#if you're the anon that also asked for some analysis on kyle & wendy

[the-cryptographer]

Sonic X!Rogue/Knuckles for the meme

B-But I haven’t watched more than five episodes ofSonic X  :’)  I actually hadn’t seen any of it prior to about a month ago? I’d like to watch more but it’s a work in progress, anon.

So the only real KnuxRouge content I’m familiar with is the second SonicAdventure. That’s where most of this is coming from. Under the cut~

when I started shipping it if I did:

When Knuckles saved her from falling after theirbattle at Meteor Herd. They had the hand hold moment. And then Rouge called hima creep that only saved her so that he could hold her hand. A+ dialogue. It wasgood. Very good.

my thoughts:

idk, KnuxRouge is very tropey, but I am weak. Therewas a femme fatale character. There was a sweet and strong and smart but inexperienceand dense af guy who probably wouldn’t know what flirting was if it kissed himon the nose. There was a conflict based in different ideological values. I’msorry, it was inevitable.

I suspect I would’ve started shipping it earlier ifI had played this game later in my life. At that time I was a little moretentative and relying on canon evidence before shipping. Now I’m all aboutmixing strong personalities and romance in hypothetical combinations and fuckcanon.

What makes me happy about them:

They’re both strong characters who seem to carrymore or less equal weight in the collision of their relationship. I’m actuallykind of surprised that the writers managed to not make it so that Rouge wasn’tovershadowed by Knuckles, despite the fact that he already had an established placein the series.

Also, I like that there’s a certain amount of…unseriousness to their struggle. A playfulness. Unlike Sonic and Eggman andTails legit murder attempts… For all the heatedness of Knuckles and Rouge clashingin their different ideas about duty and responsibility, when things ultimately startedtaking a more serious and fatal turn, they both came through for each otherinstead of for themselves. (I kind of joked about this before, but I do kind ofwonder if Rouge and shattering the Master Emerald do become part of a flimsyexcuse for Knuckles to justify leaving the tedium of sitting around on AngelIsland playing bodyguard to a rock.)

And, aw, the banter is fun.

What makes me sad about them:

That SA2’s plot is so, soooo bad. In terms of thisship in specific, it makes me sad that their big moment is the second time Rougewas damseled over the course of this game. And neither time she’s damseledmakes even the slightest bit of sense. What?!She’s going to fall from a great height into a pit of space lava?! She’s afucking bat!!! She can fly!!! And arguably she won that fightagainst Knuckles and, aaaaargh!!! Andthen the first time she’s damseled, she’s trapped in the military base by thepeople she’s working for as a double agent. It just makes zero sense. The plotof this game was so filled with holes and contrived BS. And I’m not evengetting into the gameplay mechanics. Ship deserved better.

In a less meta and more in-universe sense… I dothink in a romantic or otherwise emotionally intimate context, Rouge is aboutfive thousand times more adept than Knuckles. She could run circles around him,and I’m not sure you could trust her not to be manipulative about it, even ifshe had the best intentions. And she doesn’t always have the best intentions…

things done in fanfic that annoy me & things I look for in fanfic:

I haven’t really read any in detail. I pulled upsome Sonic stuff recently and was reminded uncomfortably of fanfiction relatedtropes specific to fandoms dominated by male fans. A lot of power fantasystuff, and dark morality themes that liked to think themselves complex but werereally simplistic and unsubtle, and female characters being victimised orotherwise uncritically robbed of their agency. None of this was about Knouge,but it kinda put me off the fandom. I’m sure there’s good fic hiding somewhere,but it put me off on looking for it for the time being.

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

um, idk? I have a fondness for Julie-Su/Knuckles inthe comics, even though I do think the characterisation work wasn’t always veryclever. I like the other lady Echidnas with Knux too – so Knuckles/Tikal andKnuckles/Shade are both okay, imo. I think the Knuckles/Sally friendship in thecomics was really well constructed – the way it was set up around them havingthese similar but conflicting obligations was really clever – it couldtheoretically make a great romance. And for some reason I feel utterly charmedby the idea of Knuckles/Shadow after seeing those couple of comics about them.

For Rouge… I really don’t know… I know Rouge/Shadowis popular, and I think it could be good in the hypothetical – certainlythey’ve made a more stable team than Rouge&Knux – but… idk, in terms ofcanon it feels like there’s been quite a bit of Rouge taking interest in andcare towards Shadow as an individual, and not a lot of reciprocation whereShadow really considers Rouge beyond her capacity as an ally. It just seemslike a relationship very centred around /his/ needs and /his/ existential angst.Even when Shadow goes out of his way to save Rouge’s life, it feels like it’sset up as Shadow wanting to come to terms with his own morality and define forhimself what he’s spiritually capable of rather than ‘wow, I care about Rougenot dying’. All of which kind of turns me away from the idea that Shadow would everbe romantically interested in her in a way that could possibly respect that shehas her own needs and goals and values. I mean, I think this is up forinterpretation, and I think their relationship is interesting and could developin all sorts of ways… so I’m not really against the ship, but I remain kind ofunconvinced as of now.

Ugh, I feel like Rouge femslash should be where it’sat, but… who would I pair her with other than Amy? (no.) jfc, why are importantsonic female characters in such short supply?!? and why isn’t Rouge close toany of them?!?

My happily ever after for them:

Rouge decides to stash her hoard of gems on AngelIsland. She reasons that, because they’re stored with the Master Emerald, theMaster Emerald is also part of her collection. Knuckles humours her.

I think they’re often occupied with their ownobsessions and work. They probably spend long months away from each other whenKnuckles is doing Guardian work of one type or another, and Rouge is offtreasure hunting or working as a spy. They kind of reconvene and do battlecouple things together. They probably like travelling and treasure huntingtogether too, or otherwise visiting friends on the mainland.

I’m not sure how interspecies furry babies work, butthey may have a kid. ‘One. Only one,’Rouge says. The kid spends more time with Knuckles, training to be the nextGuardian. But they’re a little more enamoured with Rouge’s lifestyle – has a tastefor grand adventure and glamour. Knuckles’s life is struggle. Much compromise andreworking the system happens in the process of trying to reconcile expectations.

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Rouge is little spoon.A little more like their animal counterparts, I imagine Knuckles is about twiceRouge’s size. So it’s very big big spoon, and very little little spoon.

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

I think it’s included in that happy ending up there.Treasure hunting? Visiting friends? Digging through archaeological sitestogether, maybe. Does that overlap too much with treasure hunting? It’s aboutthe journey rather than the destination, though~

They both like swimming too right? They visit hiddenhot springs and oases and relax.

Thanks anon!!