#Aquillis Answers

[aquillis-main]

Speaking of Sonic and berserk mode, this is why I don't vibe with dark sonic in Sonic X (as well of disagree with the idea that Sonic X has a very faithful portrayal of sonic) like this is Sonic give in anger and has to calm down by eggman of all people (even going as far as telling Sonic this isn't himself)

Darkspine Sonic may seem similar to dark sonic at first glance except this is still Sonic despite being powered by 3 negative emotions world rings (and I suppose likewise for the wherehog)

The early 2000's had this weird obsession with making 'Dark' variants of the characters, which more often then naught flopped because they were badly executed and hardly thought of how the characters would feel about the transformation beyond 'instant angst for the sake of it'. It's why both Darkspine Sonic and the Werehog work when so many others don't - Sonic's personality still shines through despite the change in his behaviour, and it's not a new, rage induced moron in Sonic's body.

Here, have this shittly done meme on both Dark Spyro and Dark Super Sonic, which emulates my feelings on the concept in general:

[aquillis-main]

First off: ChatGPT. No, I would rather you make a team based on what you think would work, rather than rely on a generative AI that cannot give good advice. Or actually ask people about Pokemon that would fit Sonia more.

Second: A good chunk of this team Sonia would never touch as a character - Sylveon is fine for her, because it's cute and very much what high society would look for, but Salamance is known as a destructive Pokemon in the series, and is often shown taking out huge swaths of forests and others simply by being around it at the time. Tinkaton would fit more for a weaponsmith character than Sonia herself, and both Clawitzer and Alakazam are not Pokemon she would pick simply for being 'ugly'.

As for Talonflame, I don't think she would like it at all, simply because it's not aesthetically pleasing for her.

You need to consider Pokemon lore reasons as to why certain characters would have the Pokemon they have, as well as personality and behaviours. Sonia would not choose any Pokemon on this team other than Sylveon, mainly because none of them fit her character nor aesthetics.

So, I asked ChatGPT to make a team of Pokémon for Sonia the Hedgehog, and this is what it gave me; @aquillis-main, your thoughts?

[aquillis-main]

I just realized something, The 2023 Mario Movie could be considered a Meta example of the "Be Yourself" moral/trope. I mean the movie happily embraces the wackiness/surrealness of the Mario games and does a good job of capturing the overall spirit/vibe of the games. It didn't try to be ", realistic" or "edgy" to appeal to the normies. The movie was a huge success (perhaps because of this).

Meanwhile The 1993 Mario movie that tried so hard to be "realistic" and "edgy" to appeal to the normies bombed spectacularly and rots in obscurity .

It really showcases how much the 3D Illumination Mario Movie - no matter how many people would say it's 'okay' or 'follows Illumination tropes to a tee' - stays true to the Mario routes and feels like you're watching a mash up of all the Mario games at once - the destruction of the Blue Shell in the Mario Kart segment, how Mario and Donkey Kong's fight feels like something you would imagine in the Original Donkey Kong game, as well as it feeling like Super Smash Bros in a way. The Power Ups and all the mechanics found in the games work as intended in the games, and the characters who don't often work with Power Ups like Donkey Kong are given them without an excuse as to why they shouldn't work, etc.

The Mario Movie, no matter what, feels like it's a Mario game in the form of a movie, something that the Sonic movies can't even get right at all, no matter how many times they tried. The three Sonic Movies just feel like that Tom and Jerry movie. You know, the one where Tom and Jerry are allowed to talk and most of the movie is focused on this random kid that came from nowhere and has no ties to them.

If the Sonic Movies scrapped what they were doing with the live action, go full 3D, and actually LIFTED more from the games, I bet you dollars to doughnuts that this hypothetical Sonic Movie would have long outperformed the Mario Movie by a large margin. But because the Sonic Movies are run by executives that believe they can change Sonic to a superhero with the flattest voice actor known to man, they can't surpass the one Mario Movie.

[aquillis-main]

This "do Sonic games have good writing" discourse has reminded me of something I've been thinking about on and off recently. Namely, what does it mean for a Sonic game to be good?

We can argue about the merits of writing, characterization, and gameplay all day, but specifically, I've been thinking about the yardstick people often seem to apply to the series. Based on the way they talk about Sonic, you'd think the series needs to have an intensive, watertight lore and a story written by Kojima.

I don't think a Sonic story needs to be deep or dark in order to be good. I don't even think the writing needs to be complex or dynamic, necessarily; sometimes a message is handled best when it's delivered simply.

Although it's true that the games do feature darker elements, those elements have always been handled with tact and sensitivity out of a genuine care for the subject matter. Which brings me to what I think is the real crux of the issue: emotional honesty. Is the work trying to be something it's not?

I came to this realization after contemplating why games like SA2 and Forces (put down your torches and pitchforks) made me mist up where other works might not.

There are a number of reasons, but overall, I think most of it has to do with those games being thematically cohesive, if not always narratively cohesive, and remaining genuine to the messages they try to impart. Both are games that stick the landing despite being uneven in places.

IDW and the movies are not emotionally honest, in the sense that they don't employ any narrative or characterization decisions in service of greater themes. They just make shit happen to get a reaction from the audience, logic and theme be damned. And the kicker is that people gas both IDW and the films up as superior to the games when they're actually inferior, just in terms of sheer technical construction.

SA2 may suffer the occasional bit of wonky writing, but it is thematically coherent enough for me to be able to overlook that. And I'd deign to argue that most things people call plot holes aren't really plot holes, if you just thought about the information the game gives you. The game doesn't spoonfeed it to you, is all.

Battle? Has excellent characterization, as well as employs a foil between Eggman's and Gerald's treatment of Emerl as a commentary on mankind's responsibility wrt WMDs. It can be a bit heavy-handed as far as anti-war tracts go, but "This is the final voice of the last war machine" is still Shadow's rawest line, and no one can take that away from me lol.

I'd argue that SatSR is the best-written Sonic game. Its characterization is nuanced, the execution of its themes was tastefully done - subtly, even - and it features symbolism in a way that doesn't quite shove it in your face the way SatBK does.

It's definitely not on par with something like Silent Hill 2, but it's worth remembering that a Sonic game doesn't need to be Silent Hill 2: Sonic Edition to be good. As long as it tells its story honestly, a lot of flaws can be forgiven.

What do the spinoffs have? Vibes. That's about it. You can't really enjoy them on their own merits because they don't maintain any internal consistency, which is ironic considering how much people claim the games are inconsistent.

IDW? Can anyone tell me what its core message is? "Sonic offers anyone freedom out of his staunch belief in freedom as a general idea, regardless of if it hurts people or if it backfires on him, because it gives him Depth(tm) and Texture(tm) as a character"? "Sonic vs. Eggman is a dumb and harmful cycle we must stop because reasons"?

That's... kind of cynical, don't you think?

SA2 had things to say on anti-authoritarianism, grief, revenge, hope, atonement, and keeping true to yourself even in the face of doubt and hardship (ex. Shadow asserting he's still him even if his memories were false; Sonic seeking to clear his image and asserting "what you see is what you get": the two are foils and mirror reflections).

What was Sonic 3 trying to say? "I knew Maria wouldn't want me to destroy the world, but screw it, I'm doing it anyway because my pain is what matters most"? Shut up and clap for Live and Learn, you nostalgia-blind pleb.

Like, you can tell the difference. One is trying to say something. The other plays at saying something while saying nothing.

Honestly, this is how I feel with the anon trying to take my well-earned 'Sonic the Hedgehog Fan' sticker, despite showcasing that unlike them, I have more proof of myself understanding the games and how they operate.

Not every story is agreeable to people, and they don't have to be. For Sonic, the games are cartoons that you can play.

[aquillis-main]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who disliked the whole "human wig on anthrons" look. When I was a kid I actually thought that Mina and Sally and bunny were wearing wigs (looking back Sally was obvious waifu bait and they were clearly trying to go for the "Sexy southern belle" schtick with Bunnie ). Especially Mina since her hair clashed with her fur color

In Mina's case she may well have been wearing a wig given her status as an Idol Singer.

You talked about Mina there like, four times. XD I understand, anon. I was also not into Mina's design as a kid. Especially since they *almost* had the body right... it was the *wig* that they felt like slapping on last minute.

As for Sally and Bunnie, there was really no excuse for the Archie artists to give them the very sexy naked bodies and Lorel hair. By the time that design changed occurred, Amy, Rouge, Cream, Tikal, and Vanilla showcased a much more fantastic idea on how to make the female cast fit into Sonic properly without using the wigs. Something that I still abide by when making my own OCs. Whisper, in a character design standpoint, also has no excuse for her design in this day and age, considering that she draws fur out from the ether to even have the giant peekabang along with the ponytail to begin with.

Which is why I snatched Mina's wig and gave it to Yuki. XD

[aquillis-main]

Not really, to be honest. Manic would still be a thief, and Sonia would still be hoity toity and a snob at times. They actually have things about them that allow them to exist outside of Sonic's circle, unlike the Freedom Fighters.

Heck, I actually feel you can remove them all being related, and it still wouldn't change that much of their characters wouldn't change as much! Maybe Sonia and Manic would stop seeing Sonic as a sibling, but beyond that they've already got three things going for them:

1) They have their own personality traits that aren't motivated to be around Sonic. For example, Sonia's more posh, high-life attitude makes her more likely to have friends in high places than say Sonic himself, and Manic would probably know both Rouge and the Babylon Rogues from him being a theif.

2) Sonia and Manic both have their own set speed and movesets different from Sonic, to the point where Sonia was used for the fangame The S Factor as a playable character along with Silver. And hey, Manic was considered as another playable character for a different fangame - Brother Trouble - before that went kaput.

3) None of these traits are attached to Sonic. Look at how the Freedom Fighters are essentially shackled to Sonic, then look at how many of Sonia and Manic's traits aren't shackled to Sonic. There's a clear winner in this, and sadly it isn't the Freedom Fighters.

The funny thing about Underground is that, unlike Archie/Satam, I wouldn't mind if their canon foreigners were transported into canon all that much provided their backstories are appropriately edited to remove the "royalty" aspect of Sonic's family and they don't overshadow Sonic's friends

But then wouldn't a big part of what makes them them be cut away?

[aquillis-main]

I don't like the gross furrys in the sonic fandom who thirst over a literal cartoon character on tumblr . Like how pathetic do you have to be to be legitimately sexually attracted to a cartoon character, especially ones that aren't even human and some of which are underage. They need to Stop being sexually attracted to animals. I like the sonic franchise because of the lore. I'm not pathetic enough to be sexually attracted to cartoons

Have my Sonic OC, Ovi, kissing Sonic. I think you'd like that. C:

[aquillis-main]

Any thoughts about Sonia x amy

Out of all possible FxF relationships in the Sonic Fandom, it's got the right amount of crack that I'm into it enough, but I'm also not actively looking for it as well. It's a fun idea to play around with, though!

[aquillis-main]

I always liked how Underground had the triplets meet the roboticized mobians multiple times (some of which were family friends or relatives of their friends), and when they did restore the robians free will with their medallions it was only temporary. The victims only got to enjoy free will for a very short period before reverting back to being mindless slaves of Robotnik.

Really helped sell the tragedy of roboticization.

This. All of this is how robotization was handled in Underground, and it really does showcase how it was handled better than in SatAM.

[aquillis-main]

The freedumb fighters always seemed like fairweather "friends" to me. I'll never forget when Sonic was put on trial for treason (he was innocent btw), pretty much all the freedumb fighters turned on him and refused to acknowledge/consider the fact he may be innocent. Antoine in particular demanded he be executed. Bunnie just blindly obeyed Sally like a damn dog , refused to listen to his side of the story and took great pleasure in not-so-subtly threatening to kill him with a missile. The only character who really tried to stick up for him was Amy, the narrative and everyone treated her as just a dumb lovesick little brat for doing so.(Seriously what is it with Western writers and their hate-on for Amy?)

Despite he grew up with Sally and the other and risked his life countless times to save their worthless asses & the kingdom for years.

Sonic's game friends on the other hand committed countless felonies to break him out from jail after he was falsely accused of being a thief. They stood by him through thick and thin 🤗

I'm not surprised that both the Comic version and the cartoon they originated from had done this both ways, when the games showcased Sonic having the undying loyalty reciprocated nicely and without the backstabby nature that the comics and cartoon went with.

[aquillis-main]

*leaves a bouquet of roses for Lanna*

Lanna mistook your bouquet of roses to be from Fret, anon.

Maybe you should put your name on it next time...

[aquillis-main]

Given the "Sonic is a superhero" thug going on , people actually think that Sonic is a cheesy silver-age super hero that deliberately shows egghead muh mercy and let's him go free, despite this never being the case in the games.

Sonic failing to kill eggman is not for a lack of trying . Over the years sonic has repeatedly put Eggsmans life In danger, and flat out left him for dead countless times.

The games all but outright state that Sonic does not give a singular shit whether egghead lives or dies. Eggy is just so badass , he miraculously survived anything sonic dishes at him. Media compression is dead

You (gen) have to deliberately be ignoring the games or outright living in a delusion to think that Sonic 'let's Eggman go', or feel that Sonic would EVER think that Eggman is 'good' deep inside him.

Just because the world is cartoony, doesn't mean there's some sense of realism in the games. Nobody likes Eggman because he takes over, so Eggman has ways to disguise himself or outright lie to get people off his back. Sonic will never believe Eggman has 'changed' for the better, because he knows Eggman enough that it's a trick.

[hypersonicjd]

Ooohh, now this is interesting! I'm gonna try to answer as well as I can :P

Number 1 ship for me is absolutely Dakavendish/Cavota because they lead me to meet the greatest people I've ever known, that being the MML fandom :)

Number 2 ship is Stobotnik because their emotions are so, so intense and the relationship between them is so good and they bring me much, much joy.

Number 3 ship is funny enough Bunny and Kitty from Courage the Cowardly Dog, because it was the first ever instance of a LGBT relationship I ever saw in my entire life and they got to have a happy ending :)

Now I shall tag @eatingsomegreeneggos @cutecreachure @pujjel @aquillis-main @ninaheta and lastly @instantpansies

I don't wanna hear any of the emotional-wreckage psycho-sexual deviance comments that my answer might arouse

Soukoku

Klance

Jegulus

Next question.

Bonus point for stsg which takes charge whenever one of em is resting

[aquillis-main]

The comics are better written than the actual main canon. The zombot arc proves it

1) The Zombot arc dragged on for far too long, and me and my friends actually hated the comic when that arc made Shadow so OOC.

2) You cannot prove that a poorly written comic that refuses to focus on the characters that come from the games and actually write them in character is 'better' than the games, considering that you obviously refuse to play said games and regurgitate whatever chewed up 'info' the Sonictubers tell you. You obviously have no personality beyond what is given to you.

[aquillis-main]

It never ceases to amaze me how so many "fans" think that Sonic is apparently the policeman of the world. They honestly seem to think it's his job to arrest Eggman.

Eggman is the epitimy of 'master escape artist'. Even if Eggman were to be placed in a fortified prision, I bet ten to one he would still escape without issue.

[aquillis-main]

https://www.tumblr.com/aquillis-main/773674038370467840/what-is-wrong-with-fleetway-super-sonic-i-think?source=share

Speaking of this ask. Do you belive that Cyber super Sonic looks like Fleetway Super Sonic as a nod to STC or it's just a coincidence? Because I found tons of STC related stuff in the franchise

Sorry again. Promise to stop talking about Fleetway with you

With anything about Sonic Team and anything to do with properties they actually had no hand in... I'd say you're reading too much into things and connecting the dots that aren't actually there.

I would know. I also connected dots with Sonic Underground, where they had things that were stated to be part of the games as well, but hardly anyone in the Sonic franchise would ever accept the idea of Sonic being a prince...