#like robotnik is so damn interesting

[esosage]

God i need more movie robotnik angst! Like my man is prime angst material and theres just not enough for him!

Need him to be sobbing, and crying, and haveing a mental breakdown.

Especially when it involves stone, since it forces him to let his walls down, and bear his soul to the other man wether he likes it or not. Which could really offer some interesting developments in their relationship.

I can see movie eggman being very antsy after he has a mental break down infront of stone, since he's primarily waiting for the other to either take advantage of him or leave him. Since thats probobly what he's experienced in relationships up till now (with the whole trust issues thing.)

Infact, i'd say he gets so antsy that he becomes a self fulfilling profocy. Being so pent up, and not beliveing stone has anything but maliciouse intent twards him now, he lashes out at the other. Saying some real horrible shit in an attempt to push him away before stone can hurt him.

He ends up secretly regretting it after the fact. He tries to convince himself that its better this way, or that he doesn't care, or that he likes hurting the other, in attempt to cover up that guilt, but he knows deep down that its just not true. Even so, that doesnt stop him from returning back to old habbits to cope with being in a very unframiliar situation: aka him being a dick. Maybe not directly to stone this time, but by avoiding him. He isn't really angry at stone, more so angry at himself, but he doesnt have the emotional intelligence to recognize that. So he tries to put up walls. In his mind hes gotten far to attached to stone and needs to cut the other man out before he has a one up over him, or uses robotniks emotions against him. But robotnik just cant do it. He cant force himself to get rid of stone, he cant force himself to just fire the man, because stone is the only person who takes care of robotnik.

Now, robotnik doesnt think that stone genuinlly cares for him, he doesnt think anyone is capable of that, but stone does give him attention. Attention, that he despretly seeks and searches for. Infact, stone has probobly cared for robotnik, more than anyone else before. Which isnt a high bar, since robotnik isn't exactly a likeable person, but its still a very big thing for a robotnnik. Because in his whole life, stone is one of the very few people who has cared about him somewhat, and managed to stick around him for this long without gwtting tired of his bulshit. And as someone who has been longing and desperate for attention their entire life, who craves it, robotnik just cant give stone up. Regardless of if stone huets him or not, because he doesn't think he'll find anyone else who will care for him as much as stone does.

Of course, he never acknowledges this, because to him, saying that he needs the agent on such a deep level is admitting to being weak. Since he's supposed to be untouchable (and perfect.) And he much less has enough emotional intelligence to understand this, so he puts up walls instead, in the hopes that stone will do it for him. That stone, just like everyone else, will get sick of his bullshit and leave. (He doesnt really want this in reality. But because he's in such an unframilar situation, hes resorting back to old habbits and lashing out to feel more incontrol. Because theres nothing robotnik hates more, than not being in control, because in his mind, if hes not incontrol then he's going to get hurt.)

Thankfully for robotnik though, stone is crazy and refuses to leave. He might have before robotnik had the mental breakdown, since he didnt belive the doctor genuinlly cared about him before then, but after the mental breakdown, he knows that the doctor cares about him more than he's letting on. So he refuses to leave, because he knows somethings up with the doctor, and he's not going until its fixed. Careing more about robotniks wellbeing than his own, (regardless of how unhealthy it is.)

This confuses to robotnik till no end, and sets his mind down another spiral. Because normally, your mean to people and they leave, but stone isn't doing that...... why? Thats the part that catches robotnik up the most: the why. In robotniks mind, he's an asshole, he knows he is, he plays into it sometimes, and thusly he thinks nobody can care about him. That because he's a horrible person, and because, in his mind, he'll never be anything but one, its simply impossible for anyone to care, much less love him. So he doesnt think stone is capable of loveing him. Which begs the question of why stone is staying.

If stone doesn't love him, and has every reason to leave him right now outside of the pay, why stay? Does he want revenge? Does he have a card up his sleeve? Is he trying to take robotnik down? Is that why he's been more nosey lately?

All of those are questions floating in robotniks head. His trust issues takeing his anxiety twards the issue and going wild. Which naturally sends robotnik down a paranoid spyral.

All of this, culminates in another argument. Stone demanding to know whats wrong, and robotnik eventually slipping up in the moment, and admiting that he thinks stone hates him, and is trying to sabatouge him.

The agent vehemently goes against this motion, claiming he would never tries that, and that he doesn't hate robotnik. Of course, due to his trust issues, robotnik doesnt buy it. Combating this with the "facts" he has gathered thus far. Asking why stone would stay with him otherwise if it wasn't to gain something.

Another thing the agent opposes, stuttering over his words to avoid saying the obviouse, but just enough to hopefully convince robotnik when he says he cares. Though robotnik keeps pushing back, still not buyinh it.

And exaughsted, stone just screams out rhe truth in the hopes that it will get through the others thick skull. Admiting that he loves robotnik, and thats why he stays, because he cares about him dammit!

This leaves robotnik floored, he doesn't belive it at first, can't fathom the thought of someone actually being in love with someone like him outside of what he can give them (relationships arw transactional in his mind,) but hes putting up a lot less ressistancdñe than before. And while he doesnt want ot admit it, logically speaking, it would explain t a lot of things.

Eventually robotnik does something slightly emotionally intelligent for once in his damn life, and asks for a moment, (he doesnt say its to prosess his emotions, but its deffinetly implied,) and he asks stone to leave.

This obviously leaves the other anxiouse, wondering if he did something wrong in admiting his feelings, but he complies. Thr two on their own to process everything..

They end up haveing a conversation about it later once they've calmed down, (something stone had to initiate,) and it ends up being productive! The two of them planning a path forward for the both of them (with no romance by robotniks request) and they begin to work on things.. very slowly yes, and with a lot of cognitive disonence on robotniks part (he still cant admit that he cares, much less loces stone yet, even if he does,) but its progress and stone is satisfied with it.

Anyhow, sorry i went on a ramble, my thoughts decided to just go this way lol. Regardless, my point still stands, robotnik is a very deep and interesting character, and deserves to ve explored more. And also deserves a hell of a lot more angst.

Thank you for listening to my bullshit.

[blueikeproductions]

I’ve said before Transformers has struggled recently with its villains and recent material doesn’t change this.

Ever since this happened…

We’ve largely been stuck with poor man’s Vegeta Megatron.

And as such the series has lost its main villain, and become directionless.

The modern version of this trend started with Rescue Bots & RiD15, but it made sense in their respective series, and the replacement villains were treated like actual villains and are fondly remembered because of that.

It’s also not the first time Megatron was succeeded in leadership, as the Marvel Comics did this shockingly frequently.

With RatBat being the most unique case, in that he was the only one who largely succeeded in his efforts, and was a result of sincerely wanting to try something different.

I think that sincerity is long gone in favor of brand stagnation and “DEI” despite the later going out the door as of typing.

The usual replacement tends to be Galvatron, often depicted as an evolved Megatron through mystical means.

But Hasbro seems very reluctant to use Galvatron lately for whatever reason, instead usually having him as a (technically) separate character if he does show up.

Cyberverse kinda shows the current problem two fold. The bad writers convinced themselves they wrote a sympathetic Megatron when the writing shows him to still be certifiably insane and going through what is essentially an on the nose bad break up with Optimus. This extended to Megatron somehow being worthy of using the Matrix, and able to use it, despite Decepticons never typically being able to, and imply Optimus isn’t worthy of the Matrix, but never follow up on it.

To convince themselves and the audience that the regular CV Megatron was still a good person despite his atrocities, the writers pulled an Archie Sonic, and brought on their own Robo-Robotnik in Megatron X.

He too is apparently worthy of the Matrix and able to use it, despite completely destroying Cybertron and most, if not all, of its non Perfectcon inhabitants.

(To be fair, the idea of a Decepticon being able to use the Matrix goes back to Marvel G1 Thunderwing, but his actions helped corrupt the Matrix, creating the Dark Matrix Creature, but Cyberverse never states this is the case at all. This isn’t really a popular concept the series goes back to either, making Cyberverse the outlier.)

This ties back to Hasbro’s reluctance on Galvatron, as X was originally supposed to BE Galvatron in a Marvel G1 homage, but Hasbro said no.

So we’ve been left with a weird, but non committed, experimental phase of trying out different Villians to less than stellar results…

(Mandroid and Scourge are pretty good villains, but Mandroid quickly succumbed to bad writing, & Scourge was fairly quickly killed off, with no clear intent to go back to the Terrorcons and have a Movie Cyclonus based on the Armada version to take Scourge’s place.)

This feeds back into fan complaints about Hasbro’s unwillingness to try new things I’ve seen recently. In context the complaint was more wanting another Beast Wars like thing with new factions and new non G1 characters.

Like we HAVE been getting that with the Terrans and Terrorcons, but it’s clear kids aren’t that interested in them, and adult fans are as fickle as ever and not supporting it super well either. TFONE is pry the most damning, where it’s doing poorly across the planet theatrically, despite trying a new non-evergreen art style, and a much better version of Aligned/IDW caste system that simplifies it to Cogs & Cogless.

It’s not for lack of trying, but it’s also not grabbing kids well either.

This weird flip flopping recently came into play with Galactic Trials, the crappy looking racing game.

The game casts Nemesis Prime as the main villain, who tried to steal the relics of the Primes, but fail and cast the Chaos Emeralds, er, relics across the galaxy.

Here’s the weird part: this happens before the Great War began, with the Autobots and Decepticons now finding out in the present and scrambling to collect the relics for themselves. The story isn’t expanded and confuses things. Nemesis typically isn’t even a Prime, but a Decepticon clone of Optimus. Barring a few exceptions, the main deviation this MIGHT be referencing is IDW Nova Prime, who briefly became Nemesis Prime, powered by a Matrix like relic from the Dead Universe.

So does that mean in this universe the Matrix chose a guy literally named Nemesis to be Prime? Is this actually supposed to be Nova Prime via IDW? Is this Orion Pax’s black sheep of the product line? So many questions this game isn’t going to answer.

This is the frustrating part about all this. I like that they’re trying to branch out still, and I liked Nemesis Prime in IDW and back when he was Scourge in RiD01, but…

He’s kinda pointless here.

Why are we using a “new” character for a failing on launch, not-mobile game, when the plot would be much simpler in that Megatron or Starscream raided the vault of the Primes only for Optimus to intervene and launch the relics into space. Why is Nemesis the villain? For that matter, since it’s a racing game, shouldn’t the Stunticons be the villains?

This is where CyberWorld might be the make or break now.

I think slowly but surely, Hasbro is recognizing their past ideas on overusing antihero Megatron isn’t working, and that they need to properly commit to a successor if they don’t want Megatron to be a villain anymore.

Going by toy leaks, it appears they’ve decided to go BACK to Galvatron proper, but they also include Scorponok, who’s typically cast as a leader in some capacity (excluding Beast Wars).

(Until we learn more, I’m leaning towards their roles being similar to Superlink’s.)

So I think that’s a step in the right direction so far; going for Skybound’s aim of familiar but, they’re willing to pivot under better writing.

I think that’s where TFONE D-16 doesn’t work as a concept.

Like it if not, casual audiences and kids aren’t that invested in the idea of a wide eyed good boi Megatron who fell from grace or wants to redeem.

They want these kinds of power hungry megalomaniacal Megatrons, who are willing to go the extra mile just to upstage Optimus to stroke their own ego. Not high school bosom buddies with gay lover subtext that Stereotypical Tumblr-Twitter wants. And hopefully with what we’ve seen with Skybound, we’re going back to that Megatron soon. And if we don’t go back to Megatron strictly, then Galvatron might be the way to go cartoon wise.

[dr-spectre]

After 19 years, they finally let Shadow use a gun again.

Let's. Fucking. GOOOOOOO!!!!!!! WOOHOOO!!!!!

Im gonna be for real with you guys, I'm cautiously optimistic about this movie. Because on one hand, everything to do with Shadow and Adventure 2 looks absolutely spectacular and everything i wanna see out of an adaptation of an IP that I hold near and dear.

But.... when this blue fucker talks... UGH.

"Somebody better call Google Maps."

"Konichi-whaaaaat?"

"Trickshot!"

"Dude... I'm standing right here."

"Okay he took us all at once."

SHUT UP!!!!! GOD JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!!! SONIC DOESN'T TALK LIKE THIS!!!! HE NEVER DID!!! CAN YOU STOPPPP!!!! Sonic is a guy who knows when to take shit seriously but always has a feeling of fun around him. He's like "aww yeah bring it on! Let's go!" He's not making references to fucking god damn google maps or olive garden.

"But it's an adaptation and they are gonna make changes." And I think those changes fucking suck and movie Sonic feels barely anything like game Sonic. Movie Tails is fine, movie Knuckles is okay and it's clear that they mixed in a lot of different elements across his appearances into a single character, movie Eggman is good because it's fucking Jim Carrey, and movie Shadow looks absolutely phenomenonal... but Sonic? No man... nuh uh...

Knuckles is written perfectly decently and I liked the Detective Pikachu joke because it sorta makes sense and fits because they are in Japan and Tails is a fluffy yellow creature. But everything to do with Sonic is just... no. Stop. Enough. God damn.

Im not saying Sonic can't have fun and can't make jokes, I'm just saying that they need to handle it better, because one of my least favourite things in media is when you have something with a lot of emotions and personal stuff that's so intriguing and interesting, and it gets undermined and trampled over by awful jokes.

It's like this movie is being written by two different writing teams, one team that loves Sonic and the Adventure titles, and another team who's just a bunch of Hollywood writers that have been fed a diet of mediocre action comedy movies and Joss Whedon movies.

I really wanna fully love what I'm seeing here, but I can't ignore the blue stain that's bringing it down....

Im also really worried about what they are gonna do with Gerald Robotnik but I have a feeling that Eggman is slowly gonna realise that Gerald is more crazy than he first thought and that there's gonna be a twist in the movie. There HAS to be one and we're gonna see the insane Gerald we know from SA2, right?.... RIGHT?!??!! I HOPE SO!!! OR ELSE IM GONNA GET REALLY MAD!

Sorry if I seem negative, I'm just voicing my opinions and i don't want others to get swept up in the hype and think that this movie is gonna be a masterpiece and have their thoughts muffled. Because this movie won't be a masterpiece, no movie can be.

Im not saying that if you are excited for this movie then you're a dummy, fuck no, IM EXCITED TOO!!! I GREW UP WITH THE BLUE RAT! IM A LONG TIME FAN!! BUT IM ALSO REALLY NERVOUS!!

All I'm hoping for is that I walk out of the theatre and I feel satisfied and happy. I dont wanna feel mixed, I don't wanna feel like my time has been wasted, I wanna feel like this movie is fucking great. And I'm praying with all of my damn heart that it is.

[thevioletscout]

Got to see Sonic 3 early at a fan event! If you saw a brunette white girl in a black and white striped jacket who had keychains on her cat backpack of a dark chao and knockoff Shadow, that was probably me.

Gonna share my thoughts because I need to. Spoilers under the cut.

- I personally still like 2 the most. That doesn't mean 3's bad, it was great, but 2 just felt like a stronger film.

- I was honestly pretty wary about Keanu Reeves as Shadow, but I think he did excellent, and for a very peculiar reason that surprised myself; At certain points, he sounds like a teenager. Obviously its the kind of gruff Shadow voice we’re all used to, but there were times he would sound strangely youthful, and its a nice reminder that despite the 50 year stasis, despite the ultimate lifeform thing- Shadow's still a kid, just like Team Sonic.

- My brother even pointed out that Commander Walter objected to shooting the Robotniks and Shadow when they were escaping because "they're kids!" He said kids, plural.

- I think Jim Carrey did great as both Eggman and Gerald Robotnik. There was even a scene near the end where he was downright scary as the latter. That said, I wasn't a big fan of many of the scenes where they interacted. It kinda felt like the plot of the movie would get pulled to a grinding halt so we could just watch extended Jim Carrey comedy. I could probably be in the minority about this, and I can accept that, I just personally think cutting out some of the bits would have helped the movie flow a bit better.

- Fight scenes were so cool. It's not usually something I’d care that much about, but I think with Sonic in general getting the action right is a huge draw, and damn did this get it right.

- I'm not a big fan of Maria's illness not being referenced at all. I can kinda understand it because they're on Earth the whole time now, not in space, but it removes a lot of the important factors of Maria's character. It especially feels bad in the wake of Sonic x Shadow Generations, where the effects of her condition were actually shown, and when compared to the Wicked movie adaptation where they actually went out of their way to do a more respectful depiction of a wheelchair user.

- I like her using rollerskates though. That feels like a cute parallel between her and Shadow, and that could have been an interesting detail Robotnik worked into Shadow's design if he was actually made by him in this version.

- Sidenote, I swore that the whole Shadow was found in a meteor thing was a coverup for the real story, but no thats just his origin in the movies. That definitely carries some interesting implications for Shadow in the SCU.

- They kinda cutely referenced Sonic and Shadow looking alike, but otherwise it didn’t affect anything. G.U.N. didn't even try to use that to frame Sonic for what Shadow was doing. I kinda don't mind that though, I think there's enough retroactive implications to draw from.

- I wasn't sure they would actually use Live & Learn, but they did and holy shit it was so worth it! And Sonic and Shadow did the Adventure 2 pose!!! Theater went nuts, and I was going nuts with them.

- I'm once again probably going to be in the minority about this, but I kinda wish we got more Tom and Maddie. Like it or not, they were major characters in the previous movies, but in this one they just feel like they're there. I would say that it probably would have made Tom's near death experience more impactful, but to be fair my entire theater was in shock and scared out of their minds that they actually killed him so I think it was plenty impactful.

- They just straight up yeeted Gerald into incineration. I get it, there was no other neat way to take him out but damn. Tails and Knuckles killed a man.

- And finally the mid-credits scene holy shit.

- Okay so- I want you guys to know that I was a "Amy's secretly in the movie" truther. Every time Team Sonic was in trouble I was waiting for Amy to suddenly make her debut. I had this vision of her hammer being the first thing we see before Amy herself is slowly revealed. And yet, nothing. Every time they would find a different way out and around the G.U.N. infiltration I finally accepted that Amy wasn't going to appear.

- But then that scene during the credits. Sonic is confronted by Metal Sonic- who looks FANTASTIC btw. That's when I knew we were probably getting Amy next, but I wasn't sure when and how. Then Sonic gets surrounded by several of the metal copies, and like I predicted; first we see her hammer, flying through the air as it takes out several of the bots. Then we see her, dressed in a cloak to hide her features just a bit longer. Finally, she puts the hood down and- GOD SHE'S SO CUTE, I LOVE HER.

- I cannot impress upon you how crazy everyone in the theater went. We love this pink hedgehog.

- Wade only had one scene thank fuck.

There were probably a few other misc things I can talk about but I need more time to process it all. As I said to someone sitting in front of me; "How am I supposed to wait another two years???"

EDIT: ONE MORE THOUGHT

- One thing I find interesting is that after Shadow escapes, he just wants to be left alone. Most of what he's doing when Team Sonic finds him is just self defense from G.U.N. If I remember correctly he even tries to tell Sonic and the others to just walk away, and he dips on the motorcycle as soon as he's able to, once again warning them not to follow. He even spares Sonic and simply handcuffs him to something when the fight's over. It seems like it isn't until Gerald finds him that the revenge plan even gets started for him. He didn't want to go out of his way to hurt anyone, he just wanted to grieve in peace. Unironically, such a good understanding of Shadow's character.

[samobservessonic]

Oooh, so we’ve got a Stringer story with art from Kitching (and John Burns) this time. It opens with our villainous duo confirming without a shadow of a doubt that the Emerald Hill Zone is empty. Robotnik takes this better than I thought he would, quickly deciding to move his focus to other zones after some encouragement from Grimer

We get a non-game zone with the interesting note that this place had been largely left alone by Robotnik before now. I like this as a story direction - the Freedom Fighters evacuated Emerald Hill for the safety of the people there, but the consequence is that Robotnik’s now targeting other people who he ignored before. It’s a bit more interesting than just having the heroes win without anything coming of that. Since we know that the Emerald Hill folk will be on the Floating Island for a good long time, I’m sure we’ll see plenty of how the rest of Mobius is affected by this

I’m sorry for posting three full pages in a row, but you gotta respect the panelling and a big cool dinosaur badnik deserves its full reveal

Ouch, embarrassing for Sonic lol

Wait, Tails is where? We’ve not heard anything about Tails visiting the Special Zone up until now and that doesn’t seem to happen in the other stories in this issue. I can only assume that means that this story was perhaps intended to run at a different time than it did

Since this is a Stringer story, we get a surprise appearance from his best boy, Shortfuse. Hey, if it works, it works. I’m never sad to see Shortfuse turn up

I guess the downside of being made out of the strongest metal on the planet is that Robotnik figured he could just make more robots out of that

Shortfuse & Sonic team up, while Amy stuns the big badnik with a bolt from her crossbow. Johnny doesn’t do much, but to be fair on him, there’s not much he really could contribute here with his short-ranged weapon. It’s okay Johnny, when I’m playing Hades Game, I also prefer to use the short-ranged weapons myself

Damn, I didn’t expect Shortfuse to go down that quickly

We end on a cliffhanger, with Sonic about to meet the same fate. Now, I know I’ve said a lot of times that I’m not huge on some of the robot designs from outside of the games, but this one is cool! A big robot dinosaur rampaging a city is a pretty universally awesome concept, so I’m enjoying this story and look forward to seeing more of it next time

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground watchalong – final thoughts

So I watched all of Sonic Underground again, in the hope of finding inspiration for a fic I’ve been writing for years. Check out either the watchalong or the fic, if you’re interested!

Because I was writing notes, I was paying attention in a different way than I ever have before. It didn’t make me like it any more or less, but I think I was more aware of the way I was responding to it, and things I was thinking when I would normally just be passively watching. So now I have THOUGHTS.

First and foremost, I want to applaud the trashfire for its incredible use of show and tell. Because there’s a whole bunch that it told us, but there was also a whole bunch that it SHOWED, and sometimes those two things were completely at odds with each other. And I think that’s what’s resonated with me all these years. Because this was a very complicated world that it created, and yet the story it told was remarkably simple. And I found myself fascinated by it.

But GUYS. There was PLOT in this show. There were actual, important storylines that someone wanted to build up to something in future seasons!

The prophecy, first and foremost. Aleena could not reunite with her children until they were ready to become the Council of Four and overthrow Robotnik.

To do this, they had to learn to accept their divine rite (HMPH), but also understand the dangers of forgetting how to be kind and caring rulers.

Their medallions were driven by the Power of Harmony, and within that power was the ability to free people’s minds from whatever destructive force held it.

They needed to gather allies to defeat Robotnik, of which Knuckles was only the first of many. (Supposedly there was a French comic that continued this plot, but it died a quick death, from all reports)

There were two pendants that had both been split in two and hidden in distant lands. One had a map, the other gave Sonia the power to see what Robotnik was doing. The implication is that there would be at least two more.

Did they do any of this well? Hell no! But were they there? Hell yes, and I have Many Thoughts about how one could reboot this series to build them properly. Though I would lose the allies thread, and depending on Sega mandates, maybe swap it for a story about Sonic being destined for more than the crown. Because I like my Echidna Prophecies.

I’m shouting into the void, as I do, but if anyone is still reading and would be interested, hit me up on an ask and I will happily give you random character arcs and episode synopses that are whirling in my head.

But outside all that, I have some other thoughts:

It’s still a trashfire that I cannot defend, but dammit if someone didn’t care about this show.

I cannot emphasis this enough. Someone, somewhere, cared about this show and wanted it to be something. They didn’t succeed, but damn it did they try. There was no getting away from how cheap this show was, and how many sacrifices were made in the name of… well, what do I know they were made in the name of?

Because here’s the thing: I wasn’t there when it was made. None of us were. I joke and make statements about how this show was a quick cash grab, because that’s what it looks and feels like, but for all I know, this was someone’s first but legitimate attempt at making a new IP from the Sonic franchise. And yeah, they failed. They screwed up a lot. But I remind you that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, as we currently know them, began life as a marketing strategy because no one could sell toys based on a gritty black and white Daredevil parody comic, and after the first season, SOMEONE cared enough to push for a second. And I bet there are plenty of badly aged episodes from that cartoon too.

It's poorly edited, messily written, and terribly paced, but there was something in it. And that something is worth celebrating.

I could have liked Sonia, if only.

Watching it this time, I wanted SO BADLY to like Sonia. And I can see exactly how I could have, with just… -gestures vaguely-

The problem I have with Sonia is that she is just immediately amazing. At everything. She goes from being a stuck up, sheltered aristocrat to the best Freedom Fighter in the Resistance without blinking, and the only reminder that she was ever anything else is that she’s a snob that likes girly things like fashion and makeup.

In the reboot (HAH), I would want to see her have to learn. I want to see her shoot for the first time and think it's easy, but then see her get shot AT, and see her panic. I want to see her sit in a strategy meeting, but then go out into the field and see someone get hurt because of an order she gave. I want to see her realise that not everyone lives like she used to, and that she WAS pampered, and she WAS spoiled, and she DIDN’T deserve everything she had – she was just LUCKY. I want to see her have a proper breakdown over Lady Windemere because robotocisation isn’t supposed to happen to good people. And I want that to be what spurs her into being a leader in the Resistance.

THEN I can handle her being the best at everything, and being so righteous with Bartleby, and smug with the boys. She needs to earn her skill, and she just didn’t.

Holy crap, MANIC. Just… MANIC.

I can recognise now that I liked what I was told Manic was, and what he could have been, more than the character he ended up being. Manic is supposed to be so complex and emotional, but they frankly didn’t have the time or possibly age rating to get into it, so he’s just…

He’s an eternal victim, but he’s also an eternal problem. He’s in over his head, and no one seems to notice except Sonic, who (in this series) doesn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with that properly. So I watched him this time with deep, tolerant breaths, thinking of young teenage boys that think they need to be tough or cool and don’t actually know how.

In the reboot (HAH), I’d want more time spent digging into that. I want him to get in over his head, I want that to be a problem multiple times, I want him to get mad about it and blame everyone else, I want him to rebel and hurt someone, badly, and for everyone, including him, to be horrified, and I want him to have to grow up and take the responsibility to make it better.

I want him to represent the people of Mobius, who turned their backs on the queen that wasn’t supporting them, only to find out they’d dug their own graves in doing so. And I want them all to get better.

The counters. I told you I’d explain them.

So when I think back on Sonic Underground, I often think of things that kind of annoyed me. Like Sonia’s love life. But as we can see from the counters, her love life doesn’t actually come up that often! BUT the fact that she has three (and a half – I’m still not counting Raphie) love interests in forty episodes, while Manic shows vague interest in one girl and one female robot, and the closest Sonic comes to ANY interest is some general campy behaviour that may actually just be his French animation showing is pretty significant.

Now, I’m showing my cards here, but I get very tired of romantic subplots in non-romance focussed shows these days. If they don’t contribute to the character’s story, I find it annoying and distracting. So in my reboot fantasy, I want to emphasise the Bartleby relationship, and get rid of EVERY. OTHER. LOVE INTEREST. Except maybe the fuccboi because I COULD MAKE SOMETHING OF THAT STORYLINE for the purposes of her character growth. But none of them (and especially not Knuckles) added to Sonia’s character, so it just felt like it was there because Girls Grow With Love, teehee, and screw you fiction tropes. I and every other little girl deserve better.

 The other thing that I remember is the inconsistent skills. Sonia has superstrength in (arguably – I was being pretty generous sometimes) in FOUR episodes. Of FORTY. WHY HAVE IT AT ALL? And Manic’s ability to pick locks or steal – it was more problematic than it was helpful, so why occasionally imply that he has ‘the magic touch’? And even Sonic! Can he take on a squadron of SWATbots single-handedly, or is Sleet looming over him an actual threat?

I was counting them because these were things that stuck with me, but when you actually count them up, they take up SO LITTLE of the story and the characters. It goes to show how quickly annoyances can overtake a narrative.

Sonic Underground was quietly and inconsistently beautiful

It was in its set pieces. It was in its character concepts. It was in its world building. Its opening scenes. Its bittersweet ends. Its side characters, who had so much depth and life outside of the main characters. It was in the heavily reality of its darkest moments, and the simple sweetness of its quiet ones.

Cyrus and his father. Manic and Sonic laughing as they played together. Sonic and Sonia exchanging glances with actual meaning. The birds that continued to fly in Robotropolis. Sleet and Dingo’s uneasy partnership, built on mutual goals and joined fear. Aleena’s irrational but all-consuming love, and her anger that echoed in two-sentence monologues.

This show had moments. And those moments have stuck with me. They will continue to stick with me.

There was beauty in this terrible show.

I can see Sonic growing from this show.

This is going to sound really weird, because on the surface, the character we see in Sonic Underground is almost unrecognisable from the character we see in contemporary games. There are flashes of him in Boom, and Lost World (nostalgia characterisation woo), but generally, he seems so different.

Until you dig in.

The more I think about Sonic as he is in Sonic Underground – about his situation, about the world he grew up in, about the relationships he has. The more I think about these things, the more I can see the tension and frustration and fear. And then I think about those things, and I compare them to the Sonic we know, who is free, and independent, and has friends he can trust to handle themselves…

I think about how hard that difference is.

And I know exactly where The Lost Prince came from.

And I know where I want it to end.

So if you’re interested… I mean, I have SO MANY reports I actually have to write, rather than spending time on fanfic, but… yeah, I think I’ll be finishing those last chapters this year. I hope to see you there.

[doomed-jester]

So I just rewatched all of Mashed's There's Something About series. Some rapid fire thoughts off the dome

> There's Something About Knuckles is so damn good, like it's an unironically great short form mecha series that happens to use Sonic characters and vaguely parody Attack on Titan. If you have the time (like 20 minutes) just stop reading this post now and go watch it, I am gonna spoil it in the next few bullet points.

> Secret History of Sonic & Tails and There's Something About Amy don't really hold up quite as well on a rewatch, they're a little too reliant on shock value. Still pretty decent but they don't have the depth that TSAK gets and I could see that putting someone off if they watched those first.

> I know it's a popular theory that TSAK!Tails is SH!Tails since he shares a few of the same catchphrases and generally acts kinda shady, but are people talking about the Amy connection?

I know it's not much but they both have similarly long hair, TSAK!Amy has bandages on her arms where TSAA!Amy has scars, and Amy's mech has the same hair spikes on the back of the head as TSAA!Amy (Amy's 3 spikes (quills?) are typically in the front). That could be down to SH!Tails designing the mechs though.

> The evolving design of The Titan is interesting. Obviously the shift from Titan!Eggman to Titan!Sonic is pretty substantial, but I love that the Titan seems to be cycling through the colors of the chaos emeralds. It starts green, then becomes red when it leaves Baron Robotnik, then blue after falling into lava in the most recent episode. I wonder if it'll stay that color or keep cycling through in the finale.

> if I had to make a wild prediction, I'd say that Knuckles will kill the Titan in the finale, or maybe save Sonic by ripping the emeralds out, then get infected by the power. Then SH!Tails (and maybe Amy) will reveal what they really are and recruit Titan!Knuckles in their scheme. I doubt we'll get a There's Something About Big or something so the next part will (in my opinion) probably be the grand finale of the meta-series, focused on the grand plan. I could be way off base though.

So yeah... Go watch There's Something About Knuckles and work backwards if you enjoy it. Seriously it's so good.

[goron-king-darunia]

Hypothetical Eggwoman. I love that character

Honestly, a gender-bent Eggman would be such an interesting concept to have explored. There's fanart of it floating around and some of these "Eggma'am" fanarts are damn-near close to official art quality. A disappointing amount of them turn her into a waifish giant-bazonga slay queen. Which, while valid, isn't quite the angle I would go for. The reason Eggman is shaped the way he is was originally a dig at Nintendo's mascot, Mario. So if you're going to make her a waifish tiddy goddess instead of a chunky middle-aged spinster, she should look like Princess Peach, right? That said, I'd love to see Sega put out official concept art for it or explore the idea in more detail. I support womens' wrongs after all.

In the meantime, I think my favorite genderbent Eggman design is this one by Snowflake-owl on Deviantart because they actually had the guts to keep most of Eggman's features and make a design consistent with the Sonic X art style.

And while I think that not much about the personality or motives would change with a gender-swap or genderbend, a female Dr. Robotnik/Eggma'am/Eggwoman would probably have a lot more of an active feminist stance because, like, women in STEM fields being taken seriously was a huge point in feminist rhetoric. Women were the first computer scientists before computers became toys they could market to boys, and then suddenly wanting to code or engineer was a man's hobby. So how would she have had to navigate a world that looks down on her? Canon Eggman may be a bumbling idiot (he kind of has to be for the slapstick status-quo based buffoonery and cartoon logic) but canon Eggman is still considered a threat. Would that perception change if she was a woman? It's interesting to think about but it also treads dangerously close to the trope where the supervillainess justifies her villainy because she's had to endure sexism and then it becomes her whole flanderized one-dimensional personality. Still. Fun to think about.

[masterofpasta95]

The “Eggman is actually an adapted insult from Sonic!” thing that we are now proudly reminded of every 20 minutes makes me irrationally angry so I’m going to put an unnecessary amount of effort into explaining why it sucks.

Supreme dumbass (although, perhaps not pointless) nerd rage below.

This seemingly innocuous thing is somehow emblematic of everything I do not like regarding how Sonic is currently handled. It:

- is one of the most blatant “Flynn-isms” (providing an explanation to something which does not need one entirely for the sake of winning brownie points with the fandom and “solving inconsistencies”)

- treats localized material like it is “equally as legitimate” as things which the actual creators of sonic made

- instead of taking the path of least resistance, the explanation is still convoluted and contradictory with other information, therefore meaning its purpose of “solving things” isn’t even fucking accomplished

- makes Eggman, the character, less interesting.

Let’s make a ground rule clear: his name is supposed to be Eggman. We could talk about the merits of “Robotnik” as a name as much as we like, but the fact of the matter is, whether you like it or not, his original, intended name is Eggman. And it works, because this character LOOKS like a fuckin Egg Man.

“Eggman” is a great name because it makes him seem silly and non-threatening, not in spite of it. Eggman is a character defined by contrast; he’s smart, but he’s also kind of absent-minded. He sometimes looks friendly, but he can also look scary and ugly under the right conditions because of his toothy grin and vibrant, perfectly circular glasses. He’s quite jolly and funny, but also capable of extreme anger and desperation.

He seems silly and harmless, but is capable of single-handedly destroying entire ecosystems and designing scarily effective hedgehog killing machines.

He’s trying to do things he think will “improve” the earth, but he ruins it in the process.

If you make Eggman purely evil and imposing, you miss the point of Eggman. These are traits Eggman has in common with actual strangely intelligent manchildren. I would know.

However, I would argue the single most key thing about “Eggman” as a name is it’s second half: man. Eggman is generally representative of humanity and it’s insatiable desire for “progress,” at the cost of everything in its way. And, you know, the “Egg” half is self explanatory.

So, personally, I would say that there is not much reason to try and legitimize “Robotnik” in the first place, beyond it sounding cool and having a pun in it. Eggman is not only more fitting, it is more meaningful.

This is all relevant, because this “adapted insult” shit is spawned exclusively from a desire to try and make the way it was for Americans in real life- Robotnik “changed” to Eggman- the case in THE ACTUAL IN-LORE CANON OF SONIC THE FUCKING BLUE CARTOON HEDGEHOG, for some god forsaken reason. This whole Robotnik thing is also the primary headliner for how the American versions of non-American stories are now given more priority, because they are the more well-known versions, which more or less only serves to retroactively simplify the actual themes Classic Sonic was going for. Why would you do this as a storyteller, unless you were irrationally trying to make everything “equally valid?” It’s supremely shitty to do this fandom-satisfying stuff when viewed from a lens of actual artistic integrity. (And it also makes trying to convince people that Classic Sonic has more going on than it looks a god damn nightmare because they live in this ouroboros-esque feedback loop of misinformation)

And you can’t argue that his name was Robotnik in-universe up until SA1, anyways, and that all of this “wasn’t actually in the games, so it doesn’t contradict anything if it’s retconned!” These things come up all the time in these debates already, and you’re probably bored to tears of hearing about them, but I’m going to use them anyways.

Lol.

You could argue that “oh, he just adapted the insult before Sonic 2!” to which I have to ask, what’s the god damn point, then? Congratulations. He is “Robotnik” for one, maybe two games. You’re not getting what you want out of this, either.

Well, now we have an interesting question on our hands. Why WOULD he call himself “Eggman?”

This is where things become more headcanon-y, but it’s all extrapolated from actual character quirks of Eggman’s.

“Adapted insult” is honestly fiiiine as another “he’s always trying to be one step ahead of Sonic!” thing, but the logic is really tortured and it’s far more interesting to explore “Eggman” as a conscious, self-chosen name.

Consider for a moment how egotistical and proud of himself Eggman is. He genuinely thinks he is the single most awesome specimen there is, he’s so proud of his intelligence and vision that he oftentimes forgets the most basic of logic, in a “you forgot the first rule of X!” sort of way.

Eggman is also a businessman. And all businessmen are obsessed with one thing above all else: marketing.

And so, I choose to interpret “Eggman” as him deliberately selling his image as a perfectly spherical weirdo with a big mustache. It could even be something like a “superhero name,” he’s so proud of it that he wants everyone to know it and respect it. He is the Eggman, that’s what he is, and don’t ask again.

If he came up with a catchy name for himself and started plastering it everywhere, every single person would eventually know who “The Eggman” is. And it’s not like Eggman is insecure about being fat, or whatever; again, he thinks he’s perfect. “Eggman” is a name he’s both proud of and is great for marketing.

Every logo of his also fits cleanly into this “plastering The Eggman everywhere” idea; they’re all either of the word “Egg” itself, or something to do with his appearance, most commonly just straight up his face.

Oh, yeah, and as alluded to earlier, his god damn theme song is about how proud he is about being “The Eggman.”

In summary, “His name was Robotnik, and then Sonic insulted him by calling him Eggman, so he just decided to roll with it” is a dumb explanation, made entirely to both-sides something that is actively worse for being both-sides’ed, and it is significantly better characterization-wise if Eggman just came up with the name himself.

Thus concludes this week’s edition of Pasta’s Dumb Nerd Soapbox, I hope I explained myself well.

[shinymisty-blog]

Am I the only one who feels like the episode "Six is a Crowd" was such a missed opportunity for so many things?

For those who don't remember, "Six is a Crowd" gave us this glorious gif:

The episode involves Sonic, Sonia, and Manic going to an Alternative Universe where Robotnik is the leader of the Freedom Fighters while the triplets are evil dictators. (Sonic is a glutton, Manic is money-hungry, and Sonia likes throwing mobians into jail...)

We never see Aleena. I don't even remember her being mentioned. And don't get me started on how pissed I was with not seeing the Alternative, Freedom Fighters Sleet and Dingo in this episode. It was AlL I WANTED out of an episode like this.

So...this is what I would have done with this episode if I could change it.

First off, the Royal Trio's role as the heroes trying to save Mobius would be replaced with the Robotnik trio. This would mean Dingo, Sleet, and Bartleby take the place of Sonic, Manic, and Sonia. (And yes. I am saying Dingo would be the leader of the group). They are searching to find Robotnik, the leader of the Freedom Fighters, to help overthrow the young tyrants ruining Mobius, Sonic, Sonia, and Manic, all while keeping the spirits of the mobians high with jazzy music.

Dingo's the most level-headed of the group, similar to Sonic, but tends to take on more than what he can handle. He also handles the drums (a different kind from Manic's drums). Sleet has street smarts and trusts issues like Manic, always snatching things he feels are needed...or that he feels they (the mobian he'd be stealing from) Shouldn't have. He plays the Double Bass. Bartleby is the one with the highest status but became wanted for crimes he couldn't control, like Sonia, being the one who's able to communicate the easiest with other mobians but has some...issues with adjusting at times. He plays the PianoSAXOPHONE!

So, when OUR triplets arrive in this universe, they are very stunned to see the Buried Hunters finishing a show hidden in a small, back alley within Mobotroplis, and even more shocked to see it being Sleet, Dingo, and Bartleby were the ones playing.

The two groups meet up and some shenanigans happen. Manic and Sleet bond over a shared interest in stealing shit and making the other members of their group have to pull them out of trouble because of it, while Bartleby and Sonia have a strange bond over their childhood friend ending up doing some really bad things. Sonic and Dingo bond over having to step up as leaders when they felt they weren't meant for it.

It'd give us the only episode where the triplets aren't the lead singers, but the "Buried Hunters" instead giving us the song. (I just want an episode where Sleet sings, damn it).

The Royal trio ends up meeting Robotnik, who reveals that, in this universe, he is the leader of the Royal Guard. We'd also learn that, apparently, Sleet and Dingo were very close friends with Bartleby. He then tells them why he hadn't reunited with the Robotnik trio, as all four of them still had to finish through their own paths, but that he felt unsure that they would even accept him back into their lives due to all the damage he had done, not warning the Queen about how poorly she was raising her children could cause issues down the line, blaming himself for the downfall of Mobius. He parallels Aleena and is foreshadowing a reason why Aleena hasn't reunited with them yet.

The Royal trio reassures Robotnik that the Robotnik trio are still fighting BECAUSE they believed in him and that they were trying their hardest to reunite with him, realizing that it may be the same with them and Aleena. With that, they are sent back to their own Universe with the notion that Robotnik is planning to reunite with the Robotnik trio and thanks the Royal trio for helping regain his confidence.

We wouldn't get the same ending we did in the original episode, as the Royal trio were only sent there to learn some simple lesson. They are left wondering how THAT Universe can restore peace to Mobius if they even can, similar to how we wonder if THIS Universe can be restored. The Oracle asks if they believed in the Buried Hunters and Robotnik to do the right thing, which then turns to him asking if they believed in themselves and Aleena to do the right thing when it came to it.

BOOM!

Better lesson than the actual episode...I don't even remember what it was. It could let us see a bit into the villains of the universe in another light, the trio can learn a bit from their journey, giving us some foreshadowing in specific places. Like how the trio would eventually reunite with their mother. WHY she's been avoiding them for so long, teaching the trio that they should do the right thing.

...

AND WE'D GET AU SLEET AND DINGO! WHAT MORE CAN YOU WANT?!

[clockwise-works]

Interested to read your Sonic bitching. 1, 7, 9, 13 for that fandom specifically?

Thanks for the ask, maniskillingus! (I need a shorter name to refer to you as lmao) Sonic bitching, huh? Well you'll learn, I can bitch about ANY of these damn games. Also, sorry for the late response! I got a little carried away with this... Also, there ARE hot takes below. Consider yourself warned.

1. The character everyone gets wrong.

So this is a little tough, ngl. In the 30 something years of this franchise, Sega has created SO many different iterations of these characters that it's... well it's hard to really define what a character "is". With that being said... Amy.

Amy's been relatively fucked in terms of fan perception for literal decades. She was initially conceived as a character who had a crush on Sonic, yes, but that wasn't ALL there was to her character. In the beginning? Yes. But, that was Sonic CD, a 16 bit 1993 game with no dialogue and barely even 2 in-game cutscenes. Every other character was a one dimensional character trait. Sonic was the main character who was cool and fast. Tails was the player 2 (that is literally it). Robotnik was the evil scientist. She, like many other characters, started out simple, yes, but grew over time without losing that core idea.

In Sonic Adventure, she finds a little bird that's being chased by an

Robotnik robot, and immediately decides to protect it. She does end up getting captured, yes, but she doesn't sit until the blue bastard shows up and rescues her, no. She protects the little bird from a Gamma (who she quite literally says she knows he'll hurt both of them), questions his logic, and is asked why she cares for someone she knows nothing of, before Gamma ultimately let's her go. Is it clunky. Oh absolutely, they don't really answer Gamma's question explicitly, instead she just tells him "love isn't part of his programing, you are missing out on something good" which reads to me as her basically saying she doesn't need to know anything about anyone to have a love or care for them, it's inherent. Her compassion towards the little bird and questioning Gamma's logic both results in her freedom, and is a part of Gamma's arc in growing beyond his coding.

And then when Eggman orders Gamma to dispose of Sonic, Tails, and Amy later on the Egg Carrier, her compassion from earlier pays off again as she pleads for Gamma not to fight, in which we actively see him fighting against his coding and agrees! She then STOPS SONIC from destroying Gamma, once again proving her inherent kindness. Sonic could've and would've trashed Gamma with ease, so that was completely in favor of Gamma, going against someone she loves to save another person.

She does this again in Sonic Adventure 2! Throughout the entirety of the game, she was the ONLY ONE on the hero team to actually attempt to reach out to Shadow. Sonic NEVER does. It's on sight for those two every time they meet up. Sonic NEVER has a moment where he argues for Shadow to be better, to turn over a new leaf no matter how much the IDW comics try to retcon his personality into. But Amy does. She's the ONLY one to actually ask Shadow to help save the earth, arguing for the good of mankind in spite of learning what the government did to Shadow and the entire Ark. And he agrees! Her words resonate with him and help him remember that Maria wanted him to protect earth. To the point he agress to fulfill his promise to Maria... AND AMY! Even directly stating her! Once again, yes, there were scenes of her having a crush on Sonic, like breaking him out of prison (another good scene of Amy showcasing she's not just a damsel in distress, this will be important later btw) but that wasn't ALL there was to her! She was compassionate to Shadow in A2. She went out of her way to save Elise in 06. While Heroes does kinda just write her down to "chasing Sonic", a byproduct of that games rather flat and simple writing to the point most characters are one note, she's now playable and does cool shit. She's fully capable as her own person AND as a team. Sure, it was mainly gameplay reasons to have her play similar to other Speed characters, but that's still a part of the game and the representation of her. She can fight Eggman robots just like everyone else, and can lead a team.

Now, I'm not saying Amy had this perfect characterization and the fans simply fucked it up, no. The biggest misconception and "joke critique" DID have a foothold within the franchise, such as Sonic X, Sonic Battle, and Sonic Chronicals. But honestly? Those at times absolutely abysmal portrayals (seriously what the fuck was Battle and Chronicles doing💀??? Giving Amy body dysmorphia??? Jesus man) shouldn't have been the main thing people take away in regards to her character. Almost ALL the characters had their points of having badly written characterization up until 06, such as Shadow and his "angst amnesia", and "stupid Knuckles" to the point Sega attempted to... overcorrect. For Shadow, they made him a villian in Boom and now he's kinda just... there (I'm not counting Prime, I didn't want past season one but people say he was written good), REALLY leaned into the dumb Knuckles joke until forces, and Amy...

The biggest takeaways for Amy's character was that she was "lovesick for sonic" and "pathetic damsel in distress" so Sega leaned HARD into the other direction.

For the Boom show she was more of a feminist, independent strong woman, but given that show was a comedy that would sometimes joke about her hypocrisy or shortcomings (think Knuckles feminist joke), I don't necessarily want to focus on that. Instead, I want to focus on Amy now.

After the release of Sonic Frontiers, people (especially Sonic Twitter) raved about how the game "fixed Amy." That she was now a good character. ...uhhhh what? I mean ok, I get it in regards to the 2010's, in which her personality was representing in... Sonic Gens (where she had maybe three cutscenes with a speaking role), Sonic Lost World (where she, once again had maybe three cutscenes), and Forces where she actually had SOME weight in the story being the resistance's... something. Basically in Gens she was represented with a background joke of her attempting to hug Sonic as he pushes her away and hits Knuckles for insulting Sonic, in Lost Word she showed surface level worry for the kidnapped critters and worry for the world dying, and in Forces she kinda just directed everyone to where they needed to go. So Frontier's attempting to course correct THAT under representation is fine!

It's... it's the sense that Sega has removed those traits of her bold affection of Sonic, her bubbly and outgoing personality, her capability and accomplishments, and pretend she always relied on others to put Frontiers up on a pedestal. That they retroactively attempt to convince us that Amy was someone who ALWAYS needed saving and that she has to "grow past her crush on Sonic". To me, it's a cheap way to get Twitter brownie points for "fixing Amy", (They do this with Knuckles and Tails too btw) to the point they even included a line in the Final Horizons update where Amy says "I'm not longer a damsel in distress you know." ...SHE WAS A DAMSEL IN DISTRESS IN CD! A GAME FROM 19-FUCKING-93! WHAT DO YOU MEAN "ANYMORE"??? YOU HAVENT BEEN ONE IN THIRTY YEARS. SHE HAS SAVED SONIC AND THE WORLD AS MANY TIMES AS SONIC HAS SAVED HER!

This is one of my biggest gripes with Frontier's writing. It wants this praise for "fixing these characters" when at best the characters announce they're "gonna make a change", and in the case of Knuckles and Amy pretend any and all growth she had/times he left the island never happened so Frontiers can act like IT'S the game to make that change.

And the fans ate it up. Shit, even for a hot minute I thought it was... something. But it's really not, they really didn't 'fix' Amy, they just removed any parts of her character that people overly inflated during the 'Dark Ages' and made her a simple "I'm just one of the boys, I'm a capable woman now" to avoid that misunderstanding, when she WAS ALREADY THAT!

Idk, maybe that didn't really fit the question, but people mass misunderstanding and grossly inflating Amy's character traits that could be seen as negative to the point Sega overcorrected, and now we have a "girl hedgehog with tarot cards" and fans love it. Because they're convinced "loving Sonic" was the entirety of her personality and with it now striped away she's now a better character.

...she doesn't even really use her hammer anymore, man... She had it for one move in Frontiers, and used it ONCE in a Dream Team cutscene... even Origins introduced the hammer as a Insta-Shield comparable move, but got rid of it in Superstars... give her the hammer, man...

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how the fandom acts about them

These follow up questions won't be as long so don't worry. Uhhh, this one's a little tricky, because I haven't ben part of the Sonic fandom nor have I even considered myself a Sonic fan since Forces, so I'm not too certain how fandom acts about these guys outside the core cast in Frontiers.

I guess Eggman? I gotta be honest, I didn't like the Dadbotnik route taken with Sage, it felt really underdeveloped (to the point they included a 'sad song montage' flashback showing all two cutscenes we saw of the two, one watched not even an hour prior) and Boom introduced this "angry old man yelling" skew of his character that hasn't really gone away. Eggman's NOT Boswer. He's not this goofy guy who 'loves his daughter ai and robot son and bakes cookies and yells about menial stuff', he's a maniacal and destructive man fueled by arrogance and pride. He had SWAGGER. The man carried himself like an actual doctor with menacing dialogue and pure confidence in his brilliance, but is now kinda just seen as a "a wacky mad scientist that just HATES that hedgehog but also has a 'respect' for him that he WILL monologue about" (gee I'm so glad THAT carried over from the IDW comics, I love it when characters bluntly explain retcon their stances on each other).

Idk, I just don't like how the fandom has reduced him down to 'Eggdad'. For jokes and funny fan comics? Sure. I got no problem with that. But an actual evaluation of his character, deeming this as 'character growth' and not just a complete personality shift? Nah, I don't fuck with it chief.

Man, two rants back to back inadvertently praising the Adventure era? I don't even really like those games 💀

9. Worst part of canon

FORCES.

I mean not really, I'm sure it could be the constant retcons or even the 'Everything is Canon' mindset we now have, but Forces kinda did fuck up the IDW comics ngl. At first they just followed up the storyline of Forces with a Metal Sonic post story and the restoration of the planet, but it now feels like the comic is in constant 'damage control' from that game. The now-renamed-Restoration is STILL around, a dominant part of that world's worldbuilding, and has lead the world to feel more 'superhero-y' with organized mass teams.

idk, maybe it's the IDW comics just starting to lose me, especially after issue 50, but man am I sick of the Restoration, and that and a couple other things are a result of Forces. Fuck Forces. All me and my homies hate Forces.

13. Worst blorbofication

I deadass don't fully understand what 'blorbofication' is. Is it when people mass take a character they like, and slowly turn them into something else entirely such as some fans infantilizing BotW Link? If so... Idk, I guess Silver...? Idk, I mean he's a character who was SO dedicated to save his home he was willing to kill a man, but grew to not want to lose Blaze to do so, but still ultimately did so. He's angry at the state of his world, has to constantly come back to fix it, yet remains positive in a world and time lacking it.

Sometimes fans write him as this goofy precious child that needs to be protected and I don't really fuck with that. I mean the dude was willing to obtain a body count, but fans... and TSR with the "in your dreams, Sonic" line have kinda funneled him into this sweet baby boy who's a dumb piece of shit. Look at him, so innocent! 🥺

[beevean]

I never understood why people praise Satam as the end-all be-all of Sonic media and gush about how dark it is. First off, the games (especially Sonic CD) handled the "Robotnik takes over and turns world into polluted hellhole with his machines" concept much better. Second it wasn't even all that dark. The games had darker moments like having an unarmed terminally ill child get gunned down like a damn dog on-screen, baby Chao being stomped to death and having Sonic's friends experience a "I have no mouth and I must scream" sensation of floating in a black limbo without a body, after being turned into fully conscious immobile statues. The robians were just mindless zombies. They got it easy.

Even Satams Robotnik was pretty lackluster. All he did was sit on his rotund rear end at hq and bark orders like a Screaming Dumbass. He even begged for his worthless life before a Canon foreigner villain . He literally kissed the ground while beggingm

Also he was a freaking dumbass for not using the robians as meat shields against sonic or using them as attack dogs since the freedom fighters wouldn't want to harm a former mobian that could very well be a loved one.

Also Satam Sonic was weak AF! Satam tails was weaker than a kitten!

Sorry, no point in coming to me to complain about SatAM because I never watched a single episode of it lmao.

To be fair, all the dark stuff you mentioned came after SatAM, and to this day Shadow's backstory and Gerald's diary are considered the darkest point of the games. (no such respect for my girl Tikal or the Time Eater's effects, sadly :( ). I can see how, superficially, people back then would be appealed by SatAM's grimdark nature contrasted with how bright the Classic games were. It's true however that CD was much more creative in its depiction of a world conquered by Eggman: we actually see how much he damaged the zones, from turning the lake in Palmtree Panic into a grey sludge, to mining down all the crystals in Quartz Quadrant, to defacing ancient ruins in Tidal Tempest. It's not just an endless sea of super scary buildings: the zones are corrupted, ruined, and it's all your fault for not stopping it. And, of course, the Good Futures show technology aiding nature instead, making Sonic CD possibly the earliest example of Solar Punk <3

I also personally really love Scrap Brain Act 1's aesthetic. Sonic 1 has a nature-urban progression, so you go from unspoiled Green Hill, to ruins overcome by nature (Marble Zone and Labyrinth), to a city with greenery (Spring Yard), to a city without any greenery but still pretty to look at (Star Light)... to an utter industral monstrosity, the ground completely made of metal and a sky turned orange from the sheer amount of pollution being emitted.

I also find brilliance in how Act 3 is a palette swap of Labyrinth Zone! Eggman has built his base over ancient ruins! He's dumping pollution in the water!

And a personal appreciated detail of mine is how the "good" ending of Sonic 1 8-bit is the power of the Chaos Emeralds cleansing the smoke surrounding South Island. Even in that little game, they made sure to include how much of an ecoterrorist Eggman is <3

Yeah sorry, I have nothing to say about SatAM. Maybe (maybe) one day I'll try to watch some episodes, but I'm not interested. I prefer to talk about the games :>

[silverstarsimuran]

Sonic's Dilemma

I liked the scene after the credits of the second Sonic movie, where the Shadow capsule appears. Someone thinks that it was decided too early to add him to the cinematic Sonic universe. Well, I think it's just great! I hope that the third film about the blue hedgehog will be very spectacular and spectacular. And since Sonic's real blood parents were not shown in two films, I assumed that our blue hero could have been created artificially (however, this is also based on theories that Sonic was created on the ARK colony, which is also interesting to me), that is, practically being a brother to Shadow the hedgehog! Only my assumptions are written here, what the scene with Sonic and Shadow, who are blood brothers here, might look like. I hope you enjoy reading the fanfiction. And I also hope that there will be something similar in the film itself.

The ARK colony was pretty quiet until one of its corridors was visited by a guest. The blue hedgehog strode down the long dark corridor. His footsteps echoed faintly all along the corridor. "It's so quiet and empty here... I hope I'm going in the right direction," he mused to himself as he continued walking. A large metal door appeared in front of him, which immediately opened, letting the hedgehog go ahead. He went inside, and the door closed behind him. He found himself in a huge empty hall. There was nothing here except the floor, ceiling, walls and porthole. "So, don't panic, Sonic. You just took a wrong turn. Maybe we can still turn back?" he thought, until his thoughts were distracted by the sound of metal doors and someone's footsteps. Sonic got into a fighting stance when he noticed Shadow approaching him.

— Oh. You again? And why am I not surprised? — a black hedgehog with red stripes asked a question.

— I'm here to stop you and Robotnik! And you won't stop me! Sonic exclaimed.

"You underestimate me for nothing, faker. It's a shame," Shadow said, and there was a threat in his tone that made my skin crawl.

— Actually, this is not an underestimation at all, impostor! I know a lot about you and I can imagine what you are capable of as an opponent!

"Don't talk like you know everything about me!" — the red-eyed hedgehog shouted in anger to the green-eyed one, so that red lightning appeared on the skin. But then he took a deep breath, calmed down and continued the conversation:

— You assure me that you know about me. But are you so sure about this?

- Yes. You were created on the ARK colony 50 years ago, then soldiers came who killed many scientists here, and took the experiments for themselves and hid them in their top-secret base, including you in a capsule.

— This is only part of my whole story that you have learned, blue hedgehog. Let me tell it if you're so interested in it," said the black hedgehog, while slowly pacing around the blue one. The latter, watching his opponent, continued to stand in his stance so as not to be caught off guard. — Yes, my story begins from the moment I was created. And it happened even a little more than 50 years ago. My creator's name was Gerald Robotnik. He was a great scientist who sought to help people. But at the same time, he created various creatures that could help him in the interests of science. And I was among them. Maybe the creator had noble goals, but I would mildly call all these experiments not a very pleasant process. However, in addition to scientists and test subjects, I met my ray of hope in this cursed darkness. Her name was Maria. She was Gerald's granddaughter. Maria seemed to be the only one who really cared and cared about me more than these scientists. She was my only friend on the colony. — Shadow talked and went to the porthole, placing his right palm on it. — But she was taken from me. It happened 50 years ago when those damn soldiers invaded here! Then I took my friend in my arms to save her from the impending danger. However, I did not manage to do it. She pushed me into the capsule with a smile on her face and was about to press the lever so that only I would escape from the colony. And then one of those nasty soldiers ran into the room and shot Maria when she still managed to pull the lever. The moment I saw her bloody body, her sweet and kind face, her parting smile and tears, I swore to avenge her. I swore to destroy all this humanity! — A black-and-red hedgehog shouted, sparking with lightning, and struck the sturdy glass with his fist.

"I understand your pain, Shadow," Sonic suddenly said, and Shadow looked at him, ceasing to sparkle.

— Do you understand? No one can understand me.

— But I really know what it's like to lose someone you cared about... When I was very young, I was taken care of by an owl named Long Claw. She was like a mother to me. But then I accidentally brought a tribe of Echidnas to our house. Long Claw saved me, but she herself fell at their hands. I was alone for a long time, and then I met Tom, Maddy, then Tails and Knuckles. They became my new family.

— How can they be your family? They're not even related to you! You don't have blood in common with them! And you still call them family? Especially that echidna whose brothers killed your foster mother?

— Family does not necessarily have to be by blood. The main thing is for family members to love each other and be ready to stand up for each other, — Sonic tried to explain. Shadow just looked at him incredulously. — Besides, Knuckles is not to blame for this. And he and I let go of the difficult past so that we could live in the present. And I advise you to do the same. You can still fix this, Shadow. Come with me, and I promise you won't regret it," Blue continued, and then held out his hand.

But the black man only grunted, and then turned to his brother:

— You know, I also wanted to offer you something...

— And what is it? Sonic asked him.

— You see, I've been wanting to meet you for a very long time. That first meeting of ours was by no means an accident. I've been looking for you since I was released from the capsule.

— Did you want to meet? Looking for me? For what? Did you want to kill me? — the blue hedgehog did not understand.

— Oh, no. No. Your murder is not in my plans. For now. The fact is that you and I are of the same blood, or, to put it more simply, we are brothers.

— What's that?! — Sonic shouted in shock.

— Yes, you and I are kind of brothers, family.

— But how? I was born on Mobius!

"They just erased your memories of the colony and sent you to another planet. Doesn't that explain why you don't remember your parents at all? Your real, blood ones?

— But if you and I are brothers, then we shouldn't fight among ourselves. I can help you. I'll help you deal with your grief, even though it won't be easy...

"I don't need any help with this, little hedgehog. I rather wanted to invite you to team up with me...

— Team up? For what?

— To destroy these hateful and pitiful people! Shadow growled, clenching his left fist, and his eyes turned bright red at the same moment.

— But you work with one person yourself... Then why are you working for Robotnik if you hate people so much? Shadow laughed ominously at his question, while Sonic looked at him in disbelief.

— Ha, ha, ha, ha! Really... Did you really think that I, a Ultimate Life Form, was working for this arrogant, narcissistic and arrogant little man? He works for me without knowing it! — ULF replied, and then continued, almost hissing. — These scientists cannot be trusted. They did nothing but perform various tests on me, as if they were playing with a defenseless animal. I hated them all. If it wasn't for Maria, I would have destroyed them all.

— But why do you want me to join you? After all, you know yourself that I am against killing a lot of people.

— When I met you, I noticed a lot of potential in you. You are very fast, agile, strong, and wield the very power of chaos. Together, we would have become invincible. Besides, aren't the soldiers after you? I'm sure they'll stop at nothing to catch you and kill you, as well as your strange family... Wouldn't you like to take revenge on them? So that they never touch you again, threaten you? Join me, and we will destroy them and others who deprived us of people close to us, make them pay for it," and with these words, Shadow extended his hand, as Sonic had done earlier. The blue hedgehog himself was thinking.

It really sounded good in its own way. If he agrees to the offer, he will no longer have to deal with the GUN soldiers, and then he will live peacefully with his family and his brother. Sonic has been wanting to know about his family for a long time. A real, blood family. Find out your origin. To feel like one's own. His thoughts were suddenly distracted by Shadow:

— Agree, brother, and we will become one family. Didn't we both want to have a family?

Brother. A blood brother. It's so good to have someone like you. However, does Shadow understand the meaning of the word "family", besides the fact that she is of the same blood? Will Sonic be happy with someone who is focused on revenge? Besides, the black hedgehog, if he hates people so much, he can kill Tom and Maddie. Those who sheltered and accepted the blue hedgehog into their family. And Tails and Knuckles? Although they are not of the same blood, they also love him as if they were brothers. Sonic, thinking about all the options, finally decided... At first he reached out to offer his hand, but then pulled it back. His kinsman looked at him with a puzzled expression.

"I can't,— Sonic replied.

— Why is that? — Shadow asked him calmly.

"If you're using Robotnik for your own purposes, why don't you suddenly want to use me?"

"Well, the doctor is just a pawn in my game, but you play a much bigger role than some kind of pawn. You're almost the same as me. Created by scientists, abandoned, left without an expensive creature.

— But we also have differences! I have those I can fight for, while you are alone, resentful of the whole world! — Sonic added, and from such words Shadow bared his teeth and growled. — Shadow, please, it's not too late to get off the warpath and take revenge. You can still find your happiness. After all, if you keep hatred, anger, anger and resentment in yourself, you will never get out into the world.

— I like this way! And I will not give up! You'd better answer me: "Are you with me or not?"

— No! You may be my blood brother, but my real family is the members of the Wackowski family! And if you dare to touch any of them, you WILL... TO HAVE... A CASE... WITH ME!!! — Sonic shouted. His eyes turned from green to blue, and he began to sparkle with blue lightning.

— Have it your way. You chose your own death, — Shadow hissed, also covered in lightning. With his eyes turning from scarlet to bright red, he glared at his brother.

And then two hedgehogs rushed at each other, and a battle began between them...

[viddo3k]

Okay so... I watched Sonic Prime, the first season. And I'll have to say, i was (almost) pleasantly surprised. (Spoilers for Season 1 i guess?)

Before watching it, i remember what my friend told me, to watch this show without the mindset of a Sonic fan, or something like that.

I didn't listen and i regret it BUT it ended up not being as bad as i thought.

Season 1 was decently quick to watch, the 8 episodes were roughly 25 minutes long so i easily got through all of it in one go; something I haven't done in a looong while 💔

The pacing seemed pretty fine to me, most of the time, it had decent set-up, get introduced to familiar faces, get to see the classic Sonic v Robotnik fight, you know, the good stuff, and all seems well. Then the Paradox Prism Shatter happens and all goes to shit, both in and for the show.

I think they had lots of cool stuff they could work with; the Sonic franchise is filled to the brim with lots of events that could be twisted around to create alternative realities that could've been interesting! Problem is, they did exactly not that, or at least they didn't for the Jungle and the Pirate dimensions.

They have this Dimension where you have an almost Sonic Forces setting; Robotnik controls an entire city, everyone is sad, everything is robotic, and Sonic is uh... Not gone, per se? He was completely non-existent, so It's more or less the same. You also have a group of rebels too, commanded by Rouge (known as Rebel) and Knuckles (known as Knux. No I'm not kidding), so it really seems like a Sonic Forces' premise rehash, which I was excited about.

As a matter of fact, this New Yoke City dimension is actually pretty good, and it had some cool stuff going on around it. For one, Robotnik and his other 4 alter egos managed to capture a Shard of the Paradox Prism and use it as an energy source, and Sonic wants to get them Shards to fix the Prism, once he's realized his mistake, that of breaking it.

When Sonic goes around the dimensions, Nine (Tails) gets the Shard for himself and starts going around places and/or dimensions to find one most suitable for him, and he did, in the form of The Grim (as he calls it), all while the Resistance is managing to rally up against the 5 Robotniks.

I found this whole thing happening pretty damn cool, which is a shame because the other dimension are pretty disappointing by comparison.

This show is targeted towards children and it shows in the Jungle and Pirate worlds. I honestly think that it was borderline lazy, they literally just made everyone a pirate or a monkey, and have the most basic ass conflicts going on.

Like, in the Jungle episodes, Knuckles, Rouge, Big?? And Tails were all thrown on top of big big trees because Amy thought they were disrespecting and destroying the forest (they were), then at the end Sonic just gets them to do a quick Ted talk and look at that, all the problems are suddenly gone. A shame because it also had cool ideas, that of gigant flickies and the Shards having specific powers tied to the dimensions they're in (the Jungle Shard can grow trees at light speed). And God forbid they don't show you a flashback at least 20 times.

Then the Pirate episodes are just Knuckles having ptsd after he failed to grab the Shard for himself and his old crew, but then Sonic's all like "dude you could become famous" and suddenly he wants it again, and the funniest thing is that he actually gets it; much to Sonic and New Yoke City's Amy's dismay (she's evil over there). Unfortunately this world's Shard doesn't have any specific power, excluding for being exceptionally bright but every Shard glows anyway.

It kinda just boggles me how they went for such boring alternate world ideas when they had so much potential to work with, and i just think it's kinda lame, especially because the only actual location ever used is Green Hill Zone, It's like Sonic Generations all over again!

It's also worth noting that Sonic in this show is nothing like ever seen in the franchise: He's an actual idiot.

It's almost as though he's never had any coherent thought, since he struggles to make the easiest of connections throughout the show, and he's also kind of annoying at some points, ESPECIALLY in episode 2, good lord. I can hardly believe this is the same Sonic that went through Sonic Forces and/or the Metal Virus, and yet it is and it's terrible.

On a more positive note, this show looks pretty damn good, the animation is just on point, on par or even better than Sonic Boom's, which had great animation of its own; this goes to show just how much emotion can the Sonic cast portray simply via well animated gestures and such. They also had pretty well animated action scenes, like the Shadow v Sonic fight, or the Big Flicky chases. The environments themselves look pretty good too, especially NYC but that's probably just because I'm very emo.

I also liked the OST a bunch, i liked the almost underground mixed with Hip-hop influence the soundtrack had in NYC, and the Pirate/Jungle themed uh... Hip-hop tracks it had; yeah i think the Prime composers liked Hip-hop, It's like listening to Linkin Park, but i think that's cool, I'd like to see more of it in the Sonic Franchise.

Then there's the voice acting and like... I don't know about it. The cast just sound really weird for some reason, like the vas we're trying to do playful impressions of the game vas, mind you I didn't check who's voicing who so yeahh lol.

Well, i guess that's it really. What did i think about Sonic Prime's Season 1?

It's... Fine. Nothing outrageously bad and nothing amazingly good, just a Sonic themed kids show that has a surprising amount of potential left untouched by the authors, albeit with great animation and backing music, which isn't anything new to Sonic but yeah, still worth noting.

I'm hopeful for Season 2 actually, I've been told it's better than Season 1 so i have relatively high hopes for it, and I'll be definitely watching it soon and talk about it, so yeah, wait for it. All i hope is that they use more interesting ideas for alternative universes other than "Knuckles is a lame ass Pirate now".

[scribblestatic]

So, this is less a storyline thing and more making sure I have the background stuff straight.

Completely by utter accident, as I was bathing yesterday and thinking about the Sonic Robotnik AU, I was like, "What if Sonic was previously made by G.U.N. using notes from Shadow's creation, but since they didn't have an abundance of ultramega powerful alien to use cells from, they used Chao and Wisp cells? But all of their previous attempts at building the creature up correctly kept failing, so they decided to try a few different cell clusters. A scientist with G.U.N. gets one of them to work. What they didn't tell anyone is that the cells are from Maria Robotnik's corpse."

And then I thought about the fact I'd given Sonic the real name "Matija" in this universe and I was like, "Damn. This checks out fr."

So yeah, that's what I'm going with.

Matija "Sonic" Robotnik was originally made as a G.U.N. experiment to create their own version of Shadow, but it "failed" because some of the binding cells to ensure everything worked together came from Maria Robotnik. As such, Matija inherited her NIDS, and G.U.N. deemed his creation a failure, so they were going to incinerate him just like how they'd incinerated the previous attempts. But some people with some actual fucking morals decided to try and save the little experiment by falsely marking him as incinerated and actually escaping with him.

Tragically, a car accident killed one of the people in the small group saving him, though the little hedgehog survived because his body might be killing itself, but he can inherently stand blunt force trauma.

That's where Ivo comes upon the crashed car and the dead person since his sensors picked up a strange energy from the area. While inspecting the crash, he sees the little creature the person was protecting and decides to study them.

After some blood tests, he finds out fairly quickly about the NIDS, and the little thing is having a hard time breathing, so Ivo puts the little experiment in something of an incubator. He notices the chaos energy coming off the struggling creature, so he's like, "Well, if this little thing wants to survive, I suppose it's best to tend to it. After all, it's an interesting study subject."

He does his best not to admit how much he cares for the little creature once he gains enough strength to curl his little paws around one of Ivo's fingers.

He's most definitely not gotten in too deep once he gives the creature the "Proper Robotnik name" of Matija (again, pronounced MA-tee-ah, which is like Matthew but Serbian).

He definitely doesn't take pictures of Matija when his little ears open up and he responds to sound, or when his eyes finally blink open for the first time.

His heart does not melt when the little infant Mobian starts cooing happily or trying to crawl toward him whenever he sees him.

And he doesn't feel anger the longer he struggles to solve the problem with NIDS, going as far as to study medical science to try to better understand the syndrome. It most certainly doesn't help that Matija's body is a really screwy cocktail of Mobian, Chao, and Wisp with remnants of Black Arms and even teeny, nearly indecipherable, incredibly damaged and scrambled insertions of what used to be human DNA. Making medicine that works for him is an absolute nightmare, but it's a problem the great Doctor Robotnik can most definitely solve as a genius.

And he doesn't feel sadness seeing the days Matija's NIDS acts up more and he has to have a little oxygen tube uncomfortably inserted in one of his little nostrils just to help him breathe.

Matija is definitely not his son. For sure.

He absolutely does not become a softer, more caring but still selfish man simply because of the little Mobian's influence

...Anyway, by the time Sonic meets Knuckles, Dr. Robotnik already knows that Sonic's body uses chaos energy, but he doesn't have the know-how to teach him how to channel it or possibly try to self-heal himself. So, when Sonic starts learning how to start controlling the chaos energy in his body more, he considers it a bonus, but he's dedicated to eradicating the pumped-up bastardized disease for good.

To Sonic, Robotnik is his dad, wacky uncle, and primary care physician. And he'd do just about anything for him, short of taking over the world. Thankfully, Robotnik's megalomaniacal tendencies have shifted to better, more manageable goals and topics. Still incredibly selfish, yes, but that's just how his dad is. He loves him regardless.

[samobservessonic]

We join the Freedom Fighters on the tail end of a successful mission, but what’s most intriguing about this issue is right there in the title box. While we’ve had a story from Lew Stringer already over in the poster mags, this is his first story in the main book. Not only that, but this story is called “Metamorphia” and if you have even a casual interest in StC, you’ve probably heard of this addition to the rogues’ gallery, who Stringer is about to introduce us to

Amy shoots her shot and gets shot down, as this bear mobian asks Sonic for help. Now, you might think they’re playing the old “Sonic ignores Amy in favour of another girl” card but as I’ve pointed out a few times already, Sonic is just really invested in helping civilians and shows them a kindness that he doesn’t seem to show his own team. Maybe it’s that he feels his team can handle him for being the asshole he is? But that’s besides the point right now

Also, I’m not going to beat about the bush with this. I’m sure you’ve probably already guessed that, with the villain in the title being a play on the word “metamorph”, this bear isn’t who she’s claiming to be

Amy might not be able to read the title, but she also gets bad vibes from this stranger and Tails agrees with her. But Sonic passes off these concerns as jealousy and is quick to head on his way, leaving the two of them behind

Yeah, sure, this looks like the safest zone I’ve ever seen

Sonic shares this sentiment and while he looks away, our damsel in distress suddenly looks a lot more sinister…

They get attacked by soldier badniks (I tend to call them Troopers, but I’m not sure if they’re actually called that?) and while Sonic thinks they’re the most dangerous thing here, he’s seconds away from being proven wrong

Here she is, Metamorphia! She introduces herself and her home, the Grim Zone, with Sonic having to admit that Amy & Tails were right not to trust her

Metamorphia transforms into a gas to knock Sonic out and like, damn, I know shapeshifter characters are often OP, but that’s pretty OP! Not that I’m complaining at all, since it’s always good to have more powerful threats on the villains’ side. Though unlike Captain Plunder, it turns out that Metamorphia is another agent working for Robotnik

Sonic wakes up in a some kind of prison cube, but it doesn’t even take him a few seconds after Metamorphia explains how it works for him to bust out of it lmao

Metamorphia escapes and Tails shows up, but I’m sure we can all figure out that Tails hasn’t suddenly developed the ability to back-talk Sonic

There’s something so funny about the villain being so blatant as to say “take a look over that cliff”. Also, I guess Metamorphia really hates Bluey. That’s my headcanon now

Sonic was about as fooled by her disguise as we were and leaves Metamorphia to her fate. Turns out that even if she can turn into a gas, she can’t mimic Tails’s ability to fly

I had wondered if Sonic would eat humble pie when he got back to Amy & Tails, but nope, he’s vague about what happened. Amy saying “Did your new girlfriend chuck you” is yet another reminder of exactly how British these characters sound. Meanwhile, our story ends on the confirmation that Metamorphia lives to see another day and we’ll certainly be seeing her again in future

Now, like the previous issue, this was a standalone story setting up lore to pull from in future. But I have to confess that I enjoyed this one a lot more. Even if I didn’t have much to say, I felt like there was a lot more stuff I wanted to hold up and go “Look at this!” Which isn’t me saying that I think Stringer is a better writer than Kitching by any means - both of them have wonderful stories that I enjoy and you wouldn’t have StC without either writer. But this was a strong start for Stringer and I’m looking forward to more

As for Metamorphia, I just like girl villains, so I’m obviously looking forward to her comeback. Having started reading StC with issue 80, the only story I saw of Metamorphia was the end of her character arc and the final story she appears in (which actually ends up being a Tails solo story), so I’m looking forward to seeing how her journey plays out before she gets to that final destination