#the eggman rant is next

[watcherglowcloud]

every now and then the autism is too strong and i Have to learn a new string of words to memorize

[beevean]

I'm so happy that I get the chance to rant again, because the subreddit just gives me so much inspiration <3

I don't really care about Carmilla. She was, at the end of the day, a villain from a kid's cartoon, who wanted to conquer the world because she was just so eeeevil, with only the barest of backstories to pretend she had good motivations. In fact, it's hilarious to me that when you think about it, the N!Isaac vs. Carmilla epic fight, one of the climaxes of this show that has touted itself on being so deep and nuanced, has all the emotional depth of an average Sonic vs. Eggman boss battle: the impossibly cool superhero wants to stop the nefarious supervillain and her world domination plans.

(no shade to Sonic and Eggman, who are far better written than those two assholes could ever hope to be. you know what I mean)

yeah yeah she became what she depised, after a whole season of sitting on her feminist ass lol and then randomly going insane at the last minute. peak writing, as per usual.

No, it's as usual Lenore who has my attention.

She's the most human of the sisters, they say. And they're right. She is a terrifyingly realistic depiction of an abuser.

She's not a cackling madwoman who only serves as a caricature, and she doesn't exist only for shallow representation like Striga and Morana who have no objectives or personalities outside of each other. Lenore may not want world domination like Carmilla, but she absolutely longs for power over other people. I went about it here, how once you read between the lines, Lenore only wants to feel powerful and important, and she's willing to steep as low as she can to get her way because she folds like a coward the moment she doesn't have the upper hand. While Carmilla would just beat people for shit and giggles because look at how Evil (but in a Cool way) she is, Lenore is genuinely convinced that everything she did, all of her physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse, it was all for a good cause, and she did nothing wrong, and anyway you were enjoying it too so what's the issue?

So yes, in this, she's human. She's a cruel, cunning, vile human like many women in the world who know that they can use their charm and take advantage of emotionally starved men to feel powerful, all while still painting themselves as cute and lovable. Her vampiric nature doesn't come into play until the very end, where she realizes (in theory) that she's nothing but a disgusting evil creature and she's doomed to always be so; but until then, you could write her as a human and little would change in her personality and the way she played with N!Hector.

And that's what makes her scary to me. Yes, Dracula and Carmilla are more dangerous on a wider scale, but we are much, much more likely to fall into the trap of one of the many Lenores around the world.

(I usually don't like making it all about gender, but Lenore's abuse of N!Hector is absolutely gendered. Her entire character revolves around what I can only call toxic femininity.)

And that's why the takes I see about her deadass trigger me, because what the fuck do you mean, she's the less cruel of the bunch????

I don't give a shit about the Lesbians, but at least they realized that what they were doing was wrong! Sure, their motivations were mainly self-centered because they didn't want to waste their existence fighting, but they also took pity on the humans they were meant to kill!

I just fought fucking farmers. Saw the fear in their eyes. Not fear of dying. Fear of not having fought. Fear of not saving their people.

It's more empathy than Lenore ever showed for N!Hector, with her filthy "you were having fun"!

"Found her strengths" yeah, instead of physically torturing N!Hector, she used manipulation, abuse, coercion, gaslighting and rape by deception to "solve his problem". Wow, such strengths, many power. And then the second things got worse for her she immediately decided to peace out of life rather than wait a few decades until N!Isaac died, sorry N!Hector if you grew to care about me but my own bratty feelings are more important. I'm sorry, I know it's in bad taste to paint suicide as the cowardly way, but it's what the story did!

The Lenore apologism creeps me out more than anything else. I can stand the Carmilla stans who think she's so cool and badass and #grrlpower. I'm annoyed but resigned to the N!Isaac stans who believe he's the most complex character of all time and forgot about all the petty murders he commited. I'm baffled by the N!Dracula stans who genuinely believe he had the right to start a mass slaughter because some peasants didn't take him seriously enough. But this rhetoric that Lenore is the least evil of the sisters, that she was ultimately a poor broken woman who only did what she thought was the right thing, terrifies me. She's a realistic, human female abuser... and just like many female abusers, her crimes get brushed off because she's cute, because she looked sad enough, because women who sexually dominate men are inherently hot. And I know that fiction is not reality and you can enjoy villains without being a bad person, but the arguments the stans use, not to paint Lenore as cool like Carmilla but to actually downplay her very realistic crimes, just hit too close to home for me.

I just wish that "human" didn't become shorthand for "good deep down", because it's not true. Sometimes a "human" villain is far more evil than a villain so shallow they don't quite feel real.

[madychi]

Back at it again! Smokes relationship with the Chaos Council in Tails Prime!

Next up is the man himself, Mr. Dr. Eggman!

The two of them can engage in playful and witty banter. Mr. Dr. Eggman mainly rants about his life, which is always ironic to Smoke since he’s literally the prisoner.

And yes, Mr. Dr. Eggman did let Smoke take his job for a day.

[playertwotails]

I have a very funny idea about Sonic that's gonna require me to go into a bit of a tangent on a funny personal story for it to make sense but stay with me. (I do not personally have any memory of this story but my mom likes to retell it sometimes cause it's funny)

So to the story time. When I was a toddler my parents were worried I might be mute or partially so because I would either not talk at all or just say one word and no complete sentences. This kept up until I was 2 years old and after taking me to specialists one finally realized there was nothing actually wrong with me but my older sibling was talking for me so I just didn't. (Sidenote, my older sibling is not much older than me, a bit over a year apart so it's all toddler v toddler at these ages, just saying this so no one thinks my sibling is like mean or something, they were about as much of a baby as I was )

Fast forward after the "diagnosis" and I'm still 2 not talking and up until this point my older sibling has been getting away with stuff cause I wouldn't talk.

Well one day our mom comes back to me crying and my sibling not saying what happened and our mom out of habit just starts asking me "Oh what happened?" She was not expecting a response but according to her I pointed to my sibling and said in a very clear sentence "They hit me with a broom!!" To which my sibling in the shock of the moment just said "THEY CAN TALK??!!"

(Apparently baby me had impeccable comedic timing on when to snitch on my sibling)

Moving on from personal story back to my obsession with the Sonic series. So I'm a big fan of mute/selectively mute younger Sonic, it's *chefs kiss* for me.

I had a funny scenario in mind where Sonic has been battling Eggman for a while and Eggman is well aware that Sonic does not talk. And Eggman has a new cannon fodder accomplice in what ever new scheme he's got cooking up for the week. And he tells this new meat shield not to bother really talking with Sonic cause he's not gonna say anything back.

Maybe this is sometime after Sonic got Tails and they were fighting Eggman and his new chump of the week. Eggman and Sonic are alone and Eggman starts ranting about how he was going to 100% betray his new sucker of a partner in like the next hour. Cause to Eggman, Sonic is pretty good sound board since he doesn't talk back so why not tell him his petty schemes.

Cue a bit later they're all back together all out brawl style and Tails gets hurt or captured or something just enough to piss off Sonic and immediately Sonic turns to the new Eggman stooge and just goes "Eggman said he's gonna betray you here in like 5 mins."

Eggman is too shocked to deny it, just immediately shouts "SINCE WHEN DO YOU TALK!!!????!!!"

Which not a great defense against the betrayal accusations and Eggman now has a new problem of fighting a, as of 5 seconds ago, new enemy.

Idk I was just thinking about the story my mom likes to tell again and brain rot connected the dots back to Sonic lol.

[marionedde]

heads up this is a rant about sonadow (positive)

Starting to get into Sonic lately and I’ve learned about generations, and my mind is blown by the fact it’s literally called

SONIC X SHADOW

it’s like naming and episode of a show after a ship- oh wait that already happened in South Park nvm

but still. how on earth were the developers just like “hmm yeah a good name for this would be uh…like, Sonic and shadow…umm… ah fuck it well call it the ship lol no one is gonna read into that”

I’m sorry but fans will read into shadow making eye contact with Sonic for 0.5 seconds you think they won’t find this interesting?

sega foh with that cmon

I mean unless it was very very intentional

the fact that in Sonic prime there is a (spoilers) scene where Sonic PLOWS THROUGH A VOID LIKE A BULLET AFTER SHADOW, obviously shaken up at the thought of him dying, swooping him up like a bride and proceeding to flirt-fight for the next 5 minutes while a GIANT SPACESHIP was headed DIRECTLY FOR AN RNTIRE SOCIETY and my man did NOT break eye contact with shadow the entire time. He was very aware of eggmans ship and didn’t even look worried about the place he was just about to conquer, while three minutes ago he was shaking in his kicks about shadow dying????

but obviously no homo I mean like /j

update

the ending of Sonic prime was WILD

ok so bros desperately speeding through space time with his rival in his arms about to die, fueled by the need to keep him alive and you CAN HEAR THE DRIVE IN HIS VOICE TO KEEP HIM FROM KKICKING THE BUCKET

like that’s just flat out lgbtq+

SEGA YOU CANT HIDE FROM ME

[hall0wedwyrm]

Basically, TLDR i saw a fake screenshot on TikTok showing Amy in the Knuckles series and it got me thinking about how she... doesn't quite fit in the movieverse yet...

So here is my long rant about why it would be bad for her to join in Movie 3 and she should be saved for a future installment.

to preface: I DO NOT HATE AMY OR HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST HER. I think shes wonderful and shes literally a main character so shes very important obviously.

First, the elephant in the room. Shadow the Hedgehog. One of, if not THE most, complex character in the Sonic franchise, let alone in the main expanded cast. Having to introduce, and illude to, aspects of Shadow’s backstory (his relationship with Maria and Gerald, The ARK, how he was made, and the fallout) and his future (returning with amnesia in his next appearance, potentially introducing the Black Arms and some of the Heroes and Shad05 story beats that are important who he becomes) in about an hour and a half to 2 hours. I just don’t see how it would be a good idea to introduce a core member of Sonic’s friends into the movie series when she could be introduced later so that Shadow has more of a time to shine, and Amy can too later on.

Historically, Amy’s talk to Shadow to remind him of his promise to Maria has been filled in by another character when the plot called for it. In Sonic X, during its own adaptation of SA2, Chris spoke to Shadow to try and help him remember his real purpose and talk sense into him. While it didn't exactly work out, it shows that this role could be interchangable in SEGA’s eyes. I propose a similar story, using Tom’s niece Jojo. Being a character who is around Maria’s age and doesn’t have a complete character behind her as of now, this could be a more meaningful way for Shadow to realise his purpose and remember his promise. Hearing the words from someone who is like Maria (a young girl who cares about Earth) would be more impactful to him. I can see any human character taking up this role though, but Jojo would be the best candidate, due to her simiarities to Maria.

However, while not introducing another new character could be good for not overcrowding the movie with new arcs and introductions involving them, I could see this working for one character; Rouge the Bat. She was introduced along with Shadow in SA2, which is immediately a good sign, as their plots intertwine with each other. They both work with Eggman, until they turn the focus on saving the world. Rouge is one of Shadow’s closest companions going forward, and has her own arc too. She is the one who frees Shadow in Heroes, and rekindles their friendship there.

Rouge also could connect back to the previous movie. Being a jewel thief at heart, she goes after the Master Emerald, but in Movieverse its destroyed and the Chaos Emeralds are retrieved from it. She is established as being the Rival to Knuckles, and this could help him fill a new purpose on Earth (cos lets be honest… he didn’t really do that in his show-) of becoming a protector of the Chaos Emeralds instead or something. The main part of SA2 is about the Chaos Emeralds so this makes sense. Refinding the Emeralds or going to the right spot to use them and such but thats besides the point.

Another huge loss of introducing Amy in Sonic 3 is missing out on how she was introduced in the franchise. In Sonic CD, she was introduced along side another key character in the franchise; Metal Sonic. She saw a blue hero coming to help her, believing it to be Sonic, but turned out to be Metal instead. Having Amy navigate the trio around and give them the lore would make a lot of sense, given the way that others were introduced in the second installment.

Its also appropriate for this introduction too, since Metal Sonic is the perfect equal to Sonic, compared to Shadow's unintentional equal. After Eggman's failure of using Shadow, creating Metal is the next best thing. Whatever the story is with Metal, whether its faithful to Sonic CD or is twisted to fit the Movieverse story.

Now... I think introducing Amy could also mess up a lot of aspects of what the movieverse has set up for the stories of the characters. I 100% know that they will try and pull off a romance for Sonic and Amy, since its one of her main character arcs and for the longest time and its kind of (??) the main romance of the franchise. BUT according to the Sonic Dream Team character profiles, and the ending of Frontiers, she's drifted away from that interest in him... so to go back to that would be a really weird choice. I know its a different universe, but if SEGA is trying to steer away from that, then why would they go back on it?

PLUS I think it would be a huge detriment to both of their characters. Movie Sonic is much different to the Sonic's of the past, as he has all of the charms of Modern Sonic (his quick wit and charming personality) but hes younger and less experienced and jumps head first without thinking because he doesn't know what to actually do. He was thrown into the role of the hero in the first movie because the place he grew up was being threatened and he refused to run away. Amy being introduced as solely 'the love interest' also does a disservice to her character. She's strong willed, and unafraid to stand up to Eggman and any other wrong doer. She's also rather hot headed but still kind and cares for those who matter. (this is also part of a larger discussion i wrote about how in canon Sonic and Amy wouldn't work out because they want different things and are very different people but thats for a different day and/or if anyone is interested). Sonic immediately switching to a head-over-heels guy would be a complete ruin of his character built up, while also immediately destroying Amy's.

Another problem is that there isn't a focus on romance of any kind in the story so far, and introducing it could mess up what they have going. The Movie's are clearly about familial love and growing up and filling the boots of a hero. It is not a story of romance in any way. The first movie was friendship, the second was about family bonds and making new friends, and the third is most likely about trust or learning to trust again (Shadow has to trust Sonic to save the world). It'll also be a huge moment for Sonic's character; Meeting someone who is not just against him and Knuckles and Tails, but against the world itself, someone who is so hellbent on revenge for the one he lost, and how hes going to over come that WHILE meeting his new love interest... is a huuuuge task to pull off and the two stories don't really mix imo. Plus even in SA2 the extent of the romance is just 'Amy mistaking Shadow for Sonic and then she thinks its awkward and gets embarrassed and thats how they meet for the first time'.

So yeah this could be done much better if it's something thats going to happen, and it would be better left for a 4th or separate installment. Having a mini romance arc along with the Metal Sonic stuff works better because the introduction of a potential romance was worked more into Sonic CD than anything.

Im still gonna be pissed off if they do a romance, because Sonic the Hedgehog has never been about romance... but its also a multimillion kids film franchise and its bound to happen, especially when its the main male and main female character. Just know i won't enjoy it lol.

IF they do Amy... I want tarot cards AND the Piko Piko Hammer and if you take either of them away i will be causing problems (on purpose). If you give her the original outfit +11 points and if you make up an outfit whatever as long as it works and its cute (I'm partial to Dungarees myself).

anyway yeah id like to see other opinions on this... maybe some other ways it could work out? or how else she could be introduced? or maybe even of she could be in Sonic 3 but idk what they would do for her to make her not get sidelined or overtake the plot...?

[skaruresonic]

what were your favorite things about starline before he was ruined

Oh, God, Starline. ;A; How I miss the poor bastard.

Beyond his design, my favorite things about him included his foppishness, his showmanship, his meticulousness, his (relative) calm demeanor, his "comedic intern" angle, and his devotion to licking egg-shaped boot.

Oh, and the most prominent aspect of his character, the linchpin on which all else rests: the simpery.

I will give credit where credit is due, his simpery of Eggman coupled with his more cautious and lowkey nature (at least, compared to Eggman) offered a genuinely new and refreshing dynamic at the time. It didn't seem to come with strings attached as it usually does.

I also used to like his penchant for unintentional comedy. It seemed to be the same flavor of comedy with which they tinge some of Eggman's character.

Granted, Starline was probably always meant to be something of a buttmonkey, but later issues had him ping-pong between being Better Than Eggman(tm) and a buffoon. The constant switch made it difficult to fully invest in him in either case, because one minute we were meant to consider him a srs bsns mastermind and laugh at his failures the next. And not in the balanced way Eggman's humor generates; there were times I genuinely couldn't tell whether we were supposed to root for him or not.

And then, of course, he got crushed under rocks. Big oofed.

Starline used to be funny. Watching him rant and rave? Cry tears of joy? Make an uwu face as Rough and Tumble embarrass him in front of his idol? Funny, because it subverted his otherwise suave Bond villain image, and because you knew that eventually Eggman would crush his windpipe like a squeaky toy. Selling your soul to the devil can only end in tragedy. It filled you with a morbid sort of joy and a dark anticipation as you waited to see how bright this dumpster fire would blaze.

This was one pathetic meow-meow of a man, strange yet oddly compelling. Shame his delusions of grandeur stole away the entertaining aspects of his personality for a more boring, straight-laced character. Even bigger shame that we were supposed to pretend he never meant anything to begin with.

That's not to say Starline could never have had character development, nor that he should have remained a static character. Just as Sonic exerts a positive influence on others, show us how Eggman exerts a twisted influence. Make Starline's devotion to Eggman even unhealthier and fucked-up than it already was. Not in a "I can fix you" kind of way, but in an "I will light myself on fire to keep you warm" kind of way. To the point of self-destruction. That seemed to be the logical direction for such a character, anyway.

But nah, they had to drag us along Starline's unimpressive journey to strike out on his own. Which, like... He stole 90% of Eggman's shit anyway, so how effective was he really? And even if the whole point was that Eggman made him and he's nothing without his idol, then why did the book give him two mini-series? Has he been mentioned even once in the book since his death? Somehow, I very much doubt it.

I don't want to get into it with his creation of Surge and Kit because I'd rather pretend they don't exist, thanks. Yes, I'm aware Starline was originally conceived as their creator, but I think Flynn should have caught on that his character had changed. Realized that trying to cram him back into the original mold would only break him.

And you know what. Even after having suffered 30 issues where Starline was fucking insufferable with his whole "I'll surpass Eggman" schtick, I still felt sad for his passing.

To make matters worse, I felt foolish for my emotional investment, because dammit, I guess I was hoping his story would have culminated in something more substantial than "his favorite flowers are forget-me-nots (snicker)."

Now that I've learned that IDW can drop even their most popular characters in a heartbeat, I'm never making the mistake of even accidentally becoming invested in them again. They're not going to bother developing them or even give them a proper sendoff, so why should I continue reading?

Fs in the chat for my boy. They did him so dirty.

[crusherthedoctor]

THANK YOU, I'm so tired of everyone saying you have to be dark and edgy to be interesting!

It's ironic, isn't it? We complain about the way media is simplified elsewhere on the web, and yet this place is no better when you get down to it. But because it's one way on here instead of the other, that makes it okay. Somehow.

I take issue with characters who are meant to be a piece of work being diluted as much as the next guy. I don't rant about Eggman's villainy being overlooked, and not being seen as worthy of being the main villain of a more serious plot, for nothing. And while I'm not as devoted to Shadow as a character, I recognize that his rough edges ought to be acknowledged instead of omitted. And so on.

But how Tumblr can't recognize that it can go the other way as well, and just as often, is beyond me. We've already seen the results many times before with Sonic alone: it's turned IDW Sonic into a cynical person's idea of what heroism is, it's turned the zombot arc's reputation among the fandom into that of an emotionally gripping masterpiece because it's nothing but endless suffering and failure until the very end, and it's turned speculation for the third movie into a vocal demand to see Maria's death onscreen and in complete gorey detail, because that'll make everyone finally take the blue hedgehog franchise seriously.

But it's not just Sonic, is it? It's affected many other IPs as well, and not just obscure ones: think back to how many iconic characters over the last decade, who are known and beloved for being idealistic and selfless, something to aspire to, have been written as bitter, disgraced, useless shells of their former selves. Because the real world is oh so cruel, therefore our heroes also have to be cruel. All of them.

There's a growing pressure to make things edgy for the sake of it, even when the source material isn't meant to go too hard on that angle, because it's apparently more real that way. There's a pressure to make your relationship dysfunctional and volatile for the sake of it, even when the characters involved don't really suit it, because otherwise it's "just" fluff, and will always be "just" fluff, whatever else you do with it be damned. There's a growing pressure to have as many taboo interests as possible, lest you be seen as a puritan and a Literal Frollo, even if you're perfectly accepting of people with unconventional tastes and don't immediately assume they must literally be a _____ in real life because the work they consume happens to include _____.

I hate this overcorrection. I really do. And I'll bitch about it as many times as I need to. People involved with the official media will continue missing the point as long as the loudest voices keep failing to address the real, central issue: that bad writing is bad writing, and OoC is OoC, no matter what direction it leans towards.

[mathewryf]

A rant about Prime Sonic and Perfect Chaos

Okay I'm fucking losing my mind right now because of all of those Nine posts, and there's something I need to state again.

The version of Sonic that Sonic Prime presented flies completely in the face of the Sonic that we used to have, and that ending is where things make it REALLY apparent.

Regardless of the whole continuity problem that official channels have presented, there's a fundamental misunderstanding of how Sonic does things that makes Nines fate upsetting.

To diplay what I mean, let me go over a specific scene. You could even call this my "One Heroic Scene".

Let's talk about this scene from Sonic Adventure, the leadup to the final fight against Perfect Chaos.

From the beginning of this game, Sonic has been fighting Chaos, and up until the last chunk of his story he's assumed it's just been some sort of mindless beast under Eggman's control. Regardless of how many setbacks there were, he fought chaos off with no qualms.

He, along with the rest of the cast, gradually learn more about Chaos through Tikal's visions, and he eventually pieces together how Chaos came to be so violent. Sonic doesn't encounter Chaos again after he gets that information, at least not until it snatches the last Chaos Emerald in the Mystic Ruins Jungle. After that point it floods Station Square, completely destorying the city.

That's about where this scene picks up. Tikal shows up, begging Sonic to seal Chaos away in the Master Emerald once more... and Sonic blatantly refuses. Knowing what he knows at that point, he refuses to seal Chaos away again because it won't actually solve anything.

Chaos would have still been in turmoil.

Chaos would have still been in pain.

Chaos would have continued to suffer. Further, Chaos would cause more suffering the next time the Master Emerald broke (and there definitely would have been a next time, even without SA2).

Whether Sonic knew about the whole "positive/negative energy" thing or not, he had the conviction to resolve the situation then and there. More importantly, he chose to forgo the easier route of sealing Chaos away for the sake of sparing it that cruelty.

Even though Chaos had lashed out and caused so much pain, Sonic was still willing to take the harder path for the chance that the turmoil in Chaos's heart could be dispelled.

He did all that for someone that he considered his enemy, and he fought his heart out to reach that goal.

SO, if he would do that for Chaos, who was at best a stranger, and at worst his enemy...

Why the hell wouldn't he do it for Nine, whom he considers a friend?

That's why I can't stand the ending of Prime. If Sonic in Prime had been written closer to the version that Sonic Team envisioned, he would NOT have left Nine alone in the Grim.

Because leaving Nine in the Grim wouldn't have changed anything.

And yet Prime Sonic did that.

He left Nine's heart in turmoil.

Nine is isolated, alone, and still in pain.

And thanks to the show not getting a further season, he'll probably be left in that state forever.

Before anyone comes to me about Nine getting what he deserved.

I need to remind you that Chaos leveled an entire metropolitain city.

Chaos would deserve being sealed away, too. But Sonic disagreed with that because Chaos didn't deserve to be left suffering.

Ultimately I don't think Sonic would have cared all that much about Nine trying to destroy multiple realities, either, once he finally got through to him. That's still a hurt kid at the end of the day.

[theombrefamily]

"HIIII You know how I told you about how you all did Sonadow WR0NG?!

Well I made you all some fanart 😁🔴🔵"

"I hope you all enjoy it 😈"

"Starline and Eggman next 😼"

"Please send help she's been ranting about the Sega hedgehogs for days..."

[solarpunkani]

Solarpunk Ideals and Aesthetics in Sonic Colors

--according to one Solarpunk Sonic fan specifically but dude trust me on this.

This post is the sequel/follow up to my previous post on Sonic the Hedgehog (the character) and Solarpunk Ideals, feel free to give that a read for some context! But for a basic run-down--Sonic the Hedgehog (the Dude) embodies several core Solarpunk tenants in his personality, Dr. Eggman is the antithesis to Solarpunk both in personality and in resulting actions, and I'm such a big nerd I had to split this post into 2 parts and they're still long as hell.

Special reminder: I am a Sonic nerd, have been for 10+ years now. I also have Write Too Much disease. I am going to talk. A lot. Prepare yourselves.

Special reminder part 2: Sonic the Hedgehog is not a perfect franchise, and it's owned by a corporation in the capitalistic hellscape we call life and I promise you I am aware of that. I'm not saying SEGA is Solarpunk, I am saying that parts of their franchise have Solarpunk elements. If I post this and someone skips this paragraph to instead rant at me about some unrelated shit that SEGA the Corporation Guys did That One Time Months/Years Ago I may snap. You have been warned.

Shout out to @modern-solarpunk for being a beta reader for this! Thank you for making sure I was actually being legible and coherent with this.

Let's dive right in.

Sonic Colors Let's Go Let's Go

Sonic Colors came out on the Nintendo Wii in 2010, with an alternate version made for the Nintendo DS. I’ve only played the Wii version, so we’re going to talk about the Wii version. We later got an 11 minute 2D animated short about the game, to celebrate the release of Sonic Colors: Ultimate (which was basically a remake for the Switch). Basic plot synopsis below.

Dr. Eggman claims that he’s turned over a new leaf and has created the Egg Planet Park to make up for his past deeds. Sonic is inherently suspicious, so he and Tails sneak in and start busting up Eggman’s latest evil plot--tying down planets and kidnapping alien creatures called Wisps and harnessing their powers to charge up a mind control ray and make Earth the star attraction of his space theme park. Sonic and Tails promptly set about stopping him, destroying the Eggman robots on each planet and freeing as many wisps as they can while they do so. Feel free to check out this video to see all the cutscenes.

“Ani, what’s Solarpunk about that? A space theme park made by chaining down planets is already pretty unrealistic--” let me get there.

First off, the storyline has resistance and anti-industrialization baked into it. In a sense, we’ve got anti-colonialism too (though by all means DO NOT take this as me comparing the immeasurable harms done to colonized peoples by their oppressors to little fictional alien dudes getting their juices sucked out. But Eggman literally is colonizing several planets). Since Sonic is fighting a villain who’s trying to turn all of space into his robotic wonderland, we are too--and we see this guy as the villain, since he is, which can make people think about how these themes play into other aspects of life. Or at least I did in the fifth grade. Bear with me here.

If you don’t wanna watch 50+ minutes of cutscenes originating from 2010s-era script writing, let’s look at a quote that I feel boils the solarpunk-adjacent parts of the storyline to its bare essentials.

In the 11 minute animated short, Rise of the Wisps, there’s a bit more. First off, we see the aliens resisting a bit more--in fact, there’s a group of little Wisp freedom fighters working to save other wisps before they’re… harvested, I guess is the word for it.

Do they have names? No. But in Sonic Colors we don’t even really see any Wisps with characterizing traits aside from Yacker, so I think having the next few be a band of freedom fighters is pretty cool.

Asides from admiring the visual style of this short (because man Sonic in 2D animation just feels right to me), there’s a quote that I feel fits the Solarpunk outlook on community and problem solving.

“When the problem seems too big to solve on your own, you do what you can. And maybe ask for a little help from your friends. Right?”

Like if I put that in the middle of any other Solarpunk post no one would bat an eye but I’m literally quoting Sonic the Hedgehog here.

The series as a whole, especially Sonic Colors in my eyes, is imbued with hope and standing strong in the face of difficult challenges--leaning on your friends for help when you need to accomplish bigger and better things than you can do on your own. In Sonic, that means defeating giant mech bots or mutated lizards trying to crash land on Earth or purify the world of an out of control zombot virus. For us? That can be restoring a native landscape, vouching for clean energy, starting a community garden, and fighting for what we believe in.

Now let’s talk aesthetics

The Aesthetics of Sonic Color

So we’ve got 5 planets (Sweet Mountain, Starlight Carnival, Planet Wisp, Aquarium Park, and Asteroid Coaster) and two parts of the main park (Tropical Resort and Terminal Velocity) that are playable zones in Sonic Colors. But what’s the most Solarpunky area to me?

Planet Wisp

Planet Wisp is described in the fandom wiki as “a beautiful natural planet full of vegetation and tall trees. The Area takes place during daytime, though stars can also be seen in the sky.” Another page on Planet Wisp says “when seen from space, it heavily resembles Earth,” but its not very big--described as “tiny” in the game. However, it has a wealth of “untouched, unspoiled and unmatched natural beauty”, full of blue-gray rocky canyons and mountains with valleys and fields, rock pillars, etc. covered by plants. The trees are extremely tall, with platform-tops and no other main branches. There’s also lakes and creeks. There’s a minimal level of urbanized civilization--mostly tree slides made from branches and roots and platforms and such. Overall, simplistic stuff--”its untouched nature being largely preserved by the Wisps’ harmonious way of living in nature.” which sounds great! Except this is before interference by Doctor Eggman. Afterwards, “Planet Wisp has large amounts of factories under construction, tearing apart the original plant life and rock and replacing it with red metal.” Eggman Empire-style structures like towers, half-pipes, and roads are clustered around the landscape, and there’s an unknown purple liquid polluting several bodies of water. So! Not all that great! 

‘Ani why do you find that Solarpunk?’ two reasons

A: We the player are literally here to defy the people building the factories so the planet can continue to be full of vegetation and home to its native creatures.

B: it’s pretty, okay? It’s fukin cool.

This map is so cool it was also featured in Sonic Generations (2011) and Team Sonic Racing (2019), so let’s find some pics!

But most of all, the music, you guys.

And here are some other versions of these tracks from subsequent games (Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors Ultimate) and tracks inspired by the Planet Wisp location (Team Sonic Racing)

These tracks. Especially the original ones, but oh my god these tracks. I cannot emphasize enough I feel like. These tracks feel like you uncorked a bottle labeled ‘hope, positivity, relief’ and put it to your ear. And what is Solarpunk about if not hope.

Speaking of Solarpunk and being about hope, let’s talk about the main theme for the Sonic Colors game--Reach for the Stars. If you couldn’t tell by the title alone, this song is also the embodiment of hope--in more of an upbeat, ‘we’ve got this together!’ kind of vibe, but it’s still important to me and also feels Solarpunky (at least Solarpunk-adjacent) so let’s talk about it!

(I ran out of audios I can add so we're getting Youtube Videos instead)

“I’m gonna reach for the stars, although they look pretty far! I’m gonna find my own way, and take a chance on today!” - as Solarpunks, we are reaching for the stars (the sun in particular I suppose) to find hope in a brighter future and share it with others. We’ve all got our own way of doing it, with solutions varying based on individual situations as well as what community efforts can yield, but even still we are daring to dream of a brighter future than the one most often visualized in popular culture. No matter what, we’re gonna keep striving to make changes and create a brighter world for ourselves and those who come after us.

“Just take a chance, we’ll do it right again (we’re gonna reach for the stars!) Just take my hand, we’ll take a chance tonight, reach for the stars, tonight!”

You know what else Solarpunks go crazy about? Community building! You know what else Sonic Colors covers musically? Community building! Or, more so, being open to other people’s viewpoints and communicating to resolve problems, but still!

Now keep in mind, this song is literally based around Sonic and Tails trying to communicate with an alien via a translator, but my point still stands let’s look at some lyrics.

“I’ve been here before, and I know that we must stand up tall! I’m not scared to ask when I’m not sure; we can overcome it all!” - what is community if not being able to lean on other people? Community support, mutual aid, working together to solve problems big and small, Solarpunks have got it!

“If you could tell me how to lend a hand, I would try to understand! No words could say how much I care! Together we can take a stand!” 

And let us not forget the refrain! “Speaking from nowhere else except your heart, you’ll never know if you don’t try! Listen and see the voice I carry with me: ‘Speak with your heart! Speak with your heart!’” In my humble Solarpunk opinion, this feels pretty solarpunk. One of the main things about being Solarpunk--at least, in my experience--is unabashed enthusiasm about our ideas and the colorful sustainable future we’re envisioning! Encouragement from others is what brought me to this space and what draws others to join and stay in Solarpunk spaces! From our art to our writings to our technological concepts and even our arguments all come from sincerity and passion about what we’re doing and the future we want! 

And keep in mind, these are the opening and ending themes of the game! These are the songs where the writers are trying to bottle up the essential vibes of the game into a few minutes of funky tunes! You open up the game for the first time, you hear Reach for the Stars! And after a wonderful story and the satisfaction of finishing a game, you hear Speak With Your Heart! Even the titles alone wouldn’t feel out of place in a discussion about Solarpunk ideals!

Final Words

The Sonic franchise has its flaws, but it sure does speak on hope and resistance. Is Sonic Solarpunk? Maybe not entirely, but I feel it’s got some core elements that are Solarpunk-aligned, even when it’s not always front and center like it is here. I’m not going to pretend that Sonic the hedgehog as a franchise is the pinnacle of a Solarpunk story/game--but it’s got some nice elements that could inspire other stories, and uses those elements in a way that makes people feel like they can and should take action against darker industrializing forces in their life.

Or at least it did for me, as a fifth grader. Maybe that’s not a lot. But if it can help open the eyes of a handful of kids and teens and make them feel hope? Make them feel like they could maybe find the courage to do something? Maybe that’s all we need from it.

[the-sky-queen]

I made a script for a Sonic 3 fan trailer!

Backstory time. Back before Sonic 2 came out, I made a little series on my YT channel called (Mis)Interpreting Sonic 2 before it comes out. The title tells you all you need to know. All I had to go off of was the trailers and I decided to make little non serious predictions for how the movie would play out. As Sonic 3 approaches, I planned to do the same for this movie, starting with a prediction for how the trailer would look before it came out. I started to finally work on it last week, but now it seems I'm too late, as the trailer is coming out tomorrow! 😅 However, I still want to share my predictions, so here's the script I made, along with a few of the voice lines I recorded!

Script :

*We start by seeing that post credits scene from the end of Sonic 2, though it’s edited down to just two key lines*

GUN Soldier: We found something. A File buried deep in our system and dating back over 50 years.

Walters: Project Shadow . . .

*the shot of Shadow opening his eyes*

*we cut to the Wachowski family hanging out at the park*

Sonic: Just a normal day in Green Hills!

Knuckles: We can’t let our guard down!

*cut to a news broadcast of Shadow standing silhouetted against the moon*

Tom: Uh . . . Sonic? You never told us you had a twin.

*Sonic is thrown into the ground*

Sonic: Gah! Who-?!

*Shadow stands over him*

Shadow: My name is Shadow. I’m the world’s Ultimate Lifeform.

*Stone steps out of the shadows, in a new outfit and looking very menacing*

Stone: I believe some reintroductions are in order.

*shots of some battles and stuff*

Eggman: Try all you want, rodents, but you can’t beat him!

*shot of the ark*

Eggman: He’s smarter than Tails-

*Tails and Shadow confrontation*

Eggman: Stronger than Knuckles-

*Shadow catches Knuckles’ punch*

Eggman: And faster than Sonic.

*iconic first chaos control scene from SA2*

*Shadow growls at someone off camera*

Shadow: Stay out of my way and no one gets hurt.

*shot of Sonic, somewhere safe, evidently ranting to his family*

Sonic: I don’t get this guy! One minute, he’s pounding me into the ground, the next, he’s saving people’s lives!

*Shadow holds up a heavy rock or piece of debris or something so a little girl can escape from being crushed*

*shot of Rouge! And we’re on the Ark!*

Rouge: You need to decide, Shadow. You need to decide who you are, whose side you’re on, and what you’re going to do with the life that was given to you.

*Various shots as the music swells and everyone shouts Shadow’s name*

Sonic: Shadow!

Eggman: Shadow!

Maria: Shadow . . .

*music calms down and shows Shadow clenching his fist*

Shadow: I am . . .

*CUT TO SONIC 3 LOGO WITH THE LIVE AND LEARN MUSIC AW YEAH*

Aaaaaand here's a few of my favorite voice lines I recorded for this:

[tenebraevesper]

Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #61: Urban Warfare (Part 5)

Finally, we have reached the final part of Urban Warfare, which I feel is so far one of the best Arcs of IDW Sonic (I have troubles picking between it and Scrapnik Island).

We also have several amazing covers, and I put all of them here because I just couldn’t pick one. However, the cover where Eggman runs while being taunted by Sonic, Tangle, Whisper and Lanolin on the computer screens is probably my favorite.

Last time we saw Team Sonic, they had confronted Dr. Eggman, who revealed that his tower was actually a giant mecha. Eggman is currently gloating as Tangle still tries to evade that portal trap that caught Whisper and Lanolin. Sonic gets up, telling Eggman how he hasn’t won yet, while Eggman responds how his creations can take on them. Speaking of creations, Orbot and Cubot aren’t exactly excited about the idea of fighting Sonic and his friends.

Sonic charges at Eggman, who simply snaps his fingers, signaling to the portal trap to target Sonic.

I think that even Sonic knew what was about to happen to him; just look at his expression. He gets trapped inside it, much to Tails and Amy’s horror. I think it also took me a moment here to realize that Eggman had finally defeated Sonic. Oh, I know what’s going to happen next, but think about it for a moment - Sonic is gone, being taken out of the fight. Things are really looking bad for the heroes.

With Sonic gone, Eggman sics Metal Sonic on Tails, Amy and Tangle, with all three of them struggling and Tangle being determined not to lose another friend.

As Tangle tries to fight Metal Sonic, she realizes that she can actually touch him. However, before she can do more, she is pulled back by Eggman, deciding to punch him with her tail. Unfortunately for Tangle- Dude, how many times are you going to bring out that laser gun and point it at an animal character?!

Hey, I’m not saying it’s getting annoying, I actually think it’s awesome whenever Eggman decides to get physically violent, as it shows that he’s willing to fight with any means necessary instead of just using his robots, but still, how many times did we see this thing in this comic? Who does Eggman think he is, Shadow?

I will say it here, I think that Shadow the Hedgehog (2005) joke is definitely overused.

I have to say, Eggman is hella intimidating whenever he decides that straight murder is the best option of dealing with his enemies, and he’s even holding the gun against Tangle’s head. One pull of the trigger and she’s a red splatter on the floor.

In any case, Eggman holds Tangle at gunpoint, with Lanolin appearing literally out of nowhere and telling him how they’re the Diamond Cutters, and Whisper adding that they’re about to be his problem as she knocks him over with the cube Wispon. You go girl! This has to be cathartic for her.

Meanwhile, with Team Silver, we see Silver still trying to free Shadow from the fake Chaos Emeralds, with Shadow warning him to get away and that there is so much energy building, acting like noise in his head. I believe this was Shadow’s way of saying to leave him behind and go on with their mission and to be safe, as he also tells Silver he’s fine and to leave...

...and then he promptly triggers Silver by using the infamous phrase. (I mean, this was written by Evan Stanley, the ultimate Silver fangirl, did you really think she wouldn’t sneak it in?)

He goes into a rant, basically telling Shadow how he’s not going to give up so easily and neither is Shadow, managing to break him out of the fake Chaos Emerald.

I absolutely love this scene, especially with Shadow acknowledging that Silver is right. Neither of them is going to give up so easily.

We return back to Team Sonic and the Diamond Cutters, with Tails realizing that the reason why Lanolin and Whisper are back is because the city’s computer systems are offline. Meanwhile, Tangle has a bit of a crisis in the corner...

Poor girl, she really believed that her friends are gone forever. Luckily, Whisper’s comforting her. Lanolin then takes the charge, taking off her bell and turning it into a really cool weapon.

Using the Wisps power, she shatters the nearby window, allowing for everyone to escape. Eggman sics Metal Sonic on them, but Sonic appears right in the nick of time, kicking Metal Sonic through the window.

I’m probably sounding like a broken record at this point, but honestly, this. is. EPIC! I absolutely love the artwork in this comic. Seriously, kudos to all of the artists. X3

The Diamond Cutters quickly get the hell out of dodge, while Sonic crushes Eggman’s gun. Eggman is pissed and...

Goddamnit, I just have to gush over these awesome panels! Eggman is really furious, probably about to punch Sonic, while Sonic tells him how he has taken things to far, grinning as he adds how Eggman knows what he’s about to do next. He then proceeds to jump out of the window, much to Eggman’s dismay, and I have read how people were annoyed that Sonic didn’t attack Eggman then and there, but I believe that Sonic wanted to hit him where it hurts the most - by foiling his plans.

We see Sonic being caught by Amy, who is carried by Tails, and just as they and the Diamond Cutters wonder where they’re supposed to land, a giant fake Chaos Emerald sprouts from the ground like it’s no one business.

The source of this growth? Shadow, who appeared to have mastered the control over the fake Chaos Emeralds, with Silver cheering him on and Blaze and Rouge (who are riding on Omega’s back) looking utterly stunned. I don’t think either of them thought this would actually work.

As for Eggman, he realizes that his projects are pretty much a waste of time and energy, so he decides to bury them along with everyone inside the city. In short, he’s going nuclear on this one.

We also see that Metal Sonic managed to catch himself after he was kicked out of the tower, and using another Badnik as an Extreme Gear, he managed to grab Sonic and drag him along. We then get a shot of Rouge, Blaze and Omega and- *starts laughing*

Okay, this panel is frigging hilarious out of context. We see the three watching the fight between Metal and Sonic unfold, with Rouge and Blaze being concerned, while Omega is celebrating. When I read it first, I thought he was cheering for Metal, only to remind myself that that’s never going to happen.

The reason Omega is actually so happy is because he finally found another Badnik to obliterate - namely, Metal Sonic himself. Blaze and Rouge go to help out, with Sonic seeing an opportunity in the fire exchange (literal in Blaze’s case) and throws Metal towards Omega, who then gets shot.

Epic! This is why you bring Omega into a fight.

With Metal being charred and smoking, Rouge catches Sonic and they join the rest of the group on a fake Chaos Emerald platform, and it is obvious that they really have nowhere to go. To make things worse, Eggman is shooting lasers at them, his intentions clear - they’re going down one way or another.

We then see Shadow and Silver, with Silver wondering how much damage the fake Chaos Emerald can take, and Shadow is confident that it is enough to win this fight.

Okay, excuse me for a moment... *searches on YouTube*

Yeah, if things weren’t awesome before, they’re about to kick it into overdrive and I read the rest with this song playing in the background. You’re welcome! X3

So, after assuring Silver that they will win, Shadow focuses all his energy, calling out Dr. Eggman on his hubris and the monster he made, and performs Chaos Control.

What follows next is the fake Chaos Emeralds suddenly being teleported, much to Eggman’s shock. We also see several of them appearing around Eggman’s mecha, with Shadow, now sweating beads from all the energy he’s putting into this, saying how he’s not done and how these perverse Emeralds connect his entire city.

With them under Shadow’s control, he has managed to build a cage around Eggman, the latter crying out in despair as the fake Emeralds pierce through and between the mecha’s legs, keeping it on the spot.

Sonic sees what’s going on, deciding to finish it by asking Blaze to give him a boost. Blaze agrees, flying him between the fake Emerald shards towards Tails and Amy, with Amy (whom he calls Ames! Yes, this is the first time since Sonic Boom we got to hear that!) using her hammer to hit him upwards. I always love the teamwork in this comic.

We see Sonic flying over Shadow and Silver, yelling how they should finish this. We then turn to Tangle and Whisper...

Yeah, the artist team was as subtle as a brick about this one. I’m sure many people already pointed it out, so I’ll just add that I’m happy that Tangle and Whisper are pretty much confirmed to be a couple in the comics and not just going by Word of God.

Sonic grabs Tangle’s tail, with Tangle holding onto Whisper, who blasts them into the air, all the while Eggman is desperately pleading with them, saying how if the city fails, there will be nothing to divert the power away from the artificial Emerald network. Their destructive power is incalculable and he’s the only one capable of preventing it.

I’m pretty sure Sonic just rolled his eyes at Eggman’s pleads as Tangle sent him flying right into the mecha.

Sonic then spin dashes right into the mecha, much to everyone’s amazement and worry, and Eggman’s horror, causing the mecha to tilt as Sonic gets caught by Tangle and they quickly escape.

However, not all is well, as Shadow quickly sends Silver to protect everyone. He notes how Eggman wasn’t bluffing and that the Emeralds are about to explode and will take the whole city down with them.

As Tails and Silver join the rest of the group (sans Sonic, Tangle and Whisper), Silver warns them that everything is about to explode.

Meanwhile, Shadow walks over to the edge of the fake Chaos Emerald, observing the inevitable explosion as the energy crackles around him.

This is then followed by him using Chaos Control, erupting in an explosion that causes everything to go white.

What we see next is basically a broken land with debris and Emerald shards...

...as well as Sonic and Tangle looking slightly crispy. Whisper is behind them, but it doesn’t seem like the Chaos Control affected her.

Shadow then teleports back, panting and I assume that he’s exhausted from saving everyone from a giant explosion. Speaking of explosion...

It appears that Shadow teleported the fake Chaos Emeralds straight into the sky, letting them explode where they can do no harm. Honestly, I am a bit at loss for words here because this panel is absolutely beautiful.

☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

We then shift later to a party and... yep, Shadow’s nowhere to be seen. I should’ve known he wouldn’t hang around for too long. Omega’s also missing, but hey, at least Rouge is there to celebrate.

Amy and Jewel then bring in a strawberry cake for everyone. We get some banter between Rouge and Amy, only for her to notice some kind of artifact Rouge had picked up from Eggman’s trophy room (meanwhile Jewel is struggling with holding the cake).

Amy identifies it as an echidna artifact and demands it to be returned to Angel Island. While Tails helps Jewel with the cake, Rouge relents, giving Amy the artifact, who decides to bring it to Knuckles. This is basically setting up the story in the next Issue, which will follow Amy and Knuckles adventuring on Angel Island.

Amy then turns around, wondering where Sonic has gone, with Tails telling her how he already ran off, much to her chagrin. Okay, why does this remind me so much of the last Sonic Twitter Takeover?

Ah, that’s why! (✧ω✧)

The last we see is a shot of Sonic leaping into his next adventure, but as said before, our next story will focus on Amy and Knuckles’ adventure on Angel Island, as well as on Mimic and Clutch teaming up and Mimic infiltrating the Diamond Cutters.

As for Urban Warfare... I absolutely loved it! As I said before, this is definitely one of my favorite arcs, especially since it manages to show off all of the characters in an amazing manner, both heroes and villains.

However, one special shout-out goes to Shadow, who was redeemed in this arc. This is the character I wanted to see ever since I began reading this comic and I’m happy that we got him saving the day this time around.

So, what comes next? Well, from what I know is that we’re getting several comics focusing on various characters: Amy and Knuckles, Mimic and Clutch, Silver and the Diamond Cutters, Sonic and co. going on their 900th adventure, Sonic, the Diamond Cutters and Babylon Rogues having a beach day... Even tho Eggman is out of the picture for now, we certainly aren’t lacking in story department.

Also, another thing to note is that, according to Ian on Bumblekast, we might be nearing the part of the story where Sonic Frontiers happens. He said that there will be probably be a time skip where Sonic Frontiers happens and the comics pick up afterwards. Honestly, if you ask me, the perfect moment would be after the next Arc, but we’ll have to see.

So, until next time!

Links:

#Previous Issue

#Next Issue

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

[wisemusiccheesecake]

My pitch for a Sonic game:

- Spin-off game set post-Forces, meaning you can use your old OC if you have one, or load up a new one.

- Main Plot: Trying to track down Phantom Ruby prototypes to make sure they don't fall into the wrong hands, which means that you'll be seeing old villains from the Sonic franchise, and hopefully characters from other forms of Sonic media.

- Forbidden Ruby: Strongest PR prototype, with the power to permanently alter matter, meaning Eggman didn't use it out of fear of it's power, nor did he destroy it out of fear of what that could do. This is unsurprisingly the main McGuffin that the latter half of the game revolves around.

Plot:

- The first act consists of a series of missions to find weaker prototypes, scattering you across the map, into old and new zones meeting characters like Mighty and Ray, and (in a perfect world) Tangle and Whisper. These acts are supposed to be there to get you used to the controls and establish some world-building and allow the player to see what impacts the events of Forces had and establish a wider world, instead of everything revolving around Sonic. These missions also allow the player to build up their repertoire of weapons in preparation for the next act of the game.

- The Chaotix inform you that someone called 'Elizabeth' is attempting to steal the FR, and they aren't sure why. When asked, no-one knows who Elizabeth is, although Tails seems the most suspicious, almost like he knows something that he isn't telling anyone, but the rest of the cast don't seem suspicious of Tails, which allows the player to second-guess whether or not Tails is hiding something or not.

- The rest of the game is you trying to track down the FR, and find out who 'Elizabeth' is and why she wants it as well. During this you will fight some actual flat-out villains, like the Babylon Rouges and Team Hooligan. In the hub, there will be one of the Chaotix (Vector, Espio, and Charmy) who will tell you if they've made any breakthroughs with the 'Elizabeth' situation, to know about the FR location you can talk to Team Dark and Amy, who will tell you about any leads they find.

Final Act:

- Amy contacts you during a mission and informs you of the FR's location, and sends you and Sonic out to find it, telling you Tails will meet you there, though Sonic shows some confusion about why Tails would be there, but shakes it off as he trusts that Tails won't use the FR for anything.

- You make your way to the location of the FR, only to find that the only person there is Tails, who's holding the ruby with clear intent to try and use it.

- Sonic stops Tails and asks what he wants to do with the ruby, Tails has no real use for it as he has everything he needs. Sonic also brings up how he feels betrayed by Tails, and how he feels like Tails is being selfish. Rouge contacts you to ask where they are, and if they've found whoever Elizabeth is. Sonic says they haven't and asks Tails if he knows who Elizabeth is.

- Tails drops the bombshell of all bombshells on Sonic's little head. Tails is Elizabeth. She wanted to use the Forbidden Ruby's ability to alter matter to transition seamlessly, without the whole medical process.

- Tails uses the Ruby to transition, Sonic then asks her why she didn't tell them sooner, as they could've helped her, Elizabeth breaks down ranting about why she felt uncomfortable with telling them. She rants about how she didn't want to make a fuss as they would've inevitably made a very big deal about it, and she couldn't handle being the centre of their collective attention.

- Sonic comforts her as he signals you to grab the Ruby, then the three of you leave, signalling the end of the game as the credits roll. This gives Tails/Elizabeth a platform to be more present in the games as Sonic's 'little sis' as she feels more confident.

This pitch exists because Sonic Team keep teasing us with Transfem Tails bait and I'm taking it fr. Open to critique.

[egg-emperor]

I was excited for Prime because finally modern Eggman in a show again since X!!! and can you blame me for thinking he'd have a more prominent role in it despite the multiverse thing when he was in the concept art with the Chaos Council and in posters and trailers and stuff

and I LOVED the five mins of him in the first ep, it seemed it was setting up for a solid portrayal, he was entertaining and I was feeling hopeful and looking forward to where they'd take him. but then bam the prism is shattered and he gets erased from existence right away

then the show is like "hey look at these Eggmen instead they're the bad guys be entertained pls" but they're just not my Eggman regardless of how they came to be. not the one I was waiting to see in a show again for so long. where is my special boy please give me my boy

I probably would've maybe been able to get into them more if we could see them interacting with regular Eggman but as it stands I'm just not into it. they're Eggman if he wasn't whole with parts of his personality split into separate guys and lack his overall charm when he's whole

what could've been especially with the concepts made me feel so teased because they did him so dirty so fast by pushing him aside instantly. like I'm not gonna do an angry rant if he's still not in the next batch of eps, I won't be surprised. but it's still a big bummer lol

[playertwotails]

Okay so I've been thinking about this since it popped into my head last night. This is an off the rails conspiracy theory nonsense AU/Theory/Headcanon-ish thing but I thought it was funny and wanted to share so here we are.

And what is this fresh non-sense I have for ya'll today:

Eggman is not the main villain of the series. In fact he might not even be the villain.

Is this dumb - yes, but strap on your tin foil hat an join me below the cut if you wanna see me try and make this, make sense.

I'll start off with this came to me when I started thinking of the video game Fable III. (If you know this game you might know where I'm heading with this already) For those who don't know spoilers for that game if you've never played it. There is an evil king you take down and over throw for being horrible to everyone and extorting, killing and squeezing everyone for money and resources. But afterwards you find out he was mostly doing so cause there was an even bigger evil threat heading ya'lls way that he was trying to gather resources to withstand and take down.

There's more to that plot but this is the bit I wanna focus on. What if it's the same with Eggman. Yeah he's an evil guy trying to take over the world and use all the natural resources to his benefit, but what if it's because there's an even bigger threat out there and he's just trying to amass enough resources to withstand an attack.

With dialog from the new games Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog we know he's been making business and stuff for years to get money from and move around resources. And he's always after the biggest most powerful thing he can find and try to control it, to take over the world but the main point here is that he want's the macguffin artifact/creature's power.

But what if he's only doing that cause there's something out there he needs an entire planet of resources, energy and manpower to take down.

What helps with this whole crazy spiel is that he never kills Sonic. Does he try, yes...or maybe that's what he wants them to think. Cause most of the time when he has the perfect opportunity to kill Sonic he doesn't or goes on some kinda long rant that allows them to think of a way out and save the day or just straight doesn't. Sometimes he even saves Sonic and helps him. Heck in forces he doesn't even kill Sonic just locks him up for 6 months, okay there's the one off nonchalantly given line of him being tortured for 6 months but like the game did we're gonna gloss over that.

What if he doesn't actually want to kill Sonic but uses him basically as an easy way to test the durability of his creations he's making, not making them to take down Sonic but what ever this greater threat is. Plus he knows Sonic is strong, so if whatever is out there beats Eggman he knows that there's at least Sonic and co. as a last defense.

Think about it, a lot of his creations he fights Sonic with are massive compared to one 3ft something little fast guy. And yeah Eggman has a flare for the dramatics but in the long run it's impracticable and he is a genius.

So Eggman gets a free test dummy and more and more data to make even more powerful weapons which he can then use against this greater threat.

So the next question is, well who is this greater evil he's doing all this terrible stuff to make sure he has enough to take it down? And the answer to that is idk this is all a load of nonsense tangent I'm going off on, I just thought the idea was cool. But I can tell you I don't think we've met them. It's not Black Doom cause they actively worked with them at one point to make Shadow, the Ultimate Life Form. I don't think it's The End from frontiers cause even it didn't seem Eggman was aware of that until Sage brought it up. It's not dark gaia cause Eggman wasn't trying to kill them just use them to further his own plans. No one knows about this threat except for Eggman who, if he hasn't seen it, has some sort of knowledge of it but just doesn't share cause there'd be no point. Either he beats it or doesn't why should he try to work other people who aren't as smart as him. Plus he does have a big ego and wants to be the one to take down a threat like that just so he could brag he did with his own genius creations.

Idk this just came into my brain and refused to leave so here ya'll are a fresh heaping of crazy rambles enjoy. Let me know what ya'll think though I'm kinda curious about ya'lls thoughts.