#was it the worst piece of Sonic media ever?

[clockwise-works]

Paramount owes everyone who watched the Knuckles Show retributions for that hot garbage.

[twin-books]

Sonic Underground. I’m pretty darn confident I could do a good presentation on Sonic Underground. Why Sonic Underground? Well, here are some facts: -90% of Sonic fans either hate, don’t care about, or just laugh about this show. It’s a joke to them. So I doubt I’m going to make any avid fans angry.

-This show is so gosh darn absurd, ugly and full of errors I may as well just make stuff up anyway.  -No joke, this was my favorite show for so long. I watched this show every day, every episode. Sometimes without even listening to it, just listening to music while watching the visuals. This got so bad I could not only sing every song of Sonic Underground word for word I could actually quote entire episodes word for word. However, I am also lazy so this presentation would probably never get done. Plus it reminds me of my past which I prefer not to think about. However, Sonic Underground was 40 episodes of hilariously terrible story that I loved every second of, so if someone pointed a gun to my head and told me I had to do this, I could probably get it done.

mutuals do this

[ankle-beez]

people that say that the knuckles show is the worst piece of sonic media ever have not experienced enough sonic media. like that is just statistically untrue

[fallenasleepyetagain]

His World...No, His Jacket - Shadilver Fanfic

Prompt: Sharing Clothes

Prompt From: @yearoftheotpevent

Media: Sonic the Hedgehog

Genres: Human AU, sonic lore doesn't change they're just humans, fluff, established relationship, pining, silver is gay and in love, shadow is shadow (meaning gay)

Characters: Silver, Shadow, Sonic (mentioned), Rouge (mentioned), Omega (mentioned), Amy (mentioned), Iblis (mentioned), Dr. Eggman (mentioned), Blaze (mentioned)

CW/TW - Mentions of suicide

Word Count: 3475

It's now on ao3 if you'd rather read it there!

Cold.

It’s really, really, cold.

Of course, Silver normally found the past (err…the present) cold. It was chilly compared to the future - his future - with Iblis and all of the fire and magma. While the first time he travelled back to the past was rather foggy in his mind, he did remember the chill that ran down his spine, the goosebumps that travelled their way up and down his arms and legs. He had gotten used to it though, mostly. The nights were the worst, especially in the mountains or the winter, but he had learned to cope with it. However, heavy rain plus a cold night? Oh, that equaled a wet, soggy, unhappy Silver.

Rain beat down on the flimsy metal roof he’s under, glancing out at the cityscape in front of him. He slumped onto his butt, knees pulled up to his chest. The cement was cold and damp; he hoped he wasn’t going to get sick. It wasn’t below freezing and he was thankful for that, but the cold winds seemed to pass through his boots, chilling him right down to his bones. His hands, which had his yellow and teal bracelets on their wrists, felt the worst. And he shoved them down into his pockets, balled into shaking fists.

Why not find someplace inside? Said his inner thoughts, which often sounded like Blaze chastising him. It wasn’t that simple! He was in unfamiliar territory, with unfamiliar people, and he wasn’t about to force a family to house a stranger for the night, not when he could survive on his own. Spending time outside in the cold wasn’t going to kill him! It was cold, sure, but it wasn’t freezing, and since he was safely underneath a shelter, he wasn’t going to freeze his digits off.

The storm had come suddenly and completely out of left-field. Silver had wanted to spend the night with Amy and the other freedom fighters, but he wasn’t about to fly multiple miles in the rain to do so. It was one night! He would be fine! It wouldn’t be a night he would forget, and he would definitely try and prevent it from happening again. The cold still bit at him, nipping at every available piece of his tan skin – his face and his wrists mostly, and he can’t stop sniffling! He really hoped he wouldn’t catch a cold, but perhaps it was inevitable. The idea was both as exciting as it was annoying; he would’ve never caught a cold in his future, but colds in general were awful!

Or, so he had heard. He’d never had one before (and he is on the verge of breaking his streak!) but others have had colds and they seem terrible.

Silver reaches up and unclasps his ponytail, allowing his white hair to cascade down his head. The clasp that held most of his hair up sat cold in his hand, a few water droplets rolling down the gold and teal metal. It slipped into his pocket nicely, and he put his head into his knees. Putting his hair down helped ever-so slightly. His neck felt far less cold and his ears would begin to warm up.

The space he was in was rather compact, which helped with keeping the wind from hitting him at full force. He couldn’t stand up fully underneath the metal sheet without hitting it (something he was absolutely going to do when the rainstorm was over, he just knew it) but he was taller than the average human. Others could probably stand underneath it fine. With a heavy huff, he put his head into his knees, arms wrapped around them loosely.

Exhaustion weighed down on him, but he wasn’t about to lay down on the damp concrete. It would not only be extremely uncomfortable and cold, but if someone needed help, it would take him a few seconds longer to get to his feet. He knew intimately that sometimes a few seconds is all someone had.

Sleep wouldn’t come easy, but it would come. He’d be able to sleep sitting up, with his face in his knees. His breath would keep his face warm, and keeping himself in a tight ball would limit how much heat was losing. It wasn’t particularly comfortable, but if it did the job and got him to sleep, Silver didn’t mind.

“The fuck are you doing?”

Silver perked up at the familiar, monotone voice.

Standing under the sheet of metal was an even more familiar face, his red and black hair teased upwards and his red eyeshadow perfect and sharp, per usual. Silver needed him to teach him how to do his own eyeliner like that. Shadow’s arms were crossed over his chest, his eyes piercing into Silver’s soul.

“I was going to try to sleep.” Silver replied sheepishly, scooting over slightly and patting the cement space next to him.

“You’re sleeping here.” 

It wasn’t a question, but Silver answered it like it was one anyway: “I plan on trying too, yeah. Wanna sit with me?”

“Hmph.” Shadow sat down next to Silver, legs positioned in what Silver had been told was a “butterfly stretch.” He hadn’t ever seen a butterfly up close, so he wasn’t sure if the name was accurate or not, but he still found it impressive. Shadow was nearly touching his groin with his heels, no sign of strain at all. Was there anything Shadow couldn’t do?

“How’d you know I was here?”

“You’re not exactly hard to spot.”

Silver touched his hair, bright white and flushed, fidgeting with it. “Yeah, I…I suppose not.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Huh?” “My question. You didn’t answer it.”

“No, I heard you. What question?”

With a heavy sigh, Shadow rubbed his forehead. Silver was worried for a moment that he would poke himself with his sharp nails.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“I told you? I was trying to-”

“No.”

“...Okay.”

“What the fuck around you doing here?” Shadow said, gesturing in a circle with his hands.

“Oh! I was going to meet up with Amy and the other’s, but I got caught in the rainstorm.”

“You stopped instead of continuing your path.”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on meeting up with them until tonight. I’m looking for-”

“This week's Iblis trigger. Yes, I figured.”

“I- That’s not-” Silver groaned, rolling his eyes and putting his nose against his knees.

Shadow wasn’t wrong. Silver wouldn’t deny him that. But it wasn’t like there was some new thing every week! Every time Silver stopped the world from ending, he would come back to a perfect world before watching Iblis emerge from the core of the planet, wiping out everyone and everything he’s ever known. The bastard was slightly different every time, caused by something else, but he was a constant, just like Silver was. One of these days, Silver would destroy the Iblis trigger, and it’d be the last one. He’d be able to go to a future and it’d be alive. He’d have no reason to come back!

He’d have no reason to come back.

“Hey. Silver.”

A soft smack (soft compared to strikes Shadow’s given Silver before) to the back of his head snaps him back to reality and he glances back at Shadow.

“Did you end up finding it?” “The- The trigger? No I…I haven’t yet. It’s not always easy to find, or the most obvious thing. Sometimes, it’s super obvious, like some new robot Eggman’s made that he’s not in full control of. Sometimes, it’s…someone young who is hurting. Who believes that the only way that their pain can be helped is to summon the end of times! Those ones are always the hardest. To find and to deal with. And, sometimes it’s even-”

You.

Silver cuts himself off, coughing into his hand as he glances away from Shadow.

He had seen it more times than he would like. In visions of the future, in person, in writing. It was always so vivid. Bodies sprawled out, the familiar silhouette standing, hunched over and panting. Hair messy but still teased upwards, inhibitor rings gone, discarded. Silver had seen him tear open the plates of the planet with little sweat, exposing the raw magma of the planet for all to see. Then, without fail, Silver would watch him fling himself into the core of the planet. He couldn’t stop him, although he frequently tried.

Shadow wasn’t the Iblis trigger, he knew that much. He was done with blaming his friends for it. There were many times when Silver would end up with a boot to his head from a familiar man, dressed in red and black, telling him to “go back and fix the fuck-up properly this time.” Shadow’s existence didn’t equate to Iblis’ existence, but sometimes actions taken caused Shadow to help break the world enough to allow him to escape. He hadn’t found the correlation yet, if there even was one.

“It’s even what, Silver?”

Silver glances at Shadow, meeting his eyes and- and, did Shadow know that his eyes had specks of brown in them? The color red was often used by evil (Silver always seemed to associate it with Eggman first) but when it came to Shadow, his hair, his clothing, his eyes, Silver couldn’t help but feel the warmth, the strength that came with him. There was something in Shadow’s eyes that Silver couldn’t place, something he found himself getting lost in.

“It’s evennnnn…” Silver gestured vaguely with his hands, trying to come up with something on the spot and almost failing miserably. “Me? Y-Yeah, that’s what I meant. It feels like it’s…me?”

Shadow’s eyes dilated for a moment, his pointed ear twitching slightly. 

Shadow knows he’s lying. He’s going to poke holes in his words, he’s going to make him admit what he’s seen, he’s going to-

“That’s wrong. You do your best to protect your future. If it was you, you would know.” Relief flooded through Silver as Shadow spoke. Even if he picked up the lie, which he likely did, he didn’t press it. It was appreciated. He isn’t sure how he’d go about telling Shadow that he had witnessed his death, more than once. He gives Shadow a smile. Small, but thankful.

“Thanks I…I’m not sure I’m doing the right thing sometimes.”

“I don’t think there’s a universe where you aren’t.” Shadow said bluntly. Despite his monotone voice, Silver could feel its sincerity.

Before he could respond, a gust of cold air shot through the world, a slight drizzle hitting his shoulder, and he shifted away from the edge of the roof he was under. He shivered, pressing his teeth together to stop them from chattering together. It was already cold, the last thing he needed was the wind to make it even worse. Shadow, on the other hand, seemed completely unaffected by it. Silver thought that was wildly unfair.

“You’re shivering.”

“It’s cold, Shadow.”

“You’re from a magma-filled future. I don’t think you can properly determine if it’s cold or not.”

“You’re from space! You don’t get to say anything either.” Silver said, rolling his eyes and nudging Shadow with his elbow playfully. Shadow only smirked in response before another wave of cold air blasted through the city. This time, Shadow flinched a little, his eyes squeezing shut as the cold air rushed past them. Silver shook from his toes to his hair, pressing himself into Shadow without meaning to. His face stayed pressed against Shadow’s shoulder for a lot longer than he expected; wasn’t Shadow going to push him off?

It was only after the flurry died down did Shadow remove Silver from him with a simple nudge of his shoulder.

“S-Sorry,” Silver shivered, arms wrapped around his chest. Shadow wasn’t exactly appreciative of sudden touch, and he hoped he hadn’t overstepped any boundaries. “It’s just… just so cold.”

“Tch.” Shadow scoffed at him, standing up, a hand placed loosely on his hip. Silver was taller than Shadow by a fair amount, Shadow’s face only barely came up to his shoulder; if he was standing in front of Shadow, he’d have to go on his tiptoes to see over. The idea of Shadow needing to go on his tiptoes to see was hysterical, and he imagined that was the reason why he insisted on being first in everything.

It was time for him to go, or he had gotten tired of Silver’s whining. Both were entirely possible, and it was also possible that Shadow would use both reasonings. He shook his head, shifting on his feet. “You’re pathetic.”

“Thanks- Ouf!”

Insults from Shadow weren’t uncommon. Himself and Sonic were the most likely targets of his degradation, with personalized insults given out to the both of them depending on the situation. Silver was frequently called pathetic (obviously) and naïve; Sonic always seemed to get harsher comments shot at him. Sometimes, Silver felt like Sonic deserved it. (Yes, Shadow! Sonic was an obnoxious fool!)

The first few times he was insulted, it stung, but now Silver understood that it was simply part of Shadow’s love language. He was cruel because he paid attention, because he deemed them important enough to take up space in his mind. Silver would rather be pathetic than nothing in Shadow’s mind.

What was uncommon, if not unheard of, was Shadow sharing anything of his own. And yet, here they were. Shadow’s jacket had been dropped on him, the red and black leather jacket still warm as he pulled it closer around his shoulders. It’s a stunning jacket, vintage too (although Shadow wouldn’t call it vintage…it just was). The main color of it is, unsurprisingly, black, the sleeves have red stripes, and there are other various red accents around the breast and hip pockets. There’s a yellow clasp at the collar, keeping the warmth from leaving at the neck. There was a fluffy hood (although he rarely saw Shadow wearing it) and the golden zipper hidden behind some more fabric. It was high quality, and Silver wasn’t sure he deserved to touch it.

Shadow crouched down as Silver slipped the sleeves onto his arms. He was lankier than Shadow, and the sleeves didn’t fit him perfectly, but they fit him well enough, only exposing a few centimeters of his wrist. Not the biggest of deals. Before Silver could ask what Shadow was doing, Shadow’s hands zipped up the jacket, and buttoned the clasp for him. His cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and it’s only made worse when Shadow shoves the hood over his head, his hair feeling rather uncomfortable underneath the fabric. Once Shadow let him go, standing up with his hands on his hips, Silver pulled his hair out of the hood. He looked silly, he’s absolutely sure, but having the hair on the inside of the jacket was so insanely uncomfortable.

“Thanks.”

“Hmph.” It’s a dismissive noise, but the smallest of smiles appear on Shadow’s face, and Silver reciprocates it with his own, sunny grin. Shadow looked different without his iconic jacket, nothing but a tight black turtleneck sweater underneath. It already looks warm enough, why he needed the extra warm that his leather jacket provided, Silver would never know. The jacket had slipped over his golden inhibitor rings without issue. Silver had never realized how tight they were, clamped on his wrists right below his biker gloves, allowing those to come off easy. Did it hurt to take them off? Is that why he disliked doing it…?

Questions that never had easy answers. Whatever was going through Shadow’s brain at any given time was a mystery to everyone but himself.

“I’ll be sure to get it back to you.”

“Good.” Shadow nodded, “Don’t let anything happen to it, or we’re going to have a problem.”

Silver rolled his eyes at the threat. Shadow always had some problem with him, jacket or otherwise.

“I’m serious, Silver.”

“I know! I know. I’ll take care of it.” Silver said, holding his hands up in surrender. His fingers played with the fluff on the edge of the hood. It was soft. He glanced up at Shadow and smiled at him. “Promise.

“I’ll hold you to it.”

“When the storm is over, where will you be?”

“You know where to find me.”

“N-No? No I don’t?”

Without a word, Shadow smirked at him, hands in pockets, before walking from under the flimsy roof. Despite Silver’s desperate calls for him to elaborate, he kept walking. He approached the end of the building roof, wind causing the belt chains on his belt to clink, his hair swaying slightly. He stepped up onto the edge, hands relaxed in his pockets.

“Shadow?!” Silver shouted just a moment too late as the other took one more step and fell like a rock. Silver struggled to his feet, his head slamming into the metal roof (he knew that would happen, goddamnit!). He saw stars for a moment, but it didn’t stop him from continuing to run towards where Shadow was, stumbling before breaking out into a sprint. The rain hit the back of his hands, chilling the skin, but he didn’t seem to care. He struggled to a stop as he glanced over the side of the building, a wave of psychic energy going through his body as he prepared himself to catch Shadow.

And Shadow was…falling slowly. Weird, considering the height of the building, he was falling slower than the raindrops around him. It was perfectly controlled, and Silver hesitated to grab him. What is…?

Oh.

Suddenly, Silver felt like an idiot. The shoes! He could see the flicker of light from below Shadow’s feet, the jets on the soles slowing his descent. Silver stood up straighter, a large sigh of relief leaving him as he rested his hands on his hips, soon returning them to the pockets on the jacket. He watched as Shadow landed safely on the sidewalk and mounted his, rather iconic, red and black motorcycle.

Shadow glanced up at him, and although he was so far, Silver could feel red-eyes looking at him. Shadow made a gesture: a wave, flipping the bird, a salute; Silver had no idea what he did. He did his best to return whatever favor was shot at him with a wave. The engine revved, and the motorcycle sped off to who knows where. Silver spent a few more seconds than he should’ve staring at where Shadow had disappeared over the horizon. The hood hid his face from the cold, and his reddening cheeks from the rest of the world.

Shadow was so cool.

A gust of wind nearly tumbled Silver over, snapping him back to the present. He shuffled back over to his little area of safety, collapsing back down onto the cold concrete. Shadow’s jacket was keeping him warm. Warmer than he was a few minutes ago, at least. They were holding hands by proxy, with his hands shoved into the jacket’s pockets. Silver snorted at himself, putting his face into the jacket, eyes fluttering shut. One of his legs was propped up onto the other, the tip of his boot just narrowly avoiding being hit by the rain.

A cacophony of smells hit Silver all at once: gunpowder, gasoline, and…coffee? Despite the wild combination, he wasn’t put off by it. Was Shadow a coffee drinker? Maybe he was just in some place that had coffee beans. Rouge wasn’t a coffee drinker, and Omega definitely wasn’t. Who knows. Shadow always seemed to end up in the weirdest of places, so the smell of coffee wasn’t too surprising. The gunpowder and gasoline was easily explained: Shadow’s choice of weapon and his motorcycle.

With his face tucked away in the hood, sleep was supposed to come quickly. He was warm, comfortable, and had something that wasn’t concrete to lay his head against. And yet, one more thing shot him awake. He pulled his hands out of his pockets, and found multiple grains of sand in his palms. What the fuck? Sand??? Silver rolled his eyes, dusting his hands off before tucking them back into the pockets. He wasn’t about to question that right now. There were smaller grains tucked in the corner of the pockets, but he opted to ignore them, hands balled up into fists. He’d find a way to pay Shadow back for this, although he’s not sure what of his dress that Shadow would want. Maybe he could share his hair clamp with Shadow. His hair was long enough for that.

The jacket gave him the warmth he needed to fall asleep.

He hoped that he’d dream of Shadow.

Was that weird??? That might’ve been weird.

Silver couldn’t help it though, he loved the man.

Adored? Admired?

No, those words weren’t right. He was correct the first time.

The rain lulled him to sleep, a soft smile on his face.

[dr-spectre]

Im gonna be for real with you guys, when you stop getting deep in the roots of a fandom and stop giving a fuck about other people, you become so much more happier.

I feel happier as a Sonic fan when I stopped watching those 5 hour videos about how Sonic Frontiers is "fundamentally a bad game" and how "the story is the worst thing humanity has ever written" and "wahhh the fandom is toxic wahhh!!!! People can't handle criticism wahh!!!" Bitch they can, you're just presenting your points in a fucking shit way that makes people feel bad about themselves and you don't leave the door open for a healthy conversation. If you spend a large chunk of your "critique" on a video game talking about how toxic a fandom is then I'm sorry but you cannot complain about the fandom talking shit about you.

COUGH COUGH!!!

There's a difference between "oh i thought the story of Sonic Frontiers was a bit underwhelming because the side characters don't do much and I wish Sage and Eggman's relationship was more fleshed out. Like maybe if they added more scenes of them together it would better and make the original ending more impactful."

Verses "Frontiers fundamentally has a bad story and I'm gonna spend the next 5 hours shitting on it and nitpicking every little thing about it."

I'm not saying that you cannot be negative, I'm saying that if you are gonna be negative, don't be a cunt about it and feel like you're above anyone else. If you wanna rant then present your points in a funny way and make sure people who read or watch your points know that you're just rambling and ranting first. If you're gonna make a critique, you have to understand and acknowledge WHY people who disagree with you enjoy the thing. You cannot just constantly shit on something like the video game took your wife and kids and punched you in the balls man.

I have my own issues with Frontiers story and Ian Flynn's writing, but I'm not gonna be a cunt about how I say it. I've met people who like Amy's interpretation in Frontiers and they've explained why they like her in that game. They enjoy the more mature and mellowed Amy who isn't a hyper annoying starstruck woman. However, for me personally, after replaying Adventure 1 and 2 with retranslation mods, i've grown to really like Amy and i prefer when she's energetic and angry and all of that stuff. Plus i don't like the current voice direction so it makes her writing a little bit worse for me, she sounds like she's 35 instead of being a teen or young adult, but i could just play with the Japanese voices on if i wanted to so it's not a huge deal that makes Frontiers' story an "objective mess."

I think that life becomes more fun when you sit down with a piece of media, gather your own thoughts about it and maybe discuss it online in a fair honest manner. And you only seek out other opinions from people you actually wanna have a healthy discussion and debate with. Watching those several hour long videos about video games where most of it is just nitpicks and constant "why?" questions to every LITTLE FUCKING THING makes my brain wanna erupt into flames. I could apply the "oh why this? Why that? Why did this?" To every single story in existence if i wanted to. I could do it to make a story seem worser than it is.

If you wanna watch fair and honest reviews about Sonic media then watch videos by Sam Procrastinates and bickuribox12. They both address their positives and negatives on things and do fairly criticize media that they review without being overly dramatic, melancholy, and unfair.

[catiecat1320]

Sonadowtober Prompt 20+22: Adrenaline & Fearless

Sonic's reckless, to the knowledge of everyone that has ever met him. Shadow knows it the most of all

This is so late TvT

Read Below🔽

How stupid is he?

That’s a question Shadow asks a lot about Sonic. Unironically. He’s somehow so idiotically reckless in his actions yet at the same time, things somehow always work out. He’s either so dumb he’s smart, so smart he’s dumb, or just insanely lucky.

Or perhaps a mixture of all of them.

Case in point, right now. 

“Sonic!”

Said hedgehog paid Shadow no mind, leaping fearlessly from building to building— if they could even be called buildings anymore, the world around them falling to pieces as cyberspace fails and everything reverts to a white void. A white void that they could very easily fall into.

Maneuvering about this place and looking for the exit at the same time was hard enough with cooperation. But Sonic, being the reckless idiot he was, decided it’d be a good idea to run off to seek thrill rather than stick together. How he managed to get so far without getting hit was beyond Shadow. Was he even looking at where he’s going…?

A giant chunk of something featureless nearly clocks Shadow in the head, stopping his chase. In his haste to dodge, he loses sight of his target. 

Deja vu hits him in the worst way as he frantically scans his surroundings, eyes darting among floating bits and pieces of things now unrecognizable. It reminded him of the void between shatterspaces that he’d gotten trapped in, that he’d traveled through fruitlessly as he struggled to enter portals, that he’d raced through in one last bid to save that damn hedgehog because he could not live in a world without that smile. 

Shadow shook the memories off and snarled. He needed to find that idiot and get out of here, preferably before he got himself hurt, or worse.

Adrenaline rushed through his veins as he launched himself off the platform he stood on, curling into a spin dash and ricocheting off obstacles like he was in a giant game of pinball. 

Curse that idiot.

............................................................

“Sonic!”

That was the last thing Sonic heard before he lost sight of Shadow. For a black-and-red hedgehog, he was sure difficult to spot in a white void.

It wasn’t that he was worried, no. Shadow could handle himself perfectly fine, perhaps even better than Sonic could— not that he would ever say that to the other’s face. The hero had no doubt that Shadow could find his own way out of this mess if it came to it. It… was more an unspoken obligation to make sure the other was okay.

At least this was fun! The broken cyberspace gave way to plenty of new challenges. Sonic flipped off of a floating… platform? Close enough. He flipped off of a floating platform, twisting midair and grabbing onto an upside-down rail, whooping as he slid down it like a zipline.

His heart pumped wildly and he barked out a laugh in excitement, taking the trip as an opportunity to look for either Shadow or a portal out of this crumbling place. But not only did he see nothing, he also didn’t realize the rail had tapered off until he was suddenly grasping at nothing, falling through the emptiness… well, almost emptiness. 

“Umph—!” Sonic gasped as he smashed face-first into… he didn’t know what. He does know that the force of his impact caused it to tip, flipping around and dumping him back into a fall. “Whoa— ACK!”

Safe.

“Idiot.” his savior spat, and if Sonic didn’t know him so well, he would’ve thought the underlying tone to be contempt. But if it were contempt that Shadow felt, he wouldn’t be princess carrying his so-called rival.

“Hey Shads! Sorry I lost ya back there!”

Shadow rolled his eyes. “Do you not have an ounce of self preservation in your body? Or even fear? It’d do you good.”

“Nah,” Sonic smirked. “Besides, what’s the point of that stuff when you can have fun instead?”

“Not dying.”

“...Eh. I suppose you got a point. But I have you to help me do that!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“What do you think?” Sonic gestured at his position cradled in the other’s arms. “You know I can stand by myself right?”

Shadow flushes a bright red, embarrassment hidden poorly with a growl. “Do you want me to drop you?”

Yet he doesn’t let go. Perhaps he holds Sonic even tighter. Whatever the case, the hero hooks his arms around Shadow and flashes a cheeky grin. “You wouldn’t. I know you wouldn’t. Portal’s behind you by the way!”

“Damn you.” But there’s no real malice to his voice as he turns around, rocket skates firing as they blast toward their exit.

And if it’s reminiscent of a previous time, when risks were higher and Sonic’s implied words had been put to the test, neither hedgehog mentions it. For after all, they know how the story ends.

Safely.

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground watch along

Because… madness, is why. Almost twenty goddamn years ago, I started writing a crossover between the absolute worst piece of Sonic media ever and the games. That fic is The Lost Prince. I am maybe like… two or three chapters from finishing it. TWENTY YEARS AND THREE CHAPTERS. And I have no motivation. You cannot understand the pain this causes me.

So I’m watching the worst piece of Sonic media again in search of inspiration.

And I’m going to talk about it while I do it.

(Normally, I do things like this over on lediz-watches, but because this is specifically to explain some of my headcanons and inspire my writing, it’s here)

So let’s set the scene, first. This has become somewhat common knowledge in Sonic Tumblr fandom these days, but bear with me, because it’s important context.

(Also, the next paragraph is going to get me more death threats because I CERTAINLY HAVEN’T GOTTEN ENOUGH OF THOSE FROM THIS FANDOM, but we’ll carry on anyway because it’s important context)

Once upon a time, there was a cartoon series called Sonic the Hedgehog, now known as SatAM for reasons mostly relating to its timeslot. Sonic the Hedgehog was perfectly acceptable grimdark 90s environmentalist children’s programming which due to classic 90s multimedia marketing strategy also gave rise to the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics. It got cancelled on a cliffhanger because that was the kind of thing that happened in the 90s where writers thought FOR SURE a cliffhanger would spare them from the dreaded 2-season contract. (It never did.)

The reason this matters is because the production house maintained the licensing rights to that particular branch of franchise. And they needed a quick cash grab.

For some reason which I will never understand, this spawned Sonic Underground, which is… an insane premise, cheap animation, surprisingly not terrible songs, and a handful of voice actors getting milked for every inch of their three-voice contracts.

Sonic is a prince! He has siblings that are TOTALLY NOT knock-off Princess Sally Acorn or Miles Tails Prower! They have magic necklaces! They save the day with music! Don’t notice the statues of King Max Acorn in the background! Knuckles’ grandfather from the comics is there! Knuckles has magic! The Floating Island has guns! Totally don’t pay attention to the fact that both the episodes and music tracks have separate licensing that will cost the networks extra! No we don’t have time to check for animation errors! ALSO let us use highly complicated political socio-economic difficulties of enlightenment and industrialism as world building BUT DON’T NOTICE WHAT WE’RE DOING just accept the ones we say are bad are bad and the good guys are good! Good? Good. Great.

It is a trashfire.

I adore it.

I have no excuse.

I do, however, have wine.

Let’s go, kids.

Sonic Underground 01: Beginnings

The plot (for want of a better word): Once upon a time, Queen Aleena of Mobius ruled a beautiful world kingdom city (?) and had three lovely babies: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. An evil industrialist named Ivo Robotnik came out of nowhere and took over her city world kingdom (?), turning all the aristocrats evil. In desperation, Aleena turned to the Oracle of Delphi I mean Delphius who told her that she must hide herself and her children away, until they could reunite as the Council of Four and enter a glorious New Age.

This episode is about the three children growing up, realising they have siblings, magical music, and the much less exciting fact that they’re once and former royalty, and coming together through The Power of Harmony.

Now, this episode immediately showcases what I love about The Trashfire: its background worldbuilding. You are not supposed to notice the worldbuilding, but it’s there and it’s amazing.

Realistically, Aleena would have been an absolutely terrible queen. I am not in the least bit surprised her aristocrats followed Robotnik, who promoted science and industrialisation and then sold them cheap labour. Honestly. Compare that to –

The facsimile of the Hanging Gardens, right there in the first twenty seconds. The HANGING GARDENS. Beautiful, yes. Legendary, absolutely. Would I have loved to see it? Hell yes! A good use of time or resources or indeed environment? HAH. MEANWHILE –

Slums! I don’t care what your artistic imagery is telling me, those tight dark alleyways you’re running down were there before Robotnik took over, your majesty. And you’re wasting tax payer dollars mobiums on THE HANGING GARDENS.

Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family – you can tell by the clothing of the person that comes to the door. And he’s immediately stolen. Don’t question why a thief would steal a baby (there are so many things we must not question), but notice that it took all of ten seconds. The crime rate in her supposedly perfect city is CRAZY.

Side note: Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family! The triplets should have gone aristocrat-middle class-working class, but instead we skipped straight from aristocrat to working class and then down to thief, but Aleena NEVER INTENDED to teach her children about the underclass.

Is Mobius a kingdom? Is it a world? We don’t know. We will never know. It Just Is, and Robotnik rules it, while Aleena used to rule it. Stop asking questions.

Music is illegal. This is a real thing that has happened in fascist communities, by the way, usually as a way of controlling the youth. And yet Sonia and Bartleby are out looking for an illegal club. Bartleby is bitching the whole way, but he’s there and he’d looking because it makes Sonia happy and it says SO MUCH about the spineless little worm. I love him.

Anyway. Onto my episode notes:

These character designs. What are these character designs… In my fic I call the alien-looking thing mixes, and say it's what happens when too many super classes (like... canine, feline, fish, etc) interbreed, but really it's just WEIRD.

Goddamnit, I hate Sonia. Not because of her character itself – she is… fine. But I hated GRRL Power even when I was the target audience of it, because of reasons that I can and probably will eventually go on for hours about. But basically, I mostly just hate that she’s perfect at everything, and her only flaws are being bossy and over emotional. It’s not real character, it’s not real personality, and I hate it.

Oh. A thing I’d forgotten. Sonic Underground’s one and only positive influence on other Sonic media: this was the first western animation that gave the hedgehogs more than three spikes. Probably because 3D games were also coming and going to make it A Thing.

Also: Sonic’s Tragic Backstory! I make so much of these foster parents for so many reasons.

But uh… yeah, starting the first episode with the out of place smiles during emotional moments… Sonic and Chuck smiling blandly as the only home Sonic’s ever known burns to the ground in front of them…

Imagine if you’d never read the comics or watched SatAM. Uncle Chuck and his dump-base would be a such a strange thing to see…

Oh, wow… Sonic’s reaction to the Oracle of Delphius’s nonsense. “I’m a prince? Weird. I’m a BROTHER? HOLY CRAP!”

Poor Sleet and Dingo. They never wanted to be evil, but they’re… not even very good at it…

THE SONG: Someday. Meatloaf pop eat your heart out. You would never believe that this was actually a pretty good storyboard match for some legit music videos at the time.

Seriously, Oracle, you could have stopped all of this by just stabbing him instead of warning him. You aren’t a good guy. Don’t pretend to be.

The instrumental song! Legit Sonic music. In fact, this gives serious Sonic and the Secret Rings vibes… I demand more than thirty seconds.

“Oh no, my family has been captured and turned into a robot! But you say my necklace is MAGIC? Fascinating…!”

I mean, look. I can’t defend this thing. I won’t defend this thing. Even when I was a kid, I knew it was terrible.

But I’m having fun anyway.

Normally, on these posts, I'll do one at a time because I've just realised how LONG these are, but the first three episodes are really just an hour-long conjoined episode. And things like that are s why I know at least someone in the producer's studio legitimately thought the Trashfire was a good idea. They were wrong.

Anyway. Sonic Underground 02: Getting to Know You

The plot (for want of a better word): the three siblings set out as directed by the Oracle of Delphius. They encounter a trainer who teaches Sonic how to stop, Sonia how to spin, and Manic how to do cool tricks with his drum sticks that he will barely use throughout the series. Mostly, it’s an episode that introduces some overarching themes, like Sonic being impulsive and irritable, Sonia being prissy, Manic’s insecurities, the divide between proper girl and stinky boys, and that while the triplets will tease each other constantly, it’s always all for one if someone else comes after them.

…That made it sound much sweeter and better than it actually is.

Dingo… she’s not that pretty, and don’t let Sleet tell you you’re ugly. You’re both 90s villains. I’m sure someone’s made Rule 34 fanart of you.

Oh hahaha Sonia’s so out of touch, thinking there’s a maid and that a mouse is terrible ahahano. GUYS.

Look, I hate Sonia, I do, but I have to give her props that Sonic and Manic don’t. Two hours ago she was a sheltered aristocrat’s daughter, she’s stating her expectations, and when Sonic shuts her down she makes a quick joke and gets on with things. I appreciate the pragmatism. I will give her that.

Look, Sleet, you gave Dingo an instruction and he followed it. Don’t act surprised. (Spoiler warning: He will continue to be surprised.)

Okay, this is a weird thing that the show will play with occasionally. Sonic and Sonia trade off mission-focus tunnel vision all the time. Usually when they want the other one to seem flighty or impatient respectively. But Sonia loses her props for not just getting to the point when their lives are on the line.

And then the boys lose it for being Idiot Boys despite the conversation.

Ah, Sonic Undgeround’s weird timelines. How I’d forgotten them. Side note, I also have trouble with pacing and timelines when writing The Lost Prince, so I probably can’t blame it. But here, they’ve been walking for two days, and Sonia is only NOW asking what Manic did for a living.

(also, notice that even Sonia, sheltered aristocrat that she is, thinks everyone of their age should have a proper job. They are somewhere between the ages of twelve and sixteen, folks! I make way too much of this!)

Gondar. Is certainly not voiced by the same guy as Robotnik, I’m sure.

No one questions why Sonic has super speed. This is not considered to be his ‘hidden talent’. For Reasons.

Manic’s ability to make drum sticks fly around will never be mentioned after this episode, to my memory.

Three days plus however much training time… and Robotnik is only just now figuring out the map they found? Apparently the super genius can’t read.

Ahh, Manic’s insecurity. So very well founded. He’s right, I’d argue – Sonic’s speed and Sonia’s… whatever that spin thing is, they are both so much more powerful than being able to throw sticks. And this isn’t even Sokka in the Last Airbender thing, the sticks are basically useless and will continue to be so. His actual power (SPOILERS) is over the earth, to the point that the whole stick thing is a weird addition from the get-go.

I’ll be honest with you, the monks and the invisible stairs are the only things I ever remember from this episode, because it’s such a weird visual that isn’t important in any way.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Okay, so this is another running theme with the series, where they’re going to say Sonic’s impulsiveness is a huge problem, but the times when it isn’t, he won’t do anything different, it will just be that either Sonia tells him what to do, or he suddenly shows far more battle skill than he does when the impulsiveness is a problem. This is a common thread in Sonic media, actually, and it always kind of annoys me because they never do it well. Everything is always Sonic’s fault, except when it isn’t. Yes, this is why I still haven’t gotten around to watching Sonic Prime.

The SONG: Working Together, in which 60s rock would like their style back, thanks

…Wait, that was it?

Oh, yeah, in a better show this would have been the second third of a long first episode, RIGHT.

Sonic Underground 03: Harmony or Something

The plot (for want of a better word): After having discovered Manic’s power over the earth, the triplets are told Sonic’s friend Trevor is in danger. They abandon their training to rescue him, only to uncover a scheme to hunt down the Oracle of Delphius! The triplets must think quickly and work as a team to save everyone!

Once again, Sonic being cranky disrupts the harmony and causes problems. 90s Sonic was always so cranky…

A bit of world building here again, that you surprisingly are supposed to notice: elementals (of which dragons apparently count) are a thing, and apparently common-place enough that they teach it in school. Now, the way the conversation is phrased, you’re supposed to think Sonic’s stupid for not knowing about it, but Sonia is the only one that does. This is absolutely where I got the idea that she’s the only one of the three that went to school. Which would make sense in context, but I am thinking way too hard about it…

“Control of the earth can set off powers beyond your control”… this will never come up again. Manic, you could have had such an epic character arc of growing arrogance and humility… Instead I have to think too much about it and read into Manic’s insecurity and make him into A Nice Guy and ughhhh I am such a problem.

“I have also learnt that you might have the biggest heart in the world” – this is about Sonic, and while I agree with this characterisation in general, I have not seen it in this series, and certainly neither has Sonia. But we move on.

 Jeez… yeah, Bartleby’s a sleaze and a problem, but again, put a little reality on this situation and he’s actually worth his salt. He ‘walks the fine line’ as per Sonia’s words, and is immediately threatened by the sight of a woman who was his social equal (if not better) having been robbed of her sentience and turned into a slave, and he still does nothing worse than continue to walk the fine line. He’s a jellyfish, but the man’s got integrity.

Dingo, in contrast, is a creep, and Sleet’s insults make like, no sense

Once again, Sonia knows all the things. Hacking, flying jets, this will keep happening… If a skill is needed, Sonia will have it, as a good 90s female. God, I hate her character type.

Manic… seriously, man, mortal peril is not the time to play around, but Sonia, snarking at Sonic during mortal peril is also not appropriate

And the first of Aleena’s guilt tripping holograms! Hooray!

THE SONG: Birds of a Feather… oh, the… the early 90s pop nostalgia… oh ouch… it hurts…

 …I appreciate Sleet’s pragmatism. It never works out for him, but I appreciate it.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Aleena… Oracle… it… I get prophecy, but… you’re RIGHT THERE. Reunite! Save us the next 37 episodes and the unresolved ending! Or at least tell the kids to stop looking until they’re ready. Come on.

The prophecy is obnoxiously vague, by the way. In this episode, it’s… arguably implied that the triplets need to learn to be better before they can be given their rightful place as rulers, but I would argue that in 40 episodes, the show takes absolutely no steps to improve their characters and make them better leaders. And as I said last time, Aleena is implied to have been not great to begin with. So CLEARLY my solution to this whole problem is change the last two minutes of this episode.

But that was the opening movie! Ridiculously too fast-paced for what it was trying to do, terrible animation, amazing world-building, interesting characters, acceptable dialogue. Welcome to the Trashfire that I have loved for half my life.

Come back tomorrow if you want to know more!

[beevean]

You know among the many reasons of why piracy will never go away; the trend of people officially working on IPs with either ulterior motives for doing so, or just being plain rude and unprofessional by telling people to just go somewhere else at the slightest sign of anything that's not endless praise, definitely adds onto it. At that point you can't complain about people pirating your work when you kind of eliminated any real insensitive for them to give you their heard earned money, especially with the cost of living nowadays. Even if someone still wants to have an informed opinion on a piece of media, don't think they're about going to throw their principals to side and to take their wallet out in order to do so.

What would seriously be worth spending your money on? On people who hold no respect, and maybe even disdain, to an IP that means a lot to you, and will be rude and disrespectful towards even the most neutral thing said to them? Or groceries and bills that will keep your power and water on? More benefits to buying a bucket of ice-cream, instead of something that shits all over something you love or you in general. Or better yet, use your money to commission more dependent and unknown artists.

It's even more rich when the people who told everyone to pirate Hazbin Hotel or you're the worst person ever, tend be the same ones who will get on their soapbox when they see others pirate stuff like Netflix Castlevania or the IDW Sonic comics.

Yeah. At this point I'd say that the main reasons to pirate something are 1) the product is no longer legally available/it costs an exaggerated amount of money to get due to its rarity (old games/vaporware, cartoons removed from a streaming service) and 2) spite, as you said :P no way I'm paying money to a guy who said that if I think his writing is too childish I should read better material. Lol. (or, you know, a legit criminal.)

And even then, I'm reminded of the discourse surrounding Hogwarts Legacy, and how people were torn on whether even pirating that game was a big No No considering its ties. The discussion about piracy and the morals surrounding it will never die out.

[khalewren]

I’ll probably watch the knuckles show soon. Probably got its fair share of problems but ppl on twitter saying its the worst piece of sonic media ever are most likely just being typical sonic fans 💀 (viscerally disliking anything new)

[sjbattleangel]

Media takes that also infuriate me to infinity:

"Steven Universe, She-Ra and The Owl House are bland, boring neoliberal trash with horrible writing, awful art/animation and no redeeming values. Not woke or radical enough. They (the creators) didn't do enough."

"Cass Cain, Steph Brown and Duke Thomas are pointless characters that have have no importance BatFamily."

"Cass Cain is a gender-swapped, rip-off of Damien Wayne."

"Barbera Gordon is the one, true and only Batgirl."

"The MCU is anti-art junk that's destroying cinema."

"The Eternals is one of the worst superhero movies/worst movies ever made because it's too slow, too serious, not funny enough."

"Rey is a horribly written, bland character/is a Mary Sue."

"Rose Tico is a horribly written, bland character/is a Mary Sue."

"The Last Jedi is the worst Star film/worst film of all time because it was too different/not radical enough."

"Rian Johnson is a homophobic, fascist sympathizer because he didn't ship Finn and Poe."

"Superman is irrelevant."

"The X-Men are irrelevant."

"Avatar: The Last Airbender is awful actually. It's orientalist and problematic as hell."

"Despite its technical mastery, The Dark Crystal is a Tolkienlite cinematic turkey and narrative failure with zero depth. Jim Henson clearly had no idea what he was doing. The absolute nadir of his career."

"AKIRA is actually terrible because of the dated Streamline dub and because it influenced Rob Liefeld."

"Stylized art has no place in comic-books."

"The 90's X-Men animated series ruined X-Men forever."

"X-Men: Evolution ruined X-Men forever."

"The Silver-Age was the worst thing to happen to comics."

"Manga is trash because it's all the same."

"Anime is trash because it's all the same."

"Neon Genesis Evangelion is a depressing, pretentions piece of nihilistic crap. Shinji is a snivelling coward who let everyone die because Daddy didn't love him enough."

"Jak II ruined Jak & Daxter and Naughty Dog forever."

"Hideo Kojima is misogynist, Incel, fascist sympathizer and the Ed Wood of video games. Metal gear Solid is irredeemable garbage because it's super problematic, too silly, not radical enough."

"Rick & Morty is crypto-fascist propaganda and irredeemable garbage because Rick is an nihilistic monster and because it has a horrible fanbase."

"Wolfenstien is Neo-Nazi trash because if you shoot Nazis, then you're Nazi too."

"The Last Of Us Part II is a horrible sequel and one of the worst sequels/video games ever because it was too different/not radical enough."

"All of Bioshock Infinite is unsalvageable fascist-apologia because of Act 2's (legitimately) horrible politics." (As I much as I too hate Act 2's horrible politics, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.)

"Sonic Adventure 2 is flaming garbage because it stared Shadow The Hedgehog and because it influenced the creation of Shadow The Hedgehog and Sonic '06."

"Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson are closeted white power Neo-Nazi Incels who control DC, hate Cass Cain and secretly ghost-wrote the majority of Robin: One Year Later."

"Dan Slott is a closeted white power Neo-Nazi Incel who controls Marvel, hates MJ, women, minorities and secretly ghost-wrote the majority of Spider-Man: One Year Later."

"Donny Cates is a closeted white power Neo-Nazi Incel who controls Marvel, hates MJ, Eddy Brock, women, minorities and secretly ghost-wrote the majority of Spider-Man: One Year Later."

"Tom Taylor is a closeted white power Neo-Nazi Incel who controls DC, hates the Super Sons and secretly ghost-wrote the majority of Superman: The Unity Saga."

"Every single modern Cass Cain story is enabling and continuing the damage of Robin: One Year Later."

"Every single modern Peter Parker story is enabling and continuing the damage of Spider-Man: One More Day."

"Every single modern Jon Kent story is enabling and continuing the damage of Superman: The Unity Saga."

"Forget Darksied and the Anti-Monitor, Jon Kent is the real villain of the DC Universe."

"G. Willow Wilson's Ms. Marvel is abysmally written, flaming hot trash because Wilson is a misogynist, colonizer Karen pretending to be Muslim so she can fetishize Islamic culture."

"Wonder Woman is a white bougie feminist and proto-Karen."

"Captain Marvel is a white bougie feminist and proto-Karen."

"America Chavez is a horribly written Mary Sue."

"Riri Williams is a horribly written Mary Sue."

"Nadia Van Dyne is a horribly written Mary Sue."

"Noami McDuffie is a horribly written Mary Sue."

"Korra is a horribly written Mary Sue."

"Tim Burton is a terrible film-maker actually."

"Don Bluth is a terrible film-maker actually."

"Steven Spielberg is a terrible film-maker actually."

"Stanley Kubrick was a terrible film-maker actually."

"Wes Craven was a terrible film-maker who ruined horror films forever."

"Shrek is trash because it destroyed 2D animation and taught future animated films bad habits like celebrity stunt casting, pop-culture references and big ending dance parties."

"Vizpop was a Channer-board edgelord during her teenage years, therefore Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are irredeemable filth."

"All old media is irrelevant junk with no redeeming value."

"The works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain and others are problematic irrelevant junk with no redeeming value."

"Superheroes are inherently fascist."

"Goblins, witches, wizards and vampires are inherently antisemitic."

"The Simpsons is horrible, problematic, anti-intellectual, anti-feminist garbage. Homer's stupidity is celebrated, Bart is a walking endorsement of toxic masculinity, the creators clearly hate Lisa."

"The Hays Code was actually good."

Compiling a list of bad takes that demonstrate the person saying them didn't understand the story.

"Son Goku is a bad dad."

"Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast had Stockholm Syndrome."

"Tears of the Kingdom's ending invalidates Zelda's sacrifice, and she should have stayed a dragon (or come back with dragony bits). Also, Zelda is a bitch for yelling at Link one time and then 'stealing' his house."

"Alice in Wonderland is about drugs."

"Shinji Ikari is a wuss."

"Asuka Langley Soryu is an irredeemable bitch."

"Steven Universe should have murdered the Diamonds."

"Rose Quartz was an irredeemable monster."

"Batman is a rich guy who beats up poor people."

"Superman is a boring, overpowered Gary Stu."

"Katara is a bitch."

"Skyler White is a bitch."

"Christine should have ended up with the Phantom at the end of The Phantom of the Opera."

"Snake, not Raiden, should have been the protagonist of Metal Gear Solid 2."

"Gohan was wasted potential."

"Krillin is a loser."

"Tidus from Final Fantasy X is a wuss, and Auron should have been the main character."

"Catra should have died as punishment for her transgressions."

Feel free to add any other bad media illiteracy takes in the replies/reblogs.

[robotnikium]

Isn't it hilarious that arguably one of the worst pieces of Sonic media we've ever gotten has been one of the most influential in terms of canon.

[grim-echoes]

genuinely loving the surge in recent years of people taking an unbiased look back at sonic '06 and finding something of interest to say about it now that the era of loudly proclaiming every sub-par game is the worst piece of media to ever exist for internet clout is over and people like arin hanson no longer hold indomitable sway over what terrible video game opinions everyone should have

[mooshs-crack-headcanons]

Update: this might be the single worst piece of sonic media I've ever seen. And listen, I'm not one of those twitter sonic fans that say this about everything single piece of new sonic media put out (the "new stuff bad old stuff good" mindset) but I sincerely mean it about it this time. Holy shit does it get rough.

It really is the Wade Show. With some of the worst human sonic characters I've ever seen that make Chris Thorndyke look like a blessing.

Knuckles himself was good for the ten minutes of screen time he had.

I'm going to watch the knuckles show and from what I've been hearing... pray for me I might not survive 😔

But I'm doing it for him. (He's apparently not even the center of attention in his own damn show)

[tenebraevesper]

From Sonic the Hedgehog to Sonic & MegaMan: Worlds Collide

So, having recently returned to the Sonic Fandom, I had figured that I should familiarize myself more with the Sonic media I had missed. A piece of media I got interested in were the Sonic comics. Until now, the only Sonic comic I have read was World Collide, so I decided to start from the very beginning, with a bit of help from Sonic_Speed, who appears to be quite a source for anything related to the comics.

As a newcomer to the comics, I experienced a very wide range of emotions and thoughts concerning what I read. It went from ”Huh, interesting...” to “Okay, weird...?” to “Heh, neat!” to “What?” to “What the hell am I reading?! What were the writers thinking?!” to “Is this still a Sonic comic?” to “Okay, this is actually cool!” to “Holy friggin’ Hell! This is amazing!” to “Aw, com’n! Is this really how it’s gonna end? I want to see more of the story/character!”.

Needless to say, where I actually started getting more and more invested into the story was around Issue #160, aka the start of Ian Flynn’s run. I am aware that not all of his stories were perfect, but his stories were also the ones I enjoyed the most. I especially loved the Sonic Universe stories, Hedgehog Havoc and the Secret Freedom Fighters stories.

As for the characters, the only cartoons/anime I have watched when I was younger was Sonic Underground and Sonic X (and recently, Sonic Boom and the Sonic OVA). I have never watched Sonic (SatAM), meaning that I wasn’t that familiar with the Freedom Fighters (or any character that wasn’t from the video games) nor had any attachment to them. It took me a while to warm up to them, but rest assured, I’m certainly not part of the fandom that is screaming to bring the Freedom Fighters back. However, I will admit that my favorite Freedom Fighters are Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie "Rabbot" D'Coolette.

I also understand why people don’t like Geoffrey St. John. I don’t like him either.

Now, there are actually a few characters that left quite an impression on me, even managing to get on the list of my favorite Sonic characters (which, until now, consisted only of video game characters - Shadow the Hedgehog being on top). 

One of them is Scourge the Hedgehog.

Upon his first introduction as Anti-Sonic, I wasn’t really impressed by him. At best, he was ‘meh’ and at worst, he was a nuisance. Then, Issue #160 came around and he went from ‘meh’ to AMAZING!! in zero seconds flat. He wasn’t just an evil version of Sonic, but he actually became a character of his own, with his own motivations and ambitions. He managed not only to stand on his own, but also stand out as one of Sonic’s greatest threats.

I also really liked his mini-arc in Sonic Universe and I had hoped that we would see more of him, but unfortunately, he won’t be seen ever again in any official media. It is shame to see such an interesting character go to waste.

Speaking of wasted potential, there is one more characters who had managed to make it to the list of my favorite characters.

Say ‘Hello’ to Shard the Metal Sonic.

Honestly, while I liked him in his previous appearances, the moment he popped up in the Secret Freedom Fighters arc, I immediately went “I want to see more of Shard!”. He is such a fun character and I absolutely loved his interactions with the Secret Freedom Fighters, especially Silver (who is also my list). I believe that he could’ve been explored a lot more in depth, especially since his interactions with other characters show that he is insecure due to his past and robotic origins; which really made him more endearing to me.

Unfortunately, just as I started looking forward to him, he got killed off by an upgraded Metal Sonic, but even then, his last battle was quite epic. I really wanted to see more of his redemption quest and I enjoyed the idea of a heroic Metal Sonic, but that isn’t possible anymore. Rest in peace, Shard, you died a hero’s death.

Now, after having finished Worlds Collide, my plan is to start reading the Reboot Era and I’m really curious how the story is going to continue. Once I’m done with the Reboot, I’ll finally move on to IDW Sonic.

If you guys know any good fanwork/fanfic with Scourge (FYI, I know about Scourge Eternal Blackout) or Shard, please let me know.

EDIT:  My opinion of Sonic (Archie) Post-Reboot.

[gainaxvel3o]

I feel that rewrites get a bit of a bad rap, at least in the idea that deviating from canon inherently taints it. A lot of my favorite stories and franchises thrive on constant reinvention and rewriting of the source material to fit the interests of the creative staff, even when they run contrary to what came before. Is Rise of the TMNT a bad show because of its shake ups to the traditional team dynamics? Is FMA 2003 a bad show because it decided to switch gears midway and tackle different themes than the manga? Are any of the Sonic cartoons bad because they don’t follow the games canon? I don’t see too many people mad that Starship Troopers The Movie was the total thematic opposite of its original book, so I don’t think rewriting an existing media is the issue here, exactly.

In my opinion, the problem with bad rewrites is the same problem that bad fanfiction runs into, in that both are largely reactionary pieces to an existinting source material. These aren’t your characters, this isn’t your story, your playing with toys and what you do with them says a lot about your priorities as a writer, whether keeping to canon or throwing it out when its convenient. Fanfics and rewrites hit a ceiling when its a writer trying to “fix the flaws” of the source material to their liking, because its all too easy to make it not about bulding a strong narrative, but airing out your grievances without poetry. Does focusing on this one character actually help the story? Maybe there’s a reason why this element was cut? What does it say, for example, that you feel the need to have these characters reconcile when the original story had them broken up for a reason? At best, you get a dry retelling with extra fluff but no personality, and at worst you make a 7/10 series look like a 10/10 with your fixing attempts.

To use an official example, I think a lot about the Dragon Ball Super manga that ran in tandem with the anime. Both followed a set of guidelines from Toriyama about how events would play out. Toyotaro would often introduce his own ideas into the story. That in it of itself was never the problem.

His ideas, however, were either ignored later or were needlessly convoluted.

Toyotaro introduced a stamina weakness to Super Saiyan Blue, that when you use it multiple times in a row it decreases its power by 10%. This was used to explain Vegeta losing to Hit during their U6 Tournament fight. The weakness does not sound like a bad idea in it of itself, until later events in the series ended up having Goku and Vegeta use Super Saiyan Blue repeatedly. The weakness never came up again.

Okay, but that was a minor plot hole in the grand scheme. A much bigger problem is when Toyotaro decided to forgo the anime’s ending, where Zamasu became an evil spirit that destroyed the universe (somehow), we have an ending where Merged Zamasu is repeatedly split and multiplied across ever slice by the heroes. That sounds much more logical then? Not quite, because Toyotaro still keeps the ending where Future Zeno erases the universe due to Merged Zamasu’s influence. In the anime, Future Zeno was getting rid of a cancer afflicting the entire universe. In the manga, Future Zeno comes across as more of an asshole, because all he had to do was erase the Zamasu clones instead of wiping out the entire timeline. Sometimes, what sounds like a logical fix may in fact make your story worse, especially without thought put into making it work in context. 

A good rewrite can come from spiteful places, but they can’t grow from there. Even as you’re tearing down something, you have to offer something in return, or else the rewrite becomes boring. If you’re going to rewrite canon, tell a story, even if it goes against the original! Ask yourself, what is this rewrite trying to do, how can I make what I want happen in a way that’s narratively satisfying? If the original isn’t finished, then all the more reason to deviate and plan out your own ending.

Tl;dr, if you’re going to rewrite canon, make sure you write something good out of it.

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”