#tbf it's already hard to tell that he's singing 'animal' | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

alinaastarkov · 4 years ago

Note

In response to that slayin', hair flippin', finger snappin' answer you just published, would you be so kind as to list moments that reference how cruel Sansa is to Arya? (If you want!)

Thank you so much!!! When I say this ask made me scream with delight!!! I believe this is the answer you’re referring to (if not soz please tell me which it is) and I really had fun with it tbf 😂

I’m very happy to list some of these, because it is so often overlooked. In this instance, I will not be including moments that show how deeply it affects Arya, unless that is present in the same quote, because Arya’s self-esteem and mental health is affected by a number of things and people, and Sansa is only one of those things.

Without further ado, let’s get down to it:

She looked at Arya. “What did you think of Prince Joff, sister? He’s very gallant, don’t you think?” “Jon says he looks like a girl,” Arya said. Sansa sighed as she stitched. “Poor Jon,” she said. “He gets jealous because he’s a bastard.” “He’s our brother,” Arya said, much too loudly. - Arya I AGOT

This is more generic cruelty than specifically to Arya, but it does show how little she thinks of two of her siblings. Especially as she knows how close Jon and Arya are, and she chose to say it anyway, perhaps just to get a rise out of her (which is why I think Arya thought Sansa attracted Septa Mordane’s attention) or simply not caring about her feelings. Unclear, but we can see that Sansa calling Jon a bastard or half-brother (as she always does) is clearly hurtful to Arya who sees him as her brother, and both sisters acknowledge she is more like Jon than anyone else, so it’s hard not to see this affecting Arya negatively.

It wasn’t fair. Sansa had everything. Sansa was two years older; maybe by the time Arya had been born, there had been nothing left. Often it felt that way. Sansa could sew and dance and sing. She wrote poetry. She knew how to dress. She played the high harp and the bells. Worse, she was beautiful. Sansa had gotten their mother’s fine high cheekbones and the thick auburn hair of the Tullys. Arya took after their lord father. Her hair was a lusterless brown, and her face was long and solemn. Jeyne used to call her Arya Horseface, and neigh whenever she came near. It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. Sansa had never had much of a head for figures. If she did marry Prince Joff, Arya hoped for his sake that he had a good steward.

Nymeria was waiting for her in the guardroom at the base of the stairs. She bounded to her feet as soon as she caught sight of Arya. Arya grinned. The wolf pup loved her, even if no one else did. - Arya I AGOT

I know I said I wouldn’t look at how it affects Arya, but this quote in particular is specifically about Sansa. The misogyny of the society is inherent in this statement, as it’s what is making Arya feel inferior, but we know Sansa lords this over her in this quote. Arya even mentions things she is better at, and still thinks negatively because that is all she can do well.

The only thing that scared her about today was Arya. Arya had a way of ruining everything. You never knew what she would do. - Sansa I AGOT

Sansa regarded her scrawny little sister in disbelief. “You can’t look for rubies, the princess is expecting us. The queen invited us both.” “I don’t care,” Arya said. “The wheelhouse doesn’t even have windows, you can’t see a thing.” “What could you want to see?” Sansa said, annoyed. She had been thrilled by the invitation, and her stupid sister was going to ruin everything, just as she’d feared. “It’s all just fields and farms and holdfasts.” “It is not,” Arya said stubbornly. “If you came with us sometimes, you’d see.” “I hate riding,” Sansa said fervently. “All it does is get you soiled and dusty and sore.” - Sansa I AGOT

Here we see how poorly Sansa thinks of Arya, and this is her own POV so there’s nothing to say about bias either. She also disparages one of the few things Arya thinks she can do well, and thinks of Arya as stupid and “ruining everything” which is not kind, especially when Arya’s presence would not affect her time with the Queen. Also interesting that she says this later on:

Be with you, Sansa thought, but she said, “Whatever you’d like to do, my prince.” Joffrey reflected a moment. “We could go riding.” “Oh, I love riding,” Sansa said. - Sansa I AGOT

Riding isn’t so bad as soon as anyone else wants to do it, huh?

One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father. Sansa kept hoping he would tell Arya to behave herself and act like the highborn lady she was supposed to be, but he never did, he only hugged her and thanked her for the flowers. That just made her worse.

Then it turned out the purple flowers were called poison kisses, and Arya got a rash on her arms. Sansa would have thought that might have taught her a lesson, but Arya laughed about it, and the next day she rubbed mud all over her arms like some ignorant bog woman just because her friend Mycah told her it would stop the itching. She had bruises on her arms and shoulders too, dark purple welts and faded green-and-yellow splotches; Sansa had seen them when her sister undressed for sleep. How she had gotten those only the seven gods knew. - Sansa I AGOT

Sansa knew all about the sorts of people Arya liked to talk to: squires and grooms and serving girls, old men and naked children, rough-spoken freeriders of uncertain birth. Arya would make friends with anybody. This Mycah was the worst; a butcher’s boy, thirteen and wild, he slept in the meat wagon and smelled of the slaughtering block. Just the sight of him was enough to make Sansa feel sick, but Arya seemed to prefer his company to hers. - Sansa I AGOT

Here we have an instance of Sansa thinking of Arya as “horsey”, so why are we trying to deny she called her that? She also looks down on all the people Arya makes friends with, which shows her classism and how low her opinion is of her sister and her sister’s friends.

Sansa couldn’t help but smile a little. The kennelmaster once told her that an animal takes after its master. She gave Lady a quick little hug. Lady licked her cheek. Sansa giggled. Arya heard and whirled around, glaring. “I don’t care what you say, I’m going out riding.” Her long horsey face got the stubborn look that meant she was going to do something willful. “Gods be true, Arya, sometimes you act like such a child,” Sansa said. “I’ll go by myself then. It will be ever so much nicer that way. Lady and I will eat all the lemon cakes and just have the best time without you.” - Sansa I AGOT

More of Sansa delighting in her sister’s misery. More of the “horsey” face. More Sansa telling her sister she isn’t wanted, which is something Arya is already deeply afraid of.

She was almost in tears. All she wanted was for things to be nice and pretty, the way they were in the songs. Why couldn’t Arya be sweet and delicate and kind, like Princess Myrcella? She would have liked a sister like that.

Sansa could never understand how two sisters, born only two years apart, could be so different. It would have been easier if Arya had been a bastard, like their half brother Jon. She even looked like Jon, with the long face and brown hair of the Starks, and nothing of their lady mother in her face or her coloring. And Jon’s mother had been common, or so people whispered. Once, when she was littler, Sansa had even asked Mother if perhaps there hadn’t been some mistake. Perhaps the grumkins had stolen her real sister. But Mother had only laughed and said no, Arya was her daughter and Sansa’s trueborn sister, blood of their blood. Sansa could not think why Mother would want to lie about it, so she supposed it had to be true. - Sansa I AGOT

Now, I’ve joked with my siblings about one or more of us being adopted, but I’ve never genuinely believed it, going so far as to ask my mum if it was true. This is worse, though. Sansa knows the kind of social ostracism and classism bastards are subjected to, and she genuinely wants that for her sister just to make life easier for her.

A bright bud of blood blossomed where his sword pressed into Mycah’s flesh, and a slow red line trickled down the boy’s cheek. “Stop it!” Arya screamed. She grabbed up her fallen stick. Sansa was afraid. “Arya, you stay out of this.” “I won’t hurt him … much,” Prince Joffrey told Arya, never taking his eyes off the butcher’s boy. Arya went for him. - Sansa I AGOT

Arya swung at the prince again, but this time Joffrey caught the blow on Lion’s Tooth and sent her broken stick flying from her hands. The back of his head was all bloody and his eyes were on fire. Sansa was shrieking, “No, no, stop it, stop it, both of you, you’re spoiling it,” but no one was listening. Arya scooped up a rock and hurled it at Joffrey’s head. She hit his horse instead, and the blood bay reared and went galloping off after Mycah. “Stop it, don’t, stop it!” Sansa screamed. Joffrey slashed at Arya with his sword, screaming obscenities, terrible words, filthy words. Arya darted back, frightened now, but Joffrey followed, hounding her toward the woods, backing her up against a tree. Sansa didn’t know what to do. She watched helplessly, almost blind from her tears. - Sansa I AGOT

Joffrey made a scared whimpery sound as he looked up at her. “No,” he said, “don’t hurt me. I’ll tell my mother.” “You leave him alone!” Sansa screamed at her sister. Arya whirled and heaved the sword into the air, putting her whole body into the throw. The blue steel flashed in the sun as the sword spun out over the river. It hit the water and vanished with a splash. Joffrey moaned. Arya ran off to her horse, Nymeria loping at her heels. After they had gone, Sansa went to Prince Joffrey. His eyes were closed in pain, his breath ragged. Sansa knelt beside him. “Joffrey,” she sobbed. “Oh, look what they did, look what they did. My poor prince. Don’t be afraid. I’ll ride to the holdfast and bring help for you.” - Sansa I AGOT

Now, I do not want to get into more crap about the Trident incident, but all of this is very telling, especially as it comes from Sansa’s POV so there is no bias. After watching Joffrey hurt an innocent boy, Sansa not only tells Arya to stay out of it and let the boy be mutilated, when Joffrey starts threatening her sister with a sword (remember, Arya only has a stick at best) she thinks that they are both ruining things. In this very dangerous and volatile situation where she should be defending her defenceless little sister, she not only blames them both, but is only annoyed because they are ruining her date. And then, she tells Arya to leave Joffrey alone. It’s pretty whack and I’d feel resentment too if I was Arya. And then, she abandons Arya and seemingly doesn’t care because she wants to be with Joffrey (remember that Arya goes missing for four fucking days) and opines about what they did to him, as Joffrey wasn’t the aggressor.

“They were not the only ones present,” Ned said. “Sansa, come here.” Ned had heard her version of the story the night Arya had vanished. He knew the truth. “Tell us what happened.” His eldest daughter stepped forward hesitantly. She was dressed in blue velvets trimmed with white, a silver chain around her neck. Her thick auburn hair had been brushed until it shone. She blinked at her sister, then at the young prince. “I don’t know,” she said tearfully, looking as though she wanted to bolt. “I don’t remember. Everything happened so fast, I didn’t see …” - Eddard III AGOT

We know she knows exactly what happened. This is a lie. Plain and simple. I don’t blame Sansa for this - we would probably all be her confronted with this intimidating situation - but that doesn’t make it any better for her sister.

That was when Sansa finally seemed to comprehend. Her eyes were frightened as they went to her father. “He doesn’t mean Lady, does he?” She saw the truth on his face. “No,” she said. “No, not Lady, Lady didn’t bite anybody, she’s good …” “Lady wasn’t there,” Arya shouted angrily. “You leave her alone!” “Stop them,” Sansa pleaded, “don’t let them do it, please, please, it wasn’t Lady, it was Nymeria, Arya did it, you can’t, it wasn’t Lady, don’t let them hurt Lady, I’ll make her be good, I promise, I promise …” She started to cry. - Eddard III AGOT

I feel for Sansa here, but she didn’t need to throw her sister under the bus, again.

The last fortnight of their journey had been a misery. Sansa blamed Arya and told her that it should have been Nymeria who died. And Arya was lost after she heard what had happened to her butcher’s boy. Sansa cried herself to sleep, Arya brooded silently all day long, and Eddard Stark dreamed of a frozen hell reserved for the Starks of Winterfell. - Eddard IV AGOT

Sansa’s eyes had grown wide as the plates. “A tourney,” she breathed. She was seated between Septa Mordane and Jeyne Poole, as far from Arya as she could get without drawing a reproach from Father. “Will we be permitted to go, Father?” - Arya II AGOT

“I don’t care about their stupid tourney,” Arya said. She knew Prince Joffrey would be there, and she hated Prince Joffrey. Sansa lifted her head. “It will be a splendid event. You shan’t be wanted.” Anger flashed across Father’s face. “Enough, Sansa. More of that and you will change my mind." - Arya II AGOT

So, she blames Arya for Lady when it wasn’t her fault (seemingly out loud to Arya’s face seeing as this is coming from Ned), distances herself from Arya and then insults her at breakfast. Me and my sister fight, but not like this.

That was when Arya missed her brothers most. She wanted to tease Bran and play with baby Rickon and have Robb smile at her. She wanted Jon to muss up her hair and call her “little sister” and finish her sentences with her. But all of them were gone. She had no one left but Sansa, and Sansa wouldn’t even talk to her unless Father made her. - Arya II AGOT

When Prince Joffrey seated himself to her right, she felt her throat tighten. He had not spoken a word to her since the awful thing had happened, and she had not dared to speak to him. At first she thought she hated him for what they’d done to Lady, but after Sansa had wept her eyes dry, she told herself that it had not been Joffrey’s doing, not truly. The queen had done it; she was the one to hate, her and Arya. Nothing bad would have happened except for Arya. - Sansa II AGOT

Again with the blaming when she is fully aware it was not her fault. I admire Sansa’s growth through the series. I enjoy reading her AFFC and TWOW chapters. But boy, did we truly start at the bottom.

She knew her father was still angry about that, but it wasn’t fair to blame Joff. That would be like blaming her for something that Arya had done. - Sansa III AGOT

Ironic, isn’t it?

“What did Gregor do?” Arya asked. “He burned down a holdfast and murdered a lot of people, women and children too.” Arya screwed up her face in a scowl. “Jaime Lannister murdered Jory and Heward and Wyl, and the Hound murdered Mycah. Somebody should have beheaded them.” “It’s not the same,” Sansa said. “The Hound is Joffrey’s sworn shield. Your butcher’s boy attacked the prince.” “Liar,” Arya said. Her hand clenched the blood orange so hard that red juice oozed between her fingers. “Go ahead, call me all the names you want,” Sansa said airily. “You won’t dare when I’m married to Joffrey. You’ll have to bow to me and call me Your Grace.” She shrieked as Arya flung the orange across the table. It caught her in the middle of the forehead with a wet squish and plopped down into her lap. “You have juice on your face, Your Grace,” Arya said. It was running down her nose and stinging her eyes. Sansa wiped it away with a napkin. When she saw what the fruit in her lap had done to her beautiful ivory silk dress, she shrieked again. “You’re horrible,” she screamed at her sister. “They should have killed you instead of Lady!” - Sansa III AGOT

Sansa is the aggressor here, telling blatant lies, and it’s a bit of an overreaction to a stain on a dress.

“Arya started it,” Sansa said quickly, anxious to have the first word. “She called me a liar and threw an orange at me and spoiled my dress, the ivory silk, the one Queen Cersei gave me when I was betrothed to Prince Joffrey. She hates that I’m going to marry the prince. She tries to spoil everything, Father, she can’t stand for anything to be beautiful or nice or splendid.” “Enough, Sansa.” Lord Eddard’s voice was sharp with impatience. Arya raised her eyes. “I’m sorry, Father. I was wrong and I beg my sweet sister’s forgiveness.” Sansa was so startled that for a moment she was speechless. Finally she found her voice. “What about my dress?” “Maybe … I could wash it,” Arya said doubtfully. “Washing won’t do any good,” Sansa said. “Not if you scrubbed all day and all night. The silk is ruined.” “Then I’ll … make you a new one,” Arya said. Sansa threw back her head in disdain. “You? You couldn’t sew a dress fit to clean the pigsties.” - Sansa III AGOT

The one time Arya tries to apologise and make amends, particularly by putting herself out there and offering to do something she hates to fix it, and Sansa says that.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Sansa pleaded with him. “I don’t want to go back.” She loved King’s Landing; the pageantry of the court, the high lords and ladies in their velvets and silks and gemstones, the great city with all its people. The tournament had been the most magical time of her whole life, and there was so much she had not seen yet, harvest feasts and masked balls and mummer shows. She could not bear the thought of losing it all. “Send Arya away, she started it, Father, I swear it. I’ll be good, you’ll see, just let me stay and I promise to be as fine and noble and courteous as the queen.” - Sansa III AGOT

“It won’t be so bad, Sansa,” Arya said. “We’re going to sail on a galley. It will be an adventure, and then we’ll be with Bran and Robb again, and Old Nan and Hodor and the rest.” She touched her on the arm. “Hodor!” Sansa yelled. “You ought to marry Hodor, you’re just like him, stupid and hairy and ugly!” She wrenched away from her sister’s hand, stormed into her bedchamber, and barred the door behind her. - Sansa III AGOT

Again with the unnecessary insults that prey on insecurities Arya already has. Especially seeing as Arya is trying to cheer her up.

“I’m not like Arya,” Sansa blurted. “She has the traitor’s blood, not me. I’m good, ask Septa Mordane, she’ll tell you, I only want to be Joffrey’s loyal and loving wife.” - Sansa IV AGOT

Sansa found herself thinking of Lady again. She could smell out falsehood, she could, but she was dead, father had killed her, on account of Arya. She drew the knife and held it before her with both hands. - Sansa II ACOK

There are about 3 Arya mentions in Sansa’s ACOK chapters, and one was negative. And this is all while she thinks Arya is dead.

Lommy had called her Lumpyhead, Sansa used horseface, and her father’s men once dubbed her Arya Underfoot, but she did not think any of those were the sort of name he wanted. - Arya IX ACOK

Sister. Sansa had once dreamt of having a sister like Margaery; beautiful and gentle, with all the world’s graces at her command. Arya had been entirely unsatisfactory as sisters went. - Sansa II ASOS

Again, she thinks Arya is dead, and this is still how she sees her.

Her name, she had to know her name. “Arya Underfoot. Your sister used to call you Arya Horseface.” “It was me made up that name. Her face was long and horsey. Mine isn’t. I was pretty.” - The Prince of Winterfell ADWD

I know Jeyne said she made up the name, and I know you’re all gonna say that means Sansa didn’t use it. But it doesn’t matter that she made it up, because that doesn’t mean Sansa never said it. Arya and Theon, who has no bias or reason to lie, admit that. It seems pretty clear to me.

There are one or two positive mentions of Arya in Sansa’s thoughts, but that’s not what this ask was about. I hope I answered you nonny and thank you for the kind words!!

EDIT: forgot to add the link at the start. fixed now!

#asoiaf #neve has mail #arya stark #the night wolf #again i've got people complaining i use the sansa tag even though my last answer was not negative at all #so i will not be tagging her here #i will on the next one though so bite me

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scrawnydutchman · 7 years ago

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The Point Sonic Mania Proves About Relevance

Sonic Mania, The beautifully animated, retro, nostalgic callback to the genesis days of Sonic the Hedgehog has made quite an impact in todays market in a way that the Sonic the Hedgehog brand hasn’t made in a long time. It’s the highest rated Sonic game released in years and to this day receives plentiful praise from fans and critics alike. Much to my dismay, I have yet to play the game hands on in order to completely sing it’s praises, but truthfully I’ve been having boundless fun just watching playthroughs of the game online. It helps when you have both pixel sprite and traditional animation that’s some of the best the two mediums have seen in some time respectively. The game captures the 16 bit aesthetic and feel of the genesis installments of Sonic but includes more frames making for more seamless transitions between movements. And the intro . . .OH MY GOODNESS the intro to this game. The classical animation done by Tyson Hesse and Yotta warms my heart and fills me with joy every time I watch it. It’s just fantastic. The pop in colour, the expressiveness in the characters eyes, the smears, the angles, the smoke effects. It’s simply masterful.

Now, the visuals of this game are the real reason I’m talking about it in this blog post, because I think the very existence of Sonic Mania and it’s positive reception makes a very important point about what it really means to be relevant. Many people, including the staff behind the Sonic franchise in the past, believe that relevance means keeping up with the times. It means knowing what people are into today and capitalizing on societies current sensibilities. Marketing always tries it’s hardest to adapt as quickly and frequently as we change. But often times it misses the point about why we as an audience cling to the things we cling to in the first place. Fads may get you a quick buck in the moment, but that revenue will die quickly if what you’re selling had no identity outside of being “what the kids are into nowadays”. For a brand to be profitable in the long run and be something so lovable and influential it remains within our culture and continues to shape it, it has to have timeless qualities. More specifically, it has to have qualities nobody will find quite the same anywhere else. I can’t think of a single property more telling of this point then Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic the Hedgehog was invented by Sonic Team and Sega as a means to be as competitive a brand as possible. His sole purpose from the get go was to rival Nintendo’s Italian plumber in popularity, and thus provide the Genesis with the means to compete with the NES because being twice the bits wasn’t enough to push itself forward. When it comes to creating a compelling rival for Mario, goddamn . . .did Sega ever knock it out of the park. I’ve heard people say in the past that Sonic the Hedgehog’s design and conception is genius and I wholeheartedly agree. There should be an entire class around studying the design and conception of Sonic because he was practically destined to become a huge success. His design is the perfect combination of curves + points = cool. I’ve talked in the past about how linework can play an influential role in the impression a character design makes on an audience, and how curves are often associated with cuteness, innocence, youth and a sense of safety, whereas points are associated with danger, sinister motives and villainy. Sonic is one of those designs that emplores both; he’s got a stubby, plump little design with a large head and larger expressive eyes, but his quills give him an edge of adventure and his pointy smirk gives him a sense of mischief. Not to mention he’s a compilation of old sensibilities from retro cartoons. Large shoes, dotted eyes, white gloves, and instead of straight up eyebrows he has this one eyeball two pupil thing that had a narrow gap in the middle that almost makes him look like he’s frowning, very similar to what Felix the Cat has (sounds weird when you say it out loud, but tbf it looks much more natural on classic sonic then the more modern spin). Add these familiar sensibilities with a pop in colour and a great animal theme, plus a game mechanic not featured in any other franchise at the time, and you’ve got a franchise that will fly right off the shelves. Sega set out with a goal to make a memorable mascot and they grasped onto something truly timeless.

It’s too bad they didn’t recognize how perfect their inception was and decided then to try and fix what wasn’t broken. Enter late 90s/early 2000s. Sega is falling out of the console race in a hard time when Sony and Microsoft are beginning to enter the scene and make their stay. They’re clinging on for dear life and know they have to create something that will maintain their relevance. So they premiere with the Dreamcast, a console fondly remembered with a cult following but at it’s time was hilariously outsold by the PS2. More important then that though, they premiered Sonic Adventure . . .and with it, the new Sonic.

So remember that perfect balance of cute and dangerous classic Sonic had to capture that timeless sense of cool? Sega decided to disrupt that balance by making Sonic’s design and overall outlook shift further into the dangerous edgy aspect. He got taller, leaner, looked angrier, hands and feet larger, green in his eyes. He went from speechless to extreme 90s skater dude. And ever since this change he’s been delving further and further into gimmicks, edgy storylines and pretty much drifting as far away from that timeless charm he used to have as possible. Now I don’t mean to bash anybody who likes this version of Sonic; if you’re a fan, more power to you. But this version is more a guilty pleasure for me then anything else. I think of him less as a high quality piece of popular culture and more just a hilarious over the top dated product of his time. This Sonic is like the kid in high school who grew up as the nerd all his life and is trying desperately hard to reinvent himself and live down his past of mockery, hiding behind trends, current lingo and a pseudo personality to try and maintain some credibility. It’s more desperate then anything else. The only difference is, Sonic was never a nerd. He didn’t have anything to prove or to live down; he was ALWAYS loved because he was simple and fun and never needed to be anything beyond that. Plus it’s worth noting that down the line he got more realistic textures like shine in his shoes and eyeballs which, for a design as cartoony as this, it’s not charming; it’s just creepy. That single eyeball thing is significantly more eerie now that he’s demanding to be taken more seriously.

The Sonic Adventure titles may not be inherently bad games and are quite impressive for their time, I understand that. But they DID introduce some newer issues that would stick to sonic for nearly 2 decades after the fact. Issues that would eventually become so problematic that Sonic would lose further and further credibility with the fanbase it established. Sonic 06, Sonic Riders, Shadow the Hedgehog, bits of Sonic Unleashed, the storybook saga, aspects of Colors, Sonic Boom, Sonic Lost World. While not all of these games are completely awful they do hinge on gimmicks and some sort of experimentation that misses the point on why Sonic was so popular to begin with and, again, it tries to fix what wasn’t broken. Some of the changes they make work, most commonly the changes made to alter the physics based gameplay to not only move faster but to have tighter controls and a greater sense of freedom. It also doesn’t help that design wise Sega would further disrupt what was once a delicate balance in Sonic’s design, making for an awkward unappealing abomination.

*shudders*. Everything I hate about the Dreamcast Sonic design is a million times worse in Sonic Boom.

But, bringing it back to Sonic Mania (like what this title suggests), it seems like Sega is starting to wake back up. Sonic Mania just seems to get everything that’s great about Sonic with nothing superfluous. Bright colours, fluid motion, tight controls, great physics based gameplay. THAT’S IT. No gimmicks. No lingo or speech that will become dated in 5 years. No stepping away from what made your brand the icon that it is today. Notice that I never said 3D was inherently a step backward like many people profess. I’m convinced you can accomplish this in 3D and to an extent Sega has. They just gotta trim the fat.

Now I can already see a few typical criticisms coming. People are going to think I’m a 30 year old Sonic fan blinded by nostalgia governing my opinion rather than an objective look on the series as a whole. They also think I hate experimentation and that I just shun the idea of anything ever changing. Here is my rebuttal.

I am not 30 years old. I am actually 21, and my first introduction to the Sonic franchise was the Dreamcast version. For a while that was my favorite version, up until my brother got me the sega genesis collection on Gamecube disc format. I didn’t understand at the time why sonic was so fat and I was confused as to why none of the games on the disc were the classic sonic adventure titles, because I was a dumb uncultured piece of shit. But I played the games anyway and came out of my shallow sensibilities. And you know what? Those titles gave me more enjoyment then the sonic adventure games ever did. I mainly credit this to just how much more immediately accessible they were. No awkward cutscenes, no loading screens, no walking around aimlessly trying to figure out where to go, no boring alternate character missions. Just press start and go. Like I said, trim the fat.

As for the idea that I hate experimentation . . . no, I don’t. If anything, the biggest reason I love classic Sonic so much is because it brought something for it’s time that was completely new and not recaptured by anything else, and seamlessly altered our sensibilities for years to come. Experimentation is great because it moves culture forward; makes us as people more adept and refined in the kind of things we enjoy and gives us a greater understanding as to why we enjoy them. Without all the experimentation we’ve been given in gaming our opinions on the medium would have never evolved to the culture it’s developed today. But experimentation has to be properly motivated. It can’t be misguided. It should only replace what was established if what was established sucked to begin with, otherwise it should be BUILDING on that foundation. I’ve gone on record in saying that modern day is far too filled with remakes and reboots of old properties and I stay true to that, but I ALSO said that if you’re going to bring back a property it should be for the sake of exploring potential not fully realized the first time around, like with the Samurai Jack series. It shouldn’t be for the sole purpose of just retracing the same steps again. Sonic Mania may be nostalgia based, but what really sells it for many people including myself is the little but NECESSARY changes it makes. The appealing animation is even smoother, the controls are tighter (from what I heard), the nostalgic stages have neat little changes and mechanics they didn’t have in years prior. Sonic Mania does what Sonic has been missing for so long. It builds on it’s great foundation rather then tries to reinvent it entirely. If we wanted a game vastly different from Sonic, WE WOULD BE PLAYING SOMETHING OTHER THEN SONIC.

Conclusion:

Sonic Mania is a solid reminder and a great lesson on what It means to be truly relevant. It’s not about keeping tabs on current trends, it’s not about straying away from your old self as much as possible. It’s about knowing what you bring to the table regardless of what era we’re in and owning it, and if you DO make changes, make changes that further reinforce and greater purpose the thing you’ve got that people can’t get anywhere else. Sonic remains popular even to this day when it’s copycats like Bubsy have fallen hard from grace (that they may or may not have even had in the first place), and it’s because Sonic’s more then just a few one liners, fourth wall breaks and a “dude with attitude”. He’s an ideal on how games can be played, on how platformers can work and how familiar sensibilities can be made better.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic mania #video games #gaming #sega genesis #sega #nintendo #nintendo switch #nostalgia #sonic adventure #animation #2d animation #game review

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