#i only ever played sonic rush
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Guys I never post about Sonic and maybe never will after this but I watched Sonic 3 yesterday and I need to talk about it
Guys. I never really was into Sonic as a kid, or even now. Like I like it but I've never been super into it
I remember watching Sonic 1 in theaters opening day, 2/14/2020, right before quarantine and thinking it was pretty good
And I do have to admit that I never watched Sonic 2 (I will be going back to watch it now) but in Sonic 3 in theaters yesterday I was so flabbergasted that my chest hurt
My friends and I couldn't see straight afterwards
We walked out of that theater changed people
(spoilers after break; trespass at your own caution)
Like genuinely, tears welled up in my eyes every single time Maria and Shadow were on screen together. They were children. Laughing. Playing. Joking.
Props to Maria's actor for genuinely making me cry.
Sonic movies are everything good about video games movies.
Were there some dumb jokes? Yes
"Konichi-whaaaa?" Stupid, yes. Funny, kinda.
Did I need a 45 second scene of Robotnik playing his stomach like a bongo? No, it could have gone without.
Did I need Agent Stone seductively holding Eggman's face to shave his head, only for Robotnik to rip off his shirt? Debatable.
But everything was worth it when Shadow realized that Maria was his star, long gone from the sky but shining light on him nonetheless
Everything was worth it when my friends and I got to gasp at every SnapCube reference slipped into the script
Everything was worth it when Metal Sonic and Amy fucking Rose showed up in the end credit scene.
#sonic 3#sonic movie#sonic movie 3#it was literally so good#i nearly cried#or died#who knows#maria robotnik#she's my favorite sonic character#no i never played the game(s) she's in#i only ever played sonic rush#never finished it#sorry#i was poor as a kid#so i didn't get into it as much as i wanted#just like kirby#anyways#props to the creators#the credits were breathtaking#seeing all the hands who went into helping#it was perfect#minecraft better take NOTES#they won't
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A while ago I saw a post that was essentially "Who would win if your latest blorbo got into a fight with your first ever blorbo?"
I dunno, that would be an interesting match up actually.
#wordgirl#wordgirl rhyme#wordgirl villains#wordgirl shitpost#wordgirl meme#I would also tag this as Blaze the Cat but I don't want to attach a Sonic fandom homing beacon to my post#Melon outs herself as a former Sonic fan 😔#Though to be fair it was 2012 and the only games I ever played were Sonic Rush/ Rush Adventure#And the Mario & Sonic Olympic Games DS games#Actually Blaze the Cat inadvertently led to me becoming a Pokémon fan#Because I saw an image on Google comparing her to Espeon#And I was SOOOOO offended and outraged on behalf of the Blorbo#Like WHO IS THIS AND HOW DARE THEY COPY BLAZE 😡😡😡😡😡#...Even though Pokémon Gold and Silver predates Sonic Rush by nearly a decade#I didn't know that at the time ok#Guess who's my favourite Eeveelution now#Like genuinely there is no clear winner in this fight#Fire melts ice but Rhyme is possibly faster and has super strength#i know for a fact that Blaze would demolish Tobey tbh#Literally every boss fight in Sonic Rush is a robot.
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sometimes I think abt how... when one of my close elementary school friends were set to move out of state rlly far, I gave him a bunch of comic books and a dinosaur toy as a parting gift. because I knew I would never be able to see or talk to him again. and I just think... does he still have the books? the dinosaur? does he know I still think about him when I see transformers and toy dinos in the bookstore? idk.
#i know deep down my three friends from elementary school probably don't think abt me. we've been seperate longer then we knew each othef#but man! I think abt them a lot#the little ways they shaped me and my interests. the gifts I gave them. the gifts they gave me and I still have to this day.#AND. ON A SIMILAR TOPIC... MY OLD NEIGHBOR...#the only person in my lite section that shared my interests. she let me play sonic rush adventure on her ds.#she played her oboe for me and some others through her window when she couldn't go outside ☹️#I still have the game cart she let me borrow before she moved away. I could never return it to her in time!#it's supersonic warriors 2. that little cart shaped who I am when it comes to fighting games#aghhh#I AM A MOSIAC OF EVERYONE I'VE EVER LOVED. CHOKING AND THROWING UP. GOODNIGHT
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2024 GOTY Write Up
In 2024 I got a full time job for the first time in four years, and you know what? It turns out you don't get to play as many video games when that happens.
And yet, I persisted. I think there was a common theme among my favorite games this year, and it's that I had to meet many of them on their terms. Yes, some whisked me away from the moment I hit start, but overwhelmingly I found myself really clicking with these titles when I paused, reconsidered how I felt the game wanted me to play, and adjusted my pace to meet their intentions.
This year's write up is a bit rushed, but I got it in just before the buzzer! I hope you'll enjoy. If any of you ever want to talk about these games, you know where to find me.
Before we get started, here are my Honorable Mentions:
Crow Country - If a survivor horror game was also a cozy game that ALSO made you laugh.
Batman: Arkham Origins - A gritty origin story where Batman has an ARC?! And he’s kind of a DICK?! Let’s GOOOO!!!
Sonic x Shadow Generations - It's the best Sonic game ever made. Full stop.
Shenmue - A time capsule of a game with disastrous ambition. Both ahead of its time and utterly wrong in what it assumes everyone wants from an open world experience. I love it. Sea of Theives - The perfect game to enjoy with your morning coffee or evening edible. Relaxing if you want it to be, harrowing if you want it to be.
Now…
My Top 5 Games from 2024
#5 - Astro Bot
The best Nintendo game of the year was made by Team Asobi for the PlayStation 5, and baby it’s Astro Bot. There is delightful imagination and a surprising level of polish covering every pixel of this adventure. In fact, I think it’s surprise that winds up being Astro Bot’s greatest strength. Each main stage introduces a novel mechanic that must be mastered, boss fights feature multiple phases that often turn the literal world on its head, and secret challenge stages leave players with nothing more than their basic move set while demanding a level of mechanical precision that would make Super Meat Boy blush. There is no filler in Astro Bot, only a tangible love for the art, science, history, and joy of video games.
#4 - Dragon's Dogma 2
Like Death Stranding, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game that thrives on friction. Traversing the world is genuinely treacherous and requires careful planning before leaving the (relative) safety of a city or village. Maybe you think you can save some time and resources by spending money on a fast-travel wagon, only for said wagon to be attacked by a gang of goblins… and for that fight with goblins to be interrupted by giant griffin that will pick you up and carry you across the kingdom before you’re able to wrestle out of its talons. When things go wrong on your adventure, and they WILL go wrong, the systems and possibilities spring to life. If you pay attention to your surroundings, though, and listen closely to the many hints the game drops for you, you’ll survive… if only just barely.
#3 - Balatro
I think Balatro is going to be my exercise bike companion for quite some time. This silly game of poker hands and multipliers makes time melt away, almost alarmingly so. I’m actually hesitant to call the game “fun”. “Hypnotic” feels more appropriate. The looping, otherworldly soundtrack, spiraling background, and floating UI elements all seem tailor-made to pull players into a dreamlike trance, and boy oh boy do they succeed.
#2 - UFO 50
Goddamn, what a triumph. UFO 50 contains 50 full-length games that would’ve shared shelves with Super Mario Bros or Dragon Warrior back in the 80s. Just about every prominent genre of that era is represented in this collection, from Shmups to JRPGs. I think my favorite aspect of this game is how it makes you more aware of your own gaming proclivities. Everyone I know who plays this game has a different list of favorites; a different game that “made everything click”. For me, that game was Bushido Ball - a surprisingly complex title where samurai play soccer. Every title only requires the use of 2 buttons, every title has its own “historical lore”, and every title - no matter how obtuse or challenging it seems - is excited for you to uncover its secrets and achieve victory.
#1 - Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 had a well-deserved moment in the spotlight when it first launched. It was a perfect storm of fun that managed to convince players to fully buy into the world of the game and had them gleefully shouting “FOR DEMOCRACY” over and over again. That is an impressive thing to do. I’ll never forget the days when TikTok was filled with “wartime footage” backed by Creedence Clearwater Revival while players urged one another to “join the fight” as if freedom actually depended on it. Then that honeymoon phase passed. But you know what? Helldivers 2 is still my go-to game when I’m looking to have fun with friends within a matter of minutes after sending out the call on discord. The game manages to feed your explosion-fueled power fantasy and SECONDS LATER humiliate you by flinging your worthless corpse halfway across the planet. When I win in Helldivers, it often feels like I barely managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. When I lose in Helldivers, I laugh. Every time.
And now…
My Top 5 Games NOT from 2024
#5 - Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age - Definitive Edition S
I fear JRPGs. I know myself well enough to be wary of most games that consider 10 hours of playtime an introduction. However, I’m currently experiencing a very unique moment in my life wherein I’m leaving my beloved home and venturing out into the larger world for an adventure. Perhaps that’s why the Dragon Quest XI demo called to me in a way it never had before. I’ve enjoyed spending about an hour with it before bed every night, chipping away at it slowly and letting it charm me with its characters and story. Earlier this year I would read chapters of the Dragon Ball manga before bed, now I feel like I’m finally experiencing life inside of one of Akira Toriyama’s worlds. Since I started playing a few weeks ago I’ve put about 13 hours into Dragon Quest and have only just had the full world map revealed to me. Rather than feeling my usual level of intimidation and disinterest, I find myself excited to see where this adventure will take me next.
#4 - Resident Evil 2 (1998)
A few years ago I finally realized that Resident Evil is my favorite long-running video game series, with the RE2 Remake firmly positioned as one of my favorite games of all time. Replaying the original RE2 over a long weekend was a blast of an experience I won’t soon forget. This campy, pixelated puzzle box of a game managed to get a few genuine jump scares out of me and plenty more smiles. The famous ink ribbon save system was so effective at repeatedly forcing me to ask myself “Can I check just one more room? IS the risk worth the reward?!” As I slowly peeled away the mysteries of Raccoon City, I realized the game I held in my hands was a perfectly tuned, mechanical mouse trap (copyright Umbrella Corp).
#3 - Assassin's Creed: Ezio Trilogy
Outside of AC2, I never quite jived with this franchise, but this year I went through my typical phase of simply wanting to exist in a video game world… and Italy called to me. What happened next, I never could have expected. I devoured the Ezio Trilogy. I had forgotten about the days when “open world games” were significantly smaller and simpler, and by god did it make me realize how much I miss those days. Despite presenting a story with more than a few grating characters and a plot that loses the… plot, these three games made me fall in love with Ezio. It isn’t often you get to spend time with a character from the moment they are born to the moment they die. Ezio’s death and his reflections on his legacy brought actual tears to my eyes. The most interesting legacy of all, though, was the one being forged by Ubisoft at the time these titles were originally released. Seeing video game sensibilities evolve over the course of these three games, for better and for worse, was a fascinating experience.
#2 - Red Dead Redemption 2
You know how I said I like existing in video game worlds? This game world is the best. RDR2 was my hunting and fishing simulator for a few weeks, and then I figured I might as well finally try to finish it. I used to hate how slow this game felt, and then I realized the game was begging me, PLEADING me to slow down. Arthur Morgan and his friends are all running out of time, and there is a wonderful moment when the player and Arthur both realize that the time they have left is more valuable than anything else they have ever chased after in the shrinking West. There’s not much else I can think to say about RDR2 other than that it lived up to the hype. I look forward to returning to it as John Marston from time to time for years to come.
#1 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD Remake
I started the year rekindling my love for the WiiU. It’s one of my favorite consoles and there was no better game to bring me back to it than the Twilight Princess HD Remake. I feel like these days there are four types of Zelda games. There are the DS-style games (that nobody likes). There are 2D Zelda games, my favorite of which is Link Between Worlds. There are the two Immersive Sim Zelda games, Breath of the Wild being my favorite of the two. And finally, there are the Puzzle Box 3D Zelda games… and this year Twilight Princess officially dethroned Ocarina of Time as my favorite. Again, this is a game I enjoy simply existing in. It is bursting at the seams with interesting characters, both big and small. I adore the art style and music. I adore the melancholy tone. And (coldest take in the universe) Midna is THE best Zelda companion to ever grace us with her presence. According to my save data, I’d tried Twilight Princess twice in the past and both times I made it to the Water Temple and bailed. Back then, the game just felt like it was trying to be Ocarina. Little did I know that as soon as you emerge victorious from Lake Hylia, the game takes on an entire new personality of its own. And I fucking love it.
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Shadow Generations: Part 2
Part 1. Sonic Masterlist.
Awaking in a blank world, Shadow fluttered his eyes open, taking in the vast nothingness. Rubbing his head, he stood on shaky legs, "What happened? Where am I?"
As though everything was happening all at once, the expansive emptiness Shadow resided in burst to life, well, somewhat. Large, white structures burst through the ground, erupting rocks and dirt into the air. Everything seemed to carry a sense of familiarity about it, something that Shadow couldn't quite put into words.
Looking over to the closet monument, the ebony hedgehog decided that was the best place to look for answers. Once he was close enough, Shadow could vaguely make out the rough edges and twisted metal pieces of the ARK. But it somehow felt empty, like there was no life to it, even if it was just a hunk of floating metal.
I was just on the ARK, how can it appear like this? As a matter of fact, this whole world is one big mystery. Am I the only one here? If so, how do I get out? Perhaps this is the anomaly G.U.N was looking for, I have to find a way back out. No matter what.
As Shadow rushed through each level, he soon realised what this world was: his memories.
The Space Colony: ARK, Speed Highway, his fight with Metal Sonic. Everything that was happening was something from his past. But who could have done all this? That was his only lingering question. Shadow remembered the radio that he had on him, perhaps the signal was still connected to Rouge.
'Hello, Rouge, incoming, Rouge can you hear me?" it was only static coming through, but he persisted, "Hello, Rouge do you hear-"
"AHHHH, HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!" cried out a voice from the distance. Shadow stared at the direction from which it came, huffing, he put away his radio and dashed towards the commotion. There was no point in continuing to contact Rouge, it clearly wasn't working.
As the screaming got louder and louder Shadow picked up his pace, eventually spotting some creatures he recognised chasing someone. He quickly lept into action, kicking Doom's henchmen down within seconds.
Of course, Black Doom is behind this, I should have known. But I could have sworn I had defeated him, so how did he come back?
"Thank you for saving me-" The voice said, it was sweet and delicate, "-Shadow."
The brooding hedgehog looked up, his mind going blank and his mouth wide open. He couldn't believe this, he didn't believe this. It had to be another trick by Doom, she was gone, he saw it happen, there was no way she could be standing here in front of him right now.
"M-Maria?" he nearly whispered out, he was in complete disbelief. Maria's smile widened, she went to approach him until a hand grasped her shoulder, "Be careful, Maria, we don't know if this is truly him or another one of Doom's illusions."
"Professor?" Shadow was truly at a loss for words, if this wasn't real it would be a really sick joke to play on the poor hedgehog. All he ever dreamt of, ever thought about, was seeing them again; his family.
And now here they were in arms reach, yet he couldn't do it, he couldn't push himself to take those extra steps to be beside them again. Knowing they were just here now hurt him tremendously, but perhaps...
"Professor, do you have any theories on how we ended up in this world?" he soon pressed, he tried to appear calm for Maria's sake. Gerald rubbed his chin, deep in thought, his eyes scanned around the void, "I'd say it's a temporal anomaly. Someone or something has trapped us out of time, but that is just my working theory, of course."
Shadow thought about that for a moment, if Black Doom was behind this then maybe that could explain how he came back. Shadow took a glance at Maria and Gerald, "They must be from before the accident on the ARK," he said lowly to himself, "Perhaps I can change their fate if I defeat Black Doom. I will make him pay dearly for everything that I-"
A light presence graced Shadow's shoulder, a pasty white hand gently held him, but the warmth that radiated from it could rival the sun, "Shadow, you've become awfully angry since I last saw you; it's not like you."
"I promise you, Maria, I'm fine. I'll protect you both from what's to come, but you need to trust me."
"Of course, I trust you, Shadow." Maria offered him an ear-to-ear grin, and Gerlald only hummed in agreement, "It begs to assume that if we are here, perhaps other could be around too?"
Maria seemed excited by the idea, "Oh yes, I would love to meet new people, do you think there are more humans like us?"
Shadow could only laugh at that, prompting Maria to look confused, "The only other person I can think of being here is an annoying blue faker." he mumbled, Maria couldn't hear him that well. With a small sigh, Shadow had to drag himself away from the only people he could call family, "Stay safe and stay hidden, I will return to you when I can."
"Shadow, wait!" Maria cried out, he turned to her with wide eyes, "Be careful, please?" Shadow smirked and simply nodded his head, skating off into the distance to find and eliminate Doom.
#shadow the hedgehog#shadow the hedgehog x reader#fan#fandom#fanfiction#fanfic#reader#shadow#sonic x shadow generations#shadow and maria
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Rare But Not So Rare Sonic Moments
Flaws
This may get controversial.
I welcome anyone else’s view point on this topic. If you don’t agree I’m okay with that. Just because I have a different perspective doesn’t make what I think right or wrong. You don’t have to change your mind. Whatever your opinion is, I respect it. Besides, it’s fun to have different views on something we both love. It gives us a way to see different sides of the coin.
Disclaimer: I’m a person who didn’t grow up with this franchise and only recently got into in early 2022. I have no biases towards any version of this character. Making my opinions about his characterizations mixed.
By the way, I’ll only use Sonic games as examples (for the most part) because this analysis would be too long if I talked about other medias.
In short. Most of his flaws do stir into different medias as well. To be honest, Sonic’s other variants aren’t as different as some may think, but that’s my hot take.
Times The Blue Blur Messed Up
Riders: Sonic lunched Amy along with Eggman into the air with his wind abilities. While knowing Amy’s safety would be at risk. Then left her. Which was the reason she was so angry and aggressive afterwards. He didn’t ever apologize either.
06: Exchanged a chaos emerald for Elise even after Tails warned Sonic not to.
Unleashed: Was distracted by taunting Eggman.
Sonic: “Well, this is new. Showing remorse Eggman? If you played nice, I wouldn’t have to break all your toys.”
Then became the Werehog. All because he wanted to boost his ego.
Secret Rings: Shahra used Sonic to collect the world rings for Erazar Djinn. Even though it should’ve been expected because she said, “They use to work together.” Ended up not being true.
Black Night: Was tricked into helping Merlina who wanted to create a world that would last forever.
Lost World: Tails once again tried to warn Mr.Impatient about the conch in Eggman’s hand, but kicked it anyways. Then warned Sonic about another trap, he didn’t listen, ended up getting the fox captured instead.
Frontiers: Accidentally helped free The End despite Knuckles and Sage’s suspensions. If his friends, Eggman, and Sage didn’t help him…..Well, it’s in the villain's name.
Side Note: In Secret Rings, Black night, and Frontiers Sonic was rude at points.
Sonic Sassiness
Sonic Sassiness Part 2
Sonic’s Overall Flaws/Mistakes
Some may be from his general characterizations throughout his history.
Sonic rushes into things without a second thought. (Impulsiveness) Sonic can be too reckless, brash, or not take situations seriously.
He’s impatient. (Which was his core trait since his idle animation in Sonic 1)
He doesn’t listen to his friends warnings. Sonic can be too cocky at the wrong moments. He causes or contributes to world ending consequences. The blue blur can also be too trusting and naive.
Sonic doesn’t worry about his own physical or mental state and internalizes his emotions. He isn’t able to express himself very well. Therefore doesn’t put the right words together when speaking sometimes.
Sonic can be stubborn and a bit of a jerk.
Sage: “You are short tempered and short sided.”
And that’s about it. If I missed anything, feel free to let me know.
My Thoughts
A few of these can be seen as Sonic’s strength and weaknesses. Like his willingness to harm himself if it means to save his friends.
The reason Sonic never learns from his mistakes in the games is because he gets away with them. Which is not a good or bad thing per say. (Besides Sonic Riders. There’s no excuse for that.)
The stories never really given him an arc. But I don’t think Sonic’s a perfect or flawless character. If the examples I’ve shown are evidence of anything.
I’d say he’s static, but not consistently. Most static characters I’ve seen rarely stays static anyways.
I also don’t believe Sonic himself thinks he’s perfect. Sonic probably thinks he doesn’t have to change because he’s so sure he should be able to manage things without issue. Everything does eventually go his way. Why should he change?
I do understand Sonic influences people, but why can’t there be a balance? It’s been done plenty of times with other characters. In books, movies, and tv shows. Animated and live-action.
Movie!Sonic in Sonic 2 inspired both Knuckles and Tails. Helping them better themselves with advice and encouragement. While also going through his own arc of growing up and being responsible.
Tails:“You’ve inspired me. To leave my village. To find you and help you on your mission.”
Despite him learning how to slow down and plan things out, Prime!Sonic also inspires the different variants of his friends. Thorn, Dread, and Nine. Helping them grow into becoming better people.
Even in Unleashed Sonic was at his most mature, but it was only after his cocky attitude got him into trouble. So, yes. Inspirational characters can have flaws.
I’ll just say this
Everyone has their own views on how Sonic should be characterized, drawn, played, voiced, animated, and showcase.
It’s fine if you don’t like a curtain interpretation of a character, but to say the character (Especially if they weren’t very consistent in the first place) isn’t acting like themselves now, it’s really hard to argue what self there is to come back to. Because even in the games there are so many different selves for these characters in their own canon universe. From Classic to Adventure, Unleashed, Colors, and Frontiers. (If that makes any sense)
It’s hard to find one place to be in because Sonic’s been in too many places at once. He shouldn’t be held down to one characterization if he’s already been all over the place from the beginning of his existence.
AKA Sonic’s first two shows ever. TAOSTH and SATAM. In both shows Sonic had flaws as well, but never learned from them. Which means he’s been like this from the start. Like everything else about this franchise, his personality is an ongoing experiment that’ll probably never be solved. And I kind of love that. Even if it can be stressful and has it’s own up’s and down’s
All of these unique stories from the games, comics, tv shows, and movies people grew up with are what made this franchise so popular. This is the main reason I became a Sonic fan. Because I learned so much about characterization from this franchise and how to love the different variations of its characters. Finding an appreciation for each of them.
Conclusion
Everyone’s opinions are valid at the end of the day. At least we all have a version of this character we can love and appreciate. Whether you agree or not I’m grateful you’ve made it all the way to the end. You’re a trooper!
Stay Creative! 💜
#sonic the hedgehog#amy rose#tails the fox#knuckles the echidna#dr eggman#sage robotnik#thorn rose#knuckles the dread#nine the fox#sonic riders#sonic 06#sonic unleashed#sonic and the secret rings#sonic and the black knight#sonic lost world#sonic frontiers#sonic x#sonic boom#sonic idw#archie sonic#sonic movie 2#sonic prime#the adventures of sonic the hedgehog#sonic satam#the murder of sonic the hedgehog#character analysis#I really like talking about this stuff#I know this character means different things to different people and wanted to provide my own take#Everyone’s opinions are valid#sth
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Some random headcanons about Chaos Energy (some may apply to my fic):
Chaos runs through every organic thing in Sonic's world. It exists at the molecular level, and it's unique to the planet. (So while Blaze's dimension has similar energy, it's not exactly the same. She must return to her world or bring the Sol Emeralds with her to recharge her energy.) This is why Eggman used flickies to power his machines before finding ways to tap into natural Chaos + creating his own artificial kind on a grand scale.
While it is in every creature, some can tap into it better than others. This manifests in the different powers you see in the series, but this only applies to Mobians specifically. Amy's hammer, Knuckles' strength, Tails' flight, etc. is in fact using Chaos energy as a result of this, but it's not on as tangible of a level as Shadow and Silver's abilities.
You can use it up like a gauge of magic basically. Your stamina, abilities, and experience will change how much you use in combat situations.
Some people who are tuned with Chaos will be able to sense the Chaos energy of others, as well as Chaos Emeralds. This is rare though. (Male hedgehogs seem to be the best at this for some reason.)
Master Emerald energy is different than Chaos energy. Being able to sense the Emeralds doesn't mean you can sense the M.E., and vice versa.
The Chaos Emeralds manifest your thoughts into power and sometimes can perform miracles. Chaos energy is amoral, however, so what you wish with Chaos comes from deep within your heart, be it good or bad. Tread with caution when playing with the powers of gods.
Artificial chaos energy was created by Gerald Robotnik initially, then perfected by Dr. Eggman years later. Artificial chaos energy is more volatile and is used almost exclusively as a power supply as a result. Attempting to control it with your thoughts is extremely dangerous, but it is possible (ie Shadow in IDW issue 60-64).
Chaos energy itself is worshipped throughout many Mobian cultures, hence why "Oh my Chaos!" is a thing (not to be confused with the God of Destruction Chaos, who is only worshipped within the Echidna tribes). Human societies tend to see Chaos as more of an energy source, whereas some Mobians believe this energy has a mind of its own. Which is true is up for debate.
Humans also have Chaos energy in their bodies, but no human in recorded history has ever been said to wield it. Some believe superhuman feats done through adrenaline rush may be the closest they've gotten to wielding this power directly, but this is only a theory.
Rings appear at random around the world due to the Earth's own Chaos energy. They are a currency and can be liquified into a power source, a process created by Gerald Robotnik 50+ years ago. You may know them as Chaos Drives!
Machines that wield Chaos energy require an internal battery of some kind to do so, else they will explode or melt.
Machines are more equipped to handle artificial Chaos than organics.
Whether or not the Chaos Emeralds recognize the thoughts of Machines is a recent debate sparked by the existence of Metal Sonic. Eggman likely knows the answer, but he won't tell just anyone that!
If I can think of any more I'll definitely add to this later <3
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Sonic Superstars!
Superstars is out! And guess what? It's good! It's a worthy new entry in the series, and I mostly like it. Mostly. Except for the handful of parts I don't. As usual, allow me to share my thoughts.
(For the record, I got the PS5 version of Superstars. I can't speak for how it plays on older hardware like the Switch, or how the weird Steam version that seems to make you log in with Epic runs. But I encountered zero performance issues, personally.)
General thoughts
The thing is, aside from two notable flaws I'll discuss in greater detail below, I can sum up my feelings on most of Superstars quickly. You see, it's... a Sonic game. This will either be a blessing or a curse depending on who you ask. It's not a bold new take on the series that'll blow you away, but they also didn't fuck it up. There's no catch this time! There's something refreshing about that straightforwardness, given how rare it is to get a regular-ass New Sonic Game from Sega. It's just a new classic-style game where you can play as Amy, set on a new island with all new zones, and Fang is in it! This might be damning with faint praise, but that's what it says on the tin, and they did a good job overall.
(It also has co-op. That's nice. I didn't play it in co-op.)
It plays exactly how it should. At no point did anything feel Wrong. The graphics might not have the absolute highest fidelity, but I think the character models look really nice, and the levels look appropriately good with vibrant color palettes. A couple zones like Sky Temple gave me Klonoa vibes, which I like. One zone is an absolutely incredible homage that I won't spoil. The story here is minimal (as expected), but there are a few good moments of telling the story through the gameplay, particularly one very cute sequence with Trip. I did find a couple stage gimmicks moderately annoying (Speed Jungle 2 and Press Factory 2, looking at you), but like... I could say the same thing about Mania, and also damn near every other Sonic game ever made. There's always That One Level. Superstars may not raise the series to new heights, but it generally executes well on the standard beats of the series. It's an easy recommendation for all fans of 2D Sonic.
Really, aside from the two big flaws (we'll get to them), this game's greatest crimes are simply not being quite as good as Mania, and also coming out the same week as the more creative and polished Super Mario Bros. Wonder. If we hadn't gotten Mania, I would easily be calling this my favorite 2D Sonic game since... what, the Advance trilogy 20 years ago? I like the Rush games, but if you asked me to replay one or the other, I might have a better time with Superstars. And, yes, it beats the hell out of Sonic 4. It's not even close. Anyone who says this game is exactly like Sonic 4 is just being a hater.
...I guess I would say that $60 is a bit steep for this, but you know it'll be on sale for a more appropriate $30-$40 in a few months. This isn't a Nintendo game we're talking about here.
Nice little tweaks
Superstars also features a number of welcome quality-of-life updates over Mania, bringing it more in line with the design ethos of modern platformers.
You have infinite lives! No more getting a game over on the final boss and having to redo the whole final zone - or, god forbid, the entire game
Time overs are gone! It'll warn you before you go over ten minutes, but I have no idea why because it doesn't kill you anymore
The game features a hub from which you can easily replay previous levels, rather than needing to beat the game or put in a cheat code to unlock the level select
This means you can easily go back and hunt for any special stage rings you missed. However, as a tradeoff, it seems like you can only get one Emerald per zone now, rather than being able to get Super Sonic by the end of the first or second zone
You can swap characters between levels! No more having to start a whole 'nother save file to play as Tails
And those characters even have optional little movement tutorial rooms available from the hub, which is great for new players who may not know about things like the Drop Dash
And, finally, checkpoints now feature arrows pointing in the direction you were supposed to be going, in case you forget upon respawning
Of course, while you might not be getting game overs, Superstars certainly compensated with some bosses that kicked my ass.
Bosses
Here's what I would consider notable flaw #1.
I have mixed feelings on the bosses in Superstars. I don't think many of them are poorly designed - in fact, a lot of them are good, and offer fun moments of spectacle. But for a 2D Sonic game, they're REALLY long and drawn out, and by the late game this was starting to get draining.
Bosses tend to be the type where you have to dodge their attack patterns for a while until you get the chance to hit them exactly once, MAYBE twice. A few bosses seem to have quicker options if you abuse your post-hit invulnerability or play as a character with a double jump, but many will either be completely invincible or run away to the background for long periods of time, making it impossible to damage them outside of the allotted windows. And even if it seems like you'll be able to get in a second hit, many bosses turn invincible and skip ahead to the next attack pattern as soon as they take the first hit. Again, most of these fights aren't BAD, but because of this behavior they sometimes take almost as long to beat as the entire levels preceding them. This didn't bother me much early in the game, but against the more challenging bosses towards the end that kept killing me several minutes into a long fight, it got tiring. The final boss of Story Mode probably took me like an hour.
While this certainly isn't an uncommon style of boss design, part of me suspects they did this for the sake of co-op players. For one, playing in co-op means that you don't necessarily have to start the entire fight over if one person dies, so I assume the length is less of an issue. But in particular, true classic-style Sonic bosses that you can just hit repeatedly with good timing would go down in a few seconds against a team of four players. Likewise, the swarm of clones from the "Avatar" Emerald power would probably obliterate every Genesis era boss with one button press. So I get why every boss needs all these invulnerability periods, but still. I at least wish they'd made some of those attack patterns shorter and given you more frequent opportunities to deal damage.
Emeralds and their powers
Speaking of the new Chaos Emerald powers: they're neat, I guess? They're fine. I didn't use them much. Actually, I kept forgetting I even had them - although the game will play a noise and show an icon in the corner of the screen to remind you any time you reach a spot where a specific power is useful. Avatar, the first power you get, is at least good for getting a couple free hits in on the trickier bosses. Yellow's ability to slow time is obviously good, but, again, I always forgot I even had it and made it through just fine without it. I was also pleased to realize that the swimming power is useful for the water levels and not just for climbing up waterfalls.
Oh, and the new grappling-based special stages kind of suck, but they're not the worst, and I'll at least give them credit for trying something new. (Motion Sickness Zone from Sonic 1 does return as a bonus minigame, but I only did it once lmao.)
Battle Mode
I haven't played Battle Mode. Couldn't tell you if it's good or not. It did, however, give us official designs for Metal Tails and Metal Amy after all these years, and also it let me make this:
...Okay, enough beating around the bush. Let's talk about the thing that REALLY drags down the experience.
The soundtrack...
(This lengthy section on the music will feature some light spoilers for things like zone names and themes.)
Now, don't get me wrong. There are some bangers in here that I've been listening to on loop. But this is one of the most inconsistent soundtracks I've ever heard, and I'm not sure I've ever played another game where the music has such a sharp dip in quality in the back half.
As anyone following this blog knows, prior to release I was a little obsessed with trying to gauge what the soundtrack would be like. "Jun Senoue" and "new Classic Sonic game" naturally evokes the memory of Sonic 4, but from the start we knew Tee Lopes was involved as well, and almost all of the music previewed before released leans more towards the sound of Sonic Mania than anything else. I was hopeful! I was excited! Jun deserved another chance at doing another classic Sonic OST, and Tee is one of my favorite game composers of all time between his Sonic material and other works like the TMNT: Shredder's Revenge OST. I frequently thought back to this Sonic 4 remix medley by Jun and Tee as a reminder that these two could really be the dream team, bringing out the best in each other's work.
Sure enough, the front half of the game is largely dominated by the Mania sound, whether it's a track by Tee himself or one by an in-house Sega artist that's compatible with his style. Pinball Carnival Act 1 by Rintaro Soma (an up-and-coming composer who wrote a bunch of the Cyber Space themes in Frontiers) takes obvious inspiration from Mania's Studiopolis Act 1, to the point that I was shocked when Sega posted the track and revealed it wasn't written by Tee. Act 2, however, forges more of its own sound by leaning into the act's spooky haunted carnival theme. And despite being the music lead, the only level theme that I know for sure was written by Senoue in the front half of the game (Bridge Island Act 1) was actually arranged by Tee Lopes to give it more of that Mania sound. Hell, the level clear jingle is literally just the one from Mania. A few level themes by other composers don't quite match that style, but they fit in well enough.
But there are early signs that this sound won't be consistent throughout the game. Our first warning of things to come is the boss music:
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When early copies started floating around and the soundtrack leaked, many, many people hoped that this was merely a placeholder, like the literal Sonic 4 Episode II music used in the earliest previews of Speed Jungle, and that it'd get replaced with a day one patch. Oh, those poor, innocent fools...
Even if you don't mind the poor production with the returning Sonic 4 faux-Genesis sound, this is a very simplistic thirteen second snippet of music that then plays a second time in a higher key before it loops. This wouldn't be the end of the world if the bosses were as short as the ones in the Genesis games, of course, but they're not! This theme is used for a ton of lengthy fights throughout the game, including an EXTREMELY long and tedious autoscroller boss at the end of Golden Capital Act 2. Maybe I would've enjoyed the bosses in this game more if they were paired with some earworms that'd get me hyped up and sell how cool and exciting the fights are supposed to be, but grating songs like this just made the minutes spent fighting those bosses feel like an eternity.
Still, boss music (and menu music) aside, all of the level themes in the front half of the game ranged from decent to great, with the peak easily being the phenomenal Lagoon City Act 2 by Tee Lopes. And then... I got to the back half of the game. And the Mania style completely disappeared, replaced largely with the dreaded Sonic 4 sound. That isn't the style for EVERY song in the back half, but even the ones that try something different tend to be weaker than the material from the first six zones, with less engaging melodies and less intricate arrangement. Many sound straight up unfinished, leaning on extremely basic synth patches with no personality. And there isn't a single track from Tee in the back half. He just disappears from the project altogether.
What this means is that we go from this absolute banger by Tee Lopes in zone 6, which elevates what's otherwise a bog standard desert level to a thrilling adventure:
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To... this, in zone 7:
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It's EXTREMELY jarring!
The thing is, this is actually one of the better tracks in this style. I have to assume this is by Senoue, because you can totally hear a good Adventure or Heroes era Senoue track in there once you get past the crude synth replication of the Genesis era Sonic sound. Senoue is still a great composer, as you can hear clear as day with Bridge Island, but he's working with a restrictive sound palette that doesn't play to his strengths at all. If only he'd bust out that damn guitar, or at least pick some better synths.
(And no matter what people will tell you, no, this is not an accurate recreation of what the Genesis's YM2612 chip really sounded like, nor is it representative of what it CAN sound like at its best. Go back to the Streets of Rage 2 or Ristar soundtracks if you need a reminder.)
While I can at least see what the Press Factory tracks were aiming for, some other faux-FM synth tracks are just really bland. They don't have anything interesting going on, and they also don't seem particularly tailor made for the levels they accompany. They're just attempts to mimic what Sonic 1-3 sounded like on a very literal level. Take, for instance, the Golden Capital Act 1 theme, AKA "we've got Sky Sanctuary at home." While the better level themes in this game enhance the mood or even completely carry the vibes of a level, the weaker tracks can really suck all the air out of the room and make a level feel like more of a slog.
What kills me is that there are, in fact, a couple examples of how to do throwbacks to classic Sega FM synth music well on this very soundtrack! They're just not the Sonic 4 type tracks. I love the Frozen Base Act 2 theme, presumably composed by legendary Sega composer Hiroshi "HIRO" Kawaguchi, who's responsible for all-time classic arcade soundtracks like Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Hang-On, After Burner, and more, as well as the hacking and pinball themes from Frontiers. Maybe to an untrained ear this doesn't sound all that different, but it has a catchier tune, better instruments, and stronger production overall. I'm also a fan of the track for Sky Temple, which isn't perfect, but it blends a few Genesis-esque instruments like the Sonic 1+2 snare with other instruments for a richer sound. If the whole soundtrack sounded more like these examples, I'd definitely be complaining less.
I really just have to wonder... how did this happen? How did this end up being so inconsistent? Many fans on social media are jumping to the conclusion that Senoue is just extremely stubborn and refuses to ditch the style from Sonic 4. I can't deny this possibility, but some things just don't add up. The almost complete lack of "retro" style music in the promotional material. The fact that the style just suddenly shifts halfway through the game, then disappears for the final zone, as if that's not the note they want to end on. The complete lack of any tracks by Tee Lopes in the back half. The focus on the Mania-style tracks in the bonus "mini soundtrack." And most perplexing of all, the fact that three of the first tracks you hear in the game were Senoue compositions that were given extra attention with arrangements from Tee Lopes.
This is pure speculation on my part, but it almost seems like they straight up ran out of time.
Perhaps Jun wanted more of his tracks to get full arrangements from Tee, or for Tee to contribute more songs, but things were down to the wire and they chose to leave in some of the raw Sonic 4 style demos. The soundtrack being crunched out in a matter of months at the end of development would certainly explain why Speed Jungle had to be demoed without its music a mere four months ago. It'd also explain why a game that's only a few hours long needs NINETEEN composers listed in the credits. And also the fact that multiple zones just have completely different, unrelated music by different artists across their acts. Did they need multiple artists working on different acts simultaneously, completely independent from each other with no time to cross reference each others' work, due to extreme time constraints? I'd buy it.
Ah well. It's not the end of the world. I've heard worse Sonic music. But I'll always think of what could have been...
At least the final battle with Eggman at the end of Story Mode has a pretty kickass boss theme, which ALMOST makes up for how bad most of the preceding boss music is (and the fact that that very difficult fight doesn't have a checkpoint between phases and took me like an hour to beat lmao). It even seems like it might be written by longtime Phantasy Star Online composer and recurring Sonic contributor Hideaki Kobayashi. That's the guy who wrote NONAGRESSION!!!!!!!
The postgame
Speaking of beating Eggman! It turns out Superstars has a good deal of postgame content, as merely beating the last zone with all the Chaos Emeralds doesn't take you to the true final boss. In order to do that, you'll need to do something else.
Before we hit the big spoiler warning, I'm going to give any future players who are still reading a warning. If you value your sanity... don't force yourself to do all the postgame stuff. Don't make the mistakes I did. It's not worth it, and it may very well knock your personal score for the game down a couple points.
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SPOILERS FOR THE STORY, UNLOCKABLES, AND THE POSTGAME BELOW THIS POINT
YOU'VE BEEN WARNED
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The bonus scenario
Sonic Superstars has a big surprise in store for anyone who beats the main story. For the first time since... what, Silver? In 2006? We finally have a brand new playable character in a new Sonic platformer! (I wouldn't count the player avatar in Forces as a full-fledged New Character.) Yes, after the credits roll, you unlock Trip as the super-secret fifth playable character. I was really excited to see this. Trip is cute, even if her masked appearance from early in the game is perhaps a more unique design than a Sonic-ified lizard girl who can only vaguely look like a real sungazer lizard. She IS the first new Sonic character Ohshima has designed since the '90s, though, so she gets points for that - and she gets even more points for literally turning into a dragon when she goes Super. We love a girl who can turn into a dragon, don't we folks? And her playstyle is fun, too, with a double jump and the ability to roll along walls and ceilings.
But Trip isn't just playable. Like Knuckles before her, she gets an entire alternate story mode of her own, which somewhat remixes the level layouts, generally makes things more challenging, and swaps out Eggman for Egg Robo. I was so excited to see this! It really felt like the game had so much more in store for me than I'd anticipated.
...Then I spent probably around three hours attempting to beat the new final battle with Fang at the end of Trip's Story. And it made me regret doing Trip's Story at all.
Once you learn the patterns, a lot of them are actually piss easy. But the difficulty comes down to a few misguided factors:
The fight is LOOOONG. On a successful attempt the whole thing will probably take the average player about, like... seven or eight minutes? Maybe longer? This is where I really started to get pissed at the game for making me wait through these stupid attack patterns before I could attempt to hit the boss once.
The fight is divided between two phases, one with Fang in a vehicle and another with him in a giant robot, with no checkpoint between them. Dying to one of Fang's bullshit attacks on the second phase means having to redo the ~5 minute first phase all over again. And, worst of all...
Fang has multiple projectile attacks that are guaranteed instant kills, even if you have rings.
Also there's a stupid desperation headbutt attack that can really easily catch you off guard and kill you, but I only got that far in the fight once.
It's the instant kills that got me. If those fucking immobilizing net attacks just made you drop your rings, or you could at least wiggle out of them by mashing buttons (EDIT: apparently you CAN do this but you literally have to button mash so rapidly that it's a crapshoot whether or not you'll physically be able to do it), it would have been totally doable! Kinda fun, even! Slow, but pretty cool in terms of spectacle. But nope! Three hours! Three hours on this! This is, without a doubt, the hardest boss I have ever faced in any Sonic game, period, and one of the hardest bosses I've ever seen in ANY game. All because of one attack pattern where making a tiny mistake means starting over.
The glitches didn't help, either. Something about the way the circular boss arena was set up in both stories' final battles seems to make the floor intangible sometimes for non-player objects. Occasionally my dropped rings, enemies I was supposed to knock towards Fang, or one of Fang's insta-kill projectiles would just fall through the floor randomly. This definitely wasn't my main problem, but it helped drive home the idea that this fight just wasn't worth my time.
After three hours of attempts, I gave up. I just went and looked up the ending of Trip's story, as well as the contents of the Final Story, on YouTube. Turns out I made the right call, because boy, that true final boss looks like dogshit. It's just a very dull fight against a big generic cartoon dragon. Apparently this is the thing Eggman was looking for. It appears and is defeated with little fanfare. I think I liked it better when I assumed the scary dragon being foreshadowed was just Super Trip.
...Also, hey, what's up with The End being very conspicuously visible in the background of the last zone?? I know it's just a cheeky cameo, but, like... isn't it supposed to be sealed away in Cyber Space right now? Should I be taking this literally? Does this have lore implications? This is one hell of a way to remind people that the timeline's been reunified, I guess
Closing thoughts
I really hate to part ways with Superstars on a sour note like this, because like I said up top, I mostly enjoyed my time with it! It's really just a small handful of particularly frustrating bosses and the inconsistent soundtrack that drag it down. Other than that, it's solid as a rock. Maybe wait for sales if you're not dying to play it, but it's definitely worth playing for any Sonic fan. Just... skip the true ending. I would have stepped away MUCH happier with this game if I'd done that.
I wanna try to end this on a more positive note but I'm tired, so, uhhhh... look, you can unlock a Metal Nights skin for your Battle Mode bot!!
Anyway back to jamming to about half the soundtrack on loop while pretending the other half doesn't exist, and looking forward to the continued Fang Renaissance with his upcoming IDW miniseries
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Do you think the Sonic franchise should memory hole certain characters? Like, Chaos Gamma, Elise, Mephiles for example (I would’ve put Black Doom here but uh, he’s a bit more around now huh)
I mean, lots of one-off Sonic characters like these already ARE memory holed. They only really exist in the games they originate from. (Ian Flynn bringing up the thought of using them in a podcast does not count as them being relevant again)
I get the desire to play with all the toys in the toy box and give old ideas a second chance that fans (and Ian) have, and there are definitely a handful of currently unused or underused characters I'd like to see come back. (We REALLY need Sticks back, and the Classic comics desperately need more Honey.) And I'm glad we're in this era where the Sonic series is less ashamed of its weird history. But also, like. Some of those were genuine missteps, and we've moved on for a reason
It feels like every month I see more and more Gen Z Sonic fans who weren't even old enough to have played the games when they were new reminisce about how "cool" it was to give Shadow a gun, or how "awesome" 06's story was, and how we should go back to that "peak" era for Sonic, and I just cannot get on board with that. It was called the Dark Age of Sonic at the time for a reason. I had to actually play those games when they came out. I was hyped for them and really, REALLY wanted to love them. But they were janky, ugly, unfun games with terrible stories that abandoned so much of Sonic's identity in favor of chasing contemporary trends. They were Sonic games that wanted to be anything BUT a Sonic game. There may have been some stuff I liked in that era (the Rush games, and honestly I always liked Black Knight), but it was miserable not knowing if we'd ever get another truly good 3D Sonic platformer again
Maybe it's easier to look back on certain elements of those games fondly now that time has passed and we know we did, in fact, get more Sonic games after them that were actually good. But Sonic is in a WAAAAAYYYYY better place now than it was when I was in middle school. I do not yearn for Mephiles and Elise to come back. It would be funny if they did, but I don't think we need them
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So we went and saw Sonic 3 in theaters....
Did it because my uncle paid for it
For context the very last movie I saw in theaters until this one was Sonic 1 so this was functionally the triumphant return
My honest thoughts:
*Crush 40 voice* YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I've been singing Sonic music, specifically Shadow's songs, ever since going that movie was excellent I loved it and Mom had to stop me several times from vibrating apart in my seat XD
Also Sonic movie 4 is confirmed??? 2027 let's gooooo
Seriously I was all excited for the new Palworld expansion but after this movie that one has to wait I'm replaying SA2 XD
And it beating Mufasa into the ground is absolutely hilarious to me XD
Now that I've seen it I'm listening to podcasts covering it and the fact that Sonic 3 is showing in fewer theaters and making double the money HA!
And disney trying to lie and getting completely trolled by the fans
Three d's or whatever the lady said that got her arrested but Sonic is handing broke disney its head and I am here for it
Spoilery stuff under the cut, if you haven't seen it yet go see it
Also fair warning this gets long
Okay let's open up by saying that whoever makes these movies are MASSIVE GameCube era fans
Because they were pulling from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow the Hedgehog, and Sonic Heroes
And Eggman's final outfit was his Sonic 06 one!
Was Gerald's Nega-Robotnik from the Rush games? IDK I only played the second one
They finally gave him his theme song as his ringtone!
I was elbowing Mom and pointing out what was from which game I did this with Sonic 2 as well
Sonic 1 when we came home from the theater I sat her down in front of the TV and booted up SA1 and SA2 and showed her the bits that the movie had pulled from
The guy in the Prison Island control room reminded me of the computer nerd from White House Down but Mom and I can't confirm yet
But he did have Omega on his computer console X'D
Shadow escaping from Prison Island
SHADOW MEETING TEAM SONIC AND BASICALLY REINACTING THE OPENING TO SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG
SONIC 3 WITH A CHAO GARDEN SEGA COULD NEVER
Listen I LIVED in those gardens with SA1 and SA2 I was able to identify every single one of those Chao types XD
THEY HAVE CHEESE THE CHAO!
Me spending 90% of the movie pointing like Leo DiCaprio in that one movie like they did the thing! They said the line! and the rest just vibrating apart
I warned my uncle before going in, multiple times, that I would not be normal about this movie
I am not normal about this movie
And I keep joking with Mom that these movies were tailor-made for her XD
Reason being she liked movie 1 and ever since then they've been adding stuff she likes like Uptown Funk, Shemar Moore, Keanu Reeves, etc.
Now they added the Beach Boys X'D
Also Shadow joining Knuckles on the TV women deserve more respect couch
Seriously was that bit with Shadow and the telenovela a reference to Ghosts of the Future? Did they actually reference a fancomic???
Gerald Robotnik still being alive is interesting and framing it with him having one of Shadow's quills makes me wonder if that energy was what kept him alive
It would explain how Ivo Robotnik survived the end of Sonic 2
And with the fourth movie confirmed and Jim Carrey saying he loves the character, I'm left wondering if he's somehow going to come back again
Like realistically there should be no way but I said that about Sonic 2 as well
Also I love that he's retired but for playing Robotnik at this point X'D
That also makes me wonder if Sonic and company are rubbing off on Tom, Maddie and even Wade the same way
Like realistically Team Sonic was only gone for maybe two days? HOW did they get all that done in two days if they aren't operating at Sonic's speed honestly
Also SONIC HEROES REFERENCE
MULTIPLE Sonic Heroes references because when Tails carries the others it's how they do it in that game, Tails throws Sonic like he does in that game, Knuckles throws Tails like he does in that game, etc.
So I was wondering if they were going to bring in Silver so they could go into Sonic 06 but with introducing Metal Sonic and AMY ROSE they look like they're heading for a combo of Sonic CD and Sonic Heroes
More the latter because they've got like half the main cast of that game by now XD
Oh give me Team Chaotix
Also I'm glad they're evidently going with Amy's later characterizations of being a competent fighter instead of just running into danger because she's boy-crazy
Although when Knuckles was trying to talk Sonic down from using the Master Emerald in his enraged state (coupled with the Chaos energy Shadow could generate) I was wondering if that was leading into Chaos coming out of the Emerald and a SA1 adaptation
Also me telling Mom "he left it with Wade" for the movie to immediately hard-cut to Wade X'D
Knuckles series reference!
That show was good y'all just out here acting like it stole your firstborn you'd have never survived the 00s era
BLACK DOOM REFERENCE
I never finished Shadow the Hedgehog but him using a device that summons a black hole makes me think that was Black Doom tech
Shadow coming down in a meteor that looks like the big eye thing that follows you around if you take the evil route
And I find it interesting that they softened Maria's death from getting straight-up shot
I did not tell anyone in my family how she goes out until after the movie, btw
But arguably being that close to an explosion is worse and there's probably good reason she was in shadow in those scenes
GUN having to account for rings being able to take you anywhere you can visualize was a nice bit of worldbuilding
Didn't like the one lady tho
Don't know who the actress is but I don't think I'm fond of her either so that didn't help
I will say that I agree with Mom on the pacing of some of the jokes, I had that problem with the first two movies as well where a joke went for too long
But in listing the parts I would trim down (the two Robotniks dancing, the first telanovela scene, the bits in the gravity scene, etc.) it's all stuff that couldn't be thrown in because of all the work that had to go into it
Like Jim Carrey had to sit in a chair for hours with the Gerald makeup and then had to film it all twice
On that topic, the line with them hanging a lampshade on him playing two characters didn't need to be in there and made the scene run too long
Look, the biggest thing about comedy is that it has specific timing and if something runs too long or too short it throws the whole thing off
Although I kept expecting Stone to come up to Space Colony ARK with one of the Robotnik vehicles to save Robotnik
Eggman ends up broadcasting like he did before and it's to talk directly to Stone
And to be fair to Stone: after three movies of Robotnik saying he hates organics and only needs his machines, being upgraded to syco-friend is the best those two can do
Like dang Robotnik's out here like help me Max, I'm FEELING!
Robotnik's heart grew three sizes that day
They still managed to destroy the moon with the Eclipse Cannon XD
Shadow hurting so badly from what they did to Maria that he was willing to die firing said cannon and he was actively egging Sonic on and telling him to kill him...ouch
I do want to question them being able to have a whole chat on the moon considering there's no air and no atmosphere
Legit my first thought when they were doing that was Stitch and cousins from Lilo and Stitch: the Series because they didn't need suits either
And when I was picking it apart with Mom over breakfast this morning I eventually reasoned that the levels on Space Colony ARK towards the end of SA2 all do the same thing since if you miss a landing there you go, plummeting towards earth in a fireball
I love that of the three of them, Knuckles was the one who could handle the stress of reentry
My boi is as tough as he says
So is Tom apparently dude should not have survived that
Getting hit in the chest like that can stop your heart, as we found out with that football player a few years back--dude is very lucky his plot armor is thicker than the general's
I also like that Shadow, for all his planning to destroy the world and everything in it, looked like he felt genuinely bad for hurting Tom by mistake
And him and Sonic having that heart-to-heart
LIVE AND LEARN INTENSIFIES
Like they teased the song through the whole movie to have it BLARE OUT IN THE CLIMAX
Me trying to resist singing along in the theater X'D
Also petition to have the scene where Sonic and Shadow shake hands and clasp the others before going super be the new handshake meme
HAVING GUN ROBOTS COME OUT OF THE ARK
"Don't tell me you have your own catchphrase" X'D
Shadow with his motorcycle, casually doing a Ghost Rider straight up Tokyo Tower
Me elbowing Mom when Sonic follows: "I told you he could have run up the side of the Trans-American building in the first movie!"
Mom: "Oh yeah!"
They had the same posters in the background of the Tokyo shots as they did in the game YES
Also I noticed during one of the close-ups that Shadow's gloves have that same little smartphone-friendly patch that most modern gloves have??? In the seventies??? Dang Black Doom made sure he got the good gloves X'D
Like seriously I could pick apart this movie for YEARS it makes me so happy it was worth all the hype :D
I wasn't even expecting the first movie to be any good but three great movies and a TV show Sonic fans are eating good and apparently we're not done yet
I am SO ready \.o./
Anywho *goes back to running outside belting "Live and Learn" at the top of my lungs*
also good stuff for that one BH6 AU
#sonic the hedgehog#sonic movie 3#sonic 3#shadow the hedgehog#spoilers#FAM WE ATE GOOD WITH THIS MOVIE
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Random Lore and Trivia from SONIC RIVALS 2 (2007)
Let's just jump into it
Tails has been training with Sonic to keep up and is faster now (2007-Present) then he was previously (1992-2006)
Due to Eggman Nega in this game, Silver temporarily had to deal with ANOTHER Future on fire
luckily Silver & Espio, Shadow & Metal Sonic, Sonic, & Knuckles defeated the ifrit (somehow, this game's narrative progresses weirdly) preventing yet another timeline of Silver living in Hell
On the same topic, Silver & Espio form a close bond. This marks the second time that Silver and Purple character with yellow eyes saved the future from a fiery inferno. The first Being Silver & Blaze in 06 (which they don't remember btw for anyone behind on sonic)
This Silver & Espio dynamic actually briefly returned in the IDW Comics in one of Silver's few good moments (Not a huge fan of Soft Twink woobified Silver after playing Rivals & 06 since he's just annoying and looks strange but this scene was fun)
One more Silver thing, his primary character trait in 06 & the Rivals Duology (I also hear colors and Olympics ds but I haven't played those) is just how blunt he is towards everyone. Far more than Shadow and Sonic. This was also somewhat seen in 06 with his frustration with Amy but it's more prominent in Rivals. The duology has an issue of making everyone meaner than they should be but Rivals 2 tries to let their personalities shine above that (Sonic, Tails, & Espio are completely normal)
Here are some scenes that just felt right to me
Ok FINAL SILVER FR!! In the end of Silver & Espio's story, they leave Eggman Nega with his legs stuck under rumble in the evil ifrit portal. It is unknown how Eggman Nega ever escaped but he later appeared in a Japanese Sonic Channel comic about Blaze in 2016 so I guess he didn't die.
The Rivals games show that Metal Sonic in his non-overlord form, cannot speak but he is also alot less independent and now Metal Sonic has these weird clanky voice lines here and in the Olympics. I blame Dr. Eggman
Speaking of Eggman Nega, lemme explain him based on what I gathered from Rush, Rivals 1&2, Rush Adventure, and Sonic Channel
Read below
Eggman Nega is descendant of Eggman from sometime in the future. In Rush, he teams up with his ancestor (Dr. Eggman) to cause chaos for the Sol Dimension and Sonic's world (I like to call it the Chaos Dimension) Nega pretends to be an inhabitant of the Sol Dimension in Rush for unknown reasons. In Rivals he causes chaos in the standard past
Eggman Nega blames his failures on his Ancestor and by Rivals 2 just completely hates that idiot Eggman (I think he also had animosity towards him in Rivals 1, I forgor)
The main thing that separates Eggman Nega from Dr. Eggman in every game he's in except Sonic Rush, is that Dr. Ivo Eggman Robotnik wants to rule the world as a machine centric dictator (in the classic genesis games and Rush Adventure through colors, he wanted an evil themepark).
Meanwhile Eggman Nega only craves destruction and chaos and is much more unconventional. In Rivals he tries to turn the planet into a card. In Rush Adventure after his plans fail, he attemps to fire his "planet buster laser" to blow up the planet completely (not just the Shattered earth Eggman would later make in Unleashed) but is stopped by Marine, Super Sonic, & Burning Blaze, and in Rivals 2 he awakens the ancient Ifrit to burn everything (Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Rouge still think Eggman did that because they missed all the Nega reveals)
Eggman Nega also makes his own Metal Sonic here. "Metal Sonic Version 3.0" (pronounced 3 point zero, not 3 point oh)
Archie fans may notice that this guy's paint job was stolen verbatim by Shard in those comics
Finally, Sonic Rivals 2 showcases Espio communicating with Vector but not Charmy
On the topic of Espio, not counting comics the only media he's in without Metal Sonic is Sonic X & Shadow the Hedgehog.
All his other debuts are pretty metal centric. Chaotix, Fighters, Heroes, Rivals 2, Mobile Games. He hasn't been major since
#sonic the hedgehog#Sega#Sonic#Sonic Lore#sonic rivals 2#silver the hedgehog#eggman nega#espio the chameleon#Dr. Eggman#miles tails prower#shadow#shadow the hedgehog#Metal Sonic#PSP#PlayStation Portable#Clearing up sonic information#Cusick#IDW Comics#idw publishing#Takashi Iizuka#sth#Justice4Silver#ソニック#ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ#Trivia#Lore
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I know this is beating a dead horse at this point, but I just started thinking about this the other day and...
How many people that were previously enemies has Sonic ACTUALLY befriended?
Like my knowledge of some old games and the handhelds ain't great, but...
There was Knuckles, who I think is the only one in the classic era.
He never really befriended Gamma in SA1, just left him to Amy.
Also he didn't befriend Chaos, just beat the anger out of him.
The next one was Shadow in SA2, although they're still kinda rivals?
I don't think Rouge counts in SA2 since she wasn't really an enemy of Sonic specifically, even in Heroes it's really Sonic and Shadow that start the fight.
Gemerl is a robot who was reprogrammed to be friendly, I wouldn't count that as "befriending someone".
Him and Jet are rivals in every Riders game, this never changes.
Blaze in Rush is someone that fought him and they became friends, so it's clear cut, she counts.
Silver in '06 does as well.
Do we count Shade from Chronicles? I think she had a boss fight. I know very little about that game but it's not canon, right?
Merlina is kinda a grey area? Like they were friends, he stopped her evil plans and was still nice to her. I don't know if in context that meets the criteria.
On top of that I don't think the Knights of the Round Table count. Sonic is there to take the swords and they work together at the end. I don't think there's any hard feelings, but don't know if this counts as "friends".
Sage could be the next example, but she's still loyal to Eggman. I don't think what they briefly shared was friendship as much as Sage wanting to save Eggman.
I haven't played Superstars but Trip doesn't even have a bossfight, does she? I don't think she counts.
Not looking at the method, just purely if they became friends down the line. Out of all of those, there's 4 total (if you count Shadow, which I do) with 1 it's complicated and 1 non-canon. That's very few when you consider how large the game cast is.
An overwhelming majority of his friends weren't ever hostile with him to begin with, like the Chaotix, Amy, Tails, Cream, Emerl, Big, ect. There's plenty of other cast members that are still have him on their shit list, like Eggman, Infinite (if he's alive), Fang, Metal, Eggman Nega, the Deadly Six...
Now I'm starting to wonder where this idea of it being a frequent even came from.
#i still don't read the comic anymore but it's kinda hard to not see anything about it in the sonic fandom#anyways yeah that's my ramblings on the subject#a weird aspect to latch onto when it's only happened a few times#and the last definitive one was 18 years ago#and again not looking too hard at the context of those situations in this post i already know the comic misrepresents them#because aside from blaze sonic never instigated those friendships#he's a go with the flow kinda guy so he'll match your energy#you come at him aggressive and he'll be aggressive back#but also if you're friendly he'll be friendly kinda thing#anti idw sonic#idw sonic#fans don't look#hopefully that covers the tag blocking list#and people properly filter because i don't want to leave the idw tag out#in case anyone is just trying to steer clear of anything idw
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Slowly but Also Like All at Once
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7
noah diaz x mirage (the ship of dreams or whatever that old bitch said in titanic)
warnings : reek gets his own flirt on, noah is tired™️, and breanna diaz is here but she ain't here to play
side note: this fic is also on ao3!
Noah’s kind of glad that as soon as he has the apartment door unlocked, Reek shoves him aside and barges his way inside like he owns the place. Because not a second later, a chancla comes flying across the room and slaps into the wall not one foot away from Reek’s head— the poor guy freezing up immediately, his eyes wide.
“Ma!” Noah admonishes, pocketing his keys and pushing past Reek so he can set down his box of electronics atop the short bookcase his ma insists on using as a foyer table. “You can’t just be whippin’ those around! You’re gonna seriously injure somebody that ain’t me one of these days.”
His ma has both her hands over her mouth, like she recognizes her mistake too, and when she lowers them, Noah can see she has the decency to at least look sheepish about nearly clocking his friend with her slipper. Still, it doesn’t stop her from also outright glaring at him— like it’s his fault.
“Pero escuché tu voz, so I thought it was you, and you deserve it,” she snaps at him pointedly, before she looks to Reek. “Reek, honey, I’m so sor—” she cuts herself off with a sharp gasp at the sight of all the blood on the lower half of Reek’s face.
“What the hell happened?” she demands instead, clearly concerned. Although the concern doesn’t last very long. Because she seems quick to come to her own conclusions and narrows her eyes at the both of them.
“You boys weren’t out gettin’ into trouble, were you? I swear to God, you two are gonna—”
The loud slam of a door sounds from down the hall.
“Is that Sonic?” Kris cries, rushing into the room like the namesake should be his instead.
Noah grins widely, toeing off his sneakers and simultaneously slipping off his backpack— letting it fall to the floor beside the bookcase with a small thud— just in time to catch his little brother who comes flying at him and nearly knocks the breath straight out of him with what feels like the world’s tightest hug.
“You missed it!” Kris proclaims eagerly, pulling back only far enough to look up at Noah. “I almost beat Bowser! I was so close!”
“Damn, really?” Noah inquires, reaching up to ruffle the kid’s curls affectionately. “That’s cool, bro. Just a few more tries and you gon’ get his ass. I know it.”
Kris beams and pulls away completely, releasing Noah, before he looks over at Reek and frowns, one brow arching.
“Who beat the shit out of you?” he queries openly.
“Language, Kris!” their ma shouts from the kitchen, where she’s already gathered some napkins and is bent over under the kitchen sink, probably looking for that bottle of rubbing alcohol they keep down there. “Reek, sweetie, come over here so we can get your face cleaned up.”
Reek relaxes— his momentary stupor fading— and his lips curl up into a dreamy sort of smile as he kicks off his sneakers then floats across the room to lean against the kitchen table.
Noah narrows his eyes at the other man, already knowing where this is going.
Noah’s ma slaps Reek’s knees open so she can step in between them to be able to reach his face— she’s already kicking up a fuss, telling Reek he has to take better care of himself— and Reek, of course, can’t help the self-satisfied little smirk he shoots in Noah’s direction.
Noah’s hands ball into fists at his sides.
“You hit on my mama one time today man, just one, and I’m throwing your ass out the window,” Noah warns him. Because, unfortunately, it’s a thing.
Reek, the absolute bastard, swears that one day he’s going to bag Breanna Diaz.
Which is absurd.
The only way that’s ever going to happen is if it’s right over Noah’s dead body.
“Ay, Noah, don’t be ridiculous,” his ma chastises casually, shaking her head as she dabs at Reek’s nose with a wad of wet napkins— completely oblivious to the fact that Reek is practically preening under her care. “Reek, how did this happen?”
Before Reek can respond, Kris looks up at Noah with a frown.
“And why didn’t you come home for dinner last night?” he questions. Their ma scoffs.
“You mean why he didn’t come home at all,” she points out, glancing over with a look on her face that clearly reads as disapproval. “You could at least call, mijo.”
Noah releases a sharp sigh, his shoulders drooping as he deflates under the weight of the guilt.
Kris wanders away from him, sauntering over to their ma and Reek so he can get a closer look at the damage on Reek’s face.
“I know, ma,” Noah acquiesces, defeated and exhausted, even as he reaches up behind his neck to grab at the collar of his Henley so he can pull it off— he’s been wearing it for over twenty-four hours at this point, and all he really wants is a shower. “I’m sorry. I just… I got caught up.”
His ma looks over for a second, both brows arched, before she returns to the task at hand.
“Ooh,” Kris teases. “Is it a girl? It’s a girl, isn’t it? What’s her name?”
Noah rolls his eyes at his baby brother’s antics, reaching down to unbuckle his belt and laughing when his ma presses a napkin soaked in rubbing alcohol to Reek’s nose, pulling an incredibly high-pitched yelp from the man’s throat.
Reek narrows his eyes at Noah.
“Oh, you think that’s funny, huh?”
Noah grins crookedly at him, his shirt and belt clutched in one hand.
“It’s hilarious, dude.”
The slow menacing look-and-smirk combination that distorts Reek’s face is quite frankly terrifying and Noah stills, tensing.
Reek leans back, just slightly, and his gaze slides over to Kris.
“Nah, li’l man, there ain’t no girl,” he drawls wickedly. “Our boy Noah over here, he’s a man of taste. He’s got a preference for something different; little metal, some rubber, six cylinders.”
Noah wants to wrangle his thick ass neck with his bare hands.
Kris’ lips purse to the side, his forehead scrunching— clearly bewildered.
“For the last time, man,” Noah snaps. “I didn’t fu—” he cuts himself off with a sharp inhale, throwing his hands into the air— completely done with trying to deny it any further— before he exhales at length.
Reek’s just going to believe what he wants anyway. Fuck it.
Noah’s ma glances over at him again, one perfectly plucked brow arched in question.
“I’ma go shower,” Noah decides, then points a long finger at Reek. “You better not still be in my damn house by the time I get out. I swear to God, bro.” He crosses the room and pretends not to hear Kris asking Reek what he meant by metal, rubber, and cylinders.
“Ay, mijo, por qué eres tan grosero?” his ma calls after him as he goes, and Noah does his best to not react when he hears her add on a quieter, “Well, there’s clearly no girl. He wouldn’t have a stick up his ass if he was seein’ any action.”
Reek’s raucous laughter echoes down the hall, following Noah right into the bathroom.
Noah slams the door closed behind him.
“Carajo, Noah! Don’t be slammin’ doors in my house!”
Noah huffs, dropping his shirt into the hamper that’s wedged in between the toilet and the sink— where it’s not supposed to be, because Kris has a habit of getting up during the night to piss, and being half-asleep, he drips all over the place. It’s nasty. His little brother’s kind of a slob but being the baby, their ma just keeps letting him get away with it.
Noah hangs his belt off of one of the hooks behind the door before he turns to the mirrored vanity cabinet and takes a second to study his reflection.
His curls are wild and he’s pretty sure he can still spot sand in there. The bags under his eyes are puffy and a slightly deeper color than usual and— Noah leans in closer— his lips look like they’ve been bitten raw, no doubt courtesy of the wild rollercoaster ride of emotions he’d experienced overnight.
All in all, he looks like shit.
With an utterly drained sigh, Noah slips out of both his jeans and boxer briefs and tosses them into the hamper as well, before he throws open the shower curtain and steps into the bathtub.
He showers rather quickly— which is kind of a miracle because he’d honestly thought getting all the sand out of his hair would take a lot longer. He washes up in a sort of automatic way, his hands and body going through the motions, while his mind wanders.
He finds himself going over every single moment of the last twenty-four hours with a fine-toothed comb. From heading into the garage the day before, wondering if he’d ever see his mech friend again. To Mirage’s sudden miraculous return— which Noah can still hardly believe even happened. To spending the night with the bot on that beach in Long Island under the lighthouse.
And getting the chance to meet Ratchet. Noah makes a mental note to thank the medic when or even if he gets the chance.
Ratchet had managed to do what Noah couldn’t; fix Mirage.
Ratchet had been the one to right Noah’s colossal fuck-up with the plate he’d cracked in half.
Ratchet had given him his best friend back.
Noah owes him a lot.
His mind shifts then, turning his attention to the metaphorical elephant in the room; the offer to join the autobots on their, hopefully simple, scouting mission to Colorado.
He purposely ignores the tiny voice in the back of his head— the one that, obnoxiously, sounds like Reek— that tries to remind him the mission isn’t the only metaphorical elephant in the room.
There’s also the matter of Mirage’s completely spontaneous flirting.
Because, yeah, Noah can definitely recognize it for what it is now. He might not have any game himself but he’s not that dense.
Plus, Reek had clearly read and interpreted it as just so— coming to the assumption after hearing just one of Mirage’s lines.
The man had badgered Noah the whole way up to the apartment over it; over whether or not Noah had ‘fucked the car.’
He’s honestly more surprised over the fact that the man had managed to go straight from ‘the car talks’ to ‘did you fuck it, Noah’ than over the fact that Reek apparently has zero issues with Noah theoretically fucking a car.
Which is wild. Especially seeing as Reek is completely unaware that the aforementioned car is actually a twelve foot alien.
But he’s not thinking about any of that though.
No. He’s thinking about whether or not he’s ready to drop everything— drop his entire life, not that he really has much going on at the moment— to go on an impromptu road trip with a bunch of aliens. To the Rockies. To possibly locate another alien. One that may or may not be one of the bad guys.
“Fuck,” Noah sighs, reaching out to turn off the water.
He wonders when his life got so complicated.
Unbidden, a vivid image of Mirage fucking with him as he’d tried to jimmy the lock and open the door on the Porsche simultaneously comes to mind.
Right.
That’s when.
Noah pulls a towel out of the bathroom closet— a blue one because his ma has them color-coordinated and assigned; Noah’s are blue, Kris’ are green, and hers are red. The woman’s surprisingly laid back about a lot of stuff— for example, Kris being an utter slob— but bathroom linens are not one of them.
Noah’s not sure why and at this point in his life, he’s kind of scared to ask. It’s easier to just roll with it.
He dries off then wraps his towel around his waist and steps back over to the mirror so he can try and get his curls under control. If he doesn’t, they’ll just dry up all frizzy and crazy. And he hates it when that happens. Because he’s kind of lazy and he won’t bother trying to fix it, he’ll just wear a cap over it every time he steps out of the house until he washes his hair again.
When he’s satisfied, Noah turns and steps out of the bathroom.
“Damn, mami, that’s cold,” he instantly hears— Reek’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Why you gotta do me like that?”
The asshole is still in his house, hitting on his ma. The kitchen’s out of view from where Noah’s standing just outside the bathroom so he can’t see his friend but he narrows his eyes in that general direction anyway.
Then, an idea pops into his head. And his lips curl.
“Reek, man if you don’t get yo’ ass outta my house, I’ma tell Rosie from downstairs about your special friendship with that white girl from Staten Island!”
He hears an abrupt thud from the kitchen and watches gleefully as Reek trips his way across the room, apologizing to his ma and telling her he has to go because he thinks he, ‘left the stove on.’
Chump.
Noah grins when the front door slams, signifying the other man’s departure. Then he spins around and strolls languidly into his bedroom, lips pursed smugly. He shuts his bedroom door behind him with a foot so he can change into a fresh pair of boxer briefs then throws on a random pair of basketball shorts and a wife beater, before immediately throwing himself face first onto his bed, groaning loudly as his body relaxes into the mattress.
He gazes up at the stuff on his wall— his Wu-Tang Clan poster and his vinyl sleeves— for a moment.
But he must fall asleep immediately after that because one second he’s blinking at the Puerto Rican flag on his wall and the next, he’s waking up on his side, facing the bedroom door, after hearing his name be called in a low sort of hiss.
Kris is standing underneath the frame of his bedroom door, staring at him with a sort of apprehensive look on his face. He keeps glancing back over his shoulder to his own room every other second.
“Hmm?” Noah slurs, still half-asleep and struggling to keep his eyes open. “Wassup, Tails?”
Kris’ wide-eyed gaze snaps back over to him.
“Dude, Knuckles is in my room.”
Noah groans, lifting a hand to wave the kid away.
“That don’t even make no sense, Kris,” he grunts out. “He wouldn’t fit.” With that said, Noah pulls his pillow out from beneath his face and covers his head with it, hoping his little brother will take it for what it is; a dismissal.
“He says he’s taking you to Colorado?”
It takes a second for Kris’ words to register.
But when they do, Noah’s pretty sure he sets the world record for the fastest anyone’s ever jumped out of bed
#noah x mirage#norage#noah diaz#mirage#mirage rotb#transformers rise of the beasts#transformers rotb#mirage x noah
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Rambling about my 3ds because I love your blog and I love Nintendo consoles! So growing up I never had a console, I would play Animal Jam on my shitty Samsung tablet but I always dreamed of having a 3ds. Last summer I finally got one (second-hand ofc), it’s a black o3dsxl and I love it. Flashforward to october 2023, I start a Sonic hyperfixation (idek how that happened don't ask). Now my ultimate goal is to make my 3ds as Sonic-themed as possible. Thank you homebrew for existing. Anyway here's my child:
I got the theme on Theme Plaza, the artwork is from Sonic 2 and the music playing in the background (which you can’t hear because my dumbass is too lazy to record a video) is a remix of Emerald Hill Zone (also from Sonic 2).
Speaking of the devil, I happen to have the 3ds port of this game:
It’s kinda meh though I prefer the mobile port.
I also have a few other games installed, such as Sonic Rush for the ds (rom hack) and Sonic Unleashed 3ds (fan port/remake, it’s only a demo atm but I believe it’s still being worked on!).
As for my cartridges, I’ve got these:
Sonic Colors ds, my favorite one (the u in the title stands for european), Sonic Generations 3ds (this game’s fine I prefer the console version but this one’s okay ig) and Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (haven’t played it a lot but it’s fun!).
Anyways that’s it for now, if I ever add more Sonic to my 3ds maybe I’ll post it idk
I really like Sonic 😁
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IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, 2024 ANNUAL - THOUGHTS
I wanted to cover this one earlier, I really did, but the Sonic X Shadow Generations hype took me over, and for the past couple weeks I have been incapable of thinking about anything else. If you haven't played that yet, by the way, I highly recommend doing so as soon as possible. It's truly one of the most astoundingly high-quality pieces of Sonic media ever produced. Maybe I'll do a post on it, who knows. But for now, we have an annual special to cover.
This is the first one of these annuals I've discussed on here, but I really appreciate their presence in the story. Both they and the various mini-series have done a great job of sort of filling the void Sonic Universe left behind when Archie Sonic ended. It's nice getting to peek into what the supporting cast is up to and what's happening outside of the main plot.
This one is also a unique little experience since, while most Annuals have had either five or six short stories included within them, this one includes only three stories - with one of them being a full twenty pages. That's as long as a regular issue! So I'll move through the stories one at a time, and give a few thoughts on each.
I wanna start by talking about the cover, though, because this one's kind of interesting to me. In the past, the "A" Covers have always done a bit to give you at least some idea of what to expect from the stories inside. The 2019 and 2020 covers both featured somewhat generic art featuring characters making appearances from stories within. The 2022 cover showed Blaze in a sundress spending time with Cream at the beach - an allusion to the "Guardians" story that kicked off the 2022 Annual and its ending with Blaze taking a vacation in Sonic's world.
This one, though, features a nice little art piece featuring Sonic and Tails rushing through a snowy mountainscape, which... does not happen in the Annual. None of the stories in this one center around Sonic or Tails, and none of them take place in any sort of wintry tundra.
Just an odd detail I noticed. Nothing here gives us any sort of glimpse into the stories we're about to see or the characters we're about to follow. Still nice art, though.
With that bit of business out of the way, we'll move on to the real meat and potatoes of the Annual:
The Stories
Story #1: Hero's Calling
We kick things off with a good old-fashioned Ian Flynn story about Surge and Kit continuing to pursue a life of heroism following the events of the Extreme Competition and Phantom Riders arcs, and finding it more difficult than they had anticipated to live up to the reputation of a hero.
The pencils here are handled by Thomas Rothlisberger with Rik Mack tackling Inks and Colors. Rothlisberger's style is often employed for the series' lower-stakes stories, relying a lot on exaggerated expressiveness and cramming every panel as full of action and detail as possible. They're perfect for slapstick-y stories, and while that fits the bill a bit here, it doesn't fit perfectly for me since, as this story continues, it takes a turn for the quieter and more introspective toward its second half.
After "saving" a runaway trolley in the city of Westopolis (from 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog - neat to see that city show up again), Surge finds herself contemplating a difficult question. As she chases the life of a hero, she takes it upon herself to save others. But she wonders: Why do they even need saving? With this world being subject to one crisis after another, shouldn't its denizens have learned to handle this sort of thing by now? She wonders if maybe, by always being there to save the day, if Sonic and friends have made this world a little soft. Maybe the Sonic Cycle really is keeping the world from moving forward.
Maybe...
I love Kit's reaction to this. Kit has always been quick to support Surge, no matter what, but when she suggests that Dr. Starline, the man who stole their lives, used and tortured them, and destroyed everything they were, may have been right all along... For the first time, we see the tiniest hint of anger toward her flash across his face. Kit. Truly Hates. Dr. Starline.
As she talks things over with Kit, Surge... never really settles on a course of action. The only thing she knows for sure is that she believes Sonic is the problem here, and that she hopes to one day remove him from the equation once and for all.
Kit, on the other hand, arrives at a much more dangerous conclusion.
Kit sees Surge's frustration at the world's ability to solve its own problems, but he also sees the fulfillment she gets from solving those problems. And so, he resolves to continue making sure there are problems for her to solve, even if she is able take out what she perceives as their roots.
This... will not go well. I can already see it. Surge is going to keep solving whatever issues Kit constructs for her to overcome, feeling like she's truly making a difference, only for it all to come crashing down when she realizes she was never changing anything. This will, in turn, create a rift between her and Kit, and since Kit has become heavily dedicated to and dependent on her, it is going to destroy this poor child. Mark my words. These two are in for some sad times.
Overall, Rothlisberger does do a pretty good job at capturing this story's subtler moments, but at times the exaggerated, cartoony style and Mack's very bright, stark colors can take me a little bit out of some of the moodier moments of this story. Still, a solid bit a storytelling dedicated to these two characters who really seem to be going somewhere in the grand scheme of things.
Story #2: For My Destiny
Our second story is a chill, little character check-in on Knuckles the Echidna as he spends his days peacefully guarding the Master Emerald on Angel Island. This one boasts a script and colors by Iasmin Omar Ata, and pencils by Adam Bryce Thomas.
This is yet another case of an artist being used in an odd way, since ABT's art really shines when he gets to do big, shonen-style action scenes. But here, we just get a quick introspective of Knuckles contemplating his relationship with the Master Emerald and all of the events and people it's brought into his life.
Not much else really happens here, and the first time through, I thought this story was a bit of a waste of time. Like, we already kind of get this sort of look at Knuckles in Sonic Frontiers, why keep harping on it here? But then I read it a second time with Frontiers in mind, specifically the Prologue: Divergence animated short. I thought of how this story would be told if it could be animated, with music and performance to really nail down the vibe it's going for, and I... kind of love it now? It's dramatic in a very understated way, and I'm honestly glad its here.
Story #3: Shattered Diamonds
This one. This right here is the real showstopper of the 2024 Annual.
Here, we get a script from Gigi Dutreix, Pencils from Dutreix and Mauro Fonseca, Inks from Matt Froese, and Colors by Leonardo Ito and Valentina Pinto. Everyone here brings their A-game for... a backstory comic about Mimic the Octopus. This is nuts to me. A comic-original side-villain, getting his own full-issue length story exploring his background, and it's... so good.
Dutreix has explained on their social media that they put a lot of work into researching real-life sociopaths, and the commonalities in their worldview when determining how to handle Mimic's backstory. We learn that he was once an actor (hey! I'm one of those!) and that his time in the fiercely competitive industry quickly taught him not to trust anyone. He learned to use whatever means necessary to achieve his goals, even going so far as to stab others in the back to get what he wants.
Then the Eggman War we see in Sonic Forces happens, and Mimic's ugly worldview seems to be proven true, and the means he uses to survive appear justified for a while, further strengthening this idea he has to that no one but him is honest with themselves, and that one mustn't trust or dedicate themselves to anyone else if they hope to survive.
Then. Something happens.
Mimic meets a group of people who seem.. genuine. People who care for each other. Care for him.
And he panics.
He convinces himself that they must be fakes. That they wouldn't care about him if they really knew him. All they have to do is see him for who he really is, and they'll stab him in the back just as he's done to so many others before.
He starts to view the Diamond Cutters as a means to an end. And he fears becoming attached to those means, fears letting those means change him.
So... he disposes of them. Or tries to. From there, we all know how it goes. But now, we have a far more thorough understanding of why someone who claims to be pragmatic and driven by self-preservation continues to engage in this dogged pursuit of revenge against Whisper. He views her as the last remaining evidence of a memory that almost changed who he is. And he worries that he will never be comfortable being himself again until she is gone.
The story ends with a quick little scene of Mimic stalking the New Diamond Cutters as they make their way toward the Eggperial City at the beginning of the Urban Warfare arc, and there's one little bit of weirdness here.
See, in this story, the Diamond Cutters are waiting to meet up with Sonic and Tails before proceeding to the City, but when they storm the city together in Issue 57... Tails isn't there. Tails isn't part of the Urban Warfare arc until Issue 58, after Sonic has reached out to Jewel and asked her to send backup. After that point, Tails arrives with Amy, Silver, and Blaze to lend Sonic a hand. So why is he here with Sonic before he and the Diamond Cutters even make their way to the city?
I actually got a chance to ask Dutreix about this directly, and they provided a fairly similar answer to the conclusion I was already considering: Tails had simply accompanied Sonic to rendezvous with the Diamond Cutters before splitting off to go do something else on his own, returning to regroup with Sonic after Jewel put out the call for reinforcements.
Continuity weirdness aside, though, I loved this story. It was explorative and complex, dark and moody, and it all had such a clear sense of direction. This is the kind of quality storytelling I would never, in a million years, expect to be devoted to a character like Mimic. And that fact just makes it all the better.
Wow.
Massive props to Dutreix and crew for putting together one of the most compelling Sonic stories I've had the pleasure to read.
It might be easy to complain about the smaller amount of stories in this Annual, or about how many of the stories are connected to events that have not yet happened in the comic, but I tell ya, the quality and care put into the stories we got makes it all worth it. This is exactly what these Annuals are for.
Anyway, I think Issue 74 dropped about a half hour ago, so I'mma go read that, and get a review written sometime in the distant future, for sure.
Thanks for reading!
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After the shock of the Minecraft movie trailer has worn off on me, the more and more I'm genuinely disappointed by it.
I've been playing this game for at least a decade now, I don't quite know when I started playing it but I do know I was no older than eight. So many others grew up with this game as well, and to think what we've gotten is nothing more than a cheap cash grab riding the backs of celebrity names.
The most glaring issue is obviously the visuals. Why the hell did they think "live action" was a good idea? Minecraft never gloated about being at all realistic, in fact it did quite the opposite. It's a game where everything is made out of fucking CUBES WHY IS IT LIVE ACTION. IT'S NOT EVEN ENTIRELY LIVE ACTION, THE MAJORITY OF IT IS STILL CGI AND IT'S NOT EVEN GOOD CGI.
The visuals of the mobs are awful. Many people have compared them to those Minecraft Mobs in Real Life videos from 2015, and yeah they totally look like that. Not only is it just hideous, but there are so many amateur mistakes in the visuals. This movie is being produced by Warner Bros. While I'm not that familiar with their discography, they have made some movies that are so visually appealing. Like the Harry Potter movies (while I may not be fond of Harry Potter and especially not the author- I can admit the movies are still pretty) and the Iron Giant. So they are capable of making movies that look better than this abomination.
Also, can we talk about how I can probably tell you the main plot points of the movie just by seeing the trailer? This random group of people- who just so happens to look like various celebrities- get sucked into this video game world and they spend the first half of the movie trying to get back to their world. But oh no! After the halfway point this big bad villain that threatens to destroy this world is introduced and the main cast realizes that they don't actually want this world destroyed because they like it! So then they go through this rushed fight and even more rushed conclusion before going home. Roll credits.
It just looks like a Jumanji clone.
It is genuinely so disappointing that this is the game that we're getting, and I absolutely do hope it gets the Sonic treatment. I hope it gets so much negative feedback we at the very least get better visuals.
Minecraft is about creativity. You can't play the game the exact same way twice, and that's why it has such a large fanbase! Because there is a lot you can do with the story of the world you're in. There are tons of roleplays and smps on YouTube that back up this claim. Like Aphmau's MCD or Mystreet, the Empire's smp, Hermitcraft, even the DSMP was more interesting than this (from an outsider's pov btw, I only ever watched Ranboo.)
The movie feels like it was written and designed by people who didn't even know what Minecraft was before writing this.
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