#i like the story in sonic adventure games and that's the most important thing to me tbh

[rapidhighway]

I'm not sure if you've been asked this in the past, but I'm curious what your favourite sonic game is?

I haven't finished that many but I started a lot skcndkxj i really like both SA games, love SA2, love unleashed so far, love mania so far. I like all of them for different things though

[marvell-07]

Merry Christmas everyone!! In honor of the holidays, here is one of my more extensive headcanons about the Sonic 3 Movie. SPOILERS ahead so be warned! 🎄

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At the end of the Sonic three movie, Shadow gets nerfed to hell and dies in an explosion. Except we never see his death on screen and we know the movie is based on Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog. In those games Shadow managed to eject himself from the ARK and escape alive. However he suffers from amnesia and now has a fragmented memory. He can only remember his name and Maria’s death. So you know I’m about to write some angsty hc off of this.

Shadow would wander around aimlessly, trying to find remnants of who he was and what his life was before he lost his memory. The problem is that there’s barely anything left. Even if he manages to return to the site of the lab, he had set off the mini black hole in there. Any evidence of what happened, any evidence of Maria, was destroyed in that blast.

The only person who would know about Maria and what Shadow did afterward would be sonic. Sonic was in that lab, he heard the story and saw what happened. He was also the one to spend the most time with Shadow and hear about his pain and loss before teaming up.

Except I have a few ideas regarding this. What if something did survive the explosion of the black hole? The picture of Shadow and Maria. While exploring the lab Sonic found Maria’s room and saw the fort and picture. It was a family portrait, and to him it felt too special, too important, to be left behind in an abandoned lab. It reminded him of the drawing he made of him and Longclaw in the cave. It was all he had left of a family member he lost… just like Shadow. So what if he took the photo with him? Sonic intended to give the photo back to Shadow after they made up, but never got the chance. So now he keeps it as a way to honor and remember both Shadow and Maria.

Now keeping Shadow’s most likely survival in mind, what if after Sonic and Shadow see eachother again, Sonic shows him the photo to convince Shadow to at least hear him out. It leads into Sonic getting slammed into a wall by a very paranoid personification of Hot Topic who demands answers. I think even after hearing the story, Shadow would be confused and apprehensive. So Sonic hands him the photo and tells him that he knows what it’s like to be lost, and that Shadow has a friend if he needs it.

With the amnesia, Shadow would have almost a constant source of anger and guilt and sadness for things he doesn’t even remember. It drives him crazy that he feels so much and doesn’t even know why. When Shadow gets too caught up in his own head, Sonic asks him to tell him about Maria. It’s the one thing he can reliably talk about and it’s some of the only good memories he has.

Shadow chooses to trust Sonic not just because of Maria’s photo or the kind words, but because he can feel that Sonic is a good person. Sitting on that moon with Sonic and watching the stars was the beginning of closure and resolution to all of Shadow’s pain and trauma. And then immediately after that he shared the power of the chaos emerald in harmony with Sonic. That connection remains to be something familiar. However, in a way, that feeling of comfortability and kindness is foreign. He hadn’t felt that since Maria and look how that turned out. Part of it scares Shadow and he doesn’t know how to handle not being constantly alert.

Even if Shadow does permanently join up with the team I don’t see him living with them. He doesn’t have that family dynamic with Tom and Maddie like the others, and I’m not sure he wants to yet. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles had lost their families a while before they met Tom and Maddie, they had time to grieve and find that desire to want and accept a family again. Shadow doesn’t have that, not yet. With that being said, there isn’t really anywhere else for him to go, both the lab and the ship were destroyed.

So what if he lives in Sonic’s old home? Just until they can find somewhere better for him. It’s secluded and private but not so far away that they wouldn’t be able to go see him. Shadow doesn’t have anywhere else to go so why not. Sonic decks it out for him and even finds a picture frame for Maria’s photo.

[local-lamppost]

Sonic 3 Initial Thoughts

So I saw Sonic 3 and I really liked it. Adventure 2 has my favorite story of the franchise so even a loose adaptation was great to see (they even referenced Shadow the Hedgehog by having Shadow's origins be a black comet).

The only part I had a problem with was how they shied away from everything being GUN's fault. Gerald was hired to create the a weapon, a life form that could also cure his granddaughter's illness. Then the project gets out of hand and GUN wants to cover it up, so they kill everyone and imprison Gerald to keep him working for them (and they later kill him anyway in an amazing cutscene). GUN spends the whole game doing their best to keep the cover up going and doubling down. They are the real bad guys. This is still in the movie but it feels glossed over.

I loved Maria and Shadow's dynamic. We didn't get too much time with them, but the way it was shown-that Maria was the only one in the facility that didn't see Shadow as a monster/alien/things to be studied and Shadow being someone Maria could play with. I wish they had included a line about Maria wanting to experience the world beyond where her grandfather went for research, that she and Shadow planned to explore the world first hand when it was finished, and Maria's last words of protecting the world. Being the world's protector despite everything the world has done to him is Shadow's most important trait and I feel like it could've been touched on more.

The fight between Shadow and Sonic was amazing. Shadow goading Sonic into killing him, pointing at his heart the same way Maria and Tom have done to each one, and that connection being what snaps Sonic out of his anger was perfect. Then going on to watch the sun (a still living star) rise over the earth while they talk. Gorgeous.

Knuckles and Tails were relevant! This is always something I worry about in sequels that add to the cast, but they were handled perfectly. Knuckles being the guardians and having the final say of giving Sonic the power. Tails being the brains and moral support, as well as peacemaker between Sonic and Knuckles. It all evened out very well.

Lastly, Stone and the Robotniks. While I have mixed feelings of him being alive in the movie's present, Gerald is a fantastic villain. His line of "You're not Maria, Ivo" was brutal. I was wondering how they would work out a living Gerald with access to a living grandchild still wanting to destroy everything, but having him purely treat Ivo as a shell throughout was perfect. Ivo himself just wants to be cared for, something he thinks only family can provide for him despite Stone being right there. It's this familial requirement for affection that allows Gerald to use him and for Stone to be forced out, and if they do bring him back (which I really hope they don't) what his new dynamic with Stone would be now that he knows Stone really does love him.

All and all, a great film and I'm excited for the fourth. I'm really excited to see how Amy and Metal Sonic are handled, especially now that SEGA is writing her as an actual character lately.

[rojaceartandgaming]

Archie Sonic VS IDW Sonic (and a minor analysis of Scourge vs Surge and Kit): Both are Great, y'all are just comparing apples to oranges

I see a lot of people comparing the story and plot points of the Archie Comics and the IDW comics a lot and... I guess I can see why, but I think it's an unfair comparison. The comics are a lot different tonally and set out to do different things and sure, some of the writing nowadays is better and people love to clown on Ken Penders' writing but... things are a lot deeper then that.

This is gonna be a long post of media analysis so... here's a line break. I'm not trying to start a fight, I just love both comics and want to ramble.

Now, I love both comics a lot. I have a lot of nolstalga for the Archie comics as they were the first really story driven Sonic media I had ever seen. The comics I started with reading were around the first bits of Ian Flynn's run (though I jumped around a lot, give me a break, I was like seven) and honestly? I loved it! I couldn't get enough! Sonic was awesome, I loved the original world and characters, and I think the whole roboticization plots (and Bunnie might've inspired my very first OC who I still have to this day) were incredible!

As for the IDW comics, I got into them earlier this year. By this point, I was a college student who had basically lived through the recent dark age of Sonic and only started to have faith in the series again thanks to the movies, Sonic Frontiers, and Sonic Prime. But even so, I had just become dissatisifed with the writing in Sonic games. Something that probably wasn't helped when, in highschool, I finally picked up my first 3D Sonic game which was... Sonic Forces on switch. The wasted potential that was that game deserves its own post, both for the story and the gameplay. One of the biggest issues I had with Sonic for the longest time was the stories just... sucking, or not utilizing characters well. Story is the most important thing to me for games, so seeing awesome characters like Blaze, Silver, Shadow, and Metal Sonic - my favorite character of all time - be used as cameos or one note villains sucked.

Suffice to say I love Sonic X Shadow Generations, but that's a post for another day.

Finally, out of curiosity, I checked out the IDW comics and god, they were a treat. After being starved for good characterization for most of my time with Sonic? It was incredible. Older characters getting their chances to shine, a plot that does refer to Forces in a way that makes sense - a devastating time that still effects the plot now what with Whisper and Mimic's plot! - and newer characters that are stellar, especially when it comes to villains. Starline is by far my favorite villain from these new comics, though Clutch has turned out to be really cool too. But the stars of the show are Surge and Kit, I won't argue about that.

But the thing that makes these comics both great - that I don't see anyone talking about - is the fact they're meant to handle things differently. The Archie comics started in a time when Sonic didn't have that much coherent plot in the West, so SATAM Sonic, The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, and Sonic Underground had to make it up as they went - some shows were darker, proceeding to come up with characters like Sally or concepts like roboticization, whilst others were more slap-stick heavy. Those contrasting vibes were stuck in a blender and out came the Archie comic which... did definiately have its problems. I won't deny that. But they were given free reign to go wild with Mobius - eventually having to integrate things like arcs for the Adventure games but handling it well - and they made some incredible lore! The alternate dimensions, the new characters, the devastation that came with the Eggman Empire, and the echidna's deep lore - I hate Ken Penders too, y'all, but I miss echidna tribe lore so much. It was so cool istg.

Hell, villains could be dark as hell - and it makes sense. In the older cartoons and in these comics, Robotnik was a lot more sinister when it came to his portrayal. And I like that! We don't see that as often nowadays. Other villains and rivals are cool as hell too (I mean, look at Doctor Finitevus' design ALONE) and yeah, I say that extends to Scourge too. I'll get into that in a minute.

Sure, Archie Sonic was a mess, but once you accept the absurdity it's not that bad, especially post issue 160 and ESPECIALLY after the reboot. It's a darker story with good lighthearted moments that outweigh the bad, in my opinion. It set out to make its own story, and it did whilst incorporating characters from the games as well as it could.

IDW Sonic, on the other hand, came in 2018 - we know who these characters, they've had a lot adventures, good and bad! Eggman's not as villainous as he used to be, sure, but that's in line with the games too. He's not a one-note villain whose only personality is an evil laugh, and I love it! Honestly, I'd argue this is the best interpretation we've ever gotten of Eggman, especially when we get to the added depth of the Mr. Tinker thing and the fact he only reverted back to villainy thanks to Starline! And frankly, everyone who acts like Sonic working with Eggman in the Riders arc is a new thing... it's not. It's happened in the games. It happened in the Archie comics when dealing with Knuckles as Enerjak. Just... cope. Deal with the fact that Eggman has depth now. Stop complaining. Please.

The IDW comics are more lighthearted, better written, and are more grounded in this post-Forces world. It can be dark as hell though, clearly - I don't need to get into the Metal Virus arc for y'all to know how good it was. Hell, Surge and Kit being stuck in a cycle of abuse is really, really grim and I hope things get better for them.

Now, I see a lot of people comparing Surge to Scourge and... I'm sorry, that's my biggest issue with the comparisons between the comics. Yes, they're both green and designed after an old debug menu glitch in the classic games. But they have more depth then that. This video here -

goes into Scourge's character really well! Honestly, he's really compelling - the worst version of what Sonic can be and an intentionally pathetic foe who's almost doing too much on purpose to prove a point. He's a jerk, he's intentionally edgy as hell, he's almost pathetic as a villain and... that's the point. He's Sonic at his edgy worst, if he was a massive jerk. Sonic is Scourge if Scourge had some decency, and it's super compelling to read about.

But that's not who Surge is. She isn't an alternate bastard version of Sonic from a different dimension. Surge and Kit are the products of Starline's obsession with Eggman and overcoming Eggman. They're the products of Starline trying to take out Eggman, Sonic, and Tails and crafting "replacements" for them whilst completely failing to understand each character and their dynamics with each other.

Eggman is reckless, sure, and doesn't have a real scientific method, but he's always looking forward. The next invention, the next plan, the next action. That's what brings about Starline's demise.

Sonic is rash and reckless, sure, but he respects others and especially his buddy Tails. And Tails isn't subserviant to Sonic or 100% blindly loyal to him. They're equals - no, they're brothers. But Starline didn't see that, and for a good chunk of the beginning of their arc Surge and Kit aren't healthy for each other.

But they're all they have left.

These two are tragic characters. They have no past, no origins that they remember. All they have is each other, and the personalities and abilities Starline gave them. They're tragic characters that deserve so, so much better and frankly? Even though I see a redemption arc in their future I can see them being more like Shadow rather then Sonic and Tails 2.0. Antiheroes, not symbols of everything good in this world. And that's a good thing! They have depth, and I love it.

Archie Sonic and IDW Sonic are different beasts entirely, and that's okay. They don't need to be compared so harshly, because they both have their merits.

IDW Sonic could never tell the story of a character like Scourge, and Archie Sonic couldn't tell the story of Surge and Kit. And that's why I love both comics. They're distinctive!

[melskytodstar]

Play Shadow Generations!

I know I’ve said some things about this game already, but I wanted to leave a “review” for the game anyway. So let’s get started!

First off, the story. Major props to Ian Flynn (the man who inspired me to write fan comics), cause like with Sonic Frontiers, he nailed it! While it is short, it had to be in order to coincide with Sonic Generations, so I’m not surprised or upset about that. Despite that, the amount of lore and answered questions that’s thrown into this game is incredible, and it’s good to see that Shadow is allowed to be written in the way that most fans want again. Even with the game focused around Shadow, there’s still plenty of tongue and cheek to be had, which I appreciated.

Visually, it’s probably the best looking Sonic game to date. Officially, at least. All of the familiar locales given an upgraded look was appreciated, and the characters…I could go on, but the two I want to focus on are Gerald & Maria. I don’t know if it was intentional or not, but Gerald looks like Jim Carrey to me! And Maria… she has never looked better (or sounded, but we’ll get to that)… her model in this game even puts her CG model in Shadow The Hedgehog to shame!

Sound -or more specifically, music- is very important in a Sonic game, and Shadow Generations is no exception. Granted, there were a couple tunes that weren’t grabbing me (dubstep’s not my thing), but the rest of the remixes were great. I did notice that most of the music in the cutscenes was taken straight from Shadow & Adventure 2, but do you see me complaining?

The voice acting was top notch, too. I won’t be talking about most of the cast due to spoilers. While Kirk Thornton is not my favourite Shadow, you can tell that he really gave it his all for this game, and he did a really good job. I was so relieved to learn that Mike Pollock was back as Gerald, but it was certainly interesting to hear him providing a calmer take on the brilliant scientist that he last voiced almost 20 years ago. And Stephanie Sheh as Maria… literally the best English VA the girl has ever had. I appreciated how you can hear Maria being affected by her condition in her voice. That’s some good attention to detail. And I’ll be honest, there’s at least one scene Maria has with Shadow that made me emotional, purely because of Stephanie’s delivery of a particular line or two.

Finally, the gameplay. It honestly felt like a mix of Sonic Generations and Sonic Frontiers to me. And I mean that in a good way. I won’t say anything about the Doom Powers (again, trying to avoid spoilers), but being able to throw Chaos Spears freely is appreciated, and I love how Chaos Control in-game actually looks and feels like it does in cutscenes and comics. The boss fights are pretty cool too, with one in particular being very interesting (more because of the dialogue), but the final boss can be a pain if you’re not ready for it…

My entire experience with Shadow Generations comes from the PS5 version. Mel has it on the Switch, but I’m gonna wait until she’s done with it before I try it for myself. As for Sonic’s side of Generations, not much has changed from the original release, but I appreciate what has been changed. All I ask of @sonicthehedgehog is to keep Rings from draining so fast when playing as Super Sonic. Literally my only problem with Sonic Generations, at this point.

In closing, I absolutely love Shadow Generations, and I’m feeling good about the future of both the Blue Blur and the Ultimate Lifeform. I highly recommend any Sonic fan check this game out, especially when the third Sonic movie is just over a month away! - Todd

[venusdeluxe]

Maria Robotnik in Sonic 3, thoughts

I expected pretty much from the beginning that Sonic 3 wouldn't just be Sonic Adventure 2 the movie and ya know thats not really a bad thing I dont think. Changes have to be made to fit into a movie, fit into this universe and to work within the constraints of the studio system and being a kids franchise. But what I hope that they stick to the most is Shadow and Maria's history cus it really is vital to the character. Its ok if details are changed, but for me atleast its important thay they stick to the main building blocks of the story. From the trailer it doesn't seem like Maria will be fatally wounded in the same way and I think thats ok, but it has to still be the fault of GUN and I hope thats a plot point in the movie that they keep that from Sonic and the gang. Removing that blame from the military and stuff would just feel like a very icky change for them to make and would lessen the impact (though again, the restraints of being a kids franchise makes me nervous if they'll even be allowed to go that far. Maybe GUN being a fictional branch will provide some leeway).

I also hope they just stick true to Maria as a character. Her condition, how Shadow was created to heal humanity, but also her specifically, and maybe even dive deeper than the games ever did and actually show how her condition affects her in daily life. I think that could be very valuable representation. I dunno, Shadow's backstory is the most emotionally charged part of the Sonic game canon. It's why I think it resonates so much with the fanbase and why it's the tightest rope the creators have to walk on for this movie. It's the part they really need to get right for this to work and it's certaintly the part I'm most nervous about lol. I pray they stick the landing on this.

Also I get that its just a funny lil meme or whatever, but istg I'll be so pissed if the movie comes out and I see videos of people cheering in the theater for Maria's death. Don't be weirdos.

[katzenklavierr]

Short Review of Sonic Movie 3

Sonic Movie 3 met my expectations pretty exactly: it's a fun action movie for kids that takes inspiration from the video games while making adjustments to meet its own internal lore, just like the first two. So I can't really say I was disappointed by it, but it didn't really blow me away either. I think I liked the second one a little bit better.

If you're a Sonic fan who liked the other two, you will probably enjoy it. If you're a Sonic fan who disliked the other two because they're not faithful adaptations, you will feel the same about this one.

Rest is under the cut for those who wish to go in blind.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first.

I only really have one major complaint and it's that there is way too much Eggman in this movie, to the point where it feels like he has more screentime than Sonic does, let alone all four of the animal characters. I don't even mind stripping Gerald of his moral nuance and making him the big bad (although never mentioning Maria's illness makes his motivations really unclear), but like. Jim Carry's Eggman (now twofold) is better in small doses. At least he died at the end I guess (but if they do another death fakeout for him I'm going to be so annoyed). I feel like the themes they were exploring with him might've been better suited for Shadow so that he'd be a stronger foil to Sonic, which they did a little bit but again. Way more focus was given to Eggman.

The pacing is also really bad. Like, worse than the other two movies. Most scenes don't have any time to breathe before we're jumping to the next thing. Only a few emotional beats are allowed to actually linger long enough to sink in. I get that this is Sonic and we gotta go fast and all, but it feels like this movie being about 20 minutes longer or cutting out some of the Eggman shenanigans to make room for other characters would've benefited it.

They really struggled to find a reason for Sonic's human family to be involved or give them stuff to do. They're important for Sonic's arc, and Tom getting hurt by Shadow is meant to parallel Maria, but they just kind of failed to be relevant in any other way. I didn't really feel it this was as big of a problem in the first two movies. Maybe this film is just suffering from not knowing how to adequately juggle an ensemble cast.

I was a bit worried that they were going to take the story beats from Sonic Adventure 2 and turn it into pro-military propaganda, which thankfully didn't happen. They didn't really address any of the military criticism directly, and Maria's death was explicitly accidental rather than an act of callousness, though I think it was a smart move to have them shut down Gerald's research and imprison him only to build the WMD themselves using his plans and show that they were only interested in keeping it in their own hands. Other than being an inconvenience to Sonic and friends, though, they don't really act as a significant antagonist but rather just a third party in the matter. Again, better than turning them into a force for good, though.

Now for the stuff I did like.

Keanu Reeves killed it as Shadow. He's done other VA work in the past, which I think helps, but he has the exact right timbre for him and just enough emotion to sell the role.

Shadow's relationship with Maria is shown really effectively, and I like that Maria gets to have more of a personality than she really does in the games (though I have not yet played Shadow Generations so I can't speak to her portrayal there). I wish they had explored the tension between Shadow feeling like a monster a bit more, though, as well as my aforementioned gripe that they removed Maria being terminally ill from the story (which I feel is important to her character and her relationship with Shadow).

The fight scenes and action sequences more generally were really cool. I loved both Sonic v. Shadow fights, especially the first one with Shadow on his motorcycle and Sonic on foot zooming through traffic.

Special effects and CGI were also well done and felt very grounded. All of the characters look so soft and I want to pet them so bad. I love the glitter effect when Sonic and Shadow go super, too.

While the scene itself felt a little forced, I did enjoy the chao garden restaurant. I want to eat a chao bao.

I completely called BOTH characters in the post-credits reveal. My thought process was that if they didn't put Amy in the 4th movie (which you know they are going to be making) it would be a crime against me personally and generally a bad move to put in another male character before her, and if they're bringing in Amy it makes sense to bring in Metal as the new threat, especially since they concluded Shadow's SA2 arc in this movie and (supposedly) killed off the Eggmen. I look forward to hearing more about it.

I think I'm still kind of in awe that I live in a world where my favourite blue hedgehog not only gets a big screen appearance, but a whole film series -- one that doesn't suck and is actually successful, even! I feel like the cultural attitude towards Sonic has shifted much more favourably and the films are getting more people interested in the franchise as a whole. In the threatre I was at, there were other adult fans there seeing it with their kids, it was very cool. So even if I have my gripes with them as a life-long fan, I feel they are definitely a net positive and I am glad they exist.

[soullessjack]

talk about that stupid lil hedgehog. go hog wild (punintended)

oh my god i keep Trying to answer this and it keeps getting deleted somehow ok. deep breaths. and spoilers for the 3rd movie also.

SO.

sonic 3 is, naturally, a very loose adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. and just like the other two movies there were details from the games that were either changed or taken out to better suit the movies, bc as much as they are sonic movies, they aren’t just beat-for-beat remakes. they’re definitely aiming to be their own thing while also respecting and keeping close with the source material they pulled from (and personally, I didn’t grow up with the games; I’m a watcher over a player; I’ve always had more interest in the game’a story than actually playing it—so just from a creative standpoint, I immediately respect any adaptation that does the same).

the 3rd movie has a lot of major detail changes for the sake of running with their own plot and trying to keep its PG rating, and it works fantastically. I’ve watched it twice already and there is no doubt in my mind I’ll watch it again bc it’s genuinely So Fucking Good. but one of the most important detail changes for me is how they handled Maria’s character. in the original SA2 game, and I don’t mean this as an insult or anything, Maria is frankly a non-character. she falls into the archetype of a character who exists just to die for the plot and doesn’t have much personality as a result. it’s not inherently a bad thing; it’s just a narrative tool. but the issue comes from how it’s done, because when it’s done right, it’s done right. but when it’s done wrong, it becomes lazy fridging (we as supernatural victims know this well).

I don’t think game-Maria was necessarily fridged; it’s her clear purpose in the story and pretty much a canon event that she and Gerald will always die (thanks gens), but it also makes her a little less interesting to engage with as her own character bc she isn’t really her own character. she’s like, the idea of shadow’s goodness. she’s this perfect paragon of love and kindness and forgiveness that, at 9-12 years old, somehow has a fully formed opinion on the nature of humanity as inherently good and worth being saved [by shadow]. it’s not bad storytelling, but it’s just a tad heavy handed.

movie-Maria, on the other hand, is an actual person. she still dies in the end, of course (canon event), but through shadow’s memories of her we’re able to see how she connected with him and what made that connection so important to him that it ruined him severely to lose. movie-Maria is just a kid. she’s curious, a little mischievous and plainly innocent. she doesn’t really know what shadow is or what his purpose on the Ark is, and she doesn’t really care. she just knows that she likes him and cares about him and that’s good enough for any kid. it’s all, “let’s watch movies together,” “let’s use your air shoes to roller-skate really fast around the colony,” “let’s dance to this record,”etc etc.

the actual scene is such an adorable little montage but it also shows how simplistically Maria connected with shadow and made him feel like more of a person. instead of directly asking shadow to be a good person and save the world, she encourages him to be whoever he wants to be. instead of sending him off and making a final promise with him, she just dies. suddenly and without any last words. which means shadow has no promise to remember like he did in the game. he doesn’t come to his senses because he finally remembered Maria actually wanted him to do good.

and that’s my segue into the second major difference of the movie! hooray for segues!

so, one of shadow’s final memories with Maria is sitting with her under the Ark’s dome and looking up at all the stars in space. just like the montage it is an adorable, even beautiful scene of them together all by itself and I had to pause the movie during my second watch to sob into my hands but the one thing I’m picking on today is when shadow tells her, “I don’t know what I’d do without you.” again, very simple, but still very hard hitting because we’re seeing in real time what he’s doing without her. we’re seeing how much her loss has affected him because we finally saw exactly what it was like, what it meant for him to have her in the first place.

and, between the game and the movie, shadow’s end goal is still revenge for Maria. her…presence…(?) her memory, at least, is still with him at every step of his plan and fueling him to go even further. in a way, it’s almost like Maria becomes the face of her own loss, because each time he remembers something about her, it’s only ever painful and only ever makes him more determined to enact revenge. and then when he beats the shit out of Tom (sonic’s dad who’s also kinda boring) (sorry), and the flash between sonic kneeling over him to shadow kneeling over Maria, it starts a sort of…tipping point for shadow to doubt if this is what he really wants or has to do.

and the thing is, it’s not about right and wrong with shadow. he knows what he’s doing is wrong (i personally must disagree with revenge on the military for murdering a child being framed as wrong but this is a paramount produced kids movie so that’s how it goes). he knows it’s just pure, anger driven revenge for the sake of revenge and he doesn’t care. in his own words, it’s who he is internally, bc it’s all he’s had or known for the last 50 years. and then, when he and gerald are on the eclipse cannon together, shadow asks him, “is this really what Maria would’ve wanted?” again, it’s not about right or wrong for shadow (or even Gerald honestly). it’s just about Maria and avenging her and dying in the process bc nothing is worth living or saving anymore, including themselves. that is, until Gerald responds, “the question isn’t ‘is it what Maria would’ve wanted,’ the question is ‘what do they deserve?’ Remember what she meant to us; remember what they took from us.”

I genuinely think that was Shadow’s wakeup call (and I love how it was changed from Maria simply wanting Shadow to be good all along, to Shadow coming to that realization for himself). pretty soon after that exchange, the fight between him and sonic starts and the entire time it’s just shadow instigating and antagonizing sonic to do his worst and End It. Straight up kill him, bc he’s too far gone now and there isn’t even enough time left to begin processing any doubt or regret for it all, and the plan was always a revenge-suicide-genocide anyways (you know, for kids!)

let’s go back a few paragraphs to when I said that Maria had almost become the face of her own loss, her own absence, because shadow’s memory of her only fueled his pain and determination to destroy everything. just like her game iteration, she’s an idea now. she’s an embodiment of the past, for better or for worse, for both shadow and Gerald. and remember, in both the game and the movie, it’s Gerald’s need for revenge that sparks shadow’s. Gerald uses shadow’s grief and anger to encourage it and it does eventually become shadow’s own goal too, but Gerald always wanted it first. shadow was just a means to an end that he thought he wanted.

it’s Gerald who tells shadow to remember what Maria meant and remember how it was taken, while shadow focuses on her and how she would’ve felt. and I really think it’s that moment afterwards that pulled shadow out of it, just enough to try and instigate his own death since the cannon can’t be stopped and, again, even if he did regret his actions, it won’t matter after everything is done. he thinks he’s just as far gone as Gerald is with this need for revenge and anger and hatred. he thinks This is who he is, until sonic gives him the classic “it doesn’t have to be who you are. love is stronger than pain, and even if she’s gone the love you had for her is still there, so keep going on that instead of the pain.”

(paraphrasing like crazy but it is genuinely a very well written scene like all the others.. IT’S A CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE AND I AM DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT THAT).

I’m not trying to say the original game’s story is any lesser or not impactful, and if I did that would just be a straight lie bc that’s one of Sega’s most renowned games in the franchise to this day, but I do think it hits a lot harder for shadow to have this arc away from Maria, if that makes sense. no final promise, no idea of what she wanted him to be. she’s not the embodiment of all that was good in him, but she was the support system he needed to (eventually) realize he could be good and be more than his purpose.

[randomthefox]

The question is, how do I write to Amy? For her to be so cute yet so annoying?

Spose it depends, and at the end of the day it's very subjective. I think the balance is just right in Sonic Battle for example, but a lot of people think that that's a "bad" game for Amy. Even though she is objectively perfect in it. But the fact that you have to write the character as annoying on purpose is inherently going to mean that to some people she'll be TOO annoying and that'll spoil the whole dessert for them. Amy needs to be a perfect blend of sweet and tart, but some people are diabetic lol.

The other characters reactions towards Amy are key, in my opinion. Particularly Sonic, but the other characters are important too. I feel like this is the perfect encapsulation of the ideal reaction that they should be having towards Amy.

A literal translation is "well, it can't be helped" or something along those lines. Windii translated it into the second picture.

Either way I think that perfectly represents the ideal reaction to Amy's antics from the other characters. Nothing we can do about it, no choice but to either go along with it or get out of the way. In her own way she's a force of nature, carried away on her own flights of fancy and devoting herself to a lofty little ambition of her own invention. And she reacts very violently to anybody who challenges her whimsical fantasies.

I think the secret to getting the balance right is to remember that Amy is supposed to be a comedic character. Comedy is also subjective, so that too is going to land badly for some people. But for like 90% of the stories Amy is a part of, she's supposed to be really funny. But then at the end she can get serious. She's like an inside out joke. A regular joke is mostly a serious set up, so that the subversive punchline hits you with the comedy. But for Amy most of the set up is funny, but then she pulls out the emotionally impactful serious moment.

Like in Sonic Adventure 2, the entire joke of her involvement in the story is the boys keep running off and leaving her behind much to her chagrin. And to some people, they don't find that joke funny (even though it is objectively hilarious). But the whole thing works because then we get to the Last Story where Amy has been left behind again, but in being left behind she comes upon Shadow who isn't participating and that gives her the opportunity to emotionally connect with him and remind him of Maria's true final wish which convinces him to change his tune and help out.

She's a funny bitch, practically the butt of the joke, right up until she hammers you in the gut with the emotional highpoint of the entire story.

The best solution would be to make her cute AND annoying AT THE SAME TIME. This is why Sonic Battle is such a good Amy game. Her whole story in that game is she thinks Emerl is like her and Sonic's practice baby. So she goes ALL IN on being Emerl's mother, trying to take care of him but also impart proper social values and moral lessons onto him. Only this is an idea that she's completely invented out of nothing, and everyone else realizes that and none of them want to participate in it with her. Also Amy constantly fails to live up to her own ideals of motherhood.

THAT is peak Amy Rose right there. Absolutely perfect. She's being an annoying dumbass, but she's also ADORABLE. Trying to be Emerl's mom and smack proper manners (and formal Japanese speech etiquette) into him, only to immediately descend into vulgarity and violence when Phi interrupts her is HILARIOUS. Cute as a button, this stupid pink bitch. I just wanna pinch her little cheeks while she pouts and pulls out her hammer to bash my skull in.

Or you could just say fuck all of that and turn her into Sally Acorn I guess. Because that's "fixing" her.

Whatever works for you.

[samobservessonic]

They might as well hit the ground running after a cover like that. The Kitching & Elson dream team is the right choice to bring us such an important milestone in StC as Porker quitting the team. We open with Porker’s decision and Sonic being angry about it, as would be expected. Porker isn’t one to start conflict, but his reason here is hardly a small one - after being trapped with an almost infinite number of time-travelling killer Sonic robots on an inescapable little planet for a month, Porker’s traumatised! And I don’t blame him! So yeah, Porker gets the badge of being one of the first Sonic comic characters to have PTSD. He can welcome Whisper the Wolf into that club in many years to come

But Sonic’s anger equally doesn’t come from a place of being unreasonable. He’s right that their small band of Freedom Fighters is one of the very few defences against Robotnik. And Porker isn’t just another number to bulk that up - he’s their tech guy. Sonic Adventure reestablishing Tails as the tech guy won’t hit StC until right at the end, so for now, Porker really is it (until Tekno comes along, but we haven’t got to her properly yet). Not only that, but Porker is one of Sonic’s close friends who he shared his backstory with early on. Out of all of the small animals, Porker is one of the two that Kitching picked out and went “These two are part of Sonic’s team”

I bring all of this up, because I don’t think either side deserves to be written off as either “Porker is just a wimp” or “Fleetway Sonic is a jerk”. There’s nuance here and I like that

Thankfully, Amy is here to defend Porker from Sonic’s accusations where Porker can’t defend himself. This is also kind of a turning point for Amy’s character, because while she’s always been headstrong in StC, previously it was more up to Johnny to be the voice of reason towards Sonic, since Amy was often still in fangirl mode. Here she is, voicing her feelings against Sonic’s opinion so she can protect a friend - it’s great character development all around

Johnny also defends Porker and the off-panel speech bubble in the top left is from Tails. They’re all sympathetic, but Sonic can’t handle that right now. This is all too big of a situation for him to gladly wave someone off

Oh hey, these guys are still here. But not for long, as we finally get an explanation as to what happened to Nack after last time - he’s been in prison, but now he’s out. There’s a footnote a bit further down that says we can check out this adventure in the upcoming Knuckles special. My loose plan atm is to cover that on the blog once the current Knuckles story wraps up

Imagine you’re just, like, the parking attendant robot and you stumble across the most-wanted criminal on the planet

Guess who’s the last line of defence to save the day!

Tails looks on, not knowing that one day this role will be his

It’s still a short story, however, so a quick dip of some wires in the puddles does the job. Plus, it’s never a bad time to teach kids that water conducts electricity. Well, I say “kids” but I still can’t convince my parents that taking electronics in the bath is a bad idea…

We cut ahead to the next morning and things are much more amiable between Sonic and Porker, as Sonic comes to see him off on his flight up to the Floating Island. It’s nice that they let this moment just be Sonic and Porker (And Tails over there). Either the others all knew that Sonic doesn’t like too many witnesses to mushy stuff or else they aren’t out of bed yet

Porker is soft and he knows it and Sonic doesn’t want to change him! Excuse me while I wipe these rivers of tears from my eyes…!

Tails is like “Well, maybe they don’t know I’m a genius yet, but they do know I can fly this plane, because I do it in the games”

And with that, Porker is gone from the main team, but certainly not gone from the book. This is the end of an era in StC - the first real shift in the Freedom Fighters since they were established as a proper team and not just the “Everyone in Emerald Hill is kind of in it for a while and then they're not” from the early issues. It’s the whole reason I went to the effort of buying a copy of this issue myself to try to get better scans. Because, I’ll be honest, if the issue with the dodgy scans had just been another badnik-of-the-week oneshot, I probably wouldn’t have bothered. But this felt important. We don’t get too many stories that are more focused on the characters’ feelings than on bashing the baddies and since Porker is one of my faves in StC, he deserved me to at least try to share this story as it was intended to be seen

[crusherthedoctor]

It really is not just annoying, but also somewhat sad, that IDW characters can never have a meaty role without shamelessly upstaging a game character. It's the ultimate play of insecurity.

Tangle gets touted as the Sonic Female of All Time while the crewmembers drag the game females through the mud.

Whisper gets randomly fawned over by Silver and Jet of all guys.

Lanolin humiliates Silver and treats him like a child.

Rough and Tumble are too much for Cream the OP to handle.

Starline was hyped up for an extended period as Eggman's superior (no, his final fate did not undo sitting through his agonizing "Sonic VS Eggman is routine" soapboxing).

Surge is being hyped up for even longer as the most badass villain and the most badass character period, despite having absolutely nothing of merit to show for it.

Is it really that hard to find a middle ground? I get you want your character(s) to do big things and be a legitimate part of the cast instead of sitting in the background with their thumbs twiddling, but this is not the way to do it. Trip was only recently introduced to the series, and she found her place just fine. She didn't need to effortlessly beat up Sonic in concept art in order to earn her stripes. She didn't need her creators to brag that she would improve Forces through her mere presence in order to cement her value.

Look. I talk a lot about Trudy. I talk a lot about her role in my fic, her interactions, her dynamics, her abilities, her quirks, all that good stuff. I take her role in the story quite seriously, and in an age where it's become taboo to have your OC do literally anything with the game cast (because overcorrection), I've stuck to my guns and made her a big part of the fic.

But - and this is a big but - none of this comes at the cost of the other characters, or the story as a whole. Sonic is still Sonic, and acts as you'd expect from him. Tails is still Tails, and isn't dismissed by the narrative as a mere sidekick to prop up Trudy as the "true" hero by comparison. Amy is still her bubbly self, not morphed into a Sally clone. Cream is still capable, despite her youth and innocence, and her bond with Trudy doesn't reduce her to literal baby. Eggman treats Trudy no differently from the rest of the cast, and he sure as hell doesn't show any fear at the prospect of facing her. Stellar is not little more than The Trudy Show: it's Sonic's latest adventure in a new land that Trudy happens to be tagging along for, and how he leaves an impression on her. Just like Unleashed did with Chip, and Secret Rings did with Shahra, among other examples.

Even Sonudis, for as Never Going To Happen In Canon For Very Obvious Reasons as it is, is still made with the mentality of not only what Sonic himself is actually like in canon, but the others too. It's not a shallow bait that exists solely to exist, it's something I took seriously in regards to how it could potentially work without sacrificing Sonic's official characterization. Is it a fanfic cliche? Is it self-indulgent? Maybe, but writing fanfic in general is inherently self-indulgent. The sooner you accept that, the better. But as fanfic-y as some concepts may be, I still try to portray them as naturally and as faithfully as I can in respect to the games that spawned this franchise. That includes not reducing Sonic to a lap dog with no independence or backbone.

You can make your character important, and even give them a risky role if you're daring, without disrespecting the game cast and what they contribute to the franchise.

[sonadowwiki]

Hi, I was wondering what is your guys' opinion on the third Sonic movie?? I personally liked it a lot :)

It's good to hear that you liked it. For ourselves, Shadow was quite cute on how much of a child he was. He is much different than game Shadow where he is very ignorant and child-like despite his power. It made him very kind in his own way and he was just easily manipulated by Gerald because he didn't know better or what else to do, much like in Sonic Adventure 2.

(Read More Below. Includes Spoilers.)

It's nice that he was willing to do something to make a difference for his mistake from listening to Gerald. It's also interesting that Shadow is not artificial this time around. He was most likely born of natural causes like Sonic, Knuckles and Tails.

I'd have to say that Shadow is very different from his game self by a large degree and it really makes one think of when they stated that they wanted to make Shadow accurate to the games to do him right. I don't see that here and he is very, very different. 90% of his characterization is quite different and even other characters, like Maria, are very different. From what the movie tells you, she wasn't even sick and was just around while Shadow was being experimented on (for some reason). It also makes no sense why Gerald had absolutely no care for Ivo despite him being family as well.

In all, though, I would say it is a very ill paced movie and that a lot of things make no sense. Sadly, this movie is much like Sonic x Shadow Generations where there are employees who aren't good that touched it and ruined its pacing, what's in it and put things in for an agenda or things that make no sense. A lot of fan demand was implemented into the movie and it made things make no sense.

For example:

Shadow on a motorcycle is cool, but there was no point to it.

Shadow held a gun and shot it at Sonic, which never happened in any video games, so that is also inaccurate despite them claiming to want to be accurate to the games.

The inclusion of the Chao Garden felt unnecessary, especially since it was just put in there to satisfy a single employee's obsession with them.

I find it a missed opportunity to mention how messed up it was that Gerald attacked children, but it makes no sense why he did this to random children when the same was done to Maria. Instead of learning not to do it to others, he does it to children too. But I guess that shows how evil he has become.

Walters died like nothing and just very suddenly. He didn't even get to explain himself or redeem himself because he was just so suddenly killed in nearly the beginning of the movie.

Walters was replaced by someone else who wasn't even in the previous movies, to represent G.U.N. It wasn't even Randal or Rachel who became in charge instead to have those characters implemented more instead of a new character out of nowhere, and they didn't even make a true appearance themselves despite being perfect to be shown for the story and from being important characters in the previous movie.

Walters suddenly knows about Shadow despite him seeming to not know about him in the second movie and all of a sudden now he was involved with that project when he was younger.

Shadow is treated like an artificial lifeform by being in a tube with liquid despite him being a living creature like Sonic, Knuckles and Tails. How can he breath in that liquid? Why does he even have limiters?

Tom and Maddie's relationship was butchered despite them caring for each other a lot in previous movies, even to the point of almost dying with each other out of love. In this movie, it was ruined entirely by Tom suddenly saying he wants to get rid of her despite all he did to protect her? It's inaccurate and inconsistent. It also ruins the message of the parents loving each other and spreading that family love like they did in previous movies.

Knuckles only used the Flames of Disaster once despite the TV show making it something important to obtain. He didn't even call out the name for it and just used it once to break something.

Tom gets hurt by Shadow all of a sudden despite that not being necessary and it is due to Tails' machine malfunctioning, but no one blames him or gets mad at him. Instead, they get mad at Shadow. It's also strange that it even malfunctioning at just that time so that Tom can get hurt.

Sonic suddenly gets mad despite him being able to keep his cool for so long just to make an excuse to make Sonic and Shadow fight each other on hateful terms, which wasn't the case in Sonic Adventure 2 even.

The meaning of turning Super in the movie lost its meaning, just for an unnecessary fight between Supers that never happened in the games either. In the previous movie, turning Super was out of love, but this time, it was out of anger at first. Later, it was out of just doing the right thing. It being used out of anger at first might be because the Emeralds were in the Master Emerald and the Master Emerald made it possible to use them without a good cause like in the second movie, but it's still strange because when Ivo used it, he turned green and was able to use the Master Emerald, not the seven Chaos Emeralds. So why were the Emeralds even back in the Master Emerald and why did they break out just to be used this once despite Sonic not being able to use it so easily in the second movie? Inaccuracy to the previous movie and inconsistent. Even in the games, turning Super is never done for reasons such as anger or revenge. It was always meant to be used for justice and for the greater good out of the miracles and care for others. It's not meant to be a weapon, it's meant to symbolize hope.

Gerald's strange obsession with Maria is borderline creepy and makes no sense. What was it about her that made him specifically obsessed with her, especially since she wasn't sick? Why did he care only for her and not other family? He only thought to use Ivo, which once again, makes no sense.

The movie tried too hard to tie in with things that are in the Sonic x Shadow Generations game, such as Gerald's obsession with Maria and the flower scene between Shadow and Maria. If that game was touched by bad employees, was badly botched, and had inaccuracies beyond comprehension, then it makes sense why this one does too (which makes it bad in it's own way).

Sonic strangely was able to convince Shadow and Shadow to Sonic, of working together out of nowhere. They were fighting and Shadow was trying to steer Sonic in the right direction despite things, which was nice and interesting, but the talk between them seemed so out of place or strangely paced.

If we talk about accuracy to the games, Shadow wasn't the one to fall to earth in the movie like he did in the games, Sonic was. Shadow was shown to be better than Sonic in keeping the Super power.

Tails' sudden inclusion to be better or more useful is strange since there was no buildup for it since the second movie. He was a coward and bad at doing things, he even badly messed up in the second movie much like in this one, and suddenly, without explanation, he was more useful or capable. Though it's not bad he is, there being no explanation is the issue.

Despite Shadow's sacrifice, and seeming to be dead, Sonic didn't care about his actions or it didn't impact him a lot like it did in the games. Instead, it felt shallow, and in the credit scenes, that was made even more clear as he acted the same without seeming to learn anything from the whole experience.

Since Ivo and Gerald are dead, the ending credits for one of the scenes makes no sense. Who made them then? Who would control them? And it can't be Stone because it showed that he had a change of heart too after seeing Ivo's brave sacrifice to do the right thing. So the inclusion of that ending credits scene at all is very out of place and makes no sense. You can tell it was just shoved in there for an agenda by employees who are very bias for who showed up. They stated this biasness of theirs for a long time, even before the movie released to the public. And yet again, it is an example of listening to toxic fan demand and trying to force things to work despite it not.

Shadow even knowing how to fight and being more powerful than Sonic and Knuckles comes out of nowhere since he wasn't created to be the Ultimate Lifeform. He is just a being from another part of the universe and suddenly knows how to fight or use powers others can't. It's also missing the iconic Chaos Control Shadow can use. Instead, he just teleports around without a reason as to how he can. There's also no explanation as to why he can use Rocket Shoes as a creature that isn't artificial. Who gave it to him and why did they? What made them think he could use them like rocket shoes to skate? It also doesn't explain his limiters. Why can he use these things or do these things like game Shadow despite him being a natural creature? And since he isn't artificial, a big chunk of Shadow's meaning as a character is lost. One of his main messages is supposed to be that despite being artificial, he has a heart and can care for others, just like a natural person. That is lost in this movie and ruins a lot of the aspect of Shadow's kindness being endearing. Originally being a cure and as an Ultimate Weapon is changed and it doesn't show that Gerald was smart in genetics as well like in the game. Shadow's so different and so much of his original concept is gone that it even makes you question why Shadow Generations was created the way it was to introduce Shadow's story again because nothing from his original story was kept. Therefore, it doesn't really tie in with each other, which is strange despite the both of them supposed to be tied in with each other. Why are so many things the opposite? Why were so many things changed to something completely different that basically almost everything wasn't kept at all despite him being based off of game Shadow? It's strange.

If anything, I think this movie could have been made much better and if it was possible to redo it, I think they should by taking out a lot of things and by making it make more sense, even in a story aspect. Listening to fan demand never ended well, just like it didn't with Sonic Frontiers' 3rd update. It was a mess, controls were horrible, the idea of things were lazy (Tails just threw a wrench) and horrible, things were made unnecessarily hard despite games being meant to be played by anyone and the story was a mess as well since agendas were shoved. But just because they want momentary artificial clout and attention, these minor amount of fans are listened to and end up ruining something that could have been miles better. What's worse is that these minor fans are not even true fans like they think they are, they are just loud. The majority of them will bully those who don't agree with them, employees included, and don't even pay for a majority of things. Things they ask for are cringy, edgy, don't make money, don't make sense, aren't interesting and will further make the series lose money, just like the previous two years before this year. What they asked for, was a disappointment and didn't sell well. What they ask for, doesn't make money, and they need to wake up and realize that already because the more they ask for these things selfishly, the more the series will plummet into the red numbers.

And that's not supposed to be the case. Employees are not supposed to listen to fan demand. In fact, it's against the company rules. So them doing that here more than once, it goes to show you what employees with what work ethics are working on these projects. And if they listen to the fans instead of the company, is that really an employee you want to say is a good employee? Even if what they're doing is bad, makes no sense and helps ruin the series/profits?

If the movie universe was going to portray things so differently, then they shouldn't have claimed that they were going to make it accurate in any shape or form. It's understandable that with a different universe, things will be different, but they lied by trying to say that it is anywhere accurate (even claiming that Keanu did research into Shadow's character to make him accurate), which is bad. You don't lie to your customers who actually pay for things, which aren't the ones they listened to since they listened to fans who are brats, who threaten the companies and don't even pay for the series in general (while demanding for as much free content as possible for their selfish desires).

My takeaway? It's better if you go play Sonic Adventure 2 instead of watching this movie in order to get a better story and message than the wreck this movie became. There are games that are even miles better than what this movie has become, and that's because those didn't listen to fan demand from fans that don't know what's good, don't know how the job works, aren't story makers and who are selfish in just wanting to see something for selfish reasons despite it making no sense. If you really look deep into the movie, realize what group of employees touched or tainted it, and notice how it went, it is obvious that there is biasness in this movie that goes exactly as how a certain group of fans who hate one ship and prefer another character/ship wanted and were listened to immensely. In that case, can you really take this movie as something good or as the company wants? Or is it more that like Sonic x Shadow Generations, certain employees put their influence in things and did it without permission, much like in the game mentioned (such as having the English dialogue different than the Japanese dialogue)? Too many things make no sense and follow fan demand despite it not being good. The most memorable moment was Sonic and Shadow working together as Super, but everything leading up to it was shallow or made no sense. Even the one shown at the end being shown despite all the marketing showing Sonic and Shadow this whole year, just to get Shadow replaced despite Sonic and Shadow being the top sellers for the series and having merchandise for them flying off the shelves, makes no sense since things for Sonic and Shadow are hot and it works on a profitable front. So replacing Shadow with a character that has been proven to not make money and someone who no one wants to see but a small minority, should reek of corruption, just like in previous projects that were changed for just that character or focused on just this non-profitable character. And it's because of this corruption that is so obvious to see that it should be clear why this movie makes no sense on so many fronts and has fan demand, which in turn, made the movie horrible in story telling and depth. It makes no sense to build up hype for a character, only to exclude him when he is making a lot of money and when he was introduced again for the purpose of including him more into the series. That's not how marketing works, companies wouldn't do that to customers that are paying a lot and were promised more content of what they are paying for, so that further shows corruption of just wanting to include things for an agenda.

In fact, there are proof that show of this corruption from a certain employee who has been influencing things in a bias manner for the character that showed up in the credits despite it not making sense. She even hinted at how she was going to strive to force things to focus on that character despite claiming that previous years already focused on her. And it is in those previous years, that character made the company go into the red, was a disappointment and made sluggish sales. Yet despite that and despite logic/reasoning, the character was brought back for no logical reason and due to selfish, petty and bias reasons. This employee even gloats about it on her Instagram by stating that the ones she works with to ruin the series are "the best." You can listen to the evidences here:

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And she states this despite the disaster the movie became as just explained above, and also even brings attention to an interview where it was admitted that they constantly changed things on a whim or to how they wanted it to be like. They didn't stop that from happening, and it explains why so many things not only make no sense, but also fulfill fan demand to a high degree. And because they believe that as a "#1 movie" they got away with these horrible story changes or shoved in demands, she decides to gloat about it as if they have done a good thing when this movie could have been miles better if they didn't tear it apart for their own selfish desires. And this is all done despite seeing the success of Sonic and Shadow together in not only popularity, but also in sales. She and those she works with don't even do their job, they sabotage the company on purpose, they ruin marketing, they ignore the positivity for the opposing side of their selfish desires (they ignore the positivity Sonic and Shadow have and only pay attention to those who demand or praise for what they personally like despite it not making money or it being widely disliked; they purposely have confirmation bias and gloat about it) and are purposely making the company lose money just because of petty selfish reasons.

They even put down the appearance for another character than Sonic and Shadow, like Silver, that was also demanded for by making excuses that he has almost nothing to make a year for him. Yet they picked a character that has absolutely no backstory compared to Silver, is uninteresting and already proved to not be popular, not make money and not be a character the general people want to see more about.

Though there are some things that are good from this movie, such as Sonic being the one to talk to Shadow in order for them to team up and save the world, a majority of the things feel shallow, out of place and ill paced.

[tomyo]

Engaging with Sonic 06 on its terms.

Everyone these days is making a "Let's reexamine Sonic 06" that it feels cliche to add my take into the mix but I get to be the hipster that says I've loved this game before it was cool to. I came into the Sonic fandom in 2007, my first Sonic game was Secret Rings, and in 2012, I convinced a bunch of sweaty gamers to buy me the game and play it for me (and then I did it again with my best friend and again with another friend). If you heard me at the time, you would probably hear the same points several times over; "The music is good, The cutscenes are gorgeous when held up next to their contemporaries, and there is the cooking but under baked locations that shows this game could have been gorgeous." Today I want to explore that through what I think was the zeitgeist at the time and what each of the narratives is meant to show.

So let's go!

(heyyy so Tumblr glitched as I was writing the wrap up and I lost all the stuff I wrote for shadow and Elise but I have work in 5 hours so fuck me. I cannot explain how losing two hours of talking about Elise physically hurt. Also accidentally hit post.)

The Conceptualization

I t killhink the first thing to realize is how Square Enix almost certainly became the blueprint for the 2000s. Unbelievable realistic fmv graphics that can still hold up to this day, gorgeously rendered cutscenes with a particular use of lighting, and complex but a little dramatic stories for both their characters and world. I think there's quite a few franchises you can look at and point to how they were trying to immitate the SQ success formula and I think Sonic 06 was one of these culminations. Sega went through this huge leap in FMV quality when you think about how Sonic Adventure and Shadow (2005) have 6 years of difference. Sonic was trying to figure out how to grow up with his audience and to answer that Sega looked to what was capturing the attention of their older teen audience.

For what it's worth, I can see how they were trying to make a very contained narrative; It's alluded to that Soliana is an island so my take away is the normal Sonic group (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Amy) were on a vacation visit for the big festival. An Important aspect I've tried to emphasize about the world of Sonic before is they're teenagers. Somewhere there is some cognitive dissonance within the fandom on that; blame the comic, the voice actors sounding too old, or the lack of human appearances but I do think it helps when you take a moment to imagine the cast as teenagers interacting in Shibuya (take anime like Air Gear or Supergals into mind) or on a comedic beach episode adventure. A lot of the aspects of teenagehood are still present in their attitudes. Possibly the issue comes from expecting mature stories to use adult like characters but we often forget that younger people still deal with these nuanced situations, even ones like Tidus and Yuna.

Sonic's Story; The World's Every Step Meets the Rest

To me the most important element of Sonic 06 is the song His World. I've had arguments with other fans who are more connected to Adventure era music over the representation of Sonic and I think it is fair to say "Sonic means something completely different to me." So let me explain what His World invokes to me; Sonic is not the sole savior of the world but he is the one that moves others to do good for the sake of doing it. If it's not reading well look at a character like Deku from MHA, his hero quality is defined by an instictual need to help someone who needs it. Why does Sonic fight Eggman? If you go back to his conception, its about Eggman's corruption of nature. Technology isn't inherently bad but to use it to enslave others is. Sonic's whole goal is to save his less anthro friends. But I would say the idea that these animals are someone like Tails is never really established, they are simple people that need saving. Fast forward to the Adventure era and Sonic simply fights Chaos because it's causing danger to the city he's in at the moment. It wasn't really till 2 where there's a more self interested reason he *starts* the adventure. What is also taught to use in the 15 years leading up to Sonic 06 is that other's gravitate towards him; Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Shadow, Cream, and so forth come into the orbit of his story and are not only effected by him but by the connections to each other found through him. It isn't Sonic who really awakens Shadow's true purpose but Amy and Rouge, who herself is effected by Knuckles. There is crossover into each other's lives and stories that ultimately leads to winning over a pessimistic future. "In his world, the world's every step meets the rest." It's a line that expresses an intrinsic connection we all have to each other, no one person walks alone and we are all the sum of our relationship to others; something we will eventually get to with Elise. As for why Sonic saves her is pretty simple; Sonic was on vacation and saw she was in trouble. "No reason." There was no reason she was decided to be helped aside from she needed it and that's all that really matters.

So let's do some lyric breakdown while I'm here; in general the first section of his world is building up the image of Sonic as a carefree dude, someone who's fast and in your face ready to challenge you (athletically or ideologically) that will ultimately bring out the better than you (If you wanna test him best bring your best). "In his world where life is strong." Life of those in the world of Sonic's is important, it is not physically strong but spiritually strong, important. "In his world life's an open book." The world around him is engaging and another exciting adventure is always around the corner because of it. "In his world where one is all." Everyone has value and therefore Sonic protects everyone like they're his friend because no one person is lesser. "In his world, never fear the fall." This can have two meanings, never fear the fall because he will be there to catch you as well as don't fear it because it's important to move with conviction and fearlessness. "In his world, where compromise does not exist." To have a lesser world where there are people cannot be happy is not something he will allow and Sonic will always strive for a better world. "In his world, the world's every step meets the rest." As stated before, everyone crosses each other's paths. A tile on a stone streets will have the footsteps of many people on it. The world will always exist because of the collective known as life and each living being holds its own importance to be valued. But equally each footprint meets because they follow his path; his friends are motivated by him to change the world as well as they were changed by him. The second bridge is about building up his accomplishments; "Coming out to win a ten out of ten", "Intergalactic Continental Champ, Running Things". But they also express Sonic as a do gooder for freedom; "Spikes up his Liberty"(Also a reference to the punk hairstyle Liberty Spike and suggests a punk ideology to Sonic), "Hyperactive instrumental at pulling strings", "Breaking down doors never following". But some lines that important into the way Sonic is treating Elise is this; "Cause the pressures of this world, the can take their toll. And it's tough to get away when they take their hold. The only way to break free is to break the mold." I've seen a few complaints for Sonic telling Elise to simply smile, but His World reenforces what Sonic is trying to express is to reject complacency in a world where you've accepted less for yourself as well. The world can't change if you don't change and "Smile" is shorthand for accept happiness right now rather than be sad over the future not here yet. To cry over the future is to accept that you cannot create a most optimistic one.

The second chorus is the same but with new call in the background; "Gotta make your own way!" You have to determine your own life for yourself (as opposed to simply let the role of a princess dictate it). "Life is just a game you play!" While it's cheesy given the context of being video game music, the point stands that to win in a video game is nominally made by your choices is, to choose it to move forward for yourself. "Notice that we're here to stay!" Sonic (and his friends) are promising that they will always support you (Elise in this case). You do not have to battle the world on your own. Now His World is used intensely throughout the game and has a ridiculous amount of variations to it including fully different lyrics. This theme that Sonic believes in the importantance of the individual coarses through the game's story and while I won't go into the Crush 40 version right now, I do want to note the extra lines in the Zebra head version; "When you leap without a net you'll find, it won't be there all the time. So watch your step don't fall." Sonic is that safety net, he's there to help you take that leap but there is a point where you should leap without relying on that net to be there and leap expecting it not to be there (true independence).

As I've been saying, that is the Sonic I know that was presented through me as I grew up in the 7th gen console era; A person who saves people for no reason other than to save them, physically and emotionally. Jason Griffith will always be my Sonic because I like how his performance notes elements of vulnerability in his confidence. I know that warble he does is somewhat memetic to a lot of people but to me it presented an element of relatability for the lives he touches. To be clear for what I'm about to say, I am a Dreamcast hyper fan but the Adventure Era was a little insular with its cast, often being tied to just several combat ready characters rather than involving itself with civilians. The dark age of Sonic though had a large presence of that; Elise, Sahara, Merlina, Chip. While yes all these characters ultimately have extreme importance to their worlds, they're a lot less go getter and in need of help from Sonic at the start of the story. Sonic is not meant to grow but mentor them into being the ones who grow, portraying him as a caretaker and empathetic. It's not to say these weren't present traits before but his 90s image was attitude while his Dreamcast one was cocky; he's a teen of course so it's a natural element of him. But the Dark Age Sonic started to grow up emotionally as his stories got more involved to which a softer personality greatly conflicted with the post 9/11 Americana machismo, softer characters were not a welcome to a casual audience that was shifting more towards grittier stories that were grabbing at a more immature adult world. It's no wonder then that 2010s Sonic tried to back pedal hard and gave him an almost frat boy like personality at his new voice generation start. With Sonic Frontiers, I'm happy the tides changed back into a more emotionally subtle sonic.

Also this yapping and I haven't even really talked about the Sonic's Story; first off it's definitely unfortunate because while I think most can fill in the blanks, even the narrative of Sonic 06 got rushed. It does feel like there were points there was supposed to be more downtime with Elise, a slow building familiarity from her initial formality. Elise in her own way might be a bit foreign to Sonic, there's an aspect of moroseness to her in how calm she often is a the start. I'm trying to do my own section on Elise so I want to save it for later but I think in some ways it was meant to trouble Sonic how restrictive she was emotionally; a little too unbothered with her own safety while taking responsibility for anyone else's.

Sonic's Story really is Else's Story, Sonic's major purpose is trying to give her a normalcy that she denies herself. He is trying to be a companion to someone he sees struggling with constant fear for a nation ultimately become the devoted knight as the goal becomes more murky the more outsiders come into play.

Something I think was very intentional is how involved Sonic's cavalcade of friends are to the narrative (often a big sore point of this age ironically). Elise is extremely solitary but Sonic's friends are integral to his success and often the previously built bonds play an important role into each of the main 3 narratives. Within each, there's particularly a female character that expresses a devotion that effects the story's MC. Sonic with Elise with a little bit of Amy, Shadow and Rouge, and Silver with Amy and Blaze. For Sonic, it's the fact Elise is someone he's trying to convince into saving herself. Give a man a fish vs. eating a fish. Ultimately thought their bond is a catalyst for the calamity Elise fears; a divine irony.

Shadow's Story; If the World Chooses to Become My Enemy

The most important line to me in the entirety of the game is the one from Rouge; "Even if everyone in the world with be against you, know that I'll always remain by your side."

Shadow's Story presents him as now a very competent agent for the same organization that plans to have him one day contained, the greater tragedy is by making one of his own friends do it and the same friend who would wait 1000 years so he could save him. It's not Omega's fault as he was likely being controlled to do it but one could read into how determined he attacks Mephilis as an expression of anger knowing the results.

Shadow often keeps aloof but through actions you can often see his connections built to others. He's familiar enough to tinker with Omega and will keep helping Rouge acting like it's a reluctant choice. I'm particular, I like the dynamic of those two the most in this game as they have a lot of history. In adventure 2, it's a major character moment where he saves Rouge as she was becoming at peace with Death.

Silver's Story; And I Might Know of The Future, But You Still Control the Past.

Silver has only known a world of conflict, he knows it was started by Iblis but not much else. As a 14 year old who seems to be charge in keep Iblis at bay, he's a bit naive in his actions. When Mephilis provides a solution, he jumps on it as the right answer. What he doesn't expect is to run into Amy.

Now before we talk about Amy, let's talk about Blaze. I *think* this is Blaze's origin story. While I haven't gotten a chance to play through the Rush series, her character seems a bit less world wise; she's very hands off and doesn't engage with morality much. During the end of Silver's story, she tells him to send her to another universe. Ultimately I believe the implications are that this is how she became a princess in another dimension and Iblis is the source of her flame powers (and prior she was particularly just in tune with sensing his presence). But where she would be his assumed mentor, her character falls flatter than I remember with the most major thing is incepting the idea into Silver that the chaos emerald turns your thoughts into reality.

Amy on the other hand is the one who effects Silver morally. It's dark out, she mistakes him for the wrong guy, but he is in need of help and she knows her guy is the best option. Amy gets a lot of shit (many of you might know I am a die hard Amy stan) but she's one of the people who takes most to heart Sonic's message. When she runs into Elise, she picks up on the situation she's in quickly and doesn't hesitate in getting her out of there. Often when there is an antagonist in the story, she's the one able to emotionally connect with them; Gamma, Shadow, Emeral, and now Silver. She's pushy but it's because of that that Silver even gets sidetracked off his mission which he needs. Without realizing it, Amy is giving him the chance to question what he is doing. Amy is shattered to realize Silver's goal was to kill Sonic. Again I think we are supposed to infer that they've developed a pretty decent friendship at this point and why it was Amy chosen to be this role is likely to how similar they are; close in age, trusting of others, a bit dramatic and a little naive. To Amy, Sonic will always be the one looking to save others and could not do wrong but To Silver, his morality did not change that he would curse the world. "If I had to chose between the world and Sonic, I would choose Sonic!" Yes on some level this is an expression of her love for him but I think it goes further than that; Sonic as I've said is this beacon of good that makes others do good in turn and to loose or turn against that is never something she would allow. It feels parallel to Rouge's statement to Shadow, that against the world she would still choose him.

This shakes Silver into a contemplative state; he's been only viewing this from a greater good stance and even after talking to Blaze, he still seems a little more restrained and in his head than before. It's only Mephilis that puts him back on the path.

The other parallel we see a lot of with Silver is the mentor role both Mephilis and Shadow take on; Mephilis is a literal devil on one shoulder and Shadow isn't quite an angel but he does lead Silver on the right path. In a way, the mission almost feels cult like, Silver questioning the reasoning is often shot down for the phrase "Do it or life is bad." And we are seeing essentially various characters deprogram him as he slowly starts connecting pieces to a different solution. I don't think Sonic Team was literally meaning to parallel cult like behavior but rather it's a side effect of the "parenting" Silver is getting. Shadow does not tell Silver what to do, he moreso gives Silver the means to learn for himself. Initially just fighting, Silver mimicks chaos control having learned from Mephilis transporting him, Blaze's words, and Shadow's techniques. Rather than just insist to Silver what the truth is, he tells him to seek answers for himself.

Silver's character often gets a lot of misrepresentation himself; out of all the characters, he is the most to understand what is going on. He discovers time travel chaos control through example, learns the way to seal Iblis, and most importantly learns that the trigger is because Elise has cried. Silver give Elise the blue emerald understanding three things; 1. The princess has experienced and will experience plenty hardship leading to her death and the flames of disaster 2. The chaos emeralds manifest the user's desires 3. All 7 give a miracle. Silver finally looks to Elise and sees someone like him and he wants that girl to be able to wish for something.

So yeah, we weren't gonna not analyze Dreams of an Absolution. The song is possibly the most strongly literal as it tells the story of Silver. "And Every night I lay away and find no conclusion, and every night I dream of an Absolution." A preadventure Silver wanting an end to the torment of Iblis. "In the night light do you see what you dream? All your troubles, are they all what they seem? Look around you then you may realize, All the preachers, all with their lies." Silver believes Sonic to be the source of all his issues but he's being fooled by the preacher (Mephilis). "And I might know of our future but then you still control the past. Only you know if you'll be together, only you know if we should last." Silver lives in oblivion but Sonic and Elise control that fate. Their choice in being together directly affects the lives of the future. "In the night light do you still feel your pain. For the valor you waited never came?" Silver keeps missing his chance and then Amy completely stops him. "If you were able, would you go change the past? To mend a faux pas with one last chance" Silver questions if this goal is necessary. "In the night light do you see what you dream, all your triumph and all you'll ever be?" Silver is defined by his identity as the defender from Iblis. "Look around you then you may realize, happiness lies trapped in misery." This line can be applied multiple ways; Silver realizing how Elise's own happiness is tied with Sonic which causes her misery, how possibly there was happiness in the future despite the misery, how you can find good moments during bad times. "And who knows what of our future, We can all try to change the past." This might be more related to last story, Silver in the end chose not to change the past and now that the flames still got released through all of time, he is still realizing there is room to work towards a better future in the worst of times. "Cause every night I will save your life, and every night I will be with you. Cause every night I will make it right, and every night I will come to you. But every night it just stay the same and I dream of an Absolution." Silver will always play the hero and is always willing to save others but he burns for a finality of the situation. "And you'll see, what you'll be, and you'll see, all you can be." This can refer to believing in himself or believing in Elise as she has become more self assured in her goals. "And every night, I will dream, and you'll see. Yeah, this is my dream!" Silver finally achieved the catharsis of the end of Iblis.

A persisting theme in Sonic 06 is the longing to reunite with another person. Sonic and Elise keep being separated and brought together, Elise's father wants to gain the power to return to his late wife, Omega waits 1000 years to save Shadow in the future, Amy is searching for Sonic, and Silver is eternally separated from Blaze. Then there is Solaris, a powerful diety that transcends time who is split into two pieces, a distortion of the original. Mephilis's motivation naturally puts him in opposition with the cast. He cannot rejoin with Iblis without breaking the seal (Elise). While he is stereotypical evil, it can also be argued it's a divine punishment.

Elise's Story; If You Have Time to Worry, Then Run

Last story; Could You Stay Forever More?

While I was not raised religious, the eternal flames still brings to mind ideas like the presence of god, the Oil that burned for 8 days (perseverance), and the Phoenix that cannot be killed. There is a spirituality to Soliana and even carries into Elise's design with the angelic motif of feathers (if you want to go with the Phoenix concept, her hair is flame red too). It's never fully conceptualized but there's a power she holds, a sixth sense for the presence of others and a protecting aura in some levels. At face value it can represent how she is a vessel for a god. Even the chaos emeralds have had a slight lore revision as they now are able to manifest strong desires and wishes. It's also just a Dragon Ball reference. But all the changes build up to the theme of faith and belief. It has a resemblance to Christianity (Really Judaism) but I see it more related to a faith in others, y'know that whole "His World" segment. It's kind of the worship of your connection to another, a willingness to condemn everything in the name of the one who matters most to you. It's the declaration Amy makes, Rouge makes, Blaze's sacrifice, and pretty much the same for Mephilis to Iblis (a literal version of the soulmate myth).

And then there Elise who at the end makes the same declaration. For the others (minus Mephilis) there's this sense in faith that their respective hedgehog will be the answer for a better tomorrow but in this case, Elise wants to reject salvation. I don't want to do the full breakdown for Elise's theme, the song for last story, at risk of messing the flow up but there are a few lyrics I want to bring attention to: "You taught me that life can be revived" which is both very literal to Elise wishing Sonic back to life but also to how he gave her the chance to feel alive after she lost everything. "If you'll be by my side, the world will be a better place.." The idea that anything can be overcome with the person who is special to you. Overall the song focuses on that theme of longing to stay with someone who gives you strength knowing that they will likely be far away from you soon and coping through that concept. The loss of Sonic is also the loss of her own growth throughout the story even if it possibly means she never had to go through the loss that caused the need in the first place. For the final time she is reminded; "Just Smile". A message to preservere through the heartache (if you are reading this before I can add restore Elise's section this will be so confusing). With blowing out the candle Elise undoes her father's sin, the rejection of loss, through the acceptance of her own.

[thg-rcg-simps]

Archie Sonic comics Classics Miniseries

So, it's official now, I don't have a life. Well, I don't have one anyways, might as well read all Sonic comics.

Since I didn't had acess to said comics before and was massivley overwhelmed by the timeline, I put it off for quite a while. But thanks to this lovely person and the whole Archie order I found on the page, I just started. And because I like to write, I plan to review the whole mess of a story compacted (or less compacted) here.

So have fun, this will be long ^^

(This will contail spoilers, of course, photos of which none are mine, please also be aware that my knowledge of the series is limited to some vague things and will add up as I go. You can also just scroll down for funny panels)

In very short, in the 4 issues long Miniseries, that came out 1993, you have the Freedom Fighters (aka the good guys) and Dr. Robotnik and his Badkins (aka the bad guys, duh). Generally speaking, it doesn't explode with lore or plot, but it's the introduction to the mainline series of Sonic comics made by Archie. It also follows a rather simple pattern (Robotnik is evil, Sonic does something, Sonic wins).

It's also important to note that the comics are connected with the cartoon, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehoge. Which is why the comics look how they do. I don't particularly know why Sega was like "Oh yeah, those characters look excatly like our games", but for the most part, and the new characters, I could get used to it. Who I can't get used too however, is Tails. And it's not even the art style, I could get used to that, but the colour is just so off.

And while we are at quastianable colour choices, I can't not mention this here.

(Yes Sonic's middle name is apperently Maurice, which is kinda canon because Sega put their label on it. We will however ignore this detail for now. But don't forget it, it will get important later)

Sally, beside Sonic, is one of the most memorable and important characters in the series. Her father is the King, making her a princess, that was kidnaped and robotonised, just like Chuck, Sonic's uncle, by Robotnik. Which is how Sonic and Sally meet and bond in the first place. Their relationship is always between liking eachother and bikering/fighting. Which fits the theme of the comics, at least for now. But even when the tone get's darker, their relationship doesn't improve much.

And I don't really care if Sally is blonde or brunette, however I do care if her fur changes colour from orangey beige to peachy pink. Why the sudden change?? Did you had a really traumatic breakup and convinently found a Manic Panic dye in Knothole??

(See, I didn't lie when I said they have a "I like them, but also let's biker" type of relationship. And so far I rather like it)

In this universe we have magical emeralds as well. (Just like we have magical rings made by Chuck) They aren't called Chaos Emeralds tho, they are rather just 4 green emerald balls placed on King's Acorn's crown. Which Sally and the Freedom Fighters are in possession off. It's pretty important that it stays that way, since the emeralds are very powerful and it would be very bad if Robotnik would come to them. But of course that charming doctor attempts to steal it and scatter it around Mobius, so Sonic (and Tails) have to search for them Inuyasha style for the whole issue. They are succsesfull of course.

If you noticed, Sallys last name is Acorn and I always thought she was a Squirrel/Chipmunk. And as much as I know this is also what she is suppose to be. In the Miniseries it is mentioned she is a fox or so? I didn't really understand that part, and maybe Sally didn't either. Maybe that's why she dyed her fur, she had a classical life crissis over what type of anthropological animal she's supposed to be.

It's also important to say, in my opinion, that the Dr. Ivo Robotnik we see in the comics is very very diffrent from the Robotnik we know and love today. This version of himself is very sucessful in being the pure evil. You can practically feel how bad he is towards everyone and anyone around him. I would say he's a typical cartoon villain but I could argue that he's even worse than them. The comics till now do a wonderful job on making me hate him.

All together, I would rate this Miniseries 7.5/10, it's fun, it's lighthearted and it's absolutley perfect when you want to shut off your brain. I really like it, and I can see myself coming back to it and the nostalgic feeling it gives me. While I somehow want the weird mess of a story to happen, at the same time I'm okay as it is now, just pointless childlike fun. You also have a ton of 4th wall breaking moments that made me genuinely laugh.

There is diffrence in the paper/print/shading and colouring between the Miniseries and the main comics tho. I personally like the Miniseries way more, since it gives off those classical "comic" vibes, it reminds me a lot of LTB, which were comics of my childhood. And I preffer this over the overly shiny and polished look. This is just a personal prefference tho.

Now to the fun part, panels I found funny that made me giggle and maybe you will too:

There is no moment where I won't find Robotniks inventions and their descriptions not funny. (Also I would like to request a bracelt Two way wrist TV/VCR/AM-FM Cassette/Sega gamegear/CD player/toaster oven XD)

Now I know how comics are made, I do them myself, and some slip ups happen. No biggie. But it's just still so funny. And this is how I feel often. I as well, know that the second picture is supposed to be a quick sketch Tails did underweater (I also need that pen, it's great XD), but it still looks funky enough to include it. (I feel bad for the Badkin there too...)

So we come to the last one for today:

I don't know if it's just me and me being in my non-hetero/queer bubble all the time, I mean I know this is a joke on the word transportation and Sonic (I mean it's litterally a run scale), to find that funny, but it is right? I mean, now all the people saying Sonic is trans can do it! (That's a joke, I don't care as what you headcanon Sonic characters)

To any trans person reading this, you pass, even Sonic says it ^^

With this great revelation I would like to finish for todays review, grab a cookie if you made it till now, we shall meet again ^^

-RikkaCatGirl (Okami Imōto-chan)

(I just want to note that this is the second time I write this text becasue Tumblr crashed and deleted it before I could post it -.-)

[the-sinful-voice-witch]

The Time has come, I shall speak now about my one true pairing, the couple I love the most in Sonic's universe: Knuckles×Rouge

Knouge is a relationship trope that simply works sooooo fucking well!!😖😖 It's fresh juice of the finest quality👌👌, I have seen this kind of relationship a lot: Scrooge x Goldie, Carmelita x Sly, Puss x kitty and of course Batman x Catwoman... 😏😏 (by the way all this couples already kissed, what the fuck are you waiting for SEGA? 😒😒) Is basically the kind of relationship that has losts of banter and tension and honestly they give a lot of material for good juicy stories.

This was the first relationship that could be considered canon in the games regarding having mutual feelings for each other (because at that time Sonic didn't have the relationship with Amy that he has now). When Rouge was introduced in Sonic Adventure 2, she was created to be Knuckles' rival in skills but not only that, she was intended to be also his love interest in a more specific way but in the end they decided to keep things more subtle and not as completely obvious as Amy's display of feelings for Sonic, also she was going to be named Nails the bat, so Nails 💅 and Knuckles 👊 rhymes with Tails but they named her ROUGE which means RED in French a ROMANCE language, red like Knuckles I'm just saying.

SA2 in fact has the very first "romantic" scene between two sonic characters, because absolutely no one will convince me ever that the moment when he saves her and they look into each other's eyes holding hands wasn't a romantic scene, like seriously 😤😏👇

and look what I found, this is an official sonic book from SEGA:

Do we need more proof than this? Ok 👌 let's continue then:

So the best words to describe them are: "Polar opposites attraction" "Pure vs flirtatious" "Honor vs dirty play" "Guardian vs Thief" "Endless banter" "Arguing married couple" And of course: "SEXUAL TENSION" 😂😂 even in the damn soundtrack!! Have you listened to Knuckles theme? "Kick the rock (Wild Canyon)" SEGA approved that song! 😂 Here let me show the best part of the lyrics:

"I gotta chase a bat, uh" "Yeah Rouge she is sexy and smooth, a double cross spy thief that's out for my jewels, uh! I'm feeling her in mysterious ways" Boy... Knuckles suddenly got hit by puberty or something 😂😂 he was unknowingly horny for her already...

"Who could'a did this? That snitch named Rouge! When I catch her I'm gonna get her with these tools" There you are, come here little thief! Think you going to fly and get away quick? Uh, uh! Give up the Emerald or die! I don't love you!! " And now he becomes a tsundere denying feelings nobody asked him if he has 😂 and we all know he wouldn't let her die.

Also the most important thing that makes them absolutely canon is that Sonic ships them, Sonic's shipping mind is indisputable, he did it a few times already: in Sonic Rivals he asks them if they are on a date, in one of Sonic's phone games they start arguing because Knuckles was salty that Rouge was so nice wishing Sonic happy birthday and that she wasn't that nice to him in HIS birthday (jealous much?) and Sonic says to tails that that is true love and then Rouge goes full tsundere denying it 😂😂😂, precious 👌👌.

Let's also mention what happened in sonic X specifically with the original Japanese dub, Rouge just wouldn't stop flirting (+backstabbing let's be honest😛) and knuckles wouldn't stop reacting to it 😂

In this scene ☝ in Japanese she purposely asked him if he was "active" At night too 🤣🤣🤣 she just meant she is active at night because she is a bat... But the way she said that 😆, she was known for making lots of dirty jokes in the Japanese version... Ok but leaving that aside I want to mention only one specific moment because in general the dynamic was the same: she flirts and jokes, he falls for it ect... But this scene was my favorite because this was literally a date.

Don't fight me. THIS WAS A DATE.👇👇

So many things to say about this scene, first the romantic full moon night background, in Japan when someone says the "moon is beautiful tonight" Means "I like/love you", unfortunately none of them said anything like that but with all this is just plain obvious this was a romantic setting, Rouge was trying to get Knuckles to be emotional because she knows he misses Sonic and wanted him to think she is so caring and compassionate and give her jewels 😂 but he ends up being stubborn breaking the mood and accuses her to be the one who misses him making her angry and start a fight but after a while they see Sonic in the sky and Rouge says they look dumb and wonders why were they fighting for in the first place, Knuckles laughs at her messy face and THEN she playfully jumps on him and he says she is tickling him??????? Of course this part is conveniently out of camera and we can only hear whatever the hell they are doing 😂😏 but now think about it... What were they doing? She was on top of him on the floor under the moonlight tickling him.... AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED?? Yeah come on! I don't believe that 😏, we know Rouge doesn't waste time:

Boy that's an ugly ugly comic and speaking of comics, remembering the old Archie comics too... After that dark era where Rouge was a unfairly represented as a villainous cruel bitch 😤🤬 there was a reboot before the IDW reboot and finally my waifu got at least some justice! I just love this particular comic where she shows how she actually respects Knuckles and cares about him, she is someone who never gets attached too much to big responsibilities if that cuts her freedom, she values her freedom (something in common with Sonic) and she wanted Knuckles to have that kind of freedom too:

Look at her being a peacemaker between her boyfriend and brother 😆. Well anyway I hope Ian Flynn gets more freedom eventually because it's clear he is holding back in the current Sonic comics😭😭😭 (even made a joke with the love triangle 😂😂)

Let's give it time... They managed to put some furry lesbians in the comic so anything is possible... I'll just wait forever 🥲🥲🥲🥲

And well we also got some good stuff in Sonic Prime!! 😍😍😍 we finally saw him carrying her bridal style in a angst situation 🤩🤩🤩 for a brief moment and from long distance camera shot but is still something 🥲🥲 just zoom it.

Well, that's it. Enough evidence IT'S CANON. Caso Cerrado😂😂😂

[franticmelody]

Shows up in your inbox with three emojis for the ask game :] 💘🦈📚

Hiiiiii Aiden!;;!;!!!!!!!

💘 - Is it easier to write angst or fluff

Definitely fluff! My fics are mainly comedy and so those nicer moments come more naturally to me. That isn't to say I don't enjoy angst though. It can be hard to find and find a place for an issue or problem that I think really inspires me to write but when I find that conflict within myself, getting it onto the page is so fun and so satisfying and is usually something I'm really proud of. But I can't just pull it out of nowhere like with comedy and happy moments. It really has to be founded in my real life experiences and things that rile ME up, yknow?

🦈 - What is the hardest character to write

FUCK! uh... It was Shadow, originally! Finding his voice was pretty tough. But now that I've settled into it I think it comes as naturally as most other characters. What is hard, unfortunately, is finding situations to focus on Tails and Amy. Ironic since the two most recent Together episodes are focused on Amy and Tails respectively, but I find that in stories focused around other characters, they show up very often, being important to the core cast of Sonic characters, but in those scenarios, I often find that I don't give them much to do! Which is totally a me problem. I love both of those characters and want them to have as much time to shine as anyone else! Which is WHY I've given them both fully fleshed out and defined stories very recently. And there's more to come for both- Tails in the short term, and Amy in the long term!

📚 - Any fanfics or fanfic writers to recommend

OH BOY DO I - Here's a list!

Reaching New Heights: A Tails Adventure - RegulatedStrawberry

I would be a fool not to mention this. Strawb is of course my beta reader but she's a damn good writer too!!! This fic is about Tails going off on his own after Sonic Frontiers, but is SO much more than just that. So if you love Tails, this I the fic for you, and if you love everyone else, this is also the fic for you!

Unfamiliar - bimboamyrose

This is a fic that has 100% inspired me and the stories that I am going to write in season 2 of Sonic Together. Metal Sonic is injured in a fight with Team Sonic, and Amy brings him home to recover. They grow a bond as Metal adjusts to life outside of being a battle robot. This fic is SO GOOD!!!!

Memories and the Space Between - CatDragron

Okay yes this is YOUR fic. But it's so damn good!!! This is the only fic not written by me that I've dubbed! It's amazing! So dramatic and explores Sonic and Shadows relationship in a totally unique and amazing way. So excited for this to continue!

I would also recommend reading shriekinggeek, Mintenby, and eccentricglimpse's fics! They're amazing! I wish I had enough writing stamina to give in depth essays on all fics and writers I've mentioned here. Some absolutely stunning stuff.

Thanks Aiden hehehehebe