#hope he appears in sonic prime or the movies

[annqer]

when he looks at you like []_[]

[thankskenpenders]

Sonic Prime Season 3: Final episodes, final thoughts

Well, here we are. The final seven episodes of Sonic Prime are out on Netflix, concluding the story of Sonic's adventures in the Shatterverse. I've previously shared my thoughts on the first and second seasons, which I was pretty mixed on, but there were still glimmers of hope. The fluid animation, Shadow being fun in all his appearances, Nine being fairly interesting as a jaded alternate version of Tails, etc. There was enough to make me believe that after some highs and lows there was still the possibility that this show could end on a high note - or at least a decent note.

This did not happen.

Sonic Prime's final season sucks. The ending sucks, and the road to get there sucks. It's left me wondering what the point of all this even was. There are still moments I like that I'll try to highlight, and the animators and voice cast are still clearly giving it their all, but these efforts sadly don't outweigh the overwhelming mediocrity of the story. I would barely even recommend other Sonic fans who are on the fence go out of their way to finish it. I won't begrudge people who got more out of this show than I did, but I think overall I just really, really dislike Sonic Prime.

...The problem, of course, is that all other discussion of the show has been overshadowed by needlessly hostile arguments over its place in Sonic's canon. So we've gotta talk about that, too.

(This post will contain full spoilers for Sonic Prime.)

The show's out of ideas but they've gotta stretch that shit out to hit the 23 episode mark somehow

Season 2 ended with the big twist that Nine decided to betray Sonic and Shadow, taking the Paradox Prism for himself so that he could go turn the empty world of the Grim into his own little paradise, since he doesn't believe he'll fit anywhere else. Nine has made himself the true big bad of the show.

The main impact this has is that now, instead of fighting endless identical Eggforcer bots and members of the Chaos Council over and over, the good guys and the Chaos Council have to fight endless Chaos Sonic-style robots sent by Nine while he goes "grrrrr I need Sonic's energy to stabilize the Paradox Prism." This continues for six whole episodes until the series finale, when the show decides it's time for Sonic and Nine to quickly make amends, fix everything, and send Sonic and Shadow home.

That's pretty much the whole season.

I cannot emphasize enough just how much of this final season is just fight after fight after fight against Nine's bots, and how fucking boring that gets. The season feels like one long, drawn out final battle that did not need to be nearly this long, but Nine had his big heel turn 2/3 of the way through the show and we've gotta fill up the rest of the time somehow. The novelty of the bots being based off of Sonic's friends (including the Chocobo-sized Birdie from the jungle world) really wears off quickly when they're just used as generic, silent mooks that the good guys have to fight by the dozen like it's the climax of an MCU movie. The first episode of the season with Sonic and Shadow fighting the new bots is pretty good, especially because Sonic and Shadow's dynamic is one of the few redeeming aspects of this show's writing, but after that it just gets boring. Three full episodes in a row are spent showing all the characters fighting robots in an empty wasteland while Nine scowls next to a big beam of energy. I found myself missing the in-your-face attitude of Chaos Sonic so much. He truly was one of the best parts of this show.

While the cast is busy fighting all these robots for what feels like an eternity, various things of varying levels of interest happen. There's a halfhearted attempt to have some kind of rivalry between Shadow and the main Grim Sonic throughout the final battle, but it completely falls flat because Grim Sonic has no personality whatsoever. It's like Shadow beefing with an above-average Egg Pawn. (Actually, no, that would be funny.) There's also a death fakeout with the two other versions of Tails, where they make a makeshift bomb and throw it a little too close to themselves on the battlefield and seem to get vaporized. If they had actually died there they would have had the funniest, most pointless deaths in the entire franchise.

I also realized at one point that they were trying to do the Avengers girl power fight thing with the three versions of Amy fighting a bunch of Rouge bots. This was very funny to me. Actually, so much of this is just following the tired MCU formula to the letter. Fighting over a macguffin, two armies just kind of running at each other and clashing in a big empty field, constant one-liner quips instead of actual jokes, the need to take out key targets to make the whole enemy army disappear, a villain who has a point but has to randomly hurt people so that there's an excuse for the heroes to fight him. When combined with how shit the multiverse stuff is, this whole show really is just Man of Action tackling some of the most played out storytelling tropes in modern pop culture in the most bland way possible. What a bunch of hacks.

By far, the one truly fun thing that happens in this protracted final battle is when a giant robot based on Big appears. It doesn't have arms or legs, but it can swing itself around to use its tail like a giant mace, and it can also shoot Froggy-shaped missiles out of its mouth. I wish the rest of the show was even half as fun as this. Again, Sonic Prime has just enough good moments to make you mad that the rest of the show isn't better.

The thing is, all this repetitive (but well-animated) action and the thin excuse plot would be totally serviceable if I just gave a shit about the characters involved. But I don't. I don't care what happens to the pirate version of Amy who goes "arrr." I don't care about what happens to Hipster Eggman. And unfortunately, by the end, I didn't really care about Nine, either.

Nine as a villain

It's hard to criticize the story here without it coming off as a broad condemnation of the tropes at play. The thing is, I like many stories that try to do similar things. I love clashes between heroes and villains that are really just fantastical exaggerations of more personal conflicts. I love stories where a tragic, sympathetic villain lashes out at the world as an expression of the pain they feel, and a compassionate hero just has to get through to them. I eat that shit right up. Undertale is my favorite game ever made. Shit, I love other Sonic stories that do these exact things. And Sonic having to fight an alternate timeline version of Tails also has so much potential for drama!

So I can very easily imagine a version of the show where all this works for me. That just isn't the version we got.

Like I said last time, Nine's motivation is just too sympathetic and understandable for his sudden turn to supervillainy to make any sense. He just wanted to start over somewhere where he can be happy after a childhood filled with bullying and loneliness. Nine betraying Sonic and stealing the Paradox Prism to go make his own world? That tracks! Especially since we don't even know if Nine will still exist if Sonic goes through with his plan to restore his original world! But trying to kill everyone in New Yolk City by tilting the world 90 degrees, intentionally targeting the civilian population because it'll get to Sonic? Nope! Sorry, that's a bridge too far. I don't buy it. He's jaded and antisocial, but he doesn't strike me as cruel. Writing in an excuse about him needing Sonic's energy to fix the Prism does not make this make more sense.

This was really just one of those conflicts where it felt like everyone should stop and talk it out. Instead we got six episodes of fighting before one of Sonic's many, MANY attempts at reasoning with Nine throughout the season finally works. This isn't me pulling some Cinema Sins bullshit where I complain about characters in a work of fiction not always behaving rationally - the real problem is that it's just so damn repetitive waiting for this conflict to resolve. This could have been wrapped up in two or three episodes and instead it takes seven.

A brief aside about that weird Dorkly-ass Sonic Advance 3 flashback scene hacked together with mismatched sprites where Gemerl happens to be present, presumably just because he's a part of the sprite for the Sunset Hill boss, and seeing him briefly makes me remember the extended cast from the games and how much I wish they had just made a cartoon about them instead of a bunch of stock characters wearing the skin of Sonic's friends, but then Gemerl just explodes with the boss machine at the end while Eggman is shown to get away so I guess Gemerl just dies in this flashback

Yeah that sure happened huh

The ending

Despite having a final battle that felt like an eternity, Sonic Prime is a show that just kind of... ends. And that ending is weird and haphazard.

The understanding I had was that Sonic's normal world had "shattered" when the Paradox Prism was destroyed, and from those remnants these new worlds were created. This is why they use terms like "Shatterverse" and "Shatterspaces" and why there's shattered glass/crystal/whatever imagery everywhere. This is a broken, fragmented version of the real universe. Right? Right?? Isn't that the entire premise of the show? And therefore, if the universe has been shattered, then fixing it means putting all the shattered pieces back together. Which I would assume means that the Shatterspaces cease to exist.

So, in the ending... Sonic's world seems to just exist as another Shatterspace. Restoring the Paradox Prism doesn't seem to combine the worlds or anything, it just fixes the broken portal to Sonic's world that exists alongside all the others. So... what exactly was the point of all the shattered glass symbolism?

Things only get more confusing as the ending progresses. Shadow brings Sonic through the portal before the draining of Sonic's whatever energy makes him disappear, and they're transported back in time to right before Sonic broke the Paradox Prism. Only Sonic seems to remember what happened (Shadow might remember, but he doesn't say anything), and with the Paradox Prism never shattered, it's unclear if the Shatterspaces exist now.

I'm not particularly hung up on the time loop ending. It's very much in line with all sorts of classic morality tales like A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life, where the flawed protagonist goes through some kind of magical experience and then returns home with a new appreciation for the people in their life. It's always been pretty obvious that was the type of story they were telling. I'm more bothered by the fact that there's no time whatsoever spent on whether or not the other worlds and the characters in them continue to exist. Sonic seems to act like the worlds will go on without him before he leaves, but it's not like we get an ending scene that shows how the other worlds are doing, so they really truly might as well not exist anymore. Sonic just wraps up the adventure from the first episode when he gets home, and before he can explain what happened from his perspective he's interrupted by a mysterious energy wave from off-screen and it's off to the next adventure.

(Despite this odd cliffhanger ending, the show is extremely over and not coming back. I have to imagine this is just a "the adventures never end" type ending and not a hint that more shit is going on with the Paradox Prism.)

This ending is also a terrible resolution to Nine's whole arc, despite him being the driving force of so much of the show. The way I see it, there are are three possible fates for him:

The Shatterspaces continue existing, and things go as Sonic expects them to go. Nine is allowed to make the Grim into his own little utopia, and everyone else leaves him alone instead of punishing him for all the trouble he caused. Instead of finding love and acceptance so he can heal from a lifetime of bullying and loneliness, Nine is allowed to run away, isolating himself from every other living being in the multiverse, and live alone as the god of an empty world with only his own creations as company. Sonic was his only friend, and he's gone forever now.

The Shatterspaces continue existing, but because of the time travel ending, most of the events of the show never happened. Sonic never helped defeat the Chaos Council, so they still control New Yolk City. Nine is back to living in this dystopian city with no friends. He never met Sonic.

The Shatterspaces have been erased. After fighting so hard for his right to exist as his own person and not just a "wrong" version of Tails, when the timeline is altered, he just... stops existing. Along with almost every other character in the show.

Do I even need to explain why these are all unsatisfying?

Misc. thoughts

I skimmed over this, but a lot of the final season is just spent seeing Sonic's friends bicker with the Chaos Council and then Sonic has to beg them to get along to save the universe. It gets old.

We also never really got an explanation for why the Chaos Council exists. They can't have come from other Shatterspaces because there ARE no other Shatterspaces. If the original Eggman was just split into five guys or time travel was involved or whatever, it never comes up. I can live with this, but it seems like an odd omission for a children's show that's constantly bogged down in technobabble explaining the mechanics of its extremely small and finite multiverse.

I have no idea where Shadow was for the first part of the final battle. I figured Nine must have captured him off-screen after Sonic first left the Grim, but Shadow was just... hanging around until his cue in the script, I guess?

Sonic saying "help a brother up" to Shadow was funny

Hipster Eggman pointing to one of the few nameless extras who tagged along for the final battle and going "Who are you? Seriously, does anyone know who this is?" was the only funny thing he did in the entire show

Mangy Tails randomly pressing buttons on the Chaos Council's generator like a curious animal and managing to improve its output was cute

Rusty Rose randomly realizes that the Birdie in her chest actually isn't being used as a power source, and that the Chaos Council was just... using that to manipulate her, somehow? I don't really know how that works but whatever

The Sonic Advance 3 flashback uses the actual boss music from the game, but they can't use the real Sunset Hill theme because they didn't wanna pay Masato Nakamura for using the Green Hill motif, I guess

To my fellow fans of bad games: did you know that Man of Action wrote the story for the bizarre Square Enix game The Quiet Man? The one where the lengthy FMV cutscenes play out with muffled audio and no subtitles because the protagonist is deaf, so you can't tell what's going on? And you had to do a New Game+ playthrough to actually hear the audio and understand what's going on? The worst-reviewed game of 2018? That one? I only learned that recently and it blew me away

So yeah, that's the end of the show. I didn't like it, and I don't think I liked the show much as a whole. I am far from alone in this sentiment, but the reasons why people dislike the show... those vary a bit.

The canon conundrum

More than anything else, it seems like most other discourse surrounding this show has been consumed by one talking point:

How can this be canon? Why is it canon?

I want to state very clearly up front that I, too, am a person who's noticed and complained about the inconsistencies with the games in Sonic Prime. Some of the characters are a bit off - or, you know, completely unrecognizable when discussing the writing of some of the AU counterparts. I think it's lame to say Sonic and friends all live in Green Hill and act like that's the entirety of their world. That sort of thing. But if Sega says it's canon to everything else? Sure. Fine. There's weirder shit in the canon.

Really, most of this can be explained away pretty easily. The show was written at a time when Sega was still figuring shit out and there were looser restrictions. Why does Sonic act a little more immature? Probably just because Prime is aiming for a slightly younger audience than the games or the IDW comics. (And also it's, y'know, written by Man of Action, who people have accused of only knowing how to write one kind of protagonist for years.) Why do Sonic and friends live in Green Hill? Because that's the most recognizable location from the games, and the game world doesn't get enough screentime to justify modeling multiple different environments, so they just focus on Green Hill. Why is this considered canon to the games? Because this is the first Sonic cartoon that outright references events from the games as things that have happened to Sonic in the past.

But announcing early on that Prime would be canon certainly let fans' imaginations wander. It was one of the few things we knew about the show before it premiered. People wondered if characters from the games and comics who had never made any appearances in Sonic cartoons might get their time in the spotlight. We wondered if it would tie into the lore or any existing storylines in interesting ways, like the IDW comics do. But above all else, we hoped that its canon status would mean that Sonic Prime would finally be the Sonic cartoon that was faithful to the source material with no catches. We've literally never seen the actual world of the games brought to life in a TV show. Sonic X came the closest, but that still took its liberties. And so hype built for this Canon Sonic Cartoon.

And then it actually came out, and after a brief intro in Green Hill based loosely on the games, it spent most of its running time focusing on things like "what if there was a version of Eggman who was a bratty teen who just wanted to play video games?" The disappointment among fans is understandable. I am disappointed. Look at how much I've bitched about this aggressively mid cartoon.

Some fans, however, came up with an elaborate theory about the series. You see, when asked about the show's place in the game timeline during a live Q&A, Ian Flynn (who only served as a consultant on Sonic Prime and did not write any of it) said this:

"I cannot answer because I know the answer, and you haven't finished watching the show yet."

A couple days later, when answering another question about Prime's place in the timeline and also about a writing discrepancy, he said this:

"As to where it fits on the timeline, I can't speak to it because that would spoil the show to a degree. So you're just gonna have to wait 'til it's done. Towards the other point, I don't know how much I can say, so it's probably better that I not comment. That's a really dissatisfying answer, I know, I'm sorry, but my hands are kinda tied on that one."

I feel the need to quote Ian directly here, because these very basic statements about how he can't talk about behind the scenes shit or anything from unreleased episodes was GREATLY misinterpreted by the fandom. People clung onto Ian's claim that we had to keep watching like a life preserver. Some took it as Ian saying that the ending would explain everything. Finally, we'd have a definitive answer for every little discrepancy and the apparent differences in worldbuilding. An explanation for why Sega and the producers repeatedly insist this show HAS to be canon.

And to these fans, the only explanation that made any sense... would be if the ending of Sonic Prime pulled a Flashpoint.

As this theory explained, the Sonic we were following in Sonic Prime wasn't the Sonic we know from the games and the IDW comics, and likewise the world he comes from isn't really the game world. This is a different Sonic who fights a different Eggman in a world that's literally just Green Hill. It was a hint that something was off all along! But in the end of the series, this Sonic would sacrifice himself to merge all of the Shatter Spaces together and form a brand new world, and that would be the more visually diverse world of the games and comics. According to this theory, Sonic Prime was canon because it was a new origin story for the entire franchise.

I want you to really stop and think about how asinine of an origin story this would be. Really drink this in. The idea that there was another, slightly different version of Sonic who went on a kinda shitty multiverse adventure and then sacrificed himself to create the real Sonic that we've known since 1991. People convinced themselves this made more sense than the simple explanation that a different team of writers got some stuff wrong and Sega didn't make them change it. Interviews where producers talked about drawing on Sonic's "mythology" (ie: they reference the games in the show) were taken very literally - they must be saying that Prime's story is mythological in nature, and that this show would be integral to the games' mythology. Why bother making a show that's canon if it's not going to be crucial to that canon, after all?

The final episodes dropped, and none of this happened. Because of course it didn't. It was all Sherlock fandom-level copium. But fans were left confused by the lack of a grand reveal of where Sonic Prime fits in the timeline, believing they had been promised this, and they turned to Ian for an explanation. Ian's answer:

It doesn't matter, b/c Prime wipes itself out. It's sometime after Advance 3*, but otherwise, it's moot. I didn't want to sour anyone's expectations or investment by spoiling how Prime resolves, that's all. If you enjoyed it, awesome. Savor it. If you didn't, then you can safely ignore it. Simple as that.

* About a trillion people have um, actually'd Ian to point out Orbot and Cubot briefly appear in the show, but if we're really being pedantic here we don't actually know how long before Colors Eggman built Orbot and Cubot, so it wouldn't be fully accurate to say a story featuring Orbot and Cubot couldn't be set before Colors. Either way, a story set anywhere around Colors, or at any point later than that, could still be described as "sometime after Advance 3." Advance 3 is just the most recent game that has specific in-game events referenced in the show. Yes I can feel myself morphing into the nerd emoji before your very eyes

Anyway, this is the latest reason Ian is getting death threats on Twitter. This time it's over a show he barely even had any input on!

I'll cut to the chase. It is truly wild to me that people are getting this heated over canonical inconsistencies in a series as historically inconsistent as Sonic, to the point that they think threatening Ian is justified. The aesthetics of the entire world Sonic inhabits change every other game. Sonic Chronicles may no longer be canon due to the Penders lawsuits, but it was canon at one point, and it took huge liberties with Sonic's world, moving Green Hill off of South Island and reinterpreting Station Square as a tiny outpost in a snowy alpine forest region. Characters' personalities change from writer to writer and based on what Sega wants at the time, with some being WILDLY different across different games. One game Sonic will be stoic and cool, the next he thinks "Baldy McNosehair" is the funniest thing ever. Sega's STILL trying to figure out what Amy's personality is supposed to be. We still don't have the explanation for how the two seemingly contradictory backstories for Blaze can fit together. There have been multiple huge, sweeping retcons, and retcons to those retcons. Sonic Forces claims that Classic Sonic is from an entirely different universe than Modern Sonic, and the plot only makes any sense if that's true - otherwise, Modern Sonic would have already known Eggman was going to beat him and take over the world when he did, because his younger self had already lived through that war. All of that makes no sense in the newly reunified timeline, but Forces is very much still canon.

For fuck's sake, we're talking about the series where Eggman blew up half the moon and then it looked completely normal in every other game after, explained away as "the moon just rotated so we can't see the destroyed side from Earth." This has never, ever, ever been a franchise where everything lines up perfectly with no issues. It's not that serious.

The real core problem with Prime isn't that things don't line up 100% with our current understanding of canon, or that Sonic's characterization means this can't be the real Sonic, or anything like that. The problem, as I've been saying this whole time, is that the story is bad. None of these discrepancies would truly matter if the story was better. They'd just be nitpicks. The fact that Sonic and friends live in Green Hill would be the farthest thing from my mind if the drama was more engaging, if the villains were better, if the jokes were actually funny, if more of the alternate universe counterparts of Sonic's friends had more than one generic character trait each, if the multiverse was more creative and varied, if the final seven episodes of this show didn't devolve into the third act of an MCU movie and then just arbitrarily end, if Nine's character arc actually had a satisfying conclusion instead of ending with either isolation or nonexistence. Maybe we'd be seeing people talk about more than just whether or not it should be considered canon if the writing was any good.

"Canon" is not real, and it sure as hell isn't worth sending people death threats over. It's a storytelling tool. Real human beings decide what does and doesn't go into that canon, or how much they do or don't want to draw on past stories, when creating a new story. Serving that canon is secondary to creating a story where the emotional truth resonates with the audience. And Sonic Prime failed to do that. That is its true failing.

And finally, to close out...

Since people will ask, here are my current ranking of the Sonic TV shows, now that Prime is finished.

Sonic Boom

Sonic SatAM

Sonic X

The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic Prime

Sonic Underground

Yes, I'd say Boom is my favorite. It's far from my ideal Sonic cartoon, but it gets a lot of points for being as funny as it is. But the top four are all shows I'd say I like, more or less. They all have their pros and cons.

So now, uh... I guess let's hope the live action Knuckles show coming to Paramount+ is better than the underwhelming synopsis of "Knuckles helps deputy sheriff Wade train in the ways of the echidna warrior" would imply? Maybe we'll get lucky?

[nagichi-boop]

So assuming that Sonic 3 will at least partially follow the plot line of Sonic Adventure 2, here are some of my thoughts/predictions about things that will happen in the movie to fit Shadow’s lore into the movie universe;

• In regards to Shadow’s motivation for disliking Sonic, either (a) he resents him for having a human family while his was lost, (b) he thinks Sonic and his friends are stupid for getting close to humans as they are ‘inferior’, or (c) he doesn’t really care about any of that, but just that Sonic gets in his way. • Similar-ish to the last point, but I want Shadow to come to respect the Wachowski’s. Maybe not fully like them, but at least acknowledge they are good people. Whether that happens gradually or after he gets his real memory of Maria’s wish back, I want him to soften a little to them.

• I don’t think Shadow will be adopted into the Wachowski family. Not because they don’t want him, but rather I think he will become a free spirit, similar to how he is in Sonic 06.

• Although in SA2 Amy is the one to talk Shadow into helping stop the ARK hitting earth, I think Sonic could work well as the one to talk him down. He lost family, but he found a new one. He could convince Shadow that not all of humanity is evil. That, or maybe even Tom could talk to him? Who knows. I think Amy would also be a great option to match what happens in the games and I’d love to see that moment recreated, but I worry since we have had no word of her actually appearing in Sonic 3. That and I feel like they’d want the moment to be between Shadow and a ‘main’ character instead, especially with Sonic’s backstory being much different in this universe. • I also think it would be kinda cool if Sonic saved Shadow in space instead of him falling to earth. Not only does this avoid potentially rehashing the whole “I forgot again” storyline that Heroes and ShTH covered, but it also might make him more accepting of Sonic as a friend, or at least someone to respect.

• This is very much wishful thinking, but if Rouge and Omega return (either in this movie or in the future), please please PLEASE let them be a trio again, or at the very least friends. I don’t want any of this “Shadow can’t have friends” nonsense. TMOSTH proves how much more likeable he is when he isn’t just edgy and mean.

I think overall, I just really really hope that if Shadow is kept in the series after the third movie, he becomes an anti-hero instead of a villain. I want that version of Shadow back, not the “I’m edgy and I hate everyone” version. We saw a bit of his older self in TMOSTH and Prime (which I need to catch up on), so it gives me a little hope that Shadow in the movie will be more like his old self. And as a side note, I hope he’s like that in Sonic x Shadow Generations. Given its rehashing his backstory, maybe that’s a sign that he will be written to be like his previous characterisation? Who knows. A girl can only dream.

[redpenship]

Hello, hi, I have covid rn and so eepy but like this idea just came to me. You know how Eggman and other villain often call sonic a rat or other animals than a hedgehog right? What if like, intentionally miss identifying a mobian species is like the equivalent of a slur to them?

I’ve been stuck rotating this in my head for hours, now you get to have it too

Anyway love your stuff bye

Hello, I'm sorry that you're sick! I hope your case of covid isn't too terrible.

(Note: I am ignoring all the Archie Overlander stuff because I haven't read it yet).

Ultimately, I think the answer to this question depends on how entangled a character's identity is with their species. How much does Sonic care about being a hedgehog? Does it impact his decisions? Does he feel that it might impact how people perceive him? Historically speaking, has the misidentification of mobian species led to problems or discrimination? Is there a reason for Sonic to actually care when someone calls him a rat/rodent/other animal?

In the canon world, my inclination is to believe that it isn't something Sonic really cares about. His species is pretty important, since people call him a hedgehog all the time and it's usually one of the first things they notice about him, but there isn't really any bias displayed against hedgehogs (whether positive or negative) whenever someone comments on his appearance. The same goes for all the other mobian characters. So, I generally don't think he has reason to take offence when someone calls him a rat or rodent.

That doesn't mean Sonic never cares. Although the cartoon's standing in canon is questionable, Sonic does get annoyed in Sonic Prime when the Chaos Council refuses to identify him as a hedgehog for the duration of his capture. Now, there are two significant pieces of context there: 1) he's their prisoner in the moment and subject to immediate power imbalance, and 2) this particular dimension is one in which five humans rule over and oppress their animal/Mobian subjects. There are no other humans to compare the conditions of Mobians to, so whether or not the Chaos Council treats the Mobians like that because they're Mobians is kind of up in the air. You can take the fact that everyone wears clothes as evidence for their oppression being species-specific, and I think the way they treated both Nine and Sonic while they were captured also provides support for the species-specific take on everything. So, in this case, Sonic may have been flustered by the consistent misidentification of his species because it reflected unequal conditions seen in the world.

A similar instance I remember is Sonic's reaction when Chris offers him cat food in Sonic X--he gets kind of pissed and almost leaves. He may have just been upset that someone was offering him what is clearly pet food, but I'll take it as an example of Sonic being offended anyways. (Sonic X isn't canon either, but shows and movies outside of canon do allow writers to explore the characters in ways they can't in the games/comics, so I like citing them as fun hypotheticals sometimes).

Both of these examples might point to a more nuanced answer: Sonic doesn't care when Eggman refuses to call him a hedgehog, but he does care when other humans do it. His difference in attitude can be explained pretty easily: he holds the balance of power in his relationship with Eggman, but not with the other humans in Prime or X (Chris had just saved him from drowning, and he also wasn't allowed to run around as he pleased unless he wanted to be chased by cops again). So, if the context of being called a rodent allows for him to perceive it as dehumanizing, he might actually be bothered by it. It all depends on the power dynamics at play.

In true canon, I don't think there's any reason to believe that humans are prejudiced against Mobians. Eggman's attempts to dehumanize Sonic by comparing him to rats and non-sapient animals probably just make him look kind of goofy, or at the very least the kind of goofy you might associate with witnessing someone being genuinely hateful towards, say, Italian-Americans in 2023. Like, what? That's stupid. You're a weirdo, grandpa.

If you're a "humans are prejudiced against Mobians" truther, then I think there's a pretty high chance that Sonic would be offended by this kind of name-calling. This is especially true if there's any historical basis for humans deliberately associating mobians with "animals" as a way to flex power, alleged higher intelligence, or the supremacy of sophisticated human civilization.

My personal take on canon disagrees, but that's because I'm not the biggest fan of explicit fantasy racism and kind of go out of my way to downplay it even in fics where there are human-mobian tensions. I actually had a lot of fun playing with tropes in Buzzsaw Dilemma by having Mobians associate themselves with animals, or by refusing to have any of the human characters Tails interacts with do or say anything genuinely discriminatory. Not that this really matters in regards to the question at hand.

So, to summarize, I think the answer to your question depends on your interpretation of canon! If you think humans hold some kind of power over Mobians, then sure, Sonic would probably dislike being called a rat or rodent. If you don't, then I don't think he would really care that much.

[tenebraevesper]

Addressing those who are reading Sonic Cyber Revolution (Sonic the Hedgehog AU Story)

While the cast of characters for my Sonic Cyber Revolution is quite large, I've managed to introduce most of the important Sonic characters, with several more coming up in future chapters. This left me wondering whether those who read my story want to see any specific characters that I haven't introduced or even mentioned yet, but fit under the conditions that I have set.

As a reminder, the current cast of characters looks like this (not counting the OCs):

Main Protagonists

Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles ''Tails'' Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, Amy Rose, Silver the Hedgehog, Shadow the Hedgehog

Main Antagonists

Dr. Ivo ''Eggman'' Robotnik, Metal Sonic, Dr. Starline, Mephiles the Dark

Supporting Cast

Big the Cat & Froggy, Rouge the Bat, Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow & Storm the Albatros (aka The Babylon Rogues), Blaze the Cat, Orbot & Cubot, Honey the Cat, Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon & Charmy Bee (aka Team Chaotix)

Upcoming Characters

E-123 Omega (aka Team Dark w/Shadow & Rouge), Cream the Rabbit, Cheese the Chao, Vanilla the Rabbit, Chocola the Chao, Marine the Raccoon, Surge the Tenrec, Kitsunami ''Kit'' the Fennec, Sage the A.I., Black Doom & the Black Arms, Eclipse the Darkling, Infinite the Jackal

I know well that there are way more characters in the Sonic Universe and I'm sure that you guys have some of your favorites that you would want to be featured in some way.

My conditions for character suggestions consists of:

*The character must have been featured in the mainline Sonic media, such as the video games, comics or cartoons. NO OCs!!!

*The Sonic media in question consists of the canon Sonic video games (meaning Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood is out of the question as it is not canon), Sonic IDW comics, Sonic movies or the Sonic cartoons (specifically the Sonic OVA, Sonic X, Sonic Boom & Sonic Prime).

*The characters from the following Sonic media WON'T be accepted: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sonic SatAM, Sonic Underground, Sonic the Comic, Sonic Archie comics.

*Yes, that means that the Freedom Fighters won't be featured in the story. No, I won't reconsider this decision. I'm sorry to those who got their hopes up.

*I do regret not adding Scourge the Hedgehog and Shard the Metal Sonic from the Sonic Archie comics, tho. As well as the evil Super Sonic from Sonic the Comic.

*But, isn't Eclipse the Darkling a Sonic Archie comics original character? Why is he going to appear and not the others?

*Eclipse the Darkling is the sole exception to this rule due to his nature as a member of the Black Arms, meaning that he will make his appearance when I adapt Shadow the Hedgehog (2005).

*Take note that this is a Sonic AU, meaning that the characters will have familiar, but very different backgrounds from their canon selves.

*Both Classic Era and Modern Era characters are free game, as noted by the appearance of Honey the Cat. The main cast, as listed above, appear as their Modern selves.

You can leave your suggestions below in the replies.

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[inkedkoi]

Bingo Card: Part Six

Continuation of "Hold On To “What If”: Overanalyzing and Rewriting Sonic Prime" essay

[Once Again, spoilers for Sonic Prime, all media here belong to their respective creators.]

✨//🌻//✨

And now, we’ve come along to the last row, the one most of you are waiting for:

My Ending Predictions!!!

As anyone has done, I was theorizing how the show would end. These endings may seem pretty vague because 1) I'm not a show writer, and 2) I wanted to get a bingo. I had plenty of interpretations but when I wanted to put them onto my bingo card, I decided to categorize them into one of the five general endings:

The “Tech” Ending

Sonic had a huge impact on every one of the group's world, back once again to the "Shatterspaces could be what each character needs to be" in the Connections section. I think it would be great if he gave one of the four tech accessories to each important character since he no longer needs them. It could be a nod to Sonic's character in general that he kept the gifts given by the friends he made from his adventures, like Sonic Unleashed. It's literally the biggest aspect of his character, that he really cares about his friends. LIke I said, since he has four, he could get give one to every group from each world (that has living Mobians, of course).

One to Kraken crew for the lesson of loyalty,

One to the Boscage Gang for the lesson of trust,

One to Nine for the lesson of hope and perseverance

and Sonic keeps the last one, to remember the journey they had together

Label: "N/A": nope, those pieces just went "poof" (I'm fine, I'm not crying I swear)

The “Chosen One” Ending

Time for different interpretations of this ending:

1) What if the Shatterverse already existed before the Shattering (refer back to Prism has been broken before cycle box if needed) and Sonic was chosen to solve the issues each world has? Which in turn, would that mean that Sonic was destined to cause the Shattering?

2) Sonic is the only one able to travel between worlds after he returns to Green Hill, so he's able to reunite with everyone.

Label "N/A": Not even close...

The “Baymax” Ending

We literally only had Chaos Sonic for like one episode, S2 EP6 (no, his appearance at the end of the previous episode doesn't count). Personally, I love Chaos Sonic, he's just a silly guy :)

listen i just enjoy silly little guys

I wanted to connect this to the Sonic look-alikes theory, that once Sonic makes it to Green Hill, his look-alikes would appear. Each one would have the "purpose" that is connected to the world. Since the Council did have Chaos Sonic's body and with the Rebellion winning over, I would like to think that Nine would find Chaos Sonic out of the rumble left behind. (I do hope Nine does go back to New Yoke.)

Just like in the Big Hero 6 movie, Nine may be motivated by how much he missed Sonic and could try to reprogram Chaos Sonic to be more like the hedgehog he knows. A hero who gave everyone hope. Plus, if the Sonic look-alike theory is true, we don't need to come up with a New Yoke look-alike from scratch, the Prism already gave us one.

Label "N/A": Chaos Sonic, you shall be missed. RIP to you king 🕊️

The “Canon” Ending

We got a sort of news that the show fits within the canon timeline of the Sonic franchise. From what I think, I really don't mind if the show is canon, the show is alright on its own. Plus, it could just be an alternate universe thing, kind of like Sonic Underground (triplets born, the throne awaits).

Label "X": This one is a bit iffy because it's kind of confirmed and it's kind of not. Not to mention the fans arguing about this. So in the end, I decided to interpret it as "possibility for multiverse shenanigans". Giant question mark there.

The “Forgotten” Ending

I had a few interpretations for this ending:

1) You know how in time travel movies they say "you can't meet your past/future self or all the universe will collapse" and when it did happen, they sometimes merge to become one. Yeah, that's what I imagined it to be. When there was the "each of the OG cast's personalities split up into the look-alikes for each world" theory, I think rebuilding the Prism would connect them all back to the OG cast. As much as I don't want it to be true, this is what I imagine would happen it was. Anyway, all the look-alikes would merge together to be the OG cast, and therefore the existence of the look-alikes would be forgotten. I really hope it isn't this one because it would be really depressing if it was.

2) When Sonic and Shadow return to Green Hill, none of the OG cast have any recollection of what happened after the Shattering.

3) Related to #2, it would be devasting if Sonic and Shadow didn't remember anything about it either. Then again, it could explain the legends thing I was talking about in my Prism has been broken before box, the fact that Sonic could be the one starting every cycle but when he ends it, no one can remember. But maybe, in between cycles, he or someone else has it recorded in some way for Rouge to find this information about the Prism.

4) Ok, technically this isn't an interpretation, it's more me not believing in the higher-ups. I'm not blaming everyone in the crew, but just like in any show, some don't care about the show or the fans. And unfortunately, they are the ones with the most control over the project. After I finished season two, I've been listening to review videos while I draw, getting second opinions over what the fans think. Not every project is perfect, that I understand. But a good project, at least what I think, is good because the crew acknowledges the fans and has such a passion for working on the project. From what I heard, the viewers wanted a satisfying ending, just as I do. But I don't trust a 100% that it will end the way we expect it to.

Label "X": I was right on #2 and 4, the OG cast even noticed a change in Sonic's behavior. And of course, the ending we got was very abrupt and it's likely a last-minute decision to go with it. I'm sure there are people in the crew who wished it ended better. That's why fans have the power to rewrite.

(Yeah, this is a short post compared to the rest but this will be very important later in the Rewrite)

To be continued...

Previous Part || Next Part || Masterpost

[prowerprojects]

I feel like this is a growing side effect of fans being starved from Tails being the non-action tech guy for so long to where Forces caused a boiling point for so many, some are latching onto Nine or IDW in spite of it. (I argue Tails got drowned out often even back then when characters like Shadow, Silver, and Blaze were a huge talking point back in the 2000s. But still in good standing before Unleashed and Colors.)

While I'm glad the movie and Prime made Tails in general a big talking point again; more positively this time, I am mixed on it coming at the expense of his Modern self. MOSTH and Modern being playable again later in Frontiers is a start, but he's probably not going to really shake this off until he goes solo for a bit in a upfront way. (That, and having more interactions outside of Sonic to show off more of his character. Love their bond, don't love how fans treat it so one-sided when discussing it.)

Anon, you're probably right.

(Though I don't really see what is there to latch onto in idw, he doesn't really do much? I wouldn't even say his characterization is bad, it's just that he kinda. Exists around. I see people hype up idw Tails and I'm like. Wow no wonder people think he's boring and lame if this is what passes for good Tails representation)

The thing with Unleashed and Colors is interesting, because I feel like the characters who had good early portrayals (the aforementioned Blaze, Shadow and Silver) but hadn't appeared since are still remembered as competent and cool characters because this characterization is still fresh in people's minds even though it was so long ago, while due to Tails having more appearances he's more remembered for the more recent ones... (and probably there's a part of "Why can't my supercool fave be in this game, why is Tails here, he's lame!")

I feel there's also the thing that all of those characters had very... impressive introductions. No matter how bad the writing for Shadow gets people can go back to his introductory game and remember what he was invisioned to be as a character, etc.

But Tails's backstory is all in the manual. He even has a little character arc (seeing Sonic, becoming more optimistic and learning to fly/run fast enough to keep up with Sonic, meeting Sonic for the first time and following him into battle), and it's not only only in the manual, it happens before the events of the game itself. Even Knuckles has more of a character arc/involvement in his introductory game plot. (This is how we ended up with early adaptations where Tails thinks that math is yucky and hard despite canon Tails literally being an engineer) Tails just. Doesn't get to make the same impression, and never will, because he's a 30+ old character and that ship has sailed. (And it's ironic to see how people latched onto Nine since he's technically having the same arc, it's just like you know... Show, don't tell. It really works. (And also he's angsty, that helps too))

Yeah... I love people being excited about versions of Tails from adaptations, but it really brings me down when people use them to talk shit about mainline Tails. You know what this reminds me of? When there's a new Scooby Doo adaptation and everyone is like "Finally they fixed Daphne so she's competent and isn't a damsel in distress anymore". And it's like. Do you know anything about Daphne. And. Why are you giving credit to the adaptation for doing something that has always been a thing?

I'm not expecting Frontiers to break through Tails's public image either, but I hope he at least has an enjoyable gameplay so people could be like "Wow that was fun! I wish Sega would make even more games where you could play as Tails!" :3c And then maybe we could get this "solo adventure".

(Though the way it's worded in Frontiers it's more of a "Tails is going to the mountains to train" than "Tails is becoming a solo operation". Like he clearly just wants to get "stronger"(in a broad sense of the word. Though personally I think what he actually needs is to stop basing his self worth on his usefulness and Sonic's opinions. Ironically if he was more like Sonic in this way he would be happier) and is expecting to get back to Sonic at some point. I could live with this though, I don't mind it at all as long as he's actually treated as Sonic's partner afterwards rather than a cute accessory that Sonic talks to so he doesn't look weird talking to the broken robots.)

I love tmosth! Ian Sr is such a good writer, honestly I don't know about his abilities to write a cool adventure plot, but he has the character voices nailed down! (Except for maybe kleptomania jokes with Rouge) But Tails was so good! He was basically a co-protag with Barry (they had a very cute dynamic), we saw him interacting with other characters who aren't Sonic (honestly he and Sonic barely interact with each other there at all), he took charge of the investigation and got to show off his smarts beyond "I fix this broken thing like it's magic"(Though he did that as well!), and he was still shown to be insecure and childish at times, it's just *clenches fist* so good.

Sorry had to take a break to gush, this post was becoming too negative ahaha. Ok back to it.

The Unbreakable Bond thing. Yeah... I also love their relationship, but the fact that Tails doesn't really have developed relationships with the rest of the cast makes him feel very isolated and like his life revolves around Sonic. Even Amy and Knuckles, whose most developed relationships are with Sonic as well, have other characters that they interact with without Sonic being involved, (or at least used to interact with), like Rouge or Cream. Who does Tails have? Professor Pickle? Barry? Please. Tails is getting suffocated by the soulmate bond.

(And I don't love to criticize how other fans engage with the franchise because I also have my silly headcanons and interpretations. Like. I literally hc Tails as nonbinary which he isn't, in canon, as far as I'm aware. But. Yeah sometimes it feels like people are more into the idea of Sonic having a little brother that he can dote on. Rather than, you know. Sonic & Tails's actual relationship. Like I literally saw someone say (genuinely as far as I could guess) "Sonic sacrificed so much to raise Tails" and like. Ok. It's time to step back a little and look at the actual canon content. Sonic didn't even know where Tails's house was in sa1, what exactly is he sacrificing with such attentive parenting I wonder. But I do also love cute brotherly bonding stuff so. (One of the reasons why I love aosth so much, though there are other reasons as well. Also while I'm complaining, nobody understands the "Mom, Dad and the Picket Fence" thing.))

Sorry if this post got a big edgy at times, sometimes I start going and slip into it a little bit, even though I'm generally trying not to complain too much about the stuff I don't like and instead focus on the things I do.

[sonicjustbecause]

Finally I hear Shadow with Raffaeli's voice (Sonic Boom)

About Italian voices)

Daniele Raffaeli is one of my favorite Italian VA for Sonic, alongside Renato Novara. His Sonic is not as soft spoken as Novara's, but he got a really cute voice, Sonic truly sounds like a teen when dubbed by him. He also dubs Shadow.

What to say? The stile is different (more aggressive) but the voice still sounds youthful. I think it suits Shadow very well. Despite being ageless and immortal, Shadow is biologically a little more than a cub. If I give him a cat age, he should be like a one year old cat (I don't know how hedgehogs age). The voice is approved.

Originally Sonic and Shadow had very similar sounding voice, although the two VA were two different people. When Sonic talked softly with Ryan's voice, sometimes he just sounded like Shadow. The advantage in having two different VA is that each of them can focus on his character alone. For Sonic and Shadow who are virtually identical there is this exceptaction that they should also sound the same, so although you remember they have different speech pattern, you still hear a bit of Sonic in Shadow and a bit of Shadow in Sonic. This work better with two different VA with a similar voice since one can be fully Sonic and the other can be fully Shadow.

In Italy Vidale (Sonic X) made them talk the same. Raffaele (unconscious I think) , made Shadow sound a little bit like Sonic, just with slight more growl.

In Sonic Prime Sonic and Shadow got two different VA (the very same from videogames and movie), with vastly different voices.

Now about the character himself: Boom Shadow is the worst Shadow around. Is incredible that, depending from the media, the story or the single game, Shadow can be either one of the best (example: SA2) or absolutely the worst of all (example: Boom). But he is also ridiculed by those around him: 'He is so uncool, i was like him in the past and i was uncool!' things like that. He bears some resemblance with IDW Shadow also in term of intelligence, I wonder if he does not care or he just doesn't realize people around him sees him as a joke. That are the damages mandates do.

Shadow usually is quite melancholic. In some media more than others. Boom Shadow basically appears to be happy overall (he is always smiling if nobody is around), probably victim of his own ego, but he is also unlikeable. He thinks to be almighty and treat the others as lesser being.

[mythicaldemigoddess-of-deltarune]

Sage Prime AU: Rusty Rose Found A Small & Cute Anomaly

--------------

Credit for Sonic The Hedgehog goes to Sega

Credit for Sonic Prime Series goes to Sega & Netflix

-----------------

not sure if anyone else had this type of Crossover AU idea, but if there was a Crossover AU that has to do with Sonic Frontiers & Sonic Prime, it would be called Sage Prime.

like picture Sonic still ending up in the same situation, along with Shadow being in the same situation, but instead of Sonic ending up in New Yoke along, he ends up there with Sage.

January 19th will be the Crossover AU known as Sage Prime’s Birthday.

I think Sage’s first thoughts would be when she sees The Chaos Council,

would be “Father, why are you wearing a wig....? and appears you have cloned yourself as well.....”

but like instead of keeping the thoughts inside her head, she says them out loud for everyone in the room to hear.

this would also be my first fan art of Rusty Rose, I hope I did okay drawing her.

I can’t help but think that Shadow Figure that was talking to Rusty, might not be Mister Doctor Eggman (I’m still calling him by the nickname Megan.)

because the voice sounds different and the hair style seems different as well, my Fan Headcanon and theory is that could be The Egg-Emperor that is the boss of The Chaos Council.

well either that, or The Real Egg-Emperor’s right-hand man, and it could turn out that Doctor Eggman, the original did survive and didn’t have himself shatter into multiple counterparts, and had ended up cloning himself, and creating The Chaos Council and The Mysterious Shadow Figure Eggman (who I don’t think is “Megan” and might be a different version of Eggman.)

plus Eggman surviving what happen to Sonic’s original world, would explain why we don’t see any versions of Eggman in the Pirate and Jungle Worlds.  

plus both him and Sonic were the closes to The Paradox Prism, so in theory if The Original versions of Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Rouge were a little bit closer to the paradox prism like Sonic and Eggman were, they wouldn’t of shattered into multiple counterpart versions of themselves.

I do have a theory about Sonic from the Sonic Prime series, being The True Sonic Prime, while the Archie version wasn’t and was like a Subprime, like even if Sonic (from Sonic Prime) had his original world shattered, new reality and worlds are still being born and brought into existence.

like the Zone Cops, like Zonic, mistakenly thought that Sonic from the Mobius Subprime, was from Mobius Prime but it turns out after every zone and person who was erased from the original timeline and had regenerated in the Fanon Timeline-stream, and this would end up having all the Zone Cops being regenerated as well, they would then find out that the Sonic that they thought was the Prime-Sonic, turning out to be NOT the real Prime-Sonic at all.

and he was Subprime-Sonic, I am fan headcanoning that, because it makes sense that Sonic from the new Sonic Prime show, is the True Prime-Sonic and the one from the Archie Comic series, turning out not to be the true Prime-Sonic at all.

I did write the theory about it, but I don’t think I have posted it yet...

plus if Evil-Sonic and Scourge were made into separate characters, and rewriting Scourge’s history where he was born with green fur and blue eyes, and is biologically related to Uncle Chuck.

and you know, I like the idea that Sonic’s middle name would still be Maurice.

Tom, Maddie and Sonic being like a Family, is like “I Fam It”

and picture if Tom or Maddie use Sonic’s full name, which would be like

“Sonic Maurice Wachowski The Hedgehog!”

and if Queen Aleena was Mainstream canon and not semi-canon, then she could co-parent Sonic (as well as Sonia and Manic), and be friends with Tom and Maddie.

which such a idea might only happen in Fanon.

when the Sonic Movie 3 comes, I hope they use the words “Sonic Maurice Wachowski The Hedgehog” in it, well even if they don’t, it can always be used in the Fanon.

if Sage had a middle name given to her by Eggman, I like the idea that the middle name he gives her, would be to honor someone who is not with them anymore.

and that someone being Maria Robotnik, so Sage’s full name would be

Sage Maria Robotnik, that be interesting if that was used in the Crossover AU that is called Sage Prime.

Sage does appear to be the same age as Bowser Jr., and it be cute if they became best friends, if those two ever became like “boyfriend & girlfriend”

I still think they would just hold hands, and just play together, like Bowser Jr. pushing Sage on a swing, and even playing video games together.

 in a parody of “All-American Girl” by Carrie Underwood, it would have the words be “since the day, Eggman tried to create his Eggman Empire, he been hoping to make the perfect son to be his successor.”

“they would take him conquering the Green Hill, throw the Blue Hedgehog into the lake, and be his greatest creation ever.”

“but the moment when Sage came into being, all those big dreams changed.”

“now Eggman’s wrapped around Sage’s little finger.”

of course the part in the song that says 16 years later, the football star would be Bowser Jr in the parody version.

if Frisk x Monster Kid can be cutely ship together, then so can Bowser Jr. x Sage.

anyway, I hope some like this crossover drawing that has to do with Sage from Sonic Frontiers and Rusy Rose from Sonic Prime.

 a Crossover AU between the Sonic Frontiers Game & Sonic Prime Show,

just seem like a interesting idea, and if Sage did end up in the same situation as Sonic, she might end up meeting Rusty Rose first in New Yoke before meeting up with Sonic.

we know that Doctor Babble is a baby and seems to have a bit of a temper, like if he was going through the terrible two’s a bit too early.

Sage could be the only one to calm him down, like her acting as a “big sister” to him and soothing him into taking a nap.

Sonic might call her the “Baby Whisperer”, that would be funny and cute. XD

picture Doctor Deep wanting to throw Mister Doctor Eggman a baby shower after Sage calls him “Father”, because she mistakes him being The Original Mainstream Eggman who is her Father/Creator.                        

and Doctor Done-it being, well, the funny Grandpa he is, he might say something like “About Time You Gave Me A Grandchild!”

which would then end up having Mister Doctor Eggman yelling “like I told that blue hedgehog, we are NOT a family!”

but even if he says their not, he could of fooled the fans, who some of the fans of the new show, already view The Chaos Council as a Family.

Doctor Don’t aka “Donny” and Doctor Babble would be like the sons of the family, and Doctor Done-It would be like the Grandpa.

I still think it might be possible that the Original Eggman did survive and didn’t break into multiple counterparts when the Paradox Prism shattered.

and in theory, when he did survive, he might of found himself in the Green Hill that would later be made into New Yoke, and without Sonic around, he could make his dream come true, and even cloned himself to help run New Yoke.

it be surprising if that theory turns out to be true, like how that one guy had accidentally predicted that Kris would eat all the pie in the Deltarune game.

which once again, I don’t think Kris did that until after they had sneak out of the house and broke into the library and made a dark fountain and then they went back home and used the knife to use on the pie, well either that or it turning out that when Kris had sneak out to breaking to the library, they left the door open and Susie was passing by and she smelled the pie and was the one who ate all the pie instead of Kris, who didn’t get the chance to eat all of, and there could of been only one slice left.

it be funny if Mom-bot from Sonic Boom, viewed not just Sage as her Grandchild, but also viewed Doctor Don’t and Doctor Babble as her Grandchildren as well.

and like how she views Morpho as her other son and him being Eggman’s brother, she might view Doctor Deep and Mister Doctor Eggman as her sons as well. it be funny if Mom-bot got on to Mister Doctor Eggman if he started to “pick on” his “Baby Brother” Doctor Deep, like this being at the dinner table.

and if Sonic had the same problem with his shoes after what happen to the Paradox Prism, The Original Eggman could of had the same problem and had to make a device to stable his energy, and if Orbot and Cubot were close enough to the Paradox Prism as he was, then they could of survived as well and Eggman might of had to make devices to help stable their energies as well.

if Sage had started to show any signs of being unstable, I guess she could be given a type of stabling device as well, that looks like a hair-clip.

anyway, maybe I will draw more of this “Sage Prime AU” idea again sometime.

I did my best to make Sage have a cute confused look on her face, but I guess it might be hard to tell if that is a confused look she has on her face.                  

I do think I may have drew Rusty’s emotionless face perfectly though.

 also if Sonic did end up having a crush on Rusty Rose, even if it is just in Fanon, would that make him a Simp...?

I wonder if Eggman would simp for Lady Dimitrescu...?

like even if it would just be in fanon, and it be funny if Eggman’s daughter called him out on it.

like Eggman could be holding Sage in his arms, and she sees the way he is looking at Lady Dimitrescu and says “Father, you are simping.”

if there was a question I could ask any of the Sonic Characters from Sonic Twitter Takeover on Twitter and even shows on Youtube, which I don’t really have a Twitter Account, and I know I was thinking about it before, but because of certain reasons, I don’t want to make one right now....even if there are good people over at Twitter, but I have my reasons.

anyway if I had to ask Eggman a question, it would be this...

“Doctor Eggman, are you a Simp for Lady Alcina Dimitrescu...?” 

 but then that type of question might not be possible to be answered.

 I wonder if the reason why so many fans have started to simp for her, might have to do with her being really tall and those who do simp for her in a hardcore way, might have a Goddess Complex, I know that the whole Goddess Complex might not really be a real complex, but like instead it meaning a literal Goddess, it would mean that those who simp would view the object of their simping as a “Goddess figure” even if she isn’t really one.

that could be one of the ways to explain the “Goddess Complex”...

I think that Lady Alcina Dimitrescu from The Biohazard/Resident Evil series, is a interesting character, but I don’t simp for her.

I may have simp a little for Karl Heisenburg, and might still have a small crush on him, but I guess I could have some form of simp-flux moments.

I still have no interest in forming romantic relationships with real humans, and not just because I am Aroaceflux, it has to do with a few reasons that make them unattractive...which I might talk a little bit more about in another post.

my being Aroaceflux and the things that I find unattractive in other humans (well the Toxic-Humans, really...) are separate.

 anyway, when I can, I might draw more Sage Prime.

 if be funny if in a Crossover between Sonic and Deltarune, Queen exclaims that Sage is her daughter now, and she takes off running and Eggman goes after her to try to get his daughter back from Queen.

Sage is just so adorable, and we know that Eggman is wrapped around her little finger and she could be the future Empress of the Eggman Empire when Eggman retires for all we know. XD                                                            

[yakkyrwhackr]

I really like how recent Sonic media has been fixing up the characterization of Sonic characters who have been written poorly in the modern era.

• IDW made Eggman a villain that wasn't just a goofy punching bag

• Frontiers called out Tails' inconsistency and appears to set up the path for him to fix that

• Sonic Movie 2 made Knuckles competent, but naive like he always was, instead of just being a strong dumbass

• Prime made Shadow more than just an edgelord

I really hope Sonic media keeps doing this because it feels so nice to see characters actually feel like themselves

[magnetothehedgehog]

Dimension’s Ridge Announcement!

Hi everyone, With all the rise in Sonic media and the great releases coming up, such as The New sonic game in 2022,the sonic movie 2, sonic prime, and literally anything Idw has been releasing including their new side series “Imposter syndrome”, I am challenged to up my game and release information on my long running project in the works. Especially Since sonic prime and Idw is literally gonna blow out all the spoilers before I do if I don't start releasing stuff first. Since its been happening constantly, I gotta be a step ahead.

So, without further ado, I introduce you to the World of Dimension's Ridge.

Dimensions Ridge is My personal Alternate Universe that seeks to combine all aspects of sonic media. In fact, its super similar to the upcoming Sonic prime, archie and Idw Comics in this regard, with it possibly being a bit more ambitious, or at least equally as ambitious as Idw.

The Series will follow a number of favorite canon and non canon characters alike, but will also their universal counterparts and alternate universe selves.

The Main overarching plot line is that a Existence level Threat is putting everything in jepoardy. This Creature Known as an Existence Eater spreads its influence to a planet by releasing its minions into it, then after enough time, it comes to absorb the planet, thus erasing it from existence entirely, as if it had never been there in the first place. This has been happening for quite a while, until a few people caught onto it. They began leaving messages and warnings to others in a attempt to save them.

Being an existence level threat, this will take the combined effort of every Version of Sonic,Tails,Sally, Eggman and everyone else if they want anything to be left in the multi-verse. This Story is about how they all come together to do just that.

However that is the main plot. The story follows many minor or sub plotlines and stories that all connect and weave into this ultimate narrative. For Stories featuring Sonic and friends, Stories start off in the classic area and work their way into the modern area as the characters develop and mature, so we get to see and live their journey alongside them. For older characters and parents, I wanted them to have a  more staple involvement in the series, even if only at the beginning. Their Adventures as the World slowly slips into chaos can be read in War on Mobius.

While there are Prequels to the beginning of the story, such as the “Rift War.”, the main storylines that kicks off all the other starts is one of my current productions “War on Mobius.”This follows the economical and political collapse following the Recent End of The Rift War and begins the Egg Empire's rise to Power.I would like to mention that The Egg Empire Now consists of the collective versions of Eggman all working together as a family. Egg Fam for short. But we have Great additions such as boom eggman, Ova Eggman, Aosth Eggman, Satam Eggman, Russian Eggman,Eggette, and a few custom additions such as Omelette and Scramble.

Things That happen in War on Mobius will be seen effecting or influencing the states of things in my Classic Era Story “Classic adventures.” and others ones such as “The Freedom Fighters.”

Alongside canon appearances of less known or scrapped characters and designs, such as Tiara and Honey the Cat, Readers can expect appearances of my own characters, both as counterparts to main characters, and also as people who drive the story forward and show interesting and dynamic opinions of their changing world. A few Such ones would be “Tribal Ties” Focusing on the Tribes of Echidnas, Bayblonians and Pangolins Tribes, all of which play a part not only in Mobius history, but also will play a vital part in its future.

After Classic adventures, comes one of my long running claims to fame and a personal favorite of mine from my early script writing days. Zone Runners. This takes place after the Events of Classic adventures and as the world has been influenced by the political unrest in War on Mobius. It follows the Group of People on the East Side of the World as they try to fight back against the Egg Empire, Newly risen Oscillators Group, and The Very lack of Sonic and Freedom Fighter there. This series will also begin unraveling some of the mysteries behind the existence eater and the ultimate narrative. Originally this concept came from the Fleetway comics, and ever since I've been completely inspired to incorporate this into my own series. If anyone was ever on Sonic Amino, they might have seen me post things related to it back in the day.

I also wish to be a more character focused series as a whole, one who focuses on the people collectively as opposed to just Sonic himself. I want it to as if each character us actually a main character and can save the day, and that the day is only won because everyone has done their part, whether powerful or powerless.

To that End, I have many characters stories intertwine, or lead to one another. Some characters will have branching off stories, while others will be closely intertwined, and always interact with each other, regardless of who the story is currently focusing on.

A few I'd like to notable mention is, Shadow's Ark, Silvers Sanctuary, and Heir of Sol. Focusing on the characters Shadow, Silver, And Blaze Respectively.

While I have a lot of other Titles for the stories respectively, I'd just to touch on a few more before I close.

Worlds collide finally answers the question in sonic media about two planets and the dimensional connundrum of sonic rush and sonic 06. While also bringing together multiple characters who were on their own paths, for the collected purpose of setting up how everyone will be needed much later.

Dimension Forces is, a reimagined Version of Sonic Forces, including a whole new team of villains to take on the heroes from our prior stories. I call them: Forever Force. The Main Three Hitters Being the Villains Infinite, Eternity, And Enigma. In this Story we'll get to see Whispers team in action, and also get to see new stories involving Gadget and His Brother Widget, and a host of other rising heroes soldiers and returning cast members.

I also had this Idea that the wisps were able to use their abilities on their own, except in smaller weaker versions then when they had a mobians help.Thus you could call in drill air strikes and other things to help you in battle, and the flew alongside you rather than in containers. I had these idea way long ago, but what do you know Idw beat me to the punch again in rise of the wisps. However I would just like to say before they do it too, that I had the idea of the wisps combining their powers, as if anyone played Sonic simulator, you would know you can actually combine wisp powers. If its the same type, its twice as strong with a bonus effect. If its different, you can combine the strengths of two different powers. Think how eggman used cube with laser in the boss nega wisp armor.

Speaking of Sonic Simulator! Thats another Story I have plans for. Following alongside the events of Sonic colors, Sonic simulator follows the group of hedgehogs abducted from Mobius and sent to eggman's interstellar amusement park as part of an organic experiment to take out sonic. Suggested by The Leader of the Oscillators, These hedgehogs will now have to work together to prove their worth to Eggman and as worthy adversaries of Sonic! But what of their past memories? What will happen if they remember? And if they do, can they escape? Find out! Also its follow up story leads to sonic lost world.

I'd also like to talk about the Idw Verse Mini series I have been working on! Getting Art from the Talented CatRage and getting to voice my Ideas to My Friends as well as My sister, I present my own Miniseries! Mimic's misadventures!

This story takes place between  the events of Idw's Bad guys, and follows mimic's operations and struggles as he tries to complete his missions, and deal with people of similar caliber to himself. Will this mercenary manipulate his way easily out of another situation? Or has the Octopus finally met the one group who will send him back to the ocean? Find out!

Currently, this miniseries has 5 canon issues and one undecided.

1.Ghost Of The North.

2.Into the Spiders Nest

3.Hunt is on

4.Jaws of a Predator

5.Belly of the Beast

undecided: 6.Seaside Escapade.

Currently I am writing the script for Part 1 of Ghost of the North and hope to finish up the Audio drama reading for it soon.

So this is all the stuff I've had in production for the past few years! Along with my co writer Pinky heart.

Please, Please! Reblog or retweet this. It would mean the world to me. Also please! Ask as many questions as you'd like. I'll answer as many as I can, and would love to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions, as well as questions and inquires involving the series.

[timeagainreviews]

My Series 10 Rewatch: Knock Knock

Hello, my fantastic friends! I am sorry I have been so quiet. I got coronavirus in February and it really wiped out my energy. I am finally starting to bounce back and feel like leaving the house once more. This beautiful Scottish spring we’re having has definitely helped. I also lost my grandpa this week, so I've been all over the place, emotionally. Obviously, such a big pause in the middle of a series 10 rewatch is disruptive, so I would rather just dive back in if it's all the same. When last we were gathered, I was talking about "Thin Ice." Since then, the ice has thawed and I am now up to series 10 episode four- "Knock Knock," by one-time Doctor Who writer Mike Bartlett.

An aspect of Doctor Who which I love about Steven Moffat’s era is that the Doctor and his companions didn’t spend every waking moment of their lives together. Unlike companions of the past, who basically left behind their family lives to galavant across time and space, the companions of the Moffat era had home lives. Not only did this make for some humorous moments, such as the Doctor landing his TARDIS in Clara’s bedroom on date night, it also set up the characters for something of an actual life. "Knock Knock," uses this separation of worlds to establish one of its central themes- can you have a normal life with the Doctor? 

Being a poor student in London, Bill is forced to look for a flat with a group of people she only sort of knows. This is your typical group of students, eclectic and young. The biggest commonality they have is they can’t afford a place on their own. One of the ways in which this makes the episode suffer is that none of them has much chemistry together. However, it does enable Bartlett to explore deeper concepts, such as the fear of meeting new people. Our characters are forced to deal with a deadly situation with people who are basically strangers. 

The other commonality they have is Bill’s mate, Shireen. I got momentarily excited the first time I heard her name, but only because I thought it was going to be Rose’s best mate Shareen. Also, it would mean that Rose and Shareen had like a 10 year age difference, which would be weird. Shireen is a bubbly sort that seems gung-ho about everyone getting on. This doesn’t stop 90% of their interactions from being a total cringefest. Not one of these characters is particularly likeable. Pavel, the musician of the group, and the one character with maybe a bit of culture becomes a wall pretty early on, so it’s a bland time from there on out. But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves. 

After a montage of disappointing flats ("Oh my god, the toilet is is what room?") the gang stands defeated. But like a beacon of light, comes a glimmer of hope in the form of John, a man who clearly prowls the streets for groups of youths. The gang is willing to overlook the obvious stranger danger about John because he has something they need- a giant house at a reasonable price. It’s another one of those deeper concepts being explored here that I think Doctor Who does so well. The show operates well when it preys upon basic fears. In this case, it’s the fear of the creepy landlord. The fear that your home life may be dictated by a creepy man who carries a tuning fork and forbids you to enter certain parts of the house like it’s Beauty and the Beast. 

 Arriving as if to say "No, Bill, you can’t have a normal life," is the Doctor. After using his TARDIS to move her belongings, Bill is quick to send him off. She even foregoes the traditional six-pack of beer and pizza, the universal payment for friends helping one move house. Of course, the moment the Doctor enters the derelict abode, his Time Lord senses are pinging. The Doctor isn't just an embarrassing "grandfather," type, but also a threat to any semblance of a normal life Bill can hope to have. As I said, this is familiar territory in the Moffat era. A funny side effect of the Doctor's attempts at allowing his companions to live normal lives is it only adds to the sharp contrast between both existences. Perhaps this is immersion therapy on the Doctor's behalf. Letting his friend remember what the world is actually like so as to not disassociate her from her own time and place. Or perhaps it is the Doctor softening the blow of eventually losing his friend.

The Doctor leaves long enough for two things to happen. Firstly, Pavel is listening to some music and suddenly is eaten by the house. Nobody seems to notice. Secondly, the new housemates have a bit of a games night for their first night at 11 Cardinal Road. There's no cellphone reception and the house is nowhere near up to code. I applaud them for trying to build up these characters, but it never really gels. Their merriment is cut short after hearing a noise in the kitchen. Scooby-Doo style, Bill leads them to the pantry where she finds the Doctor never actually left. They decide to head to bed, but the Doctor decides he's going to stay up with Felicity and Harry and listen to music. He also reminds Bill to maybe check on Pavel who has not been seen all day.

Now back in the sitting room, the gang is surprised to find John present. He addresses their problems with the amenities and waxes strange about having a daughter to look after. The Doctor asks John who the Prime Minister is, but he is unable to answer. Before they can ask more questions, John disappears down the hallway, but not before sounding his tuning fork against the wood. On her way to bed, Bill has the most cringe conversation with her new housemate, Paul. Paul fancies Bill. Bill fancies girls. I get that they may have wanted a scene where Bill flat out says to the audience that she's gay, but Paul comes off as super creepy. I wouldn't have an issue with this, but I feel like we're meant to find Paul endearing. It's hard for me to place what exactly they were going for in this scene. Paul, mate, you just met her. You just moved in together. Maybe let the paint dry first.

Luckily, like a shot from the dark, the plot saves us from having to stand in the hallway of awkwardness. Paul, having gone to his room, screams. Thinking he's having a laugh, Bill and Shireen go knocking on his door, only to find the return knock sounding across the hallway wall. The house begins to creak and shudder while doors slam shut. It's like something from a haunted house movie. In many ways, it follows a familiar trope from Doctor Who. The house haunted by aliens. We've seen it in "Ghost Light," "Hide," or even Edward Grove from "The Chimes of Midnight." Though I would argue that here, there is less grist for the mill. "Knock Knock," is a more stripped back, simple story. And in that way, I find it begins to lose me as the mystery unravels. 

As the housemates run through the house, trying to escape whatever is happening, they find Pavel in a state of flux. Something about the music on his record player skipping has kept him from being completely absorbed by the house. I will say, this is a great bit of body horror on the makeup department's behalf. Everything about Pavel looks like a guy getting eaten by a wall. As it turns out, the tuning fork and the music have more to do with what's going on as the Doctor discovers the house infested with alien lice known as "Dryads." Using his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor is momentarily able to draw the bugs out from the grain of the wood. The Dryad is not your common woodlouse, as it appears to move through wood like water. Even in my second viewing, I found myself wondering if this is kind of cool or kind of dumb. I vacillate between the two. 

In many ways, this is both Doctor Who's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The surreal nature of a time-travelling police box affords us things like sentient planets, talking chair frogs, and killer mannequins. On the other hand, it gives us farting aliens, gamma radiation in the form of lightning, and the Doctor screaming until a window smashes. I remember reading an Eighth Doctor book where horse people read books on their planet by licking them and tasting the story. Sometimes, Doctor Who is bloody brilliant, and other times, it's bloody embarrassing. But that's partly why I love it. This kind of freedom gives it freshness. One week we get a priest buzzing like a wasp as he talks, the next we get River Song and the Vashta Nerada.

Now, I'm not saying "Knock Knock," is bad, but it is a little dumb. I've already complained about the dopey kids nobody cares about, and the silly aliens that aren't that scary, but the end of this episode is where it really kind of evens itself out. As I said, I vacillate between this being a good and a bad story. We learn that the reason John doesn't want anyone up inside the tower of the house has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with a dark secret. After discovering the unclaimed belongings of previous occupants over the span of decades, the housemates learn that they are just the latest in a long line of people being fed to the house.

I found the motivation of the Dryads a little hard to understand. It seems weird to me that a woodlouse would want to eat people, but here we are. As it turns out, John has found a way to keep his "daughter," Eliza, alive using the Dryads. After noticing they respond to sonic vibrations, John has been using the tuning fork the make them do his bidding. It's a simple arrangement- he feeds students to the Dryads, the Dryads keep Eliza alive as a wooden woman, hidden away in the tower like some forgotten ghost. Once again, the makeup department has done its job. You genuinely believe Eliza is a woman made from wood. I especially like how they used papery twine for her hair.

They do a good job giving reasons why the housemates can't call for help. No wifi, no reception. But it is hard to imagine that over the course of decades, nobody came looking at this giant house for clues of their missing loved ones. Maybe they did and the house ate them as well. All I know is that it's mighty convenient that not one prospective tenant said to their mum or dad "Hey, I'm moving into a giant house at 11 Cardinal Road." Hell, even the Doctor helped move Bill in. What was John's big plan for when the Doctor came around looking for his "granddaughter?"

By this point, several of the housemates have been eaten by the house. Honestly, I could care less about which ones. I think Paul got his, and of course poor wooden Pavel. Or would that be wooden panel? I can't stress how little I care about these characters. Am I cold? I don't think so. We never see them on the show again. They don't matter in the slightest. With the Dryads closing in, the Doctor and Bill have to think quick. Which is when they realise that the timelines don't match up. If John were Eliza's actual father, he would be long dead. Seeing as he is not also made of wood, they deduce that he is in fact not Eliza's father, but her son. Unable to say goodbye to his ailing mother, John has been preserving her. Eliza has been through so much trauma that she has completely forgotten this fact. It's all rather depressing if I'm honest.

Depressing is okay though. What's Doctor Who without the occasion trudge through misery? Of course, it's not all doom and gloom, as Eliza restores all of the young people, once again leaving me to question why they were eaten in the first place. Were they transmuted into energy and simply recombined? It's the best explanation we're going to get, which is fine. David Suchet gives a powerful performance as he begs his mother not to end their lives. His performance is, by far, one of the strongest elements of this episode. Eliza and John are both overtaken by the Dryads, who are off presumably forever. I suppose the threat of Dryads is no longer looming now that their puppet master is no longer pulling their strings.

All in all, I find myself without much to say about this episode. It's not bad, but it's not a banger either. Even writing this review has been a bit of a slog. I find myself hard-pressed to really have any strong feelings one way or the other, and sometimes, that's just how it is. I will say it is the brownest episode of Doctor Who I’ve seen since the ‘70s. The BBC really knew how to dull down colour back then. Sigh... The best I can say about "Knock Knock," is that it's fine, really. There's nothing really wrong with it other than being kind of dull. I think if they'd have tried harder to make the characters more relatable it could have helped. Not every villain needs to be the new Daleks or Weeping Angels. Unlike some of the other episodes in my series ten rewatch, my opinion on this episode has changed very little. I would be as equally surprised to hear someone say this episode was terrible as I would be to hear it's their favourite. This is the kind of Doctor Who you can have on in the background. 

Much like we followed the lacklustre "The Unicorn and the Wasp," with the transcendent "Silence in the Library," I am very excited for the next episode in my rewatch- "Oxygen." Another anti-capitalist romp in the vein of "Smile," is just what I need right now. Now that I am back and feeling up to writing again, you should expect to see a bit more output. I wanted to cover the BBC's Youtube Dalek series, of which I have not watched a single frame. I've been putting it off because I wanted to talk about it on here. I have a few non-review articles in mind, but I don't like to promise too much. What I am saying is that you can expect more, soon! Take care!

[eat-the-richard]

Sonic’s 30th: What it could be and what it won’t be

Well folks, it's about that time again. Our beloved Sonic thee Hedgehog is turning the big three-oh this year.

I say that time “again” because, y’know, it seems like we just went through this. The last mainline Sonic releases, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, were both revealed as part of Sonic’s 25th anniversary. In a sense, that’s all us fans really have to look forward to anymore. Waiting for about five-or-so rotations around the sun to pass until SEGA can slap that big number next to Sonic’s mug to usher out as much celebratory marketing material as they can, all for the chance to get a smidgen of new video games to get our hands on.

This anniversary feels... different, though. Last anniversary SEGA had an absolute winner on their hands in Sonic Mania. There was no way the team behind that one could possibly mess up. And even if Sonic Forces turned out like... that, it at least made sense from SEGA’s perspective to greenlight a game like it during that time. But the five years since those games were announced have done little to assuage my worries about what exactly is planned for this year’s big game.

You see, Sonic has kind of vanished. He’s lost. M.I.A.. Which feels strange. Even during the supposed “dark age” of Sonic, he never really went anywhere. New games were still being produced like clockwork for a whole host of gaming systems. From mainline titles to spinoffs, dedicated Sonic fans had a lot to sink their teeth into back then. Since the release of Forces, all we really have to show for ourselves is a (personally) insignificant expansion to Sonic Mania and a new racing title which, frankly, didn’t set the world on fire when it was released. I suppose there’s a whole host of mobile titles that I didn’t mention but it’s difficult to get excited over yet another Sonic auto-runner. Perhaps most bafflingly, there haven’t even been many ports of older Sonic titles to modern hardware. If the mid-2000s were the dark ages of Sonic, perhaps right now we’re living in the “silent age,” where basically nothing is even happening and the franchise is at an eternal standstill.

The sole exception to this self-titled silent era was the Sonic movie, which I don’t think anyone anticipated being as big of a success as it was. Including the studio behind it. And especially including SEGA. It was utterly baffling to me that, upon the film’s release, there was nothing in the way of a tie-in game. Nothing directly associated with the movie. Nothing separate to release alongside the movie. Nothing. Some have speculated that SEGA was supremely unconfident in the film and it's hard to argue otherwise. It seems that, in a sense, the movie was a success in spite of the company the IP is linked with.

That’s why this anniversary feels more peculiar than the last one. At least Sonic was doing something in the early 2010s. Perhaps nothing groundbreaking, but he was at least around. If it hadn’t been for the movie, how in the world would the series be attracting new fans? This anniversary needs to be big. It needs to be the explosive re-emergence of Sonic to not only please the jaded oldies but the next generation of kids. And… I just don’t anticipate anything of the sort.

To me, Sonic Team has about four directions they could take the 30th anniversary game. Here they are, listed in descending order of likelihood.

4. A new “boost” game. Sonic Team ain’t opening that can of worms again.

3. A new “classic Sonic” game. While Christian Whitehead’s new studio has been deafeningly silent since forming, I believe that we’d have a bit more information about a Sonic Mania sequel by now if that was indeed in development.

2. Something entirely different.

1. Sonic Adventure 3 (or comparable analog).

Now, your reaction to that list may differ depending on your preferences and the year you were born. To me, something evoking nostalgia to the two Sonic Adventures is the safest and most likely choice for SEGA and Sonic Team. Just as classic nostalgia permeated through the 2010s, Adventure nostalgia will trailblaze full force through the 2020s. There are a lot of people whose only exposure to Sonic at all is playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on their GameCube. And the only way those people could potentially get funneled back into the series is through a proper Sonic Adventure 3, or at least something like it.

This, of course, says nothing about the overall quality of what this new Adventure title would be. And really, this is my main concern with the 30th anniversary. Can I even trust Sonic Team anymore to put out a good game?

Regardless of style, I’m unconfident to say the least. The staff that worked on the Adventure titles are not at SEGA anymore. The staff that spearheaded the “boost trilogy” of Unleashed, Colors, and Generations are not at SEGA anymore. And modern-day Sonic Team’s idea of something entirely different is, well, unappealing. Sonic Lost World proved that trying to change the core of the series for its own sake leads to a bland and uninspiring experience. And Forces? Oh… Forces.

Really, Forces is the main reason why I’m so disillusioned. Maybe it was that I was excited for the grand return of the boost. Maybe it was that I loved Generations so much that a proper sequel to it couldn’t possibly be bad. Instead of being a sequel to Generations, though, it tries to be everything at once. A game to appeal to the classic fans, the Adventure fans, the boost fans, those whole love complicated narratives, those who love the many characters this series has, and, obviously, the Original Character Artists™. Jack of all trades, master of nothing. A directionless, soulless game that in some instances is seemingly artificially-generated.

If this spectacular 30th anniversary Sonic game is something entirely different, it had to break an astounding amount of new ground. It had to rethink and reshape the series so drastically that, honestly, I don’t think it's very likely. I don’t think Sonic Team has even the slightest clue about what makes their flagship IP so appealing to so many people. If the nostalgia-fueled 2010s are any indication, SEGA only understands what makes Sonic so popular on a superficial level. 

They know we liked the 2D games, so now EVERY game has 2D in it! Oh, they didn’t like that Sonic has green eyes. Well, let’s bring back the CLASSIC version of Sonic. Let’s actually make him his own character who will also appear in every game! 

New zone ideas? LMAO how about we reuse the same set of classic levels over and over! Green Hill? YES! Chemical Plant? Of course! Let’s make an entire game that has both Sonics running around in a bunch of old zones. Wait, didn’t we just do that idea last year for Sonic 4 Episode 1? And aren’t we going to do that idea NEXT year for Sonic 4 Episode 2? WAIT DID SOMEONE SAY CHECKERBOARD PATTERNS IN WINDY HILL ZONE!???!!!! 

Oh wait, Christian Whitehead just pitched to us a brand new 2D Sonic game with classic physics and new levels? We’ll let him do it, but ONLY if it is ANOTHER nostalgia game that reuses old zones! 

Let’s inundate our fans with the same images of their childhood to activate their dopamine receptors! 

I can hardly wait for what this team’s idea of Sonic Adventure nostalgia looks like. Hope you really like City Escape.

Really, while such appeals to nostalgia are welcome the first few times, after a while it starts to get grating. Sonic Team leaning so hard into it during the 2010s reeks to me of desperation. As if the constant callbacks are the only thing the team knows how to do to link new games with the rest of the series. 

In actuality, fans don’t like Sonic because of the classic design or 2D-platforming or Green Hill Zone. They may like those things, but it isn’t why they continue to support the series. Fans love Sonic so fervently because, when he hits on all cylinders, he really hits. His games play in a supremely rewarding way where skill mastery is key. The better you are at Sonic, the better you feel while playing it. The personalities and designs of all of the different characters, from Sonic to Tails to Vector the freakin’ Crocodile, are not only distinct from each other but bleed through into gameplay in the way that they control and in how they are animated. Sonic’s best stories are ones that people can really relate to, dealing with a whole host of themes such as environmentalism, resisting fascism, surpassing expectations, and even the concept of free will among nonhuman entities. Not especially deep, but certainly thought provoking, especially for kids. All tied together with top notch visual and audio design that will stand the test of time. I’d posit that, while people like Sonic for a whole host of reasons, their starting point lies somewhere in the above explanation.

Hopefully, Sonic Team has realized by now that nostalgia will only get them so far. While a Sonic Adventure 3 would turn heads, it wouldn’t push the series forward. While a proper sequel to Sonic Mania would be a critical darling, it would continue to keep Sonic’s feet firmly planted in 1991. Sonic needs to evolve. He needs to change. And it seems like a change is happening. Roger Craig Smith, the voice of Sonic for the last 10 years, is no longer working with the series. The new TV series, Sonic Prime, is set to take place in a “strange new multiverse.” Even the Sonic movie refuses to lean on nostalgia too hard. 

So maybe the future will be set in unfamiliar waters. But if this is the case, I don’t want SEGA to half ass it. I want them to boldly step into that abyss with a vision of Sonic that appeals to the heart of the fandom. Because, even if it's been down recently, that heart is still beating, and after the abuse it's already taken, it’s going to take a hell of a lot to get it to stop. And if SEGA can get this heart pumping to its full extreme as it had in years past, we may have something legendary to look forward to.

They could also just release a bunch of old Sonic games on Switch. I’d like that too.

[phantomofthepairofdice]

A Hidden Life: Review

Note: this is a piece written for a class upon the film’s release that has been edited and repurposed.

A Hidden Life had its local premiere at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival on Friday November 15, 2019. Clocking in at just under three hours, it is an epic, esoteric, and devastatingly beautiful piece of work. It is also a bit of a return to form for writer/director Terrence Malick who spent the last few years in a very productive but divisive period in his career telling stories in modern settings. The film tells the true story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter (August Diehl) and his family as he refuses to swear loyalty to Hitler and serve in his army. Malick’s penchant for voiceover is mostly used in letters sent between Franz and his wife Franziska (played with boundless wells of empathy by Valerie Pachner) during his imprisonment. Featuring small, but effective performances by Bruno Ganz, Michael Nyqvist, Jürgen Prochnow, Franz Rogowski, and Matthias Schoenaerts, the emotions of the film are brought to light with great effect. It is a marvelous work that displays Malick’s affinity for tortured men finding a place in the universe alongside nature under god. It is a poetic, sweeping, and moody film that ebbs and flows through time while never losing sight of the value of family, love, and kindness. It is a film that feels prescient to the current moment of political upheaval, while never crassly grafting modern sentiment onto its narrative.

Terrence Malick is a filmmaker whose career is remarkably enigmatic. After arriving in 1973 with Badlands, he premiered Days of Heaven in 1978. Then he disappeared, only to re-emerge twenty years later with 1998’s The Thin Red Line. Another seven years passed until 2005 which saw the release of The New World. Then, in 2011, there was an unprecedented shift for Malick after the release of his Palme d’Or winning The Tree of Life. It launched a period of intense creativity for the director that spawned four narrative films, a documentary, and two short films in the span of just six years. This increase in productivity also gave the world his three most divisive films: To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, and Song to Song. These three movies are wholly modern, eschewing the historical backdrop that leant itself so well to Malick’s depictions of earthly divinity and spirituality. While some people embraced his new approach of montage and leaning more toward loose, unstructured expression, almost everyone was taken back by his attempt to find the beauty in a modern world that has so little of that left. There is no denying how strange it is to see a Malick film that has a scene at a Sonic drive thru. Yet, A Hidden Life feels like a perfect synthesis of a film like The Thin Red Line and Tree of Life. There is history, war, and men reckoning with their place amidst it all being told in Malick’s recent style.

A Hidden Life opens with text explaining the true story behind the film and the mandatory oath of loyalty to Hitler that that soldiers had to swear upon being drafted. Then, in a shockingly new technique for Malick, the film uses footage from Triumph of the Will. These scenes highlight the beautiful presentation of evil in Riefenstahl’s film; it is an interesting counterpoint to the film that follows. Where Triumph of the Will uses jaw-dropping filmmaking to highlight a single man being worshipped in an urban setting, A Hidden Life is about a farmer in nature who refuses to submit and follow any one thing but God. Malick is a master of capturing organic awe. Teamed up with cinematographer Jörg Widmer, he has perfected his distillation of tactile sensation. In Malick’s hands, the earth breathes. The grass dances to music of the wind. Dirt and mud are a communion between man and nature. In his best work, the juxtaposition of war or conflict alongside this immaculate magnificence of the world begs certain questions. How can something so evil and vicious exist in a place so heavenly? Do we deserve to be condemned for destroying this loveliness? A Hidden Life focuses on truly exploring these dilemmas through a combination of abstraction and narrative.

The film is shot on wide angle lenses that emphasize the scope of the world in which it takes place. This choice draws attention to the massive blue skies and the rolling hills, but when Franz is in prison, it almost feels like a taunt. There is so much empty space in the frame focused on concrete or bars that was once inhabited by other people or natural objects. One shot, used twice in the film to great effect, is a swooping crane tracking shot of Franz riding into town on a motorcycle. It first appears as Franziska recounts how the two met and later, after his death, as a memory of purity and love that she can fall back on. Another particularly interesting choice with the camera is when it switches to first person point of view. The intense subjectivity of being placed in Franz’s mind only comes twice: when he is being beaten by a prison guard and as he slowly walks to the place of his death. The beating is particularly interesting because the shot holds for longer than would be expected and it forces the viewer to beg for the violence to stop. It is also noteworthy that the film is shot on digital which allows Widmer and Malick to capture images in natural light, even in very dark places. It feels like a great example of how this film blends his classic style with the more elements he picked up in recent years.

Alongside the gigantic scope of the film are smaller character moments that stand out just as much. The film’s central martyr, Franz, is shown multiple times throughout the film doing tiny acts of kindness that bolster his mission to be in harmony with the world around him. During a transfer between prisons, Franz, in handcuffs and uniform helps an elderly woman bring her luggage down from a high rack on a train. Later as he leaves a store, a soldier knocks over an umbrella leaning against a wall before he takes a few steps back and sets it upright. These tiny moments speak volumes to his consideration and reinforce why he so strongly resists the mandated oath to subservience. He will not serve a cause that takes human lives, destroys homes, and sacrifices men for native expansion.

As the credits began to roll on A Hidden Life, I was shaken. For the next ten minutes or so there was an enormous lump in my throat that threatened to break the dam of emotional fortitude and let tears loose by just recalling moments within the film. I found it to be profoundly touching and inspiringly lyrical in its execution. Though I hesitate to use and expression that tends to lean more toward hackneyed cliché, I found A Hidden Life to be an experience rather than merely a film. It paints with a broad brush on a massive canvas in the hopes to reveal universal truths rather than specific reckonings. Certain scenes do occasionally feel repetitive and I am not certain that the choice to use English as the primary language with bits of German thrown in primarily by Nazis was the right one, but these feel like minor quibbles that easily overlooked when appraising a project so massive and noble in its intent. Currently, our world is primed for a movie about what protest and freedom of mind look like under an oppressive regime. Family, faith, and love are not more important than they were previously, but they certainly feel like their significance is in short supply. Malick and his collaborators have given us a film that embraces these ideas; so long as you are willing to embrace the film itself, there is a great power to be witnessed. As the world becomes more barbed and dejecting, I was truly comforted by the film and its effect of slowing down to appreciate what truly matters. Towards the movie’s closing moments, a young man, about to executed, is given a paper and a pen. First, he pauses, then turns toward Franz and asks, “What do I write?” This question is massive; loaded with the implications of countless other questions. Where do I start? What words can define a life? Will anything be good enough? Who do I address this to? What do I write? For three hours, this film put me closer to potentially having an answer to that existential query.

A Hidden Life is now streaming on HBO Max.

[ttooccaa]

Mamma Mia, he’s Italiano!

I wrote a fanfic for bartuardo(?) Crazy... It’s under keep reading, but there’s also a Ao3 link, I hope you like it.

Summary: After rescuing the prime minister of Italy from the evil clutches of Queen Bee, the Outsiders are invited to an event in their honor. Milan might not be the city of love, but everything can change, especially when a handsome Italian takes an interest in Ed and Bart is hit with a realization regarding his feelings towards his teammate.

Rating: Teen 

Ao3 link

Komy Island

March 20, 23:45 UTC+2

“Terra, manoeuvre 16!” shouted Wonder girl, while throwing Tuppence Terror against a wall with her lasso.

Terra nodded and send a chunk of flying earth towards Wonder girl, who jumped on top of it. The earth piece took her swiftly to the center of the action, where Beast Boy was fighting Mammoth, while in the form of a green Gorilla.

Wonder girl jumped from the flying earth piece and landed on Mammoth’s back, where she wrapped her lasso around his neck and pulled tight, so that Beast Boy could deliver one last finishing blow to his face.

“Beast Boy to Beta, have you located the hostages?” He asked, contacting the other team through his ear piece, while narrowly avoiding an icicle flying his way.

“Yup, just got them out. E.D. will teleport them on the Bio-Ship.” Kid flash answered triumphantly, appearing from behind Beast Boy and forming a small tornado around Junior, sending him flying.

A sonic blast from above send Tommy Terror across the room. “Mission complete, ese. Let’s get out of here!” Said Blue Beatle, while grabbing Wonder girl’s arm and flying towards the opening in the roof.

Beast Boy used his ear piece once more. “Bio-Ship, come and get us.”

The Outsiders swiftly escaped through the ceiling hole and boarded the ship.

“Woohoo! Another successful mission for the Outsiders, if I do say so myself” Kid Flash high-fived El Dorado, then leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the control table.

Hollywood

March 21, 9:23 PST

“Good job team. You have successfully rescued Italy’s prime minister and her husband. They are on their way to Italy as we speak.” Came Nightwing’s voice from the large Tv in the Tower’s living room. “Even though both the League’s and the Outsiders’ approval rates are constantly rising we still need to earn the people’s trust back...”

“And that’s becoming harder and harder with Infinity inc. running around and stealing all the spotlight.” Interjected Static.

“Hey, I said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s not a bad thing that we have inspired other meta-teens to fight for what’s right” Best Boy crossed his arms over his chest confidently.

“Yeah man, but statistics don’t lie and both ours and the League’s aren’t exactly consistent.” Said Cyborg, while showing the team a hologram comparing the League’s, the Outsider’s and Infinity Inc.’s approval ratings.

Infinity inc. was leading with the Outsiders behind them and the League slowly rising.

“So not crash.” Huffed Kid flash.

Terra added “Well, at least it’s good to see, that the League’s newfound openness is actually having an impact on the people’s opinion.”

Nightwing sighed “It’s a slow rise, but it’s something.” He continued “Now, let’s get back to the matter at hand, we still don’t know why Onslaught kidnapped Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Cancio and her husband, Matteo Cancio, but considering that Onslaught works for Queen Bee, it was certainly her doing... just like always there aren’t any evidence to back that up. The best we can do is assume...”

“And that assumption is..?” El Dorado was looking up, while sitting next to Bart on the large sofa in front of the screen, a lopsided grin on his face.

“That assumption is that Queen Bee is trying to eliminate all the politicians who have publicly stated that they don’t think her acquisition of the country formerly known as Qurac was done with completely legal methods.” Finished Nightwing.

Cyborg raised an eyebrow “Then why didn’t she just, you know, kill them?”

“Killing them would bring too much attention from the media, it would be even worse if it’s discovered that Onslaught was involved, considering they work for her and have diplomatic immunity in both Bialya and Greater Bialya” explained Superboy.

“Hello Megan! She wanted to use her influence on them, make them her allies, rather than opponents. Probably why she kept them on Komy Island, one of the islands in her jurisdiction.” Jaime looked thoughtful.

“From what Forager understood, there is nothing the Outsiders can do.” Said the red bug alien, nervously rubbing his hands.

“Not exactly, the most we can do now is warn the potential victims and have the League, the Team and the Outsiders keep an eye on them.” The former boy wonder concluded.

The Outsiders nodded in agreement.

Nightwing continued “All in all, good job everybody, Nightwing out.” The screen went blank.

Hollywood

March 30, 15:50 PST

Garfield was standing in the living room, in front of the huge screen, his back turned to all his teammates, currently filling out the room.

“So why did you call this meeting, fearless leader?” Ed’s soothing accent cut through the silence.

Cassie smiled “Is there a new mission for us?”

Garfield turned towards them, huge grin on his face “No and yes, the Outsiders have been invited to Italy by the prime minister!”

“Wait, what?” Virgil looked surprised.

“The prime minister of Italy has invited us to an event in our honour, there will be other big politicians there, who will all show their support and gratitude towards both the Outsiders and the League! A part of the event will be televised with different news outlets covering the story. This is exactly the kind of good publicity we need right now!” Explained Garfield.

Conner moved his head to the side and raised an eyebrow “And does the Team or the League know about this?”

“They have been informed and should we accept the invite M’Gann will also come with us, disguised, of course.” The green teen explained.

“I mean it will be nice to have public endorsers, especially from a country, other than America.” Bart added.

“Mhm, gaining the trust of not only the people living around the world, but also their governments will certainly make our job way easier.” Vic continued.

Cassie looked thoughtful “Maybe we can learn if some of the politicians there know anything about Markovia, I mean the whole country has been nothing, but silent since Brion took over.”

Tara looked up surprised and then down - sad and uncomfortable. Forager but two of his four hands on her shoulder and back.

“Sorry...” Cassie apologised quickly.

The rather happy atmosphere had significantly dropped.

Garfield tried to divert the team’s attention back to the matter at hand “The event will take place in about three weeks time, on the 21st of April in the Bulgari Hotel in Milan.”

That defiantly peaked the team’s interest.

Garfield continued “The “Thank you very much for saving us and not letting us become Queen Bee’s minions” party will start at 7:30 pm with all the guests’ arrival on a sort of Red carpet, but not really, then there will be introductions with a televised speech by the Prime minister, dinner and afterwards Party time!”

“This whole thing sounds so... fancy?” Virgil looked unsure.

��Do any of you even own something more elegant than a pair of jeans and a dress shirt?” Cassie was smirking.

“Hey, I’m a movie star! I go to fancy events all the time, of course I own suits!” Garfield replied, faking offence.

Ed looked concentrated “I used to own a couple, because of dance classes and competitions, though I doubt any of them still fit... and I did leave them all in Argentina.”

Cassie looked towards them as if to prove her point.

“Hey! You don’t exactly think of looking fancy when you’re on the run!” The Latino defended himself.

“Wait, let’s backtrack! Dancing? What kind?” The speedster had a really surprised and doubtful look on his face, but his eyes were shining with excitement.

“Sí, amigo, well argentine tango, of course, but also ballroom dances like waltz.” Ed grinned.

“That’s totally crash, but I would have never pegged you for that type of dancing.” The other teen was smirking, his eyebrows raised.

Jaime smirked “Or dancing in general, you were so irritated and moody two years ago, not exactly dancer qualities.”

“I’m a guy of many talents.” Ed shot back.

“Okay, Garfield has fancy outfits and Ed can dance, that’s great and all, but how are we supposed to act around all those politicians?” Victor asked exasperated.

Tara interjected “I can tell you a couple things about behaviour around such high class people, I am... well, was a princess after all.” Forager continued rubbing her back.

“I’m sure Perdita also won’t mind helping us out. Okay, so... all in favour of going?” Garfield asked, the mood again a bit tense.

“Aye!” Came everybody’s reply, while not filled with as much enthusiasm as Garfield would like it was still a good start.

“Crash.” The green teen smiled.

Milan, Hotel Bulgari

April 20, 8:34 GMT+2

The car that had taken the Outsiders and Miss Martian from the airport had just stopped to halt. The hotel was huge, made of marble and other stone, the structure looked big and heavy, but also elegant and sophisticated.

Bart was the first out of the car “This car ride took forever!” He immediately perked up after seeing the hotel.

“Wow! This place is so crash!” Exclaimed Kid flash, while running everywhere in and out of the hotel. He elbowed Garfield “Now I understand why you like being a celebrity so much.”

Eduardo whistled “We’re just standing in front of this thing and I already feel like I’ve gone bankrupt.”

The hotel employees that were waiting for them in front of the building were already taking their baggage out of the car. One of them introduced himself as Nicolo and said, that if there is anything they want or have any questions not to hesitate to ask him or any of the other employees. He gestured for the superheroes to follow him inside the hotel.

On the inside the hotel was even more stunning, again marble decorated with golden specks and dark wood. Everything looked so glamorous, like something straight out of a movie. It was like the place was shining and shimmering.

The receptionist was a young and energetic woman, her name was Francesca and she again, just like Nicolo, said, that they shouldn’t hesitate to contact her. She gave them their room keys, everybody had their own room, even Superboy and Miss Martin, who was coming under the disguise of a representative for the Justice League. Everybody also had full access to any of the hotel’s luxuries, such as the pool, the spa, the restaurant and so on. Francesca said they they will find their belongings already in the room.

“I hope you enjoy your stay with us!” Was the last thing she said, before the superhero team headed to the elevators.

Banter started as soon as they walked away from the reception.

“So which room are you in?” Asked Jaime, Bart.

“3016, you?” Bart asked looking at the magnetic card.

“3020!” Jaime answered, relieved to be close to his best friend.

“We’re really close, that’s so crash!” Bart was really excited.

Both of them visibly relaxed after learning they at least had one teammate close-by.

“I don’t wanna interrupt that cute “bro moment” you’ve got over there, but we’re all on the same floor.” Ed teased from behind them, showing his “3023” card to them.

“Oh!” Blue Beetle and the speedster smiled, a little embarrassed.

Bart was quick to pick himself up “That’s even more crash!”

Garfield cleared his throat “Okay, team, I don’t know about you, but I’m really jet lagged, especially because we couldn’t use the Bio-ship. After the Reach, not every country allows alien technology to cross their borders... Anyways, everyone know the plan for tomorrow right?”

“Look good and approachable!” Cassie answered.

“Make sure we are on our best behaviour, because of all the media coverage.” Cyborg continued.

“And don’t do anything stupid and embarrass ourselves in front of all those fancy people...” Virgil, looking a bit miserable, added.

“And?” Beast Boy asked, smiling, one eyebrow quirked up.

“And be ready by 7 pm, we get it, mom, don’t worry.” Ed, with his arms crossed over his chest, answered. “Now can we stop hogging the elevator and get some rest in our rooms?” A gentle smile gracing his face.

“Hey, it’s called being prepared okay? But, yeah, I would also like to take a nap.” Garfield yawned for good measure.

M’Gann was smiling, her hand on Connor’s shoulder “He’s becoming such a good leader, growing up so quickly.” She said telepathically to her fiancé.

“He really has grown those couple of months. They all have.” He squeezed her hand.

The Team arrived on their floor, said their goodbays and all headed towards their rooms.

Milan, Hotel Bulgari

April 20, 14:36 GMT+2

It had been a couple of hours since the team separated and Bart was bored out of his mind. He had already done everything there was to do in this room, taken a shower, watched tv, even slept for a bit. The speedster had already seen the whole hotel and the place was boring, there was nothing to do other than relax. Relaxing was not exactly his thing, he needed excitement, he need to see and experience things, he needed movement...

Bart would also love to see Milano, not that he couldn’t do it, he could see the whole country of Italy, if he so desired, but it’s always better with somebody. That way he can appreciate it more, he couldn’t exactly go sightseeing during the future, mostly because all of the survivors and children of survivors and so on were the Reach’s slaves and most of the world was destroyed and in ruins... But! That was then and that is now and that future will never happen... hopefully.

The brown haired teen flopped down on his bed from where he was standing in front of it, mulling over his boredom. He grabbed his phone.

He started mindlessly scrolling through Flitter and posted a pic he had taken while checking out the hotel. He looked through the “Memesiders” tag. Bart loved all the ridiculous things their fans would make like the “Ya’ll ugly” vine, but with Ed or all the PETA commercial parodies with Garfield. This defiantly kept him entertained for a couple of minutes, but it was quickly becoming boring. Living at super speed can be the worst sometimes.

Bart flipped himself over and opened his messages, maybe somebody was online. He texted Jaime (though in Bart’s phone it said ‘I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE’), but got nothing from him in the few seconds he waited for a response. Suddenly the little tic next to Eduardo’s name (‘EDgy’) turned from grey to green and Bart seized his opportunity.

KA-CHOW: Ed, mi amigo! Wyd?

EDgy: Just woke up, like 10 mins ago, u?

KA-CHOW: Same old, same old, I’m sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

EDgy: Sooo?

KA-CHOW: BORED 😭😭😭

EDgy: Ain’t that the usual

KA-CHOW: Yessss, but YOU could help me!

EDgy: How so 🧐

KA-CHOW: Wanna blow this popsicle stand 😏

EDgy: LOL sure meet at the front in 15?

KA-CHOW: Ed, hermano, you’re a lifesaver

EDgy: Mi Dios, why can I hear the way you say ‘hermano’ even through text

Bart was buzzing with excitement, finally something to do! And with Ed! Ed’s honestly an awesome guy, he’s funny and a real smartass, him and Bart also bonded over their participation in the non-real, but certainly real enough “The Reach traumatised me for life (or has been traumatising me my whole life)” club.

In the beginning the curly haired teen was so angry and annoyed with everything and everybody around him, he saw his powers as a disease, an illness, wanted to get rid of them. Bart remembered how shocked and surprised Eduardo Dorado Sr. was when his son showed on his doorstep after defeating the Reach. The father honestly thought he ran away again.

Even though they spent time with Lex Luthor, “The Runaways” still didn’t have full control of their abilities or knew their full extend. So that’s where the League stepped in, helped the teens learn control in a way that didn’t make them feel like lap rats.

In those two years Ed and Bart’s relationship truly blossomed. Turns out, they had a lot in common, when both of them finally chilled out, Ed was not irritated by every little thing and Bart didn’t spend every waking minute wondering about the future.

Bart shock his head in a cartoonish way, as much as he’d like to reminiscent about his relationship with Ed, he should probably get dressed and get going. Bart grabbed a pair of black sweatpants shorts, a white T-shirt and a dark red shirt with the sleeves rolled up, which he left unbuttoned.

Bart had super speed, but he also had a secret identity, as retro as that was. He slowly opened his room’s door a little bit and looked both ways down the hallway. The team had checked the cameras earlier and luckily none of them looked their way, well not anymore that is, after Cyborg tinkered with them a bit and created a blind spot. ‘Coast clear’ Bart thought.

The green eyed teen walked out of his room, without forgetting his magnet card and other necessities. The speedster took the elevator, which also took forever and walked to the front of the hotel, a second later there was a golden flash and Eduardo appeared next to him.

Ed was wearing a green and yellow stripped, baggy T-shirt, which he had tucked into his light denim jeans. They were cuffed and he had a brown belt to hold them up.

‘Damn, he looks amazing, so crash, well Ed always manages to look great, he is also so funny...’ Such thoughts always crossed Bart’s mind when he was with Ed, but then again he thought all his friends were awesome, yet with Ed, it started to be a little different. He never dwelled too much on it.

The other teen grinned at Bart “So, you got any plans?”

“Not really... We could walk around, check out Milan, I’ve never been, you?” They were walking towards a park right outside of the hotel.

“Never to Italy, but I did cross a big part of South America, until I got abducted by the Reach in Brazil.” The Latino cringed at the memory. He was sleeping on a bench, then a second later there was a hand on his mouth and before the panic and the adrenaline could kick in, he was out like a light.

“Anyways, we are not here to relieve our traumas, I suggest we check out some of the tourist attractions? I mean, this city is know for being one of the fashion capitals of the world? We could go window shopping on one of those way too expansive streets?” Ed suggested, one eyebrow raised, thinking of things to do.

Bart put his arms behind his head “Whatever we do, I’m sure it’s going to be fun.”

“Hmm is that so? Why?” Ed smiled shyly.

“‘Cause we’re doing it together, amigo! And things are always way more fun with friends, I mean you really appreciate them, when you didn’t have any growing up.” Bart’s energetic stride slowed down a bit.

“Hah, guess we’re not good at this whole ‘not bringing up our traumas and problems’ thing, huh?” The tan teen smiled teasingly.

“Yeah, suppose so...”

They had reached one of the more reserved parts of the park. Bart flopped down on one of the benches, Ed sat down next to him. The sunlight coming through the leaves above them was warm and creating fun shapes on the teens’ faces.

“I’m so feeling the mode right now.” The speedster huffed.

“Wanna talk about it?” Ed offered.

“Honestly... no. We’ve talked so much about our problems with both our mentors and Black Canary and so on and so fort. I just want to, idk, chill, relax, not think about it, even if it’s only for a few hours. How about you, hermano? Any traumas, problems and sad stories you wanna share with the class?” Bart answered truthfully, a lopsided smile on his face.

Ed grinned and looked at the empty bench in front of them “Nah, I mean I’ve got some, we all do, but sharing is so exhausting.”

They stayed like that for a bit, in comfortable silence.

“I heard that there’s a crazy amount of pigeons in front of ‘Du-om-o de Mi-lano!” The speedster broke the silence, already in front of ‘the golden one’.

Ed raised his eyebrows, then laughed “Oh, you mean Duomo di Milano!”

“Yeah! That’s what I said!” Bart defended his terrible accent, faking offence, but happy to have made his... friend laugh.

“No, amigo, it’s ‘Duomo di Milano’, you hear the difference?” The Argentinian got up next to Bart.

“Actually, yeah! How do you know to pronounce Italian so well?” Bart was already excited.

Ed blushed a bit “It’s only a couple words, no need to be so impressed, but actually Argentinian Spanish can sound closer to Italian, rather than Spanish.”

Bart took out his phone and put in the address of the Cathedral and they headed that way through the picturesque streets of Milan.

“I never knew that, you don’t really talk a lot about your time in Argentina or Argentina in general.” Bart explained, his hand illustrating his words.

“Well, there’s not a lot to be said about my life in Argentina... but if you want to know more about Argentinian culture and the Argentinian language, you can always ask me.” The other teen offered.

Ed was never the type to open up about his past, but then again who was Bart to judge him about that? They were in the same boat. A thought still crossed his mind ‘I want to know more about you.’ But instead he said “Totally crash, amigo.”

They arrived at the Cathedral and there really were a lot of pigeons, but also a lot of tourists and people in general.

“Wait a second, I have an idea, be back in a flash.” Ed winked, while Bart groaned at the terrible joke.

Ed teleported. It was so fascinating to see the way Ed had grown into his power, at first he hated it, but now, it was as natural as breathing for him. He teleported next to a man selling popcorn and bought two of the small cartons.

He turned away to teleport back to Bart, when suddenly “Oh my gosh! Are you? Are you El Dorado?! Of the Outsiders?” A girl with ginger hair in a ponytail squealed.

Eduardo turned towards her and smiled both awkwardly and kindly, he hoped.

“It’s really you!” The girl was jumping up and down in excitement.

“Uh, yeah?” That sounded pathetic even to Eduardo’s own ears.

“I’m really sorry, but can I please take a pic with you?” The girl’s eyes were shining.

“Uh, yeah... I mean, yeah, of course!” He tried to sound more enthusiastic, the girl didn’t seem to mind.

They took a quick selfie in which Ed tried to not look incredibly awkward, while holding up two boxes of popcorn.

The girl thanked him profusely and asked if any of the Outsiders were here to which he answered, that he’s sorry, but he couldn’t share that info with her.

The ponytail girl said that it’s all right and that she was glad to have seen him, in Italy of all places. They said their goodbyes with the girl still freaking out.

Eduardo was glad, that the Outsiders were doing a good job, spreading the good word around and inspiring others and so on. But sometimes such attention was a bit... overwhelming. He said many times, that the hero lifestyle wasn’t for him and he still believed it. Ed still felt that he wasn’t cut out to be a hero. As much as he’d love to stand here and dwell on these thoughts, he should get back to Bart.

He loved hanging out with Bart, at first... he didn’t like him. Ed thought he was just another gringo, with probably the worst accent ever. In the beginning he thought that Bart was mocking him in a way, with “Amigo, that”, “Hermano, that”, but then he realised that Bart was a pretty awesome and genuine dude.

With Bart he felt like he could let loose, be himself, it felt good. Bart made him feel good and himself in ways he didn’t know another person could. He felt like he could share everything with him and it’ll be fine, not that he had such plans for the near future, but it felt nice.

The Latino teleported back to Bart, who was currently taking a selfie in front of the Cathedral and sending it to the Flash Family chat.

“Whoa, man, popcorn! So worth the wait! Bart grabbed one of the boxes.

“Yeah, sorry, got approached by uhh... fan.” Ed explained, tossing a popcorn into his mouth.

“Crash, man, I love talking to our fans.” Bart continued enthusiastically stuffing his face with popcorn.

Ed threw a couple on the ground and pigeons immediately gathered around them “That’s good, it’s just that... I don’t know, I don’t feel like I should have fans, I mean what have I done to deserve people looking up to me? And even if I have done stuff that deserve praise, shouldn’t I do more, do better? I just feel like I haven’t done enough...”

“Well you may feel like people shouldn’t be your fans, but pigeons sure as hell adore you.” Bart tried to lighten up the mood, while tugging the discussion of Ed’s insecurities for later.

Eduardo snapped out of his daze and looked around to find at least a dozen pigeons around him “Guess, I was throwing out more popcorn, than I thought.” He laughed.

“Ah!” A pigeon got bold and landed right on Eduardo’s arm where the popcorn where, then a bunch more started flying around him and one landed on his other arm and shoulder. Ed was both panicked, surprised and laughing uncontrollably.

‘Looks good, even when he’s covered in pigeons, huh.’ Bart thought while snapping a few dozen pictures “Come, Eddie-Boy! Smile for the camera!” All in all those pigeons were a great distraction.

Bart took Ed’s arm and got him away from the bids currently trying to nest in his hair.

“Hahah, oh that was adorable!” Bart laughed, he got his phone out and started scrolling through the pictures. He wheezed so hard at them.

“Let me see!” Eduardo said while ridding himself of feathers. He looked at the pictures “That’s a winner right there!” He pointed at a picture where a bird had just flown towards his face which resulted in him being a blur with a shocked expression on his face.

“Really? I like that one.” Bart opened one, where Ed was looking at the camera, a big grin on his face and slight panic in his eyes, while he had pigeons all around and on him, one of them was in the box of popcorn, happily munching.

Ed looked the other way, a slight blush blossoming over his cheeks “Yeah, that one’s good as well.”

Bart was happily scrolling through the photos “You should totally post that one! Also one of the distressed ones! Imagine the memes people will make!”

“Since when is it our job to knowingly provide the public with our embarrassing moments? And hey, for all you know it could cause a scandal. I can just hear G. Gordon Godfrey - ‘Our so called heroes aren’t even in the country! How are they supposed to protect us when they are too busy feeding the pigeons!’” Ed purposelessly making his voice have as much of an American accent as possible.

“Yes! Or ‘What are they teaching our children?! To throw our food at animals?! Next you’ll know they’ll be telling them to throw trash on the streets of our beautiful America!’” Bart continued, almost letting a tear fall out of the corner of his eye at the mention of dirtying their America.

The teens looked at each other, then started laughing even harder.

The speedster looked up at the sky. The sun was slowly starting to set, he looked at Ed who was still catching his breath. Bart checked the time on his phone - 18:40.

“Wow, time truly flies when you’re having a good time.” Bart mused.

“Hmm?” The Latino looked at Bart’s phone “Almost seven pm.”

Bart’s stomach grumbled, Ed looked at him, one eyebrow raised “Really?”

“Hey! It’s not my problem I run on superspeed!” Bart grinned, fingerguning.

“Guess not, I could also grab a bite... I think we passed a pizzeria on our way here?” Ed wondered.

“Lead the way, amigo.” Bart bowed down like a gentleman.

The teleporter rolled his eyes, but still blushed a bit.

They walked side by side for a few minutes, until Bart pointed at a pizzeria close by and ran that way, dragging Ed with him. Good think he was making sure to run like a regular person.

The pizzeria was quite picturesque, small wooden tables with white tablecloths, flowers in the middle and wooden chairs.

A waiter quickly took them to a table outside.

Bart took one of the menus “Ohhh, what should I get? Maybe a Capricciosa or a Romana or maybe go classic with a Margherita? What about you?”

Ed loved how excited Bart could be over the simplest things sometimes “Mmm, maybe a vegetarian pizza?”

“Vegetarian also sounds good! Deciding is so hard, wish I could just take all of them.” Bart declared.

Ed took one of the red flowers out of the vase “I mean, you can certainly stomach all of them.”

The brown haired boy looked at Ed. He was holding the red flower between his fingers spinning it around, the sunset was casting beautiful shades of gold, red and orange on his skin. Ed met his eyes and smiled. Bart could stare at him looking like that forever.

“So, did you chose anything?” Their waiter, as if appearing out of nowhere, asked.

That startled both of them, Ed coughed and looked the other way and Bart burned a bright red.

“Uh, yeah I’ll have a large Capricciosa and a soda...” Bart trailer off.

“And I’ll take a large vegetarian pizza and also a soda...” Ed quickly continued.

The waiter smiled and said he’ll bring up them up, when they’re done. A few moment later he came back with their drinks.

Ed looked at the Cathedral, turned back to Bart and pointed at it. The speedster turned around to look at it. The Cathedral looked absolutely stunning like something out of a postcard, the beams from the sun were being reflected by the countless windows and painted the square. It was truly beautiful, but when Bart looked out of the corner of his eye, he could’ve sworn Ed was looking at him, even if for a split second.

The green eyed teen turned back around at took a sip out of his soda “How’s everything at the centre?”

Ed looked at him “Honestly, I don’t know, a mix of good and bad, I suppose? I mean, we’ve been making huge progress with a lot of the metas, but some of them are still scared and don’t want to accept their powers. We get new metas all the time, I’m struggling to make room for everybody as it is... We need more funding, I hate to say it, but Granny Goodness was our biggest sponsor, we are part of STAR labs, but not part of their funding, well not a big part, we get some money, but certainly not enough for all the newcomers...” The Latino stopped abruptly.

He smiled apologetically “I’m, sorry I know all this talk of money and funding isn’t really interesting...” He trailed off.

Bart jumped in “No! You know you can tell me anything and I would love to know more about the centre, not only the good, but also the bad.” He smiled.

Ed sighed and opened his mouth, but then “Sorry for the wait, gentlemen! Here are the Capricciosa and the vegetarian pizza, if there’s anything else you need, don’t hesitate to call!”

They thanked the waiter. Bart immediately dug in and was already three pieces in, while Ed was taking his first bite.

“Slow down there, amigo, it won’t go anywhere.” The teleporter laughed.

Bart wiped his mouth with the napkin “Yeah, yeah, gotta be reminded sometimes, you know in the apocalypse my favourite food was... food.” He shrugged, while smiling.

Ed looked at him apologetically, then grinned “Well, good thing you came to us, no idea what I would do without you... also you completely missed all the tomato sauce around your mouth.” He gave him another napkin.

Bart blushed at Ed’s words, but was also really happy, because he also didn’t know what he would do without everybody, the League, the Team, the Outsiders and... Ed.

Ed ate a slice of pizza.

“What about your father? Isn’t good ol’ doctor Dorado any help at the centre? I mean, he did found it with you?” Bart took a sip out of his soda.

Ed sighed “I don’t know, hermano. Me and dad we don’t really click? I suppose, it’s hard getting to know your son at 45 and respectfully your dad at 16... He doesn’t really help me with the centre, I have to do all of it on my own, well not all of it I have you and Neut, of course. There are just so many other things to consider like all of the legal stuff, there is so much paperwork! Also parents and psychologists and sometimes psychiatrists and I have to make sure everybody is safe and happy and comfortable.”

Bart cut him off “Geez, Ed, I didn’t know you had that much to take care of.” He felt a bit guilty, because he was overjoyed when Ed became part of the team, but if he really was that busy...

Ed clenched his hand around his almost empty can of soda “And I always feel like I’m not doing enough. Is the centre good enough, am I good enough for the Outsiders? Because I still don’t think the “hero life” is for me... I love being part of the team, but am I a good enough part?”

Bart smiled brightly “You know, I think... I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit.”

Ed looked at him, confused “What do you mean?”

“Just... You’ve done so much! You were talking about a place, that can help young people deal with their powers even before you had full grasp of yours! You are going there every day to give them advice and a safe space to not only get a hold of their powers, but also share how they feel and discuss their traumas and so on. You joined a public superhero team just to give them inspiration. So don’t sell yourself so short, you’ve done a lot and you’re continuing to do it every day.”

“Wow, I uh... I don’t know what to say, thank you... you’re pretty incredible.” Ed looked Bart directly in his eyes. “Why are you always so good at reassuring me?” He grinned.

With Bart it was always different, because whenever he would say Ed was doing a good job or that he was doing well, he couldn’t help but believe him.

“What can I say, amigo? Not only am I incredibly good looking, I’m also an incredible friend.” He grinned, eyes closed and hand under his chin for dramatic effect.

The Argentinian smiled contentedly and agreed “Really though! And having you around when you can be in the center is always good, all the stress from dealing with everything seems to lessen when you’re around.” He smiled shyly at the last part.

Bart blushed “Well, I love spending time at the centre with all the metas and helping in whichever way I can and... being with you, of course.” He grinned.

Ed blushed a really bright red and tried to hide it by pretending to wipe his mouth with his napkin. “You know, you’re the only person I can talk with... like that.”

Bart slowly put his hand on top of Ed’s “Yeah, me too.”

Both of them smiled with light blushes on their cheeks.

Milan, Hotel Bulgari

April 21, 19:00 GMT+2

“Looking sharp there, boys!” Cassie smiled widely, fingerguning.

Kid Flash and Blue Beatle weren’t so sure about that. Because of their secret identities they had to wear their costumes (or at least the mask in Kid Flash’s case) under their tuxes. They felt a bit... silly.

Jaime looked at Wonder girl “You sure about that?”

She was wearing a form fitting, deep red dress without sleeves, that was cut right above the knees. She looked incredible. Though everybody remembers the relief they felt when she finally chose between the dress and the tux, not because she chose the dress, but because she chose something.

“Dont sweat it, Jaime! Get it? ‘Cause you’re wearing both the costume and the tux!” The blonde laughed hard at her own joke.

“Yeah, Cassie, I got it.” The blue superhero replied dryly.

“Forager also feels weird wearing something over his shell, but if it is a human custom, then Forager doesn’t mind.” The alien supplied, while running his four hands over the shirt and jacket.

M’gann smiled “You look great, Forager.”

“So the only people still missing are El Dorado and Static right?” Beast Boy asked tapping his food impatiently and looking around anxiously.

They had decided to meet in one of the hotel’s spare conference rooms with the hotel’s approval, of course.

The Martian walked over to her little brother and put her hand on his shoulder “Don’t worry, Gar, its only 7:15, I’m sure they’ll be here any second.”

Just after she said that, Ed and Virgil came in through the door.

“Sorry for being late, but Mr. Static over here first couldn’t decide between ties, then it was ‘With hat or no hat? With hat or no hat?” Ed rolled his eyes, while fixing his own gold coloured tie.

“Hey! The hat’s like an integral part of my look!” Virgil defended himself.

“You’re going to a formal event!” Ed retorted.

Cyborg supplied his opinion “If you ask me, good thing you decided to ditch it.”

“See!” El Dorado said while gesturing towards Vic.

“Whatever, man.” Static replied, visibly grumpy.

“Look, everybody, I can understand that some of you are nervous and unsure of what to do or how to act tonight. But remember just relax and be yourself. Don’t over exaggerate, if you start a conversation with somebody, but don’t know about the topic it’s best to drop it, be nice and if you don’t feel like it, don’t mingle, there’s a lot of us here, so you can always go up to somebody and hang out. We want good press, so be nice!” Garfield’s pep talk wasn’t much of a pep talk, but it did ease a lot of the Outsiders’ worries.

M’gann looked at Conner, that proud sparkle shining in her eyes.

El Dorado went over to Bart.

Bart grinned and elbowed Ed playfully “Lookin’ good there, amigo.”

And he really did, he was just wearing a simple black tux with a dark yellow (kinda gold) tie, but it fit in all the right places.

“You clean up nicely.” Ed winked, even though he was blushing hard.

Bart was wearing the same as him a simple black tux with a red tie, but he looked great. ‘There really was something about seeing a guy in a suit, huh...’ Ed thought.

Bart also blushed.

The white Martian looked in their direction and smiled gently.

Garfield looked at his watch “Okay, guys we’ve got ten minutes before this thing starts, everybody knows what to do right?”

“Yeah, Gar, calm down, promise we won’t blow anything up.” Cyborg rolled his eyes.

“And even if we do, I’ll just work my charm on them!” Bart wiggled his eyebrows, while pulling on his imaginary suspenders.

That did not ease any of Beast Boy’s worries.

Milan, Hotel Bulgari

April 21, 19:30 GMT+2

The Outsiders plus Miss Martian had to get to the front of the hotel to pretend they were just now arriving? Honestly the whole ordeal was pretty useless and stupid, but they had to interact with the media waiting outside.

They went right to where the “red carpet” and all the news reporters were.

Garfield turned around and looked at his team “Okay! Big smiles, everyone!”he winked at the end.

The others smiled uncomfortably.

The moment the team stepped into “the limelight” a hoard of reporters came onto them bombarding them with questions.

One woman was louder and shoved her microphone in Tara’s face “How do you feel now that you are a princess with no country?”

Tara’s happy expression dimmed and she casted her eyes down “No comment.” She replied, looking up and with newfound intensity in her eyes at the reporter. The message was clear ‘No more questions.’

Beast boy was quick to cover for her and take the attention of the reporters away from the former princess.

The team was quickly separated most of them were discreetly trying to get inside the hotel while answering as few questions as possible.

Ed, while not looking forward to being interviewed, wouldn’t mind answering a few questions if it meant he could explain that they were planing on opening a new centre for meta teens in Europe. The news were already announced a month back, but the more people knew about it the better. He was currently trying to get one in every major city in America, maybe at some point in every state. They had opened one more in Central City, but he also wanted to make them permanent, because as of right now the centres were only temporary.

The Argentinian wasn’t exactly nervous to talk in front of a camera, because of the centres he had to talk to strangers every day and also hold speeches and arrange things and so on. He’d learned to be comfortable in front of an audience, even if he couldn’t see them.

A reporter with a beautiful long dress and bright pink hair approached him out of nowhere and suddenly he had a microphone shoved in his face.

She smiled brightly and winked “Hello viewers! Here with us right now is El Dorado!”

Ed smiled and waved awkwardly.

“Now our viewers here are just dying to know! What exactly is going on in your tower in Hollywood? I mean a group of teenagers all living together! It must be crazy! Love scandals, parties! Tell us all the great gossip!” The reporter was overly enthusiastic to the point of being fake.

Ed thought back to all the “crazy drama” that occurs in the Outcast’s home, only thing that came to mind is their movie and game nights.

The Argentinian smiled politely “Well, most of the time we are too tired to really have the time for scandals, but something that’s more interesting is that the new meta-human youth center in Sweden, Stockholm will be up and running in a month.” He grinned.

The pink haired reporters face fell, though she did try to keep her smile on, but it was obvious she was annoyed “Wow, that’s crazy...” She turned quickly towards the camera and bit Ed a quick goodbye, realising she won’t be getting anything out of him.

The tan teen was definitely a bit annoyed, but not surprised, most news outlets were always looking for gossip. He continued his short walk towards the entrance of the event.

“Kid Flash! What happened to the previous Kid Flash?” A reporter shouted at Bart, while he was explaining to another one, that no he didn’t almost die that one time.

The question made him choke on his words, the other reporters noticed and also started asking him questions about the other Kid Flash. Bart quickly and while giving out excuses shuffled into the hotel.

Just as he entered he noticed Ed a couple feet away from him, his expression the same one as Bart’s.

“I’ll take it you’re also having a good time.” The shorter teenager smiled, while fixing his tie.

“I’m still trying to stay positive for the rest of the night.” Ed smiled at Bart, even though it was a little strained.

“Yeah... you and me both. Right now though, I’m totally feeling the mode.” Bart looked around and suddenly grabbed Ed’s sleeve “Eddie, look! There’s a huge table filled with bite sized food!” He was smiling, while showing how little the food was with his thumb and pointer finger.

“Didn’t we just eat like a couple hours ago?” Ed was always impressed with the speedster’s appetite.

They went over to the table, Bart quickly took a small plate and filled it with all kinds of finger food. At the same time Ed took a fancy looking glass filled with punch and looked around the room.

The event had just started, so the room was still pretty empty, safe for the hotel staff, a few other guests invited by the prime minister and the band, which consisted currently of a piano player, but places for other players and even a singer could be seen. The music was pretty, but kinda bland, like elevator music, it was just a background.

The other Outsiders had yet to make their way towards the ballroom, but Ed suspected that Forager and Tara were going to be joining them soon.

The speedster looked at Ed and for the god knew which time that night appreciated the way he looked, he quickly swallowed a mini sandwich he was eating and turned towards the Argentinian “You should totally try this little one with the orange stuff inside, it’s sweet, yet fruity!”

He held the little treat up, offering it to Ed.

For a moment too long Ed looked at Bart with a dumbfounded expression, the sudden thought of leaning down and eating it from Bart’s hand came to him, he felt all of his blood change course and go to his cheeks. The teen quickly took the food with his hand and ate it, desperately trying to will down his intense blush.

“It’s good.” He quickly added while giving an awkward thumbs up.

Bart raised his eyebrow, but still smiled.

The “golden one” took a small gulp from his glass, still trying to calm down his burning cheeks ‘What’s wrong with me? Only Bart can make me like this...”

“I’ve forgotten how obnoxious and insensitive reporters can be!” The former princess grumbled, already having reached the table and grabbing a small pastry. She leaned against the wooden table and crossed her arms.

Ed looked at her “So the interviews are going well.” He offered her a napkin.

“Garfield is doing just fine, while Cyborg is trying to stop the interviewers from overwhelming Forager... Superboy looked like he really didn’t want to be there.” The blonde took the napkin and placed a few pastries in it. “From the way things are looking the others will be following us here pretty soon.”

She quickly ate one more small dessert and pointed towards Ed and Bart “You two did good coming here so fast.”

Kid Flash flashed her a blinding grin and pretended to remove dust from his jacket “Being fast is kinda our specialty.” He turned towards Ed and winked “Right, amigo?”

A blush crept across his cheeks again ‘When will this end?!’ He thought, while quickly plastering a smile a giving Terra a thumbs up.

‘He’s so cute...’ Bart thought, but quickly banished the thought away.

The princess looked at him quizzically, but just shrugged.

Her gaze turned towards the entrance, some people had come through, the room was slowly filling out. The bright red of Forager’s shell was not hard to miss. Tara waved “Vic, Forager, over here!”

The grim expression on Vic’s face was becoming more and more visible as he approached the other Outsiders. The alien, on the other hand was rubbing his hands nervously.

“What got his gears so tightly wind up?” Ed leaned towards Forager.

“Victor Stone became upset after a reporter asked Victor Stone what happened with Victor Stone’s football career and then another one asked if Victor Stone felt like a freak, because of Victor Stone’s appearance.” Forager explained.

Everybody winced.

“Harsh.” Bart commented.

The tan teen turned towards Forager “What about you, buddy? Everything good?”

The alien rubbed his hands and looked down “Forager would be happy to explain Forager’s culture to the reporters, but the reporters asked if Forager is in a relationship and if Forager finds humans appealing...”

“Yeah... they do that.” Ed looked at him apologetically.

Kid Flash tried to cheer him up “They don’t mean any harm...”

More and more people were coming into the room. Virgil and Blue Beetle were one of the first ones to enter. Virgil hastily turned his head, obviously looking for the others. He spotted the other teens near the table and together with Jaime quickly walked to them.

“Good thing Gar is out there.” Virgil ran a hand through his hair.

“God, this is like an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.” Ed said. “What would our name be? Abused by reporters Anonymous?” He was moving his glass with his hand, stirring the already lukewarm punch.

Bart laughed.

Ed felt something akin to pride in his chest at making Bart laugh.

“So come on, amigos, share with the group what happened to you out there with the scary and noisy interviewers!” The speedster threw a cookie in the air and caught it with his mouth.

Jaime crossed his arms over his chest “Even after two years the Reach is still a pretty popular topic.”

Bart put a hand on his shoulder.

Virgil sighed “Everything was going on fine, until one of them asked me to show off my power, but I panicked, demagnetised some part of their equipment.”

The peer counselor slung an arm across Virgil’s shoulders “Good job, man, you took one of them down. Our enemy will soon be slain.” He had a determined fire in his eyes.

Static pushed his arm away “You’re a real hoot, Ed. But seriously, people are always filming us, taking pictures of us and so on. How come I suck at interviews?”

Bart shrugged, and while chewing said “Well, when people are usually filming us, we don’t exactly have the time to stop and answer a few questions. We’re focused on, you know, saving them.”

“Makes sense, I guess.” Virgil took a small sandwich, defeat evident in his eyes.

Victor looked around “This place sure filled up.”

Even more important looking people wearing suits or beautiful dresses had come into the room.

Virgil looked at his phone “8:56, shouldn’t this whole thing be starting soon.

There was a silent agreement, that everybody couldn’t wait for the event to be over.

Wonder girl entered the room soon after. She waved and speed walked to her teammates.

When she arrived, the blonde quickly took a sweet from the table and popped it in her mouth. She said with her mouth full “If one more person asks me how I do my hair or makeup, I’m gonna flip.” She finished that sentence and ate a cracker with something grey on top.

“I mean! They don’t ask me about the missions or anything like that! It’s all ‘Is your lipstick punch-proof?’ Like what is that even supposed to mean?” She continued, while leaning against the table, her arms crossed

The other outsiders winced in sympathy.

“Sorry, man” Vic rubbed the back of his neck.

Cassie sighed “Eh, it is what it is, I guess... by your expressions, I’m not the only one who had a jolly good time out there.” She emphasised how happy she was by swinging her arm which was folded at the elbow, her hand in a fist.

Suddenly a huge crowd entered the ballroom, the leader of it was Garfield. He had a huge grin and looked more than happy to talk to anybody or answer questions.

At the end of the crowd were Superboy and the disguised Miss Martian. The white alien was smiling, even though it looked a bit forced and tired, while Conner looked like he wanted to go home immediately. All of the Outsiders were surprised how long he’d lasted outside.

M’gann laughed and looked Conner in the eyes "Thank you, you did great out there." She said telepathically.

Conner smiled.

The Outsiders were watching their gentle exchange of love. “God, I need a girlfriend.” Virgil’s never ending whining about that certain topic cut through the silence.

Beast boy quickly spotted the other Outsiders and walked over to them, leaving the group of people behind, a slight bounce to his steps.

He winked “So, how you guys doing? Everything going well?” He straightened out his jacket and brushed of invisible dust off his shoulders.

The team gave each other side eyes and smiled nervously. Bart gave him a thumbs up.

Garfield gave them a half smile “So no too hot?” He nodded once and put his hands in his pockets “Don’t worry, there won’t be any more reporters for the rest of the night, well a few at the opening ceremony and speech of the primer minister, but all we have to do there is smile and nod.”

“Speaking of the ceremony, shouldn’t it be starting soon?” Jaime took a sip of punch.

Tera was staring intently at his lips. “Isn’t it weird to have it on your mouth?”

“Pardon?”

“The mask, isn’t it weird?” She explained further.

Jaime put a finger to his lips “Eh, not really, I mean I can’t really feel it? It’s like a part of me, second skin sort of way.” He tried to explain.

Tara narrowed her eyes “Interesting.”

M’gann and Superboy approached the group.

The Martian put her hand on Garfield’s shoulder “Come on, team, let’s get to the stage, it’s starting soon.”

The Outsiders started to walk towards the stage, it was a small stage, enough to fit them, the primer minister and her husband. The lights were very bright.

They walked over to the security guard, who opened up a crimson coloured rope. The superheroes were staying in a small, separated from the attendees, space. Mostly waiting for the prime minister to call for them on stage.

A crowd of reporters and other guests had already gathered in front of the stage. The prime minister, Giorgia Cancio and her husband, Matteo Cancio were climbing on stage, the guests started clapping.

The politicians smiled in front the microphones and waved.

Giorgia cleaned her throat and the speech started “Thank you everybody for coming tonight, we are more than...”

Soon after she started her speech Bart tuned her out and started looking for other things to occupy his attention with.

Kid Flash looked around the room, quickly noticing a woman in the back arguing with a waiter, well more like yelling at him, he squinted in order to try and read her lips, something about ‘Gluten? Oh! Gluten free...’ he thought.

Bart moved on, he looked up at the big, glass and crystal chandelier, it was glowing in soft yellows and whites. A small, dangling crystal, that was spinning caught his attention for a bit.

His eyes soon landed on Ed, Bart was looking at him out of the corner of his eye. His eyes have been landing on Ed a lot those past couple of months.

The Argentinian was standing beside him, he was looking down, probably at the colourful tiles, that made up the floor, occasionally he would look up at the prime minister.

Bart liked looking at Ed, he had this shine and drive in his eyes, this drive to just be and do good. It was something Bart had soon noticed after spending time with Ed. It was something so beautiful to see. Where Bart had come from (the Future) people’s eyes were dead, given up, moded, they didn’t care about doing good, they just wanted to survive.

It was kinda shocking how that moody kid had grown up into such a compassionate person. He was probably always like that, it was just hidden under all that angst and daddy issues.

Suddenly he didn’t have the desire to look away, he was content like that, just looking at Ed.

Ed absentmindedly licked his dry lips.

A light brush crept across the speedster’s cheeks and a stray thought wandered inside his mind ‘I wonder how they feel.’ He caught himself softly running his finger across his own lips, he quickly dropped his hand and his blush intensified. Bart quickly averted his eyes away and towards the stage, trying to focus on the prime minister.

El Dorado had felt somebody’s gaze on him, finding out it was Bart had made him feel... something... something warm inside his chest, like happiness. He smiled slightly.

“And now for our guests of honor, the Outsiders!” Giorgia introduced them and steeped away from the microphone, while clapping.

“That’s our cue, team.” Garfield started walking up the three steps to the stage.

They all climbed on, the prime minister thanked them one more time while shaking their hands. They took a few pictures with way too happy smiles and got off the stage. It all felt longer than it actually was.

When the crowd had cleared out the prime minister approached one more time, she smiled warmly “I hope you’ve had a good time so far.”

Garfield, as their leader, smiled with all the charm of a famous actor “Of course, Mrs. Cancio, it’s all been wonderful.”

Her eyes softened “Well, the real fun begins now anyway, people always feel way more relaxed after the reporters leave.” She winked at the end.

The woman clapped “Make sure you have fun, this party is in your honour after all!” She bid them goodbye and walked away.

“Well you heard the lady, time to have fun!” Garfield said trying to get his team excited.

They appreciated his enthusiasm and tried to match it, I mean they can stick together, the food was good, the view was beautiful and eventually the soft background music will turn more energetic. All in all, they are sure they can manage.

Ed leaned slightly down towards Bart “Hey, I wanna get a breather out on the balcony? Want to tag along?”

Bart winked with a smile on his face “You know it, amigo.”

Just as they were about to split into small groups, each headed toward a different part of the room, two women and a guy, about 16 or 17 approached them.

The women had an air of authority around them. One of them was taller, with dark black hair and a deep red business suit, the other was shorter and curvier wearing a long, blue dress. They had wedding bands on.

The boy was standing between them, he was tall, half a head taller than Ed, wearing a black suit sporting a dark turquoise tie, he had an undercut and really dark, curly hair. He had a slight tan with a dusting of freckles and bright hazel eyes. His smile was charming, a dimple on each side.

The taller woman smiled kindly “I’m sorry to bother you, but my name is Liliana, this is my wife, Emily and our son Antonio.” Emily smiled brightly.

“Just Toni also works.” Their son supplied, he quickly looked over all the Outsiders, one of them catching his eye.

Liliana continued “I just wanted to thank you personally for saving my sister, Giorgia and her husband. I don’t know what I would’ve done, if I had lost her.”

Her wife put a hand on her shoulder.

“Luckily, that didn’t happen, because of you, so one more time, thank you.”

She shook Garfield’s hand.

The meta human smiled brightly “It’s what we do best.”

“Indeed.” Toni piped up. His arms were crossed over his chest, his smile even more charming than before. The Italian was looking straight at Ed.

The women excused themselves and the Outsiders started to walk over.

Bart and Ed headed towards the balcony.

“Was it just me or was that guy staring at you?” The speedster asked Ed, not quite understanding why that made him so annoyed.

Ed raised his shoulders “Probably not honestly, I mean why would he be looking at me anyways?”

‘Why wouldn’t he?’ Bart thought, still a little bitter at the guy. ‘Maybe I’m just imagining stuff...’

“Excuse me.” A voice cut through Bart’s thoughts.

The superheroes turned around... it was Toni.

‘Shame he had to turn around, he had such a cute butt.’ The Italian thought while looking absentmindedly at Ed.

He had a hand in the pocket of his dress pants. “Sorry to disturb you, but you’re Kid Flash and El dorado, right?”

“Yeah.” The shorter of the two superheroes answered, some definitive dislike in his voice “How can we help you, Antonio?”

‘I’ve never acted like that before, what’s wrong with me?’

Antonio glared slightly at Bart, but only for a split second.

The Argentinian just kind of looked between the two of them.

The Italian cleared his throat “Actually, I also wanted to thank you for saving my aunt.” He gave his hand out for a handshake towards Ed.

“As Beast Boy said, it’s just what we do.” Ed shook his hand.

‘A cute butt and a cute accent! Perfect.’ Antonio was already forming a plan in his head.

Toni’s and Bart’s handshake wasn’t as warm, they looked into each other’s eyes, annoyance clear behind the smiles.

Toni smiled warmly and continued talking “Anyways, Eduardo, can I call you Eddie by the way?”

‘Dude thinks he’s sooo slick’ Bart thought and rolled his eyes.

“I guess so?” Ed shrugged, still not understanding why this guy wanted to talk to him.

The guy grinned “As I was saying, Eddie, before you were a hero, you opened a centre for meta-humans, right?”

“Yeah...” He still didn’t understand where this guy was getting at.

“I’m sure it was so hard to do everything on your own, speeches, counselling, events, setting it up, promotion-“

Ed smiled “Well, I was never really absolutely alone, there were volunteers and Kid flash over here has been helping me since the beginning.” Toni noticed that when Ed turned towards the speedster a warmth filled his eyes.

Bart smirked and looked the Italian in the eyes, pride evident in his.

Toni subtly glared towards Bart, then quickly put on the smile back on his face “Yes, of course... I’m just going to cut to the chase, my mothers own an advertising agency, you might have heard of it before, “L.E. ads”.

Ed was quite surprised “They are one of the biggest agencies working right now, I tried to get them to advertise the new center in Sweden, but they never wrote me back.”

‘Crap!’ Thought Toni “Uh-well, they do get a lot of clients and offers each day, so sometimes, some of them get lost... or buried under the others, please excuse us.” He apologised, even adding a slight bow.

Ed opened his mouth to say something, but Antonio quickly cut him off “What I’m offering right now, is an opportunity to work with us, as you might be aware, we don’t only use regular ads, we also organise events etc. We can organise speeches, billboards, ads on tv and so on.

The Argentinian was truly dumbfounded. “Might I ask, why?”

“My mothers will be more than happy to help the heroes who saved my aunt and uncle.” Toni finished pride all over his face.

Ed looked at Bart with a conflicted expression, then back at Toni “While that is all well and good... I just don’t think we can afford you, no offence, the centre just doesn’t have the resources for such... um... extravagant?... advertising. But, thank you nonetheless.”

Antonio stepped closer to Ed “It will all be free of charge, of course.”

Bart’s annoyance was growing with every word that came out of this Italian prick’s mouth.

El Dorado was quick to retaliate “Oh, no, I’m sorry, we can’t accept something like that.”

“The centre accepts money, food, volunteers and so on all the time right? Think of this as just another form of charity.” He grinned, his eyes shining in a way that unsettled Bart.

“Yeah, but what you’re offering is quite huge, I just don’t think it’s right to-“

“I insist!” Toni had a hand over his chest, it was almost theatrical. His eyes relaxed “Why don’t you join me this evening, we can discuss this over and see if by the end of it, I’ll be successful in changing your mind.” He smirked at the end, confidence dripping from him. He was closer now, definitely entering Ed’s personal space.

At this point the speedster wasn’t just annoyed with this guy, he was angry, really angry... but damn it all, this was a golden opportunity (no pun intended).

The taller of the two heroes looked at Bart and was once again about to deny him, but Kid flash cut him out “You should talk to him, the deal he is making is great.”

“Yes, but-“

“Come on, Ed, think of how much that can help the centre.” Bart smiled, looking Ed in the eyes.

The Argentinian sighed, he’d much rather stay with Bart, than this Italian guy... but such advertising could really help them in the long run... And denying him once more would be quite rude and they are here to make a good impression and all that, he still wasn’t sure about accepting the deal, but he’ll spent some time with the guy, then he’ll politely deny or accept the offer.

“Okay, fine.”

Antonio’s smile grew “Perfect.” He threw his hand on Ed’s shoulder and pulled him away.

Ed said goodbye to Bart.

While they were walking away Toni turned around and looked Bart in the eyes, his grin predatory.

The speedster saw red and was so close to just grabbing the Italian douche and leaving him in Antarctica, instead he turned around and headed towards the balcony. There were a few people already there, smoking and talking. The fresh, night air made him cool down a bit, now he just felt a bit sad.

He leaned against the railing and looked at the garden. ‘What a prick...’ He slumped further down against the cold metal, his chin on it ‘Why am I overreacting so much? It’s just a guy talking... flirting with Ed and... touching him... ughhhhhg!’ The speedster put his hands on his head, annoyed at just feeling so much. ‘Goddamn it, Ed.’

In his sulk Bart didn’t hear another person entering the balcony.

“What’s got you so moded, amigo?” A familiar voice said.

Bart turned around quickly “What? Me? Moded? No way, hermano. I’m feeling A-okay!” For emphasis on how good his mood was, he plastered a big grin on his face.

Jaime raised his eyebrow, his expression sort of exhausted, as if he’s had to do this a million times “Ese, we’ve been friends since like forever, you can tell me, if something’s wrong.” He joined Bart at the railing.

“It just... jeez, Blue, I don’t even know what’s wrong!”

Jaime hummed “Well, trace your steps back, what happened?”

Bart looked away from his fellow Outsider, sulking “Ed...” he mumbled.

“Edu? Why? Did he do something?” Jaime would be quite surprised if he did, considering how close the speedster and Ed had grown.

“No! Nothing like that... he’s just with... some Italian guy.” Bart didn’t know why he felt so embarrassed to admit it out loud.

Jaime had a puzzled expression on his face trying to work it out. “Wait, you’re annoyed ‘cause Edu’s with some guy?” Suddenly it was like a switch flipped inside his head “Dude, are you jealous?”

Bart moved away from the railing like it was scorching hot “Wha-? No! No! I’m not jealous!... well, maybe, I don’t know, okay!” The brunette leaned against Jaime.

Blue beetle thought for a second, then spoke up “Ese, do you remember how I would get when Traci would go out with Arrowette, before we started dating.”

Bart moved away from Jaime and looked him in the eyes “Yeah, of course, you would get all annoyed, mopey and would rant about it a lot.” Bart rolled his eyes at the memory.

A slight blush coloured the latino’s cheeks, he coughed once “Uhm, yeah... yeah, do you remember why exactly I got so uhm mopey?”

The speedster was playing with a loose threat of his suit “Of course, I do, hermano, you liked her.”

Blue nudged Bart gently with his elbow “What I’m getting at is, do you like him in the same way I like Traci?”

The brunette was quite surprised by that question, he’d never really thought about it, I mean, he liked Ed, of course he did... but as more than a friend? He looked his best friend in the eyes “How do you know when you like someone?”

Jaime rubbed the back of his head “Well, jealousy, obviously, but you also want to spent time with them and just being near them feels good. You might imagine what holding hands with them or kissing them or cuddling with them might feel like... you know...” He had grown a little red by the end of it, good thing it couldn’t be seen from under the suit.

Bart’s cheeks very also a bit tinted with colour, because, yeah, he would like to do all of those things with Ed. He chuckled “For a speedster, I’m pretty slow, huh?”

Blue laughed “Yeah, ese, I agree.”

They looked at the scenery before them, it was already dark out, the moon and the stars were creating a beautiful shine on the garden before them.

“You know, I’ve never... liked anybody before... apocalypse and all that, it’s weird, I like the feeling, but it’s a bit annoying being so emotional...” An airy chuckle left him at the end.

Jaime bumped his shoulder against Bart’s “That’s a good way to describe it, hermano. So what’cha gonna do about it?”

“I- I’m not sure, I want to do something about it, just not sure... do you even think I have a chance with Ed?” He was looking at the moon.

Blue shrugged “Well, that’s something you should be asking Edu, you won’t know unless you give it a shot.” He worried his lip with his teeth, then continued “And even if it doesn’t work out, that’s okay, but I think it might. Call it scarab senses.” He grinned at end.

Bart smiled, feeling better, he was relieved now that he finally understood his feeling. ‘I like Ed... there could be worse things, like an apocalyptic future where humanity is entirely controlled by evil aliens.’ He looked at Jaime and smiled “Let’s head inside, amigo, I’m dying for something to eat.”

“Lead the way, hermano.”

The two superheroes entered the room, coming into the too bright yellow light felt a bit blinding. They headed towards the big table filled with little snacks, but came into a sudden halt, when they saw something.

There they were, Antonio and Ed, they both had glasses of punch, Antonio was too close to Ed and chuckling about something, while Ed was smiling politely, the whole image was a bit annoying, but not something too offensive, until Toni put his hand around Ed’s waist and brought him closer whispering something into his ear. He then moved farther away from the young superhero, but kept his arm around his waist.

“Damn, Edu looks like he really doesn’t want to be there.” Jaime supplied, while putting his arm on Bart’s shoulder.

The brunette had defiantly grown annoyed, his almost good mood was crushed faster than the Flash himself. He clenched his fists and huffed. “Blue, can we please go some place else?”

“Of course, hermano.” They hurried over to the other side of the big room.

All throughout the night, Bart would catch glimpses of the annoying Italian and Ed talking and so on, at some point the guy even asked Ed out to dance. At that Bart was quite annoyed, but also just sad and mopey. He just wanted to lay somewhere and not have to think about it. Good thing he was good at pretending everything was fine.

Jaime was a good distraction, the rest of the team as well, while he hadn’t managed to completely take his mind off the situation, it was still okay.

“That Italian guy sure has it out for Ed, huh?” Cassie pipped.

‘Great, my favourite topic.’ Bart thought.

“Yeah, Ed’s probably so done with him by now, probably keeps it up, only for the good media or something. They guy might go whine to his aunt, the prime minister, if Ed leaves him.” Virgil added.

Cassie wiggled her eyebrows “You never know, he might actually like the attention.”

Jaime quickly tried to dissolve the situation “Oh, come on, look at him he looks miserable, right, hermano?” He nudged Bart.

“Yeah, totally.”

Cassie rolled her eyes “Eh, what do you know anyways, the guy’s quite handsome and Ed’s last boyfriend was... actually I don’t know when, has he had one?” She looked at Virgil, expecting his reply.

“Hey, don’t look at me, you know Ed isn’t exactly an open book about his private life or life in Argentina and even if he had told me, maybe there’s a reason he hasn’t told you.” Static pointed at the blonde.

She glared at him “Not cool, man.”

He raised his shoulders.

Bart sighed and Jaime put his arm around his shoulders.

Kid flash looked once again at the general direction where Ed and Toni were, but they were gone, he took a quick look around the room and they were nowhere to be seen.

“They’re gone.” He said while still looking around the room.

Wonder girl grinned, while nudging Virgil in the chest “Maybe they went somewhere to make out.” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down.

Virgil gently pushed her away “Thanks for the visual, Cas.”

She winked.

Jaime quickly joined in “Yeah, right, Edu obviously wasn’t interested in the guy. Probably tried to get away, but the dude followed him.”

“Tomayto, tomahto.” Cassie was smiling like she was victorious.

Blue beetle rolled his eyes.

On the outside Bart’s expression was carefree, but on the inside he was a mess of emotions, annoyance, worry, sadness, maybe a bit of anger. ‘Be rational, man. You’re not even dating, calm down... I never imagined, that having a crush could be so moded.’

Static smiled smugly and raised one eyebrow “Why are you so invested in Ed’s love life anyways? Having problems with Tim?”

‘Virgil to the rescue.’ Thought Bart.

Cassie huffed and glared vigorously “I’ll have you know, me and Tim are more than fine!”

Virgil was still grinning while he raised his arms up in mock surrender.

Bart sighed and got lost in thought, drowning out their bickering.

Jaime looked at him, pity clear on his face.

Milan, Hotel Bulgari

April 22, 3:16 GMT+2

“I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beat.” Beast Boy said while waiting for the whole team to gather in the lobby, just outside the room, where the event had taken place.

The team had said their goodbyes and well wishes to the prime minister and were more than ready to leave.

The event/party still hadn’t ended, but most people had already left and the young heroes were eager to get out of the uncomfortable suits and fake smiles and into bed.

Almost everybody had come back, only Ed was still missing.

The Outsiders’ night had gone with various degrees of success, some had even talked to a few people without completely embarrassing themselves. Those small victories were not enough to make them stay until the complete end.

Victor had his arms crossed over his chest, he looked completely exhausted “Can’t wait to crash. Hero work isn’t as exhausting as this.”

Superboy agreed and M’gan chuckled.

“Where is Eduardo Dorado Jr.?” Forager asked, he looked nervous.

“Texted him a couple minutes ago, should be here soon.” Virgil looked at his phone.

Cassie bumped her shoulder against Virgil’s “He’s probably still out there with that Italian guy.” Her grin was wide.

“What Italian guy?” Tara asked.

Just as she asked that, a flash of gold shone next to Bart and Ed appeared, looking more than miserable and exhausted and quite angry.

Bart didn’t like seeing Ed like this ‘Haven’t seen that expression in a while.’

Ed sighed “Let’s get out of here.”

Cassie laughed and the group started walking.

Wonder girl grabbed Tara and started whispering to her.

Bart and Ed were at the end of the line.

The speedster spoke up “So, how’d it go with Antonio?” He made sure to say the name as pretentiously as possible and with a thick, fake Italian accent.

The Argentinian laughed, but the tired expression returned to his face quickly after “Don’t even want to talk about it...”

“So, pretty bad huh?”

Ed sighed, he’d started calming down, being around Bart always helped “That’s one way to put it.”

Bart put his hand on Ed’s shoulder.

The taller teen looked him in the eyes and smiled “Thanks.”

They continued their walk towards their rooms in silence.

Milan, Hotel Bulgari

April 22, 12:47 GMT+2

The speedster had woken up not too long ago, he’d fixed himself in the bathroom, then had promptly returned to bed and was scrolling through Flitter. Some of the interviews from the event had come out already and their fans were relentless with how much fun they’ve made out of them.

‘What’d we do to deserve such funny people liking us?’

He continued scrolling, until a picture of Ed from last night popped up. He was smiling, looking straight ahead, his eyes gentle.

Bart unconsciously lingered on the picture a bit longer than needed, then put his phone away and laid on his back. ‘Wonder if Ed’s feeling better since last night... Not being aware of a crush is definitely easier... ignorance truly is bliss.’

He turned away from his phone and looked out the large window, the sky was a lovely blue colour, the superheroes would be leaving soon. They have the rooms until the end of the day.

Just as Bart was growing annoyed with not doing anything, his phone vibrated. He quickly rolled over and grabbed it from the other side of the bed, it was a text from... Jaime.

Bart felt himself flush at the fact he was annoyed by a text by his mejor amigo, but it’s not his fault he was hoping for somebody else.

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: How’s it going? 👀

Kid CRASH: 😑

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: 👍

Kid CRASH: DONT JUST “THUMBS UP” ME

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: What else am I supposed to do?!

Kid CRASH: wyd

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: just finished a call with Traci 💙

Bart rolls his eyes, but in a loving matter, of course he was talking with his girlfriend. He got a bit sad at the end, but quickly averted his attention back to Jaime.

They continued to text about random stuff, until...

Kid CRASH: OMG ED JUST TEXED ME

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: What did he say? Also calm down amigo

Kid CRASH: texted*

Kid CRASH: Just asking wyd and if I wanna hang out

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: say yes?

Kid CRASH: of course I’m gonna day yes

Kid CRASH: say*

Kid CRASH: autocorrect 😑

I’m blue da ba dee da baa DIE: have fun, keep me updated 😎😉

Bart quickly switched to his chat with Ed.

EDgy: Wyd

EDgy: Wanna hang out

EDgy: ???

KA-CHOW: nothing

KA-CHOW: sure, where do u want to meet

EDgy: on this floor’s balcony?

KA-CHOW: see u in a flash ⚡️

EDgy: oof

Bart quickly got up from bed and put on his shoes. He looked at himself in the mirror and slowly left his room, like a regular person slow, annoying.

He had to walk from one side of the floor to the other and what’s worse is he had to do all that walking like a normal person would, because of secret identities and all that...

The speedster reached the balcony, the wall and the door were made completely out of glass. He noticed Ed leaning against the railing and looking down. Bart opened the door and started walking towards the Argentinian.

When he got close he got the urge to wrap his arms around Ed’s waist and pull him close, but quickly dismissed the thought with a slight blush and leaned against the railing next to Ed.

“Hey, amigo!” Bart smiled.

Ed looked at him “Took you long enough.” He teased.

Bart rolled his eyes, still smiling “Well, not my fault you got so used to my superspeed.”

Ed raised one eyebrow “Oh, yeah, like it’s not driving you nuts to have to do everything like a regular guy.”

Bart shook his head from side to side and firmly stated “Not at all, it’s actually refreshing.”

Ed continued to look at him with the same unbelieving expression.

Bart rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from the railing “Okay, a bit.”

He turned away and leaned against the metal, a silence stretched across them.

Bart leaned against Ed playfully then stepped away “A penny for your thoughts?”

The Argentinian looked up, the sun shining softly “Just thinking about last night.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

“I don’t know, man... the guy was just...” Ed’s expression was a mix between disgust and disappointment.

Bart put his hand on Ed’s shoulder “Okaaayyyy, sooo what happened?”

The other teen took a deep breath and looked down at the garden “First of all dude drags me away from you like nobody’s business with his oh-so-generous offer of advertising.” Ed was being satirical, but the annoyance was clear in his voice.

Bart’s heart almost skipped a beat at the ‘you’.

Eduardo continued “So he’s talking and talking and talking... and I’m, over there, trying to get the conversation back to the centre and the advertisements, you know, the thing we were actually supposed to discuss!” At this point Ed’s fist was on the railing.

Bart was listening to every word, his distaste for the Italian growing.

“At the same time he ain’t stopping being all touchy feely, I was trying to be all subtle and stuff, while moving away from him, you know, I didn’t want to explicitly tell him to go as far away from me as possible... because we were here for good press and what not.” The Argentinian was rolling his eyes and pushing himself away from the railing with his hands, his voice was growing angrier and his rant faster.

He leaned once more against the cool metal “The dude was pretending he’s Casanova or something, I thought he was flirting from the start, but I’m not good with the whole are they are they not flirting thing you know?” He turned towards Bart his expression quizzical.

“Oh, he was definitely flirting.” Bart responded immediately, his voice slightly more pissed off then he wanted it to be. His checks quickly turned a light shade of pink.

Ed’s as well, but he also had a small smile for a bit, until he continued with his rant “Anyways so first he drags me to dance which was sooooo annoying, but tolerable, I guess... Oh yeah! And we still aren’t talking about the thing we were supposed to, mind you, it probably has been like an hour, maybe more, it felt like too long...” The superhero was just sounding tired at this point.

Kid Flash rolled his eyes “What an ass.”

“I know right! Anyways finally the douche drags me to the garden and low and behold I finally get him to talk about the advertising! Turns you he doesn’t know anything! And I mean, anything about it! His mothers run the whole thing and he just gets money from them... he had absolutely no intention of helping me! And then he had the audacity to try and kiss me! Can you imagine?!” Ed’s hands were in the air and he was really angry.

Bart swallowed his own anger and asked “So what happened next?”

“Well I moved away and asked him “What are you doing?” Hoping that the awkwardness of the situation would make him leave, how naive of me! I don’t remember what he said, something cringey that sounded good only in his head and afterwards he tried once again.” Ed was talking fast, some words louder, some quieter, but all filled with anger.

El Dorado continued “I was literally saved from the text announcing we were leaving, I told him I was going, didn’t give him a chance to reply and teleported to the ballroom, then noticed you and teleported over there.” He finished his rant with a deep sight and leaned against Bart’s shoulder, resting his head against Bart’s “I just wished he hadn’t wasted my time and kept me from spending the evening the way I wanted to.”

“How did you want to spend it?”

Ed looked away from Bart, blushing slightly “You know, with...you.” The end of the sentence was quieter then the beginning.

Bart was blushing, but there was a smile on his face “I would’ve liked that.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

After a beat Bart continued talking “I mean sorry that dude basically lied to try and get into your pants... you deserve better.” He finished awkwardly, his blush intensifying.

Ed’s cheeks also darkened and he smiled “You always make me feel better, no matter what.” He looked straight ahead, the sun high in the sky.

Bart smiled and looked at Ed’s profile for a bit before also focusing on the horizon.

Ed once again leaned against Bart, the speedster slowly put his arm around the Argentinian’s waist and leaned against him.

They watched the blue sky and the sun as it’s beams illuminated the garden, feeling content and happy in each other’s presence.

[needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves]

Tfa character review! (3/12)

Sentinel!!:

Hmmm. Hmmm. Where do i begin. I went on a journey with this guy. At first, i liked him because i got his motivations. Elita affected him to the point where Optimus just triggered him. I thought if he met Blackarachnia, he'd break. He'd say that despite her looks, all that matters is that he missed her. Then i was hoping that despite this, she'd still resist being an autobot again. But no. He straight up tried to kill his old friend. He played with my emotions and im not standing for that. He's terrible. Unaccepting. Bitter. Selfish. Rude. There is nothing redeeming about him. No amount of humor can redeem him. Optimus being kind to him, is something he doesn't deserve. He didn't deserve Jazz, his status, or the twins.

Verdict:0/10. Terrible. Just absolutely terrible. He'd make a better villian than a good guy. If you bring him home, you're parents will be concerned for you. He will drink your beer, punt your dog, and leave the toilet seat up. He's terrible. I can only realistically see someone dating him if its for status or power. Don't put yourself through that. My followers deserve a Jazz.

Blurr!!;

Aka Sonic the hedgehog's understudy in the new movie. He runs as fast as he can talk, but despite this, hes not completely scatterbrained, but is quite the intelligence agent! He didn't get much screen time in the show unfortunately, but what we did see, was that he was well as giving an explanation (if you could keep up), and rolled with the punches. Plus hes cute.

Verdict: 7/10. Im sure id like him more if he appeared more. He's cute though, and i was amused anytime he was on screen. Bring him home if you'd like, but you're parents will probably ask if hes on anything. Is top notch at grocery shopping for you though, so they deal.

Jettwins!!;

The most slav boys!!! They didn't get as much screentime as they deserved, but they made do with what they had. They are the MOST cheeki breeki boys I've ever seen! Always in sync with each other, ready to throw down, not only can they transform into the BEEFEST boy around;

(Aka Safeguard)

But they can summon the power of fire and wind at their disposal. They are eager to please, and are incredibly polite to their superiors.

Verdict:9/10. I wish they had more screentime, but they were ADORABLE in the series. I loved every moment these two were on, and they didn't deserve working under Sentinel. DEFINITELY take them home. They will love anyone, and although a bit goofy and a bit broken with English, everyone is sure to love them!

Warpath!!;

(No second form available)

Warpath!! Im more familiar with him in the game earth wars, but the personalities contrast greatly. This one here is essentially the reason why many bots say "Fuck the police". Hes rough with his prisoners, and he was legit reasy to fuck up Prowl purely for being a little shit. I mean id still fuck because he has the LONGEST titty ever and he is CHUNKY. (And rumor has it he's dating Flareup. Ask Tracks for details)

Verdict:i cant say much??? He was in one episode and was an ass?? So 5/10 purely for the gerth. Dont take him home, you're folks will worry about you.

Rodimus prime!!;

(No second form available)

Hotty Botty Roddy!!! I squealed when i saw him! Boy is SUCH a pretty little twink who is ready to defend the bridge till the very end. Leader of team Athenia, he showed no hesitation NOR fear in his battle against team Chaar. Barely had any screen time, but i was already impressed by him. I think this is a character i kind of just loved immediately.

Verdict;8/10. Hes ADORABLE. And he deserves the team he's in charge of. Tbh, id rather the Jettwins work for him than Sentinel, HE'D respect them. Definitely take him home, he's a good boy that'll fix things around the house without being asked.