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shadamypositivity · 9 days ago

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a negative post under the cut (not from me, I'm just commentating on it)

(See OG post below.)

due to the nature of my blog normally I wouldn't even bring this up but a) I'm bored while IT is working on my computer (AGAIN) and b) i like a good discussion.

I'm gonna skip over the obvious fallacies of shadamy being a fake ship (bc what does that mean, I have no idea) and that SEGA never acknowledges it (they clearly have) or markets Shadamy (if the Shadamy Sakura series and them being marketed together didn't clue them in, then they are willingly ignorant abt it lol)

I did want to discuss the Amy Rose Minnie Mouse aspect and her "purpose of the franchise" bc i actually have a lot of thoughts to this! And before I go one, it should go without saying but I do love SonAmy, it's very cute and they're characters who can have good chemistry and deserve good things! Anyway, here's my thoughts.

Amy being created to be Sonic's Minnie Mouse as far as I had read it was pressure from the company to make Sonic more marketable (i.e. adding girl character, hero saves damsel quests etc). What i love about how they went about it was flipping the script, especially for the era, it was more commonplace for damsel characters to be the sweet, love interest (Minnie, princess peach, princess daphne) that the hero pursues as a goal to complete as well as a reward for his efforts.

Sonic being adverse to Amy's advances, who is supposedly created to be the love interest, is unique and adds to his personality which was a really good move imo. it added to the edge that Sonic kind of gives as a protagonist, his sass, his impatience, his cock sure nature while also being altruistic and loyal of course, but him viewing Amy as a friend that he occasionally has to rescue and bear the affections of is objectively silly and fun.

Now, pertaining to Amy's purpose of the franchise being Sonic's endgame love interest, I do take a lot more issue with. Not only does it invalidate Amy's space in this franchise, making her no more than a romantic reward for the ending of Sonic's hero's quest (because, if SEGA thinks Sonic won't "slow down" for Amy now, it implies he will have to undergo some sort of change or, less noble, when he seems himself ready to reciprocate Amy's feelings on his terms, irregardless of how long he makes Amy wait for him) but it also ironically makes Sonamy make less sense canonically.

Like, if Amy is only meant to work as Sonic's female, romantic counterpart, why does SEGA not let it happen canonically? Because it's not a ship war thing honestly, most of the GP already assumes they are and there's plenty of valentines merch to suggest otherwise, so...why not just do it? probably because it doesn't make sense for Sonic's character and I don't just mean for SonAmy, honestly, I mean it for any and all Sonic ships. It isn't that Sonic doesn't love or wouldn't have romantic feelings, it's that I think he doesn't allow himself those attachments. Friends are everything in this world and I've always loved this franchise for showcasing an array of lovely strong friendships, but the difference in friends and significant others is that there's compromise, there's balance, there's giving up things, there's building a home and a family and doing things as 2 as opposed to only needing to worry about yourself. friendships are no less of a love than romance but there's also a lot more grace in friendships when it comes to responsibilities and emotional compromises. I'm getting into the weeds a bit here but what I mean to say is that Sonics character doesn't make sense for a romantic partner, free like the wind and on an eternal hero's journey. It has also never appeared to be a want of his to be able to have these things (but im willing to be proven otherwise) Maybe down the road it would, but that's not fair to Amy or any other partner for that matter. Amy's whole world doesn't need to revolve around waiting for her hero to be ready to accept her, especially to a character so full and rich in love and affections to give.

It doesn't escape me that one of Amy's most defining and strongest showing was because of Shadow. This is kind of where I can get extremely biased and go on and on about how great a story arc would be for Shadamy to become endgame. Briefly, Sonamy being canon kind of takes away from Sonic's character, while Shadamy enriches. Amy who obsesses and does everything for the attention of her first love finding her own purpose and making her world bigger by being her own hero which was the case for her finding her courage after feeling useless by helping Shadow to remember his promise just by being herself. Shadow who is jaded and hurt and isolated from friends and the world he now lives in finding love and affection and strength in those things because of Amy Rose's big heart. Idk, it's all very poetic to me.

So in conclusion, Sonamy and Shadamy good, but writing wise, Shadamy has a lot more going for it. One of my irl friends who watches sonic things over my shoulder has always taken issue with Sonamy being the canon default bc of her pursuing and Sonics pushing away. When I introduced her to the idea of Shadamy she hoped on with more enthusiasm haha probably bc it was around the mosth era and that was a pretty good showing for them haha. anyway. these are my humble thoughts. I'm not all knowing of this franchise or think myself correct in every way but idk. I don't think its fair to rule out character shipping just bc it wasn't the original intention. that happens all the time with things after all (RIP canon zutara) so maybe op can take a chill pill 😅

#the IT is still working on my computer as we speak akfjfjjf #cw negative #but not on my side tbh #but i am comparing ships which i dont really like to do #esp when im cool with both #but i digress #long post #these my thoughts #and i welcome others thoughts ^-^#sonamy #shadamy

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artificialchaoscola · 8 months ago

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another ramble about some blue dude

AREN'T YOU TIRED OF BEING NICE, SONIC?

DON'T YOU WANT TO GO APESHIT?

But nah seriously the whole plot thread of Sonic getting his "I don't kill people teehee" attitude pushed back against constantly is the coolest part of IDW to me. He bounces back and does what he thinks is right but I just love that you can tell it's not 100% easy for him to do it. I mentioned this when I talked about Scourge + rewriting zombot!Shadow in other posts but I just love how you can debate on whether or not this attitude of his is a flaw or not.

IMO the Eggman in IDW feels much darker than the one in the games, more cold and calculating as well as sadistic in a lot of ways. I do enjoy the difference, since IDW Eggman to me feels like more of a threat, which in turn makes Soinc's constant sparing + moments like the page above feel more intense. I was honestly surprised in the recent Riders arc that Sonic would team up with Eggman at all at first, but then I realized how Sonic has likely not been pushed as far as he could be. Yet.

Something I liked about Sonic Prime was Nine clocking Sonic for the reason he saves people (in that particular interpretation of Sonic, of course), and I 100% want more of that. It would be interesting for a different character to expand further on the things Shadow, Espio, and Surge yelled at him for, to finally connect the dots as to why he even bothers giving the guy so many chances. Granted, in the recent arcs he did say he'd do what was right, that he didn't care if people saw him as a bad guy, etc., and that's all AWESOME and in line with how I see him. I just wonder where this thread is going to go, and if he'll snap in some way. Not killing Eggman or anything silly like that, but basically, an exploration of how "doing the right thing" all the time can stress you tf out maybe. Or some kind of expression on how ticked off he is that Eggman is pushing his luck constantly. Certainly, it's all bubbling up toward something...

(On the topic of different interpretations of Sonic's character, I'm also just so happy we get so many perspectives on how he can be. Some ARE pretty out there and not well written, but I hope SEGA allows the IDW team to expand more and more on the canon characters. I was talking with a friend about this the other day, but I feel a lot of the fun, more interesting writing tends to be given to the IDW OC's outside of the main characters, and that's likely because there's not as much pushback into how they're written. That's just my speculation though, and it's obviously not as true for characters like Sonic and Eggman. I just kinda want SEGA to let these people COOK more.)

#arti yaps #sonic idw #sonic the hedgehog #sth #im at a party typing this because someone asked me about sonic lore

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cyborgpuppyofficial · 2 months ago

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Was it just me, or did this video kinda suck? (Yap post)

Heya everyone! So I've been watching a lot of Sonic analysis videos recently, and this one just won't leave my head. I left my own thoughts extensively on the video itself, but I wanted to talk about it here too. Just a heads up, DON'T ATTACK THIS PERSON. They have an opinion, and I agree with a lot of their points at the beginning of the video! But I just think some parts of this video came off as distasteful, and a little gross. I'm going to quote parts of the video, and stuff I said in the comments of the video. So keep that in mind, and let's begin this big ol' thread.

Chapter 1: Amy's Character

So like I mentioned above, I agreed with a lot of his Amy takes. Saying he prefers Amy in Adventure is a normal thought. In fact I do, and when I write Amy, I base her heavily off of her Adventure and Adventure 2 self. I'm going to pull directly from my comment I left on my video for this section.

"I agreed with a lot of it, and I loved how you understood Amy's character on a deeper level. And I liked how you didn't hold back on the writers, like some people have been doing on many different places. As someone who's been into Sonic ever since I was little, and into the fandom for 10+ years. Then I agree that lots of Ian's versions of the characters, aren't perfect, and I'd love to see them be improved in the future. Mostly, I'd love to see Amy and Silver portrayed differently in the future. I wish Amy could have some of her femininity back, but I don't think her new version is the worst thing on the planet either. She could've been a LOT worse. I saw an older fan, say they didn't like the way Amy was back in the day. Saying they found her dynamic with Sonic to be a bit annoying, and that's okay! It took me a long time, as a female fan, to understand Amy. Because growing up as a girl, I was always told that Girly = Annoying or undesirable.

This was pushed heavily THE MOST in the Sonic Fandom. When Amy would act like... well AMY back in the day, MALE fans would hate on her. They never understood her, and would try to "fix" her via fanfictions (or just straight up killing her in edgy fanart). Or, they would say that Boom Amy is the "Better Amy", and she's the "Only good thing about Sonic Boom". I vividly remember grown men hating on Amy, who was characterized as a TWELVE YEAR OLD GIRL back in the day. It's just weird. And I feel like Ian, even if he doesn't realize it, was influenced like men like them. Which funnily enough, were mostly Archie fans in the 2000's and 2010's! The same place Ian became a fan from! I'm OF COURSE not saying Archie Sonic fans are horrible people at heart (I actually AM a big Archie fan), or that men are terrible people. That would be a stupid way to twist my words."

Basically, I have my own thoughts about Amy, and I agree she should be a little bit different. But I do think Ian, and Sega themselves for the Western Market, have probably been swayed by fans back in the day. Fans who never liked Amy, and would call her Toxic, Annoying, Clingly, Crazy, and so on. Back in the day, Sally Acorn fans and Archie fans would bully and pick on Amy for the sake of their ship. And guess what? These people were a majority of MEN, not boys, GROWN MEN. Amy was never made for them in the first place! So trying to change her to appeal to those grown men, is what I think changed her character deeply.

"I've learnt growing up as a woman, people are going to hate me no matter what I do. No matter how Feminine or how Tomboy I am. Me and many other girls, have had phases of hating pink, and all that is feminine. But that's because of the way the media showed it. When I grew up, Amy would show me, that Girlhood is okay! Liking dresses, pink, shopping, going on girls trips, having sleepovers, wearing makeup, and so on! That stuff is okay! Like you pointed out in the video, Sonic is allowed to be all the cool boy things. So why can't Amy be all the cool girl things? I know, Amy doesn't appeal to male fans. But when was Sonic ever about appealing to one gender? I feel like Sonic bypasses gender, age, or anything else! Video games in general bypass things like that in general. So, for Sonic, why can't girly girls be a thing? I didn't need to BE Sonic to understand him. Same with some of my other favorite characters like Shadow. He's like the total opposite of me, but I still loved him due to his writing and design. So why do girls have to be one certain personality, for Flynn to care about them. But the male characters are fine to be literally whatever they want? Amy's message taught me to love myself, EVERY part of myself. Even my femininity I hid, even the part of me that still loved pink and pop music. And how is that wrong for a girl my age to enjoy? I think it's a side effect of the real world.

No matter what it is, if women are into something, it's not seen as real. Into boy bands? Well you're cheesy and cringy! But guys can drool over their female idols as much as they want, it's just natural for them! Do you like this "boy" hobby? Well you aren't a real fan, and you got into it because of a man probably. I've been told these things growing up, especially when I would play games as a girl. Amy's old personality, taught me to express my passion! No matter what other people think of me, it's better to be me, and be happy. A character doesn't have to be like you, for you to like them. But for me, Amy was just like me! And sometimes for young girls, they need a good role model. And I'm not saying little girls nowadays can't like Amy, that would be stupid. But sometimes people will prefer their version of Amy that they grew up with, and that's not an issue. And I'm tired of people thinking it is a problem for people to have preferences. Speaking of that, I have a lot to say about your portion on the fandom too. I don't want to be rude in that section, so please don't take it as a personal insult. I have nothing against you, and this is just my thoughts on what you said."

So it makes sense that Amy's change is so different to fit Flynn's preferences. Flynn IS a man, and probably can't relate to this struggle. Am I saying men can't write women characters? No not at all! But I'm saying, Flynn's Amy is different from the one I grew up with. I learnt a certain lesson from her character, and other kids my age probably did too! But the new Amy can teach new lessons to children as well! For example, Zodiac and Tarot card girls are still hated by men to this day. Ian Flynn could've made Amy completely drop all of her girl hobbies, but he hasn't done that yet. He in fact, gave her a hobby that ties back to her roots, and expanded on it. I think Amy can still be capable and talented, even WITH magical abilities. It probably took her a long time to learn her cards and magic. I wish we could've SEEN her learning this stuff, but that's not my point. Amy still sticks to her goals and passions, no matter what the internet thinks. And also, Amy still has a pretty heavy crush on Sonic in IDW (or it's at least implied). But the guy fails to mention that, and instead goes on about the Japanese characterization.

Now nothing is wrong with comparing the current characterizations and all. But it felt kind of... Japanese Purist in the worst way possible. Saying "See!? Japan keeps Amy the same, so it's a Western Problem! And Western cultures hate women!". Which I did see some people sharing that rhetoric in the comments. Saying "Hollywood nowadays hates femininity", "I hope Movie Amy isn't ruined", "I wish the West was more like Japan" and so on. Cultural differences are fine! But everyone's character is handled by a different writing team in Japan. They have different standards, and like to write characters differently. I find it unfair to compare something like that, when talking about a fictional pink hedgehog. It kinda feels like this (MAN making this video by the way) is pitting two women against each other, because one girl isn't "feminine" enough. Which reminds me of a... certain war between Sally and Amy during the shipping wars. Hmm... how silly that you complain about a fandom thing like that from certain other fans later in your video. But you share the same rhetoric as the very same people who used to think Amy was "too girly" back then. But now, she "isn't girly enough".

Chapter 2 THE FANDOM PART OH NO:

OH BOY. This is where the video lost me. I had places to agree on everything else, but when he got into the fandom part... it seemed hateful. TW for possible homophobic talk and also, Anti Headcannon talk! Booooo! Anyways. The guy proceeds to talk about the fandom at the end of the video, pretty much out of nowhere. Knowing that Ian is a fan, then it makes sense for some of his writing decisions, and I pointed that out in one of my two comments.

"Now I've been personally writing Sonic stuff for fun, and I have my own headcannons. Which, it seemed like you were very against in this video. Your wording seemed, angry? And that's valid! Especially when fannon things infect cannon. And I agree with a lot of what you said. Some things the writers have said, or done, is WEIRD. Like especially Ian answering a question about Sonic touching Shadow's ass. Like he had every right not to respond to that question, and pick anything else. Buuut, he picked THAT one? Like WHY!? It's just odd. That's something a QNA made by fans should do, not a real writer who works at Sega.

But point is, some of the people who favor headcannons, and say some of the terrible stuff you displayed, are on the younger side. I remember having a "if you think one way, you're bad!" mindset, when I was growing up in my early teens. But that doesn't excuse them sending things like death threats, and saying gross things about characters or ships, BECAUSE they're most likely children. In fact, if they're adults, that makes them even worse. But, not everyone who has a headcannon is a bad guy. Due to people like this, random people who just enjoy making headcannons, have been villainized and demonized. Which is ironic, because back in the day, it was just as bad! If you had a gay headcannon back in the 2000's and 2010's? Well be prepared to get death threats! But the tables have just been turned around nowadays. Also, it was very common for fans to write people like Amy as a worse character, making her a total stalker, for the sake of their ships. This has been a sadly common thing, since the dawn of fandom itself. And Sonic is just a case of some of the worst people in it. I feel like nowadays, people only notice it more; because Twitter and other social medias, like to highlight the negative to an absurd degree."

Now the screenshots he shows from the writers, and other official staff are disgusting! And I agree that this behavior is bad!

If you're wondering. When he decided to show negative sides of the fandom, and toxic behavior, as well as calling these people "Not real fans" he only showed a specific kind of screenshot... Other than one showing only death threats, and someone nitpicking Sonic's shoes. Then all of his screenshots of "bad people" or him describing bad writers or bad fans, were ones with certain headcannons. And one post that he used to defend himself, and his argument, is from an OPEN TRANSPHOBE. Now I agree, Krack should NOT have recived threats like this from people, despite his thoughts on Trans People (PEOPLE. TRANS PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS HUMAN, AND PEOPLE, JUST LIKE US.) being deplorable. But Dimitri, why did you pick THIS specific type of harassment to show off hmm? What about the people who used to send threats to the Archie Staff, for not shipping Sonamy? Or to the Sonic Boom Staff to make their ship cannon? I guess that wasn't important enough to mention, because "the Archie and other Sega staff are saints! But Ian Flynn isn't! So any hate he gets is justified, and not allowed to be criticized at all!". That's what these screenshots and your wording of calling certain fans "brand ambassadors" felt a little personal....

Also, including the Anti Western post a few minutes after this one, is making your character look bad. Like I don't see Western Sonic Fans, complaining how Japan's characters need to change to fit THEIR standards. But Western Media just magically needs to accept overseas stuff all of a sudden? What happened to Sonic being a BRAND. They act like Sonic is a real guy, who's having his friend's name dragged through the mud. When in reality, Sega wants to make money, and money first. So despite me not liking the changes, Sega, and English writers will make changes to whatever the hell they want. You're allowed to not like that. But blaming ALL of Western Media like this, sounds like a brainwashy take.

Now I understand Dimitri is mad about the responses he got on Twitter to his post. And I agree, people shouldn't be saying this stuff about him, or his statement. He was sharing an opinion, and people took it the wrong way. Ian DOES have biases for writing a certain type of Female character, thinking that a kickass woman is better than a more feminine one. That's an issue for sure, but I don't agree with the framing in this video. He used the WORST screenshots he could find, to demonize people with headcannons. The way he spoke about Flynn's writing of Silver in particular was very Anti Headcannon. Saying his character was ruined with Flynn's inclusions, instead of admitting that Flynn's Silver just isn't his taste. He could've said "I just don't like how Ian Flynn writes Silver and Amy" or "I would personally change ___, ___, or ___ about them". That's a respectful way to critique something. Instead saying "Ian Flynn doesn't understand this, and he ruined everything!". It's like he's putting the blame just on Ian's shoulders, because of a change he doesn't like. When, sure Flynn IS the head writer and all.

Now I mentioned in my quote from my comment, that Ian's Bumblecast questions were inappropriate for a franchise made for kids. But that's not because it's a Sonadow themed question, it's because it's WEIRD. But SEGA is the one who allows him to characterize her like this. If they didn't have an issue with it in the West, and want to make cultural differences that could help with their sales. THEY WILL! Sega is a company, they aren't your friend, and aren't under an attack by Flynn's writing team. Sure Flynn is writing this character, but Sega is being a pussy, and letting a writer push them around. Which tells me, Sega doesn't give a fuck. As long as Sonic is getting press, and mostly positive press at that. They'll let Flynn write whatever he wants. The only reason they told Flynn to stop responding to Sonic character questions, is because some of the responses would look bad for THE BRAND. Sega might be nicer to their fans compared to things like Nintendo, but they're still a company at the end of the day. This guy doesn't seem to understand that. Or if he does, he's being ignorant.

This is where you lost me Dimitri.

This photo here is a pure editing piece of propaganda. He says, with this image on screen "The Sonic Fandom cares a hell of a lot more about the fandom part, then the actual content of Sonic. And that's why their concerns revolve around propping the brand up, in the face of any criticism." And the most important part of this quote "or using it's fictional character as a mouthpiece for entertainment to politics."

One. How is an innocent piece of Sonic headcannon art (top right corner) and Shadow holding a Trans flag, any HARM to you? How is that stuff perverting the characters? One is a headcannon drawing, that had nothing to do with your previous issues. This one is a FAN WORK, not effecting cannon comics or games at all. As for the Shadow fanart, that one is FAN ART. You're looking in FANDOM, no shit you're going to see art like that. People can relate to quotes characters say, and it's stupid if you think they have to take the quotes literally. Art is subjective, and people can get different things from the media they consume. That's the beauty of humanity, everyone has different eyes. Next, the Sonic is LGBTQ video he included in the bottom left? It's a theory video. I watched it actually! Chaomix isn't trying to say "Yeah Sonic IS this way, and you're wrong if you think otherwise". In his video, which you clearly didn't watch, he explains the FAN THEORY, and how people sometimes relate it to cannon. Guess what Sonic also doesn't have in cannon. A GIRLFRIEND, which you clearly seem to like the idea of him and Amy due to you using X and the Japanese Media as an example of. If Sonic is "as free as the wind" like you say, then wouldn't you agree that he doesn't need to be in a relationship? But you never mention that ever.

And guess what? The Sega pictures of Speed Battle? Those are real! Sure even if Sonic the character isn't gay, Sega wants to make profits and be nice to fans! It's a brand tactic which people take too seriously. But it's better than you, who wants to show these photos off as being wacko and crazy. And yes, Sonic hates oppression. How is that an issue that people use too much to defend their character, but the "Shadow Loves Latina's" shit isn't? In fact, you don't mention ANY instance of a fan with straight headcannons harassing others, or Transphobic views. Oh wait, that wouldn't fit with the image you're making people out to be with this video. How ironic that you leave out the toxic straight fans, but show off the toxic gay ones. And use false information to prove your point. That doesn't look too good Dimitri. 0-0

Another quote from my comment thread on YouTube:

"I mentioned before, that I personally make headcannons. And the difference between me, other writers, and Ian Flynn. Is that we're fans, and don't have a say over cannon media. Ian Flynn's words, are taken as fact. One thing I have to say before agreeing with you again, is that, I don't see the issue with certain characters being gay canonically. The ones Ian made, are basically his characters. And so far, characters like Tangle and Whisper, and ESPECALLY Nik and Don, haven't been taking over the comic. They just kinda exist, and may be gay (Nik and Don mostly being conformed). I'm Bisexual, and I'm glad Ian wanted to make new characters who are gay. I'm not DEMANDING he makes these characters, like some people think I do. But if they exist, and they're still characters outside of their identity (which they have been so far, I've been rereading Sonic IDW recently) then I'm pretty happy with them just being there.

Now if he was trying to change a character, let's say Amy, into being a sexuality she isn't CANONICALLY, then I'd feel more skeptical about it. Also, your argument about how people react to queer ships has been an issue, since again, the dawn of fandom. A lot of people don't like Gay ships for the sake of their actual dynamic. But for the sake of "Hey, I find this hot!". Whenever I write relationships, I like to think "does this work with the relationship I want to write?", instead of thinking of which Gay ship is the best, and who can I demonize for my ship to work. Which I mentioned earlier, straight ships have had this issue in the past too! I feel like your problem with the fandom isn't because "they're making everything gay", it's that fans are being insufferable about their headcannons and ships. Which every fandom is like, and will continue to be that way sadly lol. But speaking of, Ian pushing his headcannons onto cannon is not great! Silver is an example I used in my very own video, and I don't like his IDW self so far. I wish he would have help from other writers, and maybe work better with the Japanese Team for certain characters. I'm usually not against other versions of existing characters (Sonic in other media like him in game, vs the movies, vs Sonic Prime, ect.), but Ian trying to make HIS version of Amy "THE" Amy in a sense, rubs me the wrong way. It would be different, and I wouldn't care if he was writing a FAN comic, or making a Fanfiction. That would be normal fandom stuff. But, I feel like he never switched his brain from writing Fanfiction. Writing a fanfiction, and writing for an existing series is completely different."

"As a fan who writes her own version of the Sonic cast (I mostly pull from the games), it's fun! But I'm still a fan, not an official staff member. I've personally had people compare me to an actual writer, like I'm supposed to be professional. I put in effort into my versions, but I don't INSIST that they're the "real version of Sonic" or Shadow, or whoever the fuck else I'm writing. I admit, as a fan, that they aren't too accurate. And seeing other fans with headcannons, insist that their stuff is right, makes the whole community look bad. Like yeah, I see certain characters as Gay or whatever else.

But I get ashamed to say that, because whenever I do, I have people saying I'm trying to "ruin the Sonic Brand" or that I'm "not a real fan". But shipping, headcannons, and other things are a side passion of mine. I just do it, because I'm in Fandom spaces, and I have fun with that stuff. My main love came from Sonic though! I've played LOADS of the games, almost all of them, ever since I was little! But people don't believe me, because of the chronically online people. It just sucks that things like this are so hated, because a few teens on Twitter were being assholes. I know this tangent was long, but that's a big part of the video that I felt disgusted by. Not just because people were disgusting in the screenshots you put up. But because it reminds me, on why people like me, and random fans, get harrassed for having silly opinions and thoughts on characters I love."

My comment on Amy still stands by the way. But everything else still applies! One thing I noticed is that he uses regular comments about people liking different versions of Sonic (IDW in specific) to be the "stupid wrong option" in his videos. Saying that don't understand Sonic, when they just prefer one characterization over another. So it's fine when you prefer old Amy's writing and dialogue, or Japanese Amy, but it's not fine when this person has a preference for IDW Sonic's writing? Make it make sense. Also the photo he uses here makes no sense. Sure Gigi works on IDW, but we don't know if They wrote the scene or not. If they straight up admitted to writing this, it would be bias. But as of now, we have no idea.

I also love how Dimitri complains about certain characters being gay. And I agree with him on one writers point, saying that want to ship Vector and Espio. I don't like the ship, and I find it gross personally. They have a brotherly bond. And I personally ship Silver and Blaze a lot. But this isn't about me, this is about YOU Dimitri. You complain later in the video that "The Sonic Fandom cares a hell of a lot more about the fandom part, then the actual content of Sonic. So why would you care about this? This is shipping! Shipping is fandom shit! You're too pure, YOU know the characters well enough! You're not like other Sonic fans, you don't care! But you suddenly care about this shipping take? Like I get the Espio and Vector hate, but why do you care that she doesn't care for Silver and Blaze?

I've met plenty of straight and gay fans who just don't prefer something. You claim not to care about ships, and to feel disgusted by all of them. But you seem to be VERY pro Sonamy, and at least a decent fan of Silver and Blaze. Because otherwise, if you cared ONLY about the games, you wouldn't care about relationships at all! You complain about Flynn wanting to keep relationship drama from Archie Sonic, yet at the same time, you're complaining about it! It seems like you're bias against gay stuff. You don't like that gay ships are being pushed in the comics, but Sonamy coded scenes never come up! Even though they exist in IDW! Or heck, another Hetro ship that IDW basically made cannon was Vector and Vanilla! They're cannon characters! You should care way more that this ship was forced, Sonic isn't about romance! . . . Seems like it's only convent to mention shipping things when it's against gay stuff, and serves your own agenda. Which funnily enough, you criticize the IDW writers for doing. So which one is it Dimitri? Does shipping matter or not~? >:) Plus! One of your sections in the video is explaining Sonic and Amy's relationship. And you seem to describe them more as a couple, than friends. Even though they're not a cannon ship. And that leads me to another point.

Why do Ian's comic characters, matter to you? They can be gay, they're Flynn's characters. Again I mentioned in my comment that "I don't see the issue with certain characters being gay canonically. The ones Ian made, are basically his characters. And so far, characters like Tangle and Whisper, and ESPECALLY Nik and Don, haven't been taking over the comic. They just kinda exist, and may be gay (Nik and Don mostly being conformed). I'm Bisexual, and I'm glad Ian wanted to make new characters who are gay. I'm not DEMANDING he makes these characters, like some people think I do. But if they exist, and they're still characters outside of their identity (which they have been so far, I've been rereading Sonic IDW recently) then I'm pretty happy with them just being there." Heck I'll even say that characters like Starline, if he ended up being Gay, who cares!? You're looking at outside media, to look at the comic, instead of focusing on the Comic's story. Which, again, you AGAIN quoted saying "The Sonic Fandom cares a hell of a lot more about the fandom part, then the actual content of Sonic". Why would you care about a Lesbian or Gay ship being cannon? Ships are fandom stuff! That's not actual content of Sonic! Plus, you seem to play the games. Why would you care about a comic that Ian's writing? The writer you seem to hate in your video. You can happily ignore the comics, and keep playing the games. But this fact seems to make you angry enough, to add it in your video.

Whisper and Tangle are strong characters, and may be dating on the side. But they've still done important things in the comics, and stand as characters on their own. And if we don't include them, Nik and Don are BACKGROUND CHARACTERS. Why would they matter to you? They're in the background, and aren't forcing themselves into the main story. They show up to do some things, and that's it. But them possibly being gay seems to make you disgusted. The Conductor and his wife are cannon! And so is TMOSTH, which you don't even mention! That couple is a background character couple, and they even had a kid! So clearly, adding in Spinoff media/non cannon media into the comics isn't an issue to you! Or you just haven't gotten to this issue yet. Or, what I suspect... You've never read the comics at all! Because they have TWO cannon straight couples in IDW, but you don't mention them at all. But when one gay couple is cannon, or IMPLIED with Tangle and Whisper. THEN it's a problem to add couples.

I think that's all the points I have, and why this video feels... gross. But what I wanna mainly take away from here is that. You're allowed to have preferences for Old or New Amy, but this video just wasn't it. He mighty know Amy's old character, and might not like the new which is fine. But I feel like he used the last third of his video, trying to push his beliefs about Sonic fans onto the viewer. And acting incredibly ignorant when it came to some information. I don't think this guy MEANT to be Homophobic, or weird in this video at first. But that weird Wojack edit at the end kinda gave me Dimitri's true colors. As well as quoting a proud Transphobe multiple times. So uhh yeah not good! >:( I don't think Dimitri is too far gone, and I think he just made some bad choices because he interacted with the wrong group of people. But I think people just doesn't understand fandom culture, especially Dimitri.

But tell me what you guys think! What do you think about the original video if you've watched it? And I'd love to hear what you think about this video too! Please be sure to be respectful, and DO NOT HARRASS DIMITRI. I'll be getting back to drawings soon, and I may do more thought posts. But I don't think it'll ever be on one video ever again. And what version of Amy do you like? Personally, I love both Adventure Amy, and IDW Amy so far! ^w^ I'll be seeing you guys around. <3

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sonicjustbecause · 2 months ago

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Sonic and diversity...

Tails - the one people would call 'a loser'

First one is Tails. Aside his twin tails (the most noticeable thing) he is not too different to me. He is cute, polite and friendly. Although he is shown to be a genius, I think he winks more to smart kids in school that are looked down by envious peers because their life is easier than the life of the other students, even if they have good personalities. Or to young kids who feel inadeguate for something. Tails is mostly very normal to me, but he is very relatable exactly because he is not 'over the top' and his traits are virtually shared with everybody.

The twin tails might represent some traits many kids have and are ashamed off, like freckles, buck teeth, red hair or protuding ears. Traits that most learn to love when they grow up. Just like how Tails learned to love his peculiar trait.

Tails doesn't have a hardtime to befriend somebody. He just needed to find confidence in himself.

Shadow - the one people would call 'odd'.

Shadow, he got a lot. I want to sayone thing about his outside look before: originally (SA2, for example) Shadow was not meant to look scary. He was meant to look cool. The first thing people noticed is how he resembles Sonic. Nobody in SA2 commented: 'How scary Shadow is'. Back then the only comment on his look were 'cute' (Rouge) or 'lame' (Sabrina) and the other characters talked to him the way they talk with everybody else. Not even in 'Shadow the Hedgehog 2005' people think he is scary, unless they don't see him with a gun in his hand (but, Cheese would be scary too if he had a gun). In Sonic Prime nobody fear Shadow because of his look.

The way he looks always made me think to those kids that don't follow the mainstream trend: metalheads, punk etc... Real life taught me that those guys are safer than many guys with a cleaner look.

I think the idea that Shadow looks scary was introduced in Sonic X and Sega lingered on it a lot when they decided Shadow had to be a edgelord.

The most noticeable thing in his behaviour is how socially awkward he is and how rarely he look at people he is interacting with. Even his friends. Did you notice how in Dark Beginning even Maria always needs to force his attention? She's so used to this she does it without thinking.

Is not like he is afraid. Male, female, important figures or regular people, the treat them the same. He truly has no idea about what to do or how to deal with social stuffs. Is interesting how in early games but also in recent media like the movies, he let people approach him instead of being him approaching others. Sticking around is his way to allow people to get used to him. Then he can relax and attempt to initiate something himself.

This image makes me think to those hand shaped tools for cats

Another thing is a long streak of Shadow's self loathing that virtually shows in all media, here and there: games (Sonic Battle and shadow the Hedgehog for example) Both Japanese and western comics (Archie, recent Shadow's manga), the movie, Dark Beginnings etc...

The impression he gives me is that he is not a true loner. Loners are happy to be alone. See Knuckles, he is a loner and he is cheerful, chuckling in his debut game. The rare moments you see Shadow being somewhat happy is always when he is with someone. Maria especially, but also Rouge and Omega. He doesn't like the crowd, he is still an introvert. But he also doesn't like being alone as much as people may think.

By reading comments on YT, Shadow (when he is not characterized as an edgelord) reasonates with troubled kids, with people suffering either from depression or from autism. But also with people who are simply introverts. For the latter, I've read on one comment on YT long ago about one introvert who was able to find his friends because he got inspired by Shadow, and after two decades his life is going fine and the friends he meet as a kid are all still his friends.

Tails and Shadow are two outcast, but they're different and reasonate with different people.

#shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #sonic #shadow #sonic prime #sonic movie 3 #tails the fox #miles tails prowler #outcast

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dr-spectre · 6 months ago

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As someone who's been in multiple fandom circles and calls themselves a Splatoon fan, I've seen a lot of focus and discussion on "THE LORE!!" and "CANON!!!" and to be honest with you... it's getting really tiring and I think people are just WAY TOO obsessed with what a wiki or an intern at Nintendo says rather than forming their own perspective on events and coming to their own unique conclusions.

Now, I wanna say, if talking about lore and discussing which elements are canon or not makes you happy and you love talking about that, then that's perfectly okay. It's fine. It's not for ME personally because my focus on Splatoon is the gameplay, music and the storytelling chops of each Hero Mode.

Story >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Canon for me any day of the week i do not care.

Because, to get away from Splatoon for a second, for my Sonic fans out there, you remember when Sega and the people behind the show Sonic Prime said that it was canon to the mainline Sonic timeline? And if you said otherwise you were technically wrong because "oh Sega said this, so it MUST be true!"

........But then everyone said that Sonic Prime cannot be canon to the mainline Sonic timeline because it has a fuck ton of inconsistencies? Yeah.... funny. Basically, don't put a lot of focus into "what actually happened" and "oh this is what the multi billion dollar corporation said!" because there's always gonna be one guy out there that goes "um this information kinda fucking damages the story in a severe way." (And sometimes that one guy is me.... hehehehe....)

I could obviously talk about.... you know.... Hypno Callie again for the 50th trillion time.... (and i will)..... This bitch.... I wanna love you girlie i really fucking do but Nintendo and millions of people make it hard to....

Nintendo set up Callie's villain arc decently in Splatoon 1 with the Splatfest dialogue, the Squid Sister stories and the Sunken Scrolls, yet they ultimately damaged the progression of the arc by saying "nah fuck u she got kidnapped and brainwashed, removing all of her memories and free will because fuck telling a good story with satisfying set up and pay off that allows for character growth. Fundamentals of storytelling? What are those?" And it also destroyed Callie as a character by reducing her to an object that the player "must save from da evil Octavioooo" and "oh look at her! She put the stupid brainwashing shades onnn againnn!! such a dumb fucking moron dumbass piece of shit right guys?!? lmaoooooooooo!! explore the dangers of addiction and how you need to seriously change your life and be surrounded by those you love in order to change bad habits?? Themes?? PFFTTT! NAWWW! THAT'S LAMEEEE!! It's Callie! No one cares about Callie!! She's stupiddd!!!"

(I talked about Callie in a tumblr comment section one time and I got made fun of for by a guy way older than me. I love humanity.)

It also ruined DJ Octavio's character too because, if what Nintendo said is true about what he did then he cannot be redeemed in Splatoon 3. He cannot go back on the shit he's done. But they try to redeem him out of nowhere and now he's all chill with the New Squidbeak Splatoon and appeared in the Grand Fest.... Yet what he did to Callie which Nintendo loves to push is truly TRULY unredeemable and if that's the case then welp.... I call that bad writing, straight up. It's bad writing.

I really hate it when something happens in a story and you perceive it in a certain way where you feel like it elevates the events, but then the company behind the story chooses to pick the worst outcomes possible just because? And everyone rolls with it just cause? Ugh...

Lesson of today is, don't fucking listen obsessively to what a company says and suck it up. Consume media and come to your own conclusions on what happened. As long as you have tangible evidence to back up your claims you can make any interpretation you want to, whatever makes you feel happy bestie!

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #callie cuttlefish #callie splatoon #marie cuttlefish #marie splatoon #splatoon 2 #sonic the hedgehog #sonic prime #discussion #rambles #ramblings #splatoon lore #lore #canon #writing

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thankskenpenders · 2 years ago

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Sonic Superstars!

Superstars is out! And guess what? It's good! It's a worthy new entry in the series, and I mostly like it. Mostly. Except for the handful of parts I don't. As usual, allow me to share my thoughts.

(For the record, I got the PS5 version of Superstars. I can't speak for how it plays on older hardware like the Switch, or how the weird Steam version that seems to make you log in with Epic runs. But I encountered zero performance issues, personally.)

General thoughts

The thing is, aside from two notable flaws I'll discuss in greater detail below, I can sum up my feelings on most of Superstars quickly. You see, it's... a Sonic game. This will either be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. It's not a bold new take on the series that'll blow you away, but they also didn't fuck it up. There's no catch this time! There's something refreshing about that straightforwardness, given how rare it is to get a regular-ass New Sonic Game from Sega. It's just a new classic-style game where you can play as Amy, set on a new island with all new zones, and Fang is in it! This might be damning with faint praise, but that's what it says on the tin, and they did a good job overall.

(It also has co-op. That's nice. I didn't play it in co-op.)

It plays exactly how it should. At no point did anything feel Wrong. The graphics might not have the absolute highest fidelity, but I think the character models look really nice, and the levels look appropriately good with vibrant color palettes. A couple zones like Sky Temple gave me Klonoa vibes, which I like. One zone is an absolutely incredible homage that I won't spoil. The story here is minimal (as expected), but there are a few good moments of telling the story through the gameplay, particularly one very cute sequence with Trip. I did find a couple stage gimmicks moderately annoying (Speed Jungle 2 and Press Factory 2, looking at you), but like... I could say the same thing about Mania, and also damn near every other Sonic game ever made. There's always That One Level. Superstars may not raise the series to new heights, but it generally executes well on the standard beats of the series. It's an easy recommendation for all fans of 2D Sonic.

Really, aside from the two big flaws (we'll get to them), this game's greatest crimes are simply not being quite as good as Mania, and also coming out the same week as the more creative and polished Super Mario Bros. Wonder. If we hadn't gotten Mania, I would easily be calling this my favorite 2D Sonic game since... what, the Advance trilogy 20 years ago? I like the Rush games, but if you asked me to replay one or the other, I might have a better time with Superstars. And, yes, it beats the hell out of Sonic 4. It's not even close. Anyone who says this game is exactly like Sonic 4 is just being a hater.

...I guess I would say that $60 is a bit steep for this, but you know it'll be on sale for a more appropriate $30-$40 in a few months. This isn't a Nintendo game we're talking about here.

Nice little tweaks

Superstars also features a number of welcome quality-of-life updates over Mania, bringing it more in line with the design ethos of modern platformers.

You have infinite lives! No more getting a game over on the final boss and having to redo the whole final zone - or, god forbid, the entire game

Time overs are gone! It'll warn you before you go over ten minutes, but I have no idea why because it doesn't kill you anymore

The game features a hub from which you can easily replay previous levels, rather than needing to beat the game or put in a cheat code to unlock the level select

This means you can easily go back and hunt for any special stage rings you missed. However, as a tradeoff, it seems like you can only get one Emerald per zone now, rather than being able to get Super Sonic by the end of the first or second zone

You can swap characters between levels! No more having to start a whole 'nother save file to play as Tails

And those characters even have optional little movement tutorial rooms available from the hub, which is great for new players who may not know about things like the Drop Dash

And, finally, checkpoints now feature arrows pointing in the direction you were supposed to be going, in case you forget upon respawning

Of course, while you might not be getting game overs, Superstars certainly compensated with some bosses that kicked my ass.

Bosses

Here's what I would consider notable flaw #1.

I have mixed feelings on the bosses in Superstars. I don't think many of them are poorly designed - in fact, a lot of them are good, and offer fun moments of spectacle. But for a 2D Sonic game, they're REALLY long and drawn out, and by the late game this was starting to get draining.

Bosses tend to be the type where you have to dodge their attack patterns for a while until you get the chance to hit them exactly once, MAYBE twice. A few bosses seem to have quicker options if you abuse your post-hit invulnerability or play as a character with a double jump, but many will either be completely invincible or run away to the background for long periods of time, making it impossible to damage them outside of the allotted windows. And even if it seems like you'll be able to get in a second hit, many bosses turn invincible and skip ahead to the next attack pattern as soon as they take the first hit. Again, most of these fights aren't BAD, but because of this behavior they sometimes take almost as long to beat as the entire levels preceding them. This didn't bother me much early in the game, but against the more challenging bosses towards the end that kept killing me several minutes into a long fight, it got tiring. The final boss of Story Mode probably took me like an hour.

While this certainly isn't an uncommon style of boss design, part of me suspects they did this for the sake of co-op players. For one, playing in co-op means that you don't necessarily have to start the entire fight over if one person dies, so I assume the length is less of an issue. But in particular, true classic-style Sonic bosses that you can just hit repeatedly with good timing would go down in a few seconds against a team of four players. Likewise, the swarm of clones from the "Avatar" Emerald power would probably obliterate every Genesis era boss with one button press. So I get why every boss needs all these invulnerability periods, but still. I at least wish they'd made some of those attack patterns shorter and given you more frequent opportunities to deal damage.

Emeralds and their powers

Speaking of the new Chaos Emerald powers: they're neat, I guess? They're fine. I didn't use them much. Actually, I kept forgetting I even had them - although the game will play a noise and show an icon in the corner of the screen to remind you any time you reach a spot where a specific power is useful. Avatar, the first power you get, is at least good for getting a couple free hits in on the trickier bosses. Yellow's ability to slow time is obviously good, but, again, I always forgot I even had it and made it through just fine without it. I was also pleased to realize that the swimming power is useful for the water levels and not just for climbing up waterfalls.

Oh, and the new grappling-based special stages kind of suck, but they're not the worst, and I'll at least give them credit for trying something new. (Motion Sickness Zone from Sonic 1 does return as a bonus minigame, but I only did it once lmao.)

Battle Mode

I haven't played Battle Mode. Couldn't tell you if it's good or not. It did, however, give us official designs for Metal Tails and Metal Amy after all these years, and also it let me make this:

...Okay, enough beating around the bush. Let's talk about the thing that REALLY drags down the experience.

The soundtrack...

(This lengthy section on the music will feature some light spoilers for things like zone names and themes.)

Now, don't get me wrong. There are some bangers in here that I've been listening to on loop. But this is one of the most inconsistent soundtracks I've ever heard, and I'm not sure I've ever played another game where the music has such a sharp dip in quality in the back half.

As anyone following this blog knows, prior to release I was a little obsessed with trying to gauge what the soundtrack would be like. "Jun Senoue" and "new Classic Sonic game" naturally evokes the memory of Sonic 4, but from the start we knew Tee Lopes was involved as well, and almost all of the music previewed before released leans more towards the sound of Sonic Mania than anything else. I was hopeful! I was excited! Jun deserved another chance at doing another classic Sonic OST, and Tee is one of my favorite game composers of all time between his Sonic material and other works like the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge OST. I frequently thought back to this Sonic 4 remix medley by Jun and Tee as a reminder that these two could really be the dream team, bringing out the best in each other's work.

Sure enough, the front half of the game is largely dominated by the Mania sound, whether it's a track by Tee himself or one by an in-house Sega artist that's compatible with his style. Pinball Carnival Act 1 by Rintaro Soma (an up-and-coming composer who wrote a bunch of the Cyber Space themes in Frontiers) takes obvious inspiration from Mania's Studiopolis Act 1, to the point that I was shocked when Sega posted the track and revealed it wasn't written by Tee. Act 2, however, forges more of its own sound by leaning into the act's spooky haunted carnival theme. And despite being the music lead, the only level theme that I know for sure was written by Senoue in the front half of the game (Bridge Island Act 1) was actually arranged by Tee Lopes to give it more of that Mania sound. Hell, the level clear jingle is literally just the one from Mania. A few level themes by other composers don't quite match that style, but they fit in well enough.

But there are early signs that this sound won't be consistent throughout the game. Our first warning of things to come is the boss music:

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When early copies started floating around and the soundtrack leaked, many, many people hoped that this was merely a placeholder, like the literal Sonic 4 Episode II music used in the earliest previews of Speed Jungle, and that it'd get replaced with a day one patch. Oh, those poor, innocent fools...

Even if you don't mind the poor production with the returning Sonic 4 faux-Genesis sound, this is a very simplistic thirteen second snippet of music that then plays a second time in a higher key before it loops. This wouldn't be the end of the world if the bosses were as short as the ones in the Genesis games, of course, but they're not! This theme is used for a ton of lengthy fights throughout the game, including an EXTREMELY long and tedious autoscroller boss at the end of Golden Capital Act 2. Maybe I would've enjoyed the bosses in this game more if they were paired with some earworms that'd get me hyped up and sell how cool and exciting the fights are supposed to be, but grating songs like this just made the minutes spent fighting those bosses feel like an eternity.

Still, boss music (and menu music) aside, all of the level themes in the front half of the game ranged from decent to great, with the peak easily being the phenomenal Lagoon City Act 2 by Tee Lopes. And then... I got to the back half of the game. And the Mania style completely disappeared, replaced largely with the dreaded Sonic 4 sound. That isn't the style for EVERY song in the back half, but even the ones that try something different tend to be weaker than the material from the first six zones, with less engaging melodies and less intricate arrangement. Many sound straight up unfinished, leaning on extremely basic synth patches with no personality. And there isn't a single track from Tee in the back half. He just disappears from the project altogether.

What this means is that we go from this absolute banger by Tee Lopes in zone 6, which elevates what's otherwise a bog standard desert level to a thrilling adventure:

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To... this, in zone 7:

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It's EXTREMELY jarring!

The thing is, this is actually one of the better tracks in this style. I have to assume this is by Senoue, because you can totally hear a good Adventure or Heroes era Senoue track in there once you get past the crude synth replication of the Genesis era Sonic sound. Senoue is still a great composer, as you can hear clear as day with Bridge Island, but he's working with a restrictive sound palette that doesn't play to his strengths at all. If only he'd bust out that damn guitar, or at least pick some better synths.

(And no matter what people will tell you, no, this is not an accurate recreation of what the Genesis's YM2612 chip really sounded like, nor is it representative of what it CAN sound like at its best. Go back to the Streets of Rage 2 or Ristar soundtracks if you need a reminder.)

While I can at least see what the Press Factory tracks were aiming for, some other faux-FM synth tracks are just really bland. They don't have anything interesting going on, and they also don't seem particularly tailor made for the levels they accompany. They're just attempts to mimic what Sonic 1-3 sounded like on a very literal level. Take, for instance, the Golden Capital Act 1 theme, AKA "we've got Sky Sanctuary at home." While the better level themes in this game enhance the mood or even completely carry the vibes of a level, the weaker tracks can really suck all the air out of the room and make a level feel like more of a slog.

What kills me is that there are, in fact, a couple examples of how to do throwbacks to classic Sega FM synth music well on this very soundtrack! They're just not the Sonic 4 type tracks. I love the Frozen Base Act 2 theme, presumably composed by legendary Sega composer Hiroshi "HIRO" Kawaguchi, who's responsible for all-time classic arcade soundtracks like Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Hang-On, After Burner, and more, as well as the hacking and pinball themes from Frontiers. Maybe to an untrained ear this doesn't sound all that different, but it has a catchier tune, better instruments, and stronger production overall. I'm also a fan of the track for Sky Temple, which isn't perfect, but it blends a few Genesis-esque instruments like the Sonic 1+2 snare with other instruments for a richer sound. If the whole soundtrack sounded more like these examples, I'd definitely be complaining less.

I really just have to wonder... how did this happen? How did this end up being so inconsistent? Many fans on social media are jumping to the conclusion that Senoue is just extremely stubborn and refuses to ditch the style from Sonic 4. I can't deny this possibility, but some things just don't add up. The almost complete lack of "retro" style music in the promotional material. The fact that the style just suddenly shifts halfway through the game, then disappears for the final zone, as if that's not the note they want to end on. The complete lack of any tracks by Tee Lopes in the back half. The focus on the Mania-style tracks in the bonus "mini soundtrack." And most perplexing of all, the fact that three of the first tracks you hear in the game were Senoue compositions that were given extra attention with arrangements from Tee Lopes.

This is pure speculation on my part, but it almost seems like they straight up ran out of time.

Perhaps Jun wanted more of his tracks to get full arrangements from Tee, or for Tee to contribute more songs, but things were down to the wire and they chose to leave in some of the raw Sonic 4 style demos. The soundtrack being crunched out in a matter of months at the end of development would certainly explain why Speed Jungle had to be demoed without its music a mere four months ago. It'd also explain why a game that's only a few hours long needs NINETEEN composers listed in the credits. And also the fact that multiple zones just have completely different, unrelated music by different artists across their acts. Did they need multiple artists working on different acts simultaneously, completely independent from each other with no time to cross reference each others' work, due to extreme time constraints? I'd buy it.

Ah well. It's not the end of the world. I've heard worse Sonic music. But I'll always think of what could have been...

At least the final battle with Eggman at the end of Story Mode has a pretty kickass boss theme, which ALMOST makes up for how bad most of the preceding boss music is (and the fact that that very difficult fight doesn't have a checkpoint between phases and took me like an hour to beat lmao). It even seems like it might be written by longtime Phantasy Star Online composer and recurring Sonic contributor Hideaki Kobayashi. That's the guy who wrote NONAGRESSION!!!!!!!

The postgame

Speaking of beating Eggman! It turns out Superstars has a good deal of postgame content, as merely beating the last zone with all the Chaos Emeralds doesn't take you to the true final boss. In order to do that, you'll need to do something else.

Before we hit the big spoiler warning, I'm going to give any future players who are still reading a warning. If you value your sanity... don't force yourself to do all the postgame stuff. Don't make the mistakes I did. It's not worth it, and it may very well knock your personal score for the game down a couple points.

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SPOILERS FOR THE STORY, UNLOCKABLES, AND THE POSTGAME BELOW THIS POINT

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

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The bonus scenario

Sonic Superstars has a big surprise in store for anyone who beats the main story. For the first time since... what, Silver? In 2006? We finally have a brand new playable character in a new Sonic platformer! (I wouldn't count the player avatar in Forces as a full-fledged New Character.) Yes, after the credits roll, you unlock Trip as the super-secret fifth playable character. I was really excited to see this. Trip is cute, even if her masked appearance from early in the game is perhaps a more unique design than a Sonic-ified lizard girl who can only vaguely look like a real sungazer lizard. She IS the first new Sonic character Ohshima has designed since the '90s, though, so she gets points for that - and she gets even more points for literally turning into a dragon when she goes Super. We love a girl who can turn into a dragon, don't we folks? And her playstyle is fun, too, with a double jump and the ability to roll along walls and ceilings.

But Trip isn't just playable. Like Knuckles before her, she gets an entire alternate story mode of her own, which somewhat remixes the level layouts, generally makes things more challenging, and swaps out Eggman for Egg Robo. I was so excited to see this! It really felt like the game had so much more in store for me than I'd anticipated.

...Then I spent probably around three hours attempting to beat the new final battle with Fang at the end of Trip's Story. And it made me regret doing Trip's Story at all.

Once you learn the patterns, a lot of them are actually piss easy. But the difficulty comes down to a few misguided factors:

The fight is LOOOONG. On a successful attempt the whole thing will probably take the average player about, like... seven or eight minutes? Maybe longer? This is where I really started to get pissed at the game for making me wait through these stupid attack patterns before I could attempt to hit the boss once.

The fight is divided between two phases, one with Fang in a vehicle and another with him in a giant robot, with no checkpoint between them. Dying to one of Fang's bullshit attacks on the second phase means having to redo the ~5 minute first phase all over again. And, worst of all...

Fang has multiple projectile attacks that are guaranteed instant kills, even if you have rings.

Also there's a stupid desperation headbutt attack that can really easily catch you off guard and kill you, but I only got that far in the fight once.

It's the instant kills that got me. If those fucking immobilizing net attacks just made you drop your rings, or you could at least wiggle out of them by mashing buttons (EDIT: apparently you CAN do this but you literally have to button mash so rapidly that it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll physically be able to do it), it would have been totally doable! Kinda fun, even! Slow, but pretty cool in terms of spectacle. But nope! Three hours! Three hours on this! This is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I have ever faced in any Sonic game, period, and one of the hardest bosses I've ever seen in ANY game. All because of one attack pattern where making a tiny mistake means starting over.

The glitches didn't help, either. Something about the way the circular boss arena was set up in both stories' final battles seems to make the floor intangible sometimes for non-player objects. Occasionally my dropped rings, enemies I was supposed to knock towards Fang, or one of Fang's insta-kill projectiles would just fall through the floor randomly. This definitely wasn't my main problem, but it helped drive home the idea that this fight just wasn't worth my time.

After three hours of attempts, I gave up. I just went and looked up the ending of Trip's story, as well as the contents of the Final Story, on YouTube. Turns out I made the right call, because boy, that true final boss looks like dogshit. It's just a very dull fight against a big generic cartoon dragon. Apparently this is the thing Eggman was looking for. It appears and is defeated with little fanfare. I think I liked it better when I assumed the scary dragon being foreshadowed was just Super Trip.

...Also, hey, what's up with The End being very conspicuously visible in the background of the last zone?? I know it's just a cheeky cameo, but, like... isn't it supposed to be sealed away in Cyber Space right now? Should I be taking this literally? Does this have lore implications? This is one hell of a way to remind people that the timeline's been reunified, I guess

Closing thoughts

I really hate to part ways with Superstars on a sour note like this, because like I said up top, I mostly enjoyed my time with it! It's really just a small handful of particularly frustrating bosses and the inconsistent soundtrack that drag it down. Other than that, it's solid as a rock. Maybe wait for sales if you're not dying to play it, but it's definitely worth playing for any Sonic fan. Just... skip the true ending. I would have stepped away MUCH happier with this game if I'd done that.

I wanna try to end this on a more positive note but I'm tired, so, uhhhh... look, you can unlock a Metal Nights skin for your Battle Mode bot!!

Anyway back to jamming to about half the soundtrack on loop while pretending the other half doesn't exist, and looking forward to the continued Fang Renaissance with his upcoming IDW miniseries

#tkp post #other media

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tazienimp · 21 days ago

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The Parting of Blood

Dark Gaia: "You've changed... Where did my sweet, trusting little brother go, hmm?"

Chip: "I think you've mistaken who here has changed. You have become uncaring, and negligent in your duties, marrying some creature and allowing it to corrupt you"

Dark Gaia: "So narrow minded~"

Okay, so, despite the intense art block i mentioned before, i did manage to get this done tonight, i also threw in an unclothed version as a treat and so i can use it as a future reference. I was waiting for inspo to kick in regarding the clothing. People back then were more modest, but Dark Gaia's a disrespectful bastard. For Chip i went with something more similar to the clothing i designed for Prince Null. Just a lot less modern and less revealing.

I also used Null as a basis for how i designed Dark Gaia. He is the most visually close to his actual genetics than the other Mephies, so it made designing Dark Gaia much easier given Dark Gaia is his dad.

I have also decided that the mobian side of Chip and Dark Gaia are lions. I struggled for a long time deciding on what species they would be, besides just ancient/mobian hybrids, but i think lion works best for them. Especially given Mephy is genetically a cat. Cliche, maybe, given they're royalty, but i dig it.

Also regarding their necklaces, it's basically a high tech form of medicine, to ward of the de-evolution plaguing the ancients at the time. It didn't work as intended, however it ensured that Chip never completely lost himself (Dw when Chip gave his to Sonic it didn't effect him, the de-evolution process was over by then). Dark Gaia's broke when he fully transformed into the monster buried within the earth that we all know him now to be, causing his free will to be lost forever to instinctive rage.

Next up, lore. I have been flip flopping about this for a very long time. But i think I've figured out how i believe it happened. The Gaia kingdom, later became Camelot. The people of Soleanna conquered them and took the land. The surviving royal family tied to King Arthur fled, and Sonic descended from them. Basically though, Soleanna not only stole the land from Camelot, but also their culture. Their scriptures, clothing, legends, even architecture, all were taken and absorbed by Soleanna over time. And the eagle that saved the land? It was Chip saving the people from a volcanic eruption, the one that birthed the Eternal Flame, as he put the land back together thousands of years ago at the end of one of his fights with his brother. However, the story of Chip warped over time as all legends do, and people of modern times believe it was an eagle. Some even believe it was Solaris itself. However, the Eternal Flame was nothing more than an egg. Solaris did not exist in its true form until Mephiles and Iblis were born during the lab accident. Though, the true Solaris did copy the appearance of the eagle as best it could once Mephy learned of the legend.

The Solaris twins, no matter the timeline, will never know of their true origins, as their father and the creature that corrupted him hailed from an era too far back in the past for any of the Mephies to see.

And despite their father long since devolving into beastly insanity, their mother still haunts the bloodline. Just like she haunted Dark Gaia.

That's my take on the Gaia twins XDDDD of course it's Dark Gaia's second form instead of his first form, but the most important thing about his part in the story is his corruption. Maybe someday I'll draw how he first looked.

Also in any pictures i draw of them where their real names are used, that part of the text is gonna be censored. I'm gonna keep calling them Chip and Dark Gaia, because pretending their names are lost to time could be extremely fun (and i also don't feel like coming up with real names for them). Plus it leaves me some leeway for if Sega ever decides to properly name them, given we now have info about the Gaian people. Which i totally called, btw~ i fuckin knew they didn't start off as just, The Gaias.

Anyways there you go, probs gonn eat and then conk out again, but they're done, and they're so pretty. Well... Chip is pretty, and then some, Dark Gaia's an ugly bastard but we love him anyway. Mephy and Ibby def got their pretty genes from their mother and uncle, cause they sure didn't get it from their dad.

#sonic the hedgehog #mephiles the dark #digital art #krita art #alternate timelines #alternate universe #sonic au #oc au #sonic oc #mephiles #null #dark gaia #chip the light gaia #au lore #oc x canon #gaia twins #next generation #next gen oc #sonic unleashed

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douglasanondr · 1 year ago

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I know Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop gives heavy lore drops with a big emphasis on Sig.

But, F y'all I never really cared all that much about the Crimson Demon storyline, and I wanna talk about Schezo.

(Disclaimer: I do care about Amitie, Sig, The Demon and everything in the Story, it's just the storyline itself I don't like.)

SPOILERS for the Story of Puyo Puyo Puzzle Pop below, and Screenshots I got from @nenilein's streams, check them out.

Shoutout to SEGA for allowing Schezo to do 3 things I didn't think he was allowed to do in SEGA era Puyo.

Be Smart

Man figured out the Entire plot of the Game in the 1st Act, No one told him any of this he just figured it out. I don't think anyone has been that close to the Answer unless they were straight up involved.

2. Minimize his Innuendos

Would you believe me if I said these are the only instances in the entire Game. He's in Arle's Story for all of the 2nd half and he only says one thing. Guess he really was improving since Tetris2.

3. This

Unless Schezo has just been Ringo in disguise or I miss something in Ecolo's lore, saying his name should not be possible. How did he do that?

Man, Schezo was written so well in this Game. Thank You Miss. Yoshino

#puyo puyo #schezo puyo puyo #schezo wegey #Man why is this all in a game i can't get #f you apple #i don't blame sega #they made a mainly english puyo game they have my respect

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blazehedgehog · 19 days ago

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whats a sonic game that you have meh feelings towards that everyone else seems to love? Like, it doesn't even have to be negative feelings necessarily. You can still find the game good, but not as great as everyone else thinks it is. What is that game for you?

These are common now so it probably doesn't feel very unique, but:

In the lead up to Christian Whitehead/Stealth's Retro Engine remake of Sonic CD coming out on Xbox Live Arcade, I realized I don't really like Sonic CD. I think exploration is an important element of those 2D Genesis Sonic games, but Sonic CD cranks the dial a little too far for my tastes.

Also, as far as people say that Sonic games were "always about speed," I feel like that's not true and Sonic CD is proof of that. Sonic CD is the only game from that era explicitly about speed, because it specifically throws junk in your way to force you to slow down. It knows you're trying to gain and maintain your run, because that's how time travel works, so levels are designed to deliberately trip you up. That's what it looks like when one of those games actually embraces speed as a gameplay mechanic.

And it sucks. There's so many little bits and bobs you get hung up on, and even some gotcha traps that are designed to drag you into a time zone you don't want to be in -- or put you in a section of level where getting back to where you were is a tedious process. Or worse, there are gotcha traps in Metallic Madness where you have springs that launch you into spikes you can't see. People complain about that in the Sonic Advance games, but Sonic CD did it first.

Retro Engine helps with that somewhat, because the original Sonic CD has kind of funky controls and Retro Engine does a lot to smooth out those rough edges. But it's still a tedious game. Not bad, just methodical in a way I don't like. An entire game of getting stopped every ten feet and having to run it back over and over and over again.

It came to a point where I was going through and replaying/comparing every version of Sonic CD I owned, from the Sega CD original to the PC version to the Gamecube version plus various emulators -- and in every one I'd revisit, all of them were a brand new file where I'd previously stopped playing at Tidal Tempest. Every single one stopped at that level. And that's not even the worst level in the game.

Origins, with the ability to use the drop dash to time travel, helps a lot more. And there was a mod for the PC version decomp that made time travel a lot easier, too. Same deal there.

I also wasn't super impressed with Sonic Colors. That game's way too guided for my tastes. They keep a very tight leash on you in terms of what you're allowed to do and when. It's a boost game, I want to lay on the boost and never stop, but they ration boost energy out so minimally that it frustrated me. Especially because the platforming controls in that game aren't great, so a lot of the stuff between boost sections just isn't very fun for me. Also, the writing continues to kind of age like milk and I never found it that funny to begin with.

Colors Ultimate gives you a little more boost energy to work with but the game is still kind of boring, imo.

#questions #Anonymous #sonic the hedgehog #sega #sonic team #sonic colors #sonic cd

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hadesknockedupintheunderworld · 21 days ago

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The rampant infantilization of tails in fandom probably started with Satam where he was treated as a literal fucking baby that wasn't allowed to go on missions unlike the other freedom fighters but instead stayed at home having stories read to him and getting breastfed by auntie Sally and auntie bunnie. Almost all his tech skills were given to rotor too.

See, I completely get where you're coming from

But I don't actually figure the early spin offs like SATAM or AOSTH are the cause so much as the excuse

Now, let me preface this by saying I'm not a verteran Sonic fan who's been entrenched in the fandom for decades. I've been adjacent to it and seen memes from time to time, but I've only been an honest to god fan for a couple years. Because of this, I can only really theorize about how fandom's acceptable fanon and common practices have changed over time.

Now, with that being said, I assumed the same at one point. I assumed when I first became a fan that it must have been Aosth, Satam, and the Archie comics that caused western Sonic fandom to solidify their idea of who Tails is, and that they've been holding onto this interpretation from when they were kids since the 90s and 2000s (passing it down then to the new fans who would accept the opinions of older fans before seeing it for themselves).

However, bit by bit of interacting with Sonic fans who played the games with their friends in the 90s or were actively into SATAM and Archie Sonic, and were big fans in the 2000s, I have seen a different phenomenon. While there are people there who were fans in the 2000s and insist people have always thought of Tails this way (I don't doubt there always have been some for the record), I keep meeting people who tell me that they weren't aware of any ages back in the 90s and assumed Tails was the same age as Sonic based on game appearances. By someone who read Archie Sonic and watched SATAM back then, I've been told that when the ages became a thing fans knew about, people largely ignored them. For characters like Tails in particular, according to this person, a lot of people did away with the official ages at that time because they found them stupid (not unlike when anime fans complain about supposed teenagers acting and looking like 40 yr old adult men), or they just decided to read the ages like in dog years.

That knowledge instead paints a picture of the loud fandom opinions/practices changing over time, which I feel like is actually more realistic than the idea that people solidified their characterization of Tails in '92 and managed to keep this consistent till now. After all, even just going at looking for things like Archie comic ship art has caused me to find that some ships which are fandom pariahs now had a fair amount of fanart that were retroactively deleted at some point after 2016/2017.

Now, with that being said, this is what I think. Personally, I figure it's the current young, loud fans who want everyone to think Tails' fandom characterization has always been this way, as they want to act it's always been basically canon. They want him to be helpless baby boy, raised by Sonic, who is team little bro, who should stay home and go to school and be just like a young kid. And I think they use the old spin off material as an excuse to say it's been Sega's vision from the beginning (funnily enough, while ignoring how he's largely treated in game canon, not to mention other spin offs like Sonic X). And when they know a certain Sonic media doesn't actually support their claims, they either ignore it or just claim that he's obviously being treated as a very young child there.

It should also be mentioned that, overall, we're kind of in a very special fandom age where new loud fans attempt to retroactively define the fandom's past. And they do this either by claiming things were always as they are now, or they do it by recognizing certain viewpoints, ships, fanon, etc were accepted and popular then but claiming it's actually terrible and they've grown from it now. The intent of doing this is to either erase the fandom's "problematic" past (where "problematic" can even just mean that people used to read characters differently then than people choose to now), or to claim that said "problematic" past was actually an absolute stain of terrible sin that we new fans must make up for by deleting all the "problematic fans" who should have never had their voices on display in the first place. It's always framed as a righteous goal. That the fandom has always been this way and we need to oust and get rid of the detractors before they ruin our pure fandom, or that we finally all grew up and learned better morals and these icky icky detractors who like different fanon or think different things are/should be canon need to be bullied out so they don't ruin the fandom again.

It's framed as a righteous goal, but it's about the same things petty fandom drama is always about. It's by making sure everyone adores the same ships, agrees on the same familial headcanons, reads all the characters the same way and gives them the same fanon dynamic. It's just that we've moved on from "actually my interpretation is better and more canon" and moved to "actually my interpretation is canon because everyone says so and because this is the most morally pure and correct option".

Or in Tails' case: "No, Tails has always been seen this way! He's just a young child and he's always been characterized as a very young child. Just look at Aosth! Sega wants use to see him as a young baby boy you're just confused, but I can help you see the– Oh, wait, unless... You must be one of those freaks who wants to age up a literal child for your devious acts! You can't accept his actual age because you're weirdos, but I'm better than that. I can write him better than sega can and show everyone the baby child he's always been"

I think there's a lot of this attitude as an overall fandom where louder people seek to define how people (especially new fans) view Sonic media as a whole, sonic canon, and the fandom's past. And they do it with shame, bullying, by lying to new fans who they know won't consume the media themselves. Even if it's about something as stupid as wanting everyone to see their preferred fanon as something deeply canon and supported by the text

#sonic the hedgehog #i just be ramblin #tails the fox #miles tails prower #fandom wank #anon interview #Sorry both for how long this turned out and how long it took me to post it #But‚ regardless‚ thank you for the ask anon! I think this has been an interesting discussion topic #This is a side note also #But I feel like the fact that so many people source their ''Sega has always intended us to see Tails as a young baby boy'' and ''Sonic and #Tails have always been canonically brothers'' from old spin off media and from their own feelings should be studied. Curious that both of #these come from the same place and both of these takes have people jumping at literal crumbs (sometimes crumbs they made up) to claim it's #canon and that people who don't agree are evil and media illiterate #long post

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archoneddzs15 · 9 months ago

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Sega Dreamcast - PSYVARIAR 2 The Will to Fabricate

Title: PSYVARIAR 2 The Will to Fabricate / サイヴァリア2 ザ・ウィル・トゥ・ファブリケート

Developer/Publisher: SKONEC / Success Corp.

Release date: 26 February 2004

Catalogue No.: T-9907M

Genre: Shooting

PSYVARIAR 2 The Will to Fabricate is 2004's best offering for Dreamcast shooting fans and is certainly not to be sniffed at. Developed by the Korean company Skonec and released in the arcades by Success, this shooter has got to be one of the most original ones out there alongside Treasure's Ikaruga.

At first glance, Psyvariar 2 looks to be a blatant rip-off of Ikuraga with its flashy camera angles, fast fast-moving backgrounds with multiple layers of clouds but that's where the similarities end. Psyvariar 2 has NO power-ups nor Speed-ups to collect. The only way to power and speed up your craft (robot) is by using the BUZZ system. This is achieved by skimming your craft against the sides of the thousands of oncoming bullets. The more BUZZ chains you can achieve, the more powerful your craft will become. This system doesn't feel so good at first since your craft moves so slow with such a lousy firing rate. But after a little experimenting, I found that if you "shake" your craft from side to side a few times, it will start to roll. Enabling it to fire out bullets at a much faster rate whilst allowing you to move quicker to dodge the enemies' oncoming attacks.

Psyvariar 2 takes place over 6 (even though I can only access 5 for some odd reason) short but action-packed stages. Each stage is as beautiful as the last with each featuring a giant boss at the end that takes no mercy in throwing everything it has at you. Whilst some of the backgrounds could do with a much further draw distance. They make up for it in detail. The first-level boss is a prime example of sheer beauty by the way it fires 5 beams down to the earth resulting in one of the most beautiful (If an explosion can be called beautiful) explosions ever seen in a video game.

The Dreamcast title, Boarder Down, was criticized greatly for its music. Whilst I liked it, it could have been better. Well, being Asian I love the music in Psyvariar 2 with its Eurodance-style tracks (think Cascada's 'Everytime We Touch'). Try to imagine a Marc Snow track mixed with a bit of Euro rave with a tiny bit of Taito's Zuntata Team's music and that would probably be a pretty close comparison to what we have in Psyvariar 2. All in all, great stuff (^v^)

Earlier I wrote that there are 6 stages, but I can only access 5 of them. How the 6th stage is accessed I've yet to find out. I've finished the game with the woman character on ALL level settings including Very Hard but still, there is no 6th stage. If you look at the ranking tables, you'll notice that the top scores all have AREA 6 next to the score. Could this be some hidden level that will be revealed after playing for so long? Or must the game be complete with both characters? If so, you'll be in for a hard time since the male character's game is far more difficult than the woman's. The guy's bomb is next to useless, and his weapon seems to be far weaker than the woman's too. Maybe there's a point to this that I'm missing. All will be revealed once I've read or struggled through the instruction book.

So, is Psyvariar 2 The Will to Fabricate worth getting? In short, YES!! It's far better looking than Border Down. It's far more original than Ikuraga in my opinion but it is quite short. Then again, completing the game with the male character will keep you busy for quite some time. I've only had Psyvariar 2 for two days now but have already played it 8 times while Puyo Puyo Fever has only been on twice. So, it's certainly got that addictiveness to it.

My copy came with this cool Psyvariar 2 dog tag courtesies of Sega Direct. (photo from a discontinued website) I don't have a dog right now but if I did, it'd be cool.

youtube

#sega dreamcast #Youtube

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randomthefox · 5 months ago

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Some follow-up thoughts:

"SEGA approved of soandso and suchandsuch being in the IDW comic, therefore it is canon and you're not allowed to complain about it!..... OH NO, SEGA IS GOING TO NEED TO APPROVE OF EVERY SINGLE ANSWER IAN FLYNN GIVES IN THE BUMBLEKAST FROM NOW ON, THIS IS BAD AND MEANS SEGA IS GOING TO RUIN EVERYTHING!"

I don't even care what conspiracy theories they're crafting about how somehow we're in some way responsible for this, because I'd be happy to take the credit for it. It'd be like people accusing me of being the reason that Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration is going to be cancelled. Like aww gee, lil' ol' me did that? =^) Ain't I just a rambunctious little scamp ^-^

Seriously that one dude who was like "THIS IS YOUR FAULT >=o " cracks me up. Like A: this is nobodies fault but Ian Flynn's. This is what happens when you bite the hand that feeds. I'm willing to bet that the initial ultimatum was that he needed to CANCEL the Bumblekast and stop doing it, and they only agreed to the compromise of vetting the questions when he argued that the podcast was a source of revenue for him and shutting it down would cut his income. He's lucky that they're allowing it to continue to exist in any form instead of pursuing litigation against him, which is absolutely what Nintendo would be doing.

and B: IF I was in ANY shape or form even partially responsible for this happening, why the fuck would I be ashamed about that? This is GOOD NEWS. I am CELEBRATING it. If I was the cause of it, then I'd be hanging up a Mission Accomplished banner lol.

It really speaks to their complete and total lack of empathy, their INABILITY to even attempt to see things from other peoples perspective because they are totally brainwashed cultists, that they think that I would take this announcement about the Bumblekast as bad news. Because THEY view it as bad news, so they think everyone else must as well. They're literally trying to hit us with the "are you happy now?" WELL YES, AS A MATTER OF FACT, I AM VERY HAPPY lol what the fuck did you think I was gonna say? The answer is they thought I was gonna say "oh no, our free ticket insight into the behind the scenes of the series and all access pass to everything about Sonic canon has been taken away, all because of me! I feel remorse for my actions! D= " because they are completely devoid of the capacity to even FATHOM that other people have different opinions or view the world differently from them. They genuinely and sincerely believe that their outlook is objectively correct and universally accepted, and we're all just PRETENDING to say we feel otherwise to be contrarian.

I was raised catholic. I know how this shit works. People who think we're all children of god, that our souls belong to the almighty, and even if we claim to not believe in him the truth is we inherently must and do accept God as our almighty creator no matter what we say. Because THEY believe that he is real and responsible for everything and owns our souls, so we're just acting out as a cry for help or something. Same shit, different asshole. Religious fundamentalists are all the same, no matter how secular their institution of faith is.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #ian flynn #bumblekast

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therummesoccupied · 3 months ago

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IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, ISSUE 75 - THOUGHTS

WARNING: MAJOR Spoilers Ahead!!!

Hoooo boy. They promised us a big one, and boy did they deliver.

Not just in size, though it is a long issue, but also in terms of stakes, energy, action - this baby's got it all.

On the art side of things, we've got Min Ho Kim continuing to deliver their stellar Sonic Channel-type work in the first half, with Evan Stanley jumping in to do pencils in the later parts of the book. Of course, the shift is noticeable, but Stanley still brings her absolute best here, implementing everything she's learned in all of her recent art studies, and it shows.

The best way I can think to put it is that her art has a much clearer element of that specific flavor of Sonic edge at play.

Reggie Graham continues to deliver perfect Sonic-style colors, with Nathalie Fourdraine contributing as well, presumably toward the end, since the later parts of this issue use a lot of heavy oranges and reds, which she tends to do very well with.

The story opens up with all the energy the last issue ended on, with the Restoration Shuttle careening on a crash course into Central City. Before it even gets around to resolving that plot hook, however, it pays off some plot threads that we've all been waiting to see for a long time.

Sonic vs. Clutch

It's kind of incredible how long Clutch has been acting as the current main villain of this comic without ever once running into the main hero. Finally, in the climactic issue of the Phantom Riders arc, and the entire Clean Sweepstakes saga, these two meet face-to-face. And Sonic, who normally loves his banter and introductions... isn't really having it. Clutch tries to do the villain-meets-hero dialogue, tries to play this off like he has some kind of position of power to play from, but Sonic just jumps straight into the beatdown. Desperate times, I suppose.

I do have to give Clutch this much, though - while he can't keep pace with Sonic, even a little bit, he does manage to keep Sonic on his toes with just his gun-cane. Still, it's clear that, despite all his bravado, he's vastly outmatched. Without all the plans and operatives and resources to manipulate, Clutch is ultimately just... a guy. And Sonic faces down actual gods on a pretty regular basis. For their entire showdown, the writing is kind of on the wall, with Sonic clearly having things in the bag until the arrival of...

Surge and Eggman

Yeah, it isn't long before both Surge and Dr. Eggman show up to address their own beefs with Clutch. Eggman especially gets a cool little entrance, with the Eggstreme Gear turning into a remote-control mech, telling us that Eggman has been watching the listening in this entire time. Resourceful devil, ain't he? The four parties quickly break out in a no-holds-barred brawl, with everyone wanting a piece of Clutch for different reasons, and Clutch using the few resources he has left in one last desperate bid to take back the upper hand.

Quick note: I love the little detail of Clutch's remote control for the Shuttle's weapons being one of the old Dreamcast VMU Cards.

Still, it's clear he's living on borrowed time, as Surge pushes herself to her limit shock him and Sonic into submission with a big, flashy finisher attack that I hope so, so badly we get to see her use again in future issues.

Interestingly enough, this sees Sonic pretty clearly losing this fight, which I thought he wasn't allowed to do, per SEGA's guidelines. Often when they want to create tension they find clever workarounds to keep Sonic from being able to see a fight to the finish, but nah, I'd say this loss is pretty cut-and-dry. Which is cool! We're getting to do more with the character! This will hopefully give us some more compelling drama in future stories.

Ultimately, Eggman, piloting a robot powered by electricity, is the last man standing, and takes off with Clutch in tow, with his intentions for the Opossum unclear.

And so, the last we see of Clutch the Opossum is him being hauled away as a prisoner of the Eggman Empire. That... probably isn't good for him. This gives us our final showdown with the big bad, but that's only half the plot!

The Crashing of the Restoration Shuttle

Not only do we have a massive airship falling at terminal velocity toward one of the most densely populated cities in the world, but some of our key players are still trapped inside!

Luckily, with a little cooperation, Tails, Amy, and co. are able to escape the engine room and make their way to to the Shuttle's bridge. They even manage to get Rough & Tumble on board!

It's funny that they were ultimately just working for Clutch because they thought he was going to give them legitimate work, and then didn't know they were allowed to quit when things got shady. I do have to wonder, though, is this truly the heel-face turn they claim it is? Did Vanilla the Rabbit truly scare them straight?

I mean, I know I'd be more than willing to do anything she-

(Tay was arrested while typing this sentence. The rest of this review was written after serving his 10,000 year sentence in Time Jail.)

Ahem.

Anyway, despite their best efforts, the heroes aren't able to make it to the bridge in time to hack into the controls and alter the ship's course. That's when the day is saved by...

The People, baby!!!

Also Jet the Hawk helped, I guess.

I love this. The little guys, the average Joes, with no superpowers, just surprisingly common flying cars, banding together to help the heroes, the titans of the series, achieve what they could never hope to on their own. This is extraordinarily my shit.

Still, it's not enough. Even the combined strength of the masses can't stop the Shuttle from coming down, they can only change its destination. So Jewel makes a difficult call.

They're going to drop it on Restoration HQ, obliterating it entirely...

The headquarters are built in the ruins of Emeraldville, which was destroyed back in Sonic Forces, so the area isn't actively populated the way Central City is, but... There are still people there.

So Sonic, employing some quick thinking, plays on Jet's competitive pride, and goads him into a wager to see who can save the most people.

It's a really great little interaction, playing heavily off of the unique dynamic between these two characters. Through this, Sonic and Jet are able to rescue every last person in Restoration HQ before the Shuttle explodes. Belle even manages to get in and repair Motobud last minute!

Another quick side-tangent, it is neat to be directly shown how close Emeraldville was to Central City. It seems to be one of the city's suburbs, sort of like Emerald Town. I had always assumed that Emeraldville was on an island, but if this Central City is the same Central City that's the capital of the United Federation, that more likely places it on a Continent. Yeah, we only ever see animal people in this Central City, and animal people mostly live on the islands, yadda yadda yadda...

But I figure IDW just still hasn't gotten the go-ahead to show human characters other than Eggman yet, and that this is meant to be the United Federation's Central City, we've just only been shown parts that happen to have more animal people in them. Who knows. Still, it's a neat bit of worldbuilding to see just how close by Restoration HQ was.

Of course, there is one more snag to deal with, and that's...

Mimic's Reveal

The gig is finally up. The Diamond Cutters are on their way to assist during all the fighting, when...

Clutch blows Mimic's cover calling for backup.

I'll be honest, after all the careful subterfuge, to have Mimic ultimately outed this way was... kind of anticlimactic. I guess they just weren't very interested in telling the story of Mimic as a double agent anymore, and were more ready to get to the character drama his reveal caused. And it does that pretty well!

I love Lanolin's reaction in these panels. It conveys so beautifully the shutdown she experiences as she plays back in her head every single time she took Duo's side over Tangle's and Whisper's and even Silver's. I mean, she kicked him out of the Diamond Cutters over this! Every bad decision she's made as leader is crashing down on her, and you can see it.

Mimic does ultimately escape and the Diamond Cutters do ultimately reconcile, at least enough to help rescue all the civilians trapped beneath the collapsing Extreme Gear course, but... Man, I just wish there could have been just one more page building up Mimic's reveal. Something other than "He forgot to put his phone on silent." Oh well, we got good stuff out of it regardless.

Finally, after all is said and done, the day is saved, Restoration HQ is destroyed, but the people of the Restoration are still around to rebuild, and our heroes take a well-earned break...

But things can't be that easy, can they?

Nah, Sonic and Tails return to Tails' lab to discover...

The Chaos Emerald they had found back in Issue #68 is gone.

It doesn't seem to be a case of the Emeralds randomly moving themselves, either. Tails' lock appears to have been picked - somebody stole this thing, and...

Well, you know me. I love conflicts revolving around individual Emeralds instead of all of them at once. It really makes 'em feel like the big deal that "the key to UItimate Power" should be.

And that's the cliffhanger they end us on.

I have my theories about where there Emerald went. They largely tie into the covers for the upcoming Chasing Shadows special, which mostly seem to feature Shadow holding a Chaos Emerald. Specifically the yellow one, which is the one that Tails had. So, I figure, wherever this upcoming Shadow story takes place, that's likely where it ended up. How it got there is a different question entirely, and I'm excited to see what kind of answer we get.

I'd... be lying if I said I wasn't also just partly excited to be getting a Shadow-centric story for the first time in IDW's run. Gimme my edgy boy!!!!

All-in-all, this was a truly spectacular issue. Easily my favorite of the big "Season Finale" style issues that we've gotten so far. The action, the stakes, the character drama, the art, all of it is the absolute best we've gotten from this comic to date. I have no trouble saying Extreme Competition and Phantom Riders have been my favorite arcs in the series so far, and this was a perfect way to send them off. I'm really, really, excited to see what's next, and what comes of the implications.

And I get to find out... immediately!

Issue 76 has been out for a little over an hour now, I've just been too busy writing this review to go read it!

So I'm gonna go do that!

Thanks for reading!

#sonic the hedgehog #sega #idw sonic #sonic #idw publishing #comics #sonic comics #review #idw sonic spoilers #Sonic 75

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