#sonic misconceptions

[sonknuxadow]

if a characters name is just a word related to their powers or job then they are transgender. because obviously their parents wouldnt know that information the second theyre born so how would they have those names. its because they named themselves

[nickpeppermint]

Now that classic Mickey is getting more attention, i think it's about time to talk about one very annoying design misunderstanding

Has anyone noticed how Mickey Mouse eyes are COMPLETELY misinterpreted in coloured version? 👀

He has a mono eye like Sonic, which was changed into two small eyes inside his pupils

Also for example, notice the placement of Minnie's eyelashes that went from her eyelids to the top of her pupils

Yet Goofy retained normal eyes for some reason

Does anyone know why it's the case? 🤔

[benis-chillin]

You're telling me that the dude who has canonically led teams called "Team Heroes" and "Sonic Heroes" doesn't think of himself as a hero?

You're REALLY gonna tell me that shit with a straight face?

Sonic is not a Hero

From Pariah695

[radiantrookie]

I'm really glad fan wikis like Mario and Kirby have misconception pages

I know certain fandoms that could also use misconception pages

[hermanunworthy]

if taylor is 19 why was he kicked out of sonic CHECKMATE FREDDIE WONG /j

[lowpolyshadow]

the tailstube was fucking funneeee and i may have my qualms on some stuff but i think the W's (sa2 acknowledgement, heroes acknowledgement, shth2005 acknowledgement, specifically sonic using a fake emerald acknowledgement, the idea of a mutual respect even if they may have differing ideals and should things come to it end up on opposing sides again) outweigh the cons and so im WINNING!

[m3tr0n0m333]

Who taught him to be silly like that

[son1c]

did captain america age when he was stuck in that iceberg? did squidward age when he was locked in the freezer??? were they aware AT ALL during that time? their minds and bodies were FROZEN. they did not age. it was like they went to sleep and then woke up, however many years later. it's THE SAME for shadow.

the only thing i want from sonic movie 3 atp is for sonic to look directly at the camera and say "that guy is 15, just like me!" irt shadow because people constantly misunderstanding how CRYOSTASIS works drives me completely insane and is overall just annoying as fuck

[speeps-highway]

Hey! If you're a fan of the 1998-2009 era Sonic (which you probably are since most of my followers are Sonic Adventure fans), you should read the short stories from the Japanese site Sonic Channel fully. They're the ultimate experience for anyone invested in the characters, explore their personalities in-depth, and shed light on their relationships and how they would act in a variety of impossible situations. They're written by Eitaro Toyoda, one of the Sonic Team OGs who's been with the series since SA1. Windii (@browniestash) compiled English translations on her blog (the page goes from newest to oldest).

I'm sharing this because Windii recently ran a poll and found out most fans had either not read them or only know of the 2016 comic strips (which are short and small and mostly just cute gags). I consider that a huge shame, because these are absolutely a must-read. There's a lot of misconceptions in the fandom about the characters' traits and dynamics (since much of it is distorted through word-of-mouth and Sega of America retcons) and these clear up a good bit of them. They really help scratch the itch of wanting more oldschool 3D Sonic story content.

[sonicfactsijustmadeup]

“Sonic can’t swim in Sonic 1 because the creators thought hedgehogs couldn’t swim” is actually a common misconception. Sonic cannot swim because Yuji Naka couldn’t swim, and he didn’t realize that anybody else was able to.

[sonknuxadow]

people thinking that green hill is called green hills 🤝 people thinking endless possibility is called endless possibilities 🤝 people thinking that fleetway super sonic is his actual in universe name

[flingmetothemoon]

↑ THANK YOU

I don't like the idea that Tikal has become dead or even a ghost from an afterlife. I don't think it makes sense and including her in a trend of dead nice girls lists like Maria, Cosmo, Molly and even Longclaw is a disservice to her character imo. As a matter of fact, I have Cylent Nite's Shadikal essay document downloaded into my Google Docs and here's a debunkment page regarding the whole Tikal being dead argument.

Tikal is not dead

This is a very common line of thought that is always a stub in discussion. Focusing on the cutscenes featuring Tikal’s sealing within the Master Emerald, there is nothing in the sequence that really indicates that she ever “died”. If anything, the prayer she recites implies the opposite, where the power to stop Chaos is enriched by her own heart for peace.

In the middle of her incantation she has a short revelation about what she must do, revealing that they turn her thoughts into power. Through this process, Tikal has actually “ascended” in order to gain the necessary power and became an entity commissioned to serve the Master Emerald, rather than simply having died and become an undead ghost.

To consider some basic terminology: Tikal is never referred to as a “ghost”, however in certain texts and bios she is called a “spirit”. Ghosts fall under the category of “spirit”, but spirits aren’t considered “ghosts”. Also consider other entities that identify as spirits too: djinn are considered spirits who are canon elements in the Sonic series, and in various mythology, angels and demons are also considered “spirits” too. Pretty much anything that falls under that mystical banner is considered a spirit, even smaller entities like sprites and pixies.

All the above considered, Tikal is more like an “angel” than a “ghost”. Tikal’s ascension calls to mind certain characters in the various mythology who due to complete servitude to their master, transcended life and bypass death in order to become more than the simple mortal beings that they once were- in this case they became angels. These texts in particular heavily emphasize that they did not die- they were transformed.

Obviously it’s purely conjecture to apply this to something as simple as Tikal’s state of being, but given that Tikal holds a close connection to Chaos and the Master Emerald, it only makes sense that she would have to be on an equal footing with Chaos rather than just being some simple disembodied ghost; The undead should never have this much responsibility when it comes to godly affairs, this is a duty reserved for deities.

Harkening back, consider the fact that Tikal and Chaos are “equals'': Even Chaos himself was once a simple Chao before he ascended into the state of a god by the Master Emerald in order to protect its people; Chaos was never a god from the beginning. Tikal’s transformation shares the exact same properties, however, with the purpose of keeping Chaos in check.

Another line of thought people commonly consider is that at the end of Sonic Adventure, Tikal and Chaos rise up to “pass on into the afterlife”. That just doesn’t make any sense at all; Why would a god like Chaos need to pass on, especially since he himself isn’t dead?

TL;DR Stucking herself in a magical rock just gave her new superpowers/forms

The whole “pass on into the afterlife” thing doesn't make sense either because I've been exposed to enough media to know a trope called "A Twinkle in the Sky" where someone or an object is thrown into the sky and disappears behind a twinkling four-pointed star. Does that mean a character literally went straight to heaven? No. It usually occurs for either slapstick or to show that a comedic recurring villain is defeated and out of the way for now without having to kill or otherwise permanently inconvenience them, and said villain can be expected to show up again with little to no lasting damage nor explanation on how they survived or where they landed. It's just a convenient yet creative way of saving up time for the rest of the plot when it could've shown a hero knocking the villain out and dragging them back to their evil lair they may not know the location of. Just FLING and done.

Tikal and Chaos floating up to the sky is essentially a more gentler form of this trope. They didn't like go to heaven to "pass on into the afterlife as dead ghosts" or something, they simply float away to another location they would've most likely been more familiar with. Of course it might not have been obviously openly confirmed where exactly they went to, perhaps it was left open for interpretation. But I believe the Master Emerald can be used as an interdimensional gate, and I speculate that when Tikal used its power to use it as a cage for her and Chaos, one of its side effects is it created a dimension that strongly replicates the past altar, so if this ending screen is any indication ↓

I think it's safe to say that's where they most likely went to.

Summary: If Tikal is dead because she was suspended in time in an object for a long time does that mean that Shadow, Captain America and Phillip J. Fry are also dead too?

Tikal is sealed in the master emerald in like a time space girly never died she just sealed herself and chaos in the master emerald time space she is not dead

[tomboymikayla]

What sucks about the Sonic franchise is that people only seem to like it when the franchise isn't being itself

Sonic Colors is liked by non Sonic Fans because it's kiddy and lighthearted and not dark and edgy like the 2000s games, which is considered cringe to them and the only time people "like" the 2000s games is when they're talking about those obnoxious Snapcube dubs which they's been spamming for 4 years now

New Fans also praise the current voice cast, which sucks because a majority them don't fit the characters

New Fans also praise how Ian Flynn writes the characters, which also sucks because Flynn's version of the characters don't act like the actual Sonic Characters, (Sonic considering himself as a hero, Tails being Jimmy Neutron, Amy chooses to keep her feelings for Sonic secret and having Tarot Cards be her whole personality, Shadow being an edgy dick, etc) but the New Fans keep insisting that the new versions are better

Also to this day, misconceptions about the franchise and 90s boomers who refuse to let go of the US Lore still persist:

His name is Eggman, not Robotnik

Sonic lives on Earth, not Mobius

Sonic is not obsessed with Chili Dogs

Amy is not a stalker

Sonic has never fucking said "Gotta Go Fast"

Shadow is not an edgelord

People thinking the cartoons and movies are canon

People thinking the Snapcube Dub is canon

Majority of the characters are teens (For some reason people think every Sonic character is a grown adult, even characters like Charmy and Tails)

Also a lot of people seem to forget that the franchise was niche/hated during the 2010s, people didn't give a flying fuck about Sonic and even if they did, they brought it up just to shit on it, it was especially worse when Forces and the Ugly Sonic design came out, everything about Sonic in the 2010s was mocking it, nonstop memes and people saying the franchise only works in 2D (What's worse is that Sonic Mania indirectly proved them right)/was never good, etc

Sonic hate is a lot less common nowadays due to the movies, (mocking Sonic 06 is still brought up to this day tho), however i feel like most of it is people pretending to like Sonic, majority of Sonic praise nowadays comes from the Movies or Frontiers's vocal tracks (because of Kellen Quinn), it also goes back to my previous point with people liking the mischaracterised versions of the characters better

The big two Sonic content coming out this year are Sonic x Shadow Generations and Sonic Movie 3, which has a lot of people hyped because of Shadow the Hedgehog, but it also goes back to my previous point of people pretending to like Sonic, Shadow was heavily disliked by critics and the general audience for being a "edgelord" and looking like a Deviantart OC, so why are people switching up now?

Also from a majority of reactions I've seen, they'll say shit like "Shadow has always been my favorite character" but they don't even know his backstory and when see Black Doom, Maria or Gerald, they go "Who is this!?" (Or make an obnoxious Snapcube joke), I've even seen people ask for Silver, who is a character who was more hated than Shadow and know less about, I doubt they even know he's from the future

All this shit makes me scared that by the time both of these come out, that I'm gonna have to gatekeep the fuck out of this franchise, which is something don't wanna have to do, I just wanna live in a world where the franchise isn't a laughing stock and people actually the franchise unironically

[sonadowwiki]

The Differences Between SEGA of Japan and SEGA of America/Europe (Part 1)

On this page, we will talk about the difference between SEGA of Japan and SEGA of America/Europe; the difference between Japanese SEGA and English SEGA. Please be sure to read through all the text for a complete understanding of the topic.

An often misconception made throughout the whole Sonic the Hedgehog community is that Japan and Western SEGA are the same or share the same views. Although both are SEGA, SEGA America and SEGA Europe are international branches of SEGA Japan. They do not inherently own the Sonic the Hedgehog series. SEGA Japan (or SEGA Sammy), who is the main branch, owns them. SEGA Japan and SEGA West can share very different opinions on the Sonic the Hedgehog series. Because of this, not all material from the English/West side of SEGA are canon or official and can't be seen to reflect the current outlook on things due to not being fully approved by the Japanese side of SEGA (the ones who truly own the series). Western SEGA is known to make decisions without Japan's full consent or with only Japan's initial consent on multiple occasions. Some examples of this are: Archie Comics, IDW Comics, Mobile Apps, Sonic Speed Simulator on Roblox and even posts on the official American Twitter accounts. For the mobile apps, they are looked over by HARDlight in Europe; they are part of the Western Europe branch of SEGA. Although Sonic Forces: Speed Battle was initially approved for creation by Takashi Iizuka, he did not overlook its development after approving its creation and he does not represent SEGA Japan's wishes. Therefore, it has been under the supervision of Western SEGA and does not always have the approval of both the Western and Japanese side of SEGA when decisions are made.

When responding to a fan about why the Japanese and English versions of the Sonic the Hedgehog content were so different from each other, Eitaro Toyoda of Sonic Team hinted that the Western side of SEGA has an agenda when translating or handling their content.

SEGA West often portrays the Sonic the Hedgehog characters very differently than SEGA Japan. One such major difference is in how they handle Shadow the Hedgehog. In English medias, Shadow is often portrayed in a very mean manner where he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Such examples of this are English created series like Sonic Boom and the IDW Comic series. English medias often portray Shadow more mean than usual on purpose to give the impression that Shadow is the type of person to be completely alone, someone who doesn't want to help anyone but himself, someone who hates everyone completely and someone who wants to kill people all the time. This can also be seen in the translations of things like the video games from Japanese to English.

Japan, on the other hand, makes Shadow more stoic and cold, but not completely mean. He is more robotic than the very angry person English medias portray him as. Though, even though Shadow is seen as a bit stand-offish, Sonic Team themselves have said that Shadow is kind and sweet. Eitaro Toyoda even mentioned that, "Shadow is not a bad guy by any means, but he's not completely good either… At any rate, I trust he will not act in a way that discourages us! :)" The reason for this can be derived from Shadow being a Tsundere type of person. Meaning, he is the type of person to deny anything nice he has done. An example of this behavior can be seen in the Sonic x Shadow July Calendar Story where he denies helping the people in the town for a good cause. Shadow is not the type to want credit for doing something good, but he is still an Anti-Hero who will do what he thinks is right if it means doing the right thing or creating the right results. This is often not portrayed correctly in English medias due to them making Shadow seem like a reckless person who will fight for what he thinks is right, even if it's completely wrong to do. Shadow has more morals than that and will not cross certain lines like hurting innocent people for no reason. In Sonic Battle, he even states that his desire is to bring hope to humanity. And since it is his desire to bring hope to humanity, him hurting humanity for no reason or for the fun of it doesn't make sense. Therefore, that characterization of Shadow is incorrect. Though an Anti-Hero, Shadow is still a hero and Japan often portrays that in their medias or when they have some control over some American medias like Sonic Prime's Season 2 Episode 1 and 8.

Another character that is often portrayed differently by SEGA West is Sonic the Hedgehog himself. There are many instances where Sonic is portrayed differently than what the Japanese originally portray him as. One such prime example is how Boom Sonic is shown to have complete fear of water compared to Modern Sonic who has a dislike for water, but doesn't fear it in Japanese medias. Another difference that can be easily seen is how Sonic is shown to be apathetic in most situations in English medias compared in Japanese medias. An example of this is how in Sonic Frontiers Sonic showed to not care about SAGE's death. This is not a normal occurrence for Sonic as he has shown to care about other character's deaths or similar like Chip going back to sleep in Sonic Unleashed, Shadow being thought to have died at the end of Sonic Adventure 2 and other emotional situations. Though despite this, Sonic has been shown to be quite apathetic in English medias or only care in sudden bursts of emotion for his friends at random points in time. Other differences are like how Prime Sonic is shown to be less smart and more touchy (physically wise) than Modern Sonic. Though the movie is from the English, the movie is overlooked heavily by Japanese officials for Movie Sonic to be more accurate to their view of Sonic or to how they want Movie Sonic to be. Because of this, even Movie Sonic shows some traits that Modern Sonic from Japanese medias show. One such trait is how Sonic doesn't like to be touched by people he is not comfortable with. In Movie Sonic's case, this would have been Movie Tails. At the time he first met Movie Tails, he wasn't comfortable with him hugging him. But Movie Sonic was comfortable with his family hugging him because he was more comfortable around them since he knew them longer and finds them family. This trait of Sonic being more physically touchy is usually seen in English medias like the IDW Comics, Sonic Prime and even Sonic Frontiers.

[Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Movie) - Movie Tails hugs Movie Sonic]

In Japanese content such as Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Generations, you can see Sonic push away physical contact or see him feel very uncomfortable from the contact. It's a very stark difference between mostly English medias and Japanese medias. Though there are individuals that Modern Sonic is comfortable touching. Such examples are Tails, Knuckles and even Shadow back in Sonic Adventure 2 when they clasped hands after defeating the BioLizard/Final Hazard. For Tails and Knuckles, you can see him freely touch them in several medias. One such prime example is the calendar story pictures from 2021 where Sonic holds hands with Tails and sits on top of Knuckles' head. There's also Sonic Heroes where they often touch each other to move through the stages. He is also not bothered in touching people when it is necessary to save them, help them in some manner or make things go by quicker.

[Sonic x Tails 2021 Calendar Image from Sonic Team]

[Sonic x Knuckles Calendar Image from Sonic Team]

[Sonic Adventure 2 - Sonic and Shadow claps hands in victory after defeating the Final Hazard]

Though, there is one Japanese media that is exempted from this and that's Sonic X. The reason why this one has Sonic touching others a lot compared to other Japanese medias is due to who was in charge of Sonic Team at the time. The one in charge at the time was Yuji Naka. Yuji Naka can also be included in as one of the individuals who had an agenda while he was working for SEGA because his views are vastly different than those who work in Sonic Team today. He has left SEGA a long time ago in 2006 and was even proven to be a criminal in 2023 by admitting to participating in inside trading (JP news article) while working in Square Enix. Also, one of his policies in working with people was to dangle people's dreams in front of them to make them work well, but never allowing them to have it. Because of all of this, it is best not to take what he thought or says as anything official/canon anymore. This should especially be the case because Sonic Team's views have been shown to be very different and has changed drastically since Yuji Naka has been the head of Sonic Team.

Inside trading is the trading of a company’s securities by individuals with access to confidential or material non-public information about the company. Taking advantage of this privileged access is considered a breach of the individual’s fiduciary duty. [Cornell Law School]

Inside trading is an illegal offence that is more widely known as Leaks or Rumors to the general public. It is basically stealing confidential data within a company and giving it to others without permission. Many game companies go through this, including SEGA. Those who participate in leaks/rumors/inside trading are criminals who are stealing data from companies and are giving it to others illegally. What they are doing is against the law and can be punished by the law. The reasons why people do this vary, but most do this to invest in stocks to gain a profit from projects they believe will do well like Yuji Naka did in Square Enix. Other reasons can be to invest fans into something to make them buy the game to make more profit on it or not buy it to make less profit on it or to gain power and fame by giving out information before it is released for clout.

[Part 2]

[hishighnesstheprincess]

I feel like one of the things that gets missed a lot about Sonic and Amy's dynamic is that he isn't running because he's scared of Amy or hates her: Sonic runs because he loves running, and Amy chases because she loves Sonic and all he represents. She also clearly doesn't spend all her time chasing him: in Adventure 1 she's just lounging around in a city missing him and then he runs into her, in Heroes she's spending time with other friends of hers, etc.

Yes, she is more active in pursuing him than even other characters like Tails can be, and he can occasionally be overwhelmed by her pushy personality, but that doesn't equate to stalking or harassment. Sonic enjoys having her around- they're friends. To a certain extent, Sonic also clearly enjoys being chased by Amy.

Almost every moment that gets tossed around as her being abusive or terrible is some looney toons ass gag. Y'all can't seriously think she intended to kidnap and physically drag Sonic into a church to marry her just based off one awkward line in Heroes, can you? Regardless of whether you ship them or want them to be canon or not or find the jokes cringe or #problematic, their intended dynamic is not and has never been that of stalker and victim.

Also, another misconception about her is that people think her life revolves just around Sonic. Now, she was certainly created with him in mind (the creators wanted her to be a Minnie Mouse to Sonic's Mickey Mouse) but that's true of almost every character in the classic era. I'm not going to pretend CD presented a great dynamic between them, but starting as early as Adventure Amy had stories about standing up to Sonic, befriending other characters, actively redeeming multiple other characters/being one of the ones to help them, etc.

She's got multiple hobbies and friends outside of Sonic, she will stand up to him when she thinks he's doing something wrong: she has a life outside of Sonic.

Just because she wants her life to include him as well doesn't make her a one-note, lovesick fangirl stalker like she was so commonly seen as for so long!

Anyway. I just really love Amy Rose and also her dynamic with Sonic. It's been portrayed imperfectly at times, and there are definitely some moments where she was characterized horribly, but a) that's true of basically every major Sonic character and b) that doesn't wipe out all the good characterization and moments she's had over the years. She's always been a good character, and she's been growing and evolving over the years, just like a good character should. Her problem is mostly that she's been underutilized in games, and the solution to this is simply just to show more than one facet of her personality, not bashing that part of her or trying to take it away.

[ponett]

It's been a few weeks, so... how did you feel about the new Hbomberguy video?

it was a really good video. i know a lot of people will write it off as "youtuber drama," but if video essayists are going to be held up as a major source of information for people under 35 then video essayists need to be held accountable when they do things like plagiarize other writers or make shit up wholesale. i also think the video did a good job explaining what the actual problems with plagiarism are and why people do it, while also bringing some attention to the people james plagiarized, so that it wasn't just ripping on some shitty youtubers for the fun of it. (though it is a funny video)

honestly though, the whole time i was thinking about how my writing about archie sonic - particularly my two articles on penders - have been plagiarized in the past. i know there's at least one CBR article that's just paraphrasing me, and with how frequently my blog's used as a source i would not be surprised at all if there were some youtube videos out there just ripping off my thoughts from tkp without credit

so i was like... man, if people are just gonna parrot me, i might as well cut out the middle man and make my own video essay about penders, expanding on my previous points while also trying to clear up the misconceptions about the lawsuits. and then hbomb literally encouraged me to do so lmao. so uh. that might be a thing i do next year. we'll see