all silliness gone

A whole-ass analysis of Sonic's relationships with women, started by one stupid meme I saw on Discord

Description: Eggman showing a photo of Sally Acorn (from Sonic SatAM, with a design from the Archie comics), Queen Aleena (from Sonic Underground), Blaze the Cat (from the videogames, with a design from one of the 2010s games) and Princess Elise (from Sonic 06), pointing at that photo and saying "Dear Sonic fans: if Sonic is a freedom fighter, why does he keep supporting monarchs? Curious."

I know this is supposed to be funny (and Eggman is being fallacious in order to make his nemesis look bad, which is to be expected), but it actually got me thinking.

We've all seen at least one Sonic fan complaining (either rightfully or not) about writers always trying to shoehorn introduce a human girl as a new love interest for Sonic. This seems to happen no matter what piece of official Sonic content it is, whether it's made in Japan or made by Western authors, whether it's tie-in/licensed media or material directly controlled/overseen by SEGA and Sonic Team.

Well, here's another similar phenomenon, which is why I'm writing this: in so many continuities both Western and Japanese, there's frequently a female character from royalty whom Sonic becomes or already is emotionally close to.

In the Discord server where this image was posted, someone else brought up a good point: Sonic being a "freedom fighter" or any other sort of guerrilla warrior is a thing only in the now-defunct Western continuity (SatAM & Archie, and the British comic published by Fleetway), whereas he's "just some guy doing his own thing" everywhere else. The interpretation of "Sonic is a free spirit" by the many branches of the Sonic series comes into play here, too: "just some guy" Sonic from the videogames and "freedom fighter" Sonic from SatAM are different interpretations of that description of the character's personality (this will be important later).

After looking at that image, I realized something else: in most cases, the fact that those characters are royalty either isn't heavily relevant to the plot or isn't treated as something unequivocally good/desirable.

Sonic SatAM didn't really emphasise Sally being a princess and the heir to the Acorn King's throne. It was in the pre-reboot Archie comic that some writers started focusing on Sally's status as royalty... and also being weird and creepy about it in the process (pre-reboot Archie-Sonic is also the only piece of official content outside of Sonic Underground where you'll see Sonic actively defending a monarchy, albeit this happened only because of Ian Flynn's awkward attempt to create drama, not because he intended to convey a pro-monarchy message through his stories).

The same happened with Blaze: as far as I remember from playing Sonic Rush, her being a princess is casually mentioned a few times, and this happens mostly when Blaze is talking to herself and thinking about something, not during a conversation with another character (there's one specific instance where Blaze's status might be relevant for her character arc, but I'll talk about that later). Something similar happens with Merlina in Sonic & the Black Knight: she's royalty as well (Kinda? I'm not sure which exact position she used to have in Camelot's society before Sonic showed up, but I'm sure it was an important one), but the conflict she's part of is related to a different facet of her personality, and you could tell the story anyway without mentioning Merlina's status.

For Blaze and Elise (and Sally, but only when the writer is not Ken Penders or Michael Gallagher), if any of those characters being royalty is mentioned or focused on, it's not really portrayed in a good way or as something that makes any of them happy. Blaze being "the princess of Sol" comes with the duty of protecting the Sol Emeralds, which led to her isolating herself, and her character arc in Sonic Rush is all about overcoming that and trusting others once again.

As for Elise... Well, there's a reason why, when people try to argue the story for Sonic 06 could have been great if given enough time, they often use Shadow's or Silver's story rather than Sonic's as an example of 06's potential, but still... At least the bones for a compelling story surrounding Elise are already there, and I'm willing to bet it'd be kinda similar to Blaze's character arc in Sonic Rush.

And here's another similarity between Blaze and Merlina. The latter felt she had the duty to save Camelot at all costs, and while it's debatable whether or not Merlina was being emotionally crushed by that self-imposed duty in the same way Blaze, Elise and Sally were, it's clear that her obsession with that duty backfired spectacularly and ended up being potentially harmful to everyone else in Camelot in the finale of Sonic & the Black Knight.

[The only exception to all this, as well as the only case where Eggman may be at least partially right in that meme, would be Queen Aleena (who also breaks a trend here, since she's Sonic's mom in Sonic Underground). But the consensus in the Sonic fandom is that Underground is so far removed from what both the character and the franchise represent that it's not really Sonic content anymore, so it doesn't count.]

Another important thing here is the whole thing about Sonic being a "free spirit", and here's where someone else (in another, different Discord server) said something like this:

This just circles back to being "free". When Sonic writers focus on characters being of royalty, it's usually shown that having to run things in an entire nation, being responsible for the well-being of everyone there, realistically is a difficult thing to handle, especially for someone who's a late teenager or a young adult at most (Blaze, Elise), even without all the magical/mystical baggage that comes with having to guard/protect a source of near-godly power (a parallel universe set of seven Chaos Emeralds, a dormant half of a God of Time) on top of being expected to rule an entire country and care for its people. Sonic is a "lost factor" that characters like Blaze, Elise and Sally need in order to feel a bit of happiness and relief because he's "just there", but he still fights for everyone he cares for when he needs to.

This could also be applied to Merlina, and even the genie Shahra in Sonic & the Secret Rings (shout-out to @silvermun for accurately pointing out the similarity between Elise, Shahra and Merlina regarding their motifs in their respective stories).

Silver and Espio for the ask meme? :>

hehehe my favs hehee🤤🤤🤤

SILVER:

I think most ppl don't know, but I used to really dislike Silver when I was first introduced to this character online. Not a game, no no, but YouTube AMV vids of this dude with cutesy shippy art of Silvaze. His portrayal was so degraded to me (I was 11 at that time?) that I believed he was a self-insert character for some popular artists to ship themselves with Blaze, in the girl-boss dynamic. Ofc, I looked for more info online and realised Silver was an actual character.

At that time I was playing Sonic Riders Zero Gravity and only unlocked Shadow/Rouge/Cream. After knowing what characters were avaliable, I tried my best to unlock the rest, including Silver. I also did not like his voice in English at that time, so much that I decided to switch the voice-overs to Japanese. And I also did not like it 😂 Not because it was grading! But more like, I was shocked by the drastic difference between the two. Kid me had to decide which portrayal I prefer more (ofc not aware of narrative difference of the scripts, I just chose based on my preference) and ended up with Japanese bc I vibe with the calm seriousness in the voice more. Eventually I did get used to both voices after more exposure of this character, watching playthrough videos online.

Talking about watching 06, I was not expecting him to be so different from my first impression of this "whiny/incapable/loser" kid. Silver actually was serious about fighting for his future, like a dedicated soldier. Blaze was *not* the girl-boss, she was on equal grounds with Silver. (Really... I was like 11/12, now that I think about it, how come ppl's comprehension skills so drastically apart that we can get totally different character interpretations?) I started to find charming traits on Silver, and that was when I started looking up for this character's info more & more.

And then I discovered the Rivals series. I watched the whole thing, 1&2, and this Espio character... Wait they're kinda nice tgt. (it was year 2012?? AAAAA I can't believe I'm still insane about Espilver/Silvespio, they're my sons now at this point 😭✨) I remember using Skype and talked about the ✨chemistry✨ between Silver & Espio, and my friend said I was tripping 😭

Anyway here's Espio:

At that time I didn't have that much knowledge on Espio, I just thought their Eng voice in Heroes sounded like he's dying in a few years with how gruff & grandpa it sounded LOL. Mostly I only draw him with Silver bc I realised no one shipped these two back then. (there was ppl but there was no tags for them) So I felt like, no, impossible. I need to COOK for them! So I started shipping them like FedEx with my limited skills 🥴

My Espio appriciation was mainly started by shipping him with Silver. As I reflect on why I enjoy this ship so much, I dug up traits that I like about Espio. He was helpful, supportive, and overall has a rather peaceful way of communicating with others (aka SILVER hhh). Compared to other characters, especially in Rivals, he was really chill and kept his head clear, and unconditionally aided Silver simply bc he knew he was helping someone with a good cause. Such admirable traits that I'd say are pretty rare even irl.

Still, Espio did not have that much screen time. His portrayal in my mind I do admit was half canon, half fanon. Silly ninja with goofy teammates that values teamwork & is capable of aiding others, plus saint-like patience & wisdom. (Haha...really, a lot of his traits are get from Rivals 2, his ways of interacting with individuals was way more informative than games & anime shows combined 🤧)

But yeah, with time I like these 2 characters even more, started to make all kinds of headcanons that I won't be able to elaborate here. The texts are already getting too long here 😂 I've imagined them, either tgt or separately, in fluff/angst/spice/AU/wholesome/dead dove/anything really bc I just enjoy these two so much 💕

It's kinda selfish to say, but with how little Espilver there was during that time, it was almost like they got a clean slate & I was not swayed by any other ppl's interpretation of these two for a few years. And ofc by time these two surely became my favorite characters. LOL I realised in my busy years of not drawing often, Silver & Espio were the only characters I drew 😂

UGGGHHHAA I love these two sm 😭✨ thanks for asking hahah I wanna talk about them all day 🤧✨

About Shadow, constantly switching from cool to awful.

I wonder if Shadow is controversial for his being (in some incarnations) a gray (if not dark gray) character of for his being (in some incarnations) a poor character. He suffers for the same inconsistencies of other Sonic characters, for obvious reason (many heads work around Sonic, so this thing is completely normal). Surely, is many incarnations can get crazier than Sonic's. He's not always this sullen calico hedgehog, in some incarnation he may be even cheerful. The only consistent thing is his grim look.

Adventure/Heroes/'06 Shadow

This Shadow is the first and original one. He remembers me a lot Midna from legend of Zelda, a character with a sinister and evil outlook that turned out to be a nice person. The original Shadow indeed is nicer than he might seem at first glance and has a lot of nuances. He's not grumpy and he rarely gets angry, he is overall cool.

He doesn't start as a good guy. He debuts as vengeful, lunatic (he talks like a mad scientist and is melodramatic) and makes a fool of Eggman (Eggman doesn't realize, is funny). All of this was due to his intense unhappiness and his horrible past. He was created on the space colony ARK by Eggman's grandfather, Gerard Robotnik as a living weapon for G.U.N. and as medicine to cure his niece, Maria who had AIDS. Shadow befriended Maria and was a sort of a younger brother to her. Unfortunately, ARK was raided by G.U.N. who feared Shadow, the very weapon they commissioned, and everybody were killed, including Maria who sacrificed herself to save Shadow. One thing that I noticed is that Shadow didn't fight back when he was attacked by G.U.N on the ARK, he just tried to escape with Maria. My interpretation is that Gerard programmed him to be obedient and submissive to G.U.N.). Captured again, he was put in cryostasis. Before being killed, Gerald manages to reprogram Shadow to carry a purpose of revenge, twisting his mind. Yet the core of his personality remain the same, he saves Rouge twice, once not even knowing who she is due to amnesia (Sonic Heroes). Shadow had suicidal thoughs, he wanted to destroy the whole planet while taking also his own life.

Thanks to Amy he reveals his true (and better) colours. Shadow is a brave, selfless yet quiet guy that keeps a low profile, at first glance he may seem timid but is just cautious. When needed he shows a unsuspected boldness and he is not afraid to speak his mind, yet he has very hard time talking about how he feels, shutting off, stopping to talk when stressed. Early Shadow is not always serious. Sometimes he is a fun guy. When around Sonic or Rouge, or when there is a good challenge, he can be playful, mischievous and cocky, talking almost like Sonic, even using his same catchprhrases. He is very stubborn and never gives up, it doesn't matter what.

Shadow lighting the mood.

He is usually sad, melancholic and very lonely, not only because of his past but also because his future and because he is and will always be an outcast. He is a immortal being, halfway between a fully living, organic creature and an android (he is made of flesh and blood and has a heart but his mind and personality is programmable like the one of a computer) and not as confident as he may seem. He suffers from amnesia and PTSD, and this often leaves him confused and doubtful about himself. A misconception is about himself referring as the 'ultimate lifeform' as a badget of superiority, while he often just refers himself either as 'Shadow the hedgehog' or simply 'Shadow' to remember himself that he is also a person and as such he is worthy, too. Since he was meant to die, the sides of his personality are very compressed and complete in Sonic Adventure 2 and remain consistent in Heroes and 06, changing just that bit, according to the nature and the atmosphere of the games, showing that this version of Shadow is very flexible.

At least in SA2 it was shown he could be a good friend to Sonic. With this spontaneous gesture.

Shadow is left handed. I've read somewhere that he was meant to be Sonic twin and he looks identical to him, a full mirror image, just with different colours and quillstyle. SA2 originally was meant to reveal also Sonic's past. However I don't know if is just a rumor or if that there was this idea around.

X/'05 Shadow

Compared to Adventure/Heroes/06, this Shadow is more bold, moody and violent and way less cautious, often taking decision and acting instead of first watching, pondering and then moving like in early videogames. He is more mysterious than early Shadow from videogames. Even to himself. Not my cup of tea, he is too harsh, but he is perfect for those who love anti-heroes. He has the Jessica Fletcher/Conan Edogawa curse, those close to him always die, like Molly. poor thing. The scenes where he suffers the consequences of his PTSD and amnesia are graphic. Oh yes!

Amnesia. Shadow collapsing in pain.

PTSD. He went blank and froze, unable to do anything.

Edgelord(late '00s and '10s)/IDW Shadow

The most awful and unfortunately the most long lived and well know incarnation, this is cemented in all sonic fans. I think of this Shadow a literally anti-Mary Sue. If Mary Sues are those ultra perfect characters, devoid of flaws, loved by everybody and that are always right, anti Mary-Sues are the opposite, character with no redeeming qualities that are troublemakers. And edgelord Shadow can be a great troublemaker at times. I can't see how we got there, or maybe I do. They flanderized the flaws of X Shadow and twisted his good trait. This Shadow is selfish, extremely arrogant, grumpy, short tempered, sometimes blinded by his own ego (zombie arc docet). Whatever he does is just for his personal benefit and nothing else and his dialectic is foreseeable. Team Dark is gone, no relationship of any nature with Rouge and While IDW Shadow is shown to have a soft spot for the chao, in other incarnations of the same period is shown to mistreat them. I may continue but is all bad things, it gets boring.

Archie/Universe Shadow

He is based on Adventure/Heroes/06 Shadow but he is... warmer? More talkative (but still quiet) and slightly more open, also more bold. He doesn't go mute when stressed though he has a tendency to retreat somewhere and brood when upset. This Shadow seems a sort of perfectionist, he hates failures and put himself under a lot of pressure. Overall a softer version of X Shadow. I must say, at the start i believed this Shadow was just a melancholic Sonic. When I played SA2 first I liked Shadow and his refreshing personality, but in later '00 he started to become less and less likeable. I forgot his original personality. Rewatching cutscenes from Adventure 2, Heroes and 06, I remembered why I used to like Shadow and I realized how Archie Shadow made sense.

Chousoku Shadow

I said things in Japan can be crazier than you think, for this I'll mention this outlandish version. Dash and Spin chousoku Sonic is a light hearted comic and Shadow is part of it. This Shadow is quite arrogant, slightly grumpy at the start and a bit aloof but overall is harmless and carefree. The funniest part is when Sonic and his friend make a horror movie (they tease Eggman while doing so). Guess who Shadow plays? The Grim Reaper. Suits him.

tMoStH Shadow

The context is Amy's birthday and it happens on a luxury train. I guess the right place to fix him smootly, if they will actually do that. In fact, this Shadow start out to be close to the edgelord we are used to. You (you play as Barry the quokka, a deliberately generic character that can be whathever you want). According to you, Shadow is frightening. He quickly gets extremely mysterious with his strange requests and his tendencies to avoid you and other characters. Things take a U turn when you and tails manage to make him speak. He is acting this way to prepare a birthday surprise to Amy but you ruin his plans, when this happens he appear resigned and won't get angry at you. After this, you start to realize he is having fun too and that he actually like this place, although he is not too open about this.

Prime Shadow

After years of unbalanced edgelord, we got a more well balanced Shadow. To describle how Shadow fells there to me, I can quote this:

"Where there is light, there must be shadow, where there is shadow there must be light. There is no shadow without light and no light without shadow... Haruki Murakami 

This Shadow has some mystical aura around him. He is a living being and real, but when he start to follow Sonic, maybe also for his condition of being a paradox person (even more than Sonic since he can't travel among the shatterspace), he seems halfway between a spirit and a living being, as you except he might suddenly disappear bacause of his elusiveness. He is overall social withdrawn and wary, excepting people might harm him later, competitive, a bit playful and mischievous at times, but he takes things very seriously, is higly focused in his tasks and tries to keep Sonic focused too.

Whatever version you like, one thing I know is when describling a character for your story, original or fanfiction, try to feel, rather than take characters traits as single to describle them. This is helpful especially with character like Shadow (I won't trust those who say 'Shadow is easy to move'. he is not. But is true to all character.

Personality traits are ingredients of a bigger... mmmh... cake? Alone sugar tastes like sugar, milk tastes like milk, egg yolk tastes like egg yolk, but cooked togheter the result tastes like the cake you meant to get. I guess you can put Shadow in whathever situation you like and then ask yourself: 'If I was him there, what would I do?'. Don't think to Shadow as sad, as loner or whathever. Feel it. he will be perceived as real to your reader. Remember it will still be influenced by your experiences and outlook (is exactly for this we see all those inconsistencies on Sonic characters), but as long as you don't use your favourite character as your vessel, things should turn fine.

Youtube analisis are helpful to wrap your head if you have some doubts

My personal favourite is the early Shadow. For light hearted content I'll go more to Prime Shadow or tMoStH Shadow (I like prime Shadow more). If you want to go dark, you're safe with X Shadow. I would avoid Edgelord Shadow (although is the most popular) and Chousoku Shadow alltogheter.

(Warning, beating a dead horse probably, and I might be horribly wrong about several of these things, and if so please correct me)

Rewatching Sonic 06's Silver campain cuz of the recent Lythero video, I noticed a little something:

Did Blaze even do anything before she was thanos snapped out of existance in Silver's ending? I mean, a lot of characters already don't do a lot in the game (*cough* Amy *cough*), but Blaze in particular stuck out to me.

For one, in this game Blaze is in the future with Silver, but Sonic Rush AND Sonic Rush Adventure clearly state that Blaze is a princess from another dimension and the guardian of the Sol Emeralds, the latter game taking place in said dimension.

Brief summary of what Rush established for Blaze: she never had any friends before meeting Cream and Sonic, she's the princess of a dimension separate from Sonic's, she's the guardian of the Sol Emeralds (the Chaos Emeralds of that dimension) and she takes that role VERY seriously.

The first Sonic Rush game came out in 2005, that was Blaze's proper introduction. What is she doing 200 years into the FUUUUUTUUUURE (spongebob ref lmao). Sonic 06 recons not one, but two games that clearly establish Blaze's lore (one comes after, but it still applies for the first one) just so they could put her in this game.

But even though she had to be retconed into being here, she... kinda doesn't do much. Granted it's not as bad as Amy, Amy is still the biggest offender of "I really don't do jackshit in this plot" character in 06, but still.

Other than being Silver's only friend in the waste land that is the future and dying/being sent away/whatever it was at the end of his story, Blaze barely has a prescense. Hell, I don't think she ever interacts with Amy, the other playable character in the Silver campaign. TWO of the three playable characters in the Silver story NEVER meet each other onscreen even ONCE.

Hell, before Sonic's last level, she was right there and they don't even speak to each other. Not a single reference towards Sonic Rush or anything, the two may as well be complete strangers. Remember that Blaze was Sonic's main rival in that game? 06 sure doesn't.

(Also where was she before? Silver destroyed the robots in front of Sonic and once Kingdom Valley is over, she was just... there with them. Where was she before this cutscene? Was she with Silver the whole time??)

And I'm not gonna pretend that her "death" didn't make me cry like a little girl the first time, but now I'm like... she did nothing. She did literally nothing. She was there to be the girl that Silver liked and that's about it. Rouge and Omega are a lot more important to the plot, hell even Tails at the very least interacts with Elise and Eggman. I checked all the cutscenes in 06, and I can confirmed that Blaze never said a single word to anyone except Silver. No way you'd get much characterization from her if you hadn't played Sonic Rush prior to this game.

So the thing is: what's the deal with 06 Blaze? Is she a different character from Rush Blaze? Is she even still a princess? How does SHE know what a Chaos Emerald is when Silver doesn't if she lived in the same future that he has?? Did the time reset at the end of 06 rewrite her entire backstory into the one we get in the Rush games??

My brain hurts, man, Sonic lore is all over the place

i assume team dark is your favorite team, what do you like about them?

oh YES THEY ARE, where do i even begin, im terrible at explaining my thoughts but im gonna try jckskd

well, first of all, rouge was clearly the type of person who worked alone, she was there to simply do her job and get out as fast as possible but then she meets shadow and gets rescued by him before the whole island blows up and after that i think shadow starts to grow more on her. you can even see how much she cares about him at the end of sa2 when she looks so sad that shadow didn't come back with sonic and then we have sonic heroes where she recognises shadow in the pod and looks genuinely surprised that hes still alive, then a few minutes later she, somehow, makes omega and shadow work together and not kill eachother, making the three of them a team.

at first they all had very different goals, shadow wanting to get his memories back, omega wanted revenge for being locked up in that room for god knows how long and rouge i really dont remember her goal in heroes lol

but the thing is: shadow was clearly confused and scared for not knowing who he was and rouge could've used that to her advantage but she didn't, she helped him and cared for him even when she was suspicious that he might not be the real shadow. then we have omega, who was the one to give rouge hope that shadow wasn't just a random android, sticking with them until the end and helping them too. i also like how rouge and shadow are probably the only living beings he actually enjoys the company of, its a really fun dynamic

now talking about sonic 06 because i love how they did team dark in that game: i think a lot of people already talked about this but that scene when they all meet at the beach and omega tells shadow that he was the one to imprison him in the future and both of them just look so disappointed to hear that AND THEN rouge tells him that no matter what happens she'll always be by his side like cmon how can you look at them and say that they're not friends, they care about eachother so much, they're FAMILY

basically, what i love about them is that despite everything they're always there for eachother, they might look like the type of team that wouldn't work together very well but they do and its so beautiful

Shovelwarewolf Season 2 Review

Shovelwarewolf Season 2 Electric boogaloo, or the season where stuff finally goes down. I love that the story and production value jump in quality with each other in this season.

Sonic 06: Great episode to open with, we meet Susan (who definitely knows more than they're letting on), a cool season theme, acknowledgement (however brief) of the whole arm thing, and an Escape From the City parody, what's not to love.

Goldeneye: Solid episode, I think it has some of SWW's best one liners (Hell's Angels, The Mafia, GAMESTOP!). I learned to never insult Judy Dench, and that I should probably watch a James Bond movie.

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Another fine episode, Ivan mimicking the glitch was pretty funny. I don't have a whole lot to say about this episode so I'll just write here that Ivan and Susan have a great banter, and that Susan was just a great addition to begin with, but I'll get to that later. Oh and Test Your Patience was a good capper on the episode.

Duke Nukem: Just getting this out of the way, this game is pure trash but SWW's reactions are too funny. I also like the character development at the beginning with Ivan and Susan, she really was just the only one who was nice to him. Also I don't know why this occurs to me, but the company described the next game as, "A console with a Zelda game" I just remembered that the Switch came out with Breath of the Wild in the same year as this season, I don't know how that's relevant, I just thought it was cool.

Legend of Zelda Wand of Gamelon: Oho what an episode, great gameplay, great story, and great one liners. Susan got to be really cool in this episode, which leads me to believe that she definitely planned this in advance and the therapist bit was an act (she went from running from the room during a transformation to bursting in and rescuing Ivan/SWW without batting an eye in the same day, no way that just happened). I also just love this game's stupid clips and the SWW one liners to go with them: "(Recorder noise) THANKS, (same recorder noise) THANKS...FOR NOTHING" "You've killed me, GOOD. Dang, that's savage, who knew Zelda was such an OG" and "Link gave them to me. GASP! YOU KNOW LINK, LIKE OMG" such good writing. and The Shovelwarewolf's a Running is amazing.

Home Alone: Finally we've reached the finale, pretty great all things considered. First I just want to acknowledge this little scene from Death's narration, "With the help of his therapist" while panning on cool bada** Susan, just funny to me. I'd also like to acknowledge Ivan's TV playing AJ and Nate's weird Spider-Man and Batman Save Christmas Movie, wish they'd finish that someday it looked cool. I love the Home Alone parody for the cool ways it adapts the theme, like the Gamecube trap. Santa just having 180 in terms of character and going on a full fledged villain arc is so hilarious. The game itself is weirdly a cool take on a Home Alone game, like most licensed games at the time would take tons of liberties with the source material but this one was pretty accurate, even if it still sucked. Susan got to be cool again, but at the cost of a very forlorn scene. Oh boy now we get to meet our dude Biffalo Bub, simultaneously RE's most stupid but also most realistically scary villain. That silent clip montage at the end still unsettles me.

Music Rating:

Season 2 Opening: One of the best, that opening bass riff is still so mesmerizing. And the violins, and the soft piano, and the synth, oh so good. This opening feels a lot like a triumphant return for the character.

Season 2 Transformation: Conversely this variation of the transformation doesn't really do it for me. I like the way it closes I guess, but I just don't love it. It also has this weird repeating note that just bores into my skull.

SHOVELWAREWOLF! (Test Your Patience): Pretty good parody, I love the recap of the games he's played so far (except Goldeneye for some reason).

Shovelwarewolf's a-Runnin': Great parody, it introduced me to the Werewolves of London. I love it's use in the show and the vocals.

This is My Safehouse: Great composition for the Home Alone episode. Seriously AJ really flexed his composing powers here. The synth is really great, I love the little incorporation of the transformation theme.

Sleigh-Riding Sleazebag: Not much to say on the song other than the title, and it's use of random Christmas carols, but evil.

Couch Gag: I love this gag, Ivan dubbing over game footage is so funny. Like the last one it makes me think of him being so bored he just does stuff like this to pass the time. This time I'm happy he didn't have one for Wand of Gamelon, I feel like the dialogue in that game stand on its own.

The season is so good. It gave us a great SWW mask, a great character in the form of Susan, and excellent story development. And it only gets better from here. In addition, while others have described it better than me, this season has interesting symbolism in obsession and trauma.

I can’t imagine your first reaction to seeing 06 eggman? was it a letdown? and how about movie egg? were you not surprised they made him skinny

My opinion on him has changed a lot over the years. I was surprised to see their apparent attempt at making him look as realistic as they could, despite him still standing out hugely against other humans in the game so it felt quite uncanny. I thought he looked very weird and he felt like a stranger to me in it compared to his usual self. The golden nipple cap jacket look is also super bizarre. I remember when my brother and I saw for the first time and giggled about how strange he looked XD

They did unfortunately do him dirty with his in game model, which I think is where a lot of people's problems with the design lie- but I feel it's really only because the poor quality textures on the model and washed out color palette don't help it visually. Because his CG model was always fine to me and the CG overall was pretty and much better looking than in game in general. It was certainly always weird to see him so differently proportionately there too but I never had any really big issues.

Funnily enough, the first Sonic movie actually made me suddenly appreciate the design way more and go back to replay 06 for the first time in a few years just because of how much more he still looks like Eggman than carrey for 99% of it, in many ways. I felt like I took him for granted then and appreciated that they never really strayed that far with the 06 design at all! And when I see him in game now I feel the exact way I do when I see my most beloved classic/modern Egg. 🥰

I wasn't even very happy about 06 Eggman being seemingly slimmed down a little and have always joked about how the man needs to be fed more to live up to his name more even there, I've always had a gripe with him being slimmed down to lose that precious egg shape to any noticable degree lol. But the changes I'd make to his 06 design are minor and I still think he's very handsome now. And something I appreciate most in the design are his pretty blue eyes being visible 💙

It's especially okay with me for how it was a one-off because his usual design and style is just irreplaceable. I still feel that the most realistic his design should ever get is Unleashed's glorious CG with him being cartoony but with realistic details as the perfect balance- but I still love him all the same when seeing him in 06, always in CG and even in-game now since the first Sonic movie made me appreciate what we had as it was a much less drastic redesign in the end.

As for the movie version, I'm just personally not a fan of the movies in general and that includes the Robotnik design. It got mistaken as hate back then so I'm wary to share my thoughts today but I was honestly disappointed when I saw it in the first movie with him just being carrey with a mustache for almost the whole thing. I like my Eggman fat and bald, he's meant to have an egg shaped tum with a head smooth like an egg too! And the later changes still didn't help my opinion.

I still don't like how he's skinny but I also didn't want carrey to wear a fat suit anyway, I would've just preferred for them to cast a fat actor in the first place (and even more preferably for the movie to be CG animated instead) but it's already said and done, I've just accepted that it's not for me. I also just can't see and don't think of jimbotnik as an Eggman in the first place and can still only see carrey, so it doesn't count to me and feels like the movie just has a completely different villain instead.

So I'm personally not a fan of the movie version but it's not the only design I'm like that with, I've actually just always been very picky when it comes to Robotnik/Eggman designs, so it's not surprising that one that started out barely resembling him wasn't my thing. Classic and modern own my heart and 06 is actually probably my third favorite design of them all, I actually like it quite a lot more than the rest! Though my options are limited with the small amount I personally like lol

16, 22 and 23 :D

If you could change anything in the show, what would you change?

For the sake of not droning on endlessly, I'll only list some of the biggest ones. This is thinking more about the series as a whole rather than focusing on one game or adaptation in particular.

Understand the balance of being aware of what you're writing. I know people want the series to take itself seriously, and yeah, I don't want the characters to make nothing but meta quips either (actual meta, not "meta"), but the hard truth is that without a little bit of self-awareness, you get results like '06. Treat the story and characters sincerely by all means, but make sure to still have some (deliberate) fun with it.

Experiment more with character dynamics. Don't let the Heroes team formula restrict who can interact with who.

Eggman is the arch-villain. He's not a filler arc. Remember this.

Stop using super forms as a crutch. Not only does it reduce everyone else to cheerleaders, it also makes the characters with them look weak for needing to rely on them every time a serious threat emerges, since it implies they can't do anything meaningful without the Emeralds. Not to mention it makes every finale feel the same in terms of end progression. Think outside the box more. Push regular Sonic and Co to the limit, so that it's all the greater when they triumph against the odds. (Note that regular Sonic became strong enough to combat Perfect Chaos by the time of Generations.) Shame that Frontiers had to come along and make this already existing problem significantly worse by how much it milks Super Sonic, and how it's backed future games in a corner because now they'll have to do the same lest they be seen as having lower stakes... *bangs head against a wall*

Popular character you hate?

Surge, Scourge and Mephiles are the obvious trio, but I'll say the Freedom Fighters as well, since while I was only indifferent to them at first, the ridiculous pedestal fans have placed them on, and the demand to make everything in the franchise about them, has really soured me on them, and made me all too aware of the glaring issues I have with each of them.

And… while not quite to the same extent, that's kiiiiiinda sorta starting to happen with Amy as well, as much as I really hate to admit that. I don't want to say I hate Amy now or anything, but out of all the main game characters in the series, her fandom is especially prone to doing a lot of things that rub me the wrong way (like giving Tails a hard time, and treating Sonic less like a character and more like Amy's legal property). This is obviously not the character's fault, but when it's inescapable, it becomes harder to separate her from it all. I've also recently confessed to myself that the amount of portrayals where I think she's good honestly pale in comparison to those where she's flanderized one way (Battle, Chronicles) or the other (Boom), or made annoying in some other way (IDW, Prime).

So… I still like Amy for the few times where she's at her best, but I'd say she's arguably become the most overrated of the main cast when taking all of this into account.

Unpopular character you love?

In-character Eggman, in-character Rouge, in-character Tails…

Serious answer, the Heavies. I don't see anyone hating on them, but after Mania came and went, they don't get brought up all that much compared to other characters anymore. And the one time they came back in an official product, it was in Seasons of Chaos, which is not quite the comeback I had in mind for them.

There's also Marine. She doesn't get too much flack nowadays, but everyone really had an exaggerated hateboner for her when Rush Adventure came out. I on the other hand have always liked her, and knowing that Flynn hated her makes me like her even more. B)

Mega Man X6 Part 1

It’s here.

At long last.

So in this first video I only go through the intro stage and the alternate route of Shield Sheldon’s stage in order to beat Nightmare Zero and so unlock the real Zero as soon as possible. Therefore I won’t focus on gameplay now since there’s not much to talk about here.

No let’s talk about this thing’s plot for a second or two

As I’ve previously stated: no X game has a throughly good plot. They’re usually full of contriveancies, plot holes, characters acting like morons, things left unexplained in the games themselves and just lots of angst for the sake of it.

X6 however may just take the cake

If there’s a recurring theme in this game’s plot it’s “Retcon”. This game, its whole existence, is just one big retcon, a retcon used to bring back things to their status quo after X5 had brought them to a close. This game exists for the sole purpose of telling the fans “No wait! We’re not actually ending it! Things are getting right back where they used to!” so that Capcom could keep milking this series a little while longer

The opening cutscene, which is really only a recount of X5, contains about 4-5 retcons within the first minute, I’m dead serious:

First off the game seems to act as if both the Good and Bad endings of X5 are canon at the same time, which is simply impossible and convoluted at best

We’re told and shown that Zero crashed his shuttle into Eurasia to stop it like in the Good Ending and we’re told that he succeeded...only for its remains to crash on the Earth with cataclismic consequences....like in the Bad Ending

But unlike the Bad Ending this seemingly doesn’t cause the Colony virus to mix with Sigma’s Virus on Earth thus infecting Zero and turning him evil since we’re shown his death scene as it happened during the Good Ending plus X remembers him while in X5′s Bad Ending his memories of him are wiped out.

We are ALSO told that this game takes place only 3 weeks after X5, despite that game’s epilogues for BOTH endings taking place 3 YEARS after the fact.

It’s the first minute of the game, we haven’t even pushed a single button yet but continuity is already broken. Kudos. Not even Sonic 06 was that fast.

So I go through Shield Sheldon’s stage which is incredibly simple, short and uninteresting, just such a Meh kind of level, go through its alternate path (more on those at a later time) and defeat Nightmare Zero

And then the real Zero inexplicably pops back up from the dead

Judging from his words he was waiting for X to take care of his fake copy because,as we all know, Zero is a really bashful guy who is super self conscious of his public image and what others think of him, like when Sigma mocked him in X5 about his past and true evil nature and Zero told him to shut up because he doesn’t care. Or in the Zero series, where Zero will be branded a literal terrorist but he won’t give a fuck because he does what he think is right no matter what others think of him. Truly a very bashful guy

And when X rightfully asks him how the fuck can he even be alive, his response is simply “I hid myself while I tried to repair myself”

This is not one of this game’s innumerable mistranslations, no this is ACTUALLY what he says in the japanese script.

So....

I want to remind you that, last we saw him, Zero looked like this

I also want to remind you that his last thought were about how his death was perhaps for the best, since he came to the conclusion that his dark origins presented a threat to the world, after all Sigma had nearly ended it in an attempt at awakening Zero’s evil self.

Now

I want you to picture Zero suddenly thinking “What the heck am I thinking!? Dying SUCKS!!”

He then drags his pierced, legless torso with the one arm he has left allllll the way to the nearest town, through what appeared to be a big desert landscape in this now ruined, post apocalyptic Earth where the very atmosphere is toxic and, according to X6′s intro narration, “Reploids can barely work”. He then finds a random mechanic and goes “Dude, got some spare parts?” and starts rebuilding his body with his one arm over the course of 3 weeks. His very VERY advanced body. So advanced in fact that not even Dr.Cain, the greatest scientist of the 22nd century, could repair it in X2, and that, according to Signas and Lifesaver in X5, goes beyond modern science’s understanding (same deal with X’s body), something that even X6 reminds us of later on.

And I must assume he must’ve installed a pretty powerful bullshit generator while he was at it because there’s no way any person with an IQ over the negative digits could ever buy any of this....which is why X and the gang immediately believe him despite the former having SEEN the state Zero was in in X5!!

Now here’s the thing

There’s an optional conversation between Zero and Dr.Light that seems to imply that it was actually the latter who repaired him, as Zero explicitly asks him if he knows who it was that did it

First off:

This implies that he’s genuinely bullshitting in this scene: why? No really why? X is your best friend, he was clearly distressed by your death and you make this shit up for....reasons?...to hide your insecurities...? Why!?

But even putting this aside: the idea that Dr.Light repaired him, aside from being sketchy on principle (he’s a hologram, this issue is also present in X5 where he’s shown repairing X offscreen, but whatever Sci-Fi magic I dunno), literally contradicts X5: in an optional conversation between the two Light explains that he can’t create armors for Zero because he knows absolutely nothing about his body structure. This makes sense: Zero is Wily’s robot, not Light’s. But X6 wants me to believe that Light went from not being able to create armors for Zero due to his little understanding of how Zero works...to just perfectly rebuilding over half of his body from scratch in a little over 3 weeks. Beautiful.

We’ve just started. JUST started.

In the next video we’ll take a step back from this miserable excuse for a story and look at the actual levels and gameplay

Oooooohhhh boy. It’s gonna be a doozy let me tell you...

i love that in sonic chronicles the entire first half of shadows appearance revolves entirely around him just being really really worried about omega. i love when they find him and omega explains what happened and shadow is furious that someone dismantled him. i love in sonic 06 when rouge and shadow find omega disabled in the future and immediately rush over to help him and the genuine sadness in shadows voice when they have to leave him there. i love in sonic heroes when rouge and omega find the room of clones and omega reassures rouge that you can only create clones of an already existing thing and the fact that he said that at all indicated that omega was also thinking about it and that the two had an unspoken agreement this whole time to just not bring it up around shadow. i love that rouge can tell when shadow is bothered by something. i love in sonic battle when rouge has to carry shadow to her place after he collapses and when shadow is leaving and realizes that she carried him all the way there he just stops to genuinely thank her for saving him. i also love when shadow is fighting tails and rouge steps in and like, drags him out of there. everyone remembers that ending cutscene in sonic 06 but i love when shadow is taking off his rings and rouge and omega instinctively know to get behind him. i might be the only person to ever notice this but i love in sonic heroes i swear on my life when rouge is telling off the chaotix shadow is shaking his head and nodding to silently agree with her, and even though he has no idea who these people are, i LOVE that. i love in that archie comics arc when shadow gets caught as rouge predicted and remarks that she's right "all the time". also when rouge and omega are asked to neutralize shadow if something goes wrong and one sentence into that interaction omega threatens to kick the commanders ass. i love also when omega is fighting eclipse and when he's talking about how unimpressed he is he lists some of shadows attacks sarcastically. i love that omega is so sarcastic in the first place. also in archie i love when rouge's arm gets dislocated and omega has to put it back in place and he seems to be hesitating when he asks her if she's sure and tells her that it's going to hurt. i love in sonic adventure 2 when shadow tries to pretend that he saved rouge exclusively for the chaos emeralds and she immediately knows that he's lying. i love team dark just really really love them fuck you sega long live team dark

The Rivals games being re-canonized seems to be a very recent development that has only happened in the last two years(possibly only since last year when they started using elements from them) which is weird since Eggman Nega being from the future never stopped being canon.

Maybe they were planning on making yet another origin for Silver that Japanese fans could experience but decided to just go with Rivals to avoid further confusion.

Oh my god, I just remembered that Sonic Channel afaik indeed did always say that Eggman Nega is from the future!! That's only from Rivals! What are they doing over there?! I don't know if it is possible to access earlier versions of the website to see if they first had another explanation of Eggman Nega's origin story (namely the one from the Rush series), but already in 2016 with the 25th anniversary comics they had him ridiculing Eggman, which is also Rivals-exclusive in how he dislikes his ancestor. And I'm pretty sure Iizuka's stance on the thing is that Eggman Nega is indeed Eggman's descendant. But wow, what a mess!

It's definitely an interesting idea that they could have been planning a whole new origin story for Silver, but in a way I hope it is not true... because that would mean we would again miss out on further things focusing on our boi. In that way, I can appreciate if the Japanese side of the franchise indeed decided to just pick Rivals as Silver's origin story, further settling this by firmly stating Eggman Nega is Eggman's descendant instead of a true dimensional counterpart. But altogether it's just a whole lot of theorising and things we cannot find answers to so easily due to both the language barrier and Sega naturally not diving deeply into what's going on behind the scenes, and thus I have no idea. As it stands, having Rivals be canon is in my opinion the best way to tackle things, since it explains both Silver's meeting with Sonic and co and furthermore shows Eggman Nega be Eggman's descendant, which has been brought up in various games afterwards. But still, it's quite a chaos Sonic '06 and Sonic Rivals have brought into the world!

Project Shadow Theory Thing: the Silvquel Part 1

A continuation of my last post regarding this theory here. I'll also add a link to where this whole theory begins to make it chronological here. I split this sequel into two parts because it got too long and I reached the picture limit.

Quick Recap: I believe that Gerald Robotnik created another Ultimate Lifeform hedgehog after Project Shadow was shut down, and that this 2nd lifeform is Silver the Hedgehog.

For this post, I'll dive into some observations about Silver that may help support this theory. I'll use as much evidence from the games as I can, but this is still just speculation.

Silver Wasn't Born in the Future

Well, "born" as in brought into existence. There are a couple things that conflict with Silver originating from the distant future.

By all accounts, Silver shouldn't exist. Silver being born in the distant future would mean that these numerous and drastic changes to the past should've affected how he came to be. It's already a huge stretch to say that his hypothetical family tree remained exactly the same after preventing the world's destruction in 06, but to say it stayed the same every time he goes back is absurd. This goes for him being artificially created in the future as well.

Even IF he came to be created in every single timeline, he shouldn't be the same Silver every time. If the events leading up to Silver's future dictated Silver's life, he should be a completely different person every time, with no awareness of previous timelines or time travel adventures. And yet, he recognizes Sonic and friends in Rivals 2 and every appearance onward.

Believe me, this time stuff is hard to explain in a way that makes sense. Silver not only existing, but staying completely the same despite frequent drastic changes to the future, suggests that the future has no bearing on how he came to exist at all. Because he was instead created back before Sonic's present time.

Remember that the farthest back Silver has ever gone was 10 years before the events of 06. Even then, his life was never rewritten. Every other time period he came back to was the Modern present, where Sonic is a teen.

We've never seen how far back in time is too far for Silver. At what point does it begin to affect him? And in what ways?

(Actually, there was an instance where something changing in the past also changed parts of Silver's life, but that's a topic for part 2)

Silver's Gloves

Many fans have had at least a passing curiosity as to how Silver's gloves work. After rewatching various cutscenes and gameplay, I think I finally figured out what they do. I've gotta say, they're more complex than I gave them credit for.

Firstly, I'd like to take a look at the circular markings on Silver's palms.

They're always there, right? Constantly emitting light, even when his powers are inactive. The line connecting the glowing circles to the cuffs shows that the two are connected in some way.

Especially when you consider that the glowing marks disappear when the cuffs are off, as shown by his nutcracker outfit.

I'd also like to make it known that in Sonic Forces Speed Battle, Silver is still able to use his psychic energy while in this costume, without the cuffs.

So if the cuffs aren't giving Silver his powers, then what are they for? I've heard some people say that they're the same as Shadow's inhibitor rings. What if that was true, but not the whole truth?

Let's focus our attention to the cuffs in Sonic 06. I specify 06 because there's actually a key detail that changed between how they looked back then and how they now present themselves in later games.

This was Silver whenever he wasn't prepared to fight. Look at how thin the line patterns on the cuffs are. The ones on his wrists are still glowing just the tiniest bit, but the ones around his legs are just dark.

Now look at this screenshot taken just seconds after the previous one. This was Silver as soon as he saw Sonic, or "the Iblis Trigger". The lines on all of the cuffs are much wider and brighter than before. Physical patterns in metal don't just get thicker and thinner because of light.

These aren't just patterns. This is the cuffs opening and closing. These are vents.

I believe that Silver, like Shadow, has difficulty controlling his chaos energy without these devices around his wrists and legs. But Silver's cuffs are adjustable, whereas Shadow's aren't.

Shadow's inhibitor rings help him to conserve his chaos energy, but they're kind of basic in design. They limit his chaos energy usage, but he can't change that limit. If he needs to release more power, he needs to take the rings off entirely.

Silver's cuffs, on the other hand, are adjustable. They can open and close to varying degrees depending on how much power he needs to conserve or use.

This is also why the markings on his hands never dim like the cuffs do. The cuffs not only assist in the flow of his chaos energy, but also in directing it. They constantly keep a portion of his energy focused in the hands and legs in preparation for immediate use. When the cuffs are off, the energy is no longer being drawn to his outer limbs, so it's then distributed throughout his body instead.

It's not that the cuffs being closed or off prevents any energy from escaping at all. Otherwise, he wouldn't have any abilities while playing as him in the nutcracker outfit. Not having the cuffs on just means that his body could eventually build up more power than he can expel, and that his energy is harder to channel externally.

Anyway, to sum it up:

Silver was created in the past, not the future.

Silver and Shadow both have rings/cuffs around their arms and legs to regulate they're chaos energy flow, with Silver's being an upgrade in functionality.

Both of these potentially point to Silver being designed as a later version of Shadow. This isn't mentioning Silver's power rivaling that of Shadow's, and at one point even surpassing Sonic's. Strength like that must come from somewhere.

I'll be covering my thoughts on that in part 2 of the Silvquel.

Feel free to ignore this btw if you’re tired of this conversation, I honestly would not blame you LMAOO

But I read up on your whole shadow age posts and omg. I’ve seen that debate stir up a lot on sonic TikTok of all places, where people go back and forth that he’s 15 or 50 and it’s so strange bc literally like you’ve been saying; he’s canonically ageless.

The only place his age was shown as 15 was from a leaked sonic 06 file, but, other than that, every other piece of canon material either doesn’t state his age at all or says he’s ageless.

If someone one wants to use this to view shadow as 15, that’s totally fine, but that doesn’t automatically equal it being canon information since you rlly have to dig to find it and it was never officially released. Unless SEGA or Sonic Team or someone who works there comes out and straight up states “shadow is 15” than it’s not canon evidence. Idk why that’s such a hard thing to grasp?

As someone who likes to headcanon (emphasis on this part LMAO) Shadow as physically and mentally 15, i still enjoy making and seeing “he’s an old man” jokes bc he was made so long ago and it’s also just fun to play around that Shadow’s so behind on modern day things and trying to play catch up. He’s just trying his best. But just cuz that’s my interpretation that doesn’t mean he’s canonically 15 or canonically an old man and everyone has to follow it. It’s all just for fun.

He’s still canonically ageless and immortal.

The whole shipping aspect tho is rlly where Shadow not having a real canon age is weird and causes the most uproar, as we saw. It’s understandable, but at the same time it’s just weird to see such intense debates over something so minor to the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain ships to be uncomfortable with and that have real issues, and each person has every right to dislike them. But with Shadow, bc of the age debate, I think that’s a situation where leaving it up to a persons own interpretation is fine and just leave them be bc at some point it’ll just be talking to a wall. That’s me tho.

I also think some people have forgotten there’s a line between fanon and canon, or it’s at the least very blurred for them, so they just automatically apply their fanon ideas into canon and don’t realize ppl interpret things differently. You have people who heavily use canon to inspire their works and their discussions and then you have ppl who heavily rely on their fanon ideas for that. Both are totally fine and are allowed to, and should, coexist and I think some ppl don’t remember that.

Sorry this got so long omg.

Hope you have a fantastic day tho!!!!

i'm posting this because you summarized it all flawlessly (much better than my humorous performance that was prompted because my original post was tagged as a vent post that non mutuals and blindsided mutuals decided to turn into a shitshow... completely proving my point about the current animosity and lack of reading comprehension in this fandom)

i never said people can't make shadow 15 in their fanon, i said he is canonically ageless, and people's first response was to accuse me of not knowing the sonic canon and citing nonexistent manuals and falsified links to "prove i'm wrong" or posting their fanon interpretations in my canon discussion. i can fight fanon with fanon but that doesn't negate the canon fact he's ageless, if anything it just derailed more

people can headcanon all they want, but it doesn't replace the canon ages which was the point of my vent (people replacing the canon and spreading misinformation— not because of headcanons, but because of headcanons they falsely claim are canon)

but seriously, thank you for wrapping this whole thing up as neatly as you did, cheers! xx

A rewrite of sonic frontiers starting from rhea island and head cannons about sonic lore

I wrote this comment on a video of rhea Island's music and I made a slight rewrite in a string of consciousness kind of way.

First of all, rhea island is not given a space on the thing where you see how much you explored of each of the islands. Treating it the same as the first three islands is just making it seem like there is more to the game than there actually is. 

One story thing I think I would change is make it so we see that supreme is actually the true form of the end and the ancients modeled giganto, wyvern and knight after it to fight against it. That detail will matter in a second, anyway… 

While sonic is activating the towers, Sage tells sonic that the end is manipulating him to his end by running him ragged waving his friends in his face and giving him his cyber corruption. so once sonic gets fully corrupted, amy, knuckles, and tails come back to realize that the end is ready to destroy them all since sonic is neutralized. The end wasn't lying when they said they would bring back sonic's friends, but they didn't specify the context. The end just wanted to watch his friends see their beloved sonic stuck in between dimensions to make them lose hope. Tails, Amy, and Knuckles realize that only super sonic could have a chance at fighting back against the end, so they all go and collect the chaos emeralds (sage is able to help them all get the emeralds without the need for vault keys) and they bring sonic back with the chaos emeralds (calling back to 06 in the process) and Sonic fights supreme with im here playing but without lyrics. Then once the first phase is completed Sage realizes she would need to help super sonic fight supreme in space now and then I’m here plays with lyrics. The whole time supreme/the end is using moves similar to giganto , wyvern, and knight. Finally, to stop the end from firing a laser to destroy earth, sage sacrifices herself like in the game (possibly remembering how shadow turned out and deciding to take a gamble and hope she could come back) and super sonic falls back to the islands where his friends are and they celebrate and sonic mourns sage before remembering what happened to shadow and is like “I think we will see her again soon someday” and then the credits roll. We still see the same cutscene with eggman showing that sage was saved. After that, you can explore ouranos island as postgame content. It is explained by sonic coming back to the islands just because he hasn’t finished exploring all of them yet. On ouranos island you cannot collect chaos emeralds anymore, but now the portals let you relive memories and refight the titans whenever you want. Let’s just say since sonic just wants to finish exploring the starfall islands, it only now allows you to travel back to the other islands as well because if you did that before it didn’t make any sense. After you get to the post game and you can travel back to Kronos island, rhea island is added to your map on Kronos island, and you can go back there for some hard to trigger dialogue having sonic come to conclusions about the lore and story. Some other lore reveals and clarifications also happen on ouranos Island, completely from sonic figuring things out himself and some cyberspace shenanigans or something, I just don't want sage to explain everything herself. 

A lore details I would add are showing that the master emerald and the chaos emeralds came from a magical meteor that got split apart by the end to keep a civilization from having a chance at defeating it, but seven small pieces of it formed into the chaos emeralds that the ancients used to escape the end, and a bigger chunk formed into the master emerald (why did that Knuckles animation have to tease a reveal of where the master emerald came from if we never got that in the game) so the master emerald landed on an island and once the ancients got to it, they found a way to make it float so the island could be less vulnerable to attackers. I also want to add that when the ancients escaped to angel island, most left behind their kokos on the starfall islands so in the slim chance that anything survives, their koko can keep their individual memories. Some ancients keep their koko with them on angel island, and those who do are not affected by the master emerald's weird radiation it gives off that turned the ancients without thier koko into various chao that we see on angel island in the prolouge. I think eventually the ancients that kept their koko still became less tall and developed bigger eyes to adapt to the earth's gravity and environment. They eventually don't need thier koko to withstand the master emerald anymore, so they just turn them into masks, one of them being found by the nights chao in the prolouge. One of the ancients that gave up their kokos is chaos, the one from sonic adventure. I'm also headcannoning that that guy could essentially just become a water monster from being around the master emerald for so long.

Now, this part goes into massive theory territory but I wanted to share it here: I think that sonic characters, the animal people that are often the playable characters(I'll just call them mobians) I think these guys came from the ancients too. I mean, from what I have built up, the ancients that became like Chaos have big eyes, lanky limbs, large heads, and big hands and feet. Maybe the Chaos-like ancients then interacted with ancestors of many animal species, eventually leading some animals to become the mobians we see in the sonic version of earth. Humans and non-sentient animals could have just evolved separately from them. This explains why we can see non-sentient seagulls flying by sonic and why we can just fish up a squid and have it not look like a sonic character. Maybe the mobians are just called hedgehogs, foxes, and echidnas because of how they look. Maybe the ancients being around the master emerald gave them magical powers, leading to the mobians having various superpowers such as rolling into a ball, long tails, and the ability to use the chaos emeralds efficiently. Maybe the ancients having appendages on the back of their heads carried into what most of the hedgehog characters  look like.

You've probably done it before but :) Sonic for the fandom ask game! ^^

I actually haven't. Tbf I've got basically no asks for the past few months.

5 Favourite Characters:

Shadow The Hedgehog (When written well)

Silver The Hedgehog

Miles 'Tails' Prower (When written well)

Blaze The Cat

Sonic The Hedgehog (When written well)

3 OTPs:

I honestly don't really ship any of the characters in the Sonic series. Don't really know why, but I've never really felt like romance was needed, I just enjoy the friendship and found family between the characters.

I guess the characters I've come closest to shipping are probably Tangle and Whisper from the IDW comics 'cause those girls are pretty dang fruity and it's adorable.

Funniest Character:

I think, consistently, probably Eggman because even when the games had crappy writing, he still had some pretty good lines and Mike Pollock really made them work as best they could.

But also, I quite like Sticks from Sonic Boom, more specifically, the cartoon. But she's great because her character type is the type that could easily become very annoying if not handled correctly but they managed to make her really funny and I hope to see her in more stuff.

Prettiest Character:

I guess probably Blaze? I dunno, I like her colour scheme and her outfit and hairstyle have a regal feeling to them, which makes sense considering she's a princess. Also, maybe Rouge? Her outfit's great, especially the boots.

Most Badass Character:

Shadow, and that's excluding the whole using guns and riding motorcycles from his game. He was already badass, they didn't need to make him do all that stuff.

Character I'd Like As My BFF:

Honestly, it would probably have to be Sonic actually. And to clarify once again, well he's written well. So get the Meta Era Sonic out of here, not him. He's honestly one of the sweetest characters. It's really endearing how much he cares about his friends, but also, he cares too much and ends up putting himself in danger for them. But even without that, he always encourages them when they're down or anxious, he listens when they need someone to talk to, if they've got a sort of rivalry he will playfully tease them and egg them on because he knows they'll do the same right back.

It's honestly kinda funny how, when I was a kid Sonic was the coolest thing ever, but now that I'm an adult, he's the cutest. I just wanna give him a hug.

Character That's Ruined My Life:

It's probably a tie between Shadow and Silver.

Shadow, because his introduction into the series was easily one of the best and he was written so well (like do y'all remember that Shadow actually suffered from PTSD and you can see him experiencing those symptoms??? Sega doesn't.). And then he got an overly edgy game of his own and became a meme of Edgy The Hedgey and then Sega started to actually write him that way and it sucks. Like, honestly after seeing how the main cast were fixed in Frontiers, I am begging for them to fix Shadow next. He needs it. He needs it so bad. Write him well again, please. I am screaming and crying and biting, write him well.

And Silver, because he has so much potential. Like he had the misfortune of debuting in Sonic 06, a game well-known for being just a little bit of a trainwreck... But his personality and convictions and struggles were all really engaging and could very easily work for other stories. But then he appeared in the two Rivals games with some weird changes and it seems like the only storyline they had for him was "His future timeline is in danger so he comes back to Sonic's time to fix it" and the idea of him doing that over and over and over again... That just seems kinda cruel... Which sucks because I know Silver can be so much more.