#bring back his tails adventure characterization

[myymi]

tails has to be nerfed in every single piece of media that comes out because they know the problem would be over in two minutes max if he wasn't

[whitecompri]

Sliver x fox mobian!reader who is a fellow time traveler like him and is also his childhood friend

Basically the classic friends to lovers fic

Timeless Bond

Pairing: Silver x Fox Mobian! Reader

Genre: Adventure, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Action, Slow Burn

Rating: G (General Audiences)

Warnings: Moderate violence, Moments of tension

A/N: Thanks for the request! This fic turned into one with a bit of adventure, but I hope you like it, I'm still getting practice characterizing Silver.

--*--

His quick footsteps echoed through the village center as he panted, carrying something in his arms. Silver stopped in an alley, out of sight of the adults, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. He pressed his back against it, scanning his surroundings to make sure he wasn’t being followed.

"You're late..." Your voice rang out in the alley, startling the small hedgehog, making him jump and instinctively clutch whatever he was holding. However, when he saw who it was, he let out a relieved sigh, smiling.

"Hey, [Y/N], I ran into some trouble..." He walked up to you, showing the container in his hands. "But I managed to get some rations for us."

He watched as you sat down on top of a crate, wrapped in a blanket, your ears tilted back in discomfort.

"You didn’t have to go through all that for me, Silver..." Your voice came out slightly nasal, and you curled up a bit more in your blanket.

"Of course, I did! You’re sick, and if they won’t help you, then I will." His gaze turned serious and determined as he climbed onto the crate, sitting beside you. "Besides, we're friends, right?"

You wrapped your tail around yourself, trying to get warmer.

"You have such a kind heart, Silver... I wish the other Mobians in this village could see that… instead of just seeing you for your powers." You accepted the container, your trembling hand reaching for one of the rations, bringing it to your mouth. You coughed slightly before nibbling on the dry food with your fangs.

"They’re just afraid of me... Can’t blame them... Just look at the world we live in..." His gaze drifted upward, focusing on the reddish sky and the dark, menacing clouds swirling around the small community built upon ruins.

Your hesitant hand reached for his, squeezing it with all the strength you had left.

"I hope we can always stay together like this..." You said softly, making the small hedgehog grin widely.

"Me too. We only have each other, we’ll never be apart, and I’ll always be the best friend you deserve, [Y/N]." He squeezed your hand back, holding it firmly.

--*--

Amidst the ruins and rubble, the small hedgehog trembled as he got up, coughing from the dust and ashes of what was once their home. His golden eyes, filled with terror, scanned his surroundings—fire monsters stomped across the ground, causing tremors, while the remaining Mobians desperately tried to flee.

As he attempted to take a step forward, a hand suddenly pressed against his muzzle, stopping him from making any noise. Before he could react, he was swiftly pulled under a pile of debris by someone much smaller than him, but whose scent was familiar and distinct.

"What were you doing out there? You could’ve died!" Your wide eyes reflected the same fear as his, but you had been quick-witted, thinking fast and pulling him into hiding. Above you, the heavy footsteps of the creatures echoed.

"I-I... We have to help..." He turned toward the small opening you both had crawled through, contemplating whether he should rush out. But your hand grasped his arm firmly.

"No... There’s nothing we can do anymore. We don’t have the strength to fight those things—not as we are now..." Your eyes shut tightly, filled with sorrow, realizing that if you wanted to survive and become stronger, you would have to let the monsters destroy everything you once knew.

"…Sorry for worrying you." He rubbed the back of his neck, sitting down in a corner of the hideout, curling into himself.

"Don’t worry, it happens..." Your gaze landed on the scratches and cuts along his arms. "You’re hurt."

Kneeling down, your hand gently reached for his arm, your fingers tracing around the visible wounds beneath his fur. He immediately felt his face heat up from the contact, not wanting to appear too vulnerable in front of you.

"It’s just some scratches, nothing serious. They’ll heal soon."

Your eyes narrowed at him, unconvinced. Without another word, you turned and reached into your bag, pulling out some cloth and a nearly empty bottle of medicine. You wet the cloth and began dabbing it over his wounds. He hissed in pain, shutting his eyes.

"At least let me do this, so they don’t get worse. Remember? Friends take care of each other." You used your free hand to smooth down his messy fur.

For several minutes, you both remained in a comforting silence as you carefully tended to each cut.

When you were finished, you put away the cloth and sat beside him.

"It’s just the two of us now... Two survivors." Your gaze fixated on the debris above, the shelter that had kept you safe during the disaster.

Silver sat in deep thought for a while, then a determined look crossed his face. He suddenly grasped your hand tightly.

"Listen, [Y/N], I want... I want to make a vow with you, right here and now..."

"A vow?" You looked at him, utterly confused.

"We’re going to save our world... Together. We’ll do whatever it takes—fight those creatures, get stronger, save the innocent, and defeat Iblis." He spoke firmly, without hesitation.

"Silver... That’s... That’s something huge." But then, your heart filled with hope. After all, maybe—just maybe—you two, two abandoned orphans who had found solace in each other, could somehow fix this world, ensuring that future children wouldn't have to suffer the same hardships and dangers.

You squeezed his hand back, just as firmly.

"You can count on me, my brave hedgehog."

"That’s what I like to hear, my favorite fox." He grinned, excitement bubbling inside him, eager for what the future held.

--*--

Your legs moved as fast as they could, your breathing was heavy, and your lungs burned—but you couldn’t stop running now, not when you were so close to the trap. Your boots sank into the sand, making it harder to keep up the pace.

Behind you, a deafening roar sounded as the fire worm-like creature burst out from beneath the ground, making the earth shake. You stumbled slightly from the impact but quickly regained your balance, sprinting at full speed as the creature let out another snarl, spitting a flaming rock toward you. You swiftly dodged, your agile body moving effortlessly.

Rounding a set of rocks, you finally spotted the ambush point. Gritting your teeth, you pushed yourself even harder, your breath coming out in labored gasps. The monster was right on your heels.

Atop the highest rock formations, Silver finally saw you running toward him. He levitated to a higher boulder with a narrow passage—one only you could fit through.

"Now, [Y/N]! Dodge!" He shouted, his hands outstretched, palms open.

In a swift movement, you used your tail for balance, allowing your sleek body to maneuver through the tight space with ease.

The creature charged forward, slamming its head straight into the narrow passage. A loud, earth-shaking impact echoed through the desert as dust and debris were sent flying.

With a grunt of effort, Silver used his powers to bring down a barrage of boulders onto the fire worm. The beast let out a final roar of agony before its body crumbled into ashes and embers.

Panting heavily, you finally collapsed onto the desert floor, not caring about the heat beneath you.

Silver floated down beside you, kneeling at your side.

"Are you okay?"

"Uh-huh." You responded, still panting heavily, not having enough energy to say another word.

"You did great. I didn’t know you were that fast—I already knew you were clever and agile, but not this quick." He chuckled, pulling out your canteen from the belt and bringing it to your mouth.

Quickly, your hands reached for the leather container, drinking eagerly, but the liquid soon ran out, leaving your tongue still dry. However, it was enough to help you recover a little.

"I’m out of water..." You stood up, slowly closing the canteen.

"Me too... Looks like we don’t have a choice. We’ll have to head to a nearby settlement." He stood up, shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand while scanning the horizon.

"Damn, I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with other Mobians right now." With some effort, you got to your feet, using your tail to keep your balance.

Silver reached for the bag near the rocks, slinging it over his shoulder.

"I know it’s risky for us... but we need to find the anomaly that’s affecting the future in this region. And for that, we need water and supplies."

"I think we need to go further into the past. This arid region isn’t much different from how it is in the future—maybe if we go back further in the past, we’ll find out what turned this place into a desert." You started following him, adjusting your gear, taking slow and painful steps through the desert.

"One step at a time. Let’s finish investigating this era and eliminate the threats here, then we’ll go further back in the past." He extended his hand toward you. "Come on, I’m pretty sure there’s a settlement in that direction."

Smiling at him, you didn’t hesitate to take his hand. Immediately, he pulled you close, securing his grip around your waist as he used his telekinesis to levitate, saving you from tiring yourself out further as he quickly carried you both toward the settlement. And you had to admit, the thought of a hot bath to wash off all the sweat and sand was incredibly tempting.

--*--

You both stopped at a market stall to buy some supplies for your journey. Not knowing what to expect ahead, you decided to prepare as best as possible.

You observed the local trade, Mobians standing proudly at their tents, offering their goods. Silver was beside you, trying to negotiate with a Condor Mobian who didn’t seem at all pleased with the amount Silver was offering.

That was when your eyes caught sight of a group of Leopard Mobians leaning against a wall. They smirked as they eyed you up and down.

Feeling uneasy, you turned your gaze to Silver, who had just finished the deal and handed over the precious money you both had earned from doing small jobs in the area.

He turned around, starting to walk again, his eyes briefly scanning the mercenaries who were still watching you. They hadn’t stopped staring.

"Whew, at least I managed to get him to agree. The people here are tough to bargain with. Let’s find a place to stay for the night before we head out—I’m tired of sleeping on the ground."

You heard him, but the words barely registered, your focus entirely on the group that refused to look away.

"[Y/N]? You seem distracted. Did something happen?" He turned his head to you, concerned.

Before you could even open your mouth to answer, as you both turned into an alleyway, you found yourselves face-to-face with the group of Leopard Mobians.

"Well, hello there, little fox." The leader of the group stepped forward. Almost instinctively, Silver positioned himself in front of you.

"Who are you...?" His voice dropped an octave, his brows furrowing as he eyed them defensively.

The four Mobians laughed loudly.

"Boys, look at this. The little hedgehog wants to protect her..." The leader scoffed. "You know, I’ve never seen a hedgehog around these parts, but I think you need to learn a lesson about not looking at us like that..." His eyes gleamed with a predatory glint.

Reaching out, he tried to grab your arm, completely ignoring Silver. "You know, I think she’d be a lot happier with a strong group instead of a weak little rat."

But before he could make contact, Silver’s hand shot out, gripping the leopard’s wrist tightly. A surprised expression spread across the feline Mobian’s face.

"Don’t touch her..." Silver’s gaze darkened, his voice dropping into something deadly.

The leopard yanked his arm back, shaking off the grip, letting out an irritated growl.

"Pathetic rodent, you’ll regret facing us in our own territory..." He cracked his knuckles, signaling to the others. The remaining three Mobians started closing in.

That was when Silver let out an exasperated sigh. Raising his hands, his body was suddenly engulfed in a bright, light blue aura. His golden eyes glowed a deep navy, his quills crackling with raw energy as his psychokinetic power surged.

The group of Mobians hesitated, taking a step back, uncertainty flashing across their faces. Before they could react, each of them was caught in the shimmering blue energy, lifted off the ground and held midair.

"This is so you’ll learn to never try touching her again..." Silver clenched his fists, and in an instant, the group was hurled against the surrounding buildings, collapsing unconscious.

Your eyes widened, and you held your breath as you watched the impressive display of power—and the sheer protectiveness Silver had over you.

Seconds later, he turned back to you, his expression much softer now.

"D-damn, sorry... I went too hard on them, didn’t I?" Silver scratched the back of his head, avoiding your gaze.

Without a second thought, you jumped into his arms, wrapping him in a tight embrace.

"No, you were amazing. Thank you for protecting me."

With your words and the warmth of your hug, the hedgehog felt his face heat up. Hesitantly, he brought a hand to your waist, hugging you back.

"It’s nothing. That’s what friends are for, right?" He murmured, simply enjoying being close to you in that moment.

--*--

You let out a deep sigh, feeling the hot, soapy water of the wooden bathtub ease your sore muscles. Running a hand through your damp fur, you took a moment to admire the simple yet cozy and safe inn room.

Besides, Silver was in the next room over. There was no way anything could go wrong tonight.

"Hey, [Y/N], I was thinking—"

The door to your room suddenly swung open, revealing an excited white hedgehog with a cheerful smile.

But his expression quickly changed.

The grin froze on his face before disappearing entirely, replaced by sheer horror as he registered what you were doing.

He gripped the piece of paper in his hands tighter—probably something he wanted to show you. A deep blush rapidly spread across his face, creeping all the way to his ears.

"I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to—"

"It's okay, you wanted to show me this? You can come over here, I trust you."

He swallowed dryly, looking around for an escape route. Then, trembling, he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and walking toward you, keeping his eyes locked on the wooden wall beside him.

"I-it's just a map of the region... so we can decide where to go next..." He held out his hands, showing you the map.

"Hmm, I see. Well, it's a big region. Let's finish investigating the east, then all that's left is that mountainous area. If that doesn't solve it, we'll go further back in time." You decided after assessing the map.

"R-right..." He stammered, and when he realized you weren't going to say anything else, he excused himself, trying to leave in a hurry.

However, as he turned around, his muzzle met the wooden wall with a loud thud, startling you. His hand flew to his own face as he squeezed his eyes shut in pain. Trying again to rush out, he ended up slipping on the water on the floor, letting out a muffled huff as his back hit the bottom of the bathtub.

Realizing the disaster that had just happened, he quickly scrambled up, looking at you, his face even redder than before. His quills, now soaked from the bathwater, lay flatter and were covered in bubbles.

"I-I swear it was an accident!! I d-didn't see anything, I didn't see anything!!" He raised his hands in surrender, a tiny drop of blood staining the fur on his muzzle from where he hit the wall.

"Hmm, didn't see anything? Then why are you so red?" You decided to tease your flustered friend a little.

"I can't do much about it, look at the situation that just happened!" He gestured toward the bathtub and the two of you.

You could only bring a hand to your mouth and laugh at the whole thing, unable to understand how he managed to be so clumsy in such a short amount of time.

He remained silent for a few seconds, showing no reaction as he simply watched you laugh. Then, with a sigh, he closed his eyes.

"Well, now that I've already messed everything up... this water is really warm, though."

You calmed your laughter, looking at him.

"It really is, huh?" With a mischievous idea in mind, you grabbed a handful of foam and tossed it at him.

Silver's eyes widened as he felt the warm water and foam hit his body. When he noticed the playful smirk on your face, he broke into a grin of his own.

"Oh, so it's a war now? Well, I never lose a fight against you!" He splashed water back at you in retaliation, kicking off a small bubble battle in the tub, filling the room with laughter and playful splashes between friends for the rest of the night.

--*--

Silver sat in front of a fire, curled up into himself, trembling uncontrollably. He tried to shrink even further, tucking his quills around himself, but it did little to keep him warm in the glacial cold of the era you were currently in.

His eyes focused on you, sitting calmly by the fire, peacefully enjoying a cup of hot tea, not even seeming affected by the freezing temperatures like he was.

"H-how are you fine?!" He asked in disbelief, until he finally noticed your fluffy tail wrapped around you and your thick warm fur. "You could at least lend some of that fur to your friend, right? It looks so warm..."

At this point, Silver didn't know what was worse—the scorching heat of the desert you had traveled through days ago or the relentless cold of the Ice Age.

"Come closer, then. You just need to hold out a little longer. That guy said the nomad would meet us here to show us where the monster is."

Silver hesitantly moved closer to you at first, but the moment he started feeling your body heat, he melted into himself, resisting the urge to hug you outright but already enjoying the warmth.

"Much better now, way more comfortable..." He sighed in relief, curling into himself again.

Footsteps crunched against the snow, approaching where you had set up camp.

As the figure came into view, the silhouette of a Mobian wolf carrying a massive backpack became clearer. He stopped near you, watching the scene.

"That must be the Nomad," you whispered, and Silver nodded.

But then, the seemingly serious-looking wolf broke into a smirk.

"Wow, a delicate figure like you traveling through these lands? It must be hard finding a worthy companion to protect you, huh?" The Mobian crouched near you, taking your hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it.

Silver's eyes widened, and suddenly, a wave of overwhelming fury overtook him—an instinct he couldn't quite place. A primitive urge to protect, to push away and drive off this guy who had just crossed the line. Without thinking twice, he spoke.

"She already has a worthy companion, got that?"

Your eyes widened at his response, impressed.

"Oh? And who would you be? Her little brother?" The wolf chuckled mockingly, scoffing at the hedgehog.

Silver's face heated in anger, and without a second thought, he impulsively blurted out the first thing that came to mind, just trying to get rid of the guy.

"What?! ME?! N-NO!! I'm her boyfriend—"

But immediately after saying it, the rest of the words died in his throat. He froze on the spot, cold sweat forming, not having the courage to turn and look at your expression.

"Boyfriend, huh?" You eyed him with an amused smile, thoroughly enjoying how far he was willing to go to defend you.

His heart pounded in his chest. 'Why is my heart racing when she smiles like that?'

"Hmpf, I highly doubt that. A charming fox like her shouldn't be stuck with a scrawny hedgehog like you... But anyway, we're here so I can show you where the monster is, right?" The wolf stood up, letting go of your hand. "Hurry up and get ready. I'll lead the way."

You both got up, but Silver was lost in thought, only able to replay the same phrase over and over in his head.

'Damn it, Silver! Why did you say that? Stupid, stupid!'

"You know… I liked your answer," you chuckled, making him turn to you in shock. "Thanks for always protecting me. That's what friends are for, right?" You grinned, playfully punching his shoulder.

"Oh, uh... yeah, that's what... friends are for." He rubbed his arm, watching as you extinguished the fire and grabbed your things. The biting cold hit him again, making him shiver from the icy wind. He quickly followed you as you packed up, ready to follow the nomad.

--*--

The enormous creature let out a deafening roar, its massive paws shaking the ground as it knocked over and swayed the surrounding trees.

Silver used his psychokinesis to lift you both onto a rock on the mountainside, keeping distance from the beast.

"Damn, it's fast..." Silver admitted, realizing just how close its fangs had come to catching you both.

"Alright, we need a plan. The usual—I’ll be the bait, and you use your powers to drop something on it... Maybe those ice stalactites?" Scanning the area, you noticed the sharp ice spikes forming at the top of a nearby cave.

His gaze followed yours, spotting the nature-made spears.

"Good idea..." He nodded, preparing himself. You turned to go lure the beast, but you felt a gentle touch on your shoulder.

"Please, be careful..." His golden eyes were filled with concern, even though he trusted your agility and skill to draw the monsters into traps flawlessly every time.

"I will," you assured him, giving his hand a small squeeze before running off to execute your part of the plan.

His gaze followed, taking in the natural spears that nature itself had formed.

"Good idea..." he agreed, preparing himself. You turned to lure the creature, but then you felt a gentle touch on your shoulder.

"Be careful, please..." His eyes were filled with concern, even though he trusted your agility and ability to quickly draw monsters into traps without fail.

"I will." You reassured him, giving his hand a light squeeze before turning and sprinting toward your goal.

--*--

Your legs moved with impressive speed through the snow, leaping and weaving between branches and trees, slowing you down slightly. For the first time, desperation began to creep into your body. You were almost at the ambush site, but the enormous ice smilodon wasn’t willing to lose the race against you.

You heard its massive paw slam into the ground beside you, shaking the earth. It was dangerously close. Your lungs burned, your muscles screamed for a break, your vision was beginning to blur from the effort, but you couldn't give up. You couldn’t disappoint Silver. You had to save this region, stop it from turning into the barren, infertile wasteland you had seen in the future, prevent the once-flowing water from becoming nothing more than toxic sludge.

With that thought, you found the strength to push forward, reaching the rocky incline that led to the trap where Silver was waiting at the top.

The climb was difficult, but your agility, dexterity, and determination carried you forward. Using your tail for balance, you quickly scaled the rocks like an arrow, reaching the top and seeing Silver already prepared, gripping the stalactites with his powers, waiting for the monster to follow the expected path.

However, your eyes widened in horror at what happened next. The ice beast leaped onto the mountain, completely avoiding the intended route.

You tried to run again, but your body refused to respond, worn down by exhaustion.

Silver’s eyes widened as he saw the scene unfold, panic overtaking him. He hurled the ice stalactites with his power, but with the plan disrupted, they barely did more than scratch the creature’s thick hide.

In a surge of adrenaline, Silver instinctively unleashed the full extent of his power, levitating toward you with a frustrated growl directed at the beast.

The monster was about to strike you with its claws when a dome of energy surrounded the entire area. Strong hands grasped your waist, pulling you away just as the creature's paw smashed into the ground.

Your eyes opened wide, seeing Silver holding you tightly against him. His gaze locked onto the creature, which was now disoriented, shaking its head in confusion.

The white hedgehog steadied himself a short distance away, still keeping you close. Raising his hand, he opened his palm, forming a glowing psychokinetic blade. With the speed of light, he launched it toward the monster, striking it with an explosive impact. The beast staggered one last time before collapsing onto its side, vanishing into a swirl of purple energy.

Silver fell back onto the snow, bringing you down with him. That’s when your eyes caught sight of the deep cuts running along his arm.

"You're hurt..." Your hands instinctively grasped his arm, studying the wound.

"I’ll be fine... Just need to catch my breath," he panted, having pushed his powers beyond their usual limits.

You sighed, lying down beside him in the snow, just as exhausted.

For several seconds, the two of you simply stayed there, breathing heavily, bodies aching from the intense battle.

He turned his head toward you, watching you silently for a few moments. Noticing, you turned to look at him as well, smiling.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" His expression softened then, making your heart warm.

"It's nothing... I just... I think you're really beautiful..." he whispered, making your eyes widen as both of your faces flushed.

"Beautiful, huh?" You propped yourself up on your elbows, sitting up in the snow.

Silver followed suit, also sitting up. He reached for your hand, holding it firmly.

"Yeah..." He hesitated for a moment, glancing toward where the creature had fallen. Your mission wasn't over yet—you still needed to check if the anomaly had been resolved and whether the future of this region had been secured. But right now, he felt a different kind of fulfillment, a deep satisfaction in simply being here, with his incredible time-traveling companion.

He took a deep breath, mustering his courage, before speaking in a softer voice.

"You know… all this time… I’ve always been grateful that we stuck together. We were always survivors, always helping each other, right... And that’s what friends are for in the end..." He swallowed hard, and you felt a nervous flutter in your stomach, already anticipating what he was about to say. "But I don’t want to be just your friend... No, I want so much more... I want to be by your side forever... I like you a lot."

He looked at you hopefully, only to be met with your shocked expression.

Immediately, insecurity hit him like a wave. He released your hand, second-guessing whether he should have said anything at all. He opened his mouth to apologize, but before he could utter a single word, you moved in swiftly, pressing your muzzle against his and capturing his lips in a kiss.

For a moment, it was Silver who froze, his wide eyes trembling with emotion, overwhelmed by the sudden realization of what was happening. His heart pounded fiercely in his chest. But then... he surrendered to it, closing his eyes and pulling you in closer with a sigh of relief.

A few seconds later, he melted into the kiss, bringing a hand to your back, holding you even tighter.

When you finally pulled apart, your forehead rested against his, your hand caressing his cheek. He chuckled softly, a subtle blush visible beneath his fur.

"So... does this mean you like me too?" he asked in a quiet, hopeful voice.

You giggled at his question.

"Silver... I thought that was already pretty obvious."

You placed a small kiss on his cheek, and without hesitation, he suddenly wrapped his arms around you, pulling you into a tight embrace. He buried his face into the crook of your neck, sighing in absolute contentment as the two of you simply enjoyed the warmth of each other’s embrace in the middle of the glacial cold.

And even though there were still many challenges ahead, you both knew, at the very least, that you would always have each other—as partners, as allies, as friends, and now, as lovers too.

[thecoolerhuntermaximoff]

The Evolution of Sonic Characters

For today, we're having a spiced Americano along with some lava cake, and an essay about how the characterization of Sonic characters have wildly changed over the years.

I've seen a lot of content complaining about how Rouge has been reduced to a really generic archetype in recent Sonic media, and I feel the same way about Silver and how many feel about Amy. So I thought it would be a pretty interesting discussion to wager the different interpretations of Sonic characters throughout the years.

The Adventures Begin

Let's rip-off the Band-Aid, because we know for all heck that the Adventure games had the best character writing thus far of all the characters. Sonic was always the same carefree adventurer, Tails and Amy grew into their own heroes while still having distinct traits and flaws, Knuckles was his own character where he explored his past, his treasure-hunting skills and often collided with Sonic. Shadow and Rouge were great additions with Rouge's unique femme fatale traits creating a cool dynamic with the rest of the roster, and literally everything from Shadow made him the most popular Sonic character for good reason.

Ever since then Shadow's been the premier rival for Sonic, advertised as so in guidebooks, on the cover of side games, in the assortment, Metal Sonic who? Seriously, I wanna talk about Sonic's rivals but I should probably do that later, I'm going over the character writing of every character and how it's changed. . .specifically when Sonic X rolled around in 2003.

The X Factor

Around the same time Sonic Heroes was released, and because Sonic X was bringing in new voices for the English dub, the voice performances were. . .different. I think Heroes was a solid Sonic game, I loved what they did with the Chaotix and Metal Sonic, and it features some of my favorite Sonic levels----but because of Sonic X and Heroes Amy's character became more. . .insufferable. She was still the obsessive Sonic fangirl in the Adventure games, but she was useful and quite charming as a character, having some character development in the process. Not to say she didn't have that in Sonic X, but the way she acted towards Sonic grew less "cute flirting" and more "forcing herself onto Sonic", and that negatively impacted stuff like the Rush games and Advance 3. Otherwise, the character changes are quite tame.

06 Still Does Nobody Any Favors

Shadow's still the GOAT and portrayed as well as ever in the 2000s (yes I'm including the Shadow game I think they interpreted him quite well). But I think 06 had some pretty great character writing---Amy didn't play a large role but was a very likeable character, Team Dark was the highlight with Shadow, Rouge and Omega having great dynamics and a genuine emotional moment, and I loved Silver.

Ironically the worst of the character writing is Sonic and Eggman themselves, having no plot relevance and just playing hot potato with some stupid princess and that goes on for Sonic's entire campaign, the interesting stuff actually happening in Shadow and Silver's stories. Sonic is incompetent in this story, wasting his time saving a princess who keeps getting kidnapped, gets his blue butt whooped twice by Silver, and the one time he actually wins, gets literally killed by Mephiles and it's his friends who save the day and revive him.

Dr. Eggman has literally nothing. Apart from his awful "realistic" reimagining, he has no personality or style in what he does unlike previous adaptations. He just wants to kidnap a princess. Cool, dude.

Sonic, the true Knight of the Wind

Does anybody remember Sonic is literally King Arthur?

Every two steps back we get one step forward because 2008-2009 was a great time for Sonic, really exploring Sonic's character and what he stands for i.e Sonic Unleashed and Sonic and the Black Knight. I love how you don't need character development to make a character great or likeable; James Gunn's Superman understood this and instead chose to challenge Superman and his morals to gauge what makes him a great character in the first place, like what Sonic and the Black Knight does by slipping Sonic into the role of a villain when what he thinks is right is threatened.

Unleashed also explores him being a symbol of hope, transformed into the Werehog from Dark Gaia's influence but still retaining all his morals. This was a really good era, with awesome voice performances, stellar emotional storytelling, and a great dissection of Sonic's character.

But what about the other characters in the franchise? Oh. . .they, uh, kinda entirely stopped using them. . .in everybody's absolute favorite era. . .

The New 52 of Sonic the Hedgehog

The 2010s was not the best era for Sonic. Sure we had Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, but an entire assortment of great characters with unique dynamics, cool skills and awesome character design just became a side hustle for the Olympic games. And worse, with Sonic Colors released, I wager they wanted to market more to kids, and in the process. . .stripped the characters down to their barest traits.

Knuckles is just a meathead who sometimes clashes with Sonic, no tough Guardian struggles or nothin'. Amy's passion and fangirlism is traded in for a generic "strong female" archetype. Shadow's nuance is removed for the sake of an edgy rival stand-in for Sonic. Rouge was always a morally-grey seductive thief, but she's just a straight-up amoral b-word taking after Sonic X. And Metal Sonic? Metal Sonic who?!

Sonic himself is just a "dudebro" archetype whose personality lies in childish "Baldy Nosehair" banter and genuinely devastating roasts. Eggman, though, benefitted the most from the 2010s era. He was finally the center stage villain again, enacting greater schemes of enslaving entire alien races and time-eaters, and actually taking over the world with the Phantom Ruby's might. Congrats, Doc. You somehow managed to take over the world.

A lot of these traits are noticeable in Sonic Colors, Sonic Lost World, Sonic Free Riders and Team Sonic Racing, and absolutely no one's favorite game Sonic Forces, which reduced Tails into a coward and the rest of the characters into absolute nothing burgers.

Silver was hurt the worst in the modern era. No other game has ever nailed him well, even the IDW comics struggle to capture what made him such an emotionally compelling character in the first place for the sake of a clueless, adorkable buffoon.

The character writing in the 2010s was so balls, half the Sonic Boom show's comedy revolves around it with the most archetypical versions of the Sonic characters, and it's actually funny.

Has it been remedied in recent years? I mean, sorta. Amy's still got traces of her love for Sonic in Frontiers, Boom and IDW, but the "keep the trash talk to a minimum" bull in Crossworlds is such an un-Amy thing to say if you even know Amy Rose.

Knuckles and Shadow have definitely gotten their fixes, and while Tails is still kinda underused, I think he's been written way better than in recent years.

This was mostly just a brief explanation of Sonic character writing throughout the years, so if you enjoyed this rant, come along, I have some more Sonic thoughts to express.

[fandomtrash-whataboutit]

Fairy Tail Freed Justine Thesis

Character! Part 2b. (Of ???)

The first important thing to do is realize how outstanding Freed is in his characterization as compared to others with whom he should be similar. I mention this in part 2a, but Freed is introduced as a side antagonist (not that i think any of the Thunder Legion are villains, but the point stands) and yet is given this depth of character, this internal conflict, that comes a a great surprise. Compare him even just with Bixlow and Evergreen in season 1. Both are one-note characters, and that’s not necessarily a jab at the show, it sort of makes sense for the first introduction of a side character. In a show like FT, that runs for a very long time, side characters do tend to get proper characterization, but it is a lengthy process. Bix and Ever are both having fun with the fight, they both follow Laxus’ orders easily, they both are just support antagonists. Yet Freed is presented with this crisis of conscious that, if you bother to think about it, shows things like the loyalty he has to the guild, a trait assigned to many of Fairy Tail’s members, especially those raised in the guild, yet something that is not shown for Bix and Ever until later appearances. Freed’s love and care for his home and family are represented in a way Bix and Ever’s aren’t, not to mention the guilt of causing harm to others.

Which brings us to the next stopping point: Tenrou Island. As we all know: freed doesn’t fight his hardest against Cana during their battle during the S-Class trials, eliminating him from the running. This is in reference to the fight he had with Cana (and Juvia?? She sorta didn’t fight) during the Battle of Fairy Tail. We’ve established that Freed is shown to have that dedication to the guild that is shown in characters like Natsu, Erza, and Elfman. He has very real, very strong motivations to want to gain that high honor of being recognized as an S-Class wizard. But he remembers the unfair situation he put Cana in, the pain that he doesn’t and never did agree with or want to carry out, her anger over his treatment of Juvia. And he feels guilty, he is remorseful, and more than that he actively wants to take repentant action because he wants not just to apologize but to make up for his actions. And no other characters get that sort of treatment. Laxus has the obvious way to make you have to think about the Battle of Fairy Tail even after season 1: he’s freaking exiled. He doesn’t come back until season 3. But in terms of lasting emotional consequences? Fairy Tail follows in the footsteps of a million other action/adventure shows, they forgive and forget past grievances offscreen. No one is shown to still be mad at the Thunder Legion, Bixlow and Evergreen don’t really mention it, and Laxus is only connected back to it through the exile itself, not in reference to any specific actions. While I believe it is mentioned a couple of times, it is only ever in reference. Freed is once again given this significant emotional maturity and general representation that is not afforded to any other character.

But now let’s talk about the Thunder Legion, shall we? Because with a bit of time we do get the Bixlow and Evergreen characterization that I so desperately seek. Bixlow is loud and excitable and sharp, Evergreen is snarky and rude and confrontational. Freed is not similar to either of them in terms of character traits, but he sees their better sides beneath the sarcasm. For whatever reasons you think are behind Bix or Ever’s motivation for being standoffish, Freed recognizes that. And he knows the roots of Laxus’ anger, he knows the pain that the lightning wizard is trying to hide. During the time that were teenagers and young adults, Freed was probably one of the only people who saw the gruff himbo behind the angry asshole persona. Freed is bookish and somewhat introverted, no-nonsense as he can be. Yet he is also someone who really loves his obnoxious, crazy friends. The dichotomy between him and his closest friends is an important aspect of who he is. And it is important for another reason, because it shows a significant, not directly stated aspect of his character. He is someone who repeatedly makes that choice to look beyond the rough exterior of those around him, who chooses to give others the benefit of the doubt. He is a trusting, optimistic person at heart.

Another thing that is less overlooked but still not discussed enough bc we don’t talk about Freed enough: he goes beyond bookish into scholarly. He is an academic, and I therefore hypothesize that he is something of an expert, or at least considered a reasonable authority on subjects of ancient magic and the roots of magic. Runes are essentially the legos of magic, they can be used to construct pretty much anything with the right pieces, and considered to be a very old form of magic with a lot of history. I think that should be respected considering how much his knowledge probably contributes to his strength, while also contributing to how fearsome of an opponent he is. In any given fight, he probably knows more about your magic than you do.

My final addition is that I want to highlight that Freed is incredibly generous. The selflessness with Cana on Tenrou, the willingness to give up his own beliefs for Laxus’ cause, his willingness to DIE in season 9 to protect his friends. He takes on the responsibility to cook for his team every time they go out on a mission. I bet he loves teaching Asuka and helping her with reading, I bet he goes out of his way to recommend books to Levy. I bet he never turns down someone asking for help with a weird obscure magical thing for a job. I bet he helps Wendy learn more about her lost magic. I bet he coos at Bixlow’s babies. (Can you tell i am normal about him?? Cus i am so normal about him.)

[canyoufucksoniccharacters]

It's time.

Alright, this is gonna be a long one. Not only am I covering the canon, mainline game Sonic, but his offshoots as well. Specifically, I will be covering Sonic in the mainline games, the Paramount movie version, Sonic Prime, and a tiiiiiiny tiny little itty bit of Archie. IDW is, from what has been implied as of the past about year and a half, canon; and it will be treated as such (with some caution, of course.), so it's not going to be handled separately.

Let's do this.

Alright, let's start as early as absolutely possible. There have been several, several statements regarding Sonic's age; the earliest of which was courtesy of our good old friends over at...

There would be a certain (mildly loud) funny video here, but Tumblr's weird barely present copyright protection probably kicked in. Anyways...

In the Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon, also known as SatAM, we get 2 tidbits of information. In the 2-part special called Blast From The Past, we see that Sonic and Sally are about the same age, both being kids of just about equal maturity. Later, in episode 24, Sally states that her age is 16. So, far as we could tell, Sonic was 16, or around that range. Now, we know that these cartoons aren't canon, but they definitely did have an influence over the canon of the series. Fun fact for you, Sonic's love of chili dogs was made up by the cartoons, and later adopted during the modern era by the games. Ain't that neat?

Chili dog related tangent aside, this was the only source we had for Sonic's age at that point. I've seen some say that he was stated to be 15 in the manual for Sonic 2, but upon trying to verify that claim I came empty-handed. The manual does mention Tails being 8, but no mention of Sonic's age as far as I could tell; and the same goes for every other Classic Series game. Except for...

Sonic Jam, the Sonic game absolutely no one cares about! In part because it's not much more than a game compilation and tech demo that served as the stepping stone for Sonic Adventure 1. Sonic Jam includes profiles for Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Eggman. This is in both the Japanese and English version, and both contain ages for the characters! Tails is listed as 8, Knuckles as 15, and Eggman as "??" or Unknown, in the case of the English version.

This brings us to Sonic, who I will be using the Japanese profile for.

The part that says "年令" translates to "Age". So, here it says that Sonic ranges between 15 and 16... Whatever that means. In the English version, it just says 15. Either way, all these make sense for these games. Sonic's characterization back in the day was all in on the rebellious teenager angle, an effort to give him an air of edge and coolness that other platforming mascots didn't have, which did admittedly win people over during the heat of the console wars! Sonic was absolutely huge when the series was new, to a degree that other mascots just couldn't match up to. Of course, that dropped off over time, but that's a discussion for another day, and not on this blog. This blog is about gay sex, not the videogame industry.

So, Sonic is either 15 or 16, most likely 15. All is good here, everything lines up, other than maybe the fact that Amy was listed as 8 in the Sonic CD manual, but that's probably fine considering back then her crush on Sonic was treated as a one-sided admirer type thing, rather than an actual romantic interest (That was usually reserved for Sally in media that actually cared about that kinda thing, anyways.)

So, fast forward to the Dreamcast; Sonic gets a redesign! Longer limbs, green eyes, and overall less chibi-like and seemingly more mature appearance. So, you would assume he's older, right? After all, him an everyone else around him got the same treatment, except for Eggman who... Seemingly just became a smidge more realistic. A smidge, anyways. You can only be so realistic being shaped like Gru.

Well... Yeah! It would look like it, since no further statements about his age were made, and in the Archie comics, they actually aged him up a year to justify his change in design. Archie isn't canon, obviously, but it shows the direction that was taken; as the players aged, so did Sonic, no matter how much people got up in arms about the green eyes for some strange reason.

... And then Sonic Heroes came along.

Perfectly fine game, mind you! One of the more polarizing ones, sure, and some of the writing could have been a smidge better (specially on Amy's side of things), but overall not really anything egregious. But for our sake... This hellspawn was born.

Ah, the Sonic Heroes US manual. The root cause of incredibly stupid Sonic shipping discourse; as well as the really, really inaccurate Sonic Channel ages.

All vitriol aside, let's look at what it has to say about our blue blur.

... 15? Really? When our previous estimate was also 15-16? Are you actually telling me Sonic 1 to Heroes all happened within less than a year? Amy got aged up from 8 to 12, which... Either age would be a bit concerning considering they're still pushing the whole romantic interest thing, one-sided as it may still be. That aside, it makes no logistical sense for Sonic to still be 15 after he's literally physically shown to be older.

On top of that, this same manual ages Espio down from 17 (In the Chaotix manual) to 16, and Vector up from 16 to 20. Vector I can believe, but uh. Aging down isn't exactly a thing that most people do.

What's worse, this age was then listed in the official Sonic Channel website... Even after they made a game where the first thing you see is Sonic celebrating his birthday. Meaning he had to have been 14 before that game to stay 15, which is contradictory to say the least. Additionally, there's a potential time gap of 5 months between SA2 and Heroes, only ever referenced in the Playstation 3 PSN release of Sonic Heroes.

This age was never once modified, even after Sonic Forces' 6 month timeskip, meaning Sonic had a birthday party, was locked up for 6 months, and somehow didn't age a year during all that. Nor after the several infrastructure-demolishing incidents such as an entire city being flooded and wrecked, the planet being shattered into pieces, among others.

And you wanna know something funny? In Sonic Generations, Classic Sonic is explicitly stated to be Sonic from the past, which checks out considering how he behaves less maturely and is proportionally much smaller. And then in 2015, the Classic Sonic style guide comes out.

15.

15.

15.

Somehow. Some. Fucking. How. Classic Sonic is listed as 15... While Modern Sonic is listed as 15 too. Oh, Amy is also listed as 12, by the way. Despite that being her (ALLEGED) age in Sonic Heroes.

Unless they're from different universes or something, there's no way-

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

Yeah, so, Sonic Forces released 2 years after that guide. And it tried, emphasis on tried, to retcon Classic Sonic into being an entirely separate character. This was, however, later undone by Sonic Origins both re-establishing the Classic games as taking place in the past, on top of a TailsTube episode saying as such; that Classic Sonic is, indeed, from the past. It's even stated that Modern Sonic is who Classic Sonic grew up to be!

IDW doesn't make our job any easier, either. This is information from when the Tangle & Whisper story was ongoing;

However... I'd take it with a grain of salt, as it's from before IDW was considered canon, and back when Sega was much more strict on the mandates and what they did and didn't allow in Sonic media. Plus, this was still the age listed on Sonic Channel, before they removed it.

Oh yeah, that. Why don't we talk about that?

On October of 2022, all the ages on Sonic Channel were removed.

This... Was a good move. SonAmy is still being pushed ever so very slightly, with Amy's crush still being present in a recent short even if she's much more mature about it now, which would make their age difference less than ideal. On top of that, the ages really just didn't line up chronologically speaking.

So, where does that leave us now?

In this interview, Takashi Iizuka is asked about Sonic's age; to which he responds that "He's a teenager."

"Teenager" is a bit of a loose definition, probably on purpose. Generally speaking, the range for teenager ranges from anywhere to 13-19, to 13-21 depending on who you ask. Some people make the cutoff at 18, though that's almost never done when it comes to scientific material.

So, let's recap. Sonic is still considered a teenager, but he's always been considered one, all the way back from the Classic series. So, we can safely assume Classic isn't 15; either that, or he was, and the modern series takes place during anywhere from 2-6 years, which I could believe. Either way, he's at minimum about 13-14, as he's a younger version of Sonic who hasn't hit a growth spurt yet.

Then, we have anywhere from 1 to 2 canon birthdays for Sonic, depending on whether you count Runners as canon or not (which I would admittedly not at all fault you for not considering it canon, considering it's a mobile game; and a discontinued one at that), as well as a 6-month timeskip during Forces, potential 5-month timeskip during Heroes (which isn't the most unbelievable proposition or anything, considering it would be a bit weird if Shadow was presumed dead only to show back up like a week later), and a bunch of events that have caused severe structural damage to key locations in the world, namely during Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Adventure 1 as the 2 biggest examples. Oh, and Sonic Forces throwing absolutely everything into disarray on a seemingly global scale, which would take quite a bit of time to be fixed, specially considering that's still an ongoing process in IDW.

On top of all this, it's outright shown that these things don't just happen every week or whatever, things happen off-screen, characters get time off to do their own stuff, and from the looks of it, Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog is canon, as nothing there conflicts with canon and it's officially endorsed. Which means WE HAVE YET ANOTHER FUCKING BIRTHDAY PARTY, FOR AMY THIS TIME.

Further proving the point i just stated, let's look at the geographical Prison Island. This is what it looks like in Sonic Adventure 2.

A big, mechanical prison complex made out of nothing but cold hard metal. Filled with robots, not a single trace of nature in sight. Said nature however is not too far from these military bases, though! These forests are also on the island.

So, these are the two main parts of Prison Island. Abundant nature, and military facilities. There's very little difference once the story progresses further, though, as the island...

Fucking explodes. (Clip from Sonic Adventure 2 Real-Time Fandub. Credit to SnapCube.)

So, why is this relevant? Well, we revisit this location in Shadow The Hedgehog! The game, not the guy.

As we can see, there is no longer any difference between nature and construct. The base has been completely abandoned, and overtaken by the nearby forests, with greenery sprouting all over it. Now, it's not impossible that plant life in the Sonic series grows a bit faster than real plants, but methinks that an entire military base doesn't get overtaken by nature this hard within a month. There's entire new trees, grass and plants growing all over what was previously pavement, not even the walls are safe! Every single area is either covered in toxic waste, plant life, or both. Plant life that, again, needs time to grow. So there's likely a pretty big chunk of time between Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow The Hedgehog, even though they're only separated by 1 game, Sonic Heroes.

Add that to the many many reasons these things can't just happen on a week by week basis! On to my next point...

No, proportions don't really mean anything in terms of age. Sure, Vanilla is quite big, and so are the conductor and his wife, but Rouge is undoubtedly an adult and her proportions are more or less the same as everyone else. So all they help distinguish is between children (Tails, Cream) and non-children. In this exact screenshot we see that Vanilla is much taller than rouge, almost being at eye level with each other despite Rouge sitting on an elevated surface, while Vanilla is standing. This height difference is also present in the games, although we rarely get to see them next to each other.

So, all this taken into account, the fact Sonic has been a teenager since the Classic series, the fact there's been a few timeskips and at least 2 birthdays, several events that would need some time to recover from, specially with a still-ongoing recovery process after Forces, the fact Elise is allegedly 17 in 06 (which would make her whole romantic subplot with Sonic even more uncomfortable than it already is by default if he was any younger than say, idk about 16 years old at the least), among many other reasons that I may have forgotten to mention, the chances of Sonic being 15, hell, even 16 are very, very slim. At the very least, he's got to be about 17, and he could honestly be as old as 19 or 20 (depending on whether Iizuka meant he's of adolescent age or a teenager).

So, if you do still view Sonic as a minor, that's perfectly fine, and honestly believable; but with all these facts stacked up, as time goes on, it will be less and less likely that him being underage will be a real possibility. This isn't the Pokemon anime. There's actual structure, lore, and a proper sense of scale; and something like Sonic's age being frozen at 15-16 just wouldn't make any sense.

All this to say, Sonic is, most likely, no longer a minor. There's some wiggle room where he could be one, but 18-19 is the most likely option, specially considering how Frontiers was comfortable with pitching his voice down. Yes, it was for the sake of the game's tone, but Tails's voice for example didn't have that much of a difference to it, because he's a child and it would be weird for a character to sound so much older than they actually are- and this goes for Sonic too.

So, in conclusion, after extensive analysis and every source I could find for Sonic's age taken into account;

You can, most likely, fuck Sonic The Hedgehog.

...

BUT IT'S NOT OVER YET.

We need to take both his other iterations into consideration, as well as address characters whose fuckability status depends on him. First, the alternative versions.

Movie Sonic

This one's a kid. On top of acting much more immature and inexperienced, outright described as irresponsible- hell, Tom even says "Whether you wanna hear this or not, you're still just a kid. You've got some more growing up to do before you're ready to be the big hero". He acts like a kid, is referred to as a kid, and hell, it makes sense, the movies so far have adapted Sonic 1-3&K, the games where Sonic was still just starting out his adventures.

Prime Sonic

This one's... More uncertain. He's definitely quite immature and inexperienced; though he feels more... Reckless than anything else. More of an attitude problem than an age problem, really, considering how Amy and Shadow act, two characters who should be about the same age as him, but that act much more maturely for the most part.

This one's pretty up in the air, I'd say, considering how Prime seems to be comfortable having their own versions of the cast (going by how different Shadow seems to be and how he has seemingly no attachment to Rouge, who is one of the people he trusts the most in canon).

Oh yeah, I haven't watched season 3 yet, but I doubt it changes much of anything about this judgement.

THE SONIC-DEPENDENT ONES

THE ROBOT SONICS

While they're all likely able to consent (... Okay, Mecha MK. 1 is a bit more dubious on whether it's sapient), it would probably be unethical to fuck something that's made to look like someone who's a minor. While they were made when Sonic was definitely a minor, he isn't one anymore, and the resemblance is still there to pretty much the exact same degree, so there's really no ambiguity here.

You can fuck them. Go ham, robot-fuckers.

SCOURGE

Look, we're not covering the mess that Archie can be. But from what I gather, Sonic is, at most, 17 pre-SGW. And this is just an alternate version of that Sonic, who likely didn't go through all the uber weird shit that makes Archie Sonic's age a nightmare to deal with. So, no, unfortunately for a lot of you, you probably can't fuck Scourge. Fortunately, though...

SURGE

Surge's age is, according to this post by IDW artist and writer Evan Stanley, around Sonic's age. So, what goes for the hedgehog goes for the Tenrec, you can most likely fuck her. Go ham.

... Elise?

She was 17 during 06, and some time has passed since then, and it would be weird if she had any bigger of an age gap with Sonic, plus plenty of time has passed since 06, so... I guess you can? I don't see why you would, but power to you, I suppose. Can't judge.

MIGHTY AND RAY

These two have been here since SegaSonic The Hedgehog in the arcades, which happens even before Sonic 2 does! Ray is never once really implied to be young, no matter how much he may seem like Mighty's Tails equivalent (Which... He's not meant to be. He was made before Tails.), and he's most likely about even with Mighty, who is most likely the same age as Sonic, seeing how they're meant to be parallels (down to Sonic's sprites being rehashed for his sprites in Chaotix), and the Japanese manual for Knuckles' Chaotix listing him as 16.

They're here mostly because Mighty is a partial Sonic counterpart, and Ray tends to be anywhere that Mighty goes these days, so they might as well be treated as a package deal.

So, yes, you can most likely fuck them... Even if we have absolutely no idea what their modern versions look like. Seriously, where the hell have they been? At least we know they're fine, considering it's been stated that they're off on their own adventures these days.

Aaaand... That's it! That's all the Sonic-dependent characters I could think of, at least ones that I think don't really merit their own posts. TL;DR

Metal Sonic, Mecha Sonic, etc: Fuckable Scourge: Unfuckable Surge: Fuckable Elise: Fuckable Mighty: Fuckable Ray: Fuckable

The "Fuckable" marks should go with an asterisk, as Sonic's status is "Most Likely Fuckable", but still.

Phew. Finally done. I've spent pretty much all goddamn day writing this. Hopefully this is useful for someone. Hopefully. God knows it'll make my job easier.

I'll just go write the alt text and go eat something, this took... Way longer than I'd like to admit. See you when the post goes up.

Go ham, you beautiful horny bastards.

Edit: Future OP here! I had to remake this post because the DIC bit earlier somehow triggered some weird copyright stuff on Tumblr, basically hiding the post from anyone who isn't directly looking at the blog. In the meantime, I added that bit about Prison Island to further add to his potential fuckability. So his margin for being a minor is even smaller now! How fun! Anyways, now I'll be seeing myself out for the time being. Thanks, and have fun.

[eway]

Ok I'm in a Sonic mood right now. So I'm gonna tell ya'll my thoughts on each of the Sonic shows in the order they came out. However, I haven't seen two of them, and will tell you why. Now let's begin!

The Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog

This show is hilarious. And honestly, the way it depicts Sonic and Tails' brotherly bond is not only heartwarming, it's held up in the games. And modern, goofy Eggman reminds me a lot of Dr. Robotnik from this show. So honestly, it's characterization of characters holds up pretty well. It's funny, charming, and at times surprisingly heartwarming. 8/10

Sonic The Hedgehog Saturday Morning Cartoon

I'ma be honest, I haven't seen this show, and I never will. Thank Toxic fans. Sonally shippers getting mad at Sonamy shippers like me. People telling you that all the other shows are inferior and you NEED to watch SatAM or your not a real Sonic Fan, etc. The fanbase is keeping me away, and I know I will not be able to enjoy it because of this. Toxic Fandom/10

Sonic Underground

This show... so back in the day, my parents bought DVDs of the Super Mario Brothers Super Show, The Adventures Of Super Mario Bros 3, and Super Mario World. On each of these, there were previews for other DiC cartoons. On all three were ads for Sonic Underground. And me and bro wanted that, so we rented some DVDs. And I LOVED it. First of all, yeah I know people think Tails was replaced by Sonia and Manic, but being honest, Sonic's dynamic with those two, while still a sibling dynamic, is not the same as his dynamic with Tails. And Tails could have been written in with the sibs adopting him as a younger brother. Sonia and Manic are also fun characters and I really like them. And even haters of this show have to admit the theme song is good, or at least the singer is having fun. I also like that, unlike the other 90s shows which were nature vs. Technology type things, Underground had this and some magic and Super natural elements. Honestly, concepts like this show up in the games, with ancient being sealed away like Chaos, Iblis, Dark Gaia etc. And of course the Storybook Series itself has stuff like this I have been working on a Sonic Underground Season 2 which would loosely adapt modern Sonic Stories and bring in characters from those games. I know the show is far from perfect, but this is my thoughts, not an objective review, which is why it's a 9/10 score. This is NOT objective!

Sonic X

I watched the show in Japanese with subs and I gotta say...why do people hate Chris? He's a kid, a fanboy, and I find his interactions with the cast adorable. The music in the show is also amazing, though I hear it's different in the dub. Also there are Sonamy moments which YEEEEESSSS. I also love how the show managed to pretty faithfully adapt the plots of some of the games. The Meterex Saga was something of a departure, but I still enjoyed it. 9/10

Sonic Boom

I was born in the 2000s. So I was in middle school when this show came out. And I was a Sonic fan. I had played Colors and I think I had gotten Secret Rings pretty recently, though I may have only had Colors. When I watched the first episode, I loved it. And then hated the rest of the show. Because the first episode has a pretty different tone from the rest of the show. I got over this as I got older and started rewatching the show, catching jokes that flew over my head. And while some episodes are like "why are you friends again?" Some, and most in season 2, show these guys are pretty good friends. The Shadow episodes are highlights for me. 7/10

Sonic Prime

I haven't seen this show because I don't have Netflix. I want to see it tho. Netflix is expensive/10

[prowerprojects]

I feel like this is a growing side effect of fans being starved from Tails being the non-action tech guy for so long to where Forces caused a boiling point for so many, some are latching onto Nine or IDW in spite of it. (I argue Tails got drowned out often even back then when characters like Shadow, Silver, and Blaze were a huge talking point back in the 2000s. But still in good standing before Unleashed and Colors.)

While I'm glad the movie and Prime made Tails in general a big talking point again; more positively this time, I am mixed on it coming at the expense of his Modern self. MOSTH and Modern being playable again later in Frontiers is a start, but he's probably not going to really shake this off until he goes solo for a bit in a upfront way. (That, and having more interactions outside of Sonic to show off more of his character. Love their bond, don't love how fans treat it so one-sided when discussing it.)

Anon, you're probably right.

(Though I don't really see what is there to latch onto in idw, he doesn't really do much? I wouldn't even say his characterization is bad, it's just that he kinda. Exists around. I see people hype up idw Tails and I'm like. Wow no wonder people think he's boring and lame if this is what passes for good Tails representation)

The thing with Unleashed and Colors is interesting, because I feel like the characters who had good early portrayals (the aforementioned Blaze, Shadow and Silver) but hadn't appeared since are still remembered as competent and cool characters because this characterization is still fresh in people's minds even though it was so long ago, while due to Tails having more appearances he's more remembered for the more recent ones... (and probably there's a part of "Why can't my supercool fave be in this game, why is Tails here, he's lame!")

I feel there's also the thing that all of those characters had very... impressive introductions. No matter how bad the writing for Shadow gets people can go back to his introductory game and remember what he was invisioned to be as a character, etc.

But Tails's backstory is all in the manual. He even has a little character arc (seeing Sonic, becoming more optimistic and learning to fly/run fast enough to keep up with Sonic, meeting Sonic for the first time and following him into battle), and it's not only only in the manual, it happens before the events of the game itself. Even Knuckles has more of a character arc/involvement in his introductory game plot. (This is how we ended up with early adaptations where Tails thinks that math is yucky and hard despite canon Tails literally being an engineer) Tails just. Doesn't get to make the same impression, and never will, because he's a 30+ old character and that ship has sailed. (And it's ironic to see how people latched onto Nine since he's technically having the same arc, it's just like you know... Show, don't tell. It really works. (And also he's angsty, that helps too))

Yeah... I love people being excited about versions of Tails from adaptations, but it really brings me down when people use them to talk shit about mainline Tails. You know what this reminds me of? When there's a new Scooby Doo adaptation and everyone is like "Finally they fixed Daphne so she's competent and isn't a damsel in distress anymore". And it's like. Do you know anything about Daphne. And. Why are you giving credit to the adaptation for doing something that has always been a thing?

I'm not expecting Frontiers to break through Tails's public image either, but I hope he at least has an enjoyable gameplay so people could be like "Wow that was fun! I wish Sega would make even more games where you could play as Tails!" :3c And then maybe we could get this "solo adventure".

(Though the way it's worded in Frontiers it's more of a "Tails is going to the mountains to train" than "Tails is becoming a solo operation". Like he clearly just wants to get "stronger"(in a broad sense of the word. Though personally I think what he actually needs is to stop basing his self worth on his usefulness and Sonic's opinions. Ironically if he was more like Sonic in this way he would be happier) and is expecting to get back to Sonic at some point. I could live with this though, I don't mind it at all as long as he's actually treated as Sonic's partner afterwards rather than a cute accessory that Sonic talks to so he doesn't look weird talking to the broken robots.)

I love tmosth! Ian Sr is such a good writer, honestly I don't know about his abilities to write a cool adventure plot, but he has the character voices nailed down! (Except for maybe kleptomania jokes with Rouge) But Tails was so good! He was basically a co-protag with Barry (they had a very cute dynamic), we saw him interacting with other characters who aren't Sonic (honestly he and Sonic barely interact with each other there at all), he took charge of the investigation and got to show off his smarts beyond "I fix this broken thing like it's magic"(Though he did that as well!), and he was still shown to be insecure and childish at times, it's just *clenches fist* so good.

Sorry had to take a break to gush, this post was becoming too negative ahaha. Ok back to it.

The Unbreakable Bond thing. Yeah... I also love their relationship, but the fact that Tails doesn't really have developed relationships with the rest of the cast makes him feel very isolated and like his life revolves around Sonic. Even Amy and Knuckles, whose most developed relationships are with Sonic as well, have other characters that they interact with without Sonic being involved, (or at least used to interact with), like Rouge or Cream. Who does Tails have? Professor Pickle? Barry? Please. Tails is getting suffocated by the soulmate bond.

(And I don't love to criticize how other fans engage with the franchise because I also have my silly headcanons and interpretations. Like. I literally hc Tails as nonbinary which he isn't, in canon, as far as I'm aware. But. Yeah sometimes it feels like people are more into the idea of Sonic having a little brother that he can dote on. Rather than, you know. Sonic & Tails's actual relationship. Like I literally saw someone say (genuinely as far as I could guess) "Sonic sacrificed so much to raise Tails" and like. Ok. It's time to step back a little and look at the actual canon content. Sonic didn't even know where Tails's house was in sa1, what exactly is he sacrificing with such attentive parenting I wonder. But I do also love cute brotherly bonding stuff so. (One of the reasons why I love aosth so much, though there are other reasons as well. Also while I'm complaining, nobody understands the "Mom, Dad and the Picket Fence" thing.))

Sorry if this post got a big edgy at times, sometimes I start going and slip into it a little bit, even though I'm generally trying not to complain too much about the stuff I don't like and instead focus on the things I do.

[thevindicativevordan]

Since you mentioned that Williamson would probably launch a Superman ongoing. How do you imagine his run would look like?

Well I called it, not that it was a hard thing to predict:

Looks pretty much exactly what I expected. All the classic elements get plenty of focus, Lois is back at the Daily Planet, Clark will be going up against a bunch of classic villains - Parasite is the villain of the first arc, seems Livewire, Bizarro, and Silver Banshee won't be far behind - classic supporting cast members like Jimmy Olsen will be getting used, and there may be either some new faces or revamps of old ones. That cop with the pony tail in the upper right might be a new take on Inspector (Commissioner?) Henderson. Williamson is at his best when he's focused on one character and just doing fun superhero adventures instead of trying to write big events or copy Morrison. Robin and Flash delivered that for me and were enjoyable, he should bring a similar level of quality here. If nothing else the use of classic Superman Rogues who haven't gotten attention in a while like Livewire, Silver Banshee, and Bizarro get points with me, I don't expect him to write the definitive Parasite arc, but if he can at least provide entertaining Superman stories featuring classic Superman Rogues I'll be happy.

Kaminski (head editor for the Superbooks) hinted on Twitter that Zod was going to play an important role in the Superbooks next year. Given Williamson already used him once for Batman/Superman - his use there of Zod was good - I wouldn't be surprised if he uses him again here. Perhaps Zod is the figure in shadow if it isn't teasing a new Superman Rogue. I've long wanted Zod to fill the Ra's role in Superman's Rogues Gallery and Williamson did position him as that, if he is writing Zod I hope he continues to develop that characterization for him.

Obviously Campbell's art is gorgeous, but does anyone really think he's going to last long on a monthly ongoing? Naomi and Far Sector really struggled to come out on time, if Campbell can do just one arc I'll be happy. Dragotta is a good artist too, but I don't know if he's fast enough to do a monthly these days. I'll enjoy their time on Superman regardless, can't wait to see them draw the villains!

Now for the rest...

Anonymous asked:

New Superbook lineup?

First DC panel thus far to actually talk about the big plans for 2023. Honestly I'm pleased overall with the news that was shared.

Action is becoming a Superfamily book with PKJ continuing to write the main feature, which will still be standard issue length. Lineup is Clark, Kara, Conner, Kenan, Jon, Natasha, and the two Phaelosians from Warworld that Superman adopted: Osul and Othul. Ever since Detective Comics became a Batfamily book during Rebirth I've been wanting to see someone try and do the same for the Superfamily. Metallo is going to be the main villain for the first arc starting in Action 1051, and seeing Metallo be a threat strong enough to challenge the entire Superfamily has me hyped. Loved how PKJ has written the book up till now, hopefully this switch doesn't cause him to struggle. If he does a good job he'll be delivering sorely needed development to Superman's Rogues and his Family, two areas I've long been begging to see more attention given.

It's a small detail but I love that Kenan still has his white and black yin-yang s-shield underneath his jacket. Everyone looks good to me, although perhaps Nat should just change the color of her armor rather than wear a hoodie. And PKJ finally gets an artist who is both good and fast! Sandoval hasn't had trouble meeting a monthly schedule so Action should finally have an artist who can draw consecutive issues. Just need DC not to poach another artist from PKJ for their events, first Sampere then Federeci, go find another book to swipe artists from!

Two backups are being added, Jurgens writing kid Jon stories set in the past and Leah Williams writing Power Girl. Jurgens Lois and Clark was my favorite thing he's done since the Triangle Era, but this sounds boring. Doombreaker (aka Doomsday with four arms instead of two) is not a villain who is attracting my interest, PKJ already brought back Conduit Jurgens, you've said repeatedly you were going to tell a Conduit story after Action 1000 if you got to stay. Go tell that story instead of something conceptually dull as Doomsday 2.0. No opinion on Williams, her Trial of Magneto was terrible but her Mary Jane series was entertaining, I think PG will be a good fit for her, and there's always Johns' JSA if not.

Superman: Son of Kal-El is ending with issue 18 and DC is launching a new Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent 6-issue miniseries where Jon will fight Ultraman and meet Val-Zod. Taylor was claiming he was writing post-Kal-El Returns SSOKE issues a while back on Twitter, so I assume that DC is taking what he had planned for future issues and just doing it as a mini in hopes of increasing sales. My hunch is that this mini will mark the end of Taylor's time with Jon, and he'll either depart the Superman sphere entirely or go do a Val-Zod mini, since all he really cares about is using Jon's book to spotlight his OCs. I want it to flop so he'll be done for good, he's done jack shit to establish Jon outside of his bisexuality, countless other more pressing developments need to be done for Jon to really stand on his own as a hero, but of course Taylor would rather bring in his successor to Superman and try to push Val one last time over actually developing Jon as a character.

Saw that yet again you have people theorizing this is going to end with a version of kid Jon returning or Jon being deaged and at this point I don't even care if that happens. Taylor completely squandered the opportunity Jon represented, long as Val-Zod fucks off back home to Earth 2 and Taylor doesn't try to keep him on the main Earth then fine, whatever, you lot can have your kid Jon back. Completely wasted the potential he offered, might as well reset him back to default. I don't think that's happening, Othul and Osul are filling the kid role for Clark and Lois, plus there might be that Legacy League book coming yet. If it does I don't even care anymore. There's one ray of hope for me even now: Waid, Yang, Watters and PKJ might be writing him soon.

Coming up after Dark Crisis, we have the Lazarus Planet event. Waid has a good track record with weekly events - 52, the No Surrender trilogy - and the supporting writing lineup looks great: Yang, PKJ, Watters, and more. No Multiverse bullshit and any of those guys writing Jon will be an improvement over Taylor. Given this is where Jon is getting his electric blue powers, which will still be a thing over in Action and AoS, this event is going to be important for his direction as a character. Obviously this is me projecting, but I want to believe that one of the writers here is going to end up taking over control of Jon after Taylor's finishes his mini, ideally Yang or Watters. Hey Yang if you can bring Kenan into this event, do it. Taylor keeps trying to make his Superman stick, might as well assert yourself and use your Superman too where you can.

Good lineup generally. That's not counting other projects we know are coming such as Porter's Superboy mini, Waid's Superman: Testament book with Hitch, or Venditti's Superman '78 Season 2. Taylor hinted on Twitter that there are more announcements coming too after Action 1050, and PKJ hinted that something might be coming with Lana. Praying that a Steel miniseries with Lana in there as secondary protagonist/love interest is coming, written by Greg Pak, is in the works. Steel isn't in Action or advertised as being anywhere else, but he had a badass Action 1050 variant and it would be weird for him to just disappear. Irons is being positioned as a key player for PKJ Action, for him not to be with the Superfamily post 1050 must mean he's getting a book of his own. That's how I'm coping anyway.

Anonymous asked:

Thoughts on the NYCC announcements? Personally I'm afraid the Authority will go into the background if Action is becoming the Superfamily book, but I still trust PKJ to introduce interesting concepts.

Yeah I'm resigning myself to the Authority crew getting dropped. PKJ was asking on Twitter if people thought there was any interest in an Authority book not by him, and saying he'd want to get an LGBT+ writer for them. Later said that DC was trying to find a place for those characters, so maybe we'll get a new Superman & the Authority book down the road. I wish they'd induct Apollo into the Superfamily, getting him away from Midnighter who always overshadows him (heh remind you of another duo?) would be good for him. Let him play off of other flying bricks and show how he's similar and how he's different. Let him bond with Jon over being a queer hero and the difficulties that come with that, of trying to establish a place for yourself in the shadow of one of the greatest heroes of all time. I want Apollo so badly to be inducted into the Superfamily but I don't think it's happening. Can always dream though!

[supertvngames]

Meme by AmethystQueen25 of deviantART

Christopher “Chris” Thorndyke

No actual goals or anything. Other than being with Sonic forever.

Leeches off the roles of Tails and Amy, being the younger brother and doing anything to impress Sonic and bring sense into Shadow, and keep Shadow’s ring which was meant for Rouge since she knows Shadow better than Chris does.

Act as if his parents neglect him completely, when really in Episode 2, Chris practically has pictures with his parents through out his years. I’m sure as hell they did what they can to spent time with him but even if they did, Chris still takes it for granted, after all he did yell out “I HATE YOU, DAD” when his parents abandon work to visit their sick son, isn’t that what Chris wanted?

Nearly doomed 2 worlds, each with billions of lives, over a single individual by shutting down the portal.

Spent 6 years with an unhealthy obsession on being together with Sonic. Even left without saying goodbye to his family, friends, and girlfriend. Oh it gets even “better”. When Chris finds out about 1 month in Sonic’s world is 1 year in his world, it didn’t affect him one bit, he just like “whatever”, absolute no concerns for his loved ones back in his own world.

Never made any attempts to get back home, not asking Knuckles to restore the Master Emerald faster, not asking Sonic and the others if they could look for the Chaos Emeralds, nothing. Sure, he went home anyway, only because he had a time limit. But remember, about the whole 1 month in Sonic’s world = 1 year in Chris’s world? Well, apparently, Chris has forgotten about it. Think about how much time was spent Chris was away. Everyone went out to find the Chaos Emeralds in space, fighting the Metarex, hiding from the Metarex, returning back to Sonic’s world, consoling Tails (and possibly Cream and Charmy) after the death of Cosmo. It must have been more than one month. And what’s worse? Chris tells Eggman and his robots he’ll be back, meaning Chris still doesn’t give a shit about his loved one’s feelings but rather be with Sonic.

Helen

Her goals are to seek excitement and adventures for happiness

She is simply another character with her own characterization that doesn’t take traits from other characters, she learns on becoming happy even through the toughest times while adventuring with Sonic who gladly helps her.

Well aware that her parents has to work overtime in order to get her the best doctors, the best medicine, her wheelchair, and to cover their financial problem; yet Helen is rather sad about it, even felt guilty, thinking herself as a burden.

Tells her story about her adventure with Sonic to lessen the guilt her parents’ probably having. Her parents decides to spend time with her more and more.

Even made a farewell gift to Cream, a flower crown. Knows that Cream, Sonic, and everyone will be going away forever, while it was hard she knows they have to go.

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[animebw]

Binge-Watching: Pokemon Master Quest, Episodes 43-46

In which Ash earns his final badge in a blaze of glory, and the blue blob competition heats up.

Dragon Tails

At this point, Ash has just about reached the apex of his journey. He’s defeated fifteen gym leaders, competed in two leagues, and travelled across 250 episodes worth of terrain. Our boy has come a long, long way since those early days in Pallet Town, growing stronger step by step as he’s taken on the biggest challenges of Kanto and Johto alike. So it only makes sense, now that he’s competing for his final badge, to send this adventure home with as spectacular a fireworks shower as this show can muster. And what better way to mark how strong he’s grown than by throwing him headfirst into a conflict between the most majestic, powerful kinds of Pokemon out there- Dragon Pokemon? These beasts are second only to the many legendaries as the gods of the Pokemon world, the pinnacle of power for these fantastical creatures. It’s only fair that they take center stage to mark the final stop on Ash’s journey before the championship itself.

And holy shit, what a spectacle it is. Seeing these mighty beasts cut loose and throw down with each other makes for some of the coolest moments in this entire show. You’ve got Dragonite raging out and burning the landscape to the ground! Best Girl Charizard returning to the fold and throwing around high-powered flamethrowers like candy! Dragonair fights with the freaking weather! How’s that for awesome? The mighty serpent summons a goddamn thunderstorm to use as its attack! This is a level of sheer power that dwarves every other encounter Ash has taken part in (not counting the movies, since the show doesn’t count them either lol). And that carries through to the gym battle itself, which sees hyper beams and hydro pump and fire spins and a Big Fucking Snorlax colliding like DBZ beam struggles, climaxing with Charizard summoning a fucking fire tornado as he piledrives his final opponent into the dust. God, that was fucking cool. Ash has grown from a trainer who struggled to catch a caterpie into a trainer who stands toe to toe with the most powerful Pokemon around and pushes through to victory. He’s truly earned this final badge, that’s for sure. And after a brief training stint to bulk up for the big leagues, it’ll finally be time to put his best foot forward in the Johto league championship. Let’s see if he’s got what it takes to win! I mean, we know the outcome cause of cultural osmosis, but let’s pretend for his sake, alright?

Why? Wynaut!

You know what’s better than one wild card blue blob? Two wild card blue blobs! That’s right, Wobuffet’s got some competition in the form of his pre-evolved form Wynaut who shows up throughout these episodes to make everyone’s lives just a little weirder. We still haven’t done that much with him, and Ash didn’t even get a chance to pull out his Pokedex and give the audience a rundown on what Wynaut’s deal even is. But man, is it fun to see everyone’s favorite troll get trolled himself for a change. There’s something so endearing about watching these two blue bobbleheads babble back and forth, only a word apiece between them yet somehow carrying on entire conversations you can actually kinda follow. Once again, the way this show characterizes its Pokemon is so damn good. So godspeed, Wynaut, and I can’t wait to see what mischief you bring to the table next time.

Best of Team Rocket

-”I do think you’ve had enough sugar for one day.”

“All that jelly goes right to my thighs!”

-”But they didn’t go boom yet!” Lol, I like that it has its own agenda even as its helping them.

-”I... bought cheap gloves.”

-”Just like a king, only shorter!”

-Okay, the involuntary urge to do the motto was funny enough, but the record-scratching motto music as the desperately try to hold it in slew me. Holy shit, Team Rocket’s the best.

-”It’s my childhood nanny! What’s she doing here?”

Odds and Ends

-Alright, localizing mochi as jelly donuts makes a lot more sense than onigiri. Good choice.

-”This is a new experience.” Brock’s line reads are really funny sometimes and I don’t know why.

-So Lisa the Charizard trainer is Claire’s childhood friend? I smell a new ship!

-”Am I the only one who hasn’t found love?” skjdhskdf Brock please

-More ancient Pokemon lore? Yes, please.

-”That was a good luck kiss.” Charizard best waifu

-Woah-ho, typo! Ash says he got a glacier badge twice in his flashback, one of them is suppose to be a zephyr badge. Surprised that got past the ADR director.

-You know, Ash, you’ve got a bunch of flying Pokemon you could use to chase the balloon, you don’t have to- “THROW ME UP, BAYLEEF, THERE’S NO OTHER WAY!” Welp, he’s lost his marbles.

-”You’re crushing my spleen!” One of these days, Oak is just gonna up and die.

Johto League, here we come. See you next time!

[writing-the-end]

WS Chapter 54: Call to Arms

Previous Chapter

Masterpost

It’s finally here! Months of waiting on the minesona event, and we finally get to see more characters join the fight! Don’t see your minesona here? Don’t fear! With so many cool minsonas, i had to make more chapters to meet them all. If your character isn’t here, they’ll be in the next chapter!

I hope I characterized your sonas well enough!

Ecto belongs to @cooler-cactus-block

Red belongs to @theguardiansofredland​

Storm belongs to @stormjay0​

Kai belongs to @the-cheshirefox​

Abyss belongs to @abyssvoidsstuffs​

“If the numbers you report are true, we aren’t going to be enough.” Xisuma’s voice echoes through Red’s mind. “Even with the best engineers, we can’t hold back this many enemies.” 

“We’ll need to search our world, then. People willing to defend what they love. To stand with us.” Avon’s suggestions are what sent the wanderers scattering. What led Red to where she is now. Flying over sharp mountain peaks in search of life. More than just a village, more than just a witch hut. Someone that will be willing to stand by the wanderers, no matter how weird them or their hermit friends are. And there’s one person that Red has met previous to her travels with Ecto and Avon. 

He looks at the map, old and still a bit soggy. It was strange visiting the ocean monument to grab what the visitor had given him so long ago. The illness has only taken more lives, and Red couldn’t face staying any longer than grabbing this map. He rubs a finger along the red X on the colorful parchment, before sighing and looking up. Into the tall spires surrounding him. How is he supposed to find one person among all this to climb?

Lucky for Red, he doesn’t have to climb, when the person he’s looking for can fly. A shadow passes over him, blocking out the sun with a feathered darkness. Ominous black wings spread open as the stranger lands, flight feathers cresting outward like spears against the empty air. A dark grey cloak sweeps back, an iron sword glinting in the midday sun. Red steps back, realizing he probably should’ve brought something to protect himself. Or at least an invisibility potion to hide with. All he can do is hold onto the statue, hold onto Fred like it’s his only shield.

But when emerald eyes turn and meet with Red’s, the menacing and mysterious stature eases into fluffy wings and warm smiles. “Red!” 

Red squeaks, purple scarred arms bringing him into a tight hug. But he welcomes the warmth, smiling to see a friendly face. “Hey, Storm. Has that poisonous potato stopped bothering you yet?” 

“Gah, I don’t know how you beat me. What are you doing out here?” Storm lets go of Red, sheathing her sword and tucking grey and purple hair behind an ear. 

The kipling looks around, searching for signs of trouble. Charred ground, abandoned nether portals, any sign that a hellspawn could be nearby. “I’m actually looking for you. Has… has anything odd happened to you lately? Strange things?” 

Storm’s confident attitude falters a bit. “No...why?” She leans closer to Red. “You look like you’ve been through some things. Here, I have some food.” 

Red takes the treat with a nod. “Things have gotten weird, Storm. I’ve seen a lot these past few months. Made new friends, and unfortunately some enemies as well.” 

“You have enemies?” Storm chuckles. She wasn’t sure Red could have such a thing. “I’ve been lots of places, maybe I know your new friends. Who are they?” 

“Ah...do you know Ecto? Tall, short brown hair and a passion for prickly plants?” Storm shakes her head. “Well that’s one. The other is Avon, she’s got big wings-”

“I’ve heard stories of someone called that. They weren’t exactly the kindest of tales, but I of all people should know to take people’s words with a grain of salt.” Storm runs her fingers over the purple marks that mar her arms. From what she’s heard, Avon is a protector, been through a tough childhood much like Storm. That automatically earns respect from her.

Red hears the sound of a pig in the distance, making him nearly leap out of his skin. He bites his lip, turning back to Storm. “Do you think we could take this to your base?” 

_____________________________________________________________

The dark shadows of the deep forest engulf Ecto, and every noise of the trees around her sends the desert dweller jumping and reaching for her sword. It was just a stick. She leans back, running a hand through her hair and breathing free of the paranoia. “I can’t wait to get back to the others.” 

Ecto pulls out a piece of cactus, crunching into the sweet and spiny skin and looking around the dark wood. Old oak, weathered and aged to a color beyond normal forests. White pillars exploding out into red or brown mushrooms, tall stalks of grass brushing in the wind. 

Wait. Ecto looks up, watching her own hair stand still between her brows. That’s not wind. A flash of green disappears silently through the thick trunks, fluttering sideways and leaving the grass to sway back to their places. Ecto shoves her snack into her mouth, and takes off after the mysterious figure walking away. 

Ecto was informed by a nearby village that a quiet figure was often seen lurking among the trees. Not just the pale faces of illagers that haunt the woodland mansion deeper within, armed with crossbows and axes and willing to cull at a second’s notice. Someone strange and different, like the wanderers are. Someone unique. 

Someone they need to aid them. Ecto stumbles over a root, and vaults across a fallen log. “Hey! Wait!” 

Ecto isn’t making up distance chasing after them like this. A spot of sunlight catches her attention, a gap in the thick canopy over her. And before Ecto can think of the ramifications of her idea, she clambers up the oak tree and into the leaves above. She spots movement below and ahead of her, and takes off sprinting. This time on the roof of the forest, over the thick shrubbery and tangled wood. Gaining on the stranger. 

Her highway brings her just above the figure, short brown hair bobbing over pointed ears. An elf. “Can you...can you like stop for a second? I just want to-” 

Ecto feels the leaves and branches beneath her disappear, her last footstep immediately pushing off. Giving her enough air time to grab the tall pole and balance her weight atop it. A small home in the clearing is just beneath Ecto, tucked in the canopy like a bat in a cave. The front door slams closed, blinds shuttering. Ecto keeps a firm hold of the pole with one hand, even wrapping her scarf around her waist to the dark wood and pressing her foot against the tall fencepost, dangling her other limbs off it. She growls, noticing the defensive nature of the person she was following. “This can’t be the right person. I’m out of here.” 

She slips down the flagpole, feet planting into the dark grass. Ecto takes a step forward, yanked back as she remembers the knot of her orange scarf. A string of curses escape her lips. And under her muttering curses, she hears the creaking sound of a door opening. “What are you looking for?” 

“My friends and I need help. We need people who can aid us in a battle.” Ecto frees herself from the knot, smoothing out her outfit.

“An adventure?” The girl rushes out of her home, putting herself between Ecto and the forest. She pulls out her axe, the enchanted diamond twirling in her hand. “You actually found the right person. I’m Kai, and I can help you…” 

Ecto takes Kai’s outstretched hand, shaking it with excitement. Thank the stars, she finally found someone. Days of walking, suddenly alone, without her friends or anywhere she’s as comfortable with as the desert.  “Great! My friends and I need brave souls who want to protect their home. You see, there’s an army within the nether about to invade the overworld and they totally want to destroy everything. It’s a big army and we need brave people who want to protect their homes like my friends and I do.” 

Kai blinks, quite alarmed by the speed of information sent towards her. But her mind is quick to untangle all the words. “I was expecting at least a name in there.” 

Ecto feels the need to hit herself on the head. She forgot about that… or does it even matter to her? “I’m Ecto. So you’re really going to join us?” 

The elf before Ecto rests the axe on her shoulder, a fire in her eyes. Determination blazing bright in the setting sunlight. “You can bet I’m going to protect my home, protect this forest.” 

“Speaking of…” Ecto looks around, spinning in a slow circle. Looking around at the dark oaks that loom in the twilight. “How do we get out of here?” 

Kai laughs, nodding her head in the eastern direction. “Follow me.”

______________________________________________________________

Avon looks up, watching a snowflake fall in a lazy dance from the clouds above her. It’s hard to believe this is the same stuff that destroyed Ecto’s home. It looks so peaceful here in this snowy taiga, the quiet and calm a dampened version of the peace she finds in the void. Jessie pokes her head out from beneath Avon’s cloak, chirping and gazing at the snow with awe in her purple eyes. She’s getting big fast, now as large as a fox and just as energetic. 

A puff of purple flame from the dragonets mouth is a welcome heat to Avon, even though it singes at her hair. Jessie chirps into the dark forest air, followed by a growl. Her wings flap against Avon’s back, lifting her cloak and brushing it against her wings.

Chirping answers back, but rather than a growl, a squeak responds. In the shadows of the night, Avon notices the snow begins to run. No, not snow. A fox. It pauses, looking back at Avon. Staring her and Jessie down. Avon steps forward, and the fox only moves when she’s close enough to keep on it’s tail. It’s leading her somewhere. 

Avon’s so focused on following the canine, it’s soft feet plodding across the pure white snow and the warm shuffling of it’s ivory fur that she ignores the racketing sound of bones. The icey creak of joints grinding together and frozen clothes torn apart like icicles. Not until an arrow is sprung free from it’s bow, striking Avon in the  shoulder. She stumbles to the side, wings opening to shelter the baby dragon from the attack. 

A stray knocks another arrow. Bones frozen together, grey tunic draped like snow across pine branches and brought to life in the angry cold. Avon pulls the arrow free from her shoulder, noticing the tipped head of the projectile. And she can feel it, like ice creeping into her own bones. Slowing her down, making movement feel like she’s fighting through meters of snowdrift. But it doesn’t stop her from drawing her trident. 

It doesn’t stop her from fighting the horde of monsters that appear in the shadows of the night. Zombies and strays, preying desperately for a life at the anguish and loss of their own. Avon pushes Jessie’s head into the protective warmth of her cloak, hiding the dragonet from harm and flattening her wings over the baby. And then she fights. She strikes down the zombies lurching forward, then throws her weapon to stop the barrage of arrows. It returns to her hand and she whips it around and knocks over another monster. Stabbing it clean through for extra measure that it stays dead this time. 

The whiz of a flame tipped arrow brushes past her hair, narrowly avoiding taking some of her ear with it. But the tip of the quarrel buries itself into the exposed bones of the skeleton, knocking it over and fracturing the fragile bones that hold it together. Avon pulls her trident free, and twists to face the shot the arrow came from. She reels back, the blue metal glinting as another flame appears. 

Dark grey eyes shine with curiosity, head tilting to the side and brown hair brushing against pale skin. Living skin. “You aren’t a stray.” 

“Neither are you.” Avon notes, but refused to put down her weapon. Just because the person before her isn’t undead doesn’t mean they won’t attack. 

But the girl puts away her enchanted bow, a smile easily appearing on her face. “Then there’s no reason for us to be at each other’s throats.” She steps forward, ducking around Avon’s pronged weapon and opening a hand for her. Behind the stranger in blue jeans and a black hoodie, the chitter of a fox eases the quiet snowy forest. “I’m Abyss and this is Snow, you look like you could use some heating up.” 

Avon cautiously accepts the invitation, the wind biting at her nose and nipping at her wings. She’s not ever ready for the cold. And Jessie is just as happy to enter the warm stone and spruce home that Abyss welcomes the dragons in. “So what brings a stranger like you to my forest?” 

“I...my friends and I need help.” Avon whispers, watching as Jessie slips free from her cloak. The dragonet chases Snow’s tail, before earning herself a warning snarl from the white fox. The black scaled dragon settles with curling up beside Snow, content with watching the flames of the fireplace. “If you value your home, this land, you need to be ready for a fight.”

“I’m not much of a fighter,” Abyss tips a mug around, watching the tea within it slosh and drip, “What endangers my home?”

“An army from the nether. They destroyed my home and others already, and they have weapons of destruction resting on the overworld’s doorstep. They want to invade and tip the balance of our world.” Abyss stands at Avon’s words, wandering across her book-lined walls. 

“The nether? That isn’t good news.” Abyss pulls out a book, eyes skimming over the ancient text held within the leather bindings. Fire and brimstone is what Abyss knows of the hell dimension. Burning away everything in it’s path. Especially snow and trees- everything she loves. She thought that all the dimensions were in good terms, or at least that’s what her studies have always shown. But times change, and it sounds like the balance threatens to tip. 

Avon watches as Abyss walks to an enchantment table, where a diamond sword rests besides an open book, floating beside it. Imbuing the weapon with magic. She snaps the book closed, and unsheathes the sword. Snow rises, plodding over to her owner and letting Jessie return to Avon. Abyss needs to say nothing further- she’s in.

[theskyrimlibrary]

A Dance in Fire, v1

A Dance in Fire Chapter 1

by Waughin Jarth

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Scene: The Imperial City, Cyrodiil Date: 7 Frost Fall, 3E 397

It seemed as if the palace had always housed the Atrius Building Commission, the company of clerks and estate agents who authored and notarized nearly every construction of any note in the Empire. It had stood for two hundred and fifty years, since the reign of the Emperor Magnus, a plain-fronted and austere hall on a minor but respectable plaza in the Imperial City. Energetic and ambitious middle-class lads and ladies worked there, as well as complacent middle-aged ones like Decumus Scotti. No one could imagine a world without the Commission, least of all Scotti. To be accurate, he could not imagine a world without himself in the Commission.

“Lord Atrius is perfectly aware of your contributions,” said the managing clerk, closing the shutter that demarcated Scotti’s office behind him. “But you know that things have been difficult.”

“Yes,” said Scotti, stiffly.

“Lord Vanech’s men have been giving us a lot of competition lately, and we must be more efficient if we are to survive. Unfortunately, that means releasing some of our historically best but presently underachieving senior clerks.”

“I understand. Can’t be helped.”

“I’m glad that you understand,” smiled the managing clerk, smiling thinly and withdrawing. “Please have your room cleared immediately.”

Scotti began the task of organizing all his work to pass on to his successor. It would probably be young Imbrallius who would take most of it on, which was as it should be, he considered philosophically. The lad knew how to find business. Scotti wondered idly what the fellow would do with the contracts for the new statue of St Alessia for which the Temple of the One had applied. Probably invent a clerical error, blame it on his old predecessor Decumus Scotti, and require an additional cost to rectify.

“I have correspondence for Decumus Scotti of the Atrius Building Commission.”

Scotti looked up. A fat-faced courier had entered his office and was thrusting forth a sealed scroll. He handed the boy a gold piece, and opened it up. By the poor penmanship, atrocious spelling and grammar, and overall unprofessional tone, it was manifestly evident who the writer was. Liodes Jurus, a fellow clerk some years before, who had left the Commission after being accused of unethical business practices.

“Dear Sckotti, 

I emagine you alway wondered what happened to me, and the last plase you would have expected to find me is out in the woods. But thats exactly where I am. Ha ha. If your’e smart and want to make lot of extra gold for Lord Atrius (and yourself, ha ha), youll come down to Vallinwood too. If you have’nt or have been following the politics hear lately, you may or may not know that ther’s bin a war between the Boshmer and there neighbors Elswere over the past two years. Things have only just calm down, and ther’s a lot that needs to be rebuilt.

Now Ive got more business than I can handel, but I need someone with some clout, someone representing a respected agencie to get the quill in the ink. That somone is you, my fiend. Come G meat me at the M’ther Paskos Tavern in Falinnesti, Vallinwood. Ill be here 2 weeks and you wont be sorrie.

- - Jurus

P.S.: Bring a wagenload of timber if you can.”

“What do you have there, Scotti?” asked a voice.

Scotti started. It was Imbrallius, his damnably handsome face peeking through the shutters, smiling in that way that melted the hearts of the stingiest of patrons and the roughest of stonemasons. Scotti shoved the letter in his jacket pocket.

“Personal correspondence,” he sniffed. “I’ll be cleared up here in a just a moment.”

“I don’t want to hurry you,” said Imbrallius, grabbing a few sheets of blank contracts from Scotti’s desk. “I’ve just gone through a stack, and the junior scribes hands are all cramping up, so I thought you wouldn’t miss a few.”

The lad vanished. Scotti retrieved the letter and read it again. He thought about his life, something he rarely did. It seemed a sea of gray with a black insurmountable wall looming. There was only one narrow passage he could see in that wall. Quickly, before he had a moment to reconsider it, he grabbed a dozen of the blank contracts with the shimmering gold leaf ATRIUS BUILDING COMMISSION BY APPOINTMENT OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY and hid them in the satchel with his personal effects.

The next day he began his adventure with a giddy lack of hesitation. He arranged a sear in a caravan bound for Valenwood, the single escorted conveyance to the southeast leaving the Imperial City that week. He had scarcely hours to pack, but he remembered to purchase a wagonload of timber.

“It will be extra gold to pay for a horse to pull that,” frowned the convoy head.

“So I anticipated,” smiled Scotti with his best Imbrallius grin.

Ten wagons in all set off that afternoon through the familiar Cyrodilic countryside. Past fields of wildflowers, gently rolling woodlands, friendly hamlets. The clop of the horses’ hooves against the sound stone road reminded Scotti that the Atrius Building Commission constructed it. Five of the eighteen necessary contracts for its completion were drafted by his own hand.

“Very smart of you to bring that wood along,” said a gray-whiskered Breton man next to him on his wagon. “You must be in Commerce.”

“Of a sort,” said Scotti, in a way he hoped was mysterious, before introducing himself: “Decumus Scotti.”

“Gryf Mallon,” said the man. “I’m a poet, actually a translator of old Bosmer literature. I was researching some newly discovered tracts of the Mnoriad Pley Bar two years ago when the war broke out and I had to leave. You are no doubt familiar with the Mnoriad, if you’re aware of the Green Pact.”

Scotti thought the man might be speaking perfect gibberish, but he nodded his head.

“Naturally, I don’t pretend that the Mnoriad is as renowned as the Meh Ayleidion, or as ancient as the Dansir Gol, but I think it has a remarkable significance to understanding the nature of the merelithic Bosmer mind. The origin of the Wood Elf aversion to cutting their own wood or eating any plant material at all, yet paradoxically their willingness to import plantstuff from other cultures, I feel can be linked to a passage in the Mnoriad,” Mallon shuffled through some of his papers, searching for the appropriate text.

To Scotti’s vast relief, the carriage soon stopped to camp for the night. They were high on a bluff over a gray stream, and before them was the great valley of Valenwood. Only the cry of seabirds declared the presence of the ocean to the bay to the west: here the timber was so tall and wide, twisting around itself like an impossible knot begun eons ago, to be impenetrable. A few more modest trees, only fifty feet to the lowest branches, stood on the cliff at the edge of the camp. The sight was so alien to Scotti and he found himself so anxious about the proposition of entering the wilderness that he could not imagine sleeping.

Fortunately, Mallon had supposed he had found another academic with a passion for the riddles of ancient cultures. Long into the night, he recited Bosmer verse in the original and in his own translation, sobbing and bellowing and whispering wherever appropriate. Gradually, Scotti began to feel drowsy, but a sudden crack of wood snapping made him sit straight up.

“What was that?”

Mallon smiled: “I like it too. ‘Convocation in the malignity of the moonless speculum, a dance of fire --’”

“There are some enormous birds up in the trees moving around,” whispered Scotti, pointing in the direction of the dark shapes above.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Mallon, irritated with his audience. “Now listen to how the poet characterizes Herma-Mora’s invocation in the eighteenth stanza of the fourth book.”

The dark shapes in the trees were some of them perched like birds, others slithered like snakes, and still others stood up straight like men. As Mallon recited his verse, Scotti watched the figures softly leap from branch to branch, half-gliding across impossible distances for anything without wings. They gathered in groups and then reorganized until they had spread to every tree around the camp. Suddenly, they plummeted from the heights.

“Mara!” cried Scotti. “They’re falling like rain!”

“Probably seed pods,” Mallon shrugged, not turning around. “Some of the trees have remarkable - - “

The camp erupted into chaos. Fires burst out in the wagons, the horses wailed from mortal blows, casks of wine, fresh water, and liquor gushed their contents to the ground. A nimble shadow dashed past Scotti and Mallon, gathering sacks of grain and gold with impossible agility and grace. Scotti had only one glanced at it, lit up by a sudden nearby burst of flame. It was a sleek creature with pointed ears, wide yellow eyes, mottled pied fur and a tail like a whip.

“Werewolf,” he whimpered, shrinking back.

“Cathay-raht,” groaned Mallon. “Much worse. Khajiti cousins or some such thing, come to plunder.”

“Are you sure?”

As quickly as they struck, the creatures retreated, diving off the bluff before the battlemage and knight, the caravan’s escorts, had fully opened their eyes. Mallon and Scotti ran to the precipice and saw a hundred feet below the tiny figures dash out of the water, shake themselves, and disappear into the wood.

“Werewolves aren’t acrobats like that,” said Mallon. “They were definitely Cathay-raht. Bastard thieves. Thank Stendarr they didn’t realize the value of my notebooks. It wasn’t a complete loss.”

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[raeynbowboi]

My Two Cents on Female Characters in Animated Television Shows

Recently, while discussing my disappointment with the lack of development for the girls in My Hero Academia, I received a rather pointed response that accused me of not caring about female characters at all. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as often girl characters are usually some of my favorites in most shows, but where I think this person got confused is that they mistook my criticisms for contempt. You can criticize something without disliking it. Although I laughed and rolled my eyes at the accusation being the staunch feminist that I am, I figured it was a worthwhile topic to discuss: the portrayal and characterization of female characters in media. Particularly, animated television products.

Even though I wasn’t alive at the time, let’s rewind the clock back to the 1980s. During this decade, most animated television series were more focused on selling toys to go with the product than telling a good story, and this was also the time when gendered products exploded. Boys watched He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers. Girls watched My Little Pony, the Care Bears, and Jem and the Holograms. The biggest shows usually had a gender division, though there were some shows that catered to children as a whole. What we usually got out of the boy shows is a cast almost exclusively male with maybe one or two female characters, such as with the 80s Voltron series were Allura was the only female character on the side of good. Likewise with girl oriented shows, most of the cast was girls with only a small handful of boys, though the Care Bears was an outlier due to having a rather fine mix of the two. During this era, if a girl was on the team, she usually didn’t do much. She was the damsel to be saved or the love interest to be smooth talked. She rarely had much more personality than “is a girl”. They were just kind of cookie cutter stereotypes who existed to be saved and supported by the real heroes. Some shows however did focus on strong warrior women such as She-Ra and Spider-woman. However, both of these were female spin-offs of boy shows and were again gendered products aimed only at female viewers.

The 1990s saw the emergence of shows with female leads that weren’t necessarily aimed exclusively at girls, but more often than not, it was more of a case of shows aimed at girls that just happened to attract a male audience. This happened with shows like The Powerpuff Girls or Daria, with Daria being a spin-off of Beavis and Butthead created to give MTV a female icon to draw viewership, as well as serving as a feminist icon and a voice of the disaffected nihilism of 90s teens. Shows aimed at a broader audience like Recess, The Magic School Bus, and Captain Planet started a trend of including more female characters, but it was still very common for the ratio to be tipped in favor of male characters. And this trope still remains at large to this day. This ratio is usually about 3:2 or 2:1 in a smaller group. Unless it’s aimed at girls or designed specifically to appeal to both genders, most products have more boy than girl characters.

Now with the 2000s, this is when my earliest childhood memories come back to me, and it’s the girls from this era of media that turned me into a feminist. I grew up on shows like Teen Titans, Avatar the Last Airbender, Kim Possible, and Totally Spies. This is when I would argue girl characters were really starting to really leap out and become actual people, though there were shades of this in the 90s as well. They were far more deep and complex than girl characters were in earlier media. Katara was still a maternal figure and a healer, but she had pride, a temper, and could be bossy. Starfire was a beautiful alien princess, but she was a warrior princess who was just as good in a fight if not better than her male teammates. Kim Possible was a super popular cheerleader, but she was also an honor roll student and a kick ass secret agent who retained her humbleness about it most of the time. While Clover was totally boy-crazy and fashion obsessed, she was balanced out by the academic Sam and the sporty Alex, and all three spies had episodes where they were the one saving the day and figuring out the problem. Fortunately, the 2010s have continued this trend of fleshed-out female characters, as shows have allowed female characters to exceed the normal parameters or expectations of their genders to treat them more like people, such as Flame Princess in Adventure Time donning very traditionally masculine clothing when she raps, both of which are not stereotypically feminine.

However, where Western Animation has progressed greatly, Shonen Anime has fallen majorly by the wayside. A common criticism of Naruto is that Sakura spent most of the time standing around doing nothing, and this sadly applies to all of the women. Kurenai is a Jonin level ninja, but she’s only ever shown in a single fight against Itachi and Kisame where she uses exactly one technique, and it’s used to show off how strong and cool Itachi is because he could counter her illusions with his own. Hinata is driven to become stronger due to being inspired by Naruto, but barely gets any screen time or skill improvement, and her only notable fight in part II is against Pain where it was a vehicle for her confessing her feelings for Naruto, and then triggering Naruto’s 6 tailed form so that Naruto could win the fight. Heck, Ino was standing ten feet away from the wanted terrorists that killed her teacher and she did nothing the entire fight. It’s not like she had mind control powers that would have been useful or anything. Sure the arc was for Shikamaru’s character growth, but even Choji did something and Choji sucks. And Tenten... Well she doesn’t matter. You could literally replace her with a lamp and nobody would be able to tell the difference. She’s just there because every squad must have a girl character.

So, now it’s time for the big feelings ouchie word: Strong Female Character. When people hear this they assume it means a character like Calhoun in Wreck-It Ralph, that tough as nails no bs cranky type of female who don’t need no man and yes, Calhoun is a Strong Female Character. And so is Katara. And Sadie Miller in Steven Universe. And Quinn Morgendorfer from Daria. Being a Strong Female Character isn’t about being tough or being a walking tank. Strong Female Characters simply have strong characterization. They’re well-constructed. Katara lost her mother when she was young and she had to take on her mother’s responsibilities, causing her to become very mature at a young age and to feel like anyone in need of help should get it because that’s her ‘job’ in a sense. Taking care of others is what she’s done since she lost her mother, it’s become her identity, and she could never reject that self-appointed duty without losing who she is as a person. Raven from Teen Titans pushes people away because she’s destined to destroy the world, and she hates herself for what she was created to do. She views herself as a living curse, and she doesn’t want to let people get close to her because it’ll hurt that much more when she has to fulfill her destiny and hurt the people that she cares about. Sadie Miller has only ever poofed one corrupted gem, but there’s a clear personality at play. She has low self-esteem and puts up with people telling her what to do because she’s a pleaser. She likes to make other people happy. Quinn is as classic girly girl as you can get. She’s shallow, vain, and bows to peer pressure. However, she voices that she doesn’t always like having to be like this, but that if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have anything in common with her friends. She’d rather be a shell of her real self surrounded by friends than her true self and alone. As Daria points out, Quinn wears superficiality like a suit of armor because she’s afraid of looking inside and finding nothing. But in later seasons, she begins to embrace the things that make her stand out by becoming more openly invested in her studies regardless of what it makes people think of her, and honestly, nobody really cares. A Strong Female Character doesn’t have to lead an army to be strong, she just has to be a fully defined person. So, now let’s bring the discussion full circle back to My Hero Academia. Earlier I mentioned the standard 3:2 ratio for larger groups. That is to say, if there’s an odd number of main characters, expect one extra boy for every boy-girl set. Too bad in My Hero Academia, it’s a 2:1 ratio of 14 boys and 6 girls. That’s 30% of the class size. They barely make up 1/4 of the class. And of those six maybe three of them have strong personalities. Tsuyu Asui, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Mina Ashido all have very distinct personalities, stand out in the class, and and have been given noteworthy character traits. Tsu tends to favor logic over emotion but doesn’t always like that this is her go-to response because she’s afraid people will think she’s heartless. Momo has high expectations for herself, and had a whole arc dedicated to her disappointment from the tournament arc. And Mina has a clearly defined personality, flaws, and tends to speak the most of the girls in the class. While Jiro’s not necessarily flat, we know less about her than the other girls. Uraraka’s character is so fixated on being the cute love interest that she doesn’t have any other personality traits. And Hakagure’s only real gimmick is that she’s invisible, but other than that is just a stereotypical girl. There’s nothing wrong with a female character not being a central figure in the narrative. What is wrong is when female characters are left to being window dressing. Jiro’s parents are both musicians and Jiro seems to like music too so why is she trying to be a hero? We know next to nothing about Hagakure. Sure, there are boy characters we don’t know very well either. Shoji, Koda, Sato, and Aoyama are still largely underdeveloped. But see, it’s problematic not only because the ratio is so heavily slanted, but because the girls that need character development don’t get much screen time. Uraraka has used the disarming training she got from her internship a few times, but that’s not a personality or a character development. And what happened when she went to the Yakuza secret hideout? She got left outside with the rest of the girls while most of the plot happened inside with the boys. Heck, Nejire who is part of the Big Three, we saw the backstories and training for both Mirio and Tamaki, but Nejire was just sort of ... present. She wasn’t given a character. Now, does that mean that I hate the girls in My Hero Academia? Of course not! Tsu is one of my favorite characters, and I like Jiro. She’s cool. But that doesn’t mean that I’m happy with the level of development and focus they’ve gotten. They’re characters too and they should be allowed to be more fleshed out in the story.

[thanksjro]

The Mystery of the Transformer Decoys, Parts 1-3: A Whodunnit Adventure

This isn’t exclusively a Roberts’ publication. There were a lot of folks on this one, actually. Of course the first collaborative effort I cover here has five people on it for the writing alone, not to mention the art credits.

I’ll be going through everything, of course, because it wouldn’t make sense not to, and also because it’ll be interesting to look at how all these young writer’s styles are going to play together.

And you read that right, Pounce and Wingspan are in this. They were in Liars, A-to-D- Pounce was holding the Galvatron puppet- and Eugenesis as minor characters. I’m excited to get a little more of their characterization.

Now, without further ado, let’s get into The Mystery of the Transformer Decoys.

There he is, our main character- Nightbeat! Standing at over 90 feet tall and wearing the largest trenchcoat this side of Alpha Centauri, our boy’s well on his way to the robotic equivalent of lung cancer as he watches Sideswipe breakdance in an attempt to appease this god of detective prowess. Megatron might be looking to kill him, but’s he’s going to have to try a lot harder to bring this big guy down.

We get a little message from our ‘zine organizer and editor, Richard Ahern, on the nature of putting a thing like this together.

Good on you for sticking to it, Ahern.

Part 1 of our story is written by Martin McVay; we open on a scene in the Celestial Spires, where Nightbeat and a co-conspirator are dealing with the spoils of Nightbeat’s most recent case- twenty turbo-fox brains on a rope, glowing with residual Matrix energy. Someone paid Nightbeat to find these things. Right off the bat, we’re getting weird. I dig it.

As the co-conspirator checks the goods for any alarm systems or bombs, Nightbeat stares out the window and muses on the way life is at present, with the war looming in the skies of Cybertron, ever present. He notices a light on in the tower across the way- strange, given that it’s late as shit. Before he can investigate further, Getaway snaps him out of his concentration, having finished with the brain chips.

Yeah, Getaway. Relax, he isn’t a completely morally-bankrupt bastard in this- that’s strictly an IDW thing.

By the time, Nightbeat’s gone back to the window, the light is out.

Part 2, written by Ahern, takes place a few weeks after Part 1, with the high-ranking Autobot who employed Nightbeat breaking out the death threats if he doesn’t get those skulls he paid for. It turns out these skulls have a sort of power to them, the sort that makes one loathe to part with the things once they’re in their possession. Still, Nightbeat is nothing if not a professional, and finally makes his way over to Wingspan’s base of operations.

The exchange is made, and Wingspan invites Nightbeat to take in the view from the roof.  

As Nightbeat leaves, we get the perspective of an onlooker- Pounce- who takes in the scene with glee, having been the one to set up the whole “problem” Nightbeat had been hired to handle, at Wingspan’s behest. He’s less gleeful to find that the guy he hired to tail Nightbeat isn’t terribly good at his job, seeing as he can, well, see him. He may end up having to kill Nightbeat if if he doesn’t get his act together, but that’s life, I guess. He then pulls the skulls from a case and throws them around his neck like a macabre string of Mardi Gras beads.

It was at this point I stopped what I was doing and made a sandwich to make sure my blood sugar hadn’t suddenly dropped, because things got sort of confusing, narrative-wise, and I legitimately couldn’t tell if it was a writing issue or the fact that all I’d eaten in the last 24 hours was a single bowl of shrimp linguini.

Then I came back, tried again, and determined that it was a bit of both.

In the middle of this part, we get some classic magazine advertising action, which helps clear up a bit of the confusion.

There’s a full-page ad for Transformers Junk Files, another ‘zine, this one being a TMUK writing anthology.

On the other page we get a character synopsis for Pounce, Wingspan, and Circuit, who we haven’t met yet in this story. We’ll get to him in a bit.

Turns out Pounce and Wingspan are clone brothers.

Yep. Clone brothers.

(Their robot modes are pretty much identical.)

No, see, here’s the thing: these are actually established characters within the Transformers franchise. The only reason I didn’t catch it on my read-through of Eugenesis is because I was basing my interpretation of the characters on what was presented to me in Liars, A-to-D, where Pounce looks like this:

And there isn’t an ounce of kibble visible to tell me he turns into a friggin’ big cat. I just figured that Liars Pounce and puma Pounce were separate entities. It’s not like these guys are huge players in the cartoons or Marvel comics- they were in a single episode of the original 80’s show.

Regardless, it would seem that Wingspan is not who he presents himself to be to Nightbeat, and that the Decepticons just got their hands on something very mysterious and very powerful.

Part 3, written by Charles Ellis, follows Nightbeat as he muses on Wingspan’s threat.

Well, that’s… ominous.

Things are back to status quo for our good detective, until he’s brought on to solve a murder- excuse me, a cybercide. He arrives on the scene, and the scene is simply doused in mech-fluid.

No, mech-fluid is not at all similar to man-juice. It’s basically blood.

Nightbeat asks just who the hell got offed, and the current consensus seems to be that he was a member of the special branch of Security Forces- robots so deep undercover they practically don’t exist.

Nightbeat takes in the carnage, and quickly formulates a hypothesis based on the damage to the body, the destroyed computer, and the pain chips he’s found on the floor.

In a brief aside, Nightbeat laments on the fact that he has no alt-mode- they’re a distinctly war-centric thing in the Marvel continuity- as he drives down the road in an honest-to-god jalopy. Then he sees Megatron, and that kind of ruins his day.

The plot catches up to Circuit as Nightbeat confronts him, demanding answers, seeing as he’s working with just about every mob in Iacon.

Circuit is an Autobot known for trying to cut a deal with everyone he comes into contact with. Deals that solely benefit him. He doesn’t have an alt, but he does have a pretty sweet ride that turns into an exosuit when needed. If you read IDW’s Robots in Disguise, you’ll remember him as the reporter who shows up repeatedly in the story there.

With a little moolah flashed his way, Circuit lets slip that he heard about someone seeing “Meggy” at a place called Slammer’s. It’s all he’s got, but Nightbeat’s trying to stay optimistic and heads out to investigate.

[proofthatihaveaheart]

Captain Marvel fic recs

i wrote this ages ago, during the summer, and then forgot to post it - but better late than never! it’s got a mix of gen, carol/jess, and carol/maria fics on it, including both comics and mcu fic. enjoy! 

Gen

Galactic Response Time by SassySnowperson (Carol & Fury, 5k): All the OTHER times Nick Fury texted Carol Danvers. // May 4th, 2012    Get your ASS over here there is an INVASION. Aliens are coming out of the SKY HELP US // May 10th, 2012 "Invasion, Fury, the word you used was invasion! I made it across three quarters of the galaxy in six days! Where are the aliens?" [I love this fic and the way it so perfectly captured Carol and Fury’s dynamic. THE DIALOGUE! IT’S JUST SO GOOD! Their banter is fun and there are some genuinely sweet moments.]

whatever it takes (and i couldn’t whisper when you needed it shouted) by pratz (5k):  In which Tony called Carol glowing space Jesus, and Carol did her best to understand the weight of 3.2 million lives lost. [An AU of Endgame focusing on Carol and her journey in processing what happened and what she can do about it. I love the characterization and her interactions with the other characters, particularly Tony.] 

Carol/Maria

All Around [Reminders of You] by sinandmisery (1k):  The first year is the worst. [Maria and Monica’s grief over Carol’s ‘death’, framed around Christmas. Some good and painful angst.] 

another place, another time by sorrybaby (1k):  In every lifetime but this one, Carol gets to love Maria. [Oof, this one hurts and it’s absolutely brilliant. It’s Carol/Maria and endgame Carol/Val and sometimes you can love someone but not be with them. Because sometimes life is like that and you miss one another. Lots of good pining and learning to let go. Bonus Nat + Carol friendship.]

a simpler place in time by Elisattack (3k): It starts like this: Carol blows up. // Actually, it starts like this: Carol falls down, then she gets right back up again. Her dad shakes his head at her bruised knees and cut face, and calls her unladylike. She says fuck him, and fuck any man that tells her what to do. [Tracks through Carol and Maria’s relationship from the early days to getting together to the events of CM + Endgame and afterwards. Lovely writing and character work. One of my favorite works of this kind]

brave face talk so lightly by lesbiyawn (1k): Carol is stubborn. Carol is hot-headed. Carol can’t help it if some people deserve a just beating. Maria knows this. It’s why she loves Carol calls Carol her best friend. [Pre-canon and pre-relationship fluff that is both sweet and very them]

do you have to let it linger by whyyesitscar (2k):  in the wake of carol's crash, maria has to explain everything to a lot of different officials. only one of them seems to get it. (Maria talks to Peggy. Beautiful fic about grief and the people who can understand it.)

jambalaya (please be my baby) by carol_danvers (6k): Loving Maria comes easier than anything else ever did. Carol won't say she wants to be more than friends, not when she has so much to lose, but she'll tell her in everything but name.AKA Carol tests out pet names, Maria gets pregnant, and they fall a bit more in love. [One of my favorite get-together fics, the writing is so good and I love the development of their relationship, the PINING and the obliviousness, it’s gold.]

kisses under my palm by neon_air (1k):  Carol Danvers has been kissed before but never by the one person she wanted it from most. [All the different kisses Carol has had, and love. A lovely one-shot.] 

Lightning Crash by Monochrome_girl (2k):  Carol is here to stay. Maria is still getting used to having her back. [Carol stays and they reconnect. It’s a lovely progression of the two relearning each other and building a life together that also involves collecting alien scraps and it’s sweet.] 

Love’s Labors Lost by lesbians_and_puns (3k):  After Carol finds a home planet for the Skrull, she returns to Louisiana to try to get her old life back, but when she finds an old photograph of herself and Maria on Maria's bedside table, they both realize how much they're still missing. [An angsty take on Carol’s return and the things people can say because life is stressful and complicated and sometimes you hurt the people you love without meaning to. It’s really good, it also hurts.] 

we were too close to the stars by inkwelled (1k): "God, what did they do to you," Maria whispers, wrapping another bandage around Carol's bicep. / For all it's worth, Carol doesn't even wince. [This hurts but in a delicious way. There’s a kind of soft aching quality to the angst, it’s premium, good stuff, you can feel the love.] 

Carol/Jessica

Always Falling by sariane (2k): “What do you want?”“I don’t want to be her sloppy seconds. I want all of it, all the corny relationship stuff. I want the dumb date nights, the stupid fights, the awkward breakfast-making elbow bumps. I want to take her up flying – someday. I don’t know,” Carol says suddenly, scuffing her foot on the street, “I want stability.”Carol wants a lot of things. She does not want to be Jessica's rebound girl. [Basically Jess and Clint break up, Carol is a great friend on the comfort front, and then Jess kisses her. And Carol assumes it’s because she’s a rebound. There’s some light angst over that, it’s very well-done. Characterization is very good.]

Fly, Fight, Win by singalellaby (1k):  It's not a sign of superhero lesbian bed death, whatever Peter says, it's just that Jess is an Adult. A Mature Adult. In a Mature Adult Partnership with a woman who happens to wear skin-tight suits as her work uniform and it was either become habituated to her girlfriend being the hottest anything with Kree DNA around or living in a state of permanent arousal in her own pretty damn tight costume. And since S.H.I.E.L.D doesn't spring for laundry expenses, that was so not an option. [Jess POV, admiring her really hot partner.]

He Picked the Wrong One by beckydawolf (Carol/Jess, 34k): When Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman are knocked unconscious on a mission, they wake up in a world a lot like their own. In fact, it’s almost identical. Except that the Civil War never happened, Jess doesn’t seem to exist and their Carol is dead. Oh and then there’s Natasha Stark.Turns out, slipping between universes might not even be the most complicated part of this mess. (Fantastic characterization, really love the perfect Carol and Jess banter, nested in this wonderful comic book-y plot that works as perfect background for the development of the characters and the relationships. Also the plot is entirely driven by characters and their relationships and their love - both unhealthy and healthy. It’s great)

In My Dreams by sariane (3k): Carol may not have her memories, but she has her dreams.(But, of course, she dreams of kissing Jessica. As if her life isn't already complicated enough.) [This fic takes this concept and does a phenomenal job with it. You really get Carol’s growing frustration with the dream as she tries to work out what it means by subtly asking everyone other than the person in her dream.] 

It’s A Slow Slide Into Misandry by bendingwind (800): Carol's all fixed up and Jessica's moved on, and things have... changed. [Short little fic post-Hawkeye break-up, dealing with feelings. It’s cute.]

once you live a good story by pummelwhack (Carol/Jess, 13k):  Carol and Jessica redefine what it means to be happy, in the context of coffee, philosophy, and each other. Or: the one where Carol and Steve own a used bookstore, Sam runs the coffee shop next door, and Jessica searches for more than what life is currently offering her. (Lovely, soft fic about falling in love and finding happiness in each other and your life. Some truly beautiful lines and musings about philosophy.)

Pin the Tail by Alsike (Carol/Jess, 7k):  Carol doesn't know who she is. But she knows Jess. She likes Jess. There's probably a good reason why she's not dating Jess, but, you know, amnesia. [Glorious, this fic has pining and angst and trying to deal with amnesia and it just gets Jess and Carol down. And the emotions, they’re just really good as they navigate their relationship and the baggage they bring]

Red by awesomocity (1k): If Carol had been a more self-conscious person she might have worn stale jeans for another day. But years of dealing with brothers and locker rooms and the general knowledge she was both hot AND powerful made standing in a laundromat in her underwear at three in the morning tolerable, if not comfortable.(or, the one where Carol and Jess get romcommed by laundry.) [Love the characterization in this, just a really good fic for cheering you up.]

Smell Like I Sound by Sineala (6k):  Carol likes Jess a lot. That's not the weird part. The weird part is that Carol likes Jess a lot more when Jess isn't in the room. [A pheromones fic taking place in the Marvel Adventures verse. It’s really cute and I really like the push-pull of Carol figuring out her feelings and wondering why she keeps having these moments of revulsion around Jess.]

Snow Day by Traincat (1k):  Jessica Drew goes missing. Carol and the Hulk team up to get her back (and maybe fight some ice monkeys along the way). [Absolutely delightful fic, I love the dynamic between Carol and the Hulk as well as Jessica and the Hulk, and Carol’s concern for Jess. I could easily see this being a real comic]

Such a Cunning Disguise by WhenasInSilks (2k): Carol is fracturing again.Carol and Jess started dating six months before Stamford. Eight months before Captain America died on the courthouse steps. Ten months before things like the measurement of time ceased to be part of Carol’s personal universe.Now she sits alone in the darkness of her cell and feels herself fall apart.A Secret Invasion AU. [This fic HURTS. It’s beautifully written too which makes the angst all the more delicious. Warning for heartbreak and self-loathing and mental instability]

the small rain down can rain by tigrrmilk (3k): When Jess was jumping between universes, trying not to get killed, she had wondered - was there a version of her and Carol who had... made it work? [Jess dealing with Carol having amnesia and going off to space. Really good character stuff, all the complicated feelings Jess has about what Carol did, and then Carol showing up, you can really see the connection between them, regardless of memory loss or distance.] 

Turn Around and Look Back by Sineala (Carol/Jess, 6k):  When Carol first lost her memories, to Rogue, Professor Xavier healed her and let Jess experience all of Carol's missing memories. When Carol loses all her memories -- again -- it's up to Jess to give them back to her, in exactly the same way: Jess has to link with Carol telepathically. But Jess' mind contains a lot of feelings about Carol that she doesn't exactly want Carol to know about. [I love this fic, just all the feelings, the pining, the concern, the character voices, it’s all really good.]

Unshackled by beckydawolf (27k): Carol's in space and Jess is alone again. But that's the pattern of her life. The hunt for a missing teenager leads Jess to some new friends, reminds her she still has some old ones and forces her to face a part of her past she'd rather ignore. [A darker take on the pheromones and the trauma + complications of Jessica’s powers. This fic is really good at how it handles it, and I really love how supportive Carol is. Also Anya and Kamala and America and Kate show up and they’re awesome!]