Drawing my Seedrian OCs makes me want to come back to Sonic art yet again ;v; I miss the Sonic fandom, I have no idea where I can find most people & Sonic OC art at this point

i fucking love your monster au design for shadow could we have some lore abt him? (if you want to :])

Apologies for the essay I'm about to drop for your ask jddfgsdkgf, but here's a sketch as a peace offering and I'll drop all the lore I have for you under the read more! Glad people are interested in it cause I'm currently obsessed with it lmao

OK so basically Eggman in this universe is still the mad doctor type, he’s just obsessed with the occult instead of robotics. He’s a mortal human but hunts monsters for experiments and he’s obsessed with gaining supernatural powers to rule the world, and Sonic and Amy with their usual group are his main enemies.

He has a big following of humans (who think he’s trying to save them from monsters) and a rather large army of other monsters who work for him - so he has a ton of resources despite being a 'regular dude', and he’s slowly collecting spellbooks and teaching himself magic.

He finds a rare grimoire, and it unlocks a treasure trove of dark magics. Now his big master plan is to summon a demon to serve him and gain ultimate power, to do this he needs the seven emeralds for the ritual.

Sonic and Amy are the main hero duo in the story, Sonic was cursed with lycanthropy as a child when a pack attacked his village, he was spared because he was young, and went to find a witch in hopes of a cure. The witch he found was Vanilla, her daughter Cream, and Amy who is her apprentice. Before Sonic could be cured he made friends with a few other cryptids who live in the same woods and in the end decided he’d rather stay cursed with them as he had nowhere else to go anyways. He’s not in a traditional pack (all were-creatures) instead they have a rag-tag group with all kinds of different monsters that live with the witches (Tails and Knux are in there somewhere I promise jkfgdhdf). He likes having the werehog strength so he can fight back and protect his new family.

Rouge is a born Vampire, not turned. Her parents were killed at some point and she took over their coven after she avenged them and proved herself worthy. She’s like the Queen of sorts and rules over a majority of the vampires across the world - she has eyes (and ears) everywhere, there's very little she doesn’t know about. So Sonic and Amy ask her for help when they realise Eggman’s planning something big. She has a huge hoard of gems locked up in a big spooky cliffside castle, she’s obsessed with treasure still. She agrees to aid them to overthrow Eggman in exchange for the seven emeralds for herself. She doesn’t want to use them for their power, so they agree.

Everyone teams up to find the emeralds first, but Eggman outsmarts them, and the ritual begins before they can stop him, and once it’s begun it’s irreversible. The only thing they can do at this point is change who the demon is bound to, so Sonic throws himself into the curse (he already has one after all).

Shadow is the demon that’s summoned. Typical demon pacts imply that he’ll do whatever the summoner asks, granting them ultimate power, but he’ll get their soul in return. The catch is if Sonic never asks him to do anything, he’s technically not indebted and Shadow won't get his soul. It’s a game of temptation, but since Sonic was technically an unwilling participant, Shadow's more intrigued than anything - he’s confident Sonic will eventually cave and ask him for something (they always do) so he doesn’t attempt to trick him, he sees no need.

Sonic now has a demon chained to him constantly, and he’s extremely on guard (demons are as powerful as creatures get in this universe) and he’s off put by how genuine Shadow comes across. Shadow asks a lot of questions, and Sonic assumes he’s doing it to learn how to manipulate him - Shadow finds it amusing. Eventually they get used to each other, Shadow and Rouge get along well (though they both tease Sonic mercilessly together so he tries to avoid her but Shadow will nag him to visit) Amy tries to work on a spell to break the bond between them but it's a notoriously hard spell to break (perhaps impossible as they destroyed the grimoire in the fight with Eggman), but eventually Sonic and Shadow are both unsure if they want it to be broken at all…

Sonic starts asking Shadow questions too, and finds out more about Shadow. Originally he was an angel - thousands of years ago he had a mortal friend (Maria) and the two of them were inseparable. Unlike demons, angels rarely interact with the world so her village mistook her good fortune as witchcraft and assumed Shadow to be a demon. They killed her over it, and Shadow was heartbroken - in a fit of rage he lashed out, wiped out their town and proved to them he could be the demon they thought he was. He became a fallen angel, scorned and bitter - not born of pure evil but clearly capable of carnage all the same.

Unlike hellborn demons, Shadow doesn’t enjoy mindlessly committing atrocities - he has to feel it’s a necessary evil or he’ll turn it on his summoner (this makes him dangerous to summon, he’s normally considered off-limits). He’s one of the more powerful demons but he’s hard to reason with to make it worth it. Eggman targeted him specifically because he thought Shadow would side with him as Maria was a distant ancestor of his.

Once the annoyance of being forcefully summoned wears off,  Shadow’s rather pleased Sonic isn’t trying to use him for anything - he’s secretly happy to have someone with decent morals to hang out with (he’s an outcast in hell for obvious reasons) but he��d refused to make mortal contact with anyone willingly after Maria for fear of resigning them to a bad fate all over again.

Again thank you for reading!! I'll have more art to share soon!! :)

Why Silver, Blaze, & Marine should be on a team together

So this is a post settling a debate I’ve had since I was 7 years old (I am 20 now) as to who would be on Silver’s team. Or rather Silver & Blaze’s team. I’ll be going in detail as to why I believe the trio of Silver, Blaze, and Marine would make for the most logical team formation. Many people online have linked them together, but I’ve decided to go into deeper detail as to why this is the case.

FIRST AND FOREMOST

Silver & Blaze SHOULD & WILL be on a team together. The have been depicted as partners in Silver’s debut in Sonic 06, & the two have been aligned together ever since. They have also been teamed together in an official game in Team Sonic Racing (as team Vector). They represent both time & space. They have a sun and moon theme, with Blaze having flame powers like the sun and Silver being the element of the moon, which leads me to believe that they were created to be partnered with each other.

Another factor that ties Silver & Blaze together is Eggman Nega. The scientist made his debut in Sonic Rush as an inhabitant from Blaze's dimension, but he later reappears in Sonic Rivals and is now from Silver's future. Nega has been rewritten to fit as an antagonist to both Silver & Blaze respectively, linking them together once again. Similarly, in Sonic Rivals, Eggman Nega wants to summon the Ifrit, a fiery monster from another dimension. This boss is derived from Iblis, the volcanic ememy of Silver and Blaze from Sonic 06.

Blaze and Marine would be perfect as teammates. Marine was made to be Blaze’s sidekick similar to Tails with Sonic and Cream with Amy. Marine’s water theme is an obvious play on Blaze’s fire theme.

Now, each of these characters has a kinetic ability (fire, water, psychic) and are from a distant world not from Sonic’s (future/alt. dimension). As Silver & Marine haven not officially met, Blaze will be the link to tie the three together. Which brings me to my next point.

BLAZE IS THE LEADER

Blaze will be the leader. Most people would consider Silver to lead because of his popularity, or Marine to fulfill her captain role, but honestly Blaze makes the most sense. She’s the first of three to be created as a Sonic character, she a literal princess meaning she has actual leadership experience, and as stated before, she is the link between Silver and Marine. She has been shown on separate occasions/canons with these two, and she has always been the level-headed half that could calm down the others’ rather naive personalities. Plus, it is shown in Sonic Colors DS (canon) Blaze meets Silver again, but shortly after mentioning Marine. This proves that Blaze knows both Silver & Marine in the same canon, allowing the possibility of the trio meeting in full.

Blaze will have both her partner & sidekick on her team, Marine will have two mature strong fighters to look up to & given a chance to grow as a character, & Silver…..well he’s been aligned with female characters before anyway. In Sonic 06, the character structure is cued from Sonic Heroes. Sonic’s allies are Tails & Knuckles (from Team Sonic), Shadow’s are Rouge & Omega (from Team Dark), & Silver’s Team, consisting of Amy (who was already on a formed team) & Blaze (who wasn’t). And although Silver isn’t the leader of this team, he could still pose as the face of the group, similar to how Rouge was the leader in the original Sonic Heroes, but the focus was mainly on Shadow (who eventually became the official leader).

TYPE PLACEMENTS

Now for the most important aspect: type placements. Speed, Fly, Power. Who will fill which position? It's easy to say you want three characters together on a team but if they can't meet any of the criteria for any of the roles then it's completely invalid. That being said Silver is most definitely the Fly type member & the only one that can do so. He can levitate with his telekinesis and can carry others. His debut in Sonic 06 has a flight based platforming gameplay similar to Tails and Rouge, and not a Speed based gameplay like Sonic, Shadow or Blaze, who was also playable in Silver’s story. Because of his telekinesis, Silver provides a new spin on the Fly method.

Now onto Blaze. She is an established Speed character in the main games and racing games. Her debut was in Sonic Rush, where she notably matches Sonic's hyper speed. In Sonic 06, her gameplay matches that of Sonic and Shadow who both have Speed type gameplay.

It could also be argued that Blaze could fit into the Power type role. Along with her fire powers, she is athletic and has great physical strength, being one of the strongest characters in the series. Sonic Runners has categorized Blaze as a Power type, and although Sonic Runners butchered a lot of character types, such as including Silver as a Speed type when his gameplay in Sonic 06 was very much not that, Blaze being a Power type actually has merit.

Now Marine is going to be a tough topic, as she is the only one who actually hasn't had a playable appearance in a game yet. This means that not only are her notable abilities limited, but restricted to dialogue and cutscenes. This makes her the hardest to assign a type to. We at least know she can't fly so that's out of the equation. However, because of her limited showcases, her Speed vs Power argument is not the same as Blaze's. To find a suitable placement for her, we need to lay out what we do know about her.

Marine is stated to be hyperactive and reckless, two traits of Speed and Power type characters. She has been shown running alongside Sonic in cutscenes and is often seen zipping around in dialogue scenes. She’s also a builder. You don’t just build ships on the regular without having some merit of physical strength. And she has been shown to have some sort of mystical powers at the end of Sonic Rush Adventure. Both placements work for Marine & Blaze, but for this specific team-up I would rather have Blaze as the muscle instead of Marine, who can fit into the Speed type pretty well (as most Sonic characters).

This group stands out among the usual Heroes team format. Marine would be the shortest Speed type, Silver would be the only hedgehog Fly type, and Blaze would be the first female Power type. It's important to note that not all Speed characters are the leaders of their teams, regardless if you put Blaze or Marine in the position.

WHO SHOULDN'T BE ON THE TEAM

Now there's many people who don't want Marine to be on Silver & Blaze's team, so I'll go over the common replacement characters I've seen and see why Marine is arguably the better pick.

Chaos is a popular pick for a power character. He seems to fit in with Silver & Blaze's mystic power theme. Chaos, however, is far too powerful of a god to be on a team with them and I wouldn’t want to separate him & Tikal & vice versa

Mighty is also surprisingly a popular pick. I've seen it explained how Mighty being from the past could juxtapose Silver & Blaze who are from the future, but it just still doesn't seem right. I wouldn’t want to separate him and Ray either, they were planned to be on a team together from the start.

Gamma & Emerl are destroyed for good, and I wouldn't want to just throw in a robot character for a needed Power type. Also, no one from the shows are allowed (Cosmo, Sticks).

Shade is the probably the closest fitting for the group. Her aesthetic and time/space dimensional background match Blaze & Silver's, and she could also fit the Power role very nicely with her combat abilities. If they were to bring Shade back at all, this would be a cool way to do it.

TEAM NAME

Another important aspect of Sonic Heroes teams are their names. These names will be what the characters label themselves under for majority of their appearances. When deicing a team name, it usually must relate to the leader or at least 2 members. Team Sonic is obviously the team of the main character. Team Dark is a reference to the Dark story in Sonic Adventure 2, which features both Shadow & Rouge (Omega acts as a placeholder for Eggman). Dark could also refer to the edgy serious nature of the team.

Team Rose is named after Amy Rose, who wants to lead her own team like Sonic (hence the similar naming method). Finally, Team Chaotix is comprised of characters who debuted in Knuckles Chaotix (which is why Mighty isn’t with them). In the case of Silver, Blaze, & Marine, there are a few choices. Most fanmade teams involving Silver tend to lean towards "Team Future", since Silver & Blaze come from the future. It's actually a pretty good flow to the name, but leaves out Marine since she's not from the future. Team Dimension/Team Sol is another popular pick, as it relates to the Sol Dimension (the home of Blaze & Marine). Silver, despite not being from there, has had experience traveling between dimensions as well. Silver also took part in fighting Solaris & Ifrit, two multidimensional beings.

All in all, these three just look natural together. Many fan works depict these three together and make amazing artwork. The Sonic World fan game has even put them on a team together and they’re awesome in it. If Sonic Heroes 2 were to ever exist I think these guys would make for a fun dynamic, awesome gameplay, and a great story.

Hi! Hope you’re doing wonderfully!✨ My question is what got you into Sonamy? (If you are)

Hi! Thank you ^_^

I am! In fact, I would say it's my top ship for both of them (though with Sonic this spot is shared with Sonknux, I couldn't be asked to choose between them hehe).

The only versions of them that I don't really ship is Fleetway, and Boom (more on that later).

With Fleetway, I feel like it does a very good job at doing a "What if Amy actually got over Sonic and then got into a relationship with someone else (who isn't similar to Sonic so it doesn't look like a bad rebound), and she and Sonic become even closer friends" type of scenario (Which I gotta admit, Fleetway Sonic and Amy have an amazing dynamic and they're ride or die for each other), which is also partially why I'm not interested in seeking it out just for the sake of it. (I do ship Amy with characters other than Sonic or Tekno, but that's not the reason why). I feel like it partially also raises my interest in Sonamy, like. We've already seen what happens when she gets over Sonic, let's see something else now? Right?

Some people might think it doesn't count, because Fleetway Amy is so different from regular Amy, and maybe, if you compare her to Adventure Amy. But I actually find her quite similar to the way Amy is written in IDW, they even have kind of a similar, "edgier" compared to other versions of the character, sense of humor. (Also this is me saying modern!Teknamy would totally work how are there no fics with Tekno in the game-esque universe?? (Heck there's almost no Fleetway based Teknamy fics either for how much everyone is gushing about their relationship) I can't see her working for Eggman here, but maybe she could work for GUN developing weapons for them, while also using their resources for personal projects on the side (maybe befriending Team Dark in the process), but when it gets discovered GUN tries to arrest them but Team Dark helps them get away and hide, eventually they meet Sonic & friends, including Amy. Since GUN got destroyed in Forces, Tekno is free now, maybe if you're doing an idw-based thing they could join the restoration or something. It could work! Modern!Teknamy! Think about it!)

Anyway, back to Sonamy. I don't actually remember how I started shipping them. I used to watch Sonic X a lot when I was little, but I guess the Sonamy didn't make that big of an impact on me back then, I mostly remembered Knuckles and Rouge having a thing there.

Then way later I was actively watching the Sonic Boom tv show as it was coming out, but... I didn't like Sonamy there at all. It's not their relationship on its own, but everyone making jokes about it, "shipping" them together in-universe which made me not like it. It just felt really forced. (And the issues with Amy's portrayal in Boom are a topic for a completely different discussion)

And it's only when I properly got into games that I actually saw what their relationship is actually like!

And I'll be real... it wasn't always... great. There was some turbulence. I even believe the people who think Amy didn't even initially like Sonic, but only was infatuated with his image of a hero and the freedom & adventures that she had associated with him. She projected her fairytale fantasies combined with heteronormative societal expectations onto him and their potential relationship. (Just look at her in Adventure! She misses Sonic because she misses adventures, she thanks him for saving her because he's her hero but he actually barely did anything there! She was the hero!) No wonder Sonic wasn't on board with that! (Even though he still was always friends with Amy) Who would be! But here's the kicker:

It changed

The dynamic changed! They changed! And it's always fun. I can't hate the way Tails is written on Colors–Frontiers because there's dynamic! He's going through a little character arc! (A character arc of hitting rock bottom instead of becoming his best self but an arc nonetheless. It's something interesting. And now we get to see him rise back up)

And it also shows that their dynamic is able to evolve and isn't stuck! Which means there is a possibility that it would evolve further! Isn't that just fun to think about?

Amy became more confident in herself. She realized she didn't need Sonic to go on adventures or to save her. With this, their relationship became more equal. Sonic in general became more personable and closer to his friends.

Amy is now not blinded by just seeing Sonic as "Her Hero" and is able to see him as a person that he actually is and falls in love for real! I already mentioned this before, but I think her attempt at confession in Lost World signifies that. Everyone already knows she loves him, but now, it's different.

On Sonic's end, there aren't as many changes, he's just able to be more open and comfortable around her (even though she's still able to occasionally throw him off with her over the top energy). (I also personally headcanon that Sonic didn't have a lot of experiences with romance which might have lead him to believe that the way Amy acted initially is "the standard" (which he couldn't and didn't want to match, and prevented him from realizing his feelings for a longer time. I personally headcanon him as demiro which is probably why my top ships with his are with his two closest friends)

Ultimately, their dynamic on its own is fun, too. They're a kickass team and they have a similar sense of humor, which is fun and I wish we got to see them banter more. They also have a similar fascination with adventures and love for nature and the world. Sonic doesn't need to slow down for Amy because she loves him as he is, and Amy doesn't need to give up her projects to be by Sonic's side because he's always supportive and encouraging of her!

They just have a very cozy friendship nowadays, especially when you remember everything that happened before we got there! But that's what makes it so good. The history they have, the work they put into their relationship, no soulmate "love from first sight" can match that. (Though of course they're also now canonically soulmates too because of Frontiers but they're also soulmates with Tails and Knuckles so it's not like that)

Hehe, well. I rambled a lot, not sure I actually answered your question 😅 I guess they're just cute!

[♡]

SHADOW'S LITTLE SMILE OH MY GOSH THAT'S ADORABLE-

Oh and uh yeah, the people of the arctic recognize Sonic, but it's not that big a deal tbh. Why?

...

WELL I'M GLAD THAT NONE OF YOU ASKED BECAUSE I'M DELVING INTO IT ANYWAY SO STRAP UP FOLKS, WE'RE GOING FOR A RIDE.

Okay so start things off with the obvious, every time Sonic's visited someone or crossed paths with someone, they hardly even flinched when interacting with him. The clearest memory/recolection I have of this was an issue waaaaaaay back (Probably like 2 years ago now) when our main trio was finishing a mission and exhausted outta their minds. A kind chinese family let them into their home with no sweat and with as much welcoming energy as anyone would have for a renowned hero. They gave the team food and a nice place to sleep, all while Sonic was in his Werehog form.

There were a few more instances of this same thing, but I can't remember if Sonic and Shadow actually stayed the night or if the people were just really nice or not. Either way, random people on the street showing unfounded kindness and attention to the heroes without breaking a sweat WHILE Sonic was in Werehog form... It's far from uncommon!

In short, seeing the arctic villagers be so kind to Sonic and Shadow is nothing new. At least to us, that is...

Think of this through Sonic's viewpoint. He's a monster, a rage-filled beast, a myth, resembling a mystical bear that this snowy town worships like a god! In no way, shape, or form (Well except for one form lol) does he feel like himself. Every lock of fur, every shimmering marking, every Gaia monster he faces... It just reminds him of the kind of thing he has become. In Sonic's eyes, kindness and forgiveness is now beneath him. To this poor little edgey hedgey, he's finally hit his peak, and if people knew who he truly was, then it would all be over for him. The least Sonic can do now is try to clean up the world-shattering mess he thinks he made.

Sure, he had Shadow and Chip to be by his side, but they were exceptions. Shadow caught him at a bad time and had nothing to share except pity, and Chip left him already. As time went on, Shadow became more reserved, more like the type of guy we know now, and Chip became more cautious. He wasn't as physically affectionate as he used to be, and to Sonic, that was a sign that Chip was beginning to fear Sonic, seeing him for the monster he really is. And Shadow is... Well, Shadow! Who knows what he thinks?

And then, out of nowhere, completely unprompted, the girl in the hoodie walks up to him and says...

"We may not know what happened to you, but we know it's still you." (That's probably not it but I can't look at the page while writing this)

And all of a sudden, like magic, part of the giant hole in Sonic's heart has been filled.

They know who he is. These people, these sad, cold, lonely people who just want the best for each other, know who Sonic is behind all that fuzz and darkness. His appearance, while menacing and intimidating to most, didn't phaze that little girl in the slightest. His eyes, bright and piercing through those who dare to look at him, hardly damaged any of the people within this village. They hugged him, they played with his ears, they accepted him! Nobody here cared what he looked like or how he acted at all! They only cared about who he was deep down, or at least what he aspired to be. Everyone smiling at him wasn't fake or forced, and it was all genuine this entire time!

Even Shadow, who had been so reserved and so distant this whole time, was giving Sonic a small, warm smile, hardly visible yet clearly genuine.

He couldn't ask for anything more.

So yeah I really like the funny anthro hedgehog comic-

theyre not sad cold and lonely though AJKSFBDHKSAFHKAJS theyre happy cozy and... togetherness..? opposite of lonely?

ANYWHO THANKS for the comment im so glad you enjoy the comic and i hope you will enjoy todyas page

Some Non-Rocket Stuff I've Been Working On

Some miscellaneous villains that can bother the heroes whenever Egg Head's gone rotten.

Princess Abby is, probably most obviously, our equivalent of Princess Sally from the Archie Sonic comics. Unlike Sally, though, Abby is less of a love interest and more of an embittered ex of Zip's that undertakes the occasional passive-aggressive, teetering between evil and not-evil scheme in order to get revenge on or otherwise just mess with the Pooch. Posie considers Abby her biggest rival.... and 2nd biggest crush.

Fake Zip is this world's Metal Sonic. Egg Head being more of a bio-engineer than a roboticist, she's not exactly building robot clones every day. Normal clones work fine. Fake Zip is the main antagonist of Zip the Pooch 2: Cease Deceit, and comes back again and again in increasingly esoteric forms and roles. Egg Head's longest and most loyal minion, he's one of the most dangerous Pooches around if you don't count the other 5.

Exotor is the living planet(?) (meteor? Asteroid?) that Dr. Egg Head creates in Zip the Pooch 1, but after his defeat at the hands of Zip, she kind of abandoned it as space junk. But he comes back for revenge, at first trying to crash into Planet Zip, and then spawning a more mobile copy of its consciousness into this alien body that can keep up with Zip and fight toe-to-weird-toe-like-tentacle. The secret final boss of Zip the Fighters, like what Akuma is to Street Fighter 2. Exotor is a combination of the Death Egg and Sonic.Exe, with a bit of Ego and Deoxys thrown in for good measure. Probably one of my favorite remakes of a character from the main series!

But that's not all!

My first set of characters in the Zip-verse that are NOT alternate universe clones of characters from Sonic! The Sonic series has been sorely missing out on some spooky-themed characters for far too long, and I'm not making the same mistake, so meet team Horror Show!

Ludlow is a zombie dog and the leader of the team. Some kind of a magic undertaker, he goes against both Zip and his friends AND the Egg Head Empire, much more of a loose canon in the world. It's unknown what his real final goals are, since I made him in the middle of a road trip and didn't consider that he needed goals until typing this sentence, but the gang won't let him send the land into spooky scary chaos any time soon.

Joining him are other scary characters, BooBoo the Witch, Vendetta the Spider, and Goops the Candy Snake, representing the occult, the horror, and the fun parts of the Halloween season respectively. They might be sowing chaos on Planet Zip, but they're intensely loyal to each other, so don't cross them!

Once I have reliable internet at my new place, I hope to be making a lot more content on here, so stay tuned! My current goals are to get the other teams in my head out as designs (mainly ones based on the classic-era baddies and the IDW Diamond Cutters) and to try my hand at making some landscapes of the various zones I came up with for this setting. All 8 zones of Zip the Pooch 1 are safe in my noggin, and I might try to draw a few silly comics based on the plot of it.

I'm not exactly a professional-grade artist or anything, but this project is fun, so I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, so I'll see you soon! I know I have a few people looking around here because of the sonic OC polls, and I hope some of you stick around for more! ^-^

This is for the Sonic opinion ask thingy (but feel free to answer it privately bc I'm on the shy side) PS. I am sorry for its length:

Do you believe that the hate Shadow the Hedgehog 2005 gets to this day is deserved, and did it ruin Shadow's character? I feel like Shadow 05 gets a lot of crap thrown at it bc of its "edgy" advertising more so than the actual content of the game. The game itself is the Team Chaotix mission style levels from Sonic Heroes but with Shadow, and guns, lots of guns. And... the guns are honestly the best part of the game. Next to Shadow, of course.

Before I played it this year, I was under the impression that the game was terrible as so many ppl say it is and that it's the game that ruined Shadow by making him an edgelord. After playing it and having to beat it 10 times to get the true ending, I was so confused as to how the game has the bad reputation that it has. Yeah, the game is edgy, but Shadow isn't close to being an edgelord. He's a little guy, a little goofy guy who just wants to know his past. Idk... Maybe 2005 was too early for Sega to release such a tonally different type of Sonic game and market it as unSonic like as possible to Sonic fans. One can only wish Shadow 05 gets the Sonic Unleashed treatment: hated on release but gets love and praise years years later; but Shadow 05's less than well received legacy has a tight grip on it.

the in depth-ness of this ask is so (rattles it) that i wanna publish it GJASKLDFDF but if u don't like it lmk <3 but here's my equally long response

i think shth the game is like . not a great game. it's clunky, it's weird, it has literally over 300 "routes" for true 100% completion because of how oddly they made it (each individual possible connection between dark/hero/neutral being its own path with its own name in the credits/game itself meaning you need to do every fucking possibility in existence to get a true 100%) like it's just such an odd specimen of a video game that has the same sort of "issue" most sonic games have where there's not enough polish in certain parts of the end result

i think that + a mix of other factors (the edgy marketing, the gun thing, the fact that this is the first sonic character since knuckles chaotix and tails adventure to get a spin off) made it more susceptible to being criticized, especially because shadow isn't a longrunning character and was equally polarizing in certain parts of the fandom for that reason (he should've stayed dead vs he wasn't that good to begin with vs etc., he's like the most popular character besides sonic but that also means he has plenty of detractors)

this is also during like an awkward time period like following sa2 where people were split on whether heroes is good or not (my beloved), a lot of spin offs or smaller side games that aren't really here or there, and then of course 06 for the real plummet in public opinion, so like. shth was already going uphill lmaoooo

so like. factually. it's a fucking Weird game. adding guns and trying to make it cooler and edgier and let shadow + sonic swear (HILARIOUS) means there's too much room for people to say that the silly series about cartoon hedgehogs is trying too hard, and especially around 2005, trying too hard is seen as lame and cringe and not cool? which also means it's more popular to make fun of its writing than try to actually absorb what the game is telling you (which is hard anyways because the game tells it to you in its weird assbackwards multi-route off translation sonic way)

in my own personal opinion, the game isn't perfect and it's actually just fucking funny especially in like the dark routes (i LOVE dark hero ending), but it's not as awful as people make it out to be and i don't really think shadow's character was "ruined" by it or anywhere close. i'm a little bit on the side of "shadow probably should've stayed dead in sa2" because the impact of his story was just phenomenal with how his character goes, but yknow i'm a shadow fan which means im glad i get to see him stick around and be in future games

edit: also forgot to mention but i think shadow IS a little edgelord, it's just that he's been an edgelord since inception. listen to literally any of his lines from sa2 (one of the first things you'll ever hear from him is literally just "I am Shadow the Hedgehog, the world's ultimate life form. There's no time for games, farewell." among like "It all starts with this ... a jewel containing the ultimate power!") he's just so dramatic he's . he's always had edge. shth is just all about him so it's on full display all the time <3

shth was important because following his new heroes amnesia, this is the game that focuses entirely on heroes' team dark subplot with him trying to find out who he is, and all the routes are formed based on how much he actually learns (a lot of dark endings he ends up with little to no information at all, a lot of hero endings he learns some but not the other), with of course the true ending resulting in him coming to terms with all he is and what he was meant to be and what he will be going forward

he's over the top and dramatic but that's like half the fun of a sonic game i think (also, again, lots of the translation are straight up incorrect or just oddly done so it doesn't help with making things make. sense), like. it is a silly little game about cartoon hedgehogs. that SWEAR now! and use guns !!! !! ! but it's also a game where shadow gets to let go of the past and put it behind him, so that he can just. live. for once. lol

not to be used as a weapon for revenge on humanity, not to be used as a desperate cure for a dying girl, not to be . fucking anything besides a little freak of a hedgehog

it's soooo dramatic but him letting go of that picture of maria and gerald and saying goodbye to shadow is like. ?!??! idk. i think it worked for what they needed and 06 shadow showed the fruits of that labor where he's just so much more in control of like, himself and his lot in life i think .... modern shadow gets a lot of flack and yknow i agree but it's almost like a shadow off the shits level of flanderization lmaooo?? i hope they tone it down for a bit more of a balance between his cool collected reserved thing and his like oddly passionate side (like how amy suffered for. a few years now. with being just 'sonic fangirl' but they're finally bringing it back around to 'kind compassionate girl who loves her friends'), but it's not wrong to say he's a guy who doesn't care about what others think and is just doing whatever the fuck he wants

tldr i think shth the game gets more flack than it deserves, which isn't to say it doesn't deserve any it just. like satbk and secret rings, which are just not fantastic games in terms of actual gameplay, the writing is genuinely not bad at all. i really like shadow in lots of sections of shth even tho they're batshit crazy scenes... and i'm a sucker for . for the ridiculous "this is who i am!" ending quotes in the sense that they're so stupid. they're so dumb. half of them i can't take seriously ("i am the ultimate hedgehog" lmao?!?) but then you get the last story's quote and. yeah.

"I am Shadow the Hedgehog. I've left the past behind me. No one can tell me what to do now! I will destroy you, Black Doom!”

After like 4 straight days of drawing, here’s Team Synthesis! They’re the main cast for the Sonic AU I’m working on. I’m still fleshing out the story but what I do have I’ll put under the cut!

Basic premise for the AU: It’s my take on a next gen type of thing! It’s just none none of these guys are ship kids (nothing against ship kids or anything! I just wanted to have as much creative freedom as possible!).

During the final battle against Dr. Robotnik and entire city gets decimated. Leaving a lot of people displaced, including these guys, but as infants. During the battle a few members of the normal cast of heroes (haven’t decided exactly who yet) rescue them and hand them off to those evacuating. Checking up on them after the battle is over to help find their parents. They’re stationed at one of the refugee camps. At least until Team Dark hears word that some factions within the criminal underworld have become very interested in them. A few shenanigans later and the group is split up between all of teams (keeping them all in the same place is a bad idea, for obvious reasons). They still see each other and such but everyone’s very cautious, at least when their younger.

Now as to why the Crimean underworld is so interested:

To make a long story short, a incredibly power organization called The Eighth Wonders (which is made up of almost exclusively Mobians with powers) figured out that if you expose people to a lot chaos energy before their born, they’ll come out into the world with extremely powerful abilities (as well as being able to boost preexisting powers similar to how the Chaos emeralds do, I think, maybe, idk I’m not super caught up on emerald lore). Team Synthesis are all byproducts of this process, almost all of their biological parents being high ranking members of TEW.

During the final confrontation with Eggman, a rival organization to the TEW, the Council of the Universe, took the opportunity to assassinate said biological parents, dealing a huge blow to TEW. Their plan was to also get ahold of Team Synthesis, but that obviously didn’t pan out.

This all leaves a massive power vacuum, and also inadvertently leaks the info that Team Synthesis like exists, so now every criminal worth their salt is trying to get a hold of them because you’d basically be undefeatable with them.

There’s a few other things that I have in the works that don’t really fit in here, but eventually it’ll all be in a semi organized google doc. I hope my rambling wasn’t too confusing lol

ML AU Masterpost

So I’ve been asked a few times to make a Masterpost of all my ML AUs because there’s like. A Lot. Some are full fics, others are just concepts we spitball around. 

I’ll write the AU Name, a short summary, and give relevant tags to it. And my tagging system is kind of a mess so like. I’ll have two tags for some AUs because sometimes it’ll be ‘AU Name’ and other times it’s ‘AU Name AU’, ya know?

Anyway here we go!

Hero Chat

My main AU! Kinda my ‘Canon has disappointed me, this is Canon now’ AU. 

Canon Divergence happens technically at the end of Queen Wasp, with Chloé not going back to Audrey and beginning to throw away her redemption arc. But the real changes don’t start until the beginning of Season 3, where Ladybug makes Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Honeybee(Chloé’s new Identity) full-time Heroes. 

Relevant links: 

Fics: X Relevant Tags: X X X X Bonus tag for the HC Answers: X 

Lady Luck

My other biggest AU!

Instead of Marinette, it’s Chloé chosen to be Ladybug. This changes several things. Adrien, Alix, Gabriel and Nathalie all still have their Canon Miraculous, but everyone else gets shuffled around because Chloé will be choosing them. 

Fic: X Relevant Tags: X X X X

Forged

Post-Miracle Queen, Chloé finds a new Miraculous from a separate Miracle Box. Hopefully things go better this time. 

Fic: X Tags: X

Queen’s Second Chance: 

The events of Miracle Queen go horribly wrong. Very very bad end(probably my darkest AU tbh). The Heroes are defeated, Hawkmoth has all the Miraculous, Chloé has been desperately trying to break out of her Akumatization since the fight began, but was unable to.

In a desperate attempt, Sass uses his power. It takes himself and the person with the most regret back in time a lot longer than just a few moments. 

Chloé wakes up the morning of Origins, and is determined to make things right this time. 

Fic: X Tags: X

Double Trouble: 

Post-Miracle Queen, Ladybug realizes she made a mistake in that taking the Miraculous away from Chloé left her vulnerable to Hawkmoth attacking her directly and forcing her to work for him. And now the whole Team’s identities are revealed. To fix this, she’s shuffled the Team’s Miraculous and given it to them permanantly so they can fight back if needed. 

However, Hawkmoth and Mayura believe that Chloé is still on their side, and recruit her for further plans. Not knowing she’s still part of Team Miraculous and is just gathering all info she can as information. 

Chloé finds out that Lila is also working for the villains, but isn’t entirely sure if Lila is truly a villain, or just in over her head. 

Also featuring Sonic Fandub quotes because this AU started as a joke with that. 

Fic: X Tags: X

Steal My Heart

Phantom Thief AU! 

Ladybug and Chat Noir thieves by night. By day, Marinette and Adrien are detective partners using their resources to track down new targets and keep the police off their trail. 

The twist? Ladybug and Chat Noir are rivals! Each have no idea that their rival is also their partner they might low-key be crushing on. 

Fic: X Tags: X

Phantom!Chloé

One of two Danny Phantom crossovers! This one is a more legit crossover while the other is an AU. 

Post Miracle Queen, Chloé accompanies her mother to some rich people gala type thing in America, hosted by Vlad Masters. Chloé wanders off, finds the hidden lab, and fucking dies. Well. Half way. 

Naturally she gets dragged into the Drama that are the other Halfas. To the point that Vlad just straight up sponsors her class for a foreign exchange program. Now the entire Miracuclass is in Amity Park and dealing with these idiots. 

Fic: X Tags: X

Lady Phantom

This is the other DP crossover, but it’s a full AU where instead of the Miraculous, it’s all Ghosts. 

Mari is the Danny of this AU, with her parents having a Ghost Research lab in the basement where she gets fuckin zapped. The rest of the gang are the sidekicks helping with Ghost Weaponry. 

Gabriel and Hawkmoth are two separate people, the latter being an Evil Ghost who is manipulating Gabriel to help fully free him. The Kwami are very powerful Ghosts that are near godlike(think how Clockwork is). 

All the Akumas are also Ghosts, who Hawkmoth sets loose on Paris. They are seperate entities from the Canon ‘Akuma Victim’, but are fighting on behalf of said victim in an attempt to help them because their deaths were very similar to current events. 

Tags: X 

Duchess Noire

Similar to Lady Luck, but instead of replacing Mari as Ladybug, Chloé replaces Adrien as Chat Noir. (Adrien later gets the Bee). 

Tags: X

Cerise Wings

Sabrina is Ladybug instead of Marinette. Chloé is Duchess Noire again. An interesting role reversal for the pair and gets them to learn to be Equals as both Heroes and Civilians. 

Tags: X 

Avatar AU

Exactly what it says on the tin. ML characters in the world of ATLA. 

Kinda funky since Mari and Adrien are both the Avatar due to some bullshit ‘Split Avatar’ thing that I do not have room to explain all of rn. 

The Kwami are also Humans in this. 

Tags: X

Monster AU: 

Again, exactly what it says on the tin. All the ML characters are various monsters. 

Tag: X 

Persona AU

ML but it’s Persona 5, basically. Palaces and all that. The Kwamis are the characters’ Personas. 

Tags: X

Class Knows

Instead of putting the Miraculous in their rooms, Fu puts the Miraculous in Mari and Adrien’s backpacks. This means they pull them out in class and the whole gang learns who the Heroes are from day one. 

Tags: X

Super DC AU

Several characters have Superpowers other than the Miraculous. Marinette’s parents and grandomther are retired Heroes, and Marinette herself inherited their Plant and Energy powers. Chloé has lightning powers because her mom had an affair with an NY Hero. Rose’s grandfather was a supervillain defeated by Mari’s family and she got his Shadow and Death powers. Lila is actually descended from a Fox Hero, but barely has any powers. 

There is an offshoot of the main AU where Rose replaces Adrien as Chat Noir, becoming Shadow Noire. 

Tags: X

Cousins AU

Marinette and Lila are cousins. Mari is used to Lila’s shenanigans, and Lila refuses to harm Family, so there’s no real threat. 

Tags: X 

Childhood Friends: 

Marinette, Nino, Kim, Chloé, Adrien and Sabrina are a squad of childhood friends. Shenanigans ensue. 

Tags: X

Mentor!Jalil

Jalil’s pendant is actually a Scarab Miraculous. Master Fu met him and decided to train him as Guardian years before the whole Hawkmoth thing happened. 

He takes over being a more direct mentor to Ladybug and Chat Noir, with his own Hero Persona: Khepri. 

Tags: X

Feast Redemption

Instead of being destroyed, Feast is broken out of the Peacock’s control and become a real creature. Marinette babysits him as a pet. She’s trying to keep him from eating things he shouldn’t, but she can just reach into his mouth to retrieve things if needed. 

Everyone around her is. so confused by this creature she insists is just a weird looking cat. 

Tags: X

Summer Nights

The summer when the Cesaire family moves to Paris, the apartment they are supposed to move into burns down. Luckily Marlena’s boss is very understanding, and offers them a few rooms in his hotel until they’re able to find and move into a different place. 

While hanging around the hotel, Alya meets Chloé. They end up befriending each other, though encounter a slight hiccup when Alya sees how Chloé acts to their classmates. Nothing that some gentle guidance onto a redemption arc can’t fix! Also maybe a crush along the way. 

Tags: X

Adribrina AU

Adrien and Sabrina have been dating since the spring before the series started, but are keeping it low-key because no one wants to subject Sabrina to the media storm and angry fangirls. 

Marinette starts with a crush on Adrien, but finds out he has a GF and, while heartbroken, moves on. Also Chloé has a crush on her. 

Some Kwami shuffle because Sabrina figures out that Adrien is Chat Noir and tracks down Fu to beg him to let her help keep her bf safe and he gives her the Fox Miraculous. 

Tags: X

Red Velvet

Along with the Butterfly and Peacock, Fu loses the Black Cat. So Gabriel already has one half of the Miraculous he needs to save Emilie from the Magic Coma, and he uses the Black Cat instead, becoming the villain Tuxedo. 

Fu tries to give the Ladybug to Marinette, but Tom was looking for something in her room and finds it instead. Refusing to let his daughter do something unsafe, he takes on the duty and becomes Red Velvet. 

Through shenanigans(Plagg being a little shit), Marinette gets the Peacock and Chloé gets the Butterfly. Once she manages to fix the Peacock, Marinette becomes the Hero ‘Mockingbird’. Chloé doesn’t jump on the Hero Bandwagon until later, but the side effect of the Butterfly Miraculous’s Empathy edges her onto a Redemption Arc. 

Tags: X

To Bee A Bat

This is.... kind of turning some salt tropes on its' head? Like the salty 'Mari's bio dad is Bruce Wayne' but it's Chloé instead and no one's salted.

Between Season 4 and 5, Chloé's 'parents' don't want to deal with her anymore and send her off to live with her bio dad, Bruce Wayne. Shenanigans ensue as she is initially scared to trust them before finding out the family secrets and is down for being a Bat.

Meanwhile, the Miracuclass goes through Season 5 plot, incredibly concerned for where she dissappeared to. Especially as her 'parents' don't seem to care/are telling them to stop looking for her.

Tags: X

Scarlet Scarab and Captain Noire

Alim Kubdel with the Ladybug Miraculous, Anarka Couffaine with the Black Cat. 

Tags: X 

Amazon and Jynx Sphinx

Nora Cesaire with the Ladybug, Jalil Kubdel with the Black Cat

Tags: X

Lord Rouge

Luka and Juleka with the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous

Tags: X

Alley Chat

Nora gets the Ladybug again, but Alya is her Black Cat. 

Tags: X

Queen Of Hearts

Alix with the Ladybug, and Jalil is the Black Cat again. 

Tags: X

Side Note: Scarlet Scarab and Captain Noire, Amazon and Jynx Sphinx, Lord Rouge, Alley Chat, and Queen of Hearts can all have sub-aus where they shuffle the Teamups. So we can have Lord Rouge with Captain Noire, Alley Chat with Queen of Hearts, Scarlet Scarab with Jynx Sphinx, etc. Not all are tagged. 

Miraculous Trio AU

Instead of sending out Ladybug and Chat Noir, Fu decides to send out Rena Rouge, Carapace and Queen Bee. 

Tags: X

Chloé Split

Something(either an Akuma or something else) Splits Chloé into multiple different aspects of herself. All aspects go by different names, but most start with ‘Cl’. Catrina is the exception but it’s a fuck you to her because she’s the “Audrey 2.0′ personality. 

Tags: X

Alien!Lila

Instead of being from Italy, Lila is from space. And obvs can’t tell people she’s not human. Her lying isn’t malicious and just her trying to fit in with the other kids and look normal. Yes her stories of meeting celebrities are normal because all her classmates have met celebrities or are famous themselves. 

Tags: X

Public Knowledge

All Hero and Villain identities are known to the public. Though Miraculous can’t be just yoinked from people. They have to either be handed over willingly or won through combat.

Tags: X

PJO AU

Easy to guess. Percy Jackson AU. All the Miracuclass are demigods. 

Tags: X

Animal Attraction

A side effect of the Miraculous is that it attracts the creature it represents. Shenanigans ensue. 

Tags: X

Alright fuck it, I’m bored and I saw someone say Omega was a bland character but it was on a 5 month old Reddit post so I therefore could not bring myself to comment on it. So fuck it here’s an Omega character analysis type thing.

Omega is not a simple, violent, emotionless, metal husk like a lot of people think he is, he certainly has less character than Gamma but that’s another topic.

Truthfully, yes, Omega’s personality is largely centered around his absolute bloodlust. But even that has more character to it than just violence. In the games it’s not just violence for violence, it’s an anger fueled vengeance quest against his creator and everything he’s made. The Archie comics actually made his thirst for blood even better by making him more of a comic relief who practically fell in love with Blaze because of how dangerous her flames were. Not to mention that version of Omega has Gamma’s transferred memories and emotions.

Beyond that though, this point cannot be stated more with how much Sega denies it these day, Team Dark are friends! Yes, even Omega! Case in point, at the beginning of Heroes Omega sees his team mates as nothing more than a means to an end, they are there to help him find Eggman and destroy him, he even has a voice line in team battles after Shadow and Rouge die where he says “That’s a load off my back.”

However by the end of the game his views of them has clearly changed, which is evident from one scene at the end of Team Dark’s story. In the scene, Rouge and Omega find a room filled with Shadow androids, which Omega is preparing to destroy. Rouge breaks the news to him that Shadow is dead and is more than likely also an android, and instead of making any regard of Shadow’s status as a rebellious robot, he instead rationalizes it that the androids must be clones, and the original must be somewhere. He ends up being right but in the moment it comes across both as a sort of comfort to Rouge and a reasoning for him to not have to destroy Shadow, because he sees him as a friend.

Omega is only in two missions in Shadow the Hedgehog, but he’s involved in the plot line of Shadow learning and coming to terms with the fact he’s an android, which ends up being a lie anyway. The very first thing he asks Shadow is “Are you the original.” He wants to destroy the androids, but he doesn’t want to risk hurting his friend. And even when Omega does find out Shadow is one of Eggman’s creations he doesn’t destroy him.

And finally what I think is Omega’s best characterization, ironically is comes from Sonic ‘06. The very first thing Omega does, upon learning Shadow is in trouble, is go into standby mode for well over a hundred years to essentially brute force time travel and save him. People can say he did this because it was a mission from Rouge, but no, Omega is not one to just blindly take orders, especially not ones that would directly impede his destruction of the Eggman Empire. He only does this because it was a request from a friend to save another friend. But my absolute favorite Omega scene comes from when Mephiles reveals that, years from now, Omega will defeat Shadow and seal him away. Omega doesn’t just continue shooting Mephiles, he takes time to think, and then in a fit of rage switches to his machine guns and rips Mephiles a new one. After Mephiles is gone, Omega shows the most emotion ever even with his monotone voice, by seeming genuinely upset as he breaks the news to Shadow. Hell, even in the final story Omega shows sadness when everyone learns Sonic is dead.

If anyone tries to tell me Omega doesn’t care about Shadow and Rouge again I’ll scream.

There’s even something to be said about Omega as a foil to Gamma. Many people compare them as they’re both the red E-100 series robot turned friend, but they have little in common otherwise. Gamma goes down the sort of Iron Giant path. The gun that doesn’t want to be a gun. He goes on a quest to free his brothers from their prisons and even considers killing himself to free the bird inside before Beta does it for him. Omega meanwhile is the antithesis to everything Gamma was. Omega knows full well that he is a violent weapon, and he loves it. If the two ever met as allies, and not as enemies like in Archie, they still would not get along, their ideals oppose each other directly. And I think that is so interesting.

TLDR Omega is a fun character who actually has a personality and cares about his friends don’t @ me.

QnA: Zone Cop Briefing

Zally: Hello there everyone.  I’m Zally, Head of Communications for the Zone Cops.  Joining me today is our top officer Zonic...

Zonic: Hi there! Zally: And his protege, Zails. Zails: Uh, hello.  That’s a lot of people w-we’re talking too. Zally: The staff at Archie Sonic Online have received a lot of questions about Zones, Zone Travel, Time Travel, and several covering some combinations of these topics.  And so, they have asked us to give this briefing, to hopefully explain some of the basics about Zones and Time Travel, and with luck we’ll answer your questions as we do so. Just before we begin however, it’s important to say that, while what we will say today is the case for… hmm…. At least 9 out of 10 situations, there are several exceptions.  Zonic: Not to mention Nega and that Genesis Wave messing everything up… Zally: Ahem!  Going into all of them would take far too much time, so we’ll just say for now that ‘exceptions to these rules do exist’ and start the briefing. To begin, most Zones fall into two distinct types.  There are the True Zones, such as say the Prime Zone and the Sol Zone, complete universes in themselves.  Then there are the Pocket Zones, which have limited internal dimensions, can often be found within a True Zone, and can also be disrupted by tremendous emissions of energy.  The Special Zone, formally the Zone of Silence, was one such Zone, as was the Pocket Zone destroyed when Super Sonic and Hyper Knuckles from the Prime Zone fought. There are multiple ways that Pocket Zones can be created, natural and artificial.  But for True Zones, they are only created when a Triggering Event occurs in the Prime Zone.  Other Zones cannot split to form new Zones.  It might help to think of the Multiverse almost like a tree, with the Prime Zone as the trunk, and other Zones the branches growing from it. Triggering Events have a few requirements.  There has to be a number of likely possible outcomes.  And the different outcomes must have fundamentally different effects on the future of the Prime Zone.  For example, Prime Sonic choosing how many chilli-dogs to eat might have several different likely outcomes, but none would result in any fundamental change, so it would not be a Triggering Event.  In the opposite way, Prime Robotnik debating whether to use the Robotizer certainly had a massive effect on the events in the Prime Zone, but the chances of him choosing to not use the device were so slim, no new Zone was created. A Triggering Event need not be a single decision made by one person.  It could be several smaller decisions made by a group of people that nevertheless results in a different outcome.  It could even be the results of a natural occurrence.  When life was reforming after the Gene Bomb in the Prime Zone, there were so many different directions it could take, that this is where the vast majority of Zones were created.  Numerous Zones were also created when the Prime Zone first formed, some with wildly different laws of physics. When a new Zone is created, it is completely duplicated.  The entire timeline is copied, not just from the Triggering Event.  Though on that subject, the passage of time can be different between Zones.  Time runs faster in some Zones compared to the Prime Zone, such as the Zone Robo-Robotnik hailed from.  In some, it runs slower, such as in the Twilight Cage.  And in others, it can run at the same rate as the Prime Zone, but the point where the Prime Zone and the other Zone meets are at different points in their timelines. That covers the creation of Zones.  So moving onto Zone Cop operations, I’ll turn to Zonic. Zonic: Thanks Zal… uh, Zally.  As I’m sure most of you are aware, the Zone Cops monitor activity within the different Zones, as well as travel between the different Zones.  Different units of Cops have different roles, from general monitoring, to patrolling the Cosmic Interstate, to protecting against threats to the Multiverse.  For me, my job means I’m called in when direct action is required in another Zone. This is… a difficult job.  You could well ask why don’t we help out whenever something bad happens in the other Zone.  Truth is, that could cause a horrible imbalance, and lead to more disastrous consequences further down the line.  It’s not easy sitting on the sidelines, but sometimes we have to. But then, there are times we do need to act to make sure a greater threat doesn’t rise.  You’re likely aware of some of those times, as that’s when I’ve brought in Prime Sonic.  Why him?  Well, the Prime Zone is only a step away from all the other Zones, even wildly different ones like the Sol Zone.  And Prime Sonic is, in all honesty, one of the most capable Sonic’s in the multiverse, so I know it’s in good hands.  We could send in a squad of Zone Cops instead, but one Sonic can do, with very little disruption, what it would take several squads to accomplish. This has all gotten a lot harder recently, with Eggman Naga swarming over the Multiverse causing massive disruption, and the recent damage inflicted to Zone Jails. Alright, there’s a bit more to cover, but that’s for the end.  Right now, I’m gonna turn to Zails.  He’s still training to be a Zone Cop, but as one of his training projects, he’s done a Case Study on Silver the Hedgehog, so he’s here to talk about time travel.  Take it away Zails. Zails: Uh… Alright *deep breath* You can do this Zails.  Silver the Hedgehog is a time travelling Hedgehog… That’s redundant, isn’t it?  Uh… so… Silver has travelled through time, but there have also been incidents where he’s interacted with different Zones aside from the Prime Zone, known as Light Mobius and Dark Mobius. So, er, Time Travel and Zone Travel do share many similar principles.  Travelling between Zones is easy, as No-Zone and the Cosmic Highway connect all Zones.  Even travel that doesn’t use the Cosmic Interstate, such as Star Posts, tend to make use of that connection.  Time Travel is much harder, though it is easier to travel forwards, going with the flow of time, than backwards, working against it. This means it’s very easy, if you don’t know what you’re doing, to accidently move between Zones when Time Travelling.  Er… *checks notes* Jani-ca from Dark Mobius did this, accidentally travelling to the Prime Zone when she went back in time.  It’s easier to do when you are going back before the Triggering Event that created your Zone. And so, if you know how to Time Travel, it is much easier to travel to other Zones. Which leads us, uh, to the next question.  ‘Does time travel create new Zones?’  The answer is ‘it depends’.  Keep in mind, looking at Silver, given the chance it was unlikely he wouldn’t go back in time.  And when he found out about Mecha-Sally, also unlikely that he wouldn’t stop her.  So his actions changed the future, without creating a new Zone. On the other hand, King Sonic of Light Mobius.  Once, it was the future of the Prime Zone.  But when he went back in time, his actions created such wild changes, that Light Mobius became its own Zone, and the future of the Prime Zone was shifted away from it. Which then leads to a bigger question.  *takes a breath, checks notes*  ‘If you change the future, doesn’t that create a paradox where you wouldn’t have gone back to change the future?’  Okay, when someone goes back in time, they become part of the past, as if they always existed there.  So when they return to the future, they’ll still remember their old life, even if their actions have created massive changes.  We think.  This is partially theoretical, based on observing Silver.  There is one last question: ‘Why are some things from Light Mobius seen in Silver’s future?’  This is because of the way Light Mobius was created.  There is still a connection between Light Mobius and the Prime Zone.  Sometimes, things leak through.  Maybe just objects, but at some point, even Tikchaos, or part of her, was able to slip into the Prime Zone. *looks over notes* Uh… that’s everything from me, so, er, back to Zonic. Zonic: Thanks Zails, you did great. *gives thumbs up*  Our last topic is on Zone Numbering and Naming.  There are countless Zones, and each is given an ‘official numbering’, based on the date and exact time of its creation.  These numbers, as you might expect, are VERY long.  So instead, we usually refer to the ‘Case File’ Numbers.  These numbers, after the first 100, are based on when we start to take an interest in that Zone.  The first 100, well, we were trying to rate the Zone’s by importance.  We really messed that up! *chuckles*  For naming a Zone, that honour is given to the team who first open a Case File on a Zone.  *communicator beeps* Oh, that’s right!  Just one other thing to note.  We've heard rumours of another 'Sonic Prime'.  We don't know any details yet, but we're investigating.

Okay, I think that is everything.  Zally? Zally: Yes, we’ve just about covered everything.  I hope we’ve managed to answer most of your questions.  But before we leave, we’ve had numerous requests for knowing the name and designation of a number of Zones.  So we’ll leave those with you. Thank you so much for listening.  Now, here’s the list:

#001 – The Prime Zone – This is the zone where all others originate from, where Sonic and the heroes of Mobius fight against the tyranny of Dr. Eggman.

#017 – The Stealth Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where the superhero Stealth the Hedgehog fights villains such as Professor Egg.

#059 - The Serene Zone - This Zone features a Mobius where Julian Kintobor never managed to gain control after the Great War, and the Kingdom of Acorn stood strong.

#100 – The No Zone – Our Zone, from here the Zone Cops organization strives to maintain order across the multiverse.

#109 – The Legal Zone – This zone features a Mobius with a city called Litigopolis where law and order are the way of the world.

#196 – The Freedom Zone – This zone features a planet Freedom which is divided into two realms – the Land of the Sky and the Land of Darkness.

#199 – The Underground Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Prince Sonic and his siblings, Manic and Sonia, seek to find their mother, Queen Aleena, and become the Council of Four to overthrow the dictator Dr. Robotnik.

#220 – The Lightning Zone – This zone features a planet Earth where Sonic has traveled and been adopted by a police officer named Tom and stops the plans of the overzealous scientist Dr. Robotnik.

#372 – The Anti Zone – This zone is a mirror reflection of the Prime Zone, where our heroes are bad and their villains are good.

#403 – The Earth X Zone – This zone features a planet Earth with a city called Station Square. It is the home of Chris Thorndyke and his friends and has been protected by Sonic the Hedgehog.

#492 – The Image Zone – This zone features a planet Earth that is protected by heroes such as Spawn, Savage Dragon, and The Maxx.

#496 – The Dark Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius nearly purged of life from a corrupted Knuckles the Echidna who became Enerjak.

#589 – The Discovery Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius resembling a gritty film noir.

#593 – The Boomer Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonic and the Freedom Fighters; Johnny Lightfoot, Porker Lewis, Tails, and Amy, face various foes including the evil Dr. Robotnik.

#623 – The Real Zone – This zone features a planet Earth where Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game character.

#905 – The Mobius X Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonic and his friends call home. Sonic and his friends have been transported off this planet into the X Earth Zone.

#1054 – The Kaiju Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Dr. J Kintobor uses a super sized mecha, Giant Robotno, to fight enlarged mutants.

#1072 – The Sentai Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonicman and the Chaos Ninja Team fight the villainous Sallactor.

#1084 – The Cyborg Zone – This zone is home to a planet Mobius that has been left a ruined wasteland thanks to it’s Dr. Robotnik. This is the zone from which Dr. Eggman hails.

#1100 – Maginary Zone – This zone is where the dreams of all other zones are born from. It is entered via the Precioustone and is guarded by the powerful Illumina.

#1103 – The Light Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius very similar to our heroes’ world. King Sonic and Queen Sally rule the Kingdom of Acorn in this zone.

#1105 – The Sol Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Blaze the Cat guards the Jewelled Sceptre and the Sol Emeralds.

#1114 – The Boom Zone – This zone features a planet Mobius where Sonic and his friends live on Bygone Island and deal with regular shenanigans from Dr. Eggman.

#1241 – The Archie Zone – This zone features a planet Earth with a town called Riverdale. It is the home of Archie Andrews, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Josie and the Pussycats amongst others.

#1291 – The Luna Zone – This zone features a Mobius that is protected by the pretty guardian Sally Moon and her crush Tuxedo Knux.

#4235 – The Galaxy Zone – This zone is the home of the Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy, a group that patrols their universe facing cosmic threats such as Robolactus.

(A.N. Given how he was just humiliated, it makes sense. If course, his unknown (and maybe lacking, for all we know) resilience to damage from long term submersion in water and corrosion from salt in the air do come to mind for me…)

(Sonic just grabbed the Phantom Ruby and opted to do it himself. It worked like a charm. Thus, the process of what was done to Vee was able to be undone, with the guidance of Tails, of course. On the side, some of the heroes where confused by Shadow, and wondered if he was a rouge from one of the other factions. He glared at them in response, before Knuckles made it clear he wasn’t. Meanwhile, Victor and Mephiles where frustrated at how they didn’t get to find many Chaos Emeralds, with only a few not in the hands of their enemies. Furthermore, unknown to Victor…Mephiles had secret intentions, set to manipulate Victor to gain his true goal. Elsewhere, Nix’s continued thoughts on her true nature refused to stop, causing effectively a multi-way argument in her head. The virus was displeased with this, as if it preyed upon incomplete, poorly made plans before and now, with Nix being…conflicted with things, to put it lightly, it couldn’t do so at the moment. Furthermore, Nix’s empire was slowly showing more hidden weaknesses that other factions exploited like crazy. Elsewhere still, Eggman was obviously less than pleased with loosing his grip on Vee…but he was already prepared with many more things to send out, old and new. In particular, he was hoping to capture some mechanical entities to study and make his own versions of, already preparing a special team of robots to capture one of each type he wanted, and all he needed was a random specimen for his plans)

(Note: Due to his nature as a hybrid and his nanotechnology, he is incredibly durable to a ton of things. And I'm trying to make my version of Shadow less like a complete jerk in the recent games but kind of like a loner vigilante who actually enjoys the company of his friends coworkers and also has a less gravely voice)

*The Hard Boiled Heavies had managed to capture an Abomiton, an interncion cube, a vehicon, and a murder husk*

Eggman: Excellent work you five, I knew I could count on you~!

(Meanwhile with the heroes)

*Vee had woken up and hugged and apologize profusely to her future sister while Camila was currently processing currently everything that's happened so far*

Eda, after noticing a certain mundie: Hey, you're Molly and Lorelai's dad right? (Martin, gullible as ever: Yeah! you know about our toy store?) Awesome, I've wanted to do this since I first heard of you! *She then straight up socked him in the face, causing a ton of people to laugh at the surprise* That's for forcing your children to work for you and for forcing your youngest into doing your damn taxes!!

Serial designation J, knowing how brutal taxes are: Can I kill him~?

(Meanwhile with Nix)

《◇》: If you are not going to cooperate then we'll have do things "my" way...*It had then taken control of her body* Ah...Much better~...

《◇》, to the hacked hybrid drone: Begin creating the new Death Sentinels...Now. *They had saluted and got to work on creating them and a special one designed to be a mechsuit*

(Meanwhile again with The Grave Walkers)

*Victor Hex had finished creating a strange summoning circle*

Victor Hex, to the trapped spirit: Are you sure this particular demon won't betray us?

Mephilis: Trust me, I know it personally...*Victor had sooned summoned the demonic being, revealing itself to be a clone of sonic with pure black eyes and red pin prick pupils and it seemed to be bleeding from its eyes* Exe, I require you to steal the emeralds from The Survivor's Rebellion and The Defectors and bring them to us...

*It nodded its head and sped off while cackling madly*

The beach trope: another one that often comes early in Sonic's quests, and this one's no different, though expectations are very mildly subverted by making it the third zone instead of the very first. (Careful Crusher, you had the audience on the edge of their seats there.)

More importantly though, it's possibly one of the most famous and celebrated level tropes in the series. Emerald Coast is undeniably iconic, Seaside Hill is just as iconic while also merging with the Green Hill setup, and Wave Ocean... is a poor man's Emerald Coast, but it's probably better than most levels in '06 by comparison, so it too is iconic, from a certain point of view. We can't forget Jungle Joyride either, even if that's mostly because we got to see the frame rate die before our very eyes.

So how do you make your interpretation stand out? How do you prevent having a Wave Ocean 2: Wave Oceaner on your hands? Well, it's actually very simple...

Creating Zone 3: Coastline Resort

3-1: Shining Shore

Remember when I said that sometimes all it takes to make an environment feel different is the time of day, or a change in weather? This is one of the first major examples of putting that philosophy into action, as compared to previous beach levels, which were usually content with taking place in the bright sunny daytime, this one takes place under a pleasant purple sunset.

This of course contrasting heavily with not only the blue sea, but also the sands, which although given a mild touch of purple courtesy of the sunset, cannot fully hide their natural shade of white.

And of course, waterfalls.

We can’t forget the waterfalls.

Despite being a true blue beach level first and foremost, there are also a few hints of plaza, further setting it apart from the Emerald Coasts and Not-Emerald Coasts of old times past. This aesthetic in particular is based heavily on the seaside town of Whitby.

No doubt Sonic would admire this place, at least when he's not forced to go deep underwater. Maybe when the adventure is over, he can come back here and have a relaxing moment with... someone. Dunno who though. I doubt Eggman would be interested, and not just because he's actually in-character. Oh well, plenty more horses in the sea.

Speaking of, what about the underwater sections? Shining Shore does have them after all, in full 3D, as opposed to making them bottomless pits in disguise. Unsurprisingly, everything's a lot more blue than purple down there, gorgeously so, but the coral reef provides its own variety of colour.

The local fishies don't seem to mind you being in their line of sight... nor do the Badniks, but probably for a different reason.

Since we're three zones in, you might have noticed by now that each zone, regardless of their overall colour scheme, has one element in at least one act that goes all rainbow with the colours than everything else. You had the flower patches in Gleaming Meadows, you had the wood barriers in Tricky Tropics with their rusting paint jobs, and now we have the coral reef in Coastline Resort... any reason for this?

Alas, the answer is a mundane one: it's just a little way of tying all the zones in Viridonia together. As this quest revolves around the mystery of the elusive Ethereal Zone, this seemingly inconsequential aspect is a way of ensuring that it will always remain at the back of your mind. It may be relatively more subtle and easy to miss than, say, a giant moon glaring down angrily at you no matter where you go on the map as it literally comes closer and closer to killing everyone, but the intention is effectively the same: the central meat of the setting and story is always present in some form, however indirect, even if the characters aren't currently discussing it.

Also, shout out to the lighthouse that helped our heroes by inadvertently blinding the pursuing mechanized orca.

You really put a dent in Heavy Gunner's strategy.

First Section (calm): Lagoony Tunes (Crash Bandicoot 2: N-Tranced) Peach Field (Mario Hoops 3-on-3)

Second Section (adrenaline): Lost Palace (Team Sonic Racing) Hang Eight (Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back)

3-2: Crazy Rapids

Being a whimsical water park, made even more whimsical to fit the video game format, this one explains itself in a lot of areas. But let's go over the finer details anyway, shall we?

As mentioned in the fic, the park has been made to fit in seamlessly with the ruins present in the area, thus creating a Good Future-esque wonderland of nature and technology in harmony. For an idea of how the ruins aesthetic would work, imagine something akin to the Sunset Beach Resort in Jamaica, particularly the long bridge and archways you can see in both of these shots:

Kind of has an Aquatic Ruin vibe, doesn’t it?

Even then, that only applies to half of the architecture, as the other half breaks up the yellow with some white, reminiscent of a certain OTHER watery location in Sonic's past...

We also have the giant fountains sprinkled around the place. There are two types of fountains to be exact, both of which may seem familiar to the attentive eye...

The difference? They're larger. MUCH larger. As in, you can actually platform your way on and around them.

As for what’s inside? It's exactly how you'd imagine it to be, albeit exaggerated even further to befit a Sonic level.

And in-tune with the beachside mood, the Chao Garden found nearby would take a page from the one in Station Square...

...with a little extra flavor of this...

...complete with miniature water slides and the like for the adorable inhabitants... the inhabitants that Eggman currently has an unexplained interest in. How do the Chao factor into his latest plan?

Heh heh, only I and those I've discussed it with in PMs know that for now.

First Section (outside): Windy and Ripply (Sonic Adventure) Ocean Palace (Sonic Heroes)

Second Section (inside): Data Select (Tee Lopes) Wii Shop Channel - Mii Channel (Super Smash Bros. Wii U)

3-3: Aquarium Gallery

Disappointed that Crazy Rapids lacked that smooth red-on-blue contrast that Aquarium Park from Sonic Colours had? Well we can’t all be in the same league as Eggman sadly, but fear not, for the similarly named Aquarium Gallery gets right in on the action, combining red walls and an overall upper class aesthetic...

...with the expected quantities of shimmering blue that comes with the aquarium setting. And with glass tanks of great size, comes great fishies to go along with them.

The black and white checkered floor would also be a must. It's a Sonic game, we gotta have a checkered pattern somewhere. It just works. /ToddCrusher

Don't worry about the living conditions for the fish here, by the way. Eggman mechanizing them aside, the people who work at the park - and those who visit it - make sure to treat all the marine life with the utmost respect and kindness. Just a shame that they're apparently not so willing to lend that same understanding to Trudy... but it does provide an early hint that despite the few genuine bad apples who are outright antagonistic towards Trudy, most of the folks ignorant to her condition are exactly that at worst: ignorant. Meaning, despite first impressions, most of them are not bad people at heart, and with a little help and persistence, it's not entirely impossible that they can eventually learn to understand and sympathise with Trudy's situation.

In other words, they have more dimension than the background characters in Sonic Boom, where they're all mostly a bunch of one-note arseholes with little redeeming qualities and don’t deserve to be saved by Sonic in the slightest.

Anyhow, eventually, after a trip through one of those sweet underwater tunnels...

...we find ourselves in the cavern area, where red is exchanged for turquoise, and there are reflected ripples galore. Since the Marble Caves in Chile already look halfway to being a Sonic level due to its unique formations, that's the best comparison I can make here.

Too blue, you might say? Well, the sunset from earlier would be poking through the holes in the wall, adding some warm to the cool once more... the giant seashells everywhere help spice it up too.

Like these, but bigger than Ken Penders’ ego.

If that’s even possible...

First Section (aquarium): Rooftop Run - Night (Sonic Unleashed) Coconut Mall (Mario Kart Wii)

Second Section (caves): Sea Shell Shenanigans (Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex) Dire, Dire Docks (Super Mario 64)

3-4: Hydro Plant

The outside structure for this place is shaped like a giant wall, which predictably brings the Hoover Dam to mind:

And that applies inside as well, at least initially. The similarities indoors come mostly from the generators, as well as the sheer size of the place.

Since it's considerably rustier however, we have darker lighting in place, with the sunset outside preventing it from being too dark inside. There’s also a copious amount of daring graffiti caused by hoodlums... or maybe Eggman, since he'd probably be the type to do that to any property that isn't his. Some of this graffiti would look very impressive...

While others would... uh...

Look, they tried, okay?

With all this graffiti, that means there’s opportunity for a generous helping of cheeky references to previous installments if you’re able to find them... and if you can understand them. To this day, the typo in “make belif reborn” has not been corrected. Absolutely disgusting.

But as the fic dictates, the further you go on, the tidier and more high tech it becomes. Simply put, this section would remind one of Aquatic Base from '06, mainly because I've always liked the idea despite its characteristically terrible level design, so why not salvage the concept and give it a second chance?

With some added flavor to make it less monotone, mind you. Like actual water sections, some green lights to break up all the blue, giant crab robot threatening to kill you... the works.

Sonic may be glad that this zone is behind him, but little does he know, it's not the only zone with intense water action around these parts. Luckily for him, that won't be for a while, so he can breathe a sigh of relief for now. Still, we know Eggman has other ways of keeping the gang on their toes...

First Section (rusty): Wily Stage 2 (Mega Man 7) Pokey Pipes (Donkey Kong Country 3)

Second Section (high tech): Ocean Base Act 1 (Sonic Advance 3) H2 Oh No (Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex)

The Weekend Warrior 5/7/21: WRATH OF MAN, HERE TODAY, THE UNTHINKABLE, MONSTER, THE WATER MAN and More

It’s a new month, and I guess going by previous years pre-COVID, this weekend would normally be the start of summer. This year, we’re instead getting a summer with a lot of movies that would normally be dumped into April or February or some other uneventful month. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t or won’t be any good movies, but really, there’s nothing that feels like a summer movie until A Quiet Place Part II and Disney’s Cruella open on Memorial Day weekend.

There’s been lots of great developments, though, including the Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn reopening this Friday and then in a few short weeks, theaters may be allowed to be open with no capacity rules although social distancing and masks will probably still be in place. Believe me, it’s been a confusing week as the city that got used to being on the backburner when it comes to reopenings, especially with movie theaters, is now dealing with arguing politicians competing to see who could throw open the then most doors fastest. It’s actually pretty embarrassing.

That aside, this week’s The Weekend Warrior column is brought to you by the new album “Coral Island” from Liverpool band The Coral, which I’ve decided to listen to on loop until I finish this column, because it’s taking me so long to get through it. (Eventually, I switched to Teenage Fanclub’s “Endless Arcade,” since I hadn’t had a chance to listen to it yet…. And to an old standby, Royal Blood, with their own excellent new album, “Typhoons.” At least the record business seems to know it’s the summer!)

Before we get to this week’s new movies, a couple tidbits. First of all, I’m thrilled that my friends Larissa Lam and Baldwin Chiu’s documentary FAR EAST DEEP SOUTH can finally be seen by the entire world, or at least the United States. It debuted on PBS World Channel on Tuesday night as part of the “America ReFramed” series, but for the entire month of May until June 3, you can watch it On Demand HERE, and that is huge! (There will be other ways to see it that you can read about here.)

This is an amazing MUST-SEE doc that looks into the little-known Chinese communities that took root in Mississippi in the early 20th Century and how they became such a huge part of that area with their markets, also bonding with the African-American communities that were similarly dealing with racism from the typically white post-Civil War South. It’s not just a history lesson, and it’s an incredibly moving story about a family trying to find its roots in the most unexpected places. There was a good reason why the couple’s short “Finding Cleveland” won the Oxford Film Festival while I was on the jury that year, and Far East Deep South similarly won an award there last year after its World Premiere at Cinequest was almost scuppered by COVID. It’s amazing how much more relevant and important this film has become since I first saw it last year, since both Asians and African-Americans are dealing with serious racial issues, and this movie shows that more than anything, they should be working to boost each other rather than fighting. Do check it out On Demand this month if you get a chance!

Another musician making movies is Mr. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. I mentioned his documentary WHAT DRIVES US last week, but I actually only got to watch it on Thursday, and like his previous film Studio City and HBO mini-series, Sonic Highways, it’s a fantastic look at the music biz, this time through a variety of artists who began their careers by piling into vans and driving around the country. That is, except Lars Ulrich from Metallica, who mentions that the band was never so small or indie that they didn’t have a bus. But Grohl has used his vast connections to bring in a lot of great musicians including The Edge from U2, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and more, making this a very entertaining movie both for fans of the various bands but also live music fans in general. I gotta admit that as much as I loved What Drives Us, it did bring me down a bit since it’s been almost 14 months since I’ve seen any live music, and I really miss it. This is now streaming on The Coda Collection, which you can subscribe to through Amazon Prime Video.

Guy Ritchie is back with his latest movie, WRATH OF MAN (Miramax/MGM), which reunites him with Jason Statham for the first time since 2007’s Revolver, I believe. Statham plays the enigmatic Paul “H” Hill who works at cash truck company Fortico, responsible for moving hundreds of million dollars around Los Angeles each week. Fortico has recently been hit by a lethal robbery, and H’s team soon learn that there’s a lot more to their new coworker, who happens to be looking for revenge against the man who murdered his son.

(Unfortunately, reviews for the movie are embargoed until Thursday at 6pm, so I can’t tell you whether it’s any good or not. Until Thursday night. Sorry!)

But I will talk about the movie’s box office prospects, because why not? Ritchie’s last movie, The Gentlemen, opened in January 2020, during the “before times,” with $10.6 million, but that was more of a classic Ritchie ensemble crime-comedy. Wrath of Man is more of the type of movie Statham has been making over the past few years, a cross between a revenge thriller and a heist flick. In fact, Statham has done a pretty good job creating his own brand through a variety of action-thrillers as well as a number of franchises including “The Transporter” movies, “The Expendables,” and eventually joining the “Fast and the Furious” franchise as Deckard Shaw with Furious 7 in 2017. Statham then went off to make Hobbs and Shaw with Dwayne Johnson, which didn’t do bad with $174 million. Before that, Statham starred in The Meg, a summer shark attack movie that grossed $145 million. Statham going back to help his old mate i.e. the director that gave Statham his start is pretty huge.

But as I said earlier, those were all in the “before times” and with the box office the way it is, it’s hard to imagine that the exciting reunion of Statham and Ritchie can open with more than $10 million but maybe closer to $8 million, because MGM/UA just doesn’t have the marketing clout of a Warner Bros. or Universal. Even so, that should be enough to be #1 this weekend as both Mortal Kombat and Demon Slayer continue to fall away. Unfortunately, if the movie *is* any good -- and I can’t tell you one way or another -- then by the time reviews hit, people will already have other plans for the weekend than to go see the movie. So yeah, that’s pretty dumb on the part of MGM, huh?

UPDATE: MGM is putting the movie into 2,876 theaters and maybe I'm being overly optimistic, because, as you'll read below, the movie IS pretty good and reviews have remained positive with the American reviews rolling in last night, still at 70% Fresh at this writing. Maybe that'll help the movie do a little better, maybe as much as $9 million, although I'll probably owe MGM an apology if it cracks $10 million, and I don't think it will.

Mini-Review: If you’ve seen the trailer for Wrath of Man, you might go into Guy Ritchie’s latest thinking you know what to expect, because it’s sure being sold as another typical Jason Statham revenge thriller. Don’t be fooled by the marketing, the movie really is Ritchie’s chance to make his own version of Heat, an L.A. heist movie that owes as much to Rashomon as another movie being released this week.

Wrath of Man begins with the heist of an armored truck that turns deadly with the wanton murder of a couple guards. From there, you might think we know where things are going when Statham’s “H” company whose truck was hit, and on his first day, he stops a similar heist by killing the truck’s attackers. H is immediately the hero of the company, although he still has quite a few suspicious coworkers and the feeling is quite mutual. Ritchie’s film then slips into the second episodic chapter which goes back five months to that initial heist where we learn that Statham’s son was killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I don’t want to go too much deeper into how the movie and story play out, because like The Gentlemen and some of Ritchie’s more intricate films, there’s a lot that purposefully isn’t made very apparent at the beginning. To many, this movie will be seen as even more macho than most of Ritchie's films, to the point where even the only woman guard, Dana, being just as macho as the men. As the movie begins, there’s a lot of joke-cracking and crotch-grabbing, all while Statham’s character silently observes and only acts when necessary.

The film’s shift to more of a classic Ritchie ensemble does slowly take place, but by the third chapter, it shifts to the group perpetrating the cash truck heists with an “inside person,” taking the movie to yet another place that makes it more obvious that this is Ritchie’s attempt at delving into the L.A. heist genre that other filmmakers have done so well.

Oddly, Statham doesn’t have too many lines, acting almost like a Terminator in his determination to right wrongs, but as always, Ritchie puts together a fantastic ensemble cast including a number of great American character actors who we rarely get to see in such great roles. I was particularly impressed with Jeffrey Donovan, who has appeared in a number of otherwise forgettable crime films this past year. The same can be said for Holt McCallany as H’s truck driver “Bullet,” but Ritchie also cast the likes of Josh Hartnett and Scott Eastwood in smaller yet still significant supporting roles, all of whom become more interesting as you start figuring out who all the players are.

Like I said, the movie is fairly macho and the few women play very small roles, but it’s how things are set-up in the first few acts to then change course and build to an absolutely amazing third act that will undoubtedly bear comparisons to Heat. And yet Wrath of Man (which is actually based on a little-seen French crime-thriller) does branch away from some of Ritchie’s standards, first of all by being far darker and even more violent with any of the wisecracking humor that pervades a lot of Ritchie’s work to counterbalance such violence disappearing once the flashbacks begin. It’s all punctuated by a fantastically tense score by Christopher Benstead, which seems a bit much at first but eventually settles into the perfect pace and tone for the action.

Despite disappearing for a good chunk of the movie, Statham is still great, basically killing everyone as his characters are wont to do, but watching how all of the different ideas come together leads to such a satisfying conclusion that one hopes those who might be put off, thinking they know where it's going due to the somewhat pathetic and obvious marketing will give it a chance to see how Ritchie has changed gears as effortlessly as he did with Aladdin a few years back.

Rating: 7.5/10

After even a longer time since he directed a movie, Billy Crystal once again takes the helm for HERE TODAY (Sony/Stage6), a movie in which he plays comedy writer Charlie Burns, whose chance encounter with Tiffany Haddish’s lounge singer, Emma Payge, leads to an unlikely friendship, as he struggles with early stage dementia.

I’ve known about this movie for over a year now, and I was pretty excited to finally get to see it, since I was such a fan of the other movies Crystal has directed, 1992’s Mr. Saturday Night and 1995’s Forget Paris, and it’s just amazing to me that he hasn’t directed a movie since.

At first, it seems like it’s the type of meet-cute we’ve seen so much in Crystal’s past filmography, but his pairing with Haddish isn’t something that might work on paper, but in fact, their comic styles mesh so perfectly together that it’s amazing that no one thought of putting them together before.

Crystal wrote the film with comic Alan Zweibel, who adapted it from his own short story “The Prize,” which refers to Haddish’s character winning Charlie in an auction for a lunch. Actually, her ex won the lunch, and she decided to use it because… free lunch! It’s a pretty simple set-up but one that allows the filmmakers to explore some of the odder things that happen in life.

Much of the movie’s humor plays upon the differences between the two characters, and how unexpected their friendship is. I can totally relate, because I have a lot of good long-time friends who most people might never expect us to be friends, but Crystal, Zweibel and Haddish pick up on that and create a movie that’s very funny but has enough other characters around the duo toa allow their characters to show how they’re just really nice people. We see that with how Charlie takes a young writer at his late night show under his wing or how Emma livens up the bat mitzvah of Charlie’s granddaughter. Oh yeah, and Haddish sings. She actually has a number of great performances in the movie, and seriously, anyone who watches this movie is gonna wanna see a smart filmmaker put Haddish in a musical immediately.

The film also acts as a truly touching tribute to Crystal’s friend, the late Robin WIlliams, who was diagnosed with the exact same type of dementia after his suicide death, and knowing that fact, makes the film even more poignant. More importantly, it doesn’t use Charlie’s condition for laughs, and for that alone, I feel like this is ten times better than that overrated Oscar winner The Father.

Here Today’s biggest problems come in the third act when it feels like the movie is starting to over-extend its welcome, even going into somewhat expected places, but it recovers from that rough third act to land a really nice ending. Crystal has always proven himself to be a really strong mainstream filmmaker (ala Rob Reiner and others) who makes crowd-pleasing movies, and it’s so nice seeing him going behind the camera for a movie that’s obviously very personal but also highly relatable.

As far as box office, I certainly have high hopes that Crystal still has an older audience of fans who might want to see him on the big screen again. I’m just not sure if this will be in more than 1,000 theaters, and though I’ve seen quite a bit of marketing, I just haven’t seen Crystal or Haddish do nearly as much in terms of getting out there that would be necessary to reach an audience that might want to venture out into movie theaters to see the movie vs. waiting until it’s on cable/streaming. There’s also Tiffany Haddish’ fanbase, and there could be some benefit for the movie coming out the same week as her new CBS show “Kids Say the Darndest Things.”

I’d love to be optimistic with this making $4 to 5 million but it’s probably more likely to be closer to $3 million especially with capacity limits still in place for most theaters and the audience generally being older.

UPDATE: Maybe I was a little too optimistic, because I enjoyed the movie so much and it will probably be closer to $1 or 1.5 million since other reviews aren't as great.

Next, we have two movies finally being released many years after their festival premieres…

The Swedish apocalyptic thriller THE UNTHINKABLE (Magnet), directed by Victor Danell, is finally being released after playing genre fests in 2018 and 2019. It stars Christoffer Nordenrot as Alex, a young piano virtuoso who ran away from home due to his abusive father Bjorn (Jesper Barkselius). Years later, he returns home for his mother’s funeral after she’s killed in a terrorist attack on Sweden. At the same, there’s a virus that’s erasing people’s memories, but Alex is still in love with Anna (Lisa Henni), the girl he had a crush on when he left, and the three of them will have to help each other face all the horrible things hitting their home at the same time.

As I was watching this movie, a lot of it felt eerily familiar to me, but I couldn’t figure out why. The more I watched it, the more I realized that I actually HAD seen the movie before. Sure enough, I saw this movie over two years ago at the “What the Fest?!” in New York two years ago, and I honestly don’t remember loving it. Still, I decided to give it a fresh look, hoping to get more out of it on second viewing.

Some of the same things bothered me on this second viewing, because it’s really hard to figure out exactly what is going on and whether the horrific events are natural, man-made or a combination of both. For some time, we get so mired into Alex’s lame relationship with Anna, and when he returns home, his conspiracy theory-driven father is busy protecting a bunker that’s being invaded by foreign military troops he thinks are Russians. We cut between these two disparate scenarios while sometimes returning to the capital of Sweden and throwing in a few big set pieces. It’s so disjointed that you feel like you’re watching a lot of random unrelated events, maybe a bit like last week’s About Endlessness -- maybe it’s a Swedish thing?

There are aspects of The Unthinkable that are quite commendable, particularly those action moments and how the mystery about what is happening develops as the film goes along. Eventually, the film does find a more consistent pace, and things start becoming a little clearer, which makes the final act better than much of what we’ve watched earlier. Even so, it’s still quite annoying how long it takes to figure out what’s going on, even on a second viewing, and for most people, that may already be far too frustrating to get through it.

Hitting Netflix on Friday over THREE years after it premiered at Sundance is music video director Anthony Mandler’s directorial debut, MONSTER (Netflix), based on the novel by Walter Dean Myers. It stars Kelvin Harrison Jr. (Waves) as Steve Harmon, a 17-year-old film student put in jail, accused of murder in a bodega robbery. His defense lawyer (Jennifer Ehle) is trying to help him be released, but he’s fighting against the odds of a judicial system that sees him as a “monster” because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I have to be honest that I did go to see this at Sundance the week it premiered, and for whatever reason, I just wasn’t feeling it, so I only really caught about twenty minutes of it. Watching it now with more time and a little less weary than I usually am towards the end of Sundance, I was able to appreciate Monster more for what it is. On the surface, it’s just about Steve’s case and how what really happened unfolds before our eyes and we learn more about those around Steve and how their influence may have pulled a smart and studious young man into the criminal world that now has him in prison with much more violent life-long criminals.

We already knew that Harrison was a great actor, but Monster shows us that he was already on his way to greatness with this movie that for whatever reason got buried even as it dealt with issues that have been in the headlines almost every day since this debuted.

Mandler takes an interesting approach, both non-linear and also with blatant nods to Kurosawa’s Rashomon, which is even cited by Steve’s teacher, played by Tim Blake Nelson. Jeffrey Wright and Jennifer Hudson are decent as Steve’s parents, but they’re generally smaller and non-showy roles compared to the moments between Harrison and Ehle. Much of the film takes place in the courtroom with flashbacks showing what happened through the viewpoint of whomever is on the stand, which eventually includes Steve himself.

The way Mandler handles the material may lean more on the artiness rather than something more mainstream -- Michael B. Jordan’s Just Mercy comes to mind -- but it’s just as powerful in showing how someone like Steve can be othered by society into being a criminal. Sure, there have been other handlings of this sort of material that I thought were better films, but if you know anyone who has ever had dealings with the “justice” system and know how unfair and horrible it can be even to the innocent, then Monster will certainly strike a chord.

Also hitting Netflix this week is the new series based on Mark Millar and Frank Quitely‘s comic books, JUPITER’S LEGACY (Netflix), another kind of twist on the superhero genre ala Amazon Prime Video’s series based on Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson’s The Boys. I love the comics, and I can’t wait to finally get around to seeing Netflix’s first adaptation of a Millarworld property.

David Oyelowo makes his directorial debut with THE WATER MAN (RLJEfilms), a movie about a young boy named Gunner Boon (Lonnie Chavis), whose mother (Rosario Dawson) is battling leukemia. In an effort to cure her, Guner goes off on a journey along with a teenage girl named Jo (Amiah Miller) to find the mythical Water Man, who can provide them with a magic token that might save Gunner’s mother’s life.

I’ve interviewed Oyelowo a few times before, and I really like him a lot, so I had really high hopes for him as a director since I feel he’s just a terrific actor. Unfortunately, the material here is just not strong enough that I think even a far more experienced filmmaker could make something out of it.

Set in PIne Hills, we meet Gunner, a bright kid who loves drawing comic books, but he has trouble connecting with his father (Oyelowo), so when he has an idea that might help his sick mother, he goes off with a head-strong teen named Jo, in search of the Water Man, a summertime adventure permeated by a lot of very bad low-budget visual effects.

Honestly, I’m not even sure where to begin with where The Water Man falters, because Oyelowo has such a great cast, including Alfred Molina and Maria Bello in tiny parts. The story is a problem, as is the writing, which is just so bland and dull, that there’s really nothing in Oyelowo’s direction or any of the performances that really can salvage it. Neither of the child actors have much charisma or personality, and even Dawson’s performance, which would normally be a showstopper is repeatedly lessened by the constant cutting back to the kids. (And as someone who beat leukemia myself, I’m never a fan when cancer is depicted in movies as a death sentence rather than just another hurdle in life that needs to be overcome.)

Oyelowo himself may be one of his generation’s best actors, but he brings so little to the role of Gunner’s father, maybe to not take away from his younger star, but it hurts that he doesn’t do more to create a stronger conflict by making the character more horrible to drive Gunner away. The actual Water Man doesn’t improve things when he finally shows up, essentially talking like a pirate but not even remotely paying off.

Honestly, The Water Man seems like such a misguided venture -- Exec. Produced by Oprah, no less -- and it might have been totally forgettable if the characters didn’t keep saying the title of the movie every five minutes.

Hitting theaters Friday after a festival run is Tran Quoc Bao’s action-comedy THE PAPER TIGERS (WELL GO USA), starring ALain Uy, Ron Yuan and Mikel Shannon Jenkins as martial artists once known as “the three tigers but now middle-aged men must set aside old grudges and dad duties to avenge the murder of their teacher. I’ve had a screener of this since last summer when it played at Fantasia Festival in Montreal, and I just never got around to watching it, but if I’m able to squeeze it in before the weekend, check back here for my review.

Streaming on Shudder this Friday is Ryan Kruger's South African comedy-thriller FRIED BARRY (Shudder), starring Gary Green as Barry, a violent street junkie who is abducted by aliens who take over his body in order to… well, actually… they do a lot of drugs, have a lot of sex and other craziness. It’s a pretty strange and bizarre movie that reminds me a little of movies like a lower-fi Under the Skin or Beyond the Black Rainbow, and much of it is driven by the insane and unique performance by Green and the odd characters he encounters that I think will find its fans for sure, but it will definitely be for a very select audience of genre festival fans, as this is by no means a mainstream genre film.

Speaking of which, another movie out this week which I wasn’t allowed to see in advance is Gia Coppola’s MAINSTREAM (IFC Films), starring Maya Hawke as a young woman seeking internet stardom by making YouTube videos with a charismatic stranger, played by Andrew Garfield, until “the dark side of viral celebrity threatens to ruin them both.” Yup, it’s one of THOSE movies. It also stars Nat Wolff, Jason Schwartzman and Johnny Knoxville, but I haven’t heard anything good about it, and I’m not sure my curiosity is piqued enough to spend any of my own personal money to check it out.

Hitting Amazon on Friday is the doc THE BOY FROM MEDELLIN (Amazon) from Matthew Heineman (City of Ghosts, Cartel Land), a portrait of musical superstar J. Balvin, as he prepares for a massive sold-out stadium show in his hometown of Medellin, Colombia, which is hindered by the growing civil unrest in the area.

Lots of other movies this week, but a few that i just wasn’t able to get to this week, including:

ABOVE SUSPICION (Lionsgate) INITIATION (Saban Films) ENFANT TERRIBLE (Dark Star Pictures) QUEEN MARIE (Samuel Goldwyn Films) SILO (Oscilloscope) CITIZEN PENN (Discovery+)

That’s it for this week. Next week, Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson star in SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW (Lionsgate) and Angelina Jolie returns for the thriller THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD (New Line) and Timur Bekmambetov’s thriller, PROFILE (Focus Features). That’s right. This will be the first weekend in over a year where we’ll have three or maybe even four new wide releases.

Overall, I like Sonic’s reactions to what is happening in the IDW Zombot arc. 

So i’m late to be commenting about issue 24, but like?? Looking back and seeing some peoples thoughts on it? I’m a bit confused? Mostly on all the animosity to the latest arc. I mean, some I agree with (like how Shadow and Eggman are being handled) And sure if all this angst isn’t your cup of tea that is valid. 

But one thing I can’t agree on at all is when people say Sonic is showing lack of remorse for his actions? 

I, for the most part, agree that Sonic screwed up and this Zombot infestation is pretty much due to his actions - But Sonic knows that too. And to me he also shows plenty moments of regret? And he does it in character, and full of imperfect moments that really makes him seem like a full character.

This is going to get long, just a warning. But also has lots of pictures

------------

Letting Eggman live without supervision and especially letting Metal Sonic go was all what led to this disaster. (he’s not the only one at fault imo, but talk for another post)

But Sonic absolutely thinks it’s his fault, and is constantly showing remorse.

He’s just doing what he can to not let the situation get to him, because what the world needs right now isn’t a remorseful Sonic, it’s a Sonic that is always on his feet and able to handle all the bad guys. 

Everyone literally needs Sonic to be acting the way he is???

In the game Sonic Forces, it was outright said how Sonic was the people’s hope. And I believe that’s true for the comics as well. How demoralizing would it be for people if Sonic of all people got all down and drowned in self-pity? Sonic is an iconic figure in his world, and that means he needs to put up a front. He can’t just break down in front of people.

He can’t break down completely at all, because there is no guarantee that he’ll be able to pick himself back up in time.

He says it himself.

Sonic not getting down on himself is half the battle. He knows this. The mental fight is huge.

And I get that people just want to see a little more remorse from Sonic and for him own up to his actions - but to me he is???? 

The only reason he keeps saying how ‘I did the right thing by giving Eggman a second chance’ is so he won’t slow himself down. I don’t think he wholly believes that he made the right choice, and I don’t think he is trying to shoulder off the blame. He’s just trying to keep his spirits up as best as he can.

You can’t tell me this isn’t remorse

Yes, he shakes himself out of it and goes on to say how he made the right decision, but what else can he do???? He needs to snap himself out of it and get back to saving the world.

Because just look at this. This is exactly what happens when Sonic starts to doubt himself. 

He stands there and debates and can’t take any real action.

And we know that he isn’t the type to normally doubt what to do. He would have 100% barged in and did what he could to save any potential survivors and work it out from there.

The only reason he stopped and debated there shows just how badly this whole thing is affecting him. 

“Which is ‘right’?” -- This is what he asks himself because he is starting to think that the decision of leaving Eggman free was ‘wrong’ before. And he does’t want to make another ‘wrong’ decision.

And he does blatantly admit that he is screwing up left and right. And he does it during the only time he can -- when he is by himself. 

I mean, look at that. Look at how much of him is shiny and metal and how he is surrounded by Zombots. The colouring itself is even so bleak to show his mood too. 

He can’t say these thoughts in front of anyone. He can barely say these thoughts to himself. 

Because what happens while he is saying this? He is literally sitting there as the virus takes over and Zombots surround him.

His eyes have even turned red like the Zombots by this point. - they were green in the panel just above. If he sat around a moment longer he probably would have been completely infected.

And he honestly looks super close to giving up here. Just look at him. He’s tired. He’s tried of running, of all things, and he’s tired of messing up. 

But giving up isn’t what heroes do, isn’t what Sonic does, so he does what he can to snap himself out of it.

What more do people want??????????

I’m honestly curious here. This is pure Sonic regretting his actions and making up the resolve to do something about it. I don’t know how more remorseful he can be.

Let’s look at his encounter with Espio

Sonic’s first reaction is to attempt to comfort Espio. But then Espio - completely understandably since he lost his family - loses his cool and blows up at Sonic. 

And look at the progression of Sonic’s expressions. He is worried, shocked, and then angry. His next words are said as a result of Sonic losing his own control. Because he literally only just got over his own moment of sorrow, and he just made up his mind to be strong and focus on what he can do in the here and now. And yet here is a friend throwing what Sonic already knows into his face only moments later.

So what does Sonic do? He just says what he has been chanting to himself all this time. That he wasn’t wrong to give second chances. 

Because it’s pretty much the most he can to keep himself going.

Again, just look at his expression. This isn’t the face of someone who is acting all haughty. It’s the face of someone barely keeping it together. Yes, this is not a good reaction from Sonic. I don’t think it is meant to be. He is just reacting emotionally. Because it’s been a long long couple of days, and Sonic can only stand so much. Not to mention, Sonic has not been able to sleep or rest since he got infected.

And side note, but Sonic isn’t really wrong. Exactly how many friends and allies of Sonic started off as antagonists???? From Knuckles to Shadow. Second chances are sometimes for the better. 

And letting Metal Sonic go was ---- a lot. But we saw Gemerl, another one of Eggman’s robots, change. So why can’t Metal Sonic? At that moment Sonic believed that Eggman wouldn’t be able to influence Metal Sonic and make him dangerous, so what was the harm from that viewpoint?

But anyways, back to Sonic and Espio. 

We get this pause where the two just looks at each other before mutually deciding to end the argument and go back to saving people.

To me it’s clear that while the argument wasn’t exactly settled (we can see Espio still angry as he poofs away) but they both realize that yelling at each other isn’t going to solve anything. 

This wasn’t a typical comic ‘I’m too cool for emotions’ moment where they disregard emotions in characters. The exact opposite really, because these two completely lost themselves for a moment due to all the stress they’ve had. They just realized that they needed to get their prioritizes in check right now and they can’t let their emotions run rampant because then nothing will get done. 

It’s going to build tension and I can see this blowing up again, but they way they reacted is just so believable to me. They are both under a lot of stress, and they are lashing out. Who wouldn’t if they were in their shoes?

Then we get Sonic seeing his friends again. And instead of the boost he usually gets from them, it’s just more sadness as Sonic has to inform them that he failed them. Again.

Sonic can’t even bring himself to look at Tails directly. He’s so full of guilt. And look at Tail’s face. I highly doubt that Tails really believed that Sonic just had the recorder hidden. But it was his last bit of hope so he asked. 

But Sonic has to let his best bud down once again. 

Look at this moment where they are all just silent. 

No one can say anything at the moment because they know just how bad the situation is. 

And then oh boy, Tangle.

Sonic only moments ago said to himself how he keeps screwing up, Espio rubs salt into his wounds, he sees Cream of all people lifeless, and he let his buddy Tails down. And now this. One after another there is constant hefty reminders that Sonic screwed up.

And I want to point out - this isn’t how Sonic fights?? He doesn’t stop fighting to talk. Here he is letting a Zombot come up behind him and Tangle is the one to knock it out. But usually Sonic is moving while he is talking. Here, and with Espio, he isn’t. And I think that just adds more to how weighted down he is by all that is happening. Because again, he can’t take the actions he usually would because of all the guilt.

But Tangle is such a breath of fresh air for Sonic

Finally Sonic gets the reassurance he needs. Tails - the wonderful friend that he is - tries, but it isn’t really believable when he has tears streaming down his face.

Sonic needed someone telling him it wasn’t his fault. I don’t think Sonic completely believes it, he is still full of guilt, but it must have been so nice to have someone show such unwavering support for him at this time. Like I said, a breath of much needed fresh air. 

For the readers too. Please tell me I wasn’t the only one who smiled when Sonic and Tangle team up. Look at them

And Tangle is able to comfort Sonic not only mentally - but physically too. 

When was the last time Sonic touched someone that wasn’t a robot???? 

Sonic is all about freedom - but he is all about his friends too. We saw Sonic team up with his friends one after another before this arc started. And he welcomed it. He invited each one (Tails, Amy, Knuckles) to come with him as he went to destroy more badniks, despite that meaning he wouldn’t be able to just run as fast as he wanted when going from place to place. Because he really likes teaming up with people too. 

And this whole mess is just preventing him from leaning on his friends for support like he usually could.

Thank you Tangle for giving this poor boy a hug. 

But that breath of air Sonic got didn’t last long. Because now he has to report to the rest that he failed again. 

And then this

Not only is he seeing another friend suffer because of his failure, but he can’t do anything to make it better. Amy is directly asking him for help - and he can’t. 

He can’t do anything in this situation that won’t make things worse - and that has to hit hard for Sonic. 

And finally we get this

This just really hits home that despite Tangle’s upbeat attitude and how she lifted Sonic’s spirit for a bit - it didn’t magically make everything better. 

Because reality is still bleak, and Sonic still blames himself no matter what Tangle said before. We can’t see his expression, but it isn’t hard to imagine him regretting everything that happened.

He’s alone - again - with the one person that gave him that moment of refresh is a Zombot, and he can’t do anything but watch as they retreat. And it’s all his fault and he knows it. 

It’s not like he ever said ‘Yeah, you’re right Tangle. None of this is my fault.’ All he said in that conversation was ‘You aren’t going to let this go’ and ‘Yes ma’am’ in response to the less moping and more moving. That to me isn’t anywhere near Sonic feeling he is absolved from guilt.

---

And yeah. I really can’t read through this and see Sonic as someone brushing off responsibility and not showing remorse. Sonic has been through a lot and we see him going up and down with his thoughts. And it’s getting harder and harder to keep his positive attitude. 

I hope that this got someone to see why I feel like Sonic has shown enough remorse over what is happening. - And that is really all this post was about (though I admittedly got distracted at some parts) I wasn’t trying to say that this arc is perfect, but at the very least, Sonic absolutely feelings guilty. 

I’m just going to end with one more screenshot. Just look at Sonic’s expressions

Stages: The Cake

Stages: Acquaintance Pt.1: The Cake (Chapter 2)

Pairing: Amy & Shadow (Friends or lovers you decided) 

Slow-burn/2K

First part: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/189990806500/new-years-dress-shadamy

.

"Please, just give me one more week! I'll pay!"

"I am sorry Ms. Rose but we have been patient enough. The government needs this facility."

Amy tried to keep calm, she didn't want to lash out of the government worker. She needed to stay calm if she wanted him to give her more time.

"Look, Zen, we have known each other for some time now." Amy touched his shoulder and smiled seductively. "Don't you think it will be better to talk about this with some coffee?"

Zen, a black cat, and government worker smiled at the pink one.

"Friday?"

"Saturday night?"

"Very well then, I'll see you." Zen then was quick to shout out to the rest of the employees who were already inside the Resistance. "Let's go, boys, we will come for this place later!"

With that, the workers stopped from dismantling the Resistance HQ.

Amy smiled and waved at each worker as they left.

"Well, who could have thought that Amy Rose could use her sex appeal to get the things she wants?"

Amy turned around to find Rouge waving at her. "I am so happy that you learned something from me."

"I had to put your teaching into practice," Amy added. "How are you doing? I haven't seen you since the ball."

"I came to see how you were doing after G.U.N paid you." Rouge took a look at the outside appearance of Resistance HQ. The painting was going away, the wood was decaying and it was just falling apart overall. "What did you do with the money, anyway? Everyone was happy with your cakes, I am sure G.U.N paid you extra even."

"I had to pay the members of the Resistance." Amy added, "And the rest is going to the monthly payment of the Resistance...I'll work more shifts at the restaurant this week to make up for the rest of the payment."

"Why would the government even want this place?" Rouge and Amy began to walk inside the Resistance. They greeted the few members that were there. "I mean no offense but...this place is trash."

"Yes, but one day, I'll have a lot of money and I'll make this place what it used to be before!" Amy said excitedly, she opened the door of the Main Room, where her desk was waiting for her.

"I just don't understand honey, you are a war warrior, you helped save the world and this is how they pay you?" Rouge was angry, she knew better than anyone that Amy went through to hell during that period that Eggman attacked with the Zombot virus. "All heroes worked here, Sonic, Tails, Team Dark, Whispered, Tangle, everyone  currently working at G.U.N."

"Don't remind me," Amy said as she typed on her computer.

"Honestly, with your experience, you could land a job at G.U.N. and easily-"

"G.U.N. charges people, people who may not have money so they can send their agents to help them." Amy rolled on her chair to look at the white bat, "I don't want that for this place."

Rouge sighed as she understood Amy's ideology. G.U.N was a private agency after all and their revenue mostly came from rich people who paid for the missions or anonymous, members who were interested that kept in existence G.U.N.

And so, what happened to the people who were in trouble and didn't have the money to pay?

"I am just saying, that I could buy you this place, it's honestly no bother. -"

"We have talked about this Rouge," Amy smiled. "Thank you, but this is something I want to do by myself."

Rouge went towards Amy and she placed her hand on her shoulder, "Same old Amy...Well, if you are going on a date to save this place, then let's make it the best out of it."

. "Plate for table number 3!"

"Going!"

"I am ready to pay!"

"Yes, ma'am!

"Plate for table number 7!"

"Going!"

"My food is cold! Could you heat it up?"

"Yes, sir!"

It was just like any other day at the restaurant, Amy was busy like always but still gave the best of her. She heard the door of the restaurant open, she was busy and after attending one client, she went ahead to attend the new guest.

"Hello, how may I help you-" Amy placed the restaurant's menu on the table. The person was wearing a long black coat with a black cap. Although he was trying his best to go unnoticed, Amy knew exactly well who it was.

"Shadow?" Amy whispered.

"Shh...how do you know it was me?" Shadow said as he looked around the place, making sure no one was paying attention to them.

"You reek of your cologne."

"What? I don't wear any." Shadow added, "Anyways, I am here on an important mission.

"And that is?"

"I need one slide, wait no, a whole dark chocolate cake. Like the one you made at the ball."

Amy giggles a bit, Shadow really took the 'keeping his cool' very seriously. "A whole cake? That's going to take a while."

"I can wait."

Amy nodded, she gave Shadow water while she attended the other tables. Shadow watched Amy work, it was a weird sight to see. He always saw her as a leader and one to not take orders from anyone.

"Must be hard to be an owner of a restaurant," Shadow whispered to himself but a sight distracted him.

"Could you hurry up? I've been waiting for ten minutes!" Said grey fox boy, who was sitting with a group of friends. A blue wolf and a red bird.

"Yes, sir!" Amy said as she headed over the table. "How can I help you?"

"We want three burgers, making it a combo for all of them. One chocolate milkshake and two vanilla. Hurry." Said the fox boy.

"Yes," Amy said as she finished writing the order on her notepad and began to walk away.

"Ops." The wolf boy said as he purposely threw off the water cup. "Hey, waitress! Clean this up, now!"

Amy tried to control herself, she perfectly knew what they were doing but she really needed this job.

"Yes." Amy took an old rag that was in her mantle and bent down to clean up the mess. When she was done, she bends back up but that exact moment, she felt her butt being smacked.

"Well, you do have a really nice ass to be a waitress!" The red bird boy said as he laughs, "I should come here more often."

Shadow expected Amy to take out her hammer and send those guys flying out the restaurant.

But she didn't.

"Thank you." Shadow heard her said and she walked away back into the kitchen.

.

Amy came back with some plates full of food for the groups of jerks. However, she found that they had felt the table. She noticed that some that they had paid their food however and left her a very nice tip of...

"500 rings?!" Amy almost screamed, there has to be some kind of mistake.

"Amy?" Amy turned her body around to find Shadow behind her. "G.U.N. called me, I need to go. Save me the cake for later."

"It's almost done, are you sure?"

"Yes, just send it over my apartment later," Shadow said and for some reason, he seemed to be in a hurry. Amy thought that it must be something really important for G.U.N.

"Alright, I will!" Amy smiled, her mood changing completely after that tip. "Wait, I don't know where you live."

"I send you my address over a text message."

"Alright!"

With that Shadow nodded and walked towards the exit. Amy went back to the kitchen to put the extra plates away but remembered something.

"Wait, you don't have my phone number!"

But Shadow was already gone.

.

It was 11:30 p.m and Amy was finally done with her shift. She puts on her pink coat and said goodbye to her boss before leaving the restaurant. She walked a few meters down until she passed a large dumpster.

But she stopped immediately after she heard someone moaning in pain on the inside of it. She opened it and checked on the inside.

And there she found them, two out of the three guys who were troubling her at the restaurant. The fox and wolf boy.

"What are you two doing here?"

"That guy...with the black coat..."The grey fox said in pain. "He just came to our table and said 'trash belongs in the trash."

"I don't even remember what happened." The blue boy said as she looked at his friend, who was trying to gain his consciousness back.

"Shadow?" Amy asked loudly, more at herself, more surprised than anything.

"Shadow as in Shadow the hedgehog?!"

Amy heard a voice come from above, she looked up and she found the red bird who harassed her being hanged from a light pole by his underwear.

"My dad is a private member of G.U.N!" The bird said angrily, "When I get down from here, he is so going to pay!"

Amy sighed, a bit embarrassed, "Let's try and make a deal."

.

Shadow had to admit that he was really looking forward to that cake. However, he decided to leave the restaurant as soon as he could as not to give Amy any more problems.

When Rouge told him that Amy worked at a restaurant, he imagined she would be the boss or manager due to her good leadership skills. But tonight he learned something new, that Amy was a hard worker and really could contain her feelings when the situation required her too.

She had his respect.

He was ready to go to sleep but he heard the door ring from outside his apartment.  

He sighed frustrated as he went back to his living room and angrily opened the door, "At this time? Who the hell do you think you are-" "Oh, Amy." Shadow instantly changed his tone of voice as he saw Amy standing in front of his door.

"Sorry, Shadow. I just thought to give you these extra cakes I made to you." Amy smiled as she showed Shadow the plastic bags she was holding, three dark chocolate cakes in each one.

"Extra cakes?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, I just made them."

"Alright, come in." Shadow opened the door for her and she entered, taking a look at Shadow's apartment.

"When Rouge texted me you lived in a small apartment, I thought she meant something different," Amy added, Shadow's apartment was very modern. Wooden floor, crystal stairs, bright lights, and beautiful black kitchen.

"Well, I'll be taking my leave now," Amy said as she placed the bag of cakes on Shadow's kitchen counter.

"Let me pay for the cakes, I'll bring my wallet," Shadow said and walked away from a few steps before Amy stopped him.

"No need! After you left, a lot of clients came and..." Amy looked around nervously, "Asked for dark chocolate cake but didn't eat them, so don't worry they are free!"

"Six clients asked for the same dark chocolate cake?"

"Yes."

"And out of those six, none eat the cake they paid for?"

"Do you want the cakes or not?" Amy asked annoyed, she placed a hand on her hip and Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Would you like some?"

"I would love to, but I can't stay too long. Tomorrow I need to go to work early so I can clock out earlier to go shopping. "Amy was just tired by just thinking about the long day that was ahead of her.

"Shopping?" Shadow wasn't expecting to ask that, he honestly didn't care about Amy nor what she does. The question came out of his mouth without thinking.

"Yes, with Rouge. She is insisting that I buy clothes for dates I don't even want to go." Without thinking, Amy sat down on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Dates?" Shadow said as he opened a small cabinet and pulled out two forks and handed one to Amy.

"Yes, I need to go on a date Saturday with a jerk to save the building of the Resistance," Amy said as she opened one of the boxes that contained the cake and placed it in front of both of them.

"To save...The Resistance?"

"Yes, I am trying to buy the building...but as you can see, I don't have much luck with money." Amy added, "The mortgage guy comes every month to charge me the payment...I was late this month and to give me a little bit more time to get money, I told him I would go on a date with him this Saturday."

"That's a nice strategy," Shadow said as he took a bit of the cake. Very delicious indeed. "Sounds like something Rouge would do...don't do it too often, it could bring you trouble."

"Indeed, and next Friday I also need to spend two whole hours with that bird boy! Thankfully, it's just a movie."

"Bird boy?"

Damn it, Amy was speaking too much.

"Oh look at the time!" Amy said as she looked at the kitchen's clock.  "I got to go now, don't worry stay here, I know my way out!"

"It's late, don't you want me to give you a ride? We could take my bike." Shadow asked as he opened the door for Amy.

"No need! I'll take the last bus!"

"Have it your way, then." Shadow didn't want to insist. Amy smiled at him and calmly left his apartment.

Shadow went back to his kitchen and began to eat his dark chocolate cake once again. He thought for a second and laugh,

"As if I'd let her ride my bike."

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Next part: https://another-sonic-blog.tumblr.com/post/190053368955/stages-the-bike

A/N: I still don’t know if I should make this a series or just small one shot series in which I will be developing Amy and Shadow’s relationship. Oh well, I think that’s what a slow burn story is all about. I enjoyed writing this, so expect a new chapter really soon!