#so they're actually the most accurate part of him in relation to his original form

[astrumocs]

When they’re out I notice your wings first and when they’re not it’s usually your eyes c:

"Acceptable answers, Cucciolo! They're both quite stunning features, aren't they? I did design these eyes myself, you know."

[thewertsearch]

[ there was more to this ask, but some was spoilers 😆 - C ]

Ooh, that is a fun challenge! I might make this a bigger Title post, actually, because it's been a good while since we've had one of those.

...alright, I just finished, and this one kind of got away from me. I hope it's ok that I sort of hijacked your post to talk about Aspects as a whole - but rest assured, I did answer the original question. Let's get into it!

Unfortunately, it might be kind of difficult to make Class guesses. My theory is that they're Sburb's take on RPG party roles - and for obvious reasons, we haven't seen how any of the non-Player characters would fit into a Sburb party. A full analysis of the hypothetical Midnight Crew, Exile and Guardian sessions would be fun, but it's a little out of scope for this question.

Personality certainly seems to be a factor. I don't think it's a coincidence, for example, that the Seers are the most inquisitive members of their respective parties. Dave and Karkat both hide their true emotions behind a persona - but then again, so do Feferi and Jade, two happy-go-lucky Witches with incredibly dark backstories. Dave may be the worst offender, but half the cast is hiding behind some sort of facade.

John, for his part, doesn't seem to have anything in common with Equius - at least, nothing I can see. I might dig a little deeper for human/troll Class parallels once we've seen more of Equius and Feferi, but our sample sizes are so small that it's going to be hard to tell which shared traits are intentional.

Anyway, none of the other classes feature a pair of Players that I could toss into a Venn diagram, so we're at a bit of a dead end.

I suppose I could approach this from another angle, and try to extrapolate a Class from each character's life circumstances - for example, by speculating that Grandpa's inheritance of the Betty Crocker brand makes him a potential Heir - but that's clearly not an accurate method, given that literal heiress Feferi is a Witch.

See, Classes are a tough nut to crack! The main issue here is that the comic has given us very little to work with - it's been tight-lipped on Titles in general, and there's been almost no exposition on Classes specifically.

It might be easier just to try and assign Aspects to each of the non-Players - so that's what I'm going to do. I'll also take the opportunity to put forward my best guess for what each Aspect means.

Without further ado:

Time means time.

This one seems extremely straightforward. Not all the Aspects are quite so literal - Breath, for example, seems more closely related to wind than the body function it's named after - but Time is about engaging directly with its namesake. It may have other meanings as well, but we haven't seen any yet.

If you wield Time, then you're the session's designated time traveler - which is a lot less cool than it sounds, because it means you're on Doomed Timeline cleanup duty. Enjoy the corpse disposal!

Both of the comic's Time Players have fashioned their own personal time machines out of musical instruments. Music seems to have some connection to Time - which makes sense, since it's an art form of pitch, rhythm and beat. Music is time.

We can also talk for a second about Dave's Quest. As we'll see, each Land Quest seems to directly concern the Player's Aspect. Dave's Quest is to...

...um.

Well, one of these is Dave's Quest. The LOHACse is the only one of the two which is directly related to Time, but I've speculated that Dave's sword-in-the-stone quest will involve him rewinding Caledfwlch to an earlier point in its timeline. Plus, the Caledfwlch quest also speaks to Dave's Class as a Knight, so I think it's the real one.

For the sake of completeness, let's also talk about the Time Lands. Each Land always seems to feature one trait which either directly or obliquely references its Player's Aspect. LOHAC is self-explanatory, but Aradia's Land of Quartz and Melody is an interesting case, as its 'Aspect trait' could be either of its two descriptors. Quartz could reference the quartz in a modern clock, and Melody could reference the musical connection I mentioned above.

I can't think of any non-Players with particularly strong ties to Time - aside from the Felt and Lord English, who we know very little about. Let's say they're all Time Players, and English rules over them as a Prince of Time. As a mob boss and destroyer of worlds, he undoubtedly shares some of Eridan's megalomania.

Space... well, we actually don't have much for Space. We haven't seen Jade or Kanaya do anything with their Aspect, nor do we know anything about their Quests.

We do know that both Space Lands contain the Forge, so maybe there's something to that. Presumably it's going to forge something, and I think it's probably where you're supposed to create the universe. If your task is literally to create Space, it makes sense that a Space Player would take point - but that begs the question of what would happen in a session without a Space Player.

Maybe the game prefers a Space Forge, but it can spawn on another Land in lieu of one - or maybe Space is the 'default' Aspect, and it's actually mandatory in every session.

As far as Space's symbolism is concerned, my assumption is that it's as straightforward as Time, but we'll need to see more.

While I'm here, I guess I should dip my toe into this hot mess.

Yes, LOFAF's Space Word does appear to be Frogs. Yes, that does imply that Kanaya's was also Frogs, or something equally mysterious. No, I do not know what this could possibly mean.

These frogs are apparently heralds for their god, Bilious Slick, whose shadow has been looming over the comic for months now. I guess their appearance on the Space Lands implies that Slick is Space themed, which is at least consistent with my theory that he's the final obstacle between the Players and their universe.

Moving on, because I give up.

(Oh, and if anyone's a Space Player, it's Bec. You could also make an argument for Mom Lalonde, since her home was fitted with an observatory, but that's very tenuous. We don't know much about Space, so I don't know how else to tie a character to the Aspect.)

There's a lot going on with Light.

All Quests so far have had ties to the Player's Aspect, so whatever Jaspers thinks he's talking about here should have something to do with Light.

Jaspers... seems to be talking about different ways to represent information, and instructing Rose to find a particular DNA sequence. (I have to assume this isn't the MEOW sequence, because I don't think Sburb wants Rose to fill LOLAR's oceans with First Guardians.) So, it sort of looks like Light is information, doesn't it?

Well... maybe. See, things are are complicated by the fact that Dave's Quest above was also Knight-themed, so this spiel from Jaspers could be partially Seer-themed. How can we tell which is the Seer stuff, and which is the Light?

Recently, Rose said this, seemingly confirming that her Title is about information ('knowing shit'), and also implying that the 'knowing' is a Seer thing.

This allow us to compare her to Terezi, the other Seer. As we'll see below, she specializes in discerning people's personalities and motivations - literally, seeing into their minds - so it sounds like being a Seer is about perceiving or 'seeing' things that relate to your Aspect.

Rose, the Seer of Light, should therefore have an advanced perception of Light - but just what is Light? What can Rose see?

Well, she says she can see 'the big picture'.

I think Rose's powers allow her to zoom out, understand the broad strokes of a situation, and see how it all ties together - and I think that is the essence of Light.

Dave wonders how he's going to navigate the Furthest Ring's twisted-up space, so she scans the overall situation with her Light powers, and vaguely understands that it won't be a problem. Dave will be able to play his part.

However, if he asked why, exactly, it won't be a problem, or how he's going to do it, she'd be stumped. That's not her department.

I think I sort of understand what Light means now, but I can't think of a succinct way to describe it. The zooming-out Aspect, maybe? The everything-is-connected Aspect? The don't-sweat-the-details Aspect?

Guys, I think I'm starting to understand Homestuck!

Ah, shit.

Yeah, I don't know how Vriska or her powers slot into this interpretation. As the Thief of Light, I guess she'd be stealing... the bigger picture... from other people? And that lets her take their luck, somehow?

I guess when you give yourself 'good luck', you are sort of improving your situation in the general sense, rather than the specific. You don't know the details of how your luck will manifest, but you don't really need to - all you need to know is that it'll be good for you.

I don't know. This is getting messy, and more than a little abstract. I'm sure Vriska will be doing a lot of luck-stealing, so we'll hopefully learn more as we go.

At least the Land of Maps and Treasure fits Light-as-the-big-picture. A map is, literally, a big picture.

A flurry of disquieting happenstance is related to the ADORED SOVEREIGN. With no other options, her counsel is all that is left to be sought. Abdication is never ideal. But in the face of inevitable conquest, conceding ground can supply the only remaining advantage.

WQ, then, seems like a good fit for a Light Player. After listening to PM's full report, she seems to understand how the pieces fit together.

The Queen knows that Jack wants her dead, and clearly understands how dangerous a Player item can be, in the wrong hands. She doesn't know what's in the package, or what Jack will do with it - but she doesn't need to. She can see the writing on the wall, so she retreats.

I did a bit of Breath research for this post, and landed on the above quote. I think Breath is about direction and destination.

TT: John? TT: Are you there? -- tentacleTherapist [TT] is now an idle chum! -- EB: hey, yeah i'm here! EB: and not dead i think. TT: I know. TT: I've been watching you scramble through the house like a lunatic. TT: You should have answered me sooner.

John's a meandering kind of guy. He's wandered haphazardly around the session for three thousand pages, but he always seems to reach his goal. Despite not knowing where to go, he always seems to be where he needs to be.

John's Quest as the Heir of Breath has been explained in detail. He needs to unclog the pipes of LOWAS and defeat Typheus, freeing his Land's fireflies from their cloudy prison. In essence, John's Quest is to give these bugs a new direction, allowing them their full axis of movement once again.

There might also be some Heir stuff in this Quest, but its ultimate goal seems to align pretty well with that Breeze quote above, so I'm willing to accept it as Breath evidence.

AG: Have you ever tried to fly? I 8et you haven't! AG: How a8out we take to the skies, Pupa! AG: Hahahaha, oh you like that idea, Pupa? Yes, you do. I can feel it in your simple, mallea8le 8rain. AG: You want to fly so 8ad!

Breath might also have something to do with agency - or at least, the ability to choose your own actions. John's freedom-themed Quest isn't the only example of this - Tavros's entire arc is about how Vriska keeps denying him agency, while pretending she's doing the opposite.

(I'm going to avoid comparing Homestuck to other works, because this post is long enough as it is, so you're just going to have to imagine the twelve paragraphs of Deltarune meta that would otherwise be placed here.)

AT: bECAUSE THE ONLY TIME i EVER HAD FUN PLAYING THIS GAME WAS WHEN i WAS ASLEEP,

Tavros just wanted to do his own thing. He wanted to ignore the game and float around Prospit, away from everyone's expectations - but he was denied this opportunity, again and again. It's no wonder that he's on a bit of a high right now, after being granted the freedom of his new robo-legs.

As for potential Breath Players - well, CD reminds me of John a little, but he seems a lot more likely to stay on task. I don't know what Aspect he'd be assigned.

Now - we're onto the Aspects we've only seen in trolls. We don't have as much for most of these, since we haven't seen any troll Quests, nor any Aspect powers sans Vriska and Terezi.

Terezi, the Seer of Mind, deals in personality - or maybe, more generally, vibes.

CG: WE'RE NOT EXILING JACK, HE'S COOL. [...] GC: [...] 1 DO NOT G3T 4 GOOD F33L1NG FROM H1M! GC: H3 K1ND OF CG: STINKS? [...] GC: W3LL GC: SORT OF GC: H3 DO3SNT SM3LL B4D 4CTU4LLY GC: H3 SM3LLS R34LLY CL34N 4ND SH1NY 4ND D4RK D4RK D444RK L1K3 4N O1L SL1CK 4ND TH3R3 1S 4 T1NY H1NT OF L1COR1C3 TH3R3 TOO GC: 1TS MOR3 L1K3 GC: TH3 W4Y H3 MOV3S GC: 1 SM3LL H1S SMOOTH MOT1ONS 4ND TH3 W4Y H3 SQU1NTS H1S 3Y3S 4ND 1T G1V3S M3 TH1S R34LLY N3RVOUS F33L1NG

When she smells someone, her Mind-enhanced perception doesn't just tell her what they look like - it also seems to communicate that person's essence. Terezi can see the idea of Jack Noir, here. She's smelling what it feels like to be inside his head.

GC: TH3 D4Y 1T H4PP3N3D W4S TH3 F1RST T1M3 1 3V3R H34RD FROM MY LUSUS GC: SH3 WOK3 M3 UP, 4ND 3V3R S1NC3 H4S B33N T34CH1NG M3 4 D1FF3R3NT W4Y TO S33 GC: 4 D1FF3R3NT W4Y TO P3RC31V3 3V3RYTH1NG 1 GU3SS, NOT JUST 1N 4 S3NSORY W4Y

Terezi is also a naturally perceptive person, so it's sometimes unclear whether her reads are due to Seer clairvoyance or her own deductive abilities. As a general rule, I'll only treat her insight as a Mind power if she explicitly refers to her sense of smell as its source, since that's the avenue for her supernatural perception.

GC: T3LL M3 YOUR R34L N4M3!!! >:[ TG: ok lets say its TG: dave why not GC: D4V3! GC: TH4T SM3LLS L1K3 TRUTH GC: 1 W1LL D3C1D3 TO B3L13V3 1T >:] TG: fuck

Therefore, I'm pretty sure her powers do, in fact, allow her to detect lies. Mind, then, might be related to the concept of truth - as in, your Mind is the truth of who you are, stripped of all illusions.

I was initially going to place Droog here, since he seems to be the only Crew member with his head screwed on, but I no longer think Mind is about being rational or analytical.

Blood is the first Aspect I don't really have a guess for. Maybe it's got something to do with genetics - Karkat is a carcinoGeneticist, after all, and a mutant to boot.

Spades Slick is blood brothers with a Knight of Blood, and he's got a lot in common with Karkat, commanding his party with a moderately annoying leadership style. I'll put him here on the strength of those parallels, and I can revisit it when Blood is explained.

We don't know much about Nepeta, so we don't know much about Heart. Shipping is all about drawing them, though, so maybe Heart is about romance - or, more broadly, relationships and connections.

Nepeta's Land of Little Cubes and Tea is a lolcat joke, so it might not conform to the Aspect Word pattern. I guess, since the cubes are sugar cubes, it might be a pun on 'sweetheart'? Who knows.

I'll put Hearts Boxcars here, and not just because of his name. He's the only member of the Midnight Crew with any interest in shipping.

Feferi revived Sollux with a kiss, so Life is probably healing, as it is in many other element systems.

How her Land of Dew and Glass relates to Life is a mystery. While dew can refer to condensation on any surface, it's often used to describe the water droplets which accrete on grass and other flora. That's kind of a connection to a living thing, but feels like a stretch and a half.

Let's also put Nanna here, since she's the only true healer in the cast. I don't know why the other sprites don't use the healing beam.

Our Void Player is in a Land of Caves and Silence - a hole in the earth, and an absence of sound. Void seems to represent negation, or a lack of something.

Also - this might be a reach, but Scratch describes the gaps in his clairvoyance as 'pockets of void', so perhaps Void also has something to do with uncertainty - aka, a lack of information.

Most of the Guardians could go here, really. Bro seems the best fit, since he's constantly hiding from Dave, and completely vanishes for most of the session.

When a timeline is marked for destruction, we say that it's doomed.

Doom seems to represent death, obliteration and entropy. Sollux Entered into the Land of Brains and Fire, and I think it's pretty clear that Fire is the trait which is tapping his Aspect.

Doom may also be the Aspect of prophecy. After all, Sollux is a prophet of Doom - so maybe he's a prophet because of Doom. It could also be related to his nature as a Mage, but Mages haven't been explained, so I can't speculate.

I originally thought that Sollux might be a Seer - but the Seer Class seems to be about gathering information related to a particular Aspect, rather than directly divining the future. Maybe a Seer of Time could see future events, but it's certainly not a default ability of the class.

Grandpa seems to have some ties to Doom. He prophesized Jade's death to her when he told her about her dead Dream Self - plus, he's a hunter, with a house full of corpses. Also, his entire presence in the session is overshadowed by the spectre of his future death. This is probably the Aspect guess I'm most confident in.

I guess there's also Hope, a brand-new Aspect with no lore. Eridan's 'hope' would seem to be expressed in the fact that he constantly hits on people, hoping in vain for a yes. Thankfully, we're not aware of any non-Players like that....

The mail is the one final hope for resurrecting a dead planet from its ashes, and the letter carriers are the brave soldiers of God in this righteous crusade. They are the defenders of the light of knowledge, free communication, and the exchange of ideas. They are the bold toters of all those little papery conduits of freedom, the white postmarked angels that whisper a message on their deliverance, a promise to the yearning: "There is hope yet."

...but PM is pretty much screaming about hope in her mail monologue, so we'll put her here.

ORDER IN THE COURT. YOU WILL HAVE ORDER IN THIS COURTROOM. IF EVERYONE DOES NOT SETTLE DOWN YOU WILL CLEAR OUT THIS COURTROOM, YOU SWEAR TO GOD.

It's hard to classify the Aimless Renegade. He's all about crime and punishment - which is certainly a Terezi trait, but I don't think it's a Mind trait.

As for Dad, he has a well-established gentlemanly personality, but I don't know what Aspect is the most 'gentlemanly'.

I could try and classify more obscure characters like FedoraFreak, the Pen-pal, Jaspersprite or the Hussie self-insert, but I'll tell you right now I don't have any guesses. Still, that was fun, and it was a good opportunity for me to update my thoughts surrounding the Aspects!

[mdhwrites]

How do you feel about Alador (if you haven't already talked about him before)?

Opens mouth

Closes mouth

You know what? I don't think I really have. Not on his own at least. Admittedly, like many parent characters, it's hard to talk about him as just his own character. The other side of that coin though is that unlike other parental characters, it's much less about his kids than it is about his wife. You know, someone else who really isn't much of a character and doesn't work.

Add to this the flip flopping, wishy washy nature of his character and you have someone who is hard to judge as anything but a waste of time. He spends 80% of the series quite literally only backing everything Odalia says. The one time he disagrees is to point out that his wife's goals are being met despite them not being through her own agenda so maybe it's okay to let Amity have this win? That is still serving her interests though and instead just presenting a second view point.

As a character, he is just a feckless father. The most basic stereotype of a dad who works too much, mixed with VERY forced moments of being easily distractable which don't even feel accurate to the one episode they're a part of his character, Escaping Expulsion. Just as Odalia is boring in that she is what you think of for an evil capitalist, Alador is just as basic.

This is also why the only thing people bring up about him is his inconsistency. How the show never shows him as anything other than entirely loyal to Odalia before turning him around 180 degrees and expecting the audience to believe it. There just is little else to talk about. Any wasted potential you want to even claim is mostly within Odalia already, making it feel like Amity could have honestly had just one parent and nothing would have changed besides Amity's motivation for wanting to enter the Bonesborough Brawl. Yes, you could claim the Abomatons too but if you make Odalia the abominations user, that is immediately fixed. Because that is all, story wise, Alador actually contributes.

If there is a writing lesson to be taken from Alador, it's actually WHY parents seem to never be around in shows. It is the importance of understanding what elements are important to your show and necessary. The best example of this is Clouds on the Horizon. Let me explain in the best way I can:

The love interest for the story has just been told they must be without their love. Not only that but that to continue being a part of their family and society, she must stand by cruelty and evil. The one forcing this upon her is her own mother. Everything that has been the push and pull of the character comes down to this. To reject the past, the traditions that cause harm, and embrace an uncertain, beautiful, warm future.

"No but you were very close!"

And in one line, all that weight is lost. It is not Amity overcoming all of this. It is not Amity's morals winning out versus her mother's. It's not even love winning out over hate. No, now it's some asshole who hates his wife enough that he's decided to betray her and fight her. The narrative climax of one of your main characters, one of the ones with the most plot lines related to her and what could have been a powerful climax is instead given to a minor character who has barely had twenty minutes combined in the entire series up until now.

That to me is his greatest sin. How him never existing would have strictly made the show better. Because eventually you need to figure out what your story is about and what is actually needed to tell it instead of providing endless repetitions that only get weaker with each retelling.

And boy, by the time Alador is telling the tale of his redemption. that tape is well worn and never belonged to him in the first place.

======+++++======

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[egg-emperor]

do you think Eggman actually wants to kill/torture sonic? The sonic channel says in eggmans bio that he doesn’t hate sonic deep down in his heart, does Eggman have morals??

That's what the Sonic Channel bio says with Google translate, which is the most unreliable form of translation and in this case very inaccurate for Eggman's character. I rely more on DeepL but it's having trouble with this, it just says "deep down he hates him" lol

But in more reliable translation it doesn't seem to state that he doesn't actually hate him, which I think is an important distinction to make. Here's an example of a human translation of that part, which is always better than a machine one:

"Tender" doesn't feel like a fitting word at all though. This is the absolute closest you've ever got to him being somewhat... affectionate?... towards Sonic in a genuine way in the games, I suppose:

I mean, he's saying he finds him admirable. And it's funny because this is as he's attempting to blow him up to kill him and really thinks he's succeeded this time. I guess you can say that's kind of affectionate in his own twisted way by declaring it in his send-off, that works lol

Now in his Origins bio, they're very clearly referring to this same aspect in that bio but with a huge rephrasing that feels muuuch more fitting than "tender":

You can tell because it's beat for beat with the whole "he wants to defeat Sonic, but deep down-" phrasing

In this case, kinship clearly refers to the feeling of "a sharing of characteristics/other similarities." (Not the other way in being related in a familial sense, no way in hell lol) This is a massive improvement, absolutely PERFECT phrasing Imo.

This makes a lot more sense because it has game evidence. I look at what's in the games to support any outside word. If there isn't any, I don't accept it, canon is what's in the source media/text, any word outside has to be at least heavily supported by/align with it.

This scene specifically has him explain his feelings on Sonic in his own words perfectly. You're not gonna get it from a better place than the horse's mouth. It also shows where I feel the "kinship" is:

It reaffirms that he absolutely does hate him and makes sure to specifically heavily emphasize it. You can hear it in his voice and it's not just in his words, he shows it in his actions, his dislike and threats aren't empty as he tries to outright hurt and kill Sonic all the time.

But it also shines more light on the way that he can also have respect for him, similarly to the way that he called him his admirable adversary in SA2. He can acknowledge that he has talent and admirable tenacity without liking him.

These are closest to "tender" they've gotten with him towards Sonic in canon if we're going to try assign anything to that at all. But again, I feel the rephrasing of it being him feeling a kinship is a lot more accurate with all things considered.

It fits perfectly because Eggman is exactly the same. He also has raw talent with his genius IQ and his creations and plans and tenacity to keep trying and never give up on his goals.

They've always been like two sides of the same coin, drastic opposites of traits in some aspects but also very similar in others, such as tenacity and skill level. This is what makes them perfect narrative foils to each other.

It shows they're a match in battle. Proves he's smart too in recognizing it, if he wasn't he wouldn't stand a chance against Sonic but instead he puts up the greatest fight of all villains and the one that still lives to fight again and again.

I talked a bit more about how even the way that they're opposites in themes yet can have an interesting overlap into almost similarities in the way they go about it at the same time in this post, which I feel is also worth mentioning.

Sage recognizes and praises Eggman's tenacity in the next cutscene they're together after he specifically mentions and praises Sonic for his, so she notices similarity between them too:

So to sum up my stance- the idea of it being "tenderness" on Eggman's part feels inaccurate too, unless you're saying it's like, the closest he can get in his own twisted way then sure lol. But it certainly isn't in the way that fits the genuine definition with the ways he's actually shown to feel and think about him.

I feel the words kinship and respect are the most accurate descriptors by definition though. He does indeed feel those towards him but he absolutely hates his guts at the same time. And that's what makes that Frontiers scene so good for summing it up so perfectly. I think it really is that simple at its core.

And he absolutely does hate him and makes it very clear constantly in the games, as recently as Frontiers, so it hasn't changed at all over time either. He's been very violent and shown eagerness and attempt various kinds of graphic injury and death to Sonic and often attempts to act on those threats.

He has taken great delight in Sonic seemingly meeting his demise twice, so it doesn't get any more blatant than that:

He has also been very unenthused and expressed disappointment when he survives his attempts to kill him multiple times:

Lol

And no, Eggman doesn't have any known good morals that ever limit him from doing anything bad and harmful in the games. His only limit is what results in the world he wants to rule being completely destroyed so he can no longer rule it, also the only reason he teams up to save the world, besides to save himself too of course.

Case in point- Eggman saying that he doesn't want to destroy the planet completely:

Yet also showing little care for the state of it when the damage is done, as long as there's still enough for him to conquer:

Sums it up because this is within the same game too, though there are many examples of this throughout the series. Where he'll cause mass amounts of destruction to get what he wants but if another bad guy threatens to completely destroy it to the point it ceases to exist so he can't rule it and of course puts him in danger, he'll team up to stop it.

He also tries to kill Sonic and co all the time, even characters as young as 8 and 6 and has no hesitation or remorse. Sage also hasn't changed this at all, as Dream Team is canon and takes place after Frontiers.

So if he doesn't have good moral standards that stop him from targeting actual children then yeah, makes sense for him to not have them anywhere else either. You can't really stoop any lower.

Which is why I think the concept of him torturing Sonic in Forces makes a lot of sense too. There's never been anything to say he wouldn't. Certainly not any moral limits. I can imagine he'd jump at the chance to torture Sonic in at least some way when he gets his hands on him for that long.

Eggman's character when broken down to its essentials are very simple. Hating Sonic is one of them. But his feelings and actions in how he actually goes about them are a lot more complex and complicated. In the way he's still able to recognize his ability and give him credit where it's due and have respect for him from a formidable adversary standpoint.

The man's got a point

Simple when it comes to his core traits, personality, and motives. Can be much more complex and complicated in his feelings and actions. That's what gives him such compelling depth to me. He's super interesting to analyze and it's so much more fun and eye opening when viewing his character with this nuance. He's not to be oversimplified or overcomplicated.

I like Eggman's dynamic with Sonic because it's not simplistic in the "he hates him so much he can't recognize and respect any of his abilities/skills" nor "he can recognize and respect any of his abilities/skills, so that means he doesn't really hate him". It's more complex and nuanced than that and I like it.

It shows he's smart when he can recognize and respect Sonic's skills so he can stand a chance against him. It also benefits him by proving his intelligence and strength in being able to continue to challenge him after all this time, so it's a way for him to take pride in it too.

If he denied them, it would also make himself look weak for being able to defeat him but he's far from it. If Sonic wasn't as strong and skilled as he is, Eggman would easily be able to take over the world. He proved it in Forces, if it wasn't for Sonic it would've been a permanent victory.

Having a powerful enemy proves he's a powerful threat. Having what it takes to take on a guy who's been able to kill beings of god-like power says a lot about his own too, so acknowledging it benefits himself in multiple ways and that's always an important factor when it comes to him lol

The Sonic Channel commentary at the end of this Sonic and Eggman cover story describes Eggman's feelings on Sonic and their roles in each other's lives perfectly (excerpt from the "what really entertains him" section):

I also like how it notes that Eggman can enjoy the thrill of the battles as he is seen having as great of a time with it as often as he can be fueled by rage during them. Just like Sonic can too, another of their similarities there 💜

[password-door-lock]

Mystictober Day 20-- Headcanon

You really like talking to Ray.

Granted, you only met him this morning, but still— he's very sweet and fun to be around, even if most of your conversations take place over text. Especially if most of your conversations take place over text, actually, with all those cute emojis of his. Just now, he's sent you that adorable clapping emoji, which always makes you smile to yourself. It warms your heart to see Ray so full of joy, even in emoji form.

MC: Your emojis are so cute, Ray MC: I always love seeing them :)

Ray sends his laughing emoji in response, and once again, you can't help but grin. 

Ray: Thank you for telling me, my MC Ray: I'll be sure to use them more often Ray: If that's what makes you happy.

He follows this up with his blue rose emoji— he's so cute. You just want to march down to his office and tell him as much to his face, but you know very well that you can't do that. For security reasons, nobody is allowed to bother Ray while he's working— you imagine that it has something to do with ensuring that the game doesn't leak, though, when you think about it, that doesn't make much sense. You're already playing the game, after all. You can only conclude that there must be another reason, though you know better than to press. Ray and his colleagues are being very generous by allowing you to stay here free of charge while you explore their game, and you have no intention of straining their hospitality.

Ray: To tell you the truth Ray: You have emojis, too. MC: What MC: Where MC: How??

You can't wait to see your own emojis... if they're part of the game, that means that Ray designed them, right? You imagine a whole gallery of player-specific emojis with different hair colors and skin tones, all neutrally designed so that anybody could relate to them. That would be such a nice touch to get people immersed in the game. Ray sends you a laughing emoji before answering your question.

Ray: Go to the emoji menu Ray: You should find them there. Ray: I hope you like them! Ray: I designed them just for you, my MC. 

If his words didn't get you to blush, then that blue rose emoji would certainly do the trick. He made special emojis just for you?

MC: Oh MC: That's so sweet of you, Ray MC: But wouldn't it take a long time?

You don't know much about animation, but you figure it would take at least an hour to make even a simplified drawing laugh or shake its head.

Ray: Please don’t worry about that.  Ray: I work very quickly! Ray: And I wanted to surprise you with something you'd enjoy! MC: Thank you so much!

You decide that you'd like to punctuate this show of gratitude with an emoji. As instructed, you locate the emoji menu, and your jaw drops at the sheer number of them. You expected maybe one or two, a laughing emoji and a crying emoji, perhaps— nothing too complicated. After all, this is just a prototype version of the game, and personalized emojis must be Ray's way of thanking you for your help— they won't actually make it into the final game. It wouldn’t make sense for too much programming effort to go into something like this. 

However, to your surprise, the emoji menu contains a sprawling gallery of portraits of yourself, engaged in a variety of activities and displaying a wide range of emotions. Not only do you have a happy emoji, a sad emoji, a blushing emoji, and an angry emoji (all of which seem to mimic your actual facial expressions fairly accurately), but you also have a laughing emoji, a confused emoji, and a pouting emoji. There is at least one emoji depicting you engaging in each of your hobbies, and two separate sleeping emojis... when would you ever use those? Upon scrolling down, you discover a second set of emojis nearly identical to the first, except that the miniature you is wearing a white shirt with a lacy collar rather than your typical hoodie (which Ray has artfully depicted in the original set of emojis). Even the RFA members and the developer himself don’t seem to have multiple outfit choices in their emoji libraries; Ray must really like you, if he was willing to devote more time to your emojis than to the ones he made for his OCs.

After a little bit of deliberation, you decide to send the hoodie-clad blushing emoji, as it's a fairly accurate representation of your present state. You are, indeed, wearing a hoodie and blushing. Shockingly, the emoji even has sound— where on Earth did Ray manage to find a clip of you sighing? Did he take it from one of your phone calls? If that’s the case, then he really does work quickly, considering you’ve known him for less than a day. 

MC: Where did you find the time to make all of these?

Ray sends his own blushing emoji back to you. 

Ray: It's a nice break from my work. Ray: Do you like them? MC: I love them!

Just because you can, you send him a smiling emoji. It may not be photo-realistic, but it really does look like you. Ray responds with his blue rose emoji yet again... Does he have any idea how cute he is?

Ray: I'm glad! Ray: I hope you use them often! Ray: Just… Ray: Only send them to me.

You send your confused emoji, complete with a perplexed little sighing noise and violet question marks above its oversized head. Ray really did go all out with these emojis. 

Ray: The game will glitch if you send them to the AIs.

His little huffing emoji is so adorable that it completely makes up for the restriction on your emoji use. It does follow that Ray wouldn't want to include the personalized emojis in the code of the actual game part of the game, since that feature probably won’t be available in the final version. 

MC: Oh, okay MC: That makes sense!

Just for good measure, you send your smiling emoji once again. Ray sends his clapping emoji in return— he really is adorable.

[pinkyshy101]

Hi ok I don't normally add onto to posts but like!! This has added a whole new layer of "aaa this episode is so good" to me cause like growing up there was me and my 3 siblings (technically 4 cause I have a way older half brother but I don't remember him living with us so I'm not counting him here), I'm the middle child and each of my siblings has some form of something that causes them to need more attention or whatever than me (2 on the autism spectrum, 1 adhd/anxiety/depression/chronic illness, maybe the other 2 have other small things idk) but I had nothing like that. Which yknow, isn't actually true. I haven't been diagnosed with anything except scoliosis, but I definitely have some form of anxiety, and possibly adhd (can't say for sure, but a lot of what I've been looking into the past few years leads me to be like, hmm...).

So, growing up, I was the "normal one." Yes I remember my parents (I think mainly my dad) saying that to my face at least once, which yknow, probably isn't the best thing to tell your young child (I bring it up now and they're like "oh no, we meant 'most typically developing'" and I guess technically they're not wrong, I had better grades and did better in school and heck I'm in college and probably the only one going to even go to college so technically speaking maybe they're not wrong... I'm realizing half of these things are relating to school and uh, I'll unpack all that later lol).

Anyway, back to the original post, I'm definitely hardcore relating to the part with "the sick child needs all the attention and the healthy one gets pushed to the side," that wording makes me feel a little icky if only cause wow, "sick" and "healthy" are... Not entirely accurate, at least in my mind, cause wow, I sure am not "healthy" (especially mental stability wise) and yknow, Lilith really isn't either...

I lost my train of thought somewhere while typing all this out but... Dang... This episode cuts deep... And it's only the 4th of 21 episodes this season.... Its gonna be a wild ride

I also want to talk about llith’s role in this episode because I feel like the fandom kinda has this twisted right now. it’s not that she was the “least favorite” child so much as she was the healthy child. the abled child. 

I saw absolutely no signs in this episode that gwendolyn actively favored eda or disliked lilith in any way. instead it came across that gwendolyn felt eda just needed her more. this happens sometimes in families with a disabled or sick child- especially if that illness is something serious and/or life-threatening- the parents become consumed with the care of the sick child and end up neglecting the healthy ones. it’s not okay, but you can see why it happens. 

it isn’t intentional, it isn’t the same thing as favoritism. it’s just that the parent perceives the healthy child as being able to handle things, and the sick child needs more of their attention. gwendolyn became consumed with her quest to cure eda, she devoted all her time and effort into finding treatments and cures that she went so far down this pyramid scheme rabbit hole out of sheer desperation to do something to make it better. and lilith…lilith didn’t need any of that. lilith seemed to be doing well. she was in the emperor’s coven, she was successful and smart and capable. so her needs fell by the wayside, and she felt neglected and forgotten by her mother. 

and that’s so common in these situations, so it is critical that families with sick or disabled children not fall into this trap of overprotecting one child because they assume they’re incapable and neglecting the other because they assume they’re fine. but again, it’s not like it’s this malicious thing and it’s certainly not the same thing as favoritism.