#i can't. sega how dare you.

[random---ghost]

hi and now for a short shouting break!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

mizuki5 just getting me in the feels. my poor girl. Sega how dare you.

[hedwyn-here]

I still see people obsessively hating on Hello Games for the launch of No Man's Sky, saying they will never trust them, never buy a game from them etc... A very ambitious game made by (for most of it's development) less than 10 employees had to cut some of it's planned content before launch. They were (reportedly) pressured into announcing the game before they were ready, their studio flooded, they had to borrow internet from their neighbours by running ethernet out of the windows, they had a huge company suddenly advertising it as the next big AAA release despite the fact the studio was running out of money...

They aren't blameless, but it doesn't take a whole lot to see how a small group who were incredibly passionate about their work (and without a PR team) could get caught up in this situation.

But you know what? They've spent the last 10 years continually working on that game. Adding more and more content, getting it to where people expected it to be and even beyond in ways nobody could have predicted. Every single trailer they've released since has shown nothing but precicely what the game will offer. And we still see people treating them like industry villains.

There's a particular reason this bothers me so much, and it's name is Randy Pitchford.

A few years before No Man's Sky was released, Gearbox advertised the game Aliens: Colonial Marines with fabricated trailers, gameplay and screenshots. Not just things that had to be removed from the game for budgetary or time reasons, but literally just things they faked purely to advertise the game. What can only be construed as an intentional attempt to lie to the audience so they would buy a game. They were accused of using money SEGA had given them for the development of the game to fund their own proejct, Borderlands. Not only did Gearbox never try to fix Colonial Marines, to my knowledge they never even acknowledged any of the shitty stuff they did. Pitchford routinely attempted to slide that blame onto others (and if I remember rightly even said some pretty unpleasant stuff abotu Steff Sterling for daring to criticise the game on multiple occasions). Yet people are still more than happy to jump on Gearbox games uncritically. Even though they reportedly treat their staff like shit. Have very questionable means of paying their staff that afford them the opportunity to deny them bonuses even management (like Pitchford) are taking home huge bonuses of their own.

This is an example of a large developer very intentionally and maliciously lying to the audience and nobody seemed to give a shit about it even as little as a year after release.

For my money, Hello Games have proven themselves. I'll take an over-ambitious passionate group of artists who can't quite deliver on their promises over a malicious and predatory corporation any day of the week.

Fuck Gearbox.

<3 Hello Games.

I can't fuckin wait to play Light no Fire, I will buy that shit day 1.

[ilikedyourablogithere]

For anyone who care Pokemon is sueing Palworld because of patent infringement so it's about gameplay and mechanics, doesn't have anything to do with similar artstyle

so you remember when that one Lord of the Ring game made the nemesis system and everyone thought that was cool and it would be cool if more games did that ? ... and then Warner Bros. patent that gameplay mechanic so no one else is allow to do that or gets sued

or how you weren't allowed to put minigames in your loading screen to pass the time because Namco patent the idea so no one else was allow to use this very cool thing or get sued

or what about the time Sega patent putting an arrow that point in the right direction or you get sued

ya so it's like that

...but considering this is Nintendo we're talking about I'm pretty a solid 99.9% of y'all are happy to know that Daddy Nintendo is making sure other people can't make games similar to games they make

cause heaven forbid something is similar to the pure originality of Nintendo

personally I hope Nintendo goes after 21st century next how dare they make a series about a lady fighting aliens in space, only Nintendo should be allowed to do that

[skaruresonic]

girl help, the remake stans are huffing copium xP

Is this the Silent Hill version of "Sega approved it, therefore it's good"?

It should be noted that Takayoshi Sato, the producer and director of SH2, is not involved in the development of the remake. The remake's director is instead Motoi Okamoto, who, AFAIK, has not worked on a Silent Hill game before this.

I'd think that's a bigger indication of the kind of creative talent being poured into the project - and not exactly a good sign, as it seems Sato was the one who really honed the team's vision into something coherent. When you're missing the mind that shaped 2 into what it became, you're much likelier to miss the spirit of the original.

Also, it's been 23 years since SH2's release. Ito's creative senses are likely not the same they used to be, especially considering he's gone on record to say he wished PH was dead.

It seems they're putting a lot on the poor man's shoulders.

So many people are saying this and it's fucking hilarious because Bloober has been developing the game for at least two years. Running on CD Projekt Red time over here. Maybe in eight years we'll finally be able to play the remake's Early Access xP

"I did a 10-star run last year" - good for you.

Not everybody who criticizes remakes is nostalgia-blind; that's just an easy copout, if not a thought-terminating cliche. Sometimes the real issue is that people disparage the originals in favor of the remake without properly crediting the original. That's not "holding the original on a pedestal," that's saying "don't discredit the original just because you prefer the remake."

That doesn't mean critics can't recognize the flaws in the original, but OP seemed to have legitimate criticisms here. They weren't just jumping on a "bandwagon" for the hell of it.

So are you saying Bloober Team has to work around technical limitations? Interesting: I thought they were supposed to be the ones bringing Team Silent's vision to life with the use of modern tech.

Guess Sato was right: tech doesn't mean a damn if you don't know what you're doing.

Watches a criticism video and complains about the presence of criticism. Infinite IQ.

Again, Bloober's been working on the remake for at least two years, maybe more. Yet everyone in this Chili's is clinging to "IT'S STILL IN DEVELOPMENT, SHUT UP" for dear life xP

This is my absolute favorite comment because they come right out of the gate swinging. You WANT the game to fail, how dare you! (I'm not going to remove my comment though)

Finally, some common sense in the chat

[demonfox38]

Completed: Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished

Place your bets on how many times I mention the words "Zelda" and "salmon" in this evaluation.

One term may be self-explanatory. The other…you'll find out.

I think I've been exposed to a fair amount of video games. If I've beaten hundreds of games, it's only because I've played thousands. What's limited my ability to fully experience as many video games as possible? Well, time and money are obvious restrictions. I'd put my nationality as a strong third contender. Which, yes, you're allowed to call bullshit on that, what with my nationality being American and all. I didn't have to go through half of the shit that someone from Brazil, Poland, or Russia had to just to play a damn video game. But, my tastes are Japanese, tainted Nintendo-red from the recovery of the home console market in the 1980s. Even with as much cultural and fiscal exchange that goes on between Japan and the United States, there are still going to be keystones and touchpoints that I am going to miss. Influences, spectral as they are, that I want to discover.

The "Ys" series is one such case.

I don't have sales figures for "Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished." I can't definitively say that this series has influenced dozens of video games that I have enjoyed. What I can do is point at certain scenes within the game and go, "Shit, Nintendo ripped this part off in "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past."" The amounts of ports this title has received over the years may also be a good indicator that "Ys I" was a darling of the 1980s Japanese home computer market. The PC-88 seemed like a good home for the title, but it damn well didn't stay there. Hopping to the MSX2, MS-DOS, X68000, TurboGrafix-16, Sega Master System, Nintendo Famicom, PlayStation Portable, and the gosh darn Steam market is testament to just how far this game has gone over the years. Hell, that's not even half of the consoles and computers this game has turned up on. It's a Blanche Devereaux of video games—old, present in more places you think, and enjoyed by a surprising amount of people.

"Ys I" (and the series at large) stars Adol Christin, a man driven by a salmon-like instinct to dive face-first into danger the first chance he gets. Such reckless behavior leaves him shipwrecked on an island after managing to plow through a wall of storms that has killed everyone else that has dared to cross it. (You are free to check off "Link's Awakening" from your "Potential Zelda Games Ys Influenced" bingo card.) After recovering from his little escapade, Adol plunges head-first again into the troubles of the island, seeking the goddesses that seemingly have left the island abandoned, as well as six tomes containing the great knowledge and destruction of the mighty civilization Ys that fell long ago. Who else seeks these tomes? Where are all of these demons coming from? Why does this island have so many blue-haired chicks, and why does Steam want to give me three achievements for harassing one of them?

Look, I don't think the original game was designed by delinquent perverts. Whoever made the achievement list might have been, though.

As you may suspect, a lot of how I understand "Ys I"'s design is through my understanding of "The Legend of Zelda" and its subsequent games. Is that a fair comparison to make? Well, they are roughly the same age, one being published in 1986 and the other in 1987. Different systems, sure. Same environment. It's not like "The Legend of Zelda" is the be-all, end-all of top-down fantasy action games. But, more games of this build are likely to emulate "Zelda" than "Ys," even when I talk about "Ys" being an influential younger sibling plot-wise to the former's later titles. If we want to be a bit more diverse, we can throw "Hydlide" into the mix. But, there's always a danger with having an American talk about "Hydlide." Especially, if they don't put that game's age into context!

Look, it's way fairer to compare games from 1986 and 1987 than games from 1984 and 1987. Three years of difference then is like decades of difference now. People and technology evolved that fast. The Japanese economy and Moore's law were amazing like that.

Because I am familiar with the "Zelda" game style, "Ys I" was initially difficult for me. (Okay, it was extremely difficult at two specific points later in the game, but let's just start with the initial play style.) See, one important design detail about "The Legend of Zelda" is that its main hero is left-handed. This helps a player center their shots, often putting them square with their foes. Adol, as you may have guessed, is not Link. Adol is a "Dungeons and Dragons" rogue in a weapon and armor set that should be way too heavy for him. His modus operandi is to crash into an enemy's back or sides, slamming in that flanking bonus for all its worth. He is not a salmon jumping into a bear's mouth (although, I suppose he is that narratively.) He is a salmon plinking off the side of a bear until it inexplicably explodes.

This style of fighting can feel messy to a "Zelda" veteran. It's not something that can't be overcome, but it does require some study. However, it does feel more natural than the "hold A to go offensive / release A to defend yourself" situation that "Hydlide" had going on. At least, a person is way more likely to figure out "Ys I" naturally than they would "Hydlide." I guess playing "Ys I" after "The Legend of Zelda" is a bit like learning how to drive a car with a manual stick, then being given an automatic car. Like, sure, the automatic is simpler. But, if you're used to taking control, you'll feel uncomfortable having that control removed from you. At least, a bit on ice.

I don't know how "Hydlide" fits into that analogy. Maybe it's like going from a manual car to a car that operates on "Red Light Green Light" rules, but you don't figure that out before crashing it into an electrical pole.

Don't expect much in terms of combat evolution with "Ys I." The tools that Adol gets are meant more for hocking or trespassing than any changes in how you attack. There's no bow or boomerang to give him some range. If you get a weapon, it's just another sword with more power. Nothing much outside of a little numerical boost. (Okay, a power bonus, and actually allowing damage on two bosses, but we'll…we'll get to those damn bosses.)

Everything comes down to you hauling ass into combat, then tearing Adol's ass back out. The poor boy has almost no invincibility frames to speak of, so it's very easy to make silver sashimi out of him if you aren't careful. While he does have some automatic health recovery, it requires him to be still and either in an open area or using a particular ring that you get later in the game. Sure, you can pop a healing potion from time to time. Just maybe not when you'd need it, like in a damn boss fight!

Seriously, man. What's up with that? Do you need to set out the fine china before you can take a sippy, Adol? That's very un-salmon-like behavior of you.

Because so much of the combat revolves around this hit-and-run style of swordplay, a lot of the boss design and tactics will devolve into "run at that guy the first chance you get" and "run in circles until you can stab that guy." About the only major curveball the game throws at you with this is requiring silver equipment for precisely two bosses. These bosses are also infuriating in the "Ys I" variant I played. Like, I easily spent 20-30 minutes killing a boss that only takes a minute to kill when done correctly. It's never a good sign when you open up an FAQ only for it to go "LOL, good luck." It got to the point where I had to mute the game just so that I would stop getting distracted by the awesome music. That's what these bosses did to me. They drove me into committing audio felonies.

Now, this boss issue is something I lay at the feet of the designers for the "Ys I" variant I played (the Chronicles+ Steam port.) See, when I look at PC-88 footage for these bosses, I don't see the particle hell that I had to endure. Even other ports aren't as aggressive as the Chronicles+ version. I don't know if someone had bullet hell brain rot or wanted to throw as many projectiles on screen as possible just for a computational flex, but man, was it aggravating. 

If everything about "Ys I" was as frustrating and repulsive as those bosses, the game wouldn't have survived past its inaugural entry. Lucky for it, the game has a lot of things going for it aesthetically. The game puts a great deal of effort into its character portraits and sprite work, blending top-down action with full portraits like something out of a visual novel. It can be a remarkably peaceful game to look at. Like, I did end up taking breaks while digging through an abandoned mine or a massive tower's annex just to admire what little sunlight came down upon gently swaying bridges. The Chronicles+ version is at least pretty. I'll give it that! Even the original release has its charms with its sprite work. Frankly, I think the main screen and final boss portraits look better in the PC-88 version, if for nothing else than for the feelings of imaginary nostalgia and subtle chills I get looking at them.

While "Ys I" doesn't have the most complex plot in the world, it was certainly leaps and bounds ahead of most games from the 1980s. The game puts a great amount of effort into its NPCs, giving several their own portrait artwork and side quests. Hell, in the Chronicles+ version, you even get an achievement for talking to everybody. While never being fully conclusive on the exact nitty-gritty of Ys' fall, it's clear to understand what has happened to this place, as well as its goddesses. There are a lot of games that run Shintoism through European trappings, sure. Multitudes of goddesses, talking to sacred trees, sometimes getting swords out of them—I can think of at least two "Zelda"s and two "Tales" RPGs that work with the same tropes. However, this was one of the first games to do this, and it did it very well. There were at least two twists that I didn't see coming, one of which was quite shocking. Half of it was me not assuming that all brunets are related, sure. The other half? Well, let's just say I got more of a response out of it than when a certain "Final Fantasy" character got notoriously shafted.

The best quality of "Ys I", by far, is its soundtrack. I'm not kidding when I say this is how I was originally exposed to the game. A lot of what I listen to while working is video game soundtracks from the 1980s and 1990s. When this came up in my recommendations, I definitely took note of it. When it's not being eerie and mystical, it's driving with that sort of intensity rarely seen outside of late 80s/early 90s Japanese rock. If you are a synth fan, you owe it to yourself to listen to it. At least, give it three and a half minutes.

Hell, if you need a professional recommendation: former Capcom sound designer and current music professor / bird aficionado Hideaki Utsumi owns at least two variants of this game. I would imagine he would be much better at articulating how awesome this soundtrack and its programming is than I would.

As an additional note—one of the original composers for this game (Yuzo Koshiro) went on to make his own audio company, as well as contributed to a crapton of additional video games. (Not that Mieko Ishikawa is a slouch! She's holding the "Ys" series and other Nihon Falcom titles down just fine.) The particular interest I have with Mr. Koshiro is his contributions to "Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin." Like, yeah, the "Kid Icarus Uprising" stuff is mildly interesting, and anyone who is anyone in the Japanese video game music industry has ended up in a "Super Smash Bros." soundtrack at some point. But, ya know. I might like "Castlevania" a little bit. I could easily see his work slotting right into that series. (Or, hear, I guess.) Frankly, I'm surprised he wasn't called in to do more.

And, hey—if you're looking for more soundtracks that the pair worked on, check out "Sorcerian." Really confuse your YouTube recommendations. (Unless you're already on whatever pulse wave I'm already surfing, I guess! Then, I'm certain it's easy for us to shoot soundtracks we've both already heard to each other.)

I am curious about the limited amount of animation used by the Chronicles+ version of "Ys I." Originally, the animated intro was what made me think this game was based on a re-release set on the first PlayStation console. (I suppose it could have been a PlayStation 2 re-release as well.) It's a lovely intro! I dig it. I just don't know why the ending didn't have that quality to match it. I mean, I guess a still image was all the original "Ys I" had as well. It just feels weird to not have that same effort extended to the ending—especially, after all the effort I put into getting to it.   

Maybe the "Ys II" ending has a bit more going on with it.

I may have one or two ways to find that out…

I'm left in a weird place with "Ys I." It was mostly a good experience, but when it was bad, it was godawful. I can't imagine most modern gamers would have the patience or undead ego it requires to beat either of the bastard bosses I mentioned before. It's only 9 hours if you're going in raw, but man, will you come out raw in at least one of those hours. If you need a test of your ability to overcome absolute bullshit, then I guess you can give the Steam version a try. Honestly? I'm more prone to recommend an older version, even without my having played the older versions. The PC-88 version at least looks like something an average human could have beaten. At least, something that would have become a mind worm to the general development of games that followed in its wake. The Chronicles+ version…man, I don't know. At least don't pay full price for that. Especially not when my recommended solution would be…let's just say, not using any silver. Running black flags to ruin magical black capes.

Honestly, Adol should have just jacked that cape like Dorothy Gale and the Ruby and/or Silver Slippers. Clearly, its previous owner isn't getting any more use out of it. Might have been a pain in the ass to wash out and mend after the stupid sword fight, though.

[mary-vs-the-world]

Omg YES! Since the moment I discovered that game I despised that last cut scene. Like wtf is this??? Sonic are you mocking him??? How DARE you, this is my baby and I WILL FIGHT-

But I never thought abt his voice like that. Probably earlier Eggman and Metal himself didn't think that a robot needs a voice. But the closer the moment of Metal's misbehaving came, the more he wanted to have it. Like, it's been YEARS of failures trying to fight that Flash's pet hedgehog. Homie definitely had to say a lot. And then YES THIS ACT OF VIOLENCE, THE SHEER EMOTIONAL DAMAGE happens and Metal's probably just like "Yeah, go f yourself, organic trash, imma never talk with you ever again" which is fair, but it makes me so sad like..

Sega did Metal dirty. They messed up bad and every time when Metal appears in the new game I'm not excited like I was when Sonic CD or Heroes made their way into my game library. Now I think something like "Jesus Christ leave my baby alone you morons". Seeing that depressing metamorphosis from epic and serious rival made villain to a punching doll makes me ball my eyes out and scream. I'd loved to see him being a serious threat once again. I'd loved to hear Metal Sonic again, hear him talk with his loathsome copy about his existence. How Sonic is the reason of it and therefore is the main cause of Metal's ongoing mental meltdown. How he hates his purpose, hates Sonic for taking him for granted, thus making Metal hate himself the most for not fulfilling the purpose he was made for. I want to see that agonising horror blooming on Sonic's face instead of his cheeky grin. I like Sonic mostly, but I can't deny myself a fantasy where he gets some reality check from his robotic doppelganger.

But maybe some roasting from Neo Metal if he returns someday would work too. I mean, it's sega. I don't have high expectations. Especially about Metal's role in future projects

sonic heroes final story is like. actively making me upset. metal overlord spends an entire fight screaming his soul out to the world, and the response from the cast is just like... ten minutes of the cast calling him a monster.

and then when metal sonic loses, the guy is literally down on his hands and knees, he looks up at sonic and asks: why? why cant he win? to which sonics impossibly smug and condescending answer is "Because we're Sonic Heroes!" which is just... not an answer in any sense of the word. its barely even an acknowledgement of what metal sonic just asked. and then as a bonus sonic says "Any time you want a rematch, just let me know."

yknow. like metal sonic didnt just spend the last 20 minutes of their lives screaming about how deathly serious he takes these battles and how its actively driving him crazy

so im just thinking like. im going crazy like. maybe eggman didnt take metal sonics voice as a punishment. maybe metal sonic ASKED to have no voice.

because its not like anybody actually listened to him, they just went "fuck that guy all my homies hate that guy" and then proceeded to talk past every single word he said. so its not like him having a voice actually mattered, its not like any of them saw him as a person. whats the point in being able to speak if nobody will listen, right? do you get it? do you understand my point here? i feel like im going crazy

[ntscdreams]

Hang-On October 20, 1985 // Sega Mark III

It's two days after the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America, and Nintendo are well on their way to world domination in the video game console market. In Japan, a relatively little-known manufacturer of arcade games called Sega has been making their first steps into establishing a rivalry that would come to define the next decade in video games. Although the Mark III is not Sega's first console, it is the first one they will take overseas, and with hardware more powerful than the Famicom, it is capable of some impressive 8-bit games, even if it will never take too much market share from Nintendo's juggernaut.

The whole point of Hang-On when it was in the arcade was the life-size motorcycle controller that you had to straddle to play it. It was a huge arcade success for this reason (I remember there being Hang-On cabinets in my home town as late as the 2000s) but obviously the home conversion doesn't come with a life-size motorcycle. The fact that Hang-On on the Mark III is still fun without it is a testament to the quality of the software that went along with the controller. It's definitely the best pseudo-3D racer I've played, and the sensation of being on the edge of grip and just barely, dare I say, hanging on as you power out of corners is genuinely fun. You only need to play this one for a few minutes to see all five levels and loop around, but I found myself coming back to it for many loops more just because it feels so nice to drive around.

Also, I can't help but notice that the back of the motorcycle looks like Piplup. Perhaps a premonition of how Sega would never get out of Nintendo's shadow.

[xhanisai]

My days, the ML fandom has the most conceited individuals in the fandom compared to all the other ones I’ve been in.

We have a huge fanbase full of people from all over the country because Miraculous Ladybug is an international successful cartoon- not the other way around.

Yes, this fandom is full of amazing talent and skills and we have so much fanworks of all kinds to enjoy.

BUT

We are not the only aspect that’s making the show thrive so get off your high horses sheeeeesh.

Also, warning. Don’t ever comment on my work saying shit like “omg so much better than canon” I will fucking give you a tight slap in the ass.

[skyfcx]

You've seen the ok ko sonic crossover special?

     Nah, I haven’t seen it, but it all looks really good! I’ve seen some clips of it, but that’s about it. The general consensus seems to be that everyone BUT Sega still puts more love into Sonic than their actual fucking creators, so I’m happy he’s getting love somewhere. Or maybe Sega stepped it up this one time and realized that classic pandering isn’t all we wanted. It’s a great episode and Sonic deserves proper passion like that in his canon material.

     But what I do know is that they called Knuckles an idiot that coughed up the Master Emerald just like that again and I’m gonna be rolling in my grave over it. 

[annoying-probably]

I really like AkiToya as a ship.

Why? Because they're ship name includes all of both their names-! I'm joking.

I really like this ship for two reasons,

It's held up by so much in-canon events and interactions.

They're the perfect level of "I don't want to be perfect" and "I need to be perfect."

The first one is easy enough to go over. They have so, so, so many interactions together, and when they don't, a character usually points it out that it is weird they're not together. They also have this perfect understanding of each other, in canon, with Touya's wiki talking a bit about how he finds it hard to express emotion around anyone other then Akito, since he's the only one who really understands. It's sweet.

It's from that to swapping lunch when there's food they don't like, to being in almost every single one of each others cards, to them protecting each other to

Pancake dates!

It's almost shocking how intertwined they are to each others character.

That leads me into my second point; they're codependent to each other- in character building and in their own story. It's impossible to take Touya away from Akito's story. It's even more impossible to take Akito from Touya.

From the way Touya frames it; Akito is almost a saviour figure! Giving him a reason to actually love music and to strive for a goal. Even in areas where it's almost nothing to do with Akito and Touya's past, Touya always manages to say something, usually about how Akito helped him. Or better yet another character mentions it. (Off memory, I believe Tsukasa mentions something about Touya smiling more and equates it to Akito? I believe?) He cares so much about Akito and his ambitions he'd go as far as breaking up the group because he didn't feel adequate enough.

Akito on the other hand- I mean come on, it's written like he fell in love the first time he heard Touya sing. It's the one thing he always goes back to, that must be a pretty moving moment, more then just "wow you can help me surpass my goal." It really seems like he trusts all of Vivid BAD with his dreams but his absolutely trusts Touya the most. Maybe it's just nitpicking, but he seems to give much softer smiles when it's just him and Touya, or more smiles in general, less tough attitude, not fully, though, that's just how he is. He knows almost everything about Touya's life, too.

Touya has always had to be perfect even if he despised it. Akito forced himself to be to fulfil his dream. They bounce off each others insecurities, strengths. They're foils that work together to form a narrative of being stronger together; of having a Partner to always be there for you.

They mean so much to each other it's honestly a bit shocking to watch everything sometimes and be like "oh yeah, you two aren't actually dating in canon." But it's really funny how everything makes it sound like they are except from the game itself. You cannot convince me any music duos call each other partner that much, that hang around that much. You'd think they'd just say best friend. Alas, it's always, always partner. I mean have you seen how they act in the Wedding Event? It's cute! Or in general area conversations. They feel like some semi-put together couple who do music together, some combination of being brains and brawn, (though they do also show the difference of street and book smarts nicely, I think.)

I'd like to add a quick shout out to

This string of images from VBS main story 13 ( video from Project Sekai in English on YT! )

I can't explain how this feels like "how dare you be gay!!" You just have to believe me here-

Final point I think I have- their SONGS.

Who let these two sing fragile- have you seen the lyrics to fragile?! TO POMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE??? ONE OF THE MOST SEXUAL SONGS IN VOCALOID HISTORY BEHIND S P I C E ? AND YOU, SEGA, SAID "well we can't give it to the other two boys because it doesn't fit their group vibe." SO YOU LET THEM SING ABOUT RIPPING EACH OTHERS SHIRT OFF?! Next it'll be Butterfly on your right shoulder.

let them cuddle. it can be platonic! Hold hands, even! They deserve it. They've been through a lot. The closest we've gotten is

This image? Or Touya protecting Akito from a dog I'm not sure.

They're so attached to each other and dependant I stand before you today and genuinely believe they are meant to be in some form of more then friends relationship!! Maybe I'm a hopeful dreamer but it's alright!!! Everything about them. It really, absolutely, feels even pseudo-romantic.

TLDR:

I think they're neat and really like their characters! :) And if I see one more goddamn "because I'm your partner." Or some variation platonically? I'm snapping. /Lh!

(sorry if I got any plot points wrong! I'm slowly going through event stories!)

[mooshs-crack-headcanons]

Shadow's characterization

Now, this is a subject I've discussed a few times on here but I would like to make it another post going into more detail on the matter and going fully on exactly what made his original character work and why it resignated (at least with me personally) so much and exactly what the fuck Sega has been missing about the certain important aspects of his character since 2006. Yes, 2006.

2001-2006, 5 years, 4 games, and a whole character saga revolving around identity. This was Shadow's peak era and my personal favorite era of any sonic game, yes with a few downsides (06. We'll get there.) but even with a few glaring issues this is the point of time I was personally introduced to Sonic and I couldn't have fallen in love with it any more than that period of time and yes the game with the "edgy" hedgehog with a gun was the catalyst to that.

Anyway, let's break down this character saga game by game. Everything shown in game or just taken from easy subtext and in between lines speculation.

Sonic adventure 2

Shadow the hedgehog is a very angry vengeful person. Being trapped in stasis for 50 years after just watching your best friend, your sister figure, your one person connecting you to humanity - shot down before your very eyes and saving your life from the governmental slaughter by shooting you down to the tiny blue marble you two had always dreamed about going down there before succumbing to her injuries? Yeah that will tend to do it.

He remembers that moment, however, it's only partial of the memory. He remembers before being shot down to earth her making him promise something... but for the love of him he can't piece together entirely what it is - but given context and her being shot down as he dragged her through the halls of the ARK to escape and then ending up in that chamber... it has to be for revenge right? They destroyed everything, they shot her and ultimately made them forever separate without even a proper goodbye? Just felting words of a hazy promise before shooting him down to earth. They - GUN, government agents from that blue marble earth did all this. Humanity did this.

This is the "promise" Maria made him take - is what he convinces himself - this is his mindset for the beginning of the game. Not even a minute after he's awake and is met with Gerald's (and Maria's) kin he's already hatched a motive to go with the Doctor's plan as he sees fit with deeper intentions behind the scenes. Afterall he doesn't care about Ivo's plans to build his "Empire of Eggman" - he just wants to see everything burn.

Then he meets a blue hedgehog.

Sonic has been excused of Shadow's crimes and is on the run from GUN, during the end of his run he meets Shadow who has a Chaos Emerald. Shadow at that moment has the opportunity to potentially just use Chaos Control and teleport away at that very moment but he doesn't, he just stands on top of the mech amused at the inferior blue rodent's words and calls that he's been excused for Shadow's crimes. Then the blue rodent dares to calls Shadow a "fake hedgehog." This strikes a very heavy nerve, and thrashes against a sudden pelt of insecurity. Fake? Him? He could leave right then and there but something deep in him feels the nerve to show this pest off and uses Chaos Control a few times just to show off just how much power the Ultimate Lifeform has over Chaos energy just to make a point who is the ""fake"" one here. Then he leaves Sonic behind to deal with not only the GUN squad that were originally chasing after him during city escape but also the ones trailing Shadow during radical highway with puts him behind bars at Prison Island.

Their second encounter is a bit different than the first - one they actually get to fight instead of Shadow just showing off and Controlling away when the blue blur throws the "fake hedgehog" calling at him - this time it doesn't bother him as much in fact the blue inferior one makes a utter fool of himself with the name calling ("I'll make you eat those words!") however he does in fact very much surprise him with just how well he can keep up - call him surprised even. But the interaction is cut short when the Doctor's radio cuts end with the news the islands about to blow up.

Things in Shadow's mind remain mostly the same at this point on... that is until he gets a call in from the treasure hunter Rouge that she's locked in and stuck with the Chaos Emeralds in the GUN facility security hall that with the rest of the island is about to blow up.

This is the first moment out of three distinct moments his facade begins to break down.

Up to the point him and Rouge have only had very few interactions with one another. Yes, their both working with the Doctor for very both different reasons but... while she may be a thief and he has suspicions that she may be a government spy he's heard of passing she doesn't deserve to just die as gruesome like this. Maria didn't either. He isn't sure why exactly in those moments he makes that comparison but once he did his mind just clicks and his feet are already moving as he curses himself that this might bite him back in the ass if that bat woman is actually a spy.

After the fact he tells himself he did it for the emeralds - not out of compassion. Hell he even tells Rouge this when she comes to confront him about it. But deep down they both know the truth. It's both kept unsaid but Rouge is very much grateful for this save and this with fuel their loyality Team Dark dynamic in upcoming sections.

The second crack happens when he runs into that blue hedgehog again, Sonic, for the third time. It's much different from the last two times - less insecure than the first encounter, less prideful and arrogant than the second, no this time Shadow's more... curious of his rival. He didn't die in the capsule, he used a fake emerald to Chaos Control, there's more to him but exactly what? What the hell is he? "Just a guy that loves adventuring." What the hell does that even mean? He isn't sure. But it sticks with him.

The third crack in his facade comes when the Eclipse Canon is on track for earth. He did it. He fulfilled his promise to her. He watches out the same window where he and Maria used to stare out into space and daydream about what it would be like on the blue marble below. He did it, while he is more than sure he'll die as well in the extinction level impact but that's okay to him. He fulfilled his promise... that's all that should matter, right? But something still feels... off. He isn't sure what that is until a pink hedgehog comes into the room.

Amy of course mistook him for Sonic during their first meeting but not this time. Everyone is doing so much and she knows she has to do her part too however she can.. she pleas him for his help knowing how strong he is and talks to him about how she knows there is good in people, humanity, and that saving them is the good and right thing to do if he only can give them a chance to. Her words sound so familiar to Shadow the further he searches to remember from where.

Then he remembers - the fog from his last moments with Maria fade away and he remembers word for word the promise she made him take. Not revenge on those who took her away from him. A better feature. A better feature for all those on that blue marble they spent their days gazing down at, the purpose she told him he was made for. To make people happy.

It's an earth shattering revelation.

Everything he's done up to this point has been devastatingly wrong, he has to make up for it. And he promises both Maria and Amy that as he runs out the room. Make this right.

Live and learn.

This is exactly what Shadow does, his super transformation is visible personification of his swoop of redemption. At the start he was so angry and vengeful all for the loss of his sister and wanted the whole world to burn because of it, his justification placed on mis misremembered probably brought due to his 50 year stasis. Now he fights side by side with his rival to take on his prototype - the Biolizard, what was originally supposed to be him - taking his past in a way head on.

With the Biolizard defeated then all that's left is the ARK that is still falling on course to Earth.

Gerald Robotnik made this plan in his grief for Maria before he was executed, what was supposed to be against the Black Arms he turned to humanity. This plan that Shadow also in his grief was more than ready to let go through. Now he was stopping it, he knows now it's exactly what Maria wouldn't have wanted - the opposite in fact. As the ARK falls further and further he and Sonic struggled to prevent it from continuing it's course and then in one burst of Chaos energy Shadow teleports the whole thing far away from earth. With consequences.

Sonic reaches out to try to save him as he falls (we know from one of the past Twitter takeovers) but is to late as Shadow shutters out of super form as all the energy being too much to handle leaves his body and he plummets to earth. But he's okay with it, unlike that moment in the window room where he had thought revenge was Maria's promise when he felt off and unfilled, here he doesn't. Here he feels he made the right choice and his actual promise fulfilled.

That's what makes Shadow a redeemed character.

But as we know that doesn't end his story, and while the choice to bring him back and seemingly erase his mentioned redemption is controversial to some fans. I don't think entirely so, mostly because exactly the set up the next game brings.

-

Sonic Heroes

After SA2 and pre Heroes is a very foggy blurry period. However, given a certain subject in the next section I think to a certain degree it works. For now that's important is to first establish the Shadow in this game IS the Shadow from SA2, Eggman literally confirms it in the final fight of the Shadow 05 game but this is something we'll come back to but what's important to remember this IS the real same Shadow from SA2.

Shadow is freed by Rouge from one of Eggman's bases and was guarded by E-123 Omega, who has spite for Eggman for trapping him in here for all this time. This creates the (family) Team Dark.

Shadow has amnesia - this is very important to note - with absolutely no memory of what or who he is or anything that happened in the previous game. He is a blank slate and his motivation for this game is to find out exactly who he is.

But Rouge knows who he is! Kind of... going off the little time see got to know him and exactly what all the government files said about project Shadow, but most of that was about the Biolizard so it isn't exactly much help there anyway. However, Rouge is still very appreciative of Shadow saving her from the explosion on the island and given he's straight up supposed to be dead right now she's more than willing to help her friend out and get behind all this mess for some answers and now they have a trigger happy robot to accompany them and help them out as they all set out for Eggman.

Sonic Heroes given it's a game revolving around four teams which each of their own campaigns, each story campaign unsurprisingly isn't as fleshed out as it could be so of course Shadow doesn't really get to say all that much in the game, however but probably unintentional, that works. Like I said Shadow here while bits of personality does peak through at times he's just seems... lost. And given context, again, I think that works. He's a blank slate, confused, zero idea who or what the hell he is... and this becomes more ever impactful once his major conflict comes up.

The Shadow Androids.

Now a lot of people hate them, I get it. But they do have purpose and they leave the ending if this Shadow we play as in this game is real or not (REMEMBER THIS I'M COMING BACK TO IT LATER) Now, given Eggman's confirmation in the 05 game and the Twitter takeover question it confirms either way the Shadow we have right now in canon IS the one from SA2 so he DID survive and that's why the one in Heroes IS the one from SA2 and while we do know this still that just a period of time post SA2 pre heroes of after Shadow fell is still... hazy and could definitely be touched more upon. (Maybe a future movie might cover it 👀)

But the Shadow Androids kick off what I call the "Identity crisis arc" in Shadow's story. The question in heroes is never answered at least in that game and the rest of Heroes story doesn't matter with the other team's campaigns its the fact this identity crisis AND his memory loss pin points in this game is the most important part of this game when it comes to Shadow's development.

-

Shadow the hedgehog 2005

There is an important fact about this game I can't stress enough:

The last story and it's ending with The. Cg. Animated. Ending. Is. The. Canon. One.

The one Sega PURPOSEFULLY put more money on to animate? THAT ONE IS THE ONLY ONE THAT MATTERS TO CANON.

The other endings? And how you get to them I see them as hypotheticals.

People go on and on about Shadow's character in THIS game with the different endings being very inconsistent. THERE SUPPOSED TO BE. THEY'RE DIFFERENT ALLIGNMETS AND OUTCOMES.

This game builds off the fact Shadow is a fucking blank slate for his character given his amnesia in heroes that its your choices and how you play the game effect his character and how he molds to be who he is with each different ending you get. ITS ON PURPOSE FOR THE ALIGNMENT MECHANIC.

Everyone hates the Shadow Androids endings and this is why I call them "hypotheticals" right now in canon its confirmed Shadow is the same Shadow from SA2, but the Shadow Android endings are clearly IF the Shadow from heroes was an Android. Making it - say it with me - a hypothetical. It's not canon. None of the endings except the fancy one with the fancy animation of a HERO ENDING are canon therefore they should not matter in the scheme of Shadow's portrayal. Only the canon one should.

Sorry this argument gets me heated, anyway.

Shadow works perfectly as how he was at the ending of Heroes - confused who and what he is with only flashes of memories now here and there. Then suddenly the sky turns dark and a shadowy alien claiming to know who he is appears out of nowhere and offers to tell him if he gets the chaos emeralds for him. Is it a foolish decision? Probably. But he has no other choice but to follow this guy because he's that desperate to learn about his past and himself.

Then, following the canon ending, he does slowly and slowly relearn who he is and further learning details about his Black Arms heritage and further about his creation. He relearns about Maria and the true promise they made.

The CG ending is basically SA2's all over again - except this time he can overcome it on his own and this time he comes to let go of everything holding onto him of the past and live for the future, a better future he's determined to make himself and seeing Maria's promise through as he uses his full power of his super to stop the comit.

Is it somewhat a rehash of his redemption in SA2? Maybe. But I think it's proof that no matter what there is good in Shadow that wants to fight for the side of humanity - no matter how many times he looses his memory or whatever of the sort always he'll eventually find his way back to its defense even if he stumbles back into the "dark" a bit. And that's an extremely important part of Shadow's character.

-

Sonic 2006

Bet you weren't expecting to see this?

If there's one good this 06 did, one thing at all, it would be Team Dark's story. And unfortunately this is the last of Shadow's character development that isn't.... "modern" Shadow.

Shadow is working for GUN, which in of itself is a development but however given circumstances in 06 (this one I'm less memorized on and refuse to replay it so stay with me here)

Mephiles forms himself to look in Shadow's image and tries to convince Shadow to join his side, using the information Shadow becomes a large threat in the future and believes to have awaken Iblis (which is also fueled by the... shenanigans Shadow got up to in the 05 game if I remember correctly) as fuel for his convincing and to "take revenge" but Shadow sees through it immediately, stating even if the world fought against him he would still fight to protect it - while he let go the bitterness of his past he still is determined to keep his true promise to Maria in protecting humanity.

After all of this new information comes to light, Omega is tasked to "stabilize him". This is certainly... for Shadow and Team Dark but Shadow brushes it off saying he'll fight like he always has and Rouge pops in saying she'll stick by his side no matter what happens (true family goals) and while he doesn't say it out loud he acknowledges it and you can tell it means a lot to him.

And my God just the scene where he fucking absolutely wrecks the hoard of Mephiles' after taking of his Inhibitor rings is one of the most fucking hype cutscene fights I've ever seen in a video game and just... how he and Team Dark carrying themselves in it - hell in this entire game - is just one of the most satisfying things to see and you can practically FEEL their comradry.

It really sucks this is one of the last truly good moments we have of all of them together being truly well written, for the rest of the game and the rest of the series to this day.

And sadly given the context of the ending of 06 you can sadly forget about this last section with the whole erasing of time where the whole game didn't happen thing... it's very unfortunate given Shadow and Team Dark's story was like one of maybe a very very few things good about this game.

-

Conclusion

Shadow is a complex character that goes through three character arcs: his grief to his redemption in SA2, his identity crisis and learning exactly who/what he is (both literally and figuratively) and how he comes to accept and move past his trauma in Heroes and the 05 game, and finally from 06; his dedication thrive to his new purpose in maintaining his promise - he doesn't want to be a hero or a villain, he just wants to keep his promise to his sister with doing the right thing and protecting and defending the future of humanity no matter what it takes or what opinion humanity, what he's promised to protect, has on him.

And even with the events of 06 erased, he still has that motivation deep down, it's just Sega that's ignoring it with their bullshit outdated "sonic bible" or whatever. He's not some edgy bullshit rival character, he's had his character development and is no longer the angry vegenful person that looked down on humanity that he was at the beginning of SA2 - and he's not the lost in identity crisis he was in heroes/05 game either - Sonic 06 did a lot of hurt to this franchise both in and out but honestly? If there's ever a good way to look to where Shadow's character should at bare minimum be working off of its from who is was at the end (of his story anyway) of Sonic 06. He's not the type of person to claim himself to be a hero and most definitely not a villain, he just wants to do the right thing and protect the world that Maria loved so much and maybe have a bit of fun with back and forth rivalry with a certain blue hedgehog to keep him busy here and there from time to time.

He's been through a lot and has transformed as a person, I just wish Sega would see that. Not whatever the fuck they wrote him in Boom or in Forces.

Maybe movie 3 with help fix this.

[annetaa]

What i DISLIKE about each zodiac sign (check sun/moon/mercury/rising etc.)

~don't take these seriously, it's just for fun, and not everyone will relate to these~

x don't u dare steal x

leave some feedback if u want 🤭

masterlist

im not going easy on any of yall

⚡capricorn mars/rising/sun yall need to stfu sometimes because you guys seem to know everything and have a superiority complex

⚡all the water signs(pisces, cancer, scorpio) esp sun and moon stop being so manipulative ✋

⚡leo moon/venus are the pick me type

⚡taurus sun stop giving everyone the "i am better than you" look

⚡libra sun/venus/mercury can be MAD annoying sometimes 🙄

⚡sagittarius placements stop being the class clown 🤡

⚡scorpio rising/sun think that staring at someone with their "deep" eyes makes that person uncomfortable.... stop it u look ridiculous

���some virgos are so self centered like... you're not so important you sis 😭

⚡yall say that libras are indecisive, but PISCES are worse ++ they can be people pleasers too (pisces and libras are what i like to call them "sister signs")

⚡don't even get me started on geminis, even though you're a close friend to them, or someone they really trust, they WILL lie to you eventually, and they do it so well too

⚡all the aries i know are loud (esp aries in the 3rd house) and swear a lot🤬🤬

⚡leo sun/rising don't want attention, but they get it, but leo moon crave attention

⚡libra risings can be fake too

⚡i noticed that gemini moon have no feelings, or if they do have feelings, you'll never know

⚡virgo venus have high ass standards (as we should) <3

⚡just because you have an aquarius rising doesn't mean that you're DiFfErEnT and SpEciAL and QuiRqY😐 you're not

⚡aries mars YALL NEED TO STOP SCREAMING WHEN YOU'RE HAVING AN ARGUMENT

⚡cancers men are crybabies

⚡some gemini/taurus risings have a weird ass sense of style

⚡ leo suns need to stop with the lion tattoos, it's getting boring, get creative

⚡aries have anger issues also may bring other people down if underdeveloped

⚡taurus are so fucking stubborn and you can't change my mind that they have huge egos

⚡geminis talk too much nonsense and then they're mad if you're not listening

⚡cancers literally whine about everything like babies and talk too damn much shit

⚡leos have a HUGE ego too, kinda annoying, need a reality check sometimes

⚡virgos think that being perfectionist is their whole personality... guess what... its NOT and they can also whine about that fucking project form 6th grade where they forgot how to spell a word...wut

⚡libras: passive aggressive to the point where they think that everyone and everything is against them all the time, like chill it's not THAT deep, try talking to a therapist sweetie

⚡scorpio.. hmmm, also need a reality check and they get angry too fucking fast sometimes like uhuuu i was just making a joke (they also can't take a joke)

⚡sagittarius can be annoying when they're enthusiastic about something

⚡capricorns think that having money is everything that matters and having friendships or relationships is just a thing for people that have feelings... sweetie u need friends too, and a relationship

⚡aquarius' people are weird as fuck, not in a bad or good way, in between

⚡pisces are the type of people to listen to you talking for hours but not remember anything about what you said, also may daydream a lot, which is not bad, but not when you have 5 essay due tomorrow 😅

💀well, i guess that's it... PLEASE DONT UNFOLLOW ME!!! 💀

[egg-emperor]

I feel like there's a lot of negativity online about the sonic games, and really sonic in general. It can be a huge bummer, y'know?? I feel like a lot of sonic fans are never satisfied, ESPECIALLY on the subject of Eggman. If it's not "Eggman's such a joke nowadays!" Then it's "that's uncharacteristically evil for Eggman!" Or sometimes you even get a "Eggman's too one-dimensional!"

Like... c'mon guys, just let us enjoy our lovely modern egg.

There really is and it's really hard to avoid. There's a very loud part of the fanbase mostly on YouTube and Twitter that absolutely hate the games with the same kind of energy as the people they complain about with IGN saying that Sonic was never good, just the "most of the Sonic games in the series that aren't the classic, Adventure games, or Generations fucking suck" and hate more games than they like.

People are so negative and constantly whine about the "meta" era and it's a shame nobody wants to admit that any of the games except for Generations have qualities and they jump on anyone that tries to acknowledge and appreciate them. They repeat themselves over and over with their irrational hatred because it's easy attention and people blindly agree, regardless of how reasonable or not it is.

I want to be hopeful, well cautiously optimistic rather, about Frontiers but it's really annoying how people are acting like every aspect of the stories, characters, and gameplay were completely shit in most of the games in the past 12 years and like what we've seen is something completely different just because of the tone and having Flynn as the writer, even though a lot of those decisions are still Sega's.

And all the hate for modern Eggman for like every game beyond the Adventure era pisses me off immensely. People don't want to hear it and are in deep denial but he's still the EXACT SAME at the core as he was in the Adventure games, literally the only difference is the tone of the stories and focus on the humor of the more recent games overall, and that has nothing to do with the character, he's not to blame!

Eggman was still as evil, smart, charming, and entertaining as ever in Unleashed and even Colors to Forces. There was more focus on the humor in some games to match the tone of the stories overall and less screentime of his evil but he was still very much evil with his plans, a great threat with his actions, and still had serious moments. He's the most consistently characterized and it's always a delight to watch.

Eggman was getting way too much hate and slander already with those that barely understand his character, choose to be ignorant and believe all the slander and misconceptions, and all say he's nothing but a big joke despite all the blatant moments that clearly show otherwise. It's painful to see it getting worse with the Frontiers stuff we've been getting because people are saying that Eggman is "finally good again"

He literally didn't stop doing the all things they're praising him for in the small amount we've seen of him in Frontiers for even a second! The real good thing about the scene is that his dialogue and reaction to the situation he's in feels in character and consistent with the character he's literally always been, never stopped being in the 2010s, and I hope will continue to be in Frontiers.

And you know how I feel about those that claim anything feels "too evil" for him, even though he hasn't been seen to have limits in how far he'll go, as long as it doesn't result in the whole world being destroyed so he dies/can't rule it, even in the 2010 games show this and his selfishness in it. And those that dare claim he's one-dimensional are hilariously wrong, he has the most range and tons of potential in both humor and evilness!

People need to stop being in such deep denial that Eggman has always been one of the best, most consistently well-written and portrayed characters in the series and that both his humor and evil are very important and still prominent. He deserves way more credit and respect than he gets. I'm just really glad I'm not alone in acknowledging and appreciating him as he truly deserves! 🥰💜🥚

[beevean]

I'll be honest. Even if Sonic eventually did have an actual character arc where he came around and stopped being so stupidly naïve. The damage has already been done for me. It shouldn't take this idiot over 50 issues of his enemies continuing to be his enemies with no remorse for Sonic to realize that maybe giving everyone the freedom to cause trouble and be evil is stupid when it's putting the lives of innocent people in danger. He literally should have figured this out after the Metal Virus!

And this is why I've finally decided I'm going to stop reading IDW, and only check out how Surge's arc ends via wiki (because fuck me now i'm invested in the little snot).

Well, this, and Flynn's utter arrogance and disrespect towards people who dare to criticize his work.

About time, you might say, right? It's very hard for me to drop something. I've lasted a fair amount, considering that #12 weirded me out, I found #19 stupid, and #23 insulting. I guess that the Chao Race arc was enough to a palate cleanser to make me forgive IDW, and I've completely forgotten the Zeti Hunt arc except for that stupid panel in #44.

But yeah, 100% agree with you anon. I don't care about Sonic's character development anymore. It's like the Eggman fans who can't be happy about his epic smackdown of Starline because to get there they had to go through 30 issues of him being a dumbass, being mocked by inferior villains, or straight up ignored. Even if it turns out that #51 marks the point where Sonic finally realizes that he's been a huge sanctimonious dumbass, it can't erase the fact that Sonic spent the entirety of the comic's rundown as a despicable twisted version of himself... and that fans loved him so much that they pushed Flynn towards working with SEGA and insulted critics deeming them stupid and violent. Some of my mutuals can attest to the level of abuse they had to suffer because of the little blue prick :\

I'm sorry Flynn, but you can't spend 4 years writing a "mature" story full of death, angst and moral questions, only to pedal back and cry "muh children's fantasy" to justify the lack of effort put into it. You want me to #ReadAnotherBook? Okay.

this doesn't mean that the sonegg jokes are going to stop anytime soon tho ;)

[modgirlyreposts-revamped]

okok sonadow thoughts-

sooo. sonic forces basically lives rent free in my head for its angst potential. i cannot and will never be convinced that sonic doesn't have ptsd from that shit. KID WAS LITERALLY TORTURED FOR SIX MONTHS ON END THEY CAN'T EXPECT ME TO JUST BE DOWN WITH EVERYONE GOING ON WITH THEIR DAY AFTER THAT

'cause in that game, sonic at the beginning was detained and said to have been tortured by eggman and infinite's forces for six months, and eggman was able to achieve this because he had infinite (infused with the power of an artifact) at his side, and it's implied that the only reason infinite got to that position was because of his defeat at shadow's hands, even if infinite was evil already, and it's just such a deeply fucked up situation. i think a lot about shadow blaming himself for sonic's suffering and like, wanting to protect him but he's already done so much damage and now sonic is permanently damaged because of infinite's actions and he's afraid of hurting him again, there's so much angst-heavy potential coming from forces-

ik idw has its own canon and the metal virus arc comes not too long after sf giving an idea of what actually happens post-forces at least in the comic canon and making that probably the actual worst 6-10 months of sonic's life back to back and god he never gets a break and when i got to the "next time: from bad to worse" marker after like 20 issues of constant suffering and everything just getting worse and worse i almost started crying bc that so clearly set the precedent that even if things look devastatingly bad now, the characters still have something to lose, and they're going to lose them. that whole arc crushed my soul bc also i was listening to space song the whole time

but i have this idea that after sonic forces it's like, really difficult for all of them to get back into life, sonic being sonic wants to go run off into some new adventure but no one really wants to let him cause they're all understandably worried about him between 6 months of torture and an entire ass war he was at the center of, and they all wanna be worried about sonic but he keeps deflecting it and insisting nothing is wrong and basically refusing to process his trauma, but he's fucking going through it psychologically and shadow and tails especially are super worried because tails had been with classic sonic (basically a younger sonic, similar to sonic in the movies in my au being more childish and enthusiastic) and has seen how different sonic is now, and shadow i already explained and he just feels like it's all his fault sonic went through this and is trying to deal with his trauma alone even though everyone else knows what happened. i could see this working well for post-metal virus, but the game universe is more my cup of tea. i just think about this a lot. sonic being pulled under by the effects of the torture he endured, and his friends worrying about him all in their own way, shadow desperately wanting to tell sonic he knows what he's going through and he's here and he's sorry for everything and,,,,, i would make a fic about this but i haven't finished either of my swapfics so. that's gonna be a no but post-forces sonadow lives rent free in my head and i hope this explanation makes literally any sense

like ik sonic is more the optimistic one and shit but.. he got tortured. he was detained for months with no way of helping his friends in a war they were losing horribly. he HAS trauma and i will not take criticism. he can still be the optimist, him dealing with difficult trauma doesn't have to be ooc but,, he should be allowed to hurt and feel the pain of his experiences and dare i say it express his emotions- *sega immediately shoots and kills me because sonic is basically bound by law not to cry or show "excessive" emotion*

also i meant to say a HOT second ago i think its hilarious that you said your only knowledge of sonic was that "sonic says: bored? punch an orphan! what are they gonna do, tell their parents?" meme bc sonic is canonically an orphan in like every sonic media ever (aside from underground where his mom is a main character and the one the whole plot revolves around but that show is something else ENTIRELY) which just makes the meme itself like 2x as funny to me lmao

sorry this is all angst and also doesn't make any sense. im a little depressed rn /lh

The "not wanting to process trauma, so just acting like everything is ok" part, how did you get footage of me as a little kid- /j

KGHGDFSHGDFHSK I LIKE TO THINK THAT WE JUST HAVE VERY SIMILAR WAYS OF DEALING WITH TRAUMA FROM BEING ORPHANS, I MAKE JOKES LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME-

[ghitathepanda]

If I become a game review youtuber, I'll have to put disclaimers at the start of the video for Sonic games that I like that it will be a positive review.

Sonic Forces would have to be specifically titled to give it away I unironically like the game because I dare sabotage my own youtube game review career. If I make a big enough name for myself, it'll probably because someone on twitter will screenshot the thumbnail and title and Sonic twitter will bully me for being part of the "say the bad game is underrated" and make me an example of "fans like these who eats up mediocrity is why we can never get good Sonic games from Sega ever again".

This kinda makes me think of discourse on all sorts of media and how certain fans of something that has made enough bad products justify clowning on people who don't know better on "why this thing is bad actually", although certain fandom discourses like Marvel and DC Comics usually are on a different level beyond what I want to actually discuss. Like sure, you want that franchise to actually improve and it makes sense that you consider positive opinions on what you consider to be bad to just be bad for the sake of that franchise making a proper improvement because you don't want creators to have wrong assumptions on what people want, but the reality is that some people will have considered all those negative points made but still like it anyway because the good points that are present have enough merit to those people to save it from being as bad as people make it out to be in their opinion. But the internet has made it so easy for cynicism to settle in and allow people to mock others for having any optimism. Again, for understandable reasons, but discouraging people for enjoying something "because it can lead to the franchise not recovering from its dark era" in a mocking way does feel like a bit much.

Sorry for this long ass non-rant because I just have things to say that I've been thinking about for a long while now about the conflict of opinions and how much they matter. Opinions do affect how any given franchise, Sonic in this case, either improve or worsens but some people just have that spirit to be able to find the good in things that can frustrate some depending on how bad you really think it is.

Doesn't change the fact that I find myself with the screwed priority of wanting "good Sonic games" for the sake of being able to enjoy something in peace instead of just thinking "that last game is bad" because I can't help liking those "bad games". I never got to play Sonic 06 btw because I don't have the hardware to play it but I want to play just to test my limits on if I am capable of liking it. The only Sonic game I come close to hating is Shadow the Hedgehog, though that's more to me not being in the mood to get all the endings because some missions can get annoying to do, which proves that I can certainly hate on things if I want but I don't exactly hate that game. I guess it's on the lower end on the "bad scale" and only barely entered the "bad" zone (higher = worse) for that game design choice on how to unlock the true ending.

Also feeling tired of being negative and angry at games and other media these days so that's probably the source of this whole thing