#he wanted a fighting chance. he wanted to save sonic.

[the-edge-of-great]

What if... Tails and Dr. Starline met during the war instead?

Set during the IDW Comic Imposter Syndrome, after Dr. Starline tried to break into Tails's house. Tails retaliated by setting a trap at that other house he knew too well. Now that he's back home, he knows it's time to tell Sonic everything.

“Sonic?” Tails calls, kicking the door shut behind him. As he listens for a response, he lifts a hand to run it through his hair. Black residue stains his fingertips. Gunpowder. Wincing, he drops his hand. “Sonic,” he says again, walking toward the lit hallway. Music meets him halfway, an upbeat rock song from that radio station Sonic loves. “Hey, uh, I need to talk—” Glass shatters behind him. An arrow whirls past, its razor-sharp fletching grazing Tails’s fur. It sinks into the wall in front of him, a piece of paper impaled around it.

The arrow is long and silver. Smoke rises from the small thrusters on the back as the embers burn out. Sonic zips around the corner. “What happened?” he demands, big green eyes darting between Tails, the arrow, and the broken window. Without waiting for an answer, he yanks Tails into the kitchen. Once he’s out of range, Sonic peers around the corner again. Tails can only stare at the arrow. “I don’t see anyone,” Sonic reports after a moment. “Weird. I didn’t think that was Eggman’s style.” “It’s not,” Tails agrees. Keeping an eye on the window, Sonic steps into the open. He yanks the arrow from the wall and catches the paper before it hits the ground. “‘Clever boy’,” Sonic reads aloud. Tails’s eyes close, and he sighs. “Uh… Misfire?” his brother jokes. When Tails opens his eyes again, he sees the concerned confusion immediately. His heart sinks. “What?” Sonic asks. He glances over his brother and frowns. One of Tails’s wrists is suddenly in his hand, thumb brushing over his gray fingers. “Tails…?” “I…” Tails’s ears droop. “I really need to talk to you.” He sits at the dining table and watches Sonic prepare their plates. A guitar solo plays from the radio on the counter, filling the tense silence between them. Sonic places a plate in front of him—three pancakes topped with marshmallows and syrup—then takes the chair across from him with his own stack. Tails didn't even have to ask for the marshmallows. A scoff draws his attention upward. Dr. Starline regards him and his breakfast plate with disgust, but after two weeks under his roof, his curiosity is becoming easier and easier to spot. "What kind of monstrosity is that?" Tails can't help it—he laughs.

[son1c]

If Shadow had died instead of Prism, what would have happened?

Sorry for the random question, just insanely interested in how u play character arcs in your AU

an entirely different story, probably! definitely! sonic is hurt by prism's death, but losing him is nothing compared to how it'd feel to lose shadow. and that's because deep down, sonic knows the shatterspace versions of his friends... aren't his real friends.

sure, sonic isn't UNAFFECTED by prism's death, but if it had been shadow in his place? he would be changed.

[candiezmanzion]

metal/neo metal sonic ramble

never not thinking about how robots in idw have text like this

but neo metal sonic has the same text as all the organic characters

he also expresses clear emotion just like an organic person would, if not with a bit more robotic logic behind it [save when hes in a blind rage]

HE EVEN EVILLY LAUGHS AT ONE POINT

neo metal is proof that metal is VERY MUCH CAPABLE OF EMOTIONS LIKE ANY ORGANIC [if it wasnt already obvious when he's just metal] i think its sooo crazy that IDW shows metal is the most 'human' out of all the eggman robots yet he's arguably treated the worst, not even being able to Speak in his standard form.

ik sonic is just being his usual dick self here but he kinda has a point in a way. metal almost definitely WANTS to be able to talk and express himself. but he's reduced to his lesser, albeit still very powerful, form.

oh and don't even get me started...

it's so sad to me how even though he's still very capable of emotion, eggman has literally programmed out any hint of rebelliousness. like sure, it's most likely that even if eggman HADN'T programmed out metal's rebellious streak, he'd still be evil, but this leaves not even a CHANCE for redemption on metal's part.

which makes it even more ironic that sonic says this...

sonic fails to comprehend that metal literally CANNOT become a better person. eggman literally repeats what neo already told sonic, metal is programmed to kill and to be loyal to eggman. he has NO choice. hes been under eggmans control forever and when he rebelled he was beaten and reprogrammed to never be able to rebel again. metal has basically zero autonomy outside of eggman's orders [which is in great contrast to neo, who seems to be working FOR eggman's wishes, but still very much absorbed in his own power and emotions].

i don't really know what this whole ramble is about. i think while the comics seem to push the message that metal is going to be evil Forever, i also think it would be devastatingly tragic if he didn't get a redemption in the comics. y'all cant set up a horrifying depiction of abuse like this and tell me 'oh yeah and he stayed in that state forever'. i think if another fight happened at one point or another maybe they could TRY to figure out how to program OUT his anti rebellion streak? lol? even WITH that he did hesitate when sonic offered for him to be a good person again.

he literally hesitated when SONIC. IS THE ONE WHO OFFERED HIM A TRUCE. like he's literally programmed to believe sonic is his copy and he needs to kill him I don't think i can understate how insane it is that metal, despite all his programming and lack of automomy preventing it, for a split second, considered sonics offer.

thats all for tonight. metal sonic deserves the whole world. please reblog or comment your thoughts id love to talk more abt how hes characterized in the idw comics, might talk abt reflections next. bye !

[thatshadowcomic]

Messing around (very roughly) with the idea of Shadow being taken over by Doom, and ended up making a whole fanfic as I drew it.🗿🗿🗿

Story:

Shadow is copied, only for eggman to steal his corpse as its being transferred to the GUN fortress. As he does, Eggman starts messing with some ancient magic, maybe even related to Doom's temples or the master emerald.

He wants to reawaken the body and create the ultimate machine/henchmen, but Doom finds his way into the body and returns, seeking revenge on his only remaining creation. Who knows, maybe Eggman captured Dooms eye and straight up tried to control it...or maybe there's more than one "eye".

Imagine Shadow's horror at learning GUN can copy him...imagine the world's horror when Doom returns.

Throughout the story we hop to Eggman's POV:

Metal sonic grows suspicious of the new minion. Eggman is betrayed after Black Shadow gets his hands on a chaos emerald or maybe even the master emerald?

Metal fails to trap Doom's Eye/Black shadow, instead saving Eggman. Eggman berates Metal for his failure.

Sonic is out of commission following the fight with black Shadow:

If they're to defeat Doom again, they need the information (or maybe the final emerald?) Eggman has, but he won't help them, so metal fights back and steals the info. Doom intercepts, only for Metal to self destruct in the middle of the battle, giving shadow a chance to escape with the details.

Maybe this is the event that causes Metal to leave the eggman empire. Witnessing shadow break free from his creators control might move metal into fighting back on a deeper level.

Some close-ups:

That's shadow's previous dead body, walking around all fish eyed

[magicwhiskers29]

What's really interesting to me about Prime Shadow is that he reads as actively trying to sympathise with Sonic in s3e1. A lot of people have talked about the constant saves all episode and yes, of course. There's also something to be said about this Shadow's sense of superiority not restricting him to believing he's just physically better (This one is actually willing to run, for one), but I really want to talk about his expressions, in this episode.

He starts the episode angry. Pretty much of course -- this tends to be Prime Shadow's default. His resting face already looks pretty angry, although I'd say his expressions when he's giving Sonic his "I told you so" are angrier than usual. His motivation is still about saving what of his home can be saved, and Sonic has just messed that up again, in trusting Nine when Shadow specifically said not to.

I don't think Sonic was wrong exactly to trust someone who looks and can act so much like someone who would never betray him -- it's naïve, but understandable. But to Shadow, it's naïve and foolish. Last season already established that Shadow doesn't have anyone he's close to, so it's going to be hard for him to understand, especially when he could sense Nine's betrayal a mile away. So he angers, and talks harshly and sternly to Sonic.

But look:

SHADOW: We need to leave this world.

SONIC: You don't have to tell me twice.

When Sonic actually listens to him and runs when he says to, he's surprised. He's used to Sonic having his own agenda and not listening, because that's Sonic's biggest flaw in Prime. Sonic quips that he doesn't need the reminder, but yes, yes he usually does, and will still do in this case.

Shadow understands Sonic for his flaws, for better or worse, so he's surprised when they don't act up. (Yet, anyway)

So he initially attempts to offer compassion, when Sonic sees the Ghost Hill inprints of his friends. He doesn't immediately go back to stern yelling and angry expressions; he offers out a hand and tries to understand more. He's not seeing Sonic's flaws for liabilities against him -- he's attempting to work around them for both of them.

He angers again when Sonic doesn't listen and continues to insist of saving the Ghost Hill imprints, but look at the way he talks:

SHADOW: No! They can't be saved. Think about your real friends, the ones who still have a chance. If you want to help them, we need to get out of here.

He doesn't sound that angry at first. A little desperate, maybe, but he doesn't sound angry until his last sentence. His frustration's building at Sonic not listening, and he's having to reason against his own motivation. Does Shadow want Sonic's friends back? Maybe! We don't know his relationship with any of them in Prime. But we do know Shadow wants to get home more than he wants to save them.

It seems then to irritate him to have to use this line of reasoning, but he's not necessarily angry at Sonic for having to use it -- remember, he expected something like this. And clearly does understand Sonic's flaws and motivations; it's just that this time, he's not seeing them for why Sonic would be a liability to him, or why he's better suited to save Green Hill than Sonic. This time, he uses his knowledge of them to work around Sonic and keep his help.

He could technically leave Sonic behind at this point. He doesn't know that Sonic himself has actual value until Nine implies what he's found out about Sonic's shard energy later in the episode. If he keeps Sonic with him, he only runs the risk of ending up in the same place as the end of last season, Sonic having made the same mistakes. At least, that's how he could look at it.

But he does clearly care for Sonic. We know their dynamic is odd to others, in Prime. What we hear about their fights at the start of s1 implies that they are frequent, and also that both parties enjoy them. For better or worse (again), Shadow seems to now be aware that Sonic is part of home for him, and he doesn't want to lose Sonic. (a similar attitude Sonic had towards him at the start if s2)

When talking about Nine's betrayal, Shadow's anger is not directed at Sonic. The easiest way to see that is simply that he's not looking at Sonic whilst talking about it, but I think you can also see it in the way he talks about their revenge. When he says, "And he will pay for it.", he sounds like he's attempting to reassure Sonic.

It's worth noting, of course, that Shadow has never really understood Sonic and Nine's bond. He couldn't understand why Sonic trusted him, and he won't understand why Sonic wants to reason with him in the future, so he does think that assuring Sonic of their success in what he perceives as a big step towards their goal helps.

We can also see him being not visibly annoyed at Sonic messing around, in both of these scenes. He's not hostile about Sonic's ribbing about saving him, or his silly teasing about the robot version looking like both of them. He's used to it. It seems he maybe even likes it, if not at least tolerates it. He likes, or at least tolerates, being around Sonic. It's just that his default for getting points across, or when faced with something he doesn't fully understand, or when provoked, is anger. He is not without his flaws too.

He angers again when Sonic insists again on something he sees as futile -- reasoning with Nine. But as established, he doesn't understand quite why Sonic cares for Nine. He seems to make the same mistake Nine himself does in believing that Sonic only cares about him because of Tails, which is not true. He's biased towards Nine because of Tails, but we've seen him be excited about teaching Nine new things that Tails wouldn't need! He does like Nine for Nine, even if there is a flaw in there of him seeing Nine as an extension of Tails.

And then the reveal scene of Sonic as the final shard. After Nine implies something else has prism energy, we first see Shadow stare slightly surprised at Sonic. I read this a quieter realisation. He knows the connection between the energy and Sonic instantly, and looks at Sonic in concern as he thinks.

Then he makes eye contact with Nine, who only confirms his suspicions with something of a taunting glare. This is when he realises why this is important, and that he is definitely right. And then, and only then, does he anger. Not at Sonic again, but back at Nine.

There's a sort of protectiveness to it, this time. There's no "Sonic, you didn't realise this before!?", only an urgency to get Sonic out of there. Not both of them, just Sonic. He wanted both of them out when he had a choice about it, but now he sees Sonic as something valuable to both him and Nine. He wants to save Sonic because Sonic is home, but as he understands it, Nine wants Sonic for power and to jeopardise what Shadow himself wants. And so now, he sacrifices himself.

He knows that Sonic will keep trying to save everyone, and for better or worse (again again), he's who they'll all need to rely on. Honestly, Shadow sacrificing himself is a pretty big display of trust, for him. He doesn't have many other options, but... We know he believes in Sonic's way of finding another way. Rather than losing time trying that for both of them, he trusts in Sonic to find it himself, like he always does.

[sticks-stones-sonic-insanity]

Expression practice

Below is some process yapping! And some explanation!

Having this next to a completely normal sketch felt insane but sometimes u hone in on smth so hard you forget what else is on the page lol.

While I was trying to get a feel for how to draw this expression I was thinking about what actually would bring Sonic to this point and make him this upset. I did a whole analysis of his character in my head and came up with this idea of Sonic, someone often capable and relied on in tense situations(such as the 3rd act of xyz Sonic Game), being forced to take the observer role as someone else takes the sacrifice role for him.

That someone in this case, being Tails.

I was looking at some Frontiers stuff today - cinematically edited playthroughs by AltheBoi to be specific-, and seeing their dialogue in Frontiers reminded me again of how badly I want Tails to get his own chance to save the day alone for once, and what would that look like.

But also.. how would Sonic react?

It's a show of Tails' growth as a character in bravery and skill being able to take on something as challenging and dangerous as Sonic usually would, but is also a painful role-reversal in which Sonic has to watch his brother face impossible odds alone and cannot step in to save him, only able to hope that he will make it back to him alive by the end of the fight.

Sonic has faced off against terrifying enemies and impossible odds in the past, but I think that what would break him harder than any Super Sonic boss fight would be having to see his younger brother take that burden on instead.

[dr-spectre]

I need to talk about this moment from Shadow Generations because this broke me beyond comprehension in the best way possible.

(SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!)

Shadow smiling, like giving an actual genuine smile and not a cocky smirk, got to me. This mother fucker has been through hell, he was so down on himself on the ark because he was made to cure Maria yet he couldn't. G.U.N came in and killed someone he loved and it drove his creator mad, making him alter his memories so that they would wake up angry and bitter… and i bet it didn't even take that much manipulation to piss off Shadow either… just a few tweaks to his memory… Shadow then finally remembered Maria's true wish thanks to the help of a pink hedgehog. He had to face his prototype, a ghost from the past... Shadow briefly died after saving the world with the help of Sonic, he then contemplated if he was an android or not, finds out he is part alien, spends 06 trying to prove that's he's gotten over Maria and stop Satan himself, and then finally... he got to the chance to see his family one more time and....

I think this game fully cemented that Shadow is my favourite character in the entire Sonic series. He always allured me as a kid, with his black and red colour scheme, his demeanour, his voice, the way he skated around and the way his quills looked...

He smiles. He smiles because he gets to see Maria and tell directly to her face, "I'm gonna keep fighting for you. I'm gonna protect the world you love." And he finally got the closure that he needed BADLY!

In Shadow 05, he wanted to say goodbye to his past self because thinking about the past and Maria probably gave him so much grief and pain... But now? He changes his mind, he wants to fight for the good that Maria stood for, instead of saying "naw fuck her." While also acknowledging that he can be more than just Maria's wish and fulfil his endless potential as said by his creator/father Gerald. Plus, growth is not linear, seeing Maria and Gerald must have been seriously shocking to him and revert some of that growth from Shadow 05 and Sonic 06…

Shadow has always interested me and it wasn't until recently where I not only replayed Sonic Adventure 2 with a retranslated mod but also Heroes, 06 and Shadow Generations that I've come to truly love and respect this character.

Shadow is surprisingly so fucking well written and the way his story and arc were explored in Sonic Adventure 2 was insanely well done. Even the music was muffled and confusing, just like his memory and his anger. THE MUSIC REFLECTED WHAT HE WAS FEELING AND THINKING!!! THEY PUT IN THAT EXTRA EFFORT IN HIS FIRST APPEARANCE!!!

Not everything they've done with this character after Sonic Adventure 2 was perfect, but some of the stuff they did felt like they gave the character justice.

I am so proud of Sonic Team and what they've done for Shadow Generations. Good on you guys... you've made a game that has emotionally affected a lot of people. I'm proud of you...

[thatsnotmygunflash]

“Panic erupted at Central City Hall after unknown gunmen kidnapped Congressman Leonard Snart in broad daylight during his 'Metas are Human' rally. Eyewitnesses to the attack say three of Snart's security guards were killed in their efforts to protect the Congressman and four more were injured. Authorities say they are putting in every effort to recover the Congressman, working around the clock to bring him home safely. If anyone has any information regarding—”

“Hey man, are you watching the news?” Barry didn't bother with a hello when he heard the call connected, his eyes still glued to the footage of the kidnapping replaying on the TV screen. It was the first time since being back in Central that he'd felt the familiar course of adrenaline start to build in his blood. His feet were already vibrating just thinking about running head-first into a new mission. This was a problem he could solve as easily as making a run to the grocery store. He might not be in the military anymore and his whole team may be suspended from using their powers on US soil until the investigation is over, but there wasn't a chance in hell he was going to let that stop him from saving not only his personal hero but the Congressman leading the fight for metahuman rights. If Leonard Snart died, metahumans wouldn’t stand a chance against the discrimination and dehumanization they were up against in Congress. 

“Yeah, crazy right? Can't believe they got the drop on Captain Cold.” Cisco replied readily, the echoing broadcast accompanying his voice. “I mean, we've all heard the stories from General Lance.” 

Leonard Snart hadn’t always been a Congressman, of course. He was the beloved Mayor of Central City before that, and a decorated police officer briefly after being honorably discharged from the military due to an injury in the field. Leonard Snart was the only human to ever Captain the same covert metahuman team Barry had helped lead for the past five years. The original Rogues were legendary, especially their human leader. He may have only been human, but Snart had a genius-level intellect and was an expert tactician, not to mention an exceptional marksman and a bit of a kleptomaniac at the most convenient of times. Captain Cold was a decorated hero who helped turn the Rouges into the military's best secret weapon. The motivational stories that Sara had told them during training and the old missions she would drill them on had fueled Barry's endless quest to be the best operative he could be. Chasing Captain Cold's legacy like it was critical to his career, right up to the point of obsession. It had helped him rank up quickly, religiously studying Snart's tactical strategies, missions, and reports. Barry learned from his mistakes before he could even make them most of the time thanks to Snart’s detailed mission logs and his additional references to counter scenarios that would have been successful. Barry was the man he is today because of Leonard Snart–his hero, his teacher, and his inspiration. He couldn’t stand back on the sidelines and hope someone else was going to put a plan together and save Snart.

He had to do something. 

“Yeah, they would have just shot him in the street if they wanted him dead,” Barry theorized, finally giving in to the restlessness running through his body and taking off into a sprint, barely being able to enjoy the exhilarating feeling of running again before he was across town and right into the middle of Cisco’s underground workshop. “The kidnappers must want something else, but that doesn't mean they won't kill him when they get it.” 

“Is this you trying to ask me to look into where they’re keeping him?” Cisco questioned with a surprised eyebrow raised as he took the phone away from his ear and set it down near the gutted metal tube spilling over with wires sitting in front of the scientist, along with an array of tools and loose equipment. If Barry wasn’t mistaken it was one of Hartley’s sonic grenades he was tinkering with. The same sonic grenades the Miltary had confiscated. Barry knew he couldn't have been the only one going stir-crazy since being discharged, but Cisco had been smart enough not to inform the government about his ability to breach, allowing him easy access to anything he wanted, from this world or another. Cisco always had to be doing something with his hands, anything to keep him busy and his ideas flowing. It was a trait Barry had always admired about his best friend, especially right now.

“Maybe? I don't know. I feel like I should do something, he could die,” Barry replied warily, running a hand through his hair as he considered what would happen if he didn't get involved. “The guys who grabbed him have to be professionals, there's no way of knowing what they'll do if SWAT gets involved. I'm thinking if you can pin down his location I can be in and out with Snart before you finish telling me the address.” 

“I'll let Frosty and Cait know what's up while I track him down, have them set up the med room for him just in case.” Cisco was already abandoning his workbench and moving towards his computer as he spoke, typing out a message to the girls on his phone while he booted up his PC. “Want me to contact his team and let them in on the plan?”

“After. I don't want to take the chance if this is an inside job. I want Snart safe before we bring outsiders in on this.” Barry responded, knowing in his gut that the only thing they could afford to worry about right now was making sure Snart made it out of this alive. 

“Yeah good call, can't have the man spearheading the ‘Metas are Human' movement dying before he can get the bill passed.” Cisco agreed with an approving nod, fingers dancing over the keyboard as he pulled up the satellite footage of the kidnapping. 

“Exactly. He's our only chance at keeping our civil rights, Cisco, we gotta save him.” He didn't mention he was their only chance of getting the team back together and their dishonorable discharges dropped. Lance still kept in contact with them all even if it was dangerous for her own career to be mixed up with their disgraced team at such an uneasy time like this. She had risked it though to tell them she had talked to Snart about their situation and he had vowed to do what he could to get them all reinstated and the investigation handled by an unbiased party. 

“I know man, I'm tracking them through CCTV cameras right now, shouldn't be much longer. You should suit up.” Cisco suggested, pressing a button on a small remote while nodding towards the now moving back wall where he kept the team’s secret emergency gear stashed. It seemed like Cisco was keeping a lot of secrets from the government down here. 

“Red or black?” Barry asked the scientist, trying not to get caught up in the nostalgia of seeing his team's suits lined up and on display again. It had only been three months since the team was disbanded but it felt like years to him. This felt like coming home, much more than arriving at Central City airport after 12 years away had. 

“Black. Should probably keep this one stealthy.” Cisco replied, turning his head to the side to meet Barry's eye. “Are we playing this like Karmana or Kota Baharu?” 

“Moscow,” Barry said with a soft hum, trembling fingers reaching for the reinforced tripolymer fabric waiting for him. It really had been too long, the anticipation was almost too much for him to handle. He's missed the comfort of his super suit. Of his team. His life. God, everything had gone to such shit so quickly that he never even got to prepare himself for never suiting up and leading a mission again. It had been stripped from him just like his team, his rank, and his reputation had. 

“Oh really?” Cisco curved his surprise quickly, his worry pushing forward instead. “You think he'll remember the call sign?” 

“He'll remember,” Barry replied confidently, not wasting another second and flashing into his suit. It was even better than he remembered, like a missing limb growing back, or maybe he had missed his old life more than he cared to admit. Now, he felt safe and powerful and needed. Three things that had been severely lacking in his life since being discharged.

“Let's hope you're right,” Cisco muttered before glancing down at his phone and smirking in triumph. “I've got the location and Cait is almost ready. It's showtime, Lieutenant Flash.” 

“Don't call me that man. I'm not your lieutenant anymore.” Barry said with a shake of his head, brushing off Cisco's quick reply. 

“The government may have royally fucked us all over and disbanded the team, but that doesn't mean I lost respect for the rank you earned dude.”

“Whatever, can you just give me the address please? We have a Congressman to save.” Barry pulled his cowl up, letting it settle into place and feeling his shoulders drop down, all the tension he was carrying leaving him at once. There was no better feeling than using his powers to save someone, and now after months of moping around his shoebox apartment and his mind-numbing third-shift security gig, having to refrain from using his speed, he was going to get to use it to save Leonard Snart. He knew the ‘Oh shit, I’m going to meet Leonard Snart!’ freak out he would no doubt have later would be embarrassing and long, but it would mean Snart would be alive and that was more than enough for Barry to look forward to making a fool of himself in the future.  

“Uh, yeah, about that,” Cisco winced at the latest text that popped up, shooting Barry a constipated smile. “Hopefully he's like really grateful you’re risking it all right now to save his ass and can keep you from getting arrested for doing it. Frost says they know you're active. APB is about to go out. Waller is pissed.” 

“Better make this good then, I'm too pretty for prison.” Barry couldn't help the grin that stretched across his face as Cisco finally rattled off the address to him, offering him a lazy salute that a year ago would have gotten him kitchen duty for two weeks. Now it just earned him a good-natured laugh.  

“Good luck, Lieutenant,” Cisco said with an encouraging pat on the back, letting out a small laugh to himself when Barry took off just as quickly as he had appeared. “Something tells me you're going to need it.”

[randomthefox]

Movie shadow was the real edgelord

He shows no compassion or ability to admit someone is on his level, there's so much focus on him wanting revenge, hell he took a detour in SA2 to save Rouge. The movie failed to grasp that he's an introvert recovering from trauma, and pushes the cool factor too much.

Shadow in SA2 is a villain without agency. It's truly fascinating dissecting his character in any given scene with the knowledge of his motivations and the implied manipulation Gerald did to his memories.

For 95% of SA2 he truly and sincerely believes that Maria wanted revenge against all of mankind, and he is acting to bring about the Colony Drop to fulfill that wish.

If it hadn't been for Gerald tweaking Shadows brain to make him "perfect" and "pure"

then Shadow would have woken up from his captivity and gone about trying to fulfill Maria's wish to defend the earth to give the people on that planet the chance to be happy and to bring hope to humanity. He probably still would have had a low opinion of humanity, but he was fighting with Maria's wish in his heart. He was simply mistaken (due to Gerald's manipulation) about what that wish was until the end.

Shadow in the movie is not even remotely the same character as the Shadow in SA2. He is Shadow In Name Only. Movie Shadow did not undergo any kind of memory manipulation, he remembers everything about Maria perfectly and KNOWS for a FACT she would not have wanted the world to be destroyed. Movie Shadow did not hear any final words from Maria imparting a last wish for him to fulfill. Movie Shadow is motivated entirely by his own pain of losing his friend, Maria's feelings and outlook on life is the furthest thing from his mind. Movie Shadow doesn't even start considering what Maria's wishes might have been until he feels bad about accidentally killing a human that he thought was a human that he wanted to kill but it actually wasn't the human he wanted to kill so he was like oops that was the wrong guy which makes him start going "oH nO wAs ThIs WhAt MaRiA wOuLd HaVe WaNtEd???" which is fucking retarded because your entire plan is to blow up the planet and kill everybody why would killing Tom make you start second guessing that.

Movie Shadow is selfishly lashing out at the world because of his own pain.

Game Shadow was selflessly devoted to Maria's final wish, and was simply manipulated into not correctly remembering what that wish was until the very end.

Movie Shadow is talked out of his desire to destroy the planet because Sonic tells him the pain will never go away but just try and stop focusing on the bad memories and try to focus on the good ones instead, which why does that even convince him when Movie Shadow's entire motivation is "this pain fucking sucks everybody should die including me because this pain sucks so much" and Sonic just fucking told him the pain will never go away so like???

Game Shadow is convinced to help avert the colony drop because Amy reaches out and touches his heart and unlocks his memories of Maria's true wish and makes him realize he was in the wrong all along.

Movie Shadow sacrifices his life but also not really because if he didn't the world would have been destroyed. It wasn't a choice.

Game Shadow sacrifices his life but also not really because he felt guilty for his actions in instigating the world's destruction and wanted to repent and fulfill his promise to Maria. Sonic reached out and grabbed his hand to save him, and Shadow rejected it and let himself fall leaving Sonic only holding his bracelet. Shadow CHOSE to fall.

Movie Shadow fucking sucks. A shallow, substanceless mannequin wearing the skin of the character from the games. He's worse than the Shadow from the Sonic Boom cartoon

[descendant-of-truth]

Rise of Lyric has by far some of the most consistently expressive character animation of any 3D Sonic game ever, and frankly I think Frontiers should be embarrassed that it isn't at minimum on the same level as it, if not better.

Because here's the thing: RoL still looks awkward at times. Mouth shapes can feel a little weird, the eyebrows don't always seem to know what they're supposed to be doing, little things that give off the impression that it wasn't quite as polished as it wanted to be. But it's still LEAGUES above Frontiers, even with the progress it's made over other mainline games.

And look, I really can't claim to know how the models they're using work because I don't have the ability to mess around with them myself, but at this point I'm starting to wonder if they're just... not particularly stretchy by nature?? Because I can't imagine any other reason for them to be so stiff even when the animators are doing their best.

To prove my point, let's compare a very similar expression and pose of Sonic's from Frontiers and RoL respectively.

In both of these scenes, Sonic is expressing determination to fight in order to save his friends. In Frontiers, this is from the Final Horizon update, right after Amy, Tails, and Knuckles sacrificed their corporeal forms in order to bring Sonic back from corruption. Sonic is currently feeling the weight of that sacrifice full-force, lamenting that they gave up their chance at freedom for him, and uses that pain to push himself forward to really save them this time.

In Rise of Lyric, Sonic is staring down a robot army led by Metal Sonic as the door in front of them closes. He's already ushered Amy, Tails, and Knuckles behind him into a suspicious temple of sorts, but he's prepared to fight in case it doesn't close fast enough. He was told twice not to open the door in the first place, but he was concerned for his friends, and decided to prioritize protecting them over their own desires to keep fighting.

With such similar framing, it's hard not to see how Frontiers' expressions fall short. Both Sonics have their eyes narrowed, the bridge of their eyebrows scrunched down to separate them into two distinct shapes, and they're holding their fists up. But in Frontiers, it's not very clear what emotions he's feeling just by looking at him. Sure, he looks kinda determined if you squint, but at a glance, he looks almost more neutral than anything.

And it just gets worse the more you think about it because by all accounts, he should be having a MORE intense expression than the one in Rise of Lyric! I mean come on, the guy practically died five minutes ago and is gearing himself up for another round of Titan fights. He should be looking exhausted and utterly spent but like he's still gonna keep going somehow.

It got to the point where, halfway through writing this, I decided that it wasn't enough to just talk about what his expression should have looked like, and that I was going to put my money where my mouth was and redraw it myself.

I scrunched his eyes and brows down closer to how they are in the Boom screenshot for the determined look, made him look upwards with his irises instead of staring blankly ahead, and pulled up his lower eyelids to add an edge of desperation to him.

I kept his mouth in the same position, but tried to make it look a little more... angry? by curling it up on one side and showcasing his top teeth more. Finally, I changed the position of his body and arms a bit, to make it look like his whole body was tensing up along with his face.

These are all Extremely Doable in 3D animation - the only part I'm uncertain of is the mouth, since I tend to draw mouths with a very 2D mindset. But on principle, it should not be hard to shape his eyes to match his emotions. That is the absolute bare minimum of what you want your character models to be capable of in a professional setting.

And it's driving me nuts that Frontiers, savior of the Sonic games' credibility among the masses, is still being outclassed by what's considered the "second 06" of the franchise. What is happening over there that this keeps being a problem

[charred-angel-ribs]

Watched Sonic 3 a couple days ago, and was sat there the whole time thinking "I've gotta tell Tumblr about this", so here's what I thought (loved it btw). /lh /gen

Spoilers under the cut /lh /safe /gen

Loved the characterisation of Shadow and liked that they made him an actual fleshed out character and not just "oo bad guy cause bad"

Jim Carrey was a star as always, was wonderfully amusing and played his parts well

The ending was phenomenal, so cool, especially the final fight scene with Shadow and Sonic followed by the cool teamup

The choreographing for the fighting and overall acting felt really good to watch, as well as the animation - it was well-done

/lh /gen

These next ones are somewhat critical (not in a mean way, just in a story-telling analysis kinda way - lots of love to the people who worked on the film) if you wanna skip over them: /lh /gen

Also, CW for death mention. I didn't tag it so I didn't spoil people for it, but if you're reading this, you're already fine with spoilers I assume. Stay safe! /lh /gen

I was disappointed that we didn't get to find out what happened with Stone after the ending. We got to see the Sonic gang hanging out and living in the afterwards, but we never got to see how Stone ended up. I feel like they probably neglected to tie up his character's story for this arc (arc being film) because they figured they didn't need to since he was just part of the comic relief and not an important character, which was a bit of a let down, especially after we got those glimpses at the complexity and intimacy (/p) of his and Eggman's relationship. After that emotional speech from Eggman at the end, I really wanted to see where things went with Stone; did he move on, did he grieve, did he get closure from that speech or did it make him feel worse, did he go on to pursue villainy in his honour/memory or did he decide to start a nee chapter doing something different and leaving it behind to stay in the past?

Eggman's dad didn't feel fleshed out enough as a character. We got a brief insight into his history and his motivations, but it didn't feel quite enough to actually understand him as a person and not just a concept.

Eggman's dad also didn't really get a proper end, if that makes sense? He was a big part of the story in the film and was a key character, a catalyst for most of the events that took place, and then we got the fight scene between him and Eggman towards the end, and then he just gets zapped and they move on immediately. It didn't feel right to have this important character just be given the "Ok, they're really important, we're doing a lot with them, they're a key part of this story, andddd gone lmao". It felt like they tried to make it funny, but the comedy was misplaced.

We deserved to see more of Stone :[

The ending felt sooo narratively satisfying, and it felt like the film built it up perfectly; the ending of Eggman turning things around in his final moments but still managing to do it really in character was brilliant, and Shadow having this as his chance to die. He'd lived, he'd suffered, he'd mourned, he'd come to terms with it, and he was ready to go - he'd lived over 50 years, and although he spent most of it frozen and reliving trauma, that's still a long time to be alive, and he'd had his time. He was ready to join Maria in the stars. This was his final stand, to do something good and to truly honour Maria's memory in one last ultimate act of kindness and selflessness - he couldn't save Maria, but he could save all of those people down there, who still had lives ahead of them, love to give, jokes to laugh at, smiles to share. Sure it was a bittersweet ending, but it felt like the best outcome - the best way to end things. Shadow was incredibly powerful, and it's so tiring to have so much power that noone knows what to do with you, people are scared of you - nobody should have that much power, and I think he knew that. This was his ending. ... and then the filmmakers went "Sike!!" and made the post-credit scene where it shows Shadow isn't actually dead and that whole amazing ending that was perfectly executed was actually just for nothing :/. Like, don't get me wrong, it would've been awesome to see fanfic writers and artists changing or adding onto the ending to revive Shadow or pull a "Sike!!" moment, but I feel like that would only really work in the fan space where the story is malleable to each person and what they wanted out of it, but for the actual canon story itself, it just felt like a cheap get-out-of-jail-free-card.

/lh /nm /gen

Again, I know I sound critical there, but I did genuinely love the film. It was just some gripes that I wanted to pick at for a minute. I hope everyone else enjoyed the film! /lh /gen

[au-sonic-smackdown]

AU Sonic Smackdown- Round 3, Right Side

Click to see full size image

Gaia Born AU belongs to @juliemultiverse (art by @thefantasylife)

Words Hurt AU belongs to @oddogoblino

Learn more about them under the cut!

Gaia Born AU-

Sonic is like a big gold retriever. He’s happy to make friends where ever he goes. He was made on the ARK but was immaturely taken out of his incubation tank as an infant. He was raised by his brother tails on bygone island before they moved 5 years later.

His abilities include, Shadow Melding, Super strength, elastic arms and has the ability to sense others emotions.

Words Hurt AU-

In this au, Earth is decaying, the planet slowly losing its ability to sustain life due to mankind’s lack of care to it. To try and survive, they attempted to move people to planet mobius as it held similar conditions as earth. The mobians at first welcomed them happily, happy to help those in need. Eventually, the humans began trying to repeat their old mistakes and began digging into mobius and setting up machines to harvest from it to try and save Earth. The planet didn’t handle this as well as earth once did, machines quickly backfiring and any mobians nearby during the incidents quickly falling ill. That’s how the infections started.

Sonic’s parents were one of the few first mobians infected, having lost them due to them going into the second form of the illness that’s caused from starvation. They’d been “quarantined” and left without food or an energy source for too long. He was only a toddler when this happened. He’s now part of Vanilla’s secret organization that helps infected mobians survive outside of the homes they’d been kicked out of due to fear. Sonic himself works as a secret delivery boy and tends to travel to make sure infected mobians have access to food and water and even just simple pleasantries like games and toys. He met Tails as a 4 yr old who’d been born from infected parents, taking care of him when they weren’t. Currently Sonic is 17 and Tails is 8.

Sonic is mostly his same ole usual self except he’s a lot less social. He doesn’t talk to anyone except for Tails, Vanilla, and sometimes Cream. He was naturally born with his super speed but keeps it hidden due to not wanting to be mistaken as an infected. He still has to fight Eggman as the mad doctor tries to manipulate both uninfected and infected mobians’ fears and resentment toward each other. He has a civilian disguise named Nicky so no one recognizes him as the superspeedy hero. He’s a bit more easily agitated but only because he doesn’t get enough sleep with his work.

Sonic’s right eye is always tearing up, not because he’s emotional but because of repeated exposure to infectious spores. The spores can only infect others if inhaled or through exposed open wounds. Hes naturally immune to the illness, but he doesn’t know that, and wouldn’t ever take chances on it. Whenever he gets injured, he disinfects the wound immediately and patches it up like others would in hopes to avoid spore-infection.

Infected mobians tend to live in abandoned spaces that their cities and towns assigned for them to live. Infected mobians feed off energy, whether that be electricity, emotions, powerful items, etc, but can also eat normal foods just fine. They need normal food to keep sane and prevent them from going into the second form that attacks anything with energy in it. Only the second form can infect others directly, making it the most dangerous and is an automatic kill-on-sight if seen. No one knows yet if you can change infected back to normal after they’ve transformed. Vanilla takes care of transformed infected when Sonic reports the incidents.

Mobians aren’t the only things infected, plant and wildlife have been mutated by the illness aswell. The symptoms of the infection is body mutations, a blue tongue, and increased hunger and thirst. Mobians born from infected parents can’t go into the second form but they become feral without food. Bites from hostile born-infected mobians are less likely to spread the infection but it isn’t impossible.

[mildcharacterenjoyer]

I feel like Sage would be that one person in the robotnik family to reach out to her older brother and the middle child E - 123 Omega. Like she's seen his schematics, knows he was abandoned and how angry he is, hasn't met him yet, but wants to reach out to him.

This storyline could go so many ways that it's fun to think of the possibilities. I've listed some below:

Omega gets angry at Sage and Eggman dies to protect her because he's the first thing he's felt genuine love and connection to.

Omega tells Sage off and that he doesn't want a family.

Omega tells Sage off and mentions that Team Dark is what he would consider his family now.

Omega tells Sage enough terrible things to get her mad at Eggman too. It would take a lot of convincing though. (Queue awesome Big brother little sister bonding moments I WANT)

Sage takes over Omega's programming and rewrites him back into the family. Good luck rewriting sheer and unbridled rage.

Eggman actually wants to apologize for how he treated Omega because Sage has changed him. Omega ain't having none of that shit and kills Eggman anyways.

Same as the one directly above, except Shadow sees the change and can't help but think of Gerald, thus he saves him from Omega.

Sage creates an AI form for Omega to have. In return, he shoved Sage into a robot body. "LET'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT TWERP!"

The oldest child Metal Sonic comes face to face with Omega again and they start fighting, Sage is the only one who can split them up. Mostly because Metal Sonic would sooner disobey his creator than his younger sister.

Omega "I'VE DIVORCED THIS FAMILY BEFORE YOU WERE BORN." Sage "But I want you in my life!"

Gemerl is like that cousin who sees all the family drama and nopes out real quick. I don't think he has any feelings regarding Sage other than she has that innocence that he sees in Cream, but also knows the AI is very deadly.

Sage studying Gamma and wishing he were still alive to ask him questions.

Dude! If they brought Gamma back with a different core than a flicky, he'd be the robot everyone liked except Omega. Omega would be the "I'm better than you" brother and try to maim him any chance he got.

Gamma would still appreciate him the same though and it would drive Omega up the fucking wall.

"I WILL DESTROY EGGMAN'S WORK."

"Oh good job little brother! I'm so proud of you!" *Pat pat*

"HOW DARE YOU PATRONIZE ME!" Omega can't touch Gamma though or Amy will have his head.

Gemerl enjoys watching Gamma torment Omega with kindness. He uses it as black mail.

Eggman's just like "I should stop making children."

[seriousfic]

Having recently hate-watched The Flash and then more recently watched Sonic The Hedgehog 3, I was kinda fascinated by the difference in quality. The Flash is a bizarre and off-putting watch; Sonic is a shockingly well-written and executed movie. So I wanted to compare and contrast:

Sonic's setpieces always focus on his speed. Flash's setpieces continuously sideline the Flash so they can focus on Batman or Supergirl.

Pretty simple here. Sonic has superspeed. When he gets into a fight, it's while speeding through Tokyo or going so fast that he and his opponent go into different time zones with each exchange.

The Flash... not so much. There's an opening scene that is pretty much a naked rip-off of the Quicksilver scenes from X-Men (hero goes so fast that everything is motionless, so he saves everyone in danger at whimsical leisure) except without the charm or humor. (Why are you joking about infants dying? Even if they're saved, most people don't want to contemplate babies being horribly killed! Especially not when they're horrible CGI.)

I get that it's hard to do action scenes with a character who can basically spend an hour doing whatever he wants before the other characters make their first movie--but it's a Flash movie. You should figure this out, not depower the Flash so you can do more conventional action scenes with Batman riding a motorcycle and Supergirl punching people really hard. You don't see Superman movies where Clark loses his powers so he spends the whole movie getting into John Wick gunfights.

Bizarrely, they've removed Reverse Flash from the narrative entirely, then introduced an entirely different 'Evil Flash' character... who doesn't even get into a proper fight with Barry, he just has a brief scuffle before accidentally erasing himself from existence.

2. I think there are actually less jokes in Sonic 3 than there are in The Flash.

The Flash is about a man who wants to save his murdered mom and spare his father a decades-long unjust imprisonment. He fails at this and has to accept that his mother is dead and he can't get back the years his dad spent in jail.

Seems like a pretty dark story, right? Probably have a tone that's pretty solemn? The material cries out for a treatment that's moody, even cynical, because the hero doesn't win at the end. His 'victory' is admitting that he can't fight fate.

Sounds depressing, I know. Which is maybe something you should think about before you make a movie out of these particular comics, even if they do give you a chance to include a super-nostalgic Michael Keaton ('member Batman? I 'member!)

But someone at DC wanted to make a happy, lighthearted, super-fun movie out of a guy who's so obsessed with his dead mom that he destroys the universe (having erased all his friends in the Justice League from the timelime, Barry spends a lot of time going "well, sucks to be them" and just trying to utilitarianily replace them with Supergirl to stop an alien invasion. Our hero, ladies and gents).

So every scene in The Flash is jokey, smirky, pandering, in-your-face. Ezra Miller turns in a performance worthy of Jerry Lewis as he capers and trips and mugs and pratfalls and stutters and simpers in every last scene! They even introduce a second Ezra Miller who theater-kids still harder!

It's like the movie cannot be serious for one minute; even in the climax, they're doing 'crowd-pleasing' cameos from CGI Nic Cage. It's the equivalent of those jokes where they add stim videos and Subway Surfers to classic movies so that Tiktok viewers don't get bored.

Sonic 3 is a children's movie and it still manages to shut up once in a while and take itself seriously.

Some of the subplots and their payoffs are honestly affecting. It's not that it doesn't have sense of humor about itself. It's just that it knows a movie can't be all empty calories and have any staying power. It has to slow down and treat the characters as real people now and then, not just joke dispensers or action figures.

[inamindfarfaraway]

I just finished watching a playthrough of Shadow Generations and I am mentally unwell. A few thoughts:

SHE’LL ALWAYS BE IN HIS HEART

His SMILE! His real actual smile with soft eyes! For her!

He also didn’t know it was her when he first ran in to save her, he just heard a random child in trouble and immediately dropped his urgent mission to protect them! Because he’s a hero!

“I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine.” He lets himself hope… after everything, he thinks he finally has a second chance. Shadow, aways the pessimist, has no fear of paradoxes or breaking the timeline or anything bad coming from altering the past. He doesn’t dismiss it as impossible. He just believes. And with the context of Dark Beginnings, those imaginary flashes of him and Maria in a field of flowers, this is literally his dream come true. “I pretend that’ll see you again, and that I’ll save you from all the things I failed to.” IT HURTS

Shadow, Omega, Rogue and Sonic are all friends who love each other and enjoy each other’s company! Shadow was having so much fun challenging Sonic and respects him too much to play dirty with his ridiculously overpowered new tricks.

He did the fake Chaos Emerald con in reverse! Rogue has been rubbing off on him.

Black Doom and the new powers he gives Shadow were seriously unsettling. The way this teenage boy clutches his head and screams in agony as tendrils of darkness and viscera grab him, drown him, rip out of him… I did not like that. Hasn’t he suffered enough? It does look cool, though.

So that was an extremely cathartic final boss fight. It’s nicely ironic that Black Doom keeps saying that Shadow was “made for” destruction when we all know that he was made to heal and save lives, and he calls Shadow’s resistance “meaningless” while Shadow’s awesome theme song playing underneath goes “You’ve found the meaning that you searched for so long”. The army saw him as a weapon and his creator used him as a weapon and now his other creator is trying to do the same, but he’s not! He never was and never will be!

Speaking of boss fights, I wasn’t expecting to have any feelings about Mephiles, of all characters. But damn. A one-dimensional, pure evil villain reduced to a terrified tragedy desperate to matter and simply survive. “I want… to exist!”

I’m not over the fact that SHADOW SHOWS YOU WHERE TO FIND THE LIGHT. SHADOW SHOWS YOU WHERE THE LIGHT IS. A terminally ill child gave her new family and only hope that name for that reason. I. I’m crying.

And so is he at the end! They finally let him cry, even if we only saw one tear. Still! Emotional vulnerability for the win!

He could have frozen them in time and kept them alive… but he chose to move on. To save everyone else, to maintain his relationships and the life he’d built for himself in the present, to look forward to the future. To do what they’d want him to. I’m so proud of him. I’m so happy. My heart has been shattered.

[theomnicode]

Motivation, interpersonal relations & Food; Sharing is caring

In-depth Saitama character analysis

V Original date of writing: Oct 4 2022 V Location: Draft folder

Content warning: Old and extremely long analysis

In previous installments of Saitama and food, I've touched on the issues of self-consciousness and his aversion to eating well in public setting and how it may affect his body image or it being a metaphor for him eating well being beneficial to his health.

Saitama loves good food, that much is a given. He's often going after sales, cannot resist good meat and cannot resist invitations for a good meal and won't hesitate to take an advantage of a scenario for a chance of food, something a lot of other characters have taken note of.

But what does food otherwise mean for Saitama? In what kind of settings does he indulge in food? What is food besides nourishment?

The obvious answer is interpersonal relationships. Financial security. Comfort. The more he has money, the more he can afford food yes? Eating out in a group is less hassle than eating alone yea?

The less obvious answer though?

Base source of happiness.

Being able to share his love for food and tastes with people he most cares about. Being able to provide for them. Learning and showing indirectly that he cares.

Let's deep dive into the realm of Saitama and his relationship with food. And what it means with his relationship with Genos and other people.

Warning, this is a very, very long post. But I feel like it's a cathartic one when talking about Saitama and his relationships with people and how it develops over the course of the series. Saitama is at the same time, complex but inherently external motivation driven.

-*-

The very first thing Saitama does after Genos comes to his house, is set up tea for Genos. A means of expressing his hospitality but also setting the precedent that Saitama is willing to provide and share food with Genos, a very obvious cyborg he knows little about, regardless if he eats and regardless of his taste preferences. Showing that Saitama has always treated Genos like a human in this aspect. Saitama seems to score pretty highly on the conscientious scale in general.

"Go home after you drink."

An invitation for Genos and ticket for him to eat with Saitama in his house. A leeway no other character has, despite them enjoying hot pot together and I will explain why later. Possibly because Genos had already slightly impressed him in the fight against Mosquito girl by killing all the mosquitoes from around him because they annoyed him. To Saitama, perseverance is strenght of character but Genos is also showing interest in him, which has never really happened to Saitama before. Genos killed the mosquitoes, so Saitama saves Genos by taking care of Mosquito girl in return.

It is the first instance in which Saitama provides Genos with food, before Genos has accepted to becoming his disciple. Saitama barely manages to listen to Genos' speech, despite not really wanting to, but he deigns interest because Genos actually showed up like he promised. And learns quite a few things about his acquaintance that he can empathize with.

The teacup coincidentally reads: "Good things come to those who wait."

"Go home! It's not like we're related."

(The implications of these statements from Saitama cannot be understated. Genos perseverance to stay and help is what ultimately endears him to Saitama and he becomes a steady figure in his life and he finds a new home in Saitama's home.)

The second time Saitama gives Genos tea is when he's once again, at his house after he met Sonic. Saitama unloads his grievances to Genos when he realises nobody knows who he is. It is a sore point that he has done so much hero work, yet nobody actually cares and it was a close call that he did not give up on being a hero entirely. It's not like he particularly likes the violence involved and he's not getting any of the satisfaction from doing a good job from being thanked for doing it since nobody knows he's doing hero work, so what's the point if it no longer makes him happy?

Genos insisting on listening to his problems, despite Saitama trying to aggressively shoo him away, being a willing listener and providing an immediate solution and even agreeing to come along so Saitama does not feel alone and socially anxious does endear him to Saitama immediately and so, Saitama feels indebted to Genos.

Quid pro quo, Genos helped him out on heroism, so Saitama will mentor him.

Becoming a pro hero gave him immediate source of steady funding and suddenly he has a bit more money to spend. It's really not a lot, C and B-class heroes really don't earn a lot, but it's a start. He no longer has to look for an extra job, so he can just focus on being a hero. Or anything really that he wants to do. More money means more doors are open since everyday activities can cost things and it's a definite obstacle in enjoying the little things in life.

Saitama's immediate reaction is feeling bummed if Genos does not actually like his meal tastes. Noodles are affordable and Saitama just tested this noodle place few days before, so he knows it's a good place to take his new disciple out to eat.

It is to share his first meal with his disciple who already helped him out financially, helped him build public relations, aided his route to heroism and sets a good example of what it means to be a hero. Not to mention cool af.

Genos is just plain amazing. Hand's down. And already doing quite a lot for him.

Sharing a meal with Genos and providing is Saitama's way of showing he cares. That he wants to get to know Genos better and he's comfortable in his company.

When he's usually closeted off, to the point where people like Fubuki can't get his preferences out of him even via force and is surprised how easy it was to bribe Saitama with just a pack of meat, he willingly shares his preferences in food with Genos because he wants the connection. Or he's testing the waters with this newfound relationship.

He is glad he Genos likes udon and he's not picky. It makes it easier for Saitama to provide him with good food and share his preferential foods with Genos. It makes Genos more relatable to Saitama too.

Nothing bums a good cook more than people showing distaste in the food you make with love. We'll get back to this later.

So right afterwards of their sparring when they've become pro heroes, Saitama knows he's low on funds, but he's willing to provide regardless. He's now a mentor to Genos, his job is to see that his disciple has everything he needs.

Genos continues to surprise him by being able to eat even more than he can on a good day and being a good sport about it. But the scene already shows that Saitama is comfortable in Genos company that he does not care about other people gawking at them eating. Neither does Genos care if he eats his fill on food and instead, joins in on the fun of eating.

Saitama: “No, I couldnt take the stares I was getting pigging out alone.”

Saitama does not eat big meals alone. It's wasteful and he does not feel comfortable doing it. Other people would judge him if he ate his fill in calories and he becomes incredibly self-conscious about it.

But in addition, it's because he has nobody to share a good meal with. Share his love for good food. He probably feels lonely eating large meals alone. He barely cooks at home before Genos arrives either, just rice on eggs, despite knowing how. He was only going to buy crab pincers because they were cheap source of protein. He has the skillsets of being able to cook good meals but does not bother.

Smaller note about the crab pincers is that Saitama had to go buy new food after he had taken care of Beefcake. His heroism is directly interfering with his daily life and causing undue unhappiness, like when he broke his new eggs too. This is a point for later.

Afterwards, said disciple decides to move in with him. Without asking. Once again butting in on his life with the force of a bull that does not listen. He's comfortable in his company now, possibly trying to mentor him as well but living with the guy? Saitama already knows he's a handful and he has reservations.

How can he feed two mouths? He's the teacher and the master of the household, he should provide food right? And other essentials too. He doesn't have the money for that.

We know now that Saitama never used the rent money Genos gave him from interviews. So it is not greed that let him allow Genos to actually stay and turn around his mind.

It's the assurance that Genos can provide for himself, in the worst case scenario that Saitama cannot.

It's also assurance that Genos is willing to participate in the cost of utilities, should the need arise.

Because he's richer, he should have no issue even if shit hit the fan. That the younger cyborg, who is still under the age of majority of 20 years old MIND YOU, can apparently financially support himself, is a relief. Saitama at this point does not know what role Dr. Kuseno plays in Genos life and if he provides for Genos or not.

So Saitama only fondly asks if Genos has brought his own toothbrush with him, more apparent in the tone inflection of anime version. Brushing teeth is important for Saitama, so he wants to make sure Genos has basic necessities for living with him if he's to provide for him. He apparently can't shoo this insistent cyborg away.

Saitama can relate with Genos insistence for company. Because Saitama often relates with loneliness. He's been very lonely himself and yet he still craves human connectivity. He also relates to Genos' self-destructive tendencies, which keep popping up later in the story when he keeps finding Genos destroyed in some form or another.

Saitama officially takes Genos in his home and under his wing.

Guess he is stuck with Genos now. For good.

There is just one slight issue.

How the hell is he going to teach Genos? What the hell can he even teach him?

Meanwhile, Genos keeps raising the bar by taking the mentorship ultra seriously. Saitama feels even more indebted to provide something in return because he doesn't want to feel like an ass or a scammer. He can't yet figure out why Genos would want to stay at his place instead of somewhere else.

When Genos tells him that suddenly, his capacity to financially provide for the guy is in danger too, he gets very stressed out. If he can't get money, he can't feed his new disciple or buy him any necessities. Otherwise he probably would not care that much.

Then he even urges Genos to reach top ten, while bullshitting the entire time. Chances are he feels guilt about that, because it's very much unsafe to prompt his disciple to push himself in an environment like that.

Prompting Genos into getting into this workaholic attitude about heroism comes back to bite him later.

We are not shown or told this...but when he gets the money from arresting Sonic...he probably has a light bulb moment. About what he can actually provide for Genos. What he can mentor Genos with. What Genos was seeking for when he wanted to become his disciple and why he's insisting on staying at his house.

That Genos no longer considers himself human, so he would show him humanity. That he would never have to pinch pennies, because Saitama would provide for him and teach him how to save money. Give him a safe, familial and happy life in a peaceful environment. A place to live in that Saitama can protect to avoid homelessness. A family that is so strong he would never practically die to an attack. Teach him how to survive even when solo so he'd never be helpless again. Give him company so he'd never be truly alone again.

This is the gist that he retains from Genos' long introduction speech that he thinks Genos is missing in his life and why he came to Saitama in the first place. The rest, I am not sure if Saitama even retained because he has difficulty following long conversation and the only reason he listened was because he empathized.

Saitama can painfully relate, because he has no family of his own. He has lived alone since he was 12 and he's lonely as well. One thing he thinks daily is food insecurity because he does not have a lot of money, so he's pinching pennies all the time. Food is a source of comfort, security, warmth and social connectivity and eating food is one of the few sources of comfort he has left, having lost all motivation.

Because Genos listened to his problems, it was his turn to return the favour. And provide he does. In ways he can. Show him the value of life and enjoyment in the little things that life has to offer to Genos. Take him out to festivals. Take him out to bathhouse. Things like that. Start small, figure out what Genos likes to do.

And perhaps intentionally or unintentionally gives him the means of training his mental strenght in safe environment.

At Saitama's core, what motivates him is helping other people. It makes him happy to help other people and see them happy. Genos coming to him and asking to become his disciple and unloading to him like that meant he was unhappy and asking for his aid.

So Saitama would attempt his best to help Genos attain that happiness that he was lacking in his life.

Saitama: No no, that’s not it! Stuff like this is just FUN! It helps you forget the bad times! See? Festivals are the epitome of Summer! Look at all the kakigori (shaved ice) and yakisoba (fried noodles), and all the bustling food stands! For a normal young person, this kind of stuff really gets you in the mood, right? Genos: I am sorry, Sensei. I am not like other normal human beings as I have artificial parts and… Saitama: No, this has nothing to do with parts! sighs I just thought that, well, you’re always fighting monsters and taking all these notes, always being so serious and putting yourself under stress. I thought that maybe going out to places like this will be good for you. And it’s free too… Saitama: I see…I guess you’re not really into those kind of things? Well, it’s been a really long time for me as well…

One of the important things Saitama values in life is comfort in food. It helps him forget the bad times. The stress from being a hero and being able to unwind and relax in the comfort of his own house.

Saitama actually gets the motivation to start cooking again. For Genos.

He probably hasn't cooked in a while but now he can share that meal with someone else who would eat the food he makes. He wouldn't really bother to cook large meals for himself, not after he got depressed and lost motivation to do much anything. He can share a meal with someone else and Genos gets to eat food he makes.

(Provided he does not reveal the possible monster ingredients, he's unsure how Genos would react to that)

Sharing dinner becomes a tradition and Saitama is happy to cook for someone else. Showing that he cares.

He shops at the first opportunity for Kombu(seaweed) soup ingredients because he just got paid, showing he can provide in the household even with his meager funds and prepares a meal with a smile on his face.

Genos unfortunatly COMPLETELY misreads his intentions and provides a commentary about hair growth instead of the you know, food...like asking how it tastes or showing any kind of interest.

"Nobody said anything about hair!"

The dejection in the voice is real.

Haha, poor Saitama, everything is about his lack of hair. But it's ok. They have dinner now. But maybe the dinner just wasn't up to Genos' standards, he seems like a high maintenance sort of guy.

Pun intended.

(One might think Saitama's hair complex is rooted here because Genos was staring at his bald head, the next time Saitama thinks about providing Genos with food. His brain makes all kinds of interesting connections.)

The ingredients being on sale, the satisfaction of being able to make good, filling and tasty dinner for both of them (read: Genos), makes Saitama feel triumphant enough that his divine power flashes and his facial features change for a moment to show the true self.

That's a lot of motivation huh? A rare flash of his drive that's not hidden beneath apathy or veils.

He's bloody good at this sensei-thing. But Genos is apparently the best external motivator. Saitama seems to need a lot of external motivation in order to operate.

"Dinner target acquired." *smirk*

No doubt he hasn't actually made his favourite food in ages. If he has, only sparingly. Meat is expensive after all.

He lists out loud what kind of hotpots there are that they could make, for Genos benefit but also for himself. Listing the hotpots makes it easier to remember the ingredients it appears, but the second he gets to the Chicken hotpot, his memory is jarred and he remembers the premium chicken sale that was going on.

Hot pot without cabbage is according to Saitama, not a real hotpot though, so missing out on either ingredient immediately stresses him out. Hot pot without cabbage would taste bland, unfulfilling and it would not be a satisfactory enough meal. Only his best cooking effort would suffice since Genos didn't show interest in Kombu soup. Maybe Genos didn't like vegetarian foods.

Genos proves his worth as a disciple, by sharing the cost of food and by going above and beyond his duty and provides them with the meat for the hot pot regardless of everything that happened to Genos. Cementing his place as a reliable person in Saitama's household and not minding sharing the costs of food that allows Saitama more leeway to provide for Genos in multiple ways.

In parallel, Genos is able to provide the meat for the food despite doing his heroic duty, while Saitama in episode 1, lost the crab pincers he tried to buy because he had to go do his heroic duty and then had to go shop for eggs instead. So with Genos inclusion to the household, their source of food is in safer hands with the two of them. Even if Saitama has to take care of threathening enemies, it would not threathen their acquisition for good food. Such as source of protein that Saitama personally needs, so Genos is looking out for him back. Again a good source of motivation to keep Genos around but he does empathize that Genos had a rough time...about missing the sale.

Saitama also spoke from experience when he told Genos to not lose his house keys.

A growing trend in Saitama's quest to provide meaningful life for Genos in the form of happiness, comfort and familial environment, is Saitama's heroism coming in the way of that. Needing to make a choice between providing for Genos and needing to perform his heroic duty.

During meteorite incident, his favourite Supermarket got trashed because he did not perform his heroic duty "adequately" enough, making it harder to source food fast and get to supermarkets on time for sales. Leading to everyone in the town criticizing his actions as a hero and being a failure. Then he even forgot a sale for food because of that.

The combination of being able to get some potential crab meat in the house and finding a strong enemy at the same time is good amount of motivation to head out.

That Genos is willing to follow him, regardless of his stance on heroism and stay by Saitama's side and encouraging him to ignore the citizens and still believing he's a good person despite that, does wonders to Saitama's self-esteem and his self-worth. Genos believes in him as a person, not as a hero, that he's not too weak and is amazing in his own right and he's doing something right with this mentorship and that he does not need to be a perfect example of a role model hero to be a good mentor. Heroism isn't what he's trying to teach to Genos anyway, because Saitama feels Genos is a far better hero than he is. Genos prioritizing Saitama's comfort and happiness and encouraging him to get out of the situation and back home gives him massive points in Saitama's eye.

Saitama also tries to teach Genos to be self-sufficient. Because Genos wants to be strong but Saitama cannot exactly teach him traditionally, Saitama finds other ways to help Genos be self-sufficient so he can grow as a person and become as strong as he can be. Spiritual training. Such as teaching him how to clean house and source his food from wild game (and monsters), in the case that Genos cannot buy meat from the store.

No doubt Saitama has at this point, been the guy who taught Genos how exactly to clean the house, fix the apartment and the surrounding blocks and other life lesson that Genos takes to like fish to water. Saitama has done numerous odd jobs and probably had to learn how to fix his house and the surrounding blocks just because monster attacks became so numerous. And he has a tendency to break stuff.

Z-city emptied and Saitama also knows the scarcity of being able to get food. Grocery stores closing, supermarkets getting destroyed in monster attacks...there are many ways how person is incapable of just being able to buy food, even if they had the money.

Saitama provides life lessons to Genos, but not stiffle his potential. So whenever Genos asks Saitama to not interfere when he's tackling a monster, Saitama does not because it's important for Genos and his own protection that he become as strong as he can be and without facing any challenges, Genos cannot reach his true potential. It is not that Saitama is blase. It is more that he wants to trust in Genos abilities. Genos needs to be able to survive on his own if he's to be happy in life.

When the Sea king incident arrives, Saitama truly begins to worry for the first time for Genos' safety. And he is relieved that Genos is alive, for now. But it awakens the protective instincts in Saitama.

He worries, when enemies get increasingly difficult and increasingly numerous and Genos does not actually come home in time.

Unable to come home in time to eat dinner.

That Genos being heroic is also a detriment to his ability to stay intact, that Saitama prompted him into doing. Detriment to Genos being able to stay happy if he continues to be workaholic.

Being able to provide for Genos is one thing, but there are some things you can't buy with money. There are more important things in life than just material goods and even food. That's being able to preserve the life of those he cares about and having immaterial things around him can bring him happiness too. Saitama is slowly coming to realize what Genos truly means to him.

The age old saying that money cannot buy happiness.

Food has always equaled happiness to Saitama. A source of dopamine his brain desperately needs. Food is material so it won't ask for anything back...unlike other people might.

Genos is always more than willing to go buy expensive meat for food. Genos knows by now that Saitama can't resist free meat. But what if Genos ran out of money? Making do with what ingredients you have can still make an excellent meal when prepped optimally, such as when Saitama tells Genos that just adding BBQ sauce to cabbage alone is a good meal. Being frugal can save money for bad day, for worst case scenario. So he would never have to go hungry just because he lacked access to certain ingredients.

But Saitama also attempts to teach Genos to be more prepared to face the unexpected scenarios that one comes across in their lives that make it difficult to live life at their fullest.

Unexpected loss of life is one.

Saitama feels very responsible for whatever happens with Genos, so like a good mentor he is, will also stop Genos from drinking as he's still under the age of majority and should not be allowed to drink.

Life continues on after Boros' attack as Saitama continues to provide for Genos. In life lessons and in food and utilities. Things like shampoo, despite Saitama not even having hair, he feels responsible for Genos life now and his well-being and that Genos continues to enjoy the major and little things in life to the fullest.

He takes Genos out to festivals, to bathhouse, to fishing, to flying a kite, to swimming, christmas meal at home etc. Everything he can think of, he wants to share what he values in life to Genos.

Then he meets King and one of the first things Saitama again does, is extend an invitation with food towards King because he thinks he can relate with King in some way. Notably extending an offer of drinks. Discuss their life over food and start relating to each other sounds like a fair deal.

Saitama shows incredible empathy for King's situation and he relates to the need of requirement to be strong. That one cannot appear to be weak in this world filled by monsters and people need a role model to encourage them to be strong too. That he too needs to be a good role model for Genos so Genos can grow strong as well. But Saitama probably questions if he's a good role model to begin with because in his mind, he just pretends to be a hero, still. But Saitama cares a lot and so tells King he will come around to play games with him in the future. Saitama offers his hand and maybe, he can have fun playing games with King in return.

Ironically enough, it is only at this point that Saitama even gets any inkling that Genos has been able to eat, let alone taste the food he makes. Yet it does not bother him. Genos ate the food he provided and seemed happy to do so, that was all that mattered. It was the connection he made with Genos and the relationship they share over eating that mattered more.

He advises Genos to not look at gift horse in the mouth. If an offer of kindness such as free food is given, it would be rude to refuse. Sharing is caring after all. Saitama can also appreciate Dr. Kuseno who gave Genos ability to eat and taste food and enjoy this comfort in life.

What Saitama does NOT appreciate however, is other people butting in when he attempts to have quiet and peaceful dinner with Genos. And attempts of destroying his means of sharing these moments with Genos really pisses him off.

Saitama has really grown to appreciate the comfortable setting of just enjoying a peaceful meal with Genos, as it gives him peace of mind as well and allows him an opportunity to relax. The constant surge of monsters all around the cities, the forces of evil not stopping, can easily wear one down.

Somewhere down the line, he has also taught Genos how to cook as well. Genos is a quick learner and the more self-sufficient he is, the better. That Genos wants to cook for Saitama is a sweet sentiment to show that he cares back, something Saitama definitely understands.

Not offering Fubuki any refreshments or food when she comes knocking? Nope, Saitama can't relate with that woman as of yet lmao. And does not want to, apparently. Acquaintance-zoned.

He's more than happy to buy some bananas and check on Mumen at the hospital though.

Saitama seems to have internalized that sharing food works as means that he can show his empathy for other people's blights and that he can relate with it. This is something he has learned from interacting with Genos, who has so far been receptive to the idea that sharing food works to connect with other people, because he really has difficulties with forming relationships with other people. It has become a way for him to offer his care and comfort to them.

It is so very cute in a neurodivergent way.

'I empathize. Here, have some food, for comfort. You'll feel better eating.'

It does not seem like much to others, far from it. But Saitama honestly tries. Mumen selflessly helped save Genos and shared food with him and did not expect anything back. So Saitama after hearing Mumen is in the hospital, goes out on his way to bring him some food.

I am laughing a bit when he offers Tank-top Master a banana too, the very second he mentions taking out monsters in one hit. Saitama you're being so wholesome.

Quid pro quo still applies, since he offers his empathy, he can probably ask for something in return.

Saitama really does not ask for a lot in life and he has gotten very little help in his own life. So this type of approach probably stems from his bad experiences in social life in general. Not getting anything for free but he has to offer something first and extend a hand. Then they are less likely to turn him down if they feel indebted, even if they don't actually like him. Interacting with Genos seems to have reinforced this mentality.

It is sad in a clever, survivalist point of view. He does not know Tank top master, so he won't know how he would react, but he really wants to know more about what happened to him in detail.

What I have personally determined must be ADHD is actually popping up on his chapter more too, when he gets very distracted and hyperfixated on the price money. For a long time, he could be secure financially? Count him in!

Emotional dysregulation and difficulties with connecting with people do go hand in hand with being neurodivergent.

The tournament arc does serve a major turning point in Saitama's life however. That he has learned to empathize with the blight of other people when previously in fight with Beefcake, he did not empathize at all. The guy's brother dies and the city goes splat and all he says is "oh." He used to care a lot in the past but when he started losing to apathy and losing his humanity, he also lost the ability to empathize. Meeting Genos and allowing him in turns him back on the right track and provided him the means of how to become a true hero.

Once again, the feeling of being inadequate in his heroism, no matter if he tries his best, rears it's head again. That he's just letting all these monsters roam free when he seemingly does not care enough. Letting all these monsters do what they wish, like hurting people he cares about, such as hurting Genos.

Saitama does care, a lot. He instinctually pulled the big chinned kid from out of the way of harm and awakened his drive and source of passion deep within. And after that he showed care and empathy for other people like when he saved King, without thinking he needed to get something in return. He used to be happy just doing service for society and protecting other people, just because, not out of need to get anything back but simply from his own desire.

That he has forgotten his, he has forgotten what made his hero work satisfactory in the first place and what motivates him to do it. Personal interest is very integral for people with ADHD as key motivation. So it slowly became quid pro quo and when nobody appreciated what he was doing because he started tackling stronger and stronger monsters and not interacting with actual people any longer, he simply lost all the motivation, source of happiness and became bored and unhappy. He always wanted, at this base core, protect and connect with other people more.

He needed to gain something to be bothered to do hero work again, so he turned to seeking stronger opponents for the thrill and trying to motivate himself. Saitama does not like violence though, so when he began to tackle monsters instead of helping old ladies cross the street and saving kids from getting ran over a car, he started hating himself too. Hating his powers and hating what he does. Feeling like a shitty person for becoming too strong. The stronger he got, the more his apathy grew because he had to become detatched from his own emotions in order to continue his hero work so he would dislike himself less. The stronger he got, the more he started to have difficulties enjoying small things in life and what constituted as his source of happiness in life, like playing games. He was breaking things he enjoyed doing. It created stress. Stress meant he became more impulsive. It became a self-perpetuating cycle.

Chasing heroism for the sake of being a hero does not work as a motivator for Saitama, as he tells to King. Being a hero was just the end to achieve the means of what he truly wanted to do; not have his heart be so empty anymore and attain that happiness. Not be weak anymore to help other people and find his place in the society.

More stress means he is connecting with his emotions more though and he worries for Genos when King reminds him that he hasn't even seen Genos all day. Unfortunately, Saitama is also easily distracted, yet another trait of ADHD.

He does succesfully punch the monster and finds Genos somewhat intact, so that's a relief that he made it in time at least.

Punching away stress not only released the negative emotion, seeing Genos be unharmed from his serious punch made him feel relaxed again. That and being able to trust in King's advice, that King has great heroic instincts, would allow him to keep Genos safe.

^ Original date of writing: Oct 4 2022 ^

Location: Draft folder

v New edit: September 22, 2024 v

Uh oh

Wee-oo-wee-oo-wee-ooo *sirens blaring*

Genos does not seem like he's alright here. He's completely flipped how he thinks about Saitama's heroism to its head. This idolization is very concerning.