#karen strassman crushed it for this game

[un-pearable]

and here's lloyd's lines. i love him dearly

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: Hope you like this. I feel this does Shadow, Rouge, Omega and Maria justice.

Tell me what you think when you get a chance.

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Voice Cast:

Shadow: Kirk Thornton

Maria Robotnik: Stephenie Sheh

Rogue The Bat and Abe: Karen Strassman

E-123 Omega and The G.U.N. Commander: Roger Craig Smith

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Sonic X Shadow Generations - Dark Beginnings; https://youtu.be/S7RTnNygRqE?si=7wV1L1r5lx9u2bj9

The choreography for the fight scenes are incredibly snappy, and Shadow, Omega, and Rouge have that great Team Dark synergy going again. The fact that Rouge wants to manipulate Shadow into doing something as silly as attending Sonic's Birthday Party is kind of funny, but I really doubt Shadow would go otherwise, so fair enough.

Omega constantly calling dibs and being upset when Shadow gets to explode a robot is pretty fun, and Shadow actually visibly pulling the escape pod lever to evacuate the G.U.N. mook was a really nice touch.

Commander Abe grew so much as a character off screen than he did in Shadow the Hedgehog, it's almost insane. But I love that they're paying attention to their own lore here. Also while Shadow was technically in stasis for 50 years, I like that they're still treating the loss of Maria as something that affects him like it's fresh. Because there's still so much that happened between then and now in the time Shadow has been awake, and in a lot of ways he only regained the memories of losing Maria recently on top of a lot of new trauma. So, like. I guess I'm just glad they're letting Sonic characters have realistic trauma again. Like, the comics are notorious for having Sonic's actual children literally disappeared from the timeline because timeline and time travel shenanigans meant they were literally never born, and Sonic has to tank that emotional hit with, like, the sadness of a guy that lost his favorite record collection in a fire and not, like A PARENT THAT HAD ALL HIS CHILDREN DIE IN A FREAK ACCIDENT. "Oh but it all turns out okay in the end they just get born later." NO. Sorry those are totally new kids and even if they were cell for cell the exact same kids that doesn't justify Sonic not being allowed to experience the crushing anguish he definitely would experience because "Sonic's not that kind of character and can't be too sad."

Like, nah, actually. They are funny little haha bouncy super-fast alien hedgehogs but they are STILL FUCKING PEOPLE. You do not get to put one of the literally hardest things a human can experience in the narrative and have the character shed 3 tears and shrug it off. "Oh but it's for kids--" who will grow up into adults and who will lose people important to them. Painting a character who is meant to be a children's role model as a guy who either can or HAS TO shrug off that kind of pain is basically telling kids "you might go through literally the hardest thing there is to experience in life. Don't cry too hard about it okay?" Like FUCK THAT. Not to even mention adult audiences that clearly read the material too who, you know, might ALSO have had such a terrible thing happen to them and the narrative barely gives that thing space to breathe before they go "Okay, everything's fixed now!"

So, yeah, I'm always going to be a little salty with narratives treating death as this cheap thing they can throw in to be like "oh a bad thing happened, but it's gonna be okay." As if death is a thing that exists for 10 seconds and then you get over it. I dunno, I've just never wanted death in narratives as something treated cheaply which is why in my own work I always think long and hard about whether characters need to die, even in my fanfic where my ultimate retcon is usually bringing a dead guy back to life. So I guess I just have mad respect for games and movies and shows that take this shit seriously. I know for a long time movies and games and shows for kids were supposed to be pure entertainment. The bad guy dying is just a way to eliminate the danger, the death of parents or community members or the fridging of women all serve as motivation for the heroes but aren't given much consideration beyond that, or death isn't mentioned at all and characters are subjected to fates worse than death so that darker themes can fly under the radar. And while I think it's noble and perfectly natural to want some children's media that focuses more on the adventure, pleasure, and fun of life and the narrative makes no allusion to or mention of death, I feel like we get so much of the other side of the coin too, where death is a flourish for easy fear and anguish that get plastered over with a happy ending but you're still not asked to consider it.

I think we get very little media that actually addresses something that most humans will go through. The deaths of people they care about. Even natural, expected, quiet deaths are painful. And it feels kind of strange that instead of offering audiences a safe and comfortable place to grapple with that unpleasantness, a lot of media asks us to skirt past it because it assumes doing so avoids the most unpleasantness and pain. And I really don't think it does. Grief, I think, is like a buckshot wound, and you have to do a lot of picking around in painful places to get all the bits and pieces out before any healing can happen. I'm not saying all media needs a designated 2 hour crying session where they play sad music and invite you to mourn the character that died or whomever in your life you have unresolved grief about. But I am saying that I think it's cowardly to not allow the deaths of important characters to haunt the narrative.

I recently had the opportunity to watch the Sonic movie. I know, I'm massively late to the party. I waited for it to show up on Netflix because that's the only streaming service I currently have and I'm morally opposed to and economically prevented from having 12 different subscription services just to watch everything as soon as it releases or else pay every time I want to see something in theaters no matter how old or new it is. And it's a good movie. But it bugged me a bit that the movie spent so little time on Longclaw. We skip all but the direct impact she had on Sonic. Maybe it gets addressed in the second movie. And I know a lot of time passes and it's meant to be his backstory, but we spend so little time absorbing that Sonic was chased out of his home and his initial mother figure literally died or at least seemed to die saving him. She lives on through the advice Sonic follows to stay safe on earth. But we're really expected to believe this tiny kid tanked both the loss of his home and his adoptive mother that easily? The only real resolution we get for that is the parallel of Tom thinking of leaving Green Hill and Sonic being shaken up by that because Tom is thinking of choosing to leave his home when Sonic himself had no choice in that. Longclaw gets one or two passing mentions.

We never see a body in the first movie so I'm assuming it's entirely possible they bring her back later on and they don't want us getting too sad about a character that isn't actually dead. But it still bugs me.

I suppose it's a personal thing for me, but I've always felt like if I have to or want to cause people pain in a narrative, I need to have a reason for it beyond "that's how you make this narrative work, that's the way stories are written." Then again, I'm the sort of person that almost unilaterally writes fluff and fix it fics, so maybe those are just the stories that resonate with me most. Maybe those are the stories I need, and everyone else needs stories where the narrative isn't haunted by characters long past. But, then again I resonated with Shadow before I even lost a grandparent, so maybe it's very little to do with personal circumstance at all. Maybe I just like suffering, any and all suffering, to be acknowledged for what it is and to ask the audience to consider the unfairness of a world where suffering exists because maybe it's just in my nature to want to beg the same from others, to consider how the world is unfair in the hopes that enough of us thinking about it will help the world to change.

[mangom1lk]

ideal sonic voice cast

(disclaimer: i have not seen prime so i will not be considering those voices)

sonic: this is the only one i really have to think about for an extended period of time. it really comes down to how you write the character. sonic is pretty flexible outside of some core traits. i like max mittelman and i also like ryan drummond. jason griffith eventually became great imo but i would probably not ask for him back (not as sonic, anyway...)

tails: colleen o'shaughnessy. every tails voice actor has improved on the last imo, colleen is great

knuckles: dan green. i get the scott drier love but he plays knux a bit too flatly for my tastes. dan green is quintessential knuckles to me. travis willingham was always perfectly fine though not quite to dan green's standard for me, and while i do really respect dave b. mitchell's attempt i just don't think he sounds quite right. he'd be a good pick for boom knuckles though... they really need to merge the boom stuff that worked into the mainline series

shadow: jason griffith. again, respect to david humphrey, but he's not for me. my issue is that his line reads just sound kinda weird a lot of the time? he has a pretty good shadow voice, but jason's always been pretty great as shadow even back in ShTH. kirk thornton is... fine, but you can tell he's an older guy and he speaks a little slowly for my liking. (though if we're fancasting, mr. chongoblog doesn't do too bad a job either... 😳)

rouge: kathleen delaney, hands down. lani manella was alright but i feel like her rouge voice is a bit basic? karen strassman just sounds awful, I'm sorry. she's the embodiment of post-Gens rouge where they made her sex appeal her only trait and cut out everything else. and that's basically the voice strassman does. if they restored her character in future titles she would not be a good pick.

omega: i have no idea? i feel like almost anyone could do a good omega voice given good direction and a proper voice filter. even maddie blaustien's 06 performance sounds pretty good after being sped up and filtered like in p-06. john st. john is my favorite but i could go with anyone here

amy: i like the performances of jennifer duliard and lisa ortiz in the games about equal. lisa ortiz seems to have lost the voice however? she came back for sonic and tails r and she sounds pretty different in that, in a worse way. cindy robinson is another miscast like roger craig smith, though a good pick for boom amy. modern amy has very little character because i guess they figured the sonic crush wouldn't go over well these days?

cream: 🤷‍♀️

big: please can we get john st john back 😭 whoever voices him in frontiers just does not do a good job

eggman: i love mike pollock just as much as the rest of you but... god, i miss deem bristow. that dude had RANGE. and i LOVE his eggman performances. they're so good. he sounds so threatening in one breath and maniacal in the next, i love it. eggman doesn't really have that kind of writing lately which isn't a problem but it is something i miss

silver: pete capella. quinton flynn sounds perfectly okay, though a bit softer which i don't feel really fits silver. whoever the current voice is, bryce... something? i've heard clips of him and i REALLY do not like those. capella is peak silver imo.

blaze: bella hudson. her modern actress doesn't sound quite right

[conceptmobius]

Hypothetical Interview

[a34trgv2]

Things That Would Be Cool To See In Sonic The Hedgehog 3

Amy Rose as a Supporting Character: I think it'd make sense to have Amy as a supporting player in the 3rd film as she and Sonic go as far back as Sonic CD in 1993. My top candidate choices for her voice include Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Anna Faris and her currant voice actress Cindy Robinson.

Gerald Robotnik as the Main Human Antagonist: Considering the 3rd movie is taking inspiration from Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog, it makes sense that Gerald would have a prominent role. I don't know if Jim Carrey will come back, but in case he doesn't, I don't think it'd be a stretch to have Gerald be played by a different actor. I'd think it'd be really clever to have Gerald make videos about his studies about Shadow and before the climax our heroes discover the final video in which he condemns humanity for the death of Maria (like the game).

At Least 3 Flashbacks (or a 10 minute prologue) About Shadow and Maria: Sonic 1 and 2 had this habit of rushing through the prologue and flashbacks. For this film, I think it'd be beneficial/imperative to dedicate ample time to show Maria and Shadow's relationship. Not only would it show that Shadow wasn't always a villain, it would also show why Maria meant so much to Shadow and Gerald.

Crush 40 Music: I'm not sure why the last 2 Sonic movies lacked Crush 40 music, but I never faulted them for not including them. Still, I think it would be absolutely sweet if the film blasted Live and Learn in the trailers and climax of the film. Maybe as a bonus they could provide a new song to play during the credits.

A Nod/Post-Credit Scene For Team Chaotix: We all know it's just a matter of time before Team Chaotix makes their debut in the movies. I think it'd be a good idea to plant the seeds for their arrival with an Easter Egg or reference to them. I wouldn't mind a post-credit scene dedicated to them as they get ready to take on a new case.

Rouge Showing Up: I think it'd be nice to have Rouge show up in either a cameo or as a supporting player. I suspect she might be given a more subtle outfit, but I think having her wear her classic outfit is cool too. As for who could voice her, my choices are Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Zazie Beets, Margot Robbie, and her current voice Karen Strassman.

Tom and Maddie Helping Sonic During The Climax: Tom and Maddie have always let Sonic do what he has to do to save the day. I think it'd be cool if in the 3rd film, Tom and Maddie also got in on the action. Maybe piloting planes, manning gattlinng guns, taking down robots, all that cool stuff.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles Helping Around Green Hills: I think it'd be really sweet to see this iconic trio helping around Green Hills. Tails could be cleaning up cobwebs from high places, Sonic helping plant flowers and Knuckles punching down trees for fire wood. I think this would be a cool way to show how accepted these guys are in their small town.

Showing Just How Powerful Shadow Is: Obviously I expect Shadow is gonna have layers to his character. At the same time, the filmmakers shouldn't shy away from just how powerful he is. He's strong, he's fierce, he fast and he destructive. Chaos Blast is among his most powerful abilities, and if it's used in the movie, I suspect it'll cause a lot of damage. I think it'd be so epic seeing Shadow let loose.

[classicdaisycalico]

🔥 for the Sonic series as well ;)

Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

Hoo boy you just opened another entire can of worms here

So uhhh let’s get started shall we?

First of all, people need to stop bitching about whether or not the classic games are the best or the Adventure-era games or the modern games. All Sonic games have their ups and downs. To say that their greatness stopped after [insert Sonic game here] is really rude and puts down a lot of other people who genuinely like the series and all it has to offer.

With this in mind, I genuinely like Sonic ‘06…at least, in theory. If Sega hadn’t rushed it the way they did (and I feel awful about all the pressure that was put on them in order to put something out there), then I’m sure we would have had a genuinely excellent game and we definitely wouldn’t have as much of a divide in the fandom. Of course, I am not without my fair share of opinions on it, though.

Let’s just get right down to it, shall we? We didn’t need Elise and that awkward “romantic” subplot. It felt kinda…forced in some ways? Furthermore I don’t even think that the princess in the story should have been Elise. It should have been Blaze. She could still be the same character implemented in the exact same way and everything, but carrying all of Elise’s role in the story would have made SO much more sense. It would give her a larger reason to be a part of the storyline, too. Also…SOL Dimension? SOLeanna? SOL Emeralds? SOLaris? Sega missed out on a golden opportunity here. I think they should hire me for a remake of this game.

Speaking of Blaze, WHERE WAS SHE IN FORCES?! I know she’s gonna show up in IDW at some point, I think, but if the Phantom Ruby can mess with other dimensions, then Blaze popping up in the in-game story could have made sense. Also, where was Big in all this? Where was Cream? And her mom? And most importantly, where were all the Chao and the animal buddies? Sonic games aren’t the same without Chao :(

Now let’s change the subject here and get to the voice actors. I genuinely like this voice cast a lot. Roger’s voice still sits a little too deep for a 15 year old, I think, but he delivers the snark so well it’s grown on me.

I like that Cindy Robinson doesn’t sound too Minnie Mouse with her take on Amy, but I still like Liza Ortiz’s slightly better since her 12 year old voice is a little more believable.

Quinton Flynn makes a good Silver. His voice doesn’t bite as much as Pete Capella’s voice used to. Quinton sounds much…calmer? But he still manages to capture both the vulnerability in his voice and the strong sense of justice he maintains.

Kirk Thornton is doing an amazing job with Shadow. I know he had a little bit of trouble adjusting in earlier games but he has improved so much. I don’t like his take on Boom!Shadow, though. He didn’t have to make him sound so gruff.

Kathleen Delaney’s voice for Rouge was absolutely atrocious. Bringing Karen Strassman in was such an enormous relief. I like how she implement’s Rouge’s coy and witty nature, but Lani Minella still holds out as my #1 Rouge VA.

Speaking of Rouge, people need to understand that Rouge is not just your stereotypical “sexy female character”. Being flirty and confident is party of her personality, yes, but it’s both of those things that contribute to what is undoubtedly the biggest part of her character: her wits. Rouge can use what her mama gave to manipulate any enemy ever and later physically kick their ass in a matter of seconds. That’s pretty badass, in my book.

Speaking of female characters, Amy is more than her crush on Sonic, and the writers need to figure this out. Amy is a dedicated girl who throws her heart and soul into all that she does, and if she’s ever fighting alongside her friends, she’ll fight to the death for everyone there that she loves. Yeah, she just so happens to be more vocal and physically aggressive than most, particularly when it comes to Sonic, but she is only 12, after all. And even then, her crush has been significantly toned down, which I appreciate, since it means the writers are finally getting it.

Speaking of the writers, I notice that a lot of people complain about Pontac and Graff’s way about writing storylines for a lot of the games recently. And yes, that is true; while I do like the way they write humor, the things I don’t like are the plotholes that seem to stay empty at times, and some minor characterization things. While they do get the big picture about certain characters’ thoughts and actions, it’s the small stuff they seem to overlook, and missing all the small things can add up and make the characters overall attitude in a game seem off.

Speaking of characterization, I’m still bitter about the way they handled Infinite’s backstory. SO MUCH MORE could have been done with him, and yet his motivation for becoming what he became was chalked all up to simply being bored with the current state of the world. I’m not bitter lol

Lastly, let’s get to ships. There are a few that I’m not completely on board with, and shipping Knuckles with Rouge basically tops the list. I always feel like I’m one of the only people on this hellsite that doesn’t ship the two together (anyone who knows me knows that Shadouge is my OTP for the Sonic series). I just feel like there’s a stronger bond and overall sense of closeness that Shadow and Rouge has that Knuckles and Rouge doesn’t. Most of the time, their interactions are generally negative and sometimes even played up for comic relief. I don’t see those kinds of interactions culminating into a relationship, I just don’t.

I’m not on board with Sonaze, either. Sorry guys! I feel like Blaze wouldn’t want to ruin one of her first real friendships with someone who she used to hate. Friendship has become something really special to Blaze, and trying to move beyond it, especially with someone who is not on board with romantic relationships most of the time, would probably not be the best move to make, anyway. I think it’s for the best if she left her friendship as it was.

Shadamy is a little unsettling. Shadow saw a comparison in Amy to Maria in Sonic Adventure 2, right? So at best, I think he sees her as something akin to a little sister figure, just like how Shadow saw with Maria. Also, I haven’t seen much interaction between the two of them since then (with a few minor exceptions, of course). So…how would that make any sense? (It’s through this reasoning that I can’t ship Shadow with Maria, either. Aside from the fact that she’s a literal human. Who is also currently dead.)

With all the times Sonic and Shadow have faced off against each other, I don’t see Sonadow happening. While they do harbor a mutual respect for one other, their personalities clash immensely, and pointing out their shit to each other every time that happens can turn ugly very quickly. The fact that it’s been going on for so long only justifies that reasoning further. (Sorry, guys!)

Phew. Okay. I’m done. Hopefully I don’t get crucified or burned at the stake or anything for this. (Especially that last bit. I swear I’m not homophobic, at least…I try not to be. Anyone who follows me would know that I try to educate myself on any LGBT+ issues as much as I can.)

Uhhh so that’s that. Hope you enjoy reading through all of this!