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yeets-ix · 1 year ago

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Sonic Bad Guys AU Infodumping

@thefakehedgehogaroundhere pitched the AU and its roles, I went too far and fleshed it out a LOT.

Here's the first round, the basics of the characters:

The Bad Guys go by “Ms. Surge,” Ms. Metal, Mr. Rough, Mr. Tumble, Mr. Duo and Mr. Kitsunami (for fun.)

Backstory: While the AU is mostly just the self-contained plot of the movie, Eggman and Starline did exist in the AU… emphasis on DID. In a very very deliberately loose interpretation of Sonic canon setting up this AU, they created Surge, Kit and Metal, but were ultimately defeated for good, with their former creations and minions being left to form various random organizations including the Bad Guys, none of whom are nearly as much of a threat anymore. Sonic took all the credit for “beating” Eggman, though it probably wasn’t actually him in this AU considering this version of him is also a villain and has just been using his hero image for personal gain (hell, considering his Marmalade-assigned wealth, he probably bought out Eggman Industries after the Doctor was gone.)

Ms. Surge, instead of the “big bad wolf,” boasts about being an “evil twin.” A twisted and evil counterpart to a hero. Of course, she turns out to actually be the good one between herself and Sonic in this AU, but that’s beside the point. She still doesn’t remember her original life and has only experienced being compared to Sonic and seen as a monstrous, evil version of him, never being given any other chance. When Sonic gets exposed as the criminal he is and arrested, Surge, Kit and Metal recognize they’re fully free and able to go good, what with him being put away for good.

Ms. Metal was also originally designed after Sonic (that’s why she and Surge are best friends,) but being “the safe-cracker,” has modified herself with some help from Kit into a heist-focused robot with stealth tech, safe-cracking tools, and the ability to turn into a hyper-boost engine for the getaway car. She’s the “most evil” because she’s still programmed to defeat Sonic, even if she’s currently spending almost all of her time pulling heists with the Bad Guys. She comes around in the end and rejoins Surge and the gang, and stays with her as a good guy after finally taking down Sonic. She’s also kind of addicted to absorbing Wisps.

Mr. Mimic actually goes by Mr. Duo most of the time - he’s made the happy-go-lucky but still evil cat his public identity they think of when they hear the term “Bad Guys.” After genuinely befriending the others, he wants to move on from and forget the even worse crimes he committed as an octopus (even though not necessarily those of his canon self.) That being said, he’s still a shapeshifter and “the distraction.” Instead of Mr. Shark swallowing Mr. Snake when he annoys him, Duo can mess with Metal’s circuits since he’s “good with computers.”

Mr. Rough and Mr. Tumble are the flattest ones, but then again, they always are. They beat the shit out of people, make immature jokes, and Rough uncontrollably sprays when he’s nervous. Mr. Piranha is perfect for both of them (and also for Surge - she’d release catastrophic EMPs - if she wasn’t Mr. Wolf here.)

Mr. Kit is “Drippy” the same way Ms. Tarantula is “Webs.” His laptop has extra monitors and keyboards for his Hydro-Coils the same way as Webs’ does for her eight legs. He’s also still Surge’s younger brother for the feels. Owing to being around 13, he's less anxious and less formal, and with the world aware of his power, more confident in being scary on his own or at his sister's side.

Governor Rose’s backstory as the Crimson Paw Rascal is changed a bit. She, too, gave up just as she was about to steal the Awardy Award (the Golden Dolphin equivalent,) but it was because she realized she’d built her criminal career upon being a “sweet widdle hoggo” who nobody would suspect or believe could be a criminal mastermind, instead blaming more scary or ugly animals. Realizing that not only would some undeserving creature take the fall for the Rascal’s ultimate heist, but she fully knew and wanted to exploit this, just made Amy feel like shit, and she immediately hung up her cowl. Note that this same reason also leads to her despising Sonic for working under the same ideals, and makes her very happy when he’s the one who takes the fall for her crimes in the end.

“A wolf and a fox are not so different” becomes “A tenrec is just a false hedgehog.” Sonic later reuses this line to mock Surge, before Surge and Amy finally wreck him with it in the end.

Sonic as Marmalade? Take every bad take on IDW Sonic in the entire hatedom, make them completely true, and then sprinkle the resulting abomination of a Sonic with Scourge dust. He’s supposedly the same hero as his canon self, but in truth all he cares about is his own entertainment and his own reputation. Lying and manipulating people are what give him “the tingle.” He’s gonna scream “LET’S DO IT TO IT! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!” like in that one satire comic as he’s dragged off to S.U.C.M., utterly determined to the end to convince everyone he’s never done anything wrong in his life. Fuck him. He deserves nothing, he is the scum of the earth, I want to punch him in the face, and maybe call in a few other AU Sonics to punch him in the face too.

Heck, I have an OC named Shine who is basically “Sonic but Marmalade” already, and I’d be willing to donate her for this role if I didn’t want Sonic himself to get to chew some scenery.

We’ve agreed Whisper is Chief Luggins due to her power to be incredibly biased against these people, especially Surge with a good helping of Mimic on the side. Lanolin would work too, but I think Whisper being really angry a lot fits better. You poor wolf, you poor meow meow, you poor thing, how did you end up becoming a cop?... or she's just the face of what's left of the Restoration in this universe. Lanolin can probably be Tiffany the reporter, IDK.

To be continued.

#sth #sonic au #the bad guys #tbg #sonic bad guys au #surge the tenrec #metal sonic #rough the skunk #tumble the skunk #mimic the octopus #duo the cat #kit the fennec #amy rose #surgeamy #sonic the hedgehog #whisper the wolf

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spinningbuster98 · 1 year ago

Video

youtube

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Knuckles) Ending: Just a day in the life of a guardian

So the fact that during Knuckles’ campaign you face an Egg robo imitating Eggman has always been very weird to me

Because the obvious question is: where is the doctor? If I had played the game as it released I may have believed that he’d been killed for good at the end of Sonic’s story! Naturally nowadays I know that’s not the case and I doubt that was ever the idea...but hindsight also brings me to wonder whether we’re seeing the actual, first ever case of Eggman getting upstaged. Granted, there’s no proof of that and it’s much more likely that he’s recuperating from his battle with Sonic and sending his robots to steal the ME again in the meantime...but every time I see thatn short sequence of Eggrobo bringing Knuckles to Mecha Sonic, complete with the latter using the ME for himself...I dunno that gives me some “secret mastermind behind everything” vibes

Also I don’t like how the ME is just suddenly on Sky Sanctuary. The ME getting stolen is one of the most pivotal scenes in Sonic’s story, the fact that it gets stolen off screen this time and with no build up feels very shoddy given this game’s standards

Now let’s talk about one last thing: artstyle. This game’s

So when talking about Classic Sonic’s general aesthetic sense it’s usually stated that he’s got a very abstract feel. Abstractism mixed in with a small dose of “down to earth”. Green Hill would be a regular place were it not for the checkerboard ground, the totems, the twirling flowers, bright colors and of course all the springs and loops etc. Spring Yard is a city in the middle of a forest that just so happens to have a weird pseudo pinball theme going for it. Sonic CD is half an acid trip. There are certainly Zones that feel more grounded, like Scrap Brain or Chemical Plant, but generally speaking there’s a certain balance between zany abstractism and down to earth feel

However...I feel that Sonic 3 is an exception to this

Because when you look at most of its Zones you’ll notice that they are...real life places

Angel Island Zone is...a jungle. That’s it. No checkerboard ground, no super bright colors, no weird structures. Were it not for the obligatory Sonic loops and springs you could take this place, put it in another game and it would work just fine

Same with Marble Garden: it’s just a bunch of grassy ruins, nothing too crazy about it. Icecap has some interesting ice crystal formations in the background but for the most part it’s just an icy mountain. Sandopolis is especially egregious in being just straight up an Egyptian pyramid, because in Act 2 you can see in the background some hyeroglyps depicting humans...which will later create some issues what with the whole deal about the island once being inhabited solely (well presumably) by echidnas. Hell even SA2 of all games had a more interesting looking pyramid!

What I’m trying to say is that Sonic 3′s areas feel to me like they’re trying to veer more into a realistic feel when compared to what came before. There are certainly exceptions, like Carnival Night, Mushroom Hill and Sky Sanctuary, but for the most part the game just doesn’t feel as abstract oor “out of this world” as the others

No I’m not saying that this is Sonic 06 or Frontiers tiers of bland realism, but people tend to forget that Sonic Team��s attempt to make Sonic “live in the real world” was gradual, with the Adventure games already trying to go for more down to earth approaches, Shadow’s game going all gritty and even Sonic X literally putting Sonic in the “real world”. I’m wondering if this process hadn’t already been taking its first baby steps here?

Another difference I’ve always noticed is in how Eggman’s mechs are visually presented

Now the regular Badniks are as goofy as ever, but the boss robots look distinctly more...menacing. The game in general tends to use slightly darker colors and has much stronger “shading” on sprites belonging to bosses (and even the characters to a smaller extent), giving them a greater sense of visual depth. In general their designs are remarkably colder feeling, like look at stuff like the Hydrocity miniboss or Big Arms or especially the new Death Egg Robot when compared to the old one: yes, the latter was menacing but still remarkably goofy looking. The former looks scary. And in a way I like this, these guys are bosses, they’re supposed to look a bit intimidating, but I have a small issue in that there seems to be a bit of an artstyle clash between them and the characters, Eggman included. It’s like the increased level of sprite detail and shading on them makes them feel like they belong to a series with a darker artstyle when compared to the guys who actually inhabit this world. Again: it’s nothing extreme, but it’s foor for thought in hindsight

One design I absolutely do not like and never have is Mecha Sonic’s

Reemember when I said that what makes Metal Sonic’s design so perfect is how it manages to perfectly balance the menacing edgyness of his dark eyes, sharp edges and overall cold feel with the inherent goofiness of still having Sonic’s proportions, hence still making him feel like he genuinely is like a twisted version of Sonic?

Yeah well Mecha here didn’t get the memo. This guy’s design is ugly. He’s 100% coldly mechanical with absolutely no attempt at giving him that inherent Sonic-like cartoony feel. He looks so supet serious yet unlike other serious characters like Shadow he’s also straight up inelegant, with those super thin limbs and big ass head. Hell if it weren’t for the color blue and those metallic spikes (which look like a tacked on wig) I wouldn’t even be able to tell visually that this is supposed to be a robotic replica of Sonic!

Mecha Sonic looks just a few steps away from looking like one of Eggman’s robots from 06. No really think about it and compare the two, they feel relatively similar in artstyle!

Yeah sure he gets a cool boss fight here don’t get me wrong, hell kudos for being pretty much the only Sonic villain who’s had the brain cells (err processing power?) to use the Master Emerald to initiate a Super transformation, rather than to go hunt down the 7 Emerald. But beyond that I never understood the appeal nor the popularity...well ok let’s face it, they’re all due to a certain mid 2000s sprite animation.

Anyway I really like the ending: not only do we get to see Sonic fly his own plane for once, but we get to see Knuckles essentially thank Sonic for the save with a thumbs up and a smile! That’s really cool! It’s a nice little cap off to their relationship in this game: going from trolling him at every opportunity, to having to trust him to save the ME, to coming to respect the blue guy

This game has honestly my favorite depiction of Knuckles. The reason why he trusts Eggman actually makes sense given the context and character and is not just for a gag (though the fact that Knuckles is not tipped off by Eggman literally torching the island in the first stage is uhhh, but whatever it’s a 16 bit game, such story details were not generally the focus, I’ll let it slide), he goes from an irritating douche bag getting in your way all the time to an honorable ally (friend?) whose respect Sonic and Tails have earned and, above all else, we get a whole campaign dedicated to him just doing his job and doing a good job at it

I’m not a big Knuckles fan in general, mainly because I think that, even by the standards of this series, with character portrayals shifting in quality harder than the economy, Knuckles just doesn’t have much in the way of really good portrayals but he sure has quite a few crap ones. But his first iteration is a genuine win for the guy

#youtube #sonic the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog 3 & knuckles #my gameplay

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crusherthedoctor · 2 years ago

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Sonic villain tier list?

From top to bottom:

Eggman: Duh.

Hard-Boiled Heavies: All five of them had more personality in a game without dialogue than Sage did with it.

Chaos: The original monster, and still the best, with clever designs for each of his forms, and an interesting backstory. My only regret is that he started The Trend.

Erazor: The best villain that's not Eggman, made by Eggman, or associated with Eggman. He's everything Mephiles wasn't, and he brought out a lot in Sonic through his antagonism and his cruel relationship with Shahra.

Metal Sonic: His robot status and identity crisis give him an edge over other dark rival characters. His design is iconic, and he works not only as Sonic's equal, but also as an extension of Eggman's evil. (OVA Metal is the best, of course.)

Captain Whisker: He's a more compelling Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And his boss music is peak 60's Spider-Man.

Infinite: Not sure why everyone likes to single this guy out as one-note when this franchise is utterly stacked with one-note villains, some of whom are praised for it. Infinite may be simple, but at least he's fun.

Gerald: His recorded video was certainly ominous, and he does work as a tragic character, but there's a lot of questions surrounding his story that take me out a bit, and while Chaos may have started The Trend, Gerald - by using Shadow as his posthumous proxy - was the one who established it as a trend.

Black Doom: Not actually a good villain (very controversial, I know), but everything about him is hilarious, and he never gained a disproportionate fandom like certain other villains, so I can't help but enjoy him ironically.

Merlina: She could have been great in practice, but she suffers from Disney Twist VIllain Syndrome, in that once you get past the fanfare involving the twist, there's actually not a lot to her beyond that, and we don't get enough of a feel for her as her true villainous self. There may have been some mild foreshadowing, and we may have gotten a look into her sympathetic motives, but all in all, it was very undercooked, and a major reason why I don't think Black Knight's story is that amazing.

Deadly Six: I defended them for so long, and I'll still defend their original outing (at least Zavok, Zor and Zazz), but ever since IDW turned them into yet another Better Villains Than Eggman... I'm not as dedicated in doing so as I used to.

Void: He exists.

Ix: He also exists.

Eggman Nega: Either he's a redundant presence since there's nothing he does with Eggman that the doctor couldn't do on his own (Rush duology), or he's another usurper and exists only to pose as a so-called better version of the main villain of the franchise (Rivals duology). Take your pick.

Mephiles: Complete dumbass that does not live up to the suave mastermind archetype that the writers intended him to be, and what fans pretend he is. "Eggman makes mistakes too!" Yeah, but never to this level.

The End: He brought back The Trend in the games. And he boasted about being better than all the other threats Sonic has faced, like a textbook bad fancharacter. And he never shuts the fuck up. And he failed to live up to his big talk. And his fight was Perfect Dark Gaia-tier. And he's a purple bollock. I really can't think of anything redeeming about this guy (as much as I hate Mephiles, at least he had Dan Green going for him). As far as personifications of death go, I'll stick with the Dreamworks Wolf.

I didn't bother adding non-game villains since most of them would have fallen into the same "shite, lol" category. Same for the post-Chaos giant monsters.

#Crusher's Asks #Opinion #Dr. Eggman #Metal Sonic #Chaos #Void #Professor Gerald Robotnik #Black Doom #Eggman Nega #Mephiles the Dark #Erazor Djinn #Captain Whisker #Imperator Ix #Merlina #Deadly Six #Hard-Boiled Heavies #Infinite #The End

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two-evil-tails · 7 years ago

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ZAP! for Tails Doll, please. And muse for me will be Classic Tails.

//Send “ZAP!” and I will write a closed starter for one of my AUs that you have not interacted with!

Tails Doll was sitting at the beach and enjoying the view. You would never believe that not so long ago this plushy robot was working as a spy for one of the evilest and greatest masterminds on Mobius, Doctor Eggman. It didn't last long though. Forced to live with Cream the Rabbit, soon Tails Doll realized that he doesn't want to cause harm to the small girl or her friends. The plush cut all the ties with Eggman for forever and stayed with Cream, sometimes helping Sonic and company if they needed something, though doing that with no pleasure. The plush preferred taking care of Cream, relaxing somewhere and doing calm stuff much more than going on adventures or saving the day.

So now the Doll made himself comfortable in the small hole in the warm sand and listened to the sounds of an ocean with his eyes closed.

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onestepfcrward · 3 years ago

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@metalcd said: ❛ why do you care? you could have just walked away. ❜

— for the damaged. ( accepting. )

“ ... ” The hybrid doesn’t answer, at least not right away. He remains silent, staring at the robot who was looking a little worse for wear. ( Granted, any expression from Shadow was often intensified by the sharpness of his eyes, it’s hard not to assume it wasn’t a look of scorn he wore. )

You could have just walked away. True, Metal Sonic wasn’t his problem. Shadow didn’t have to make those people back off, he could have just left the robot to fend off the wave of scrutiny from those who doubted their renouncing of servitude to a certain evil mastermind by themself. But where would he be if those who didn’t walk away then, had? The hedgehog crossed his arms, setting Metal with a firm look.

“ Your loyalties no longer lie with Doctor Eggman. Is this correct ? ”

#⭐ — i just want to make a change. ❪ ic. ❫#⭐ — step inside and hold on for dear life. ❪ inbox. ❫#metalcd #man .

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longcrierfunhouse · 8 years ago

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Sonic Forces and Sonic in Non Games

Sonic Forces is a game changer for the Sonic franchise as a whole and Sega hasn’t let on about how much sway it will have on the franchise from now on.

That’s a big opening sentence right? Sonic is a huge and extremely diverse franchise that as a game series has also been an extremely viable and popular cartoon, comic, toy, and music sensation that long extends past the reach of its home in Sega of Japan.

Each region had a story of Sonic with the Western Story taking more place in their comics and cartoons while the Japanese story is more manual relegated when the Sega Megadrive and Genesis had finally gotten the mascot. The Japanese manuals had extensive lore that you can read on each page of Sonic Retro here, here, here, here, and here. This is the lore that from 1998 onwards shaped the franchise. It has islands that magically move on their own (or via tectonic plates), legends about gods with magical gem stones, and little planets that time travel.

It’s a legacy series that has been a hallmark in games that Games Historians still don’t know how to fully process in regards to its rivalry in Nintendo’s Mario. Mario had tried cartoons and comics and even became the very first game to be adapted to film whose quality is very debatable among people for where it lacks faithfulness to Mario and where it was sensible to deviate from the 8-bit classic on the NES to make its story. Miyamoto even argues that it might have been too faithful to the respected series but that’s another discussion. Nintendo had a very experimental phase in the 90s when Sega became a serious competitor to the Games Industry. And one of those things was a pop culture presence that involved all of media.

Sonic encompasses any media the blue hedgehog can get its hands into. Its even in unofficial mix tape CDs and continues on to be sampled in works by big musicians and the iconic ring jingle is even the sound used in digital cash registers. Sonic is ingrained into pop culture psyche. It is a true pop culture success Sega never anticipated. It’s a sensation that has worked as a sales machine everywhere except in Japan. That’s not that they didn’t try to make it big in Japan even having a short running manga series that came to be known in Sonic Fan Circles aside from the manga adaptations to advertise the games themselves.

It was a very interesting little series that almost comes across like Looney Tunes with superheroes and a bad guy.

It introduced the East to Sonic’s own more unique adventures where Dr. Eggman would hatch a plan and spring it on the citizens of Hedgehog Town and Sonic would save the day. The new thing though is that Sonic has a Superman and Peter Parker secret alias that transformed into Sonic when the moment needed him to. It’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde but not as mentally unstable. It even introduces characters that are now series staples in the cast.

Designs changed and they were adapted to the series since. Amy Rose is a fan favourite Canon Immigrant and Charmy Bee is part of the Chaotix who shows up from time to time.

Then there were the Western takes on Sonic the Hedgehog. Some shortlived, some only getting cancelled in the early 2000s in the case of UK comics company Fleetway and their series, Sonic the Comic.

Theirs is a very interesting story taking place after the Origin of Sonic the Hedgehog promotional story that was reprinted in Disney Adventures’ Second Issue. This same book would take on plenty of game properties and Sonic was an early story for them.

This story involved Sonic having been friends with a Good Dr. Robotnik who was then known as Ovi Kintobor similar to Alucard in Dracula myths. In this story Sonic had engaged in a speed experiment gone wrong that turned him blue due to the effect of going past the speed of sound and turned the jovial scientist into the fearsome robot slave making Robotnik. It was an interesting story that the Western branches of Sega had made canon to their regions’ version of Sonic until 1998′s Sonic Adventure and Sega of Japan’s mythology came to be the full original canon. These comics have an ardent fanbase that celebrates the comic for being closer to the games than the Archie Comics counterpart and even has a dedicated online webcomic continuation of the story that’s running into the 200s now that features fan favourite online artists like @adamisart and @thekkmart. It’s a very fun read and these books are eclectic and fun even if unique in their interpretations of the franchise. One of these ideas are The Cyberniks.

Shortfuse the Cybernik

Vermin the Cybernik

These two are a form of Badnik that are Badniks but with animals the size of Sonic instead of the typical little “real” animals you’ll usually find popping out of Badniks. They’re made to be much stronger than your typical Badniks and have traits that, similar to Metal Sonic, are like a character but enhanced with technology. This is very similar to the very mysterious character of Infinite, a cybernetic character who we know nothing besides a name and a motivation to bring Sonic down.

The Archie Comics are also something that seems to have had a huge imprint on this game via cultural osmosis or coincidence. The Archie Comics had a deal for a limited series of Sonic in 1993 which coincided with the showing of Sonic the Hedgehog on Saturday Mornings (known to fans as Sonic SatAM). These comics featured a team of Freedom Fighters against the wannabe tyrannical Dr. Robotnik who in SatAM had conquered their homeland of Mobotropolis and roboticized to become his lair in Robotropolis. This event also happened in the comics but it focused more on the humour of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog until SatAM’s cancellation after the episode The Doomsday Project in December 3, 1994. The Archie comic was a fairly popular series that has run alongside the franchise from 1993 to 2017, finalizing it at 24 years strong. One more year and it would have hit a 25 year long milestone in publication. That is no small feat and is a testament to the popularity and strong nature of Archie’s Sonic to become a major part of the franchise that outlived the original cartoon it was based on.

Boy those models sure look nice and professional.

The cancellation of Archie happened July 19, 2017. And on the day right after we got another trailer for Sonic Forces this time for Infinite Themselves.

And this logo is the one that is shown to be the logo for the character.

What is particularly interesting now is that the characters from Sonic the Comic inhabited the world of Mobius, a long running miscommunication between Sega of Japan and America. This caused the planet of Mobius to be the name that most people in pop culture would associate and accept as Sonic’s Home World. Here is some trivia:

“The name Mobius may be a reference to a shape known as the Möbius strip, a shape with no clear start or end that appears to have multiple sides, when in fact there is only one. This could be intended as a reference to the cyclical nature of species dominance on this alternate Earth / Mobius.”

The logo that we had seen before is a Moebius Loop, made popular by the artist, M.C. Escher.

Look at those ants go.

Something that is fairly popular and well noted in Sonic 2′s level design is the use of these strips in Emerald Hill Zone. We’ve seen these come up in the franchise several times over since.

So why is this important? There’s still a branding issue. A single logo is used for consistency so you’re not confused about what it represents. This is a common practice in marketing. This is why the Sonic the Hedgehog logo stays roughly the same to its motifs even in new logos and designs.

So what does this logo mean?

Why did Sega make it a huge thing in the E3 Trailer? Archie Sonic doesn’t have that as a logo and neither does Sonic the Comic. This is a brand new logo. However, this logo can be simplified a lot like how Infinite’s turned out to be. It even looks like it could belong on a flag of a fictional nation. That’s interesting. The last time we saw a fictional nation in Sonic, we got Sonic Unleashed.

And this was the logo of Eggmanland, the Doctor’s Nation that he built from the scraps of the Earth after it was destroyed. All of the nations alongside it were based on real world nations.

Shamar’s Flag, Sonic Unleashed (2008)

South Africa’s Flag

If this is a new nation in the Sonic Universe then we could potentially be looking at the incorporation of Mobius into the Sonic Games’ Lore. This would be groundbreaking integration of the West’s ideas of Sonic coming into the games after years of fan demands and the cancellation of the Archie book which was coming right off of the Sonic Unleashed adaptation before it ended. There’s also the note that there is a world map in Sonic Forces which is particularly peculiarly similar to Sonic Unleashed.

Sonic Unleashed (2008)

Sonic Forces (2017)

This may be all a coincidence, but there’s been a big marketing push that Sega has been more than happy to oblige with Sonic Forces that this game will be huge and that we haven’t begun to scratch the surface of it all.

Let’s look at Infinite and the Avatar again. These characters are vital to the puzzle.

Sonic Forces: Custom Hero Trailer, May 16, 2017

This kid has been an important part of the game the entire time. This character is tied to Infinite being in the game and this has been stressed over and over by Sega themselves. They’re You. They’re the Fans. They’re the love and dedication of 26 years of this franchise staying afloat. That’s way past cool. So if they’re You then who is Infinite?

They’re the hands of an author rewriting the work to fit their vision.

This is the Avatar of an Overly Controlling Mastermind of the Space Time Continuum. Which remember. Sonic is not unfamiliar with the concepts of space and time and how they affect the world. This was a big point in Sonic Generations, a game that used that as a plot to set up an anniversary game of revisiting old levels.

What’s most curious is the roster of villains that accompany Infinite and how they interact with the game as a whole, particularly when it’s made clear that Infinite is wrong.

They’re the living embodiment of a glitch in the system. Even the video of Their Theme is glitched out.

They sure love to be a living image corruption that’s for sure.

Let’s go back to the concept of a Cybernik. It was established that Dr. Eggman made these to be Super Badniks much like how Metal Sonic is one to Sonic. What if Infinite is the Cybernik version of our Avatar, Buddy?

A diagram of a Cybernik

They’re not fully mechanical but they’re very cybernetic and appear to have very natural features suggesting that they’re not purely a robot. This idea would go on into the Archie Sonic Comics where Dr. Eggman has an army of willingly and unwillingly roboticized soldiers that have enhanced abilities.

That’s too much of a coincidence. What bears intrigue more is the similarities in design to Vermin the Cybernik.

Pointed ears, pointed snout, and Ultron like design similarities are all accounted for. The only thing wrong is the tail which is a fox’s moreso than a rat’s. But otherwise, Infinite’s motif is fairly similar to Vermin down to wanting Sonic and Buddy the Avatar dead. That’s interesting with what is canon to the Cyberniks.

“Two Cyberniks were depicted during the series. The prototype was a squirrel-shaped Badnik, but an error occurred during the installation of Shorty the Squirrel as its organic battery, allowing Shorty to resist Robotnik's brainwashing. Shorty took on the name Shortfuse and became an outlaw, striving to defeat Robotnik's forces. Shortfuse possessed blasters on his arms and the ability to fly.

The second Cybernik, a rat named Vermin, was created to destroy Shortfuse. Although he could not fly, he was super strong and had more powerful blasters which were emitted from his eyes. He also possessed the ability to inject a crippling computer virus by means of his prehensile tail.”

Is it possible that Infinite is a Composite Character of these two? It’s looking more and more likely it seems. Also of note is that Vermin is a virus based character to himself as well and that is the basis of a lot of image corruption. Fascinating.

Now let’s talk about that last image and Sonic’s artistic influences.

Japan loves Felix the Cat and Mickey Mouse. They absolutely adore those two and Sonic was designed to be an incredibly iconic character that would sell competitively to Mario.

He was designed with a cutesy punk vibe to gel with what kids liked at the time. Someone that parents could accept and kids could really get into. This was from the competition where Sega asked their employees to design a new mascot to replace then mascot Alex Kidd who just wasn’t working. The character that Infinite threatens is someone fairly basic in design and simple, but why is Infinite threatening them? They’re not as important as Sonic. Or are they? It bears minding that the competition had many designs come out of it, this one included.

This kid bears a strong resemblance to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Oswald is a prototype to a major company’s mascot. After Oswald, we got Mickey Mouse after Disney left Universal with his good friend and collaborator Ub Iwerks and their team. This rabbit concept would go on to become Ristar with the stretching arms idea intact. But it’s interesting to say that a possible prototype of Sonic would be threatened by a force that wants Sonic deader than Mephiles did.

Is Sonic Forces a legacy game? Is this the most important Sonic game this side of Sonic Mania? Time will tell.

I know that I’m excited though. Sega has my attention.

#sonic forces #infinite #pop culture #analysis

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blastthechaos · 8 years ago

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*blows the party cannon*

¡its eggman day everybody!

i guess i should say what i think about the guest of honour

when i first saw eggman i did’t think much of him, he was just there

as time went on i began to get more interested on him, it got to the point where he’s my second favorite villain of all time

opinions on the doctor are varied:either he’s seen as some joke, a villain that became less of a threat, or an awesome diabolical mastermind

i’m on the later camp(although i was on the other camps for a bit, i admit that)

some dismiss him because he’s apparently an harmless villain...nevermind that he uses little animals as batteries, has created his equivalent of the death star(lets remember it took a lot of effort to bring it down, two games or three if you count sonic 3 and sonic & knuckles as separate games), conquered a planet and created horrible futures for it, came back to that planet after it was freed and built his death egg around it(the sonic 4 saga for those who are wondering), managed to destroy half of the moon, split the planet into pieces, conquered 5 planets(yes, he has amazing feats post-unleashed, ¿got it?) and a race of aliens that according to a unused voice clip:have energy that surpasses the chaos emeralds, managed to control an eldritch abomination that controls time and space without it betraying him and in the upcoming game he wins, he manages to conquer the world(also he released several powerful abominations to the world in previous games)

so yeah, he isn’t someone who you can easily fuck around with(there only a few beings in his universe who can do that)

just because a villain is goofy does’t mean they’re pushovers

¿and for those who say that he became harmless after sonic adventure 2? need i tell you again that he split the planet into pieces(sonic unleashed and sonic advance 3), conquered 5 planets in order to use them as part of his interstellar theme park and conquered a whole race aliens as well(sonic colors), controlled a monster that controls time and space(sonic generations), creates a machine that sucks the life out of earth(sonic lost world) and he conquers the world(the upcoming sonic forces)

so yeah, eggman is still a threat

his inventions are so cool, the badniks,egg pawns and egg fighters are kinda meh for me(i guess because i destroy so much of them in every sonic game i play jeje) but are still useful as troopers, the boss machines he made are fun to fight(and they can at times create some of the most difficult battles you ever see) his final boss machines are one of the most awesome things i have seen(like the death egg robot, egg nega wisp, the egg dragoon, the doomsday robots from s&k) he has amusing elite squads(the E-series and the upcoming hard boiled heavies)

lets also mention his most successful creations:E-123 omega and metal sonic

while E-123 omega betrayed him permanently he still is an amazing walking arsenal who could even defeat shadow and lock him away in an alternate timeline(that means that he’s a challenge for sonic) and also he’s amusing

metal sonic is a robotic copy of sonic the hedgehog and while i think he can be at times be a little overhyped when it comes to his power(COUGHMETALOVERLORDCOUGH) he’s still an equal to the blue blur and that’s is not easy(the only other beings that equal him are shadow, knuckles and blaze) so you can tell eggman put a lot of work put into making him

so cheers to eggman, you truly have the master plan

youtube

#eggman day #hope you like it

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crusherthedoctor · 3 years ago

Note

Ironically, at this point, it would be actually subversive and original decision at writers' part to make Eggman to be the 100% villianous mastermind behind the game's plot and the straightforward final boss without any twists. Ideally, over the course of three-four games straight.

I know, right?

I'm convinced that people who think there is such a thing as too many games where Eggman - the official arch-enemy of the guy this franchise is named after - is the main baddie, straight up don't like the character or want him to become Tinker, since you never see them complaining about arch-enemies in other games. Yes, Sonic can fight other villains now and then, but considering they have a history of dragging the doctor through the mud to make themselves look better (and also tend to be shite in general), can you blame me and likeminded Eggman fans for getting nervous and assuming the worst whenever a new villain shows up? That's the lingering consequences when stupid trends refuse to die.

Besides, not to discredit the likes of Bowser and Ganon, but Eggman is arguably one of the most flexible video game baddies anyway. His plans can revolve around anything, and his tastes can go for goofy, serious, or in-between. As long as robots are involved in some way, your imagination is your only limit with Eggman's dastardly schemes. Not to mention how much personality the character himself has, even in the 2D games with no dialogue.

#Crusher's Asks #Opinion #Dr. Eggman

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crusherthedoctor · 4 years ago

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Let’s try this again...

So for those of you who can’t currently see asks, I was informed in an ask about this statement by Ian Flynn in regards to why IDW Eggman acted the opposite of a respectable, well-characterized Eggman during the zombot arc:

Needless to say, this Steamed my Hams. Here’s why. (Credit to @beevean and @colony-drop-program for several additional points.)

In SA1, Eggman was constantly one step ahead of the heroes by swiping their emeralds, had both Chaos and the Egg Carrier operating at the same time, resorted to a missile when both were seemingly dealt with (which only turned out to be a dud cause of bad luck), and revealed a second Egg Carrier in the event that Chaos would betray him. And in the case of the missile - he was clearly at his wit’s end by that point, and suicide attacks on the brink of a villainous breakdown are common among many villains, including clever schemers... like Eggman.

In SA2, Eggman suspected there was a fake emerald in the mist that the heroes wanted to use to trick him, so he set up a situation perfectly in a way that would reveal which one it is.

In Battle, he was able to drive Emerl insane with energy in case the robot defeated him in battle.

In Unleashed, the game starts with Eggman setting up a trap based on the expectation that he would know exactly how Sonic (or rather, Super Sonic) would react, and it worked flawlessly. And upon learning that Dark Gaia woke up too early and his spawn were scattered all across the planet, Eggman managed to lure Dark Gaia spawn to him, and he still able to create Eggmanland and did his best to prevent Sonic from reaching the final temple.

Even in ‘06, he had that trap where he sent Sonic and Co to the future. It may have relied on the heroes being stupid, but it still counts as Eggman preparing for something.

Even in Heroes, arguably his most pathetic role in the game canon due to being locked in a room by his own creation for the whole game, he still had the initiative to hire the Chaotix into getting him out. And Metal Sonic’s flaws with his own plan... are Metal Sonic’s. Not Eggman’s. Metal Sonic didn’t take control of Eggman’s plan, he came up with his own plan to begin with. Metal’s failings in Heroes are not in any way, shape or form the fault of Ivo’s, and I don’t know why this example was even mentioned.

And keep in mind, these are just the games where Eggman was still upstaged. We’re not even going into the games that KEPT him as the top dog from start to finish, like in Sonic 3 & Knuckles where he’s constantly doing everything he can to stall you from reaching the Death Egg (which implies planning at least some of it in advance), Rush Adventure where he created the pirates as a proxy to search out the Jeweled Scepter, Colours where he kept his mind control cannon a secret, Generations where he teamed up with his past self in order to tame the Time Eater, Lost World where he brought a Cacophonic Conch with him to subjugate the Deadly Six, then bounced his way back up even after they stole his tech, and everything in Forces (storing Phantom Ruby copies, the artificial sun plot in case the Death Egg was destroyed, being able to dispose of Infinite in case he acted up, keeping the real Phantom Ruby for himself, even having a second mech inside the first mech in case the latter was destroyed).

Hell, the entire reason he set up a racing tournament in the original Sonic Riders was so that he could uncover the Babylon Garden.

And didn’t Flynn himself write that Mega Drive comic from a while back? The one where Eggman made a similar SA2-style bargain ploy for the last Ancient Gear, only to then reveal he had the other Gears already once he got it?

Eggman may be careless at times, with occasional details, but he’s not a Mephiles-tier moron who doesn’t understand the concept of a plan or strategy. He’s a mastermind, with many elaborate plots over the years to live up to that title, and when he’s not planning things out in advance, he’s just as quick to improvise or take advantage of the situation as best as he can.

He knew what would happen with Chaos upon feeding him Chaos Emeralds, because...

He knew something would happen with Dark Gaia, because...

(He also proceeded to kidnap Professor Pickle for the specific purpose of obtaining even more information on the subject.)

And while he may not have known exactly what Project Shadow was at the time, he still knew its existence in the first place (and by proxy, the ARK’s existence), because...

...And he brought a Chaos Emerald along with him. And knew the password, “Maria”.

There is no excuse for the doctor to just shrug and do absolutely nothing upon being informed about a potential error in his plan. The fact that Ian Flynn - a man who has worked with this character for over a decade, and thus by all means should know this character by the back of his hand - completely disregards this official, canonical element of the main villain of a 30 year old franchise, only makes me less willing to trust any of the characters’ handling under his pen. And that’s putting aside how questionably handled everyone else has been in IDW.

And you might say “But it’s IDW, it’s a different interpretation”. But here’s the thing: it’s following off of Forces, a game where Eggman was at his brilliant best. There’s no way you can go from his backup-plan-after-backup-plan strategy from that game, to his DarkSydePhil-tier “nothing I could do dood” showing in this comic, and chalk it up to anything other than, at best, an extreme display of inconsistency. And as far as we know, this isn’t even the cause of those mandates that everyone loves to point to... this was all Flynn.

So yes. If I wasn’t certain that Flynn’s widespread fandom status as the Best Sonic Writer of all time, every time, was just a teensy, tiny bit exaggerated... I am now. I may be an Eggman fan, so naturally that does fuel my annoyance with his statement on the doc, but I’d be just as annoyed if it were any other character who was blatantly misinterpreted to this degree, even if it were a character I was apathetic to or even flat out disliked.

Best Writers™ do not selectively choose how characters from long lasting IPs act. You can experiment with a character. You can play around with a character’s traits. But you can’t turn a character completely inside out and expect it to work just like that.

It doesn’t work.

/RantOver

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Dr. Eggman

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crusherthedoctor · 6 years ago

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Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite? - Part 7: METAL SONIC

It's been a while, but it's time for another Crusher review and analysis.

There are some villains I like. And there are some villains I don't like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That's where this comes in.

This is a series of mine in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the villains in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I'll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves in the game(s) they featured in. Keep in mind that these are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don't bite. :>

Anyhow, for today's installment, we'll be putting the Stardust Speedway saxophones aside for a moment to discuss Dr. Eggman's notorious robotic copycat, who desperately wants to show us what he's made of: Metal Sonic.

NOTE: While I will be taking several of Metal Sonic's non-game portrayals into account, this will NOT include his Sonic the Comic incarnation, as I feel that Fleetway's Metal - or Metallix, as he's called - is so vastly different in so many ways that I feel there's no point, whereas his other portrayals in non-game media are considerably more consistent for the most part.

The Gist: Being a criminal mastermind slash world conquerer in the making has its shortcomings, and for Dr. Eggman/Dr. Robotnik/The Bad Guy, that shortcoming came in the form of a plush-sized hedgehog who frequently wrecked his machines, foiled his plans, and - worst of all - talked back at him. This literal thorn on his side made the good doctor a very unhappy camper, but one day, his brilliant brain brought a brilliant breakthrough: Why not pit Sonic against himself?

During his then-new scheme to use the Time Stones of the Little Planet to conquer the world through time, Eggman worked tirelessly on his new idea to ensure it was just right. It couldn't be too slow. It couldn't be too bulky. It couldn't be too un-Sonic-like, for he vowed to assert his technological dominance by making a better Sonic than the real one. He wanted this to be his greatest creation yet, and he wasn't going to half-ass that objective.

The result was Metal Sonic, a marvel of industrial automation who established himself as fast as Sonic, as deadly as Sonic, and... not talkative, unlike Sonic. No wonder Eggman declared him the superior of the two.

Eggman loves his creation so much that he’s willing to let him die if this goes wrong. That’s how you know he’s his favourite.

Sure enough, Eggman's efforts were not entirely in vain, as the blue droid was more than a match for Sonic in the speed department, as well as the "What's the best way to make it clear to Amy Rose that I'm not interested?" department via snatching up Sonic's pink hedgehog acquaintance, leaving her as the doctor's captive. Unfortunately however, despite giving Sonic the race of his life, Metal was not yet as quick in his reflexes as the genuine article was, meaning his initial reign of terror came to an abrupt end when he flew head-first into a wall, George of the Jungle-style. Eggman was devastated, except he wasn't, because he knew he could just rebuild and upgrade him. Which he did. Constantly.

He also rebuilt these guys for some reason.

Since his debut in Sonic CD, Metal has went on to appear in a sizable number of games throughout the years, and he's made some personal appearances in a few other continuities as well. Most of these appearances simply have him show up, attack Sonic and other heroes for a bit, then get his ass handed to him. Some of those ass-kickings even came with a tasty amount of hue hues. But every now and then, they'll have him do something more, the most famous example being Sonic Heroes, in which he took over Eggman's army by force and went on his own little crusade to gain everyone's data and become Metal GodJesus, all the while proving himself the real Sonic the Hedgehog... by doing a lot of things the real Sonic the Hedgehog would never do. (This general concept would reappear in the IDW comics, though he did not betray Eggman that time around.)

Overall though, Metal is generally considered to be a welcome face whenever he makes an appearance... when he’s not dreaded for being the biggest roadblock in Fighters.

“Well that’s the end of the playthrough, make sure to like, comment, subscribe.”

The Design: What is there to say about Metal Sonic’s design? It’s cool, it’s ominous, it’s sleek, it’s stylish, and it holds a palpable aura of dangerous badassitude while still fitting perfectly with the design philosophy of this franchise. Truly, Metal’s design alone makes him one of the all-time greats of the Eggman repertoire, and it's easy to see why the scientist is particularly proud of this one.

He’s the robot your robot could crash into a wall like.

He’s had a few transformations over the years though. In Knuckles Chaotix, he turned into a ginormous monstrosity commonly referred to by fans as Metal Sonic Kai, who terrified many juniors back in the day due to making the inexcusable error of not being blue. The bad ending might have also affected them.

E for Everyone.

Luckily, Classic Metal got the right idea two decades later, and kept his blue colour scheme when the Phantom Ruby brought the form back in Sonic Mania Plus. As for Modern Metal, he had a brief life (or lives, if you count IDW) as Neo Metal Sonic, who - despite being made with the intention to be a darker, cooler, more serious iteration of the character - went the complete opposite direction by looking less like a frightening metal monarch, and more like a shonen anime’s midnight seizure.

Look at this fucking thing.

Elf shoes. Ripped skirt. Starfish haircut. Vaguely phallic strap in the appropriate area. Regular Metal may have a semi-cutesy look even in his more dangerous iterations, but at least he doesn't come off as a compensating son who doesn't quite know how to come out to his judgemental father, which is more than I can say for whatever the hell this is supposed to be. Is this really meant to be a more intimidating design? A more badass design...?

Then, as if this wasn’t ridiculous enough for Metal already, they had him transform even further into MechaGodzilla Metal Overlord, a goliath made from the remains of the Egg Fleet, with a side order of spikes and artist’s regret.

"Sonic, I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you... but I can never seem to defeat you... That is why I purchased Freddie Mercury's wardrobe with my own hands!"

Said form also returned in the IDW comic, rechristened Master Overlord, who traded the clawed wings and the flamethrower in exchange for symmetrical hands and a more simplistic body structure, at the expense of looking even more like a children’s toy.

Needless to say, Metal's had some... interesting transformations over the years. But his original look will always remain iconic, and rightly so.

The Personality: Metal Sonic's personality is harder to specify compared to other characters in the series, because his kill-first ask-later demeanour in tandem with his usual muteness means we see him most of the time as little more than a Sonic-shaped extension of Eggman's will. That said however, there have been deeper glimpses here and there into what makes his mechanical mind tick.

The most obvious thing to note is that Metal holds the very un-Sonic trait of not having time for nonsense. Sure, he might not be above taunting his organic counterpart in a likeminded way occasionally, but that aside, he's generally a pretty serious and humorless individual, a stark contrast to his creator and master that nonetheless works in the latter's favor, as the realisation that the goofy manchild Eggman of all people made this thing helps shoot down the myth that the rotund madman is all talk.

"He's behind you!" "Shut it wee man, this is a serious play."

Then there's his insanity, by means of identity crisis. It's not known if this was something that was there from the beginning, or if it's somethng that developed and worsened with each defeat, but at some point in his life, Metal convinced himself that despite literally being made with the intention of exterminating the actual Sonic, he himself was in fact the actual Sonic, and that the actual actual Sonic that already existed prior to his inception was in fact the actual Not-Sonic (or a faker, as would be used to describe a certain other lookalike). This belief has caused him to do a bunch of crazy stuff of dubious logic, and don't try to question him on his reasoning, lest you want him to cut you open like a Terry's Chocolate Orange.

His relationship with Eggman is something of an enigma. While his teenage phase betrayal in Heroes is probably the most mainstream evidence of how he feels about his master, it's easy to forget that this was the exception, not the rule. In nearly every other appearance before and since then, Metal has shown nothing but stone cold loyalty towards the doctor and his cause. Even in IDW, when he regained his Neo form and basically did everything he could to remind everyone that Heroes was a thing that existed, he did it that time around for the purpose of finding his master, and helping to restore his empire. A far cry from Neo's first attempt, when he was ranting and raving about how he should have the empire.

Thus, I can only conclude that while his Sonic-esque AI may cause him to get a little reckless, he remains genuinely devoted to his creator outside of his brief cocaine rush in Heroes... and Free Riders, but I don't think anyone knew what was going on in that one. I don't think he knew what was going on in that one.

But perhaps most surprisingly of all - according to the OVA at least - despite all his black-hearted ways, he is still capable of good, as evidenced when he saved the President and the legendary Old Man Owl from dying a fiery death. Whether it's an inherent part of his own nature, or whether it's a side-effect of his Sonic programming, isn't fully clear... but either way, he might want to make sure Eggman doesn't find out about it.

The Execution: Metal Sonic's execution is a complicated case, because there's a dissonance between when he's merely an obstacle for the good guys, and when they've tried to make him more than that.

When he's merely Eggman's instrument of evildoing, he does the job nicely. Sometimes his appearances can be underwhelming depending on the game (read: Sonic 4), but he usually provides a memorable scuffle when it's time for him to put up his dukes. Even if half of those are actually races.

When he aims for bigger, on the other hand? Well...

I've already joked about Neo Metal Sonic's design, but don't be fooled, for his ridiculous fashion sense is merely one part of my beef with the overall concept of Neo. Simply put, everything about Neo Metal Sonic goes against everything that makes this particular character work.

Ranting, monologuing, and running his mouth off does not work for Metal Sonic.

Gathering everyone's data with the intention of becoming Metal Everyone does not work for Metal Sonic.

Transforming into a goddamn dragon does not work for Metal Sonic. (I can let Metal Sonic Kai slide since despite being bigger and more monstrous, you can still recognise it as Metal Sonic specifically. Colour scheme aside, Metal Overlord/Master Overlord might as well be a random monster entirely.)

These ideas aren't necessarily bad on their own. They could work for another villain, or another Eggman minion. But for Metal Sonic specifically? It just doesn't work at all, and while some may be willing to handwave it as the result of Metal's insanity, I firmly believe it's more than possible to establish and delve into his inner madness in ways that DON'T contradict almost everything about him. A character being insane is not an excuse for turning them into a completely different character altogether, nor is it an excuse for just plain handling them in a shitty manner. By all means, I'm all for giving Metal a bigger role, and I'm all for expanding his character and his dynamic... just not like this.

Metal doesn't need to do all that in order to be effective and leave an impression. His portrayal in the OVA confirms that. OVA Metal was everything that Metal was known for at the time: straightforward, loyal, and silent, bar one line towards the end. And he still managed to be a very intriguing antagonist who served as a believably major threat, and who gave Sonic the fight of his life, and thus earned the hedgehog's disgruntled ire and his begrudging respect. That is the Metal that writers should aspire to. That is the essence of what makes that character.

So, despite everything, I still highly enjoy Metal Sonic when he's Metal Sonic, and not Something Vaguely Shaped Like Metal Sonic. He's stumbled a bit over the years, but when he's done right, he's always an eventful burst of fun, and ultimately, my fondness for those portrayals overrides my disgust towards elf shoes. And I'd love to see them expand on his dynamic with Eggman, which a certain well-liked series of shorts has thankfully given us a small taste of. Here's hoping the future will follow up on it...

“Now, if you may be so generous, hand over the Emerald slowly, or else I'm afraid your little friend will face the consequen-ooooowwwww my FUCKING wrist.”

Crusher Gives Metal Sonic a: Thumbs Up! (and Neo Metal Sonic a: Thumbs Down!)

#Sonic Villains: Sweet or Shite?#Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Metal Sonic #Neo Metal Sonic

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