the retrospective we’ve covered a loooot of ground regarding ol ‘Buttnik, and it is here that we cover one last little area regarding this Robotnik.... namely, the criticisms.

Oh yes. Within the Sonic fandom all things tend to be a matter of contention, and this model of Robotnik is no different. One thing I notice across the fandom is a certain set of criticisms, criticisms that I feel tend to ignore certain contexts with this guy, or rely upon certain double standards- especially since more often than not, when these criticisms are made, it’s almost always done in relation to the Eggman of the games, despite the fact that more than a few of those criticisms can be leveled at Eggman himself, and often treat personal opinion as an objective fact.

Now obviously, this is not a demand for people to love the guy- it’s patently impossible for everyone to agree on everything. I just feel though that a lot of these criticisms are a bit lopsided, and so, I am offering up counterpoints to at least provide an alternative view or to contextualize things, and to perhaps debunk a few here and there. I’m actually kind of nervous about this one because of how easy it could be to slide into pathetic fan-whining, so hey, here’s hoping we get through this without me getting personal.

Let’s get it on.

As I said, everything in Sonic is a subject of contention or controversy to somebody. One man’s favorite is another man’s mistake of the franchise. That’s just covering the games- the various spin-offs and adaptations the games have enjoyed over the years tend to attract a particular amount of controversy. Differing interpretations, utilization or lack of utilization of materials and lore from the games, the precise nature of the world Sonic lives in, interpretations and use of characters, whether or not humans are included beyond Eggman... all of it tends to be scrutinized rather harshly. I do earnestly believe that at some level, spin-off media gets more criticism than it warrants due to the fact that, by its very nature, it is viewed as being ‘less legitimate’ than the games proper, despite existing with SEGA’s endorsement and approval each and every time. Even Sonic Underground, the most radically different Sonic adaptation out there, couldn’t get made unless SEGA gave the okay.

Another layer to all of this is the fact that the overwhelming majority of these spinoff materials were made in the USA, for American Audiences, based upon the localizations of the games. This adds another factor to the Legitimacy Debate, given that SEGA of Japan runs the show, and Sonic Team’s lore has always differed from the localized takes. Much like the ‘Subs vs Dubs’ debates within Anime fan communities, the merit of the differences and interpretations between regions is something of a warzone in itself, resulting in a very weird situation where you often see the Adaptations derided purely for being a Western invention rather than springing from the ‘true’ source of Sonic, which is Japan. The irony of this logic is that Sonic has been incredibly popular everywhere BUT Japan, and the sorts of people who espouse this viewpoint are often from Western countries themselves.

Ah, but I must digress, lest this turn into a dissertation about the nature of the fan-divide and becomes even longer than it is already shaping up to be. Point of order- the spinoff adaptations that once speckled the franchise of the 90s tend to rack up a lot of strong opinions for good or ill, and due to the sheer number of designs and interpretations Eggman/Robotnik underwent between each adaptation. In some ways it’s almost symbolic of a lot of the arguments about Eggman himself these days- how evil is he, how humorous, does he have good traits, what should his exact relationship with Sonic be, and so on and so forth. A lot of these spinoff takes often seem to embody one end of the scale or the other to varying extremes, and that is particularly evident in the SatAM model of Robotnik.

So, having brought all of that up, it is *finally* time to take a look at the most common criticisms I find of the SatAM model Robotnik, and to offer up a few rebuttals. Thank you for your patience.

Now then... on with the criticisms.  

“He doesn’t look like Eggman!”

This one comes up a lot, and really, it’s quite indisputably true.

Yeah, pretty fair observation there- these two are pretty far apart design wise, and even accounting for the artistic interpretations that were used on Eggman in Western box art during that time, it is nakedly apparent that the SatAM Robotnik is veeery different looking to the guy from the games, whether in the classical era or the modern era. So yeah, there’s no denying it- he really doesn’t look like Eggman.

However... is it really *that* big of a deal?

SatAM Robotnik is pretty far removed from Eggman from a design standpoint, but in the end, he does actually share the same basic features- bald, obese, huge mustache, and a red, yellow and black color scheme distributed by the top half being dominated by red while the bottom half is dominated by blackm and of course shaped like an egg. In this, Robotnik isn’t straying that far- he does in fact possess all the iconic features that make the Eggman design, simply re-interpreted to other extremes. Heck, Robotnik accentuates the Egg motiff in his look even more than Eggman himself! An irony I rather appreciate.

I find it hard to believe that THIS aspect of Robotnik is really *that* much of a dealbreaker, particularly since the Robotnik who first started this design trend in AosTH never seems to receive the same criticism.

Yeah, not exactly a loyal replication of the game design there, now is it? If Adventures Robotnik can get a pass for his own divergent design, then I feel that the same courtesy can be extended to SatAM Robotnik.

It’s actually a bit of an ironic twist that SEGA themselves toyed with the idea of making Eggman into a cyborg as well.

While clearly they didn’t go with this, it should be noted that Sonic Team themselves didn’t seem to think it was that much of a stretch for Eggman himself to have cybernetics as well. Just something to consider.

Heck, for extra irony points, consider SEGA themselves don’t seem to be all too concerned about whether ol’ Eggy looks the part of a man called ‘Eggman’ these days.

‘He looks like an upside down egg!’ 

My hairy butt he does. 

A buff Eggman is arguably a far, far more drastic divergence than what SatAM Robotnik’s got going on, given that it completely inverts one of the core design aspects of the character, one that has been utilized by every other incarnation out there- his obese, ovoid physique to which he owes the name ‘Eggman’ to begin with.

So yeah, I rest my case. You’re free to like or dislike a design, but this claim specifically doesn’t really seem to hold much water with regards to being a strike against him.

“He’s practically a different character!”

Weeeelllllll.... yes, and no. This is one of those criticisms that kind of misses out on certain contexts and makes a pretty big assumption- namely that Eggman has always existed as we now know him. Cause the thing is, up until Sonic Adventure? “Eggman” never really existed in the West. Confused by what I mean? Well, allow me to elaborate a bit.

While Dr. Eggman was always such back in Japan, when it came time for the games to come over to Western shores, the story and characters of the game were localized in the hopes of making the game more marketable to local audiences. As such Dr. Eggman, who had evidently already been an enemy of Sonic’s for a while before the events of the first game, now became “Dr. Ivo Robotnik”, and was given a more detailed background- that once upon a time, he was a good and kindly scientist called Ovi Kintobor, who was a friend of Sonic’s until an accident involving CHaos Emeralds and a rotten egg transformed him into the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who immediately set off to conquer Mobius.

Various bits and pieces from Sonic of America’s official documents consistently characterize Dr. Ivo Robotnik as being ‘pure evil’, and his design was altered in the cover art for the games to reflect his sinister nature.

You know, I never really noticed that the Sonic 2 Cover Art made it look like he had a beard going on along with that mustache. Funky. 

Anyway!

This was to form the basis of the character in the US, and thanks to the open-ended nature of his actions in the game proper, said actions became cast in a more sinister light due to the more openly obvious and malevolent nature of Robotnik that was presented. It is from all of this then that SatAM Robotnik, and all the other Robotniks introduced in the spinoff materials at the time derive their character from, and since all the details provided painted Robotnik as an evil, evil person, it was up to the writers for these spinoffs to interpret whether they should be played for laughs or for chills.

In short? Eggman didn’t exist in the West when SatAM Robotnik was created. The criticism that he is practically a different character from Eggman is reliant upon a false premise- he cannot be faulted for being a different character to Eggman when he was created at a time when “Eggman” wasn’t even a part of Sonic as far as Western Audiences were concerned, until Sonic Adventure happened and things changed to better fit how things had always been in Japan. Similarly, the scant details we know about Eggman’s life hadn’t even been conceived of at the time.

It is at this point though that I feel compelled to point out though that while Robotnik’s differences from the current understanding of Eggman is simply a result of the time he was created, it should be noted that Robotnik is still a pretty inaccurate representation of the Robotnik from the games. SatAM Robotnik’s real name is Julian, his backstory doesn’t utilize the Chaos Emerald accident at all, he’s already the ruler of Mobius and has been for a while now, and his robots are completely different. While he still turns animals into robots, the concept has been re-interpreted so that rather than using people as batteries for his robots, the Roboticizer converts flesh and blood creatures into mechanical slaves for Robotnik’s empire.

Now these are all traits that I personally quite enjoy, but I’d be an idiot to suggest that it isn’t a pretty huge divergence from the lore that the games themselves establish. The thing of it is though, that SEGA themselves were not particularly interested in enforcing the aforementioned lore. In the earlier Adventure series, bits and pieces of Robotnik’s backstory were revealed, and much like the later SatAM , there’s not a lot that aligns with what the games had presented- Robotnik here was evil from the moment he was born and had a family in the form of an even more crazed and evil mother who constantly berated him for not destroying Sonic. Similarly, Game!Robotnik’s schtick of ‘turning animals into robots’ didn’t come up all that much, if at all.

The simple reality is? SEGA of America didn’t really care to enforce the lore it had created, and SEGA of Japan didn’t see fit to do similar. SEGA desiring a more universal approach for the setting it had created was something that came about with the advent of Sonic Adventure, and before that? Well, the most game accurate Robotnik out there, was the Robotnik from Fleetway.

Yeah, THAT terrifying bastard.

And don’t think for an instant that Sega of Japan themselves were any better at this. Back in Japan they released a series of Manga to tie into the games. Wanna know how that turned out?

Gotta confess, I don’t recall any of this happening at any point in the game. Cool robots though!

Another Manga would take it a step further and give a wholly new story- Sonic was the heroic identity that a shy hedgehog boy called Nicky could transform into. Nicky would have a family consisting of a mother, a father and a little sister, as well as having a girlfriend who would later form the basis for Amy Rose.

And then there was a manga that was released to tie into Sonic 2 for the game gear. Being a direct adaptation meant to promote the game, this would surely do a more than sufficient job of accurately portraying-

JESUS.

... so...

...uh...

...yeeah, long story short, Sonic on the whole didn’t really have a set idea, whether for Robotnik/Eggman or anything else. I once used the term ‘Jungle Law’ to describe how things were for the franchise in the 90s, and I must once more reiterate that that was precisely the case during that time, both in the US and everywhere else. People are of course free to feel about SatAM Robotnik and how he relates to the games (or rather doesn’t) as they wish, but one thing I would ask when doing that is to at least consider the time in which he was created, and to understand that even if he had been made to be game accurate at that time, he’d still be wildly, wildly different than the Eggman everyone is now familiar with.

 “He doesn’t invent anything!”

I honestly have no idea where this one came from... well, actually, that’s a lie, I know exactly where it stems from- the fact that Robotnik stole the Roboticizer from Uncle Chuck rather than inventing it himself wholesale. I can see why that would be a turn-off. Heck, I myself find it somewhat diminishing that he stole the invention rather than creating it himself wholesale, even as I love the horrible, horrible twist that it was a medical device created by Sonic’s own uncle, and the blood on Charles’ hand because of it. On that front though, I would point out that innovation is not just a matter of wholesale creation, but of taking things that existed before and taking them in new directions, and while maybe as not as grand as him being the sole creator of the Roboticizer, he still took the device and modified it towards a capacity it was never intended towards. I would argue then that it’s still pretty ingenious.

That being said though, 'never’ invents anything?

That just isn’t supported by anything seen in the series. Every last machine and robot witnessed is created by him. Taking precisely one incident and then declaring that he 'doesn’t invent anything’ because of it is a preposterous exaggeration built upon a premise thats overblown and inaccurate to begin with. No, he didn’t 'invent’ the original technology, but as I said, he took it in a direction never dreamt of before by its original creator- that’s still an application of intelligence and scientific skill.

It’s a particularly baffling accusation given that it’s not as though the games themselves dedicate huge amounts of time observing Eggman in the process of creating his machines, whether in the present time or back in the 90s. The reason I bring this up is because at times, part of what seems to fuel this criticism is that Robotnik is only rarely seen constructing his devices. Rarely however is not the same thing as ‘never’, and even then common sense would decree that the scientific genius does in fact make stuff even if you don’t see it happen.

It’s one thing to be annoyed by the fact that roboticizer isn’t his own- that’s quite understandable really. Going off of that to claim that he ‘invents nothing’ though? That’s just blatantly untrue.

“He’s lazy!”

Now unlike the last one, this is one that I just legitimately do not get. He runs an empire and personally oversees all operations from his command room. Of course he’s not going to be running around everywhere at all times, and even then, there are several episodes where he personally investigates things or direct operations personally. There’s really not a lot that can be said about this one because it’s probably one of the weakest criticisms out there, and ironically enough is itself very lazy. 

“He’s unoriginal/derivative/a ripoff!”

Well I mean, yeah? He’s literally the re-interpretation of a character from a video game, he’s quite derivative by default-

Heh, okay, okay, I’m being facetious here. I know what the actual gist of the criticism is, and to a degree it’s quite correct- Robotnik is a character who fulfills a very specific character archetype, that of the Evil Overlord. He’s big, he’s evil, he’s got a cape, and he’s got a hankerin’ for some oppressin’. Though I suppose calling it an ‘archetype’ is being a tad kind given that whenever this particular one is brought up the word that enters the vernacular more often than not tends to be ‘cliche’. Comparisons that often follow tend to accuse him of being a dime store version of Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget or Darth Vader from Star Wars (not sure why that’s a negative comparison- those two are awesome!), and I can see that to a certain degree. This character type is an old one, and Robotnik himself doesn’t exactly break new ground.

Thing is though? This criticism is almost always made by drawing an implicit comparison to his counterpart from the games, with the implication being that Robotnik is the derivative creation/concept, as opposed to Eggman. This, even more than the criticism itself, is what particularly bothers me, because frankly? This assertion is a pretty big double-standard, one of the two major double-standards that tend to arise when SatAM Robotnik is compared to his games counterpart. More than anything, I find the both of them to be incredibly rankling for precisely those reasons- we will cover the other one once we are finished with this one.

An Evil Overlord isn’t exactly a big innovation... but neither are mad scientists who are out to conquer the world with robot armies. That one had been done to death long before Sonic, and will continue to see use long after the franchise is dead and gone.

Many of Eggman’s traits are not exactly unique to him, even within video games. A bald mad scientist with a big mustache, who primarily travels around in a hovering machine, who uses armies of robots with cartoonish features and big goofy looking eyeballs? Where have I heard that before... wherever have I heard that...

Oh, hey there Dr. Wily!

But wait, I can do it across two mediums! Bald scientist, bushy mustache with mechanical engineering skills who exploits animals for his evil schemes and is constantly thwarted animals that are much smaller than himself.... remind you of anybody at all, hmm?

He’s even voiced by Jim Cummings!

Yeah, an unkind soul might accuse ol’ Eggman of being an off-brand version of Dr. Wily, and an even less kind soul might simply dismiss him as the end result of tossing Nimnul and Wily into a blender and hitting puree. Before you get worked up though know this; I do not *actually* think this, and it would be ludicrous to think of Eggman as being a ripoff or being overly derivative of those two (the traits are there, undeniably, but these are not to the detriment of the character or his originality in the least). I would be incredibly incensed at anyone earnestly suggesting that Eggman was unoriginal or a ripoff of those two or anything along those lines... but the thing is, I feel the exact same way about similar statements being hurled towards SatAM Robotnik with regards to his originality as a character. There are things that are similar to what other characters have done, sure, but there is more than enough that is distinct about him, whether its his look, his personality or M.O, that calling him a copy or derivative is fairly unwarranted, and I would say the same to anybody declaring such things about ol’ Eggy.

In conclusion? This criticism isn’t invalid by itself as we all have different tastes and such, but given the context of how it is often used, there is something of a double-standard at work- traits that would be regarded as cliche or derivative are perfectly acceptable within Eggman, but a similar courtesy cannot be extended to the SatAM Robotnik. It’s a rich thing to call one incarnation ‘a ripoff’, when the character that spawned him was most famous for using a parody of the Death Star as an ultimate weapon prior to Sonic Adventure.

Which brings me to the very last criticism I keep hearing, this one a... personal favorite.

“He’s boring/lacks depth/is uninterestng/doesn’t have a personality!”

One thing I’ve established is that some criticisms tend to be made with a direct comparison to Eggman in mind, and this one? This is the one that tends to come up the most frequently and is the most insisted upon, and often the one most loudly declared (in as much as anything on the internet can be ‘loud’). Many times when this one is made, it is done with the obvious implication that this Robotnik is deficit in these areas when compared to his game counterpart. Depth is what makes a character more than what we see on the surface- its things like history, facets of personality, flaws, strengths, weaknesses, how they express their world view through words and actions, who they are related to and how they relate or do not relate to the people in their lives, and how they develop. In short, it’s a matter of how realized a character is.

It’s also one of the most singularly *baffling* accusations to use, not because of Robotnik himself, but because of the nature of characterization within the wider Sonic franchise and the fandom’s somewhat tortured relationship with it.

One of the very ugly truths about Sonic as a series? Is that precious few of the characters can truly be seen as ‘deep’ or ‘developed’, largely as a consequence of the way this series operates. Character developments from past games are rarely if ever built upon, past details are scarce and only barely referenced after initial introductions, and personality traits are either ramped up or dialed back based on the demands of the games, which are not always written very consistently. There is nothing particularly wrong with this- this being a long running video game series with no planned end, it is to be expected that each of the characters would more or less be the same person they were the last time around, frustrating as it is when more intriguing details are waylaid as a result (looking at you, Knuckles).

The only noteworthy exception to this trend, ironically enough, is Shadow the Hedgehog.

On paper Shadow should be a rather terrible idea- a black and red furred hedgehog with a brooding attitude and powers that match Sonic’s, along with a few extra abilities Sonic doesn’t possess, who is involved in Eggman’s own family history that was never mentioned before that point? Everything about Shadow screams ‘baby’s first fancharacter’. Yet despite that fact, Shadow is ultimately the biggest recipient of character development and evolution in the series- his backstory is the most explored, he has undergone the most development, and is the only one to have grown out of the role that initially defined him. It’s all rather astounding given that he debuted explicitly as an ‘Evil Twin’ to challenge Sonic, only to ultimately wind up having more concrete details than the hero he was created to challenge.

Otherwise though? There’s not really a lot to most Sonic characters beyond a few traits that give a teensy amount of depth. This includes our good buddy Eggman.

Eggman has no real past and no real motive for his goals of world conquest, nor are any details provided with regards to what his precise vision for the world is. Since he gained the ability to talk Eggman has frequently displayed himself to be a bellicose, immature egomaniac who has never done a single genuinely selfless thing throughout the entirety of the series, nor are we given a lot of indication as to what he’s like when he isn’t actively plotting against the world. He has all of exactly one detail that gives him any kind of depth beyond being a by-the-book video game nemesis, and that’s the fact that when he was a child he admired his grandfather Gerald Robotnik and wanted to be like him. This admiration however never leads anywhere, and the last time it was mentioned was in Shadow the Hedgehog, and even then only because the plot revolved around Shadow and Gerald’s actions in the past. Contrary to what he claimed in Sonic Lost World, Eggman isn’t really a ‘complicated guy’.

Otherwise we are never provided any insight as to how the ARK incident impacted him or how it factors into his motivations, if at all- one can theorize that the treatment of his grandfather might be one of the stronger motivating factors of his mission for world conquest, but on the other hand, one can just as easily come to the conclusion that while he indeed respects and admires his grandfather and was probably upset over what happened, his goals are disconnected to that incident and his motivations are purely ego driven. Could be one, could be the other, but the fact of the matter is that there is not definite answer because it is never actually explored in the games. We don’t even have a clue as to what his thoughts or feelings about Maria and her death were.

You see where I’m getting at with this? 

Much about this franchise is what we can take from what we are provided with, what we can interpret and how we can explore mud puddles as if they had the depths of the ocean. It’s about looking past what’s set in stone, peering through the cracks and wondering what more there could be. It’s about exploring the aspects that the games themselves don’t see fit to elaborate upon. There are thousands of interpretations and ideas for how things came to be the way they are, thousands of ideas about what we *aren’t* shown or told about the characters and how they are when we do not see them in the games. It’s what makes this fandom so diverse and so wonderful.

So with all that in mind, you can imagine how I feel whenever I see this particular criticism, accusing Robotnik of being ‘boring’ or ‘lacking depth’ or anything of the like. Especially given that the character he’s being compared to when it comes up isn’t exactly a vast ocean of depth himself. People are free to disagree with the direction or the interpretation, but in a lot of cases this is one of those times when a personal opinion is being treated as an objective fact. It’s hypocritical and utterly maddening, and it carries with it a certain degree of ‘your shit stinks and mine doesn’t’.

And you know, if SatAM Robotnik DOES come off as less developed... well frankly, what do people expect? He is from a series that was made twenty years ago with a run of twenty six episodes, and no more. He is literally stuck in  time, a time when his existence was perfectly acceptable according to SEGA’s policy and marketing strategies. Otherwise? He isn’t used. The universe he is a part of isn’t used. He’s not even really referenced in a meaningful way anymore. There is literally no way for him to go any further than when the series ended. By contrast, Eggman will always be used for as long as the games are made and always be allowed to try new things, use new machines, commit new acts and rise to new heights or sink to new lows. For this though, SatAM Robotnik is innately lesser?

And you know, I can understand where a good portion of it comes from, beyond the game purists who kinda hated all the spinoffs for not matching the games by default. For the longest time this version of Robotnik was touted as the ‘best’, and for those who were not fans of this depiction it could get impossibly grating to hear it over and over again, this endless praise of something they couldn’t get the appeal of to begin with. When you’re told something is great over and over again when you don’t like it, or if something you might otherwise feel neutral about is similarly shoved into your face constantly, you start looking for flaws out of the simple resentment that it almost seems like you’re being *forced* into liking something. Heck, even when you might be neutral about a subject, having it overhyped can sour you to it.

So, having said aaaalll of that? The point of order is that I do not agree with this criticism, nor do I agree with the bulk of the mentality behind it. It frames things in such a way that makes it seems like the two incarnations are actively competing with one another, which is ludicrous given that the Games Eggman is... well... Games Eggman. He’s never, ever going to go anywhere or be replaced, so long as the games are made. I like Eggman, and I like SatAM Robotnik, and I like the fact that they are distinct from one another. I don’t need Eggman to become more like Robotnik- and for the record, I don’t think he’s a pussywillow or anything, even limiting his actions to the classic games. As outlined here, Eggman is a pretty nasty character beneath all the goofiness, having a bevy of truly horrible deeds to his name. I find complaints about him being ‘too evil’ in Archie to be fairly ludicrous given all of his actions across the games. What was the Death Egg gonna do thenm if it had successfully carried out its purpose? Pop open and spray confetti over everything while a big banner unfolded with the words “GOT YA!!” written on it, complet with a doodle of Eggman blowing a raspberry? Eggman is pretty damn nasty as is. I just feel that his SatAM counterpart is *nastier*, and as the many posts preceding this have established, I have a heavy appreciation for that fact. 

In sumary- we all have different tastes, we all have different likes, and it’s impossible to get everybody to like what they like. These are acceptable. What I don’t find acceptable is when facts are ignored or details downplayed in order to make the things that I enoy seem flatter or more limited than they actually are. Especially given how, when used, this particular criticism is often based more on opinion. As such, I heavily, heavily dispute this particular argument regarding this incarnation of Robotnik’s value as a character.

With that, the academic (for a loose definition of ‘academic’) portion of the retrospective officially comes to a close. All that remains now is to post the next installment, which will conclude the entirety of the retrospective.

Until next time, folks!

[midnight-strider]

Taking a risk and looking for feed back as well as opinions

Back during the time between S3 and 4 of MLP FIM, I decided to dip my toes into the realm of Fan diction writing once again. I say once again, because I wrote one YEARS back, talkin early 2000s for Command & Conquer, but it was horrible and was never posted on a C&C site due to never really being a full chapter and just plain bad. The spark of creativity hit again during Kung Fu Panda 2 & the TV show and I did post a chapter on DA to rather positive favor but never continued due to getting distracted, worried, and other things (it was a romantic fiction between a OC and Master Tigress.....don’t just me, angry women are attractive. May come back to it too...). Now fast forward back to between S3-4 I was nervous as I know alicorn ocs are unpopular due to how easily overpowered or whatever they can be, but I forge ahead because I love making a OC of each race of a fantasy/sci-fi series I really love if each race is unique and appealing. So, with my OC thuroughly thought out and a story fully formed in my head I start turning out five-ish chapters only to stop when the S4 finale blows a idea of mine, involving Discord, out the window. Anyway, seasons pass and I wish-wash between how I should proceed and make it believable, along with how closely it sticks to current show events/cannon.

Well, with the end of S6 and the more recent movie I’ve gotten the creative urge and spark again along with deciding to update it to about the current show events while possibly leaving out the changeling reform, or having it be a splinter between true changelings and abnormals. Anyway, that said, the story is about my main OC Midnight Strider, who is both the main antagonist and in the second half protagonist. I decided I wanted to make a character and a story based on whaqt Lauren Faust had planned originally for S1 and Nightmare moon. The initial concept then turned into something more Jekyl and Hyde with a more lawful villain who truly believes in what he does despite being corrupted by his foolishness in thinking dark magic is not harmful. Through that corruption believing in a balance of good and evil that has become distorted due to the overabundant and long lasting harmony and thus deciding to bring forth a age of darkness to balance things out after seeing the rate of threats, thus ensuring something far worse is prevented. That’s just part of the first half of my novel/novella-esque fan fiction, the second delves into the Jackyl & Hyde aspects that involve literal facing of own demon along with romance. I’d say who his romance interest may be, but I’m debating on if it should be one of two candidates. One has a fair bit in common with him, though may draw ire due to just who it is and how popular this mare is due to her esteemed position. The other, is VERY new and draws from my liking of angry women who can  and has beat everyone by herself. (bet you can’t guess who I’m talking of lol) With a third section involving ramifications of the first and second parts along with a possible epilogue involving a future of how everything ended, Needless to say this is a big undertaking that in total may have well over 50, more than likely even more, chapters That being said, I’m going to post the prologue of this story and would love to see the feedback of not only the idea, but the prologue and if I should proceed/ I’d especially like to hear the thoughts of those waaay better versed in such things like @ink-rose-the-hylian , @tyandaga or @looneyturtle as they are experts in matters of character consistency and the like. But they by no means need to feel obligated to even respond as I’m sure they are busy and have better things to do. With all that said, here’s the prologue. Again, only looking for opinions, this is still under altering/changing and other stuff/

Princess celestia smiled as she walked among a field of flowers with her younger sister Luna in the canterlot gardens, enjoying a moment of sisterly bonding. They laughing, reminiscing about their youth while enjoying the idealic sunny day. They soon stopped and stared in wonder as the sky turned black and a strong wind began to blow, followed by ominous shadowy storm clouds that soon filled the sky as lightning shot out of them. Malevolent sinister laughing came from nowhere, coming from every direction, as a menacing figure cloaked in thick shadows formed before the surprised princess. The only notable features of the presence before her were faded bronze-ish gold eyes that pierced through the thick black shadow that made up it's form.

"Who are you, why have you intruded upon the castle grounds?" Celestia demanded. only to be met with more laughing. As she looked on at the occurrence, the shadowy figure shot a black burst of magic into the ground causing dark figures to rise up from it. Although hard to define, Celestia was able to make out a few. To her absolute horror, she could make out the appearance of her former faithful student and her friends but they were wrong, the exact opposite of how she knew them to be. The countenance of her student turned fellow princess was all so wrong, she looked prideful, arrogant and vain, nothing like how she knew Twilight. And her friends, they looked just as wrong and cruel as Twilight did.

"No....What have YOU done?!" Celestia barked at the shadow cloaked figure, which still refused to respond. After the initial shock she looked at the malevolent figure, her mouth turning into a stern and determined frown as her eyes narrowed, glaring at the shadowed figure in front of her before shooting a magicical blast, only to have it go right through the menacing visage.

The figure seemed to not even notice or care, instead shooting it's strange beam of magic once again after a few seconds. Although believing it to be aimed at her, instead Celestia looked in horror as the beam hit Luna who she soon realized had not actually moved since the figure appeared. "Luna!" Celestia cried out, "Are you..." Celestia was cut off as the princess of the night slowly started to laugh in a all too familiar tone, one that Celestia had hoped she had heard the last of for good. As Luna began to change, her coat slowly faded from it's dark blue color to black from her hooves up, eyes turning teal and irises changing from round to more slit like as she soon became Nightmare Moon. Smirking she walked over to the figure, standing by it's side as Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra appeared on either side of them. As Celestia began to step back, eyes wide in disbelief and shock,  trying desperately to not let the sheer dismay from what was unfolding before her eyes overwhelm her.

"Luna.....no....." Celestia said softly as she looked down at the ground, heart practically shattered, slowly raising her head after a few seconds toward the figure in a look of sheer hatred and eyes that would shoot daggers if they could.  "You....I'LL SEE YOU ROT IN TARTARUS!" Celestia roared in rage at the figure that was at the center of the events as She began to fire off more spells at the shadowy figure in a mix of anguish and rage at what it had done to her sister only to see them continue to pass through. Her look of anguish and shock grew into terror as darkness began to engulf the ground, seeping from the figure as the black mass moved toward her from where it and her sister stood along with the past threats she thought were either at bay or gone forever. She stepped back more and tried to retreat only to see the darkness heading toward her not just from her front, but from behind her as well as to her left and right, surrounding her in a hopeless situation. Now starting to Panic, Celestia spread her wings to take flight as the darkness closed in on her only to have her own sister, now Nightmare moon again, swiftly close the distance between them and grab hold, preventing her from getting up off the ground as the darkness slowly started to engulf her.

"Equestria is MINE!" the figure bellowed in victorious wicked glee, laughing along with the other foes that stood with it as the darkness enveloped her completely. "NOO!" Celestia cried out. Gasping as she woke, Celestia trembled while cold sweat ran down her face.

"Princess is something wrong?!" The guards that were posted at her door asked as they burst through the door. One, a Pegasi, had his spear firmly ready in one of his wings while the other, a unicorn, had his horn glowing at the ready to attack anyone. "No, no, I'm quite alright. Just a lil bad dream, must have been that last piece of cake I had before bed." Celestia said, playing it off with a dismissive hoof. "No need to worry, I probably just need to get some walking and a lil water before trying to sleep again." The princess of the sun added as she got out of her bed.  

"Are you sure, you seem to be trembling a lil and sweating. One of us could go get you one or we could both escort you if you like." The Pegasi asked. "It's fine, isn't a grown mare allowed to have a nightmare every now and then?" Celestia said with a light giggle, "Now, you two stay here at your station while I go get some water, I'll probably stop by and see how Luna is doing as well. After that I'll be right back, promise"

"Well.....I suppose...."

"Good, now you two stay here while I walk off this bad dream." Celestia stated before walking off from her room, much to the dismay and slight bewilderment of her guards. Once she was sure that she was far enough away where they could not see her, Celestia picked up the pace of her walking into more of a frantic walk as she headed to meet her sister who was watching over the surrounding area from an observation tower in the castle, making sure not to panic her sister's guards as well as she entered the base of the tower before hurriedly rushing up the stairs.

"Sister, What's wrong, You look horrible?" Luna asked in surprise as her sister charged in, causing her to turn away from looking into her telescope. "I Fear that all of equestria.....and you are in grave danger. We need to send for Twilight and her friends as well as Cadence, shining Armor, and Discord as soon as it is daybreak."

"What could be so dangerous as to require such measures, and why am I in danger?" Luna asked with a look of worry, concern filling her voice.

"I don't know yet, but I fear that we all are in grave danger if the dream I just had was not just a mere bad dream but a premonition." Celestia replied as she looked up into the night sky.