#I do however like Sonia and Manic

[bearfoottruck]

So, based on which episodes I've seen so far, here's how I'd rank all the Sonic cartoons, from best to worst:

(TIE) Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic SatAM

(TIE) Sonic Boom and Sonic Prime

Sonic X

Sonic Underground

I don't know how many of you will agree with me, but that's how I see it.

[tezzbot]

Okay.. so... fairly long post under the cut with the sort of background to my Sonic Underground AU!! If anyone's interested fjdgv I have thought about it a Lot lol

So basically, The background is that Eggman has definitely been up to shit since before Sonic was born lol and one of his sort of things when he I guess started out in villainy ? was he started trying to claim land and take over so that he could build his cities and theme parks and factories and what have you and rule over everything. So, after claiming some untouched land he started attacking “Mobian'' settlements, (not sure whether to stick with Mobian or what but the word gets my point across so I’m using it now sfgdh) and I guess started working his way up until he found Christmas Island, which is the small Kingdom Aleena ruled over at the time. This caused the Kingdom to fight back and started a war with Robotnik. However. Obviously the warzone was no place to be raising the Very recently born heirs to the throne (the three who would grow up to be Sonia Sonic and Manic, they might’ve had different names back then lol) and so Aleena with a Very heavy heart sent the three Far away, they had them sent to a dinky little orphanage in a fairly distant zone, intending to pick them back up when the war was over.

Unfortunately, Very early on in the triplet’s stay at the orphanage, when they were still practically babies, an unfortunate cot placement led to Manic being kidnapped sometime in the dead of night (don’t ask why they did it I just think it’s funny love and light). He was taken to a nearby city, and somehow managed to endear himself to Ferral, the leader of one of the larger sort of crime rings active there. This is where he learned to get by and live and thrive, little crime family they love each other and rag on each other so much smile smile smile.

Sonic stayed in the orphanage a lot longer than Manic, but doesn’t really remember his time there all that much. As soon as Sonic figured out how to, he ran. Ran as fast and as far as he was able. Ran until he had no idea how to get back. But he'd not a guilt on his conscience. He was free, for the first time felt truly free. He learned how to survive on his own and met a little two tailed fox cub and his life played out pretty much exactly the same as it does in the main line continuity :)

Sonia is the only one of the three who has any memory of staying in the orphanage and was the only one to leave there by regular means dgfhfg. At about five years old, she was one of a few girls from across the continent to be chosen to attend and live at an all girls school where they would grow into proper ladies™, being taught etiquette and manners and so on. She managed a fairly cushy lifestyle here but was never truly happy there. She obviously has her besties like Mindy, but it always felt far too restrictive and (figuratively) cold. So while she does do well there, she is slightly prone to getting in trouble and feels kind of belittled and invisible among her peers at times

So in the triplet’s maybe 3rd year? The war on Christmas Island ended and the Mobians were unfortunately forced to go into hiding. Aleena made it out and went into her own hiding in the form of laying low in a residential area in a nearby city, and attempted to blend in there for a few years before making the trip to finally reunite with her children. Unfortunately by the time she gets there, all three are gone :( Even though the orphanage may know where Sonia is, she feels as though she has failed all three as their mother and wouldn't be able to face any of them (despite the fact they're like. 6 year olds lol), and so retreats back to her city home.

Until, over a decade later, Aleena sees the world renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog that she hears so much about, (maybe he’s just saved that part of the city from a badnik attack or something like that) and there is just… something about him that is so uncannily like her Bernie… His heroism and humility right down to his mannerisms, the being blue also adds to the effect. And… Aleena is not one to get her hopes up, but the chance of this being one of her missing children after all these years…

Then I’m thinking maybe, she is wearing the equivalent of the three medallions and, maybe as she gets closer to Sonic one of them has some sort of magical reaction ? or something I’m not actually sure. But something DOES confirm to Aleena that This is one of her kids oh my god!! And he’s just like his (other) mother… Aleena gets overwhelmed and ends up not talking to him. Sonic maybe notices someone in a long flowy jacket running away from the crowd, but gets distracted by the many other thankful citizens around him to really take note of it lol

This is when Aleena writes her letter to Sonic. She looks him up, tries very hard to find out where he lives. Ultimately coming up with nothing she’s like IS MY BOY HOMELESS?? But then what comes up eventually is a plethora of small garages and laboratories under the name Dr. Miles Prower and is like Oh! An apprentice maybe :) lol and so she rolls the dice and chooses one of those locations at random and hopes her message gets to him soon.

This is just the leadup to what would be the "main plot" of the AU and I do have more for it!! So if this like. Text based way of explaining my ideas is alright I can share more from the google doc if ppl are interested!! And maybe I'll doodle some stuff for it here n there who know (seems likely tho lol)

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground watch along

Because… madness, is why. Almost twenty goddamn years ago, I started writing a crossover between the absolute worst piece of Sonic media ever and the games. That fic is The Lost Prince. I am maybe like… two or three chapters from finishing it. TWENTY YEARS AND THREE CHAPTERS. And I have no motivation. You cannot understand the pain this causes me.

So I’m watching the worst piece of Sonic media again in search of inspiration.

And I’m going to talk about it while I do it.

(Normally, I do things like this over on lediz-watches, but because this is specifically to explain some of my headcanons and inspire my writing, it’s here)

So let’s set the scene, first. This has become somewhat common knowledge in Sonic Tumblr fandom these days, but bear with me, because it’s important context.

(Also, the next paragraph is going to get me more death threats because I CERTAINLY HAVEN’T GOTTEN ENOUGH OF THOSE FROM THIS FANDOM, but we’ll carry on anyway because it’s important context)

Once upon a time, there was a cartoon series called Sonic the Hedgehog, now known as SatAM for reasons mostly relating to its timeslot. Sonic the Hedgehog was perfectly acceptable grimdark 90s environmentalist children’s programming which due to classic 90s multimedia marketing strategy also gave rise to the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics. It got cancelled on a cliffhanger because that was the kind of thing that happened in the 90s where writers thought FOR SURE a cliffhanger would spare them from the dreaded 2-season contract. (It never did.)

The reason this matters is because the production house maintained the licensing rights to that particular branch of franchise. And they needed a quick cash grab.

For some reason which I will never understand, this spawned Sonic Underground, which is… an insane premise, cheap animation, surprisingly not terrible songs, and a handful of voice actors getting milked for every inch of their three-voice contracts.

Sonic is a prince! He has siblings that are TOTALLY NOT knock-off Princess Sally Acorn or Miles Tails Prower! They have magic necklaces! They save the day with music! Don’t notice the statues of King Max Acorn in the background! Knuckles’ grandfather from the comics is there! Knuckles has magic! The Floating Island has guns! Totally don’t pay attention to the fact that both the episodes and music tracks have separate licensing that will cost the networks extra! No we don’t have time to check for animation errors! ALSO let us use highly complicated political socio-economic difficulties of enlightenment and industrialism as world building BUT DON’T NOTICE WHAT WE’RE DOING just accept the ones we say are bad are bad and the good guys are good! Good? Good. Great.

It is a trashfire.

I adore it.

I have no excuse.

I do, however, have wine.

Let’s go, kids.

Sonic Underground 01: Beginnings

The plot (for want of a better word): Once upon a time, Queen Aleena of Mobius ruled a beautiful world kingdom city (?) and had three lovely babies: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. An evil industrialist named Ivo Robotnik came out of nowhere and took over her city world kingdom (?), turning all the aristocrats evil. In desperation, Aleena turned to the Oracle of Delphi I mean Delphius who told her that she must hide herself and her children away, until they could reunite as the Council of Four and enter a glorious New Age.

This episode is about the three children growing up, realising they have siblings, magical music, and the much less exciting fact that they’re once and former royalty, and coming together through The Power of Harmony.

Now, this episode immediately showcases what I love about The Trashfire: its background worldbuilding. You are not supposed to notice the worldbuilding, but it’s there and it’s amazing.

Realistically, Aleena would have been an absolutely terrible queen. I am not in the least bit surprised her aristocrats followed Robotnik, who promoted science and industrialisation and then sold them cheap labour. Honestly. Compare that to –

The facsimile of the Hanging Gardens, right there in the first twenty seconds. The HANGING GARDENS. Beautiful, yes. Legendary, absolutely. Would I have loved to see it? Hell yes! A good use of time or resources or indeed environment? HAH. MEANWHILE –

Slums! I don’t care what your artistic imagery is telling me, those tight dark alleyways you’re running down were there before Robotnik took over, your majesty. And you’re wasting tax payer dollars mobiums on THE HANGING GARDENS.

Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family – you can tell by the clothing of the person that comes to the door. And he’s immediately stolen. Don’t question why a thief would steal a baby (there are so many things we must not question), but notice that it took all of ten seconds. The crime rate in her supposedly perfect city is CRAZY.

Side note: Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family! The triplets should have gone aristocrat-middle class-working class, but instead we skipped straight from aristocrat to working class and then down to thief, but Aleena NEVER INTENDED to teach her children about the underclass.

Is Mobius a kingdom? Is it a world? We don’t know. We will never know. It Just Is, and Robotnik rules it, while Aleena used to rule it. Stop asking questions.

Music is illegal. This is a real thing that has happened in fascist communities, by the way, usually as a way of controlling the youth. And yet Sonia and Bartleby are out looking for an illegal club. Bartleby is bitching the whole way, but he’s there and he’d looking because it makes Sonia happy and it says SO MUCH about the spineless little worm. I love him.

Anyway. Onto my episode notes:

These character designs. What are these character designs… In my fic I call the alien-looking thing mixes, and say it's what happens when too many super classes (like... canine, feline, fish, etc) interbreed, but really it's just WEIRD.

Goddamnit, I hate Sonia. Not because of her character itself – she is… fine. But I hated GRRL Power even when I was the target audience of it, because of reasons that I can and probably will eventually go on for hours about. But basically, I mostly just hate that she’s perfect at everything, and her only flaws are being bossy and over emotional. It’s not real character, it’s not real personality, and I hate it.

Oh. A thing I’d forgotten. Sonic Underground’s one and only positive influence on other Sonic media: this was the first western animation that gave the hedgehogs more than three spikes. Probably because 3D games were also coming and going to make it A Thing.

Also: Sonic’s Tragic Backstory! I make so much of these foster parents for so many reasons.

But uh… yeah, starting the first episode with the out of place smiles during emotional moments… Sonic and Chuck smiling blandly as the only home Sonic’s ever known burns to the ground in front of them…

Imagine if you’d never read the comics or watched SatAM. Uncle Chuck and his dump-base would be a such a strange thing to see…

Oh, wow… Sonic’s reaction to the Oracle of Delphius’s nonsense. “I’m a prince? Weird. I’m a BROTHER? HOLY CRAP!”

Poor Sleet and Dingo. They never wanted to be evil, but they’re… not even very good at it…

THE SONG: Someday. Meatloaf pop eat your heart out. You would never believe that this was actually a pretty good storyboard match for some legit music videos at the time.

Seriously, Oracle, you could have stopped all of this by just stabbing him instead of warning him. You aren’t a good guy. Don’t pretend to be.

The instrumental song! Legit Sonic music. In fact, this gives serious Sonic and the Secret Rings vibes… I demand more than thirty seconds.

“Oh no, my family has been captured and turned into a robot! But you say my necklace is MAGIC? Fascinating…!”

I mean, look. I can’t defend this thing. I won’t defend this thing. Even when I was a kid, I knew it was terrible.

But I’m having fun anyway.

Normally, on these posts, I'll do one at a time because I've just realised how LONG these are, but the first three episodes are really just an hour-long conjoined episode. And things like that are s why I know at least someone in the producer's studio legitimately thought the Trashfire was a good idea. They were wrong.

Anyway. Sonic Underground 02: Getting to Know You

The plot (for want of a better word): the three siblings set out as directed by the Oracle of Delphius. They encounter a trainer who teaches Sonic how to stop, Sonia how to spin, and Manic how to do cool tricks with his drum sticks that he will barely use throughout the series. Mostly, it’s an episode that introduces some overarching themes, like Sonic being impulsive and irritable, Sonia being prissy, Manic’s insecurities, the divide between proper girl and stinky boys, and that while the triplets will tease each other constantly, it’s always all for one if someone else comes after them.

…That made it sound much sweeter and better than it actually is.

Dingo… she’s not that pretty, and don’t let Sleet tell you you’re ugly. You’re both 90s villains. I’m sure someone’s made Rule 34 fanart of you.

Oh hahaha Sonia’s so out of touch, thinking there’s a maid and that a mouse is terrible ahahano. GUYS.

Look, I hate Sonia, I do, but I have to give her props that Sonic and Manic don’t. Two hours ago she was a sheltered aristocrat’s daughter, she’s stating her expectations, and when Sonic shuts her down she makes a quick joke and gets on with things. I appreciate the pragmatism. I will give her that.

Look, Sleet, you gave Dingo an instruction and he followed it. Don’t act surprised. (Spoiler warning: He will continue to be surprised.)

Okay, this is a weird thing that the show will play with occasionally. Sonic and Sonia trade off mission-focus tunnel vision all the time. Usually when they want the other one to seem flighty or impatient respectively. But Sonia loses her props for not just getting to the point when their lives are on the line.

And then the boys lose it for being Idiot Boys despite the conversation.

Ah, Sonic Undgeround’s weird timelines. How I’d forgotten them. Side note, I also have trouble with pacing and timelines when writing The Lost Prince, so I probably can’t blame it. But here, they’ve been walking for two days, and Sonia is only NOW asking what Manic did for a living.

(also, notice that even Sonia, sheltered aristocrat that she is, thinks everyone of their age should have a proper job. They are somewhere between the ages of twelve and sixteen, folks! I make way too much of this!)

Gondar. Is certainly not voiced by the same guy as Robotnik, I’m sure.

No one questions why Sonic has super speed. This is not considered to be his ‘hidden talent’. For Reasons.

Manic’s ability to make drum sticks fly around will never be mentioned after this episode, to my memory.

Three days plus however much training time… and Robotnik is only just now figuring out the map they found? Apparently the super genius can’t read.

Ahh, Manic’s insecurity. So very well founded. He’s right, I’d argue – Sonic’s speed and Sonia’s… whatever that spin thing is, they are both so much more powerful than being able to throw sticks. And this isn’t even Sokka in the Last Airbender thing, the sticks are basically useless and will continue to be so. His actual power (SPOILERS) is over the earth, to the point that the whole stick thing is a weird addition from the get-go.

I’ll be honest with you, the monks and the invisible stairs are the only things I ever remember from this episode, because it’s such a weird visual that isn’t important in any way.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Okay, so this is another running theme with the series, where they’re going to say Sonic’s impulsiveness is a huge problem, but the times when it isn’t, he won’t do anything different, it will just be that either Sonia tells him what to do, or he suddenly shows far more battle skill than he does when the impulsiveness is a problem. This is a common thread in Sonic media, actually, and it always kind of annoys me because they never do it well. Everything is always Sonic’s fault, except when it isn’t. Yes, this is why I still haven’t gotten around to watching Sonic Prime.

The SONG: Working Together, in which 60s rock would like their style back, thanks

…Wait, that was it?

Oh, yeah, in a better show this would have been the second third of a long first episode, RIGHT.

Sonic Underground 03: Harmony or Something

The plot (for want of a better word): After having discovered Manic’s power over the earth, the triplets are told Sonic’s friend Trevor is in danger. They abandon their training to rescue him, only to uncover a scheme to hunt down the Oracle of Delphius! The triplets must think quickly and work as a team to save everyone!

Once again, Sonic being cranky disrupts the harmony and causes problems. 90s Sonic was always so cranky…

A bit of world building here again, that you surprisingly are supposed to notice: elementals (of which dragons apparently count) are a thing, and apparently common-place enough that they teach it in school. Now, the way the conversation is phrased, you’re supposed to think Sonic’s stupid for not knowing about it, but Sonia is the only one that does. This is absolutely where I got the idea that she’s the only one of the three that went to school. Which would make sense in context, but I am thinking way too hard about it…

“Control of the earth can set off powers beyond your control”… this will never come up again. Manic, you could have had such an epic character arc of growing arrogance and humility… Instead I have to think too much about it and read into Manic’s insecurity and make him into A Nice Guy and ughhhh I am such a problem.

“I have also learnt that you might have the biggest heart in the world” – this is about Sonic, and while I agree with this characterisation in general, I have not seen it in this series, and certainly neither has Sonia. But we move on.

 Jeez… yeah, Bartleby’s a sleaze and a problem, but again, put a little reality on this situation and he’s actually worth his salt. He ‘walks the fine line’ as per Sonia’s words, and is immediately threatened by the sight of a woman who was his social equal (if not better) having been robbed of her sentience and turned into a slave, and he still does nothing worse than continue to walk the fine line. He’s a jellyfish, but the man’s got integrity.

Dingo, in contrast, is a creep, and Sleet’s insults make like, no sense

Once again, Sonia knows all the things. Hacking, flying jets, this will keep happening… If a skill is needed, Sonia will have it, as a good 90s female. God, I hate her character type.

Manic… seriously, man, mortal peril is not the time to play around, but Sonia, snarking at Sonic during mortal peril is also not appropriate

And the first of Aleena’s guilt tripping holograms! Hooray!

THE SONG: Birds of a Feather… oh, the… the early 90s pop nostalgia… oh ouch… it hurts…

 …I appreciate Sleet’s pragmatism. It never works out for him, but I appreciate it.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Aleena… Oracle… it… I get prophecy, but… you’re RIGHT THERE. Reunite! Save us the next 37 episodes and the unresolved ending! Or at least tell the kids to stop looking until they’re ready. Come on.

The prophecy is obnoxiously vague, by the way. In this episode, it’s… arguably implied that the triplets need to learn to be better before they can be given their rightful place as rulers, but I would argue that in 40 episodes, the show takes absolutely no steps to improve their characters and make them better leaders. And as I said last time, Aleena is implied to have been not great to begin with. So CLEARLY my solution to this whole problem is change the last two minutes of this episode.

But that was the opening movie! Ridiculously too fast-paced for what it was trying to do, terrible animation, amazing world-building, interesting characters, acceptable dialogue. Welcome to the Trashfire that I have loved for half my life.

Come back tomorrow if you want to know more!

[kawaiiblue18]

Family portraits

So Sonic family tree lore has been swimming around my head to point that it’s gone from headcannons to its own somewhat au that ties in Sonic’s many parents and siblings

The full condensed au lore is below the Keep reading

I was gonna draw a portrait of Tails & Sonic as well as Sonic, Shadow, Maria, & Charles but I didn’t like how they looked so yeah

Might attempt to draw them again later idk

I’m very normal about the sonic fandom wdym

🚨GIANT AU LORE PARAGRAPH WARNING🚨

So basically, Jules had a fling with Aleena when they were in their 20s, but Aleena’s parents forbid them from marrying because Jules was not of royal heritage like Aleena was. However, Aleena’s parents never properly reinforced them to separate until Aleena found out that she was pregnant and Jules was banished from the kingdom. Eventually, the triplets are born with Sonic being the spitting image of Jules with Aleena’s green eyes. (As for why Manic is green and Sonia is pink, I’ll just say it runs in Aleena’s family which is why Aleena’s parents are the color they are in the family tree.) Since Charles, Jules’s older brother, still lives within the kingdom, Aleena asks him to help her in raising the triplets which Charles readily accepts. (Robotnik never steals the kingdom from Aleena here so Aleena never gives up her kids.) Charles is the one who gives her the idea to give Sonic his birth name Olgilvie Maurice, named after both of Sonic’s grandfathers. Charles and Aleena co-parent the triplets, Olgilvie spending more time with his ‘Uncle Chuck’ than his siblings. The three siblings find out that they all had a love for music so Aleena crafts them those medallion necklaces. (They don’t have magic powers like they do in Sonic Underground.) But unlike his siblings, Olgilvie is born with an unusually high amount of chaos energy which gifts him the ability to run at super sonic speeds. When he turns 10 years old, he decides he wants to go off and see the world. His family disapproves so Olgilvie tries to run off, but Charles catches him. Charles doesn’t want Olgilvie to leave, but knows he can’t stop him so Charles gives Olgilvie his plane. From then on, Olgilvie introduces himself as his nickname Sonic to anyone he meets. Sonic then stumbles upon a fox kit that he takes under his wing as his adoptive little brother. All of Sonic’s cannon game story lines stay the same. At some point between adventures, Sonic reunites with Jules and Charles. In all that time separated, Jules had fell in love and married Bernadette (he has a thing for purple hedgehogs I guess lmao), essentially making her Sonic’s stepmother. (Jules never gets robotized here.) Jules never gets to meet Sonia or Manic. Continuing the family tree, Sonic falls in love with Shadow and they have kids with their combined high amount of chaos energy. Their first born daughter is named Maria in memory of Shadow’s adopted sister and their second born son is named Charles after Sonic’s uncle. 

Woo boy thats lot. Props to you if you actually read all of that :))) 

[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

[dyslexic-mess]

Litterally nobody asked but I'm really enjoying this SO-

Let's start with the oldest of the three: Marie!

Marie is 19 and very much Sonics daughter in tepriment. She's about as chilled out as a person could get and doesn't seem to be bothered by anything. She's quick-witted and has a strong sense of justice. However, much like shadow, she's also quite guarded. Not in the same way he is, she very rarely frowns, but more in that very few people actually know what's going on with her.

Something she didn't inherit from Sonic was his super speed. You could argue that she's mildly faster than your avridge hedgehog but, for the most part, she's just a really good shot. I do mean scarily good through. Shadow has been training her since she was old enough to hold a gun. Her reflexes are insanely fast and she won't hesitate. Very much a shoot you first, ask questions later kind of person. The freedom fighters learned quickly not to sneak up on her.

Speaking of the freedom fighters, Marie is the only one of her siblings to be actively working with the freedom fighters. Not because the others don't want to, but because she's thus far been the only one to convince shadow she's capable of taking care of herself on a mission. He still doesn't like it, though. She first began trying to work with them at around 16, sneaking out in the middle of the night. She was quickly caught by her parents, of course, and shadow was ready to ground her for life.

Sonic convinced him that if she really wanted to do this, they wouldn't stop her anyway, resulting in shadow hesitantly relenting on the understanding one of sonics siblings, Sonia or Manic, keep an eye on her in the city and not send her on any massively dangerous missions. Preferably at all but at least until she could handle herself.

Marie is also the only one of her siblings to go into the city, at all, with the other two having stayed in the safety of green hills their entire life. As she moves into adult life and comes of age, Marie finds herself spending more and more time in the city. She knows it's dangerous, especially for her, and that her dad's faught so hard to keep her out of it for a reson, but she wants to find her own place and purpose in life.

Why she hasn't moved to the city entirely is a matter of time. Specifically, waiting for Colbolt and Manic to be old enough to manage without her. With Sonic gone and Shadow frequently being called for G.U.N missions (she knows he can't refuse them, but she's still a little sore about it), she's taken a very active role in their lives.

[robotnik-mun]

Some of Sonic Underground’s Good Points

I probably did a post like this aeons ago, but damned if I can find it. Anyway, it’s a pretty well known fact that of all the shows Sonic’s ever had, Underground is easily the least well regarded. 

It’s not difficult to understand why, either. Between a premise that’s incredibly far removed from anyone’s idea of what Sonic is and the weird lack of Tails, even in a world were Underground had top notch writing and animation it was always going to be the red-headed stepchild of the franchise. And sadly, Underground’s writing was usually inconsistent at the best of times, and the jokes made about it’s shoddy animation and weird character designs are the stuff of fandom legend. 

That being said, I do feel that even today the contempt this show receives is a bit much, and while it’s not a great show even on its own merits I don’t think it’s worthless. 

So, I thought I’d mention a few things that I think are actually worthwhile about this show!

Dr. Robotnik’s Premise Is Actually Pretty Interesting

Opening things with Robotnik? Me? It’s more likely than you think!

Alrighty, outdated memes aside, Robotnik’s schtick in this shoe is actually interesting as well as being pretty unique for a show like this. Robotnik, naturally, is the dictator of Mobius as he has been in at least three different pieces of Sonic media by this point. However what makes Underground Robotnik unique is that he functions more like an actual real world dictator- he relies on the support of the nobility to insure his reign, and in return for their support he allows them to basically do whatever so long as they pay their taxes, taxes which explicitly go to building more SwatBots. 

In this regard, this iteration of Robotnik is prehaps the most ‘normal’ of any Eggman/Robotnik out there. He still turns people into robots, sure, but here it is utilized as a punishment for lawbreakers (which you know is pretty broadly applied here) rather than the default fate for anyone unfortunate enough to fall into his grasp. What makes things especially interesting is that one recurring plot point is that Robotnik wants to be the legitimate ruler of Mobius rather than strongarming his way into permanent power. Likewise, multiple episodes bring up the fact he needs to raise money in order to maintain his robot army, in particular ‘Artifact’. It’s actually kind of unique because usually when shows like this have a Supreme Dictator villain, little attention is actually paid to the logistics of how they maintain their power. Underground is unique in that it actually explores how Robotnik’s government actually functions, at least a little, and it’s an interesting detail I feel. 

Sonia and Manic Are Actually Pretty Good 

One of the more controversial aspects of this series was that Sonic has a twin brother and sister this time around, with all three of them being royalty and subjected to prophecy. Just on paper that alone sounds like something so far removed from anyone’s idea of what Sonic is you have to wonder how it was ever conceived. That being said, this isn’t the first series to use the idea of Sonic having siblings- in Japan, the Sonic manga actually gave Sonic (or at least his alter ego, Nicky... long story there) a little sister, and at least one series overview gave Sonic FIVE sisters! As well as being from Nebraska... Sonic is a very weird franchise. 

Alright, point of order! Sonia and Manic, Sonic’s siblings and co-stars. How do they measure up? Honestly... pretty well, all things considered. You’d never guess it, but they’re the recipients of some of the strongest writing in the show. Manic stands out because while he comes out as laid back and more morally lax than his siblings, a recurring element with his character is his desire for a more stable life as well as feeling overshadowed by his brother and sister due to his initial difficulties in mastering his medallion and comparative lack of exception (at least in his mind). Likewise he is the only one to express any kind of cynicism about where they’re going in this conflict, opining how there’s nothing that says they won’t be fighting Robotnik for twenty years without any end in sight. It’s an interesting contrast, given his rougher origins compared to his siblings, having been raised as part of a group of thieves by his foster father. It’s a lot of depth for a guy who sounds stoned out of his mind most of the time. 

And then there’s Sonia! Sonia is remarkable for how much her character develops over the show. Being raised in an upper crust setting and being used to the finer things in life, Sonia initially starts out as someone who has the most trouble adjusting to her new life as a member of the Underground. This, naturally, does a lot to sour people’s perceptions of her given that she comes off as whiny and spoiled... and in fairness, she initially is. Over the course however she grows out of it, gradually shedding her old airs and beginning to take the conflict more and more seriously. It’s a pretty stark contrast to see how she was when the show began and how she is by the end of it, and it is to this show’s credit that she is shown to grow out of her more bratty phase. 

Sonic having siblings might not be to everyone’s taste, and that’s understandable, but under the circumstances? It’s amazing Manic and Sonia actually do as well as they do as characters. 

There Are, In Fact, Pretty Great Episodes

Oh boy if that isn’t damning with faint praise I don’t know what is. But, all the same, it’s true! Yes, most of Underground’s episodes tended to be either unremarkable or outright bad, and that’s kind of unavoidable as the writing tended to vacillate between wanting to be a more serious and story driven show versus something more self-contained, episodic and comedic. In a way it kind of mirrors Archie in that regard. That being said, when this show bothered to make an effort? It could actually give us some pretty good stuff. 

In “Healer” we witness the unique premise of someone promising a cure for Roboticization, and all the troubles that unfurl when this ‘harmless con’ captures the attention of not just Sonic and company, but Robotnik himself. In ‘Bartleby the Prisoner’ we get a look at long standing side character Bartleby finally getting an idea of what Robotnik’s empire is REALLY like for everyone who isn’t a member of the aristocracy when he’s used as a pawn in Robotnik’s latest scheme against the hedgehogs. And in ‘Six is A Crowd’ we are treated to a unique spin on the old ‘Evil Twin’ angle where the Underground is sent to a dimension where Robotnik is the hero and THEY are the villains... only for it to turn out that their ‘evil twins’ are not truly evil, but spoiled and utterly oblivious to just how harmful their actions are to the people of Mobius. 

These are some of the best episodes the series have to offer, and they stand out all the more given the typical level of Underground’s writing. There are others, of course, and a large chunk of them are gonna come up later, but the point is there IS in fact Good Stuff in Underground... even if its relatively few and far between. 

Location, location, location! 

If Underground had one unambiguously, objectively good idea? It was the Camper Van. Sure, calling this thing a ‘van’ is a bit of a stretch when it’s more like a mobile house, but this is easily the best idea that Underground had. Why? Because it allowed Sonic and his siblings to travel all over Mobius, and in doing so it allowed us to travel to multiple locales on the planet. 

This is probably a minor detail compared to the others, and one of the best parts about Underground, I felt, was the fact we got to see our heroes go to so many places and meet so many people all across the planet. One of the big themes of Sonic in general is Sonic just running around and checking places out, and the sheer variety of stages from the Sonic Games help convey this. And in the case of Underground, the Camper Van provides an elegant solution in allowing Sonic and his siblings to travel the world, see the sights, and stick together. I’m being utterly sincere when I say that the Camper Van really is a great idea, because one of the strongest parts of the show was how we actually got to see such a great deal of Mobius while on the show. 

And Then There’s Knuckles

While Underground is pretty infamous for it’s premise and the inclusion of the (usually horrible) song interludes, the one thing that gives it a bit of positive attention is that it includes Knuckles. While it may seem strange to consider now, Knuckles was still fairly new at the time of this show, and as a result this is the only one of the old DiC shows to make use of Knuckles. Which is somewhat ironic, given that this is also the only show to not use Tails... funny how that works out, ain’t it?

And you know what? Knuckles is actually pretty good on this show. Oh sure, his voice isn’t really all that fitting for him, but otherwise Knuckles time on this show is actually pretty stellar. All of the episodes he appears in are among the better episodes on Underground, and his personal arc is actually pretty great to behold. Even after the obligatory ‘gets tricked by the bad guys and gets off on the wrong foot with Sonic’ bit, Knuckles remains wary of directly involving himself in the affairs of the surface due to the fact that his first duty is to the island and the protection of the Chaos Emerald... until circumstances force him into making a difficult choice between his guardianship of the island, his friendship with the hedgehogs, and the greater good of Mobius. 

Knuckles’ appearance is comparatively brief on the show, but its pretty memorable for how much the show is able to fit in for that relatively brief period, and his episodes again are easily among the top tier of the show. 

...on a lesser note, the hints he and Sonia dig each other are just hilarious,  because oh my GOD could you imagine Sonic’s reaction to those two dating? 

Anyway!

This isn’t a post to suggest that Underground is a hidden gem- on the whole, it is in fact a less than stellar show. Multiple aspects of it are poorly done, from the writing to the animation to the character designs. It’s main overreaching arc takes convoluted and sometimes even infuriating steps in order to continue having Aleena play keep away with her kids, and in some cases the more we learn the more questions we wind up having. 

However, as I said, I don’t think this is a value-less show. And I think that it at least deserves some recognition for the things it DID do right, even in the face of all the things it did wrong. 

... if nothing else, the intro is actually pretty bitching as well.

There��s something so, so fitting about the fact the actual best music of this series comes from the intro. 

[livewireprojects]

Sonic Underground Stuff/Ramblings(Lost Prince AU)

It's been a bit since I worked on posts about this, thought I'd post some more.(Link to AU's master post)

So yeah this is about the Sonic Underground version of my version of the Sonic universe. Some stuff is going to be reworked, some stuff might get removed(the Egyptian ancestor episode is getting replaced).

I'm not fully sure what I'm doing but I want to give the characters some character development & bonding moments.

I dunno how to word this but I guess I'll start with Sonic.

Sonic use to be an adventure loving child playing in the woods he & his adopted parents lived in until Robotnik took everything. He became more like Nicky(ironically had no idea who that was when I set this up years ago) thanks to being haunted by losing everything which made being bullied/shunned for being different by kids/people living in the resistance worse.(Luckily he has uncle Chuck & members of the resistance he eventually worked with) By the time Sonic met his siblings he was trying to hide how he actually was by pretending to be confident & at times mimicking Manic's behavior due to not wanting to seem out of place. As time goes on he learns to actually be confident(even if he can still be nervous) & open up more to his siblings as the three grow close & gain each others' trust.

Manic is pretty relaxed & doesn't seem to care but has issues stealing whatever he feels like taking or thinks has value. Manic also trusts people even less than Sonic does who wants to trust but struggles due to the past. Manic is also slightly bitter due to Sonia's background living with the rich. Manic while still a gremlin goes on to learn to trust his siblings & learn you shouldn't steal everything especially after an incident with a music box necklace. Manic manages to be someone his siblings can lean on to talk to with Sonia talking to him when worried or needing advice & Manic noticing issues Sonic struggled with & sneakily helped him out.

Sonia is smart, confident & often serious however she's sheltered due to living with the rich & being spoiled. Manic is street smart & read people at points, Sonic knows his way around stuff thanks to working with the resistance & living in the woods, Sonia is book smart but doesn't exactly have experience leading. Luckily Sonia has a little experience in combat thanks to some of the classes she took & sometimes getting practice when she use to sneak out with friends. Sonia learns to be more careful with who she trusts & has learned how to be a better leader thanks to experience. When possible she uses her aristocrat status to help her siblings & sometimes whatever team they're working with if needed. While she doesn't enjoy getting dirty still she's learned to deal with it when she has to but also see that somethings that cause her to get dirty can be fun sometimes.

Here's the triplets when they unite at the start of the Sonic Underground. Admittedly I kind of gave them outfits they had as kids but I want to keep the Sonia's outfit(and my designs for later) from the actual show for time has changed over time like they eventually get them.(Admittedly I also messed up young they look, they're like 13) Sonic's bangs are weird cause Sonia had to fix them after he cut them, he also lost his glasses(the broke) & was too nervous to tell his siblings until they started to trust each other more.

I plan to turn the music gimmick into a family thing so instead of the triplets just randomly getting these are amulets each member of their mom's family has.

Also want to mention that in this Manic's real name is Maurice & Sonic's real name is Arthur.(Outside of the AU Maurice is Sonic's name though that depends on what's going on so Nicky might be used too) This is based off a fanfic called Sonadow Alliance, also kind of helps as who names their kid Manic(I'm aware people have odd names in this franchise) & I know in some stuff it's implied Sonic isn't Sonic's name.(Sonia is the only one with a normal name)

I'm also saying the events of Sonic Underground happened on Christmas Island since in the past that was Sonic's birth place so may as well shoe horn it in some how. That place is also has the biggest population of weremobians so wonder what the triplets will find.

Here's the preview images of Sonic to show how time passes

Left to right

Sonic during the events of Sonic Underground(Lost Prince AU ver), timid & unsure about how life is going thanks to Robotnik's actions

Sonic during a time skip & near the end of Sonic Underground, more confident & more comfortable with stuff now

Modern Sonic who is picking up the pieces of his scattered memories

[artsartblog]

I’m back in the fucking building again/ref

But yeah, I’m here to present more of my art to tumblr. Enjoy!

These first couple of pieces are of my Hazbin Hotel oc Esme. She is, as stated in the art, a fallen angel. She has a massive crush on Lucifer; one so large that she literally fell from heaven for him lol. I’m joking, but she did get kicked out of heaven because of Lucifer. Not that it’s really his fault. Heaven just wasn’t the same without him. Plus, she was all for his ideas, so it wasn’t long after Hell was made that she ended up there. Throughout all of season 1 she wears a demon disguise because she’s not keen on being known as an angel in Hell. Especially since she’s been living like an Overlord ever since she got back on her feet. She spent some time under Lucifer and Lilith’s protection after her fall, healing from the loss of her wings (which eventually grew back). The first drawing is my initial drawings of Esme to get her design down. The one after it is just some random doodles I made of her. Including her fallen angel form (the one of her punching Adam). (Small side note: In creating Esme, I had the idea of her being sort of like Cupid and the Fates. She is the one who started connecting people with strings. Who is meant to be she knows, not just romantically, and she can see the strings that bind them, especially when those binds are going to change. Each bond having their own specific colors.)

These next pieces are some refs I’ve made for Esme. The first one is her demon form during season 1 and the second one is her embracing her (human) angel form going into season 2. (Note: I say human angel form because it’s still technically her angel form, just not her full angel form that includes all the eyes). The third ref is just Esme in a new outfit that she gets in season 2 to further embrace her true self.

This next one is just a "What if?" scenario that I wanted to draw out. It's basically just "What if Esme owned Vox's soul?". It's not canon to Esme's lore, but I do keep thinking about how fun it'd be to make it canon lol.

Moving on from the Hazbin Hotel fandom onto the Sonic fandom, I present to you a collage of Cherry drawings. They're just various prompts that my friends and I were coming up with since we have our own little AU in our server. A little context for Swap Cherry, it’s just Cherry having swapped outfits with Amy nothing else.

This next one is just a fun idea I wanted to do since tumblr has been showing so many Sonic fankids, so I caved in and made some fankids myself.

Dawn is the oldest and she looks the most like Cherry and Shadow. (She is the only one to truly be canon in the AU I’m doing with some friends, but this is an offshoot AU of that sorta.) Fern is the middle child and he looks more like Sonic and Cherry. Aurora is the youngest, but takes after all three of her parents. However, the three are actually triplets so they’re all actually the same age lol. Dawn and Fern are the “speedsters” out of the three, but really only Fern is fast on his feet. Dawn’s super speed kicks in when she flies instead of running. Aurora is fast when she runs and flies, but not like her siblings. Her strength lies in her plant powers and chaos powers. She is a lot more connected to the chaos energy that runs through her (as well as the alien dna) than her siblings. Though Fern has less of a connection to those than his siblings, taking after Sonic’s genes more than Shadow’s genes or Cherry’s genes.

More info on them to come (aka gotta think more about them) Also, a side note, in my Triplet Kids AU Sonia and Manic do exist ^w^

That’s all for this post folks. I was going to include my pride art piece, but I’ll make a separate post for that. If you enjoyed be sure to show the love and don’t be afraid to reblog this! If you have any questions or just want to hear me ramble about my ocs feel free to drop a little ask in the ask box!

As always, have a wonderful day and remember to always stay creative!!!!!

[viacursecasting]

What do you think would happen if Lancelot ended up going with sonic to his world? You know for example:

(1) how would he react to seeing sonic battle Eggman?

(2) would Lancelot become protective of sonic despite the fact that sonic has been battling Eggman since he was a little kid?

(3) how would Lancelot react to meeting Amy and his counterpart from Sonic’s world only For Amy to tackle hug Sonic and try to kiss him?

And my personal favorite question…

(4) what would Lancelot do and say The second he got to meet sonic parents? depending on which version of sonic this would be of course. (doughnut lord and pretzel lady, Bernadette and Jules or queen Elena and Sonic’s siblings Sonja in Manic)

I know I’m asking like four questions here but I am genuinely curious as to how these four scenarios would play out if Lancelot ended up going to sonics world with him.

1. Lancelot, while he may find Sonic's methods without a sword or armor reckless, would ultimately be impressed, given he can fight without a weapon.

2. Yes. Lancelot would instinctively come to Sonic's aid, as it's his duty as a knight, and may even talk him out of fighting, claiming it's too dangerous. But Lancelot would soon come to realize that Sonic can take care of himself and fight by his side.

3. Lancelot would mistake Amy for Nimue and treat her as such. I think he would even excuse her behavior ("She's the Lady of the Lake; she must know what's best"). But I don't think she would act so forward anymore, based on some IDW and Boom moments. I think she's matured and grown to learn Sonic's boundaries.

This might sound boring but I also don't think Lancelot would be explicitly jealous. He might feel it somewhat but ultimately knows that Sonic is "king" (as in people view him highly), so Lancelot would understand that Sonic is loved by all.

Meeting Shadow would be a whole ordeal... I don't think it would go well as Lancelot would view Shadow as an imposter (a faker, if you will) and he would find it disrespectful for someone to impersonate himself, the most trusted knight of King Arthur.

4. I can't picture Lancelot ever meeting Movie Sonic as that universe is too "happy" and SatBK has some dark themes. I also don't read Archie.

Since I'm familiar with Underground, Lancelot would, of course, treat Sonic's siblings with respect. However, he might not agree with Manic's ways, given that thievery isn't exactly noble. I do see him listening to Sonia play the harpsichord though, since it reminds him of his time at the castle, of home.

I do think it would be interesting to see him meet Queen Aleena, just because that would fall in line with how Lancelot views Sonic like royalty, and the whole prince thing would magnify it.

Hope that answers your questions, and thank you for asking! 💕

[tobiasdrake]

Rating Danganronpa 2 Characters on the Fight Me, Bruh Scale

And now for the other chart. Following up on this one I made for DR1, let's see how DR2's characters measure up on a scale of how confident I am that I could beat them in a fight. Starting from most to least confident.

Teruteru Hanamura He stops fighting to make a sensual comment about how sexy my foot is as I'm punting him across the room. I win the fight easily but I feel gross about it for the rest of the day, so who really won here?

Kazuichi Soda Kazuichi doesn't have a fighter's instinct in him. He's going to flinch away from the first punch I throw and that will be the end of the fight. Unless Sonia's nearby. Then he's going to do something incredibly stupid to try and impress her, and give me plenty of openings. Either way, Kazuichi goes down like a chump. He's better with a wrench than a punch.

Hiyoko Saionji Hiyoko is all bark, no bite. Like all bullies, she's forced to pick on people weaker than her. Her favorite hobby is stomping on bugs because they can't fight back. Even taking into account that we're talking full-grown Hiyoko and not Simulation Hiyoko, I don't imagine her putting up much of a fight.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu I feel pretty good about my chances of punting this little shrimp so long as he's not carrying a knife on him. But he's yakuza. He's definitely carrying a knife on him. Also his bodyguard would dice me before I got within ten feet of him. I can win this fight only under very controlled circumstances.

Chiaki Nanami She seems harmless but I'm about 50% certain that she can perform the Satsui No Hado if I piss her off so it's probably best I don't take my chances. Plus she's an emotional therapybot so it's more likely that we wind up exploring the deep-seated emotional trauma pushing me to fight than actually fighting.

Mikan Tsumiki Mikan's more dangerous than you might think. She has a strong understanding of anatomy which means she knows exactly what nerves to sever and might have a knife on her for self-defense. However, she's just as likely to trip and accidentally fall into a compromising position, abruptly ending the fight in a fit of embarrassing uncomfortableness. So, yes, I think my best chance of winning this fight is an embarrassing anime pratfall.

Ultimate Imposter A lot is going to depend on who he's impersonating but you know this cheeky bastard's going to show up to the fight as me, right? But I'm a narcissist so I don't know if I can beat up me. I might wind up holding back reflexively, and that's going to give him all kinds of openings.

Hajime Hinata Assuming he's not rocking his Izuru Kamukura powers, you might think Hajime's a pushover like the aggressively non-violent Makoto. You'd be mistaken. According to Nekomaru, he's got the spirit of a rugby player in him. His training regimen consists of 500 laps around the island, 1,000 push-ups, 1,000 situps, and a 36 mile swim - with Nekomaru's sensual massages to keep him going.

He may not look it, but Hajime's got the footwork and the power of an incredible pro athlete, and he will mess me up.

Sonia Nevermind Like Mikan, she looks harmless but you are a fool to mistake her for it. Sonia has undergone extensive military training which means she's an expert in CQC. I don't think she carries a knife on her, but she is on good terms with the Four Dark Devas of Destruction so there's a non-zero chance I wind up having my ears chewed off by hamsters while she kindly prepares tea.

Ibuki Mioda She has no clearly defined characteristics as a fighter but she's manic and unpredictable. Her natural default state is "Just downed six energy drinks and now I'm so wired that I can see time". She's three punches ahead before I even know what the fuck just came out of her mouth. There's no coming out on top of this.

Nekomaru Nidai Physically the strongest fighter on the island, Nekomaru is the Sakura Ogami of DR2. Tougher fighters than me have tried and failed.

Akane Owari Speaking of which. This might be a surprising placement, ranking Akane above Nekomaru. But I have my reasons for that. Nekomaru is demonstrably a stronger fighter than Akane, but as long as this isn't a deathmatch, he's got a sense of sportsmanship about it. He's going to try and bring out the best in me, and he may hold back to attempt to tutor me. He might give me openings that could let me gain the upper hand from time to time.

Akane isn't trying to push me to excel. She's fighting to win. She's going balls to the wall from the word go, and she will eviscerate me.

Peko Pekoyama Are you joking? Are you actually joking right now? Literally her Talent, the thing Hope's Peak accredited her for, is how good she is at killing suckers like me with a deadly weapon? Hahaha nope. Hahaha. Hahahahahahaha.

Gundham Tanaka It would be humiliating to lose a fight to this dork. What, he's going to leave me writhing on the ground from a thousand furry hamster bites while the Supreme Overlord of Ice delivers his D&D nerd speech? Yes. Yes, he is. That is exactly what is going to happen, and my pride as a fighter will never recover.

Nagito Komaeda "Nagito's going to be an easy fight because he'll lose on purpose." No, you fool! You misunderstand the nature of Nagito. A far more dangerous man than anyone realizes, especially himself. Nagito will try to throw the fight. And he will fail. I don't want to find out what that looks like from my perspective.

Mahiru Koizumi There is not actually a way to throw a punch at Mahiru without coming across like a violent bastard beating up a defenseless young woman. A fact that she will point out the moment the fight begins, successfully shaming me into putting down my fists and walking away. This is not her fight to win; Only mine to lose, and lose it I do from the moment I even try to start one.

[dragbunart]

Some REALLY messy Concepts for some stuff I plan for Super Sonic Sound (Maybe I'll save up money to hire some voice actors and a few animators to do a few animations for it)

Super Sonic Sound is a silly little AU that's been rattling around my head for the better part of 2 months (or more)

I've mentioned each character has their own stuff their going through and how i want to pull from many sources of canon, the main ones being the game, Underground, and IDW comics (But as you'll see with Tania I will pull from all avenues as I see fit)

Sonic, Tania, Manic, and Sonia are separated at birth (for their safety) and don't meet up till the 'Classic' Era. So about 9, 10, or 11.

Sonic lives with his Uncle Chuck, who runs a Chilli dog truck that they travel from town to town. Never really staying in one place for multiple reasons.

Manic was SUPPOSED to live with a well-off family, but it was picked up by a thief who discovers he's not a package of valuables later but keeps him anyways because they like kids. This is how Manic ends up with Rouge as an Older sister.

Sonia is left at Acorn Castle and is Raised as Sally's childhood friend and Lady-in-Waiting. Honestly, they're raised more like sisters than Anything and Sonia's the only one who has an inkling she may be royal herself, with her photographic memory, and King Acorn mentioning Mobotropilis, glancing at her then deflecting. She also heard stories about how the Queen ran away with any heir to the thrown. Plus the adults are insistent she sit in on any of Sally's classes that have to do with ruling. (because as far as they know, Sonia's the only survivor of that royal family)

Tania is left at Vanilla and Cream's house (obviously before Cream is born). Taken in immediately as Vanilla's First daughter. Vanilla's family had relocated to the Acorn Kingdom from Mobotropilis (I may change its name in Super Sonic Sound) after the attack (as I Imagine Aleen didn't IMMDIOTLY separate her kids, she needed to make sure all the homes she planned on sending them to, were safe). Tania never really asks about her birth family because she's given so much love by Vanilla and later Cream.

This all comes to a head in the 'Classic' Era.

The Acorn Royal family is holding a huge festival/ball thing where any of the citizens can enter the Palace.

Tania obviously attends with Vanilla and Cream.

Sonia LIVES in the Palace so... Duh

Manic and Rouge decide its the perfect night for a heist on the palace.

While Sonic and his Uncle Chuck return to the town because it will be GREAT for business.

During the festivities, Sonic's running around delivering orders, when he runs (literally) into Tania, who claims to have seen two shady-looking individuals leave the main party. It's enough cause for concern that they talk to a Gaurd (a certain De'coolete or however you spell that name), Who dismisses them quickly, but Sonia overheard them. She tells Sally and Nichole she'll return shortly and escorts SOnic and Tania through the palace to where they keep the Kingdom's family jewels on display for plot reasons.

Manic hears them coming and rushes Rouge out, planning on taking the blame if he can't get out fast enough.

Obviously he can't so Rouge has to watch through the window as her adoptive brother is accused of trying to steal.

They don't get much time to argue about it because there's a large explosion from the ballroom.

Robots are attempting to capture everyone in sight, going for adults first. Sonic's quick to kick into action and start's smashing bots, while Tania begins to evacuate people out of the palace. Sonia orders Antoine to get Sally out of there while she creates a distraction, and he complies. Manic's a thief, not heartless, so he begins to aid the other's efforts where he can, taking out a bot or two here, and getting nearby civilians out.

Eggman (or whatever evil, but probably the Doc himself) shows up... Well he has a proxy of some sort he can be visible on and see through. because He recognizes Sonic's attack patterns as the thing thats been randomly smashing his bases and bots.

When he see's the four hedgehogs he's livid.

Straight up calling them 'Aleena's brats' and ordering their execution then and there to stop some prophecy. The attacks on the now disperse guests stop and the bots begin to focus on the hedgehogs. Sonic kind panics and grabs the other three, seeing the attacks focused on them.

He rushes them into Chuck's truck, and begins to speed off, shortly after realizing his Uncle has probably been captured (as he wouldn't have left the stove on or keys on the ground). He wants to go back to save him but right now it's live or death.

Tania navigates them to Vanilla's house, where the rabbit had already started packing, having been told by her husband if this were to happen to run into the forest.

Tania asks who 'Aleena' was and Vanilla is silent, but Sonia's not. Informing them of Mobotropilis and the unknown fate that befell the royal family.

Vanilla opens up. Her husband had belonged to the royal guard and shortly after the Queen's children were born there was a prophecy that a great tyrant would appear but those to which the throne truly belongs would stop it, freeing everyone caught in his grasp. She also admits while her husband never confirmed it before his death, she always had a feeling Tania wasn't just some orphaned girl left on her doorstep.

Vanilla also reveals that their instrument charms were some ancient royal relic, and she didn't know the specifics.

Sonia reveals she had been having suspicions for years, but this confirmed it, and seeing as Robotnik referred to ALL of them as Aleena's brats, the four were probably siblings.

Manic is quiet but asks if there's anything more to that prophecy. But Vanilla says she doesn't know.

Cream asks what are they gonna do next? Are they going to come with her and her mother into the forest or... Sonic admits he's going to take down Eggman no matter what, and the others are welcome to join him. Manic and Sonia say they need time to think, while Tania immediately joins.

She doesn't want Cream to have to run forever, so the sooner Eggman is handled the sooner her sister can have a stable home life.

Sonia meets Sally outside the palace where Sally reveals the castle has been taken over, so she's evacuating her people into the forest. Sonia explains the situation on her end and Nichole encourages Sonia to go, she's obviously needed with her siblings. Sonia gives her tearful goodbyes and promises to be in touch as much as possible.

Meanwhile Manic met up with Rouge, who had been trailing him. It's... a Hard chat about doing the right thing. Rouge understands Manic could get all the answers he's wanted about who his family is and was, but she could lose her brother, her partner in crime in the process. Manic jokes how the rewards for taking down someone like Robotnik could be nice, and he'll make sure Rouge has a fancy, high-paying title if it turns out he is some fancy prince.

Rouge doesn't want him to go, afraid he'll like his biological family better but lets him go regardless. He needed her to.

She decides to become a treasure hunter in the meantime, get their funds up just in case things went south.

Tania promises to come check on Cream and Vanilla when she can To write them.

The four load into the Chilidog truck and leave the city.

Sonic lets them know he's been fighting Eggman for a bit, and the truck has been a great cover, but he'll need to teach them the family business.

Within the first few towns, they find a rhyme. Tania's a great waitress, zooming around on her skates. Sonic is their speedy delivery man. Sonia is a great Cashier, friendly and cheerful. And Manik is killer in the kitchen.

Eventually Manic realizes the truck has a few hidden functions, discovering that it can convert from a kitchen to a living quarters, to a stage.

It's about this time that they try experimenting with their relics. Manic absentmindedly using them to air drum when a set of drums magically appears in front of him. Tania and Sonic both have picks, Sonic just tended to use his on an actual guitar. But After seeing what happened with Manic Tania tries to air bass. Sure enough a bass appears.

Sonia doesn't understand her's as much, since it's not like a pick, or drumsticks, hers just seems to be a keyboard pattern. Sonic asks if she knows Paino and Sonia's insulted he asks and shows him by showing him the position of her fingers for a song.

And like magic a keytaur appears. They realize that it's actually very easy to vibe together like this. Music becomes their bonding activity. Though they don't form a band JUST yet.

And that's all I got for these concepts. I'll probably go over more some other time. But this would be how the story starts. probably over the course of a few episodes if I were to animate it

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground episode 24: Mummy Dearest

I’m watching Sonic Underground in search of inspiration to finish a fic I’ve been writing forever. It’s a sad state of affairs. See the recap of the first three episodes here, if you're interested!

The plot (for want of a better word): One of Sonic’s ancestors was a prophet that predicted the rise and fall of Robotnik! Can the Sonic Underground find the scroll of prophecy and find out how to defeat Robotnik?

Is anyone getting the feeling someone in the writer’s room went to the middle east in this period of the series, or is it just me?

We begin with Sonia showing the boys a toy Cyrus gave her, called an ‘Intelliputer’ and after the whole zombie virus thing Cyrus cooked up last time I am immediately anxious.

It’s a surveillance laptop, basically, with very limited capabilities. Robotnik’s talking about some kind of expedition and finding Aleena, but walks out of frame before they can get actual details. HOWEVER

Also in the control room is an old book with a symbol on it that Sonia recognises as the Royal Hedgehog Crest. So apparently they need the book.

To do this, Sonic brings another new toy from Cyrus: very light SWATbot disguises. They use them to sneak into Robotnik’s headquarters and with toys like this I really have to wonder how the Resistance hasn’t just snuck in and shanked Robotnik in his sleep, I really do.

I know that’s not how kids shows work, don’t @ me.

They get in and would get the book easy does it, except Robotnik himself shows up halfway through the heist and even then, Sonic’s smooth talking (inside a robot disguise) would get them out except that Manic trips and breaks his disguise.

I question Cyrus’s engineering that it broke that easily.

Sonic just BARELY gets them out before the place goes into lockdown. This moment almost has tension to it!

Anyway, the book shows them the scroll of ‘Amun-Rappi’, which is… just… yep. Yep.

Okay, so let’s pause for a second to tell you why this plot point has always made me sigh a lot. Amun-Rappi is an ancestor to the royal family, and a prophet. To the point that he supposedly wrote out a step-by-step guide about how to overthrow Robotnik. They take him very seriously. AND YET no one saw Robotnik coming. No one has followed these steps. And this whole episode will ultimately have no plot relevance. In addition, Amun-Rappi is some weird… like, he looks like a fictionalised pharaoh, but in universe he is treated more like Cassandra of Greek myth. Which is, you know, whatever. The whole Mobius thing is a weird mish-mash of Roman globalisation nonsense so we deal. It’s just… I give SO MANY SIDE-EYES to the royal family for letting Robotnik into the kingdom with this in their history. This episode has stuck with me to the point that it’s kind of how I built up the entire Hedgehog royal family lineage from this one guy as a priest to the not!Egyptian King, whose descendents immigrated to the central kingdom before the Mobian wars that were mentioned in a past episode, but that IS SO MUCH HEADCANON NONSENSE and if I don’t do it, it just makes things messy.

THIS SERIES IS A MESS.

Anyway.

…Sonic is using Manic’s voice this time. Cool. Jaleel, I really think we need to re-record – no, no, you’re right, timing, move on.

The van (including the Sonic Underground) gets eaten by a Dune Worm. Robotnik and Sleet celebrate, while Dingo mourns Sonia. The audience is less concerned, because anyone who saw Pinocchio knows how this goes.

Sonia, who is the one carrying the braincell this episode, decides the best way out of this situation is to force the sandworm’s mouth open a bit (what) to let sand in (WHAT) until it surfaces (…kay) and spits the sand and them out (…uh huh). I mean, there’s logic to it. Not sure it’s my kind of logic, but we roll.

It lets them out in front of the pyramid and… as someone who replayed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey last year, I gotta say… this black, vaguely metallic pyramid… Issu artefact much?

Anyway. They get in through the secret entrance marked by the Royal H (the Hedgehog Crest. Yes, they call it the Royal H), only to immediately get frozen by magic by a… vaguely Jafar looking guy, who is there to protect Amun-Rappi's tomb.

But he recognises the royal hedgehog medallions, so apparently the necklaces have been things in the royal (which Amun-Rappi is not otherwise implied to be, yet) family for centuries.

Sleet and Dingo have been muddling through the other entrances, but catch up just as the guardian is showing the triplets to the main chamber. Remarkably, Sleet actually catches them with some sticky… stuff. But it’s for nothing, because Sonic ultimately breaks free with a superspin and takes the sticky gun thingy off them. The only thing this actually does is let the triplets know a SWATbot patrol is coming after them, so they have to take a shortcut to the burial chamber through two ‘chambers of death’. As you do.

So called, I guess, because there’s no way to disarm the traps without someone risking certain death first, I guess. But that’s what Sonic’s whole deal is, so he overcomes fire and water with only a few jokes and singeing and all is well.

Amun-Rappi was buried in splendour and with guardian souls but with very few treasures, gotta say. But said guardian souls take one look at Sonic, who is the spitting image of his ancestor, and back off. I dunno, I guess they needed to fill twenty additional seconds of the episode or something.

Amun-Rappi appears as a ghost, and demands a song in payment for the scroll, because of course he does.

THE SONG: We are Sonic Underground. Some… weird 90s rap thing that is directly referencing the plot for once and we just… yep. It is what it is.

Amun-Rappi curses Robotnik’s forces with his ‘Curse of Immobility’ while the triplets get away with his scroll of prophecy. But it’s all for nothing, because as soon as they remove it from the glass casing, it falls apart, as parchment is wont to do.

So that was an episode. I make way too much of it for world building purposes. I really shouldn’t, but egh.

Come back tomorrow if you’re interested?

[zippityzap]

In the original Sonic underground, Sonic had his speed, Sonia had the ability to turn into a tornado and Manic had his hoverboard.

Will Sonia and Manic keep these traits in the comic?

Manic will still have his hoverboard, and Sonia will have her motorbike, however Sonia will not have her tornado attack. No real reason other than I just didnt really vibe with it

Instead, I’ll be emphasising another ability of her’s. Ever notice how in the original show she was like, really strong? Girl could toss a Swatbot like it was made of cardboard.

It was never really brought to attention in the show but I want to highlight it more. A very small example of it already is when she restrains Sonic from running to save Chuck, most people wouldn’t be able to do that easily

[aquillis-main]

Nice redesigns of the underground triplets 😍

Thing is, I have shown off these designs of them in the past! You can look at them here and here, as well as a more 'modern' approach To Sonia and Manic, where I give them more variety in their style without making the Pack AU the way it is today.

A more traditional style for Manic and Sonia, if they were adapted for the Modern Era of Sonic: Basic sketch Christmas Time Title Screen Redo With Digimon for an AU I never bothered to work on, Whoops. XD

Basically, I like drawing these guys when I want comfort. They're the Bolboros that I have. Unlike most people, however, I tend to not take their personality away to make them 'better'. They're better when I don't do that.

[belovedblossoms-m]

How do I get into sonic ? I liked it a lot as a kid but have no clue where to start lore wise. I also don’t have the money or time to play through all the games, so how would you recommend getting into it ?

SO! I have a feeling I know who this may be since I had a friend that asked me this before. But I will still help anon! It's a variety of ways to get into it: playing the original S.onic the Hedgehog game and going up, watching S.onic X or the other cartoons, watching gameplays and/or cutscenes on YouTube for the games.

Getting into the lore...the S.onic lore is kinda all over the place tbh ^^; BUT, the best way to start in my opinion is with S.onic Adventure 1 (Also known as S.onic Adventure DX) if you plan to play that. It basically begins with some main story and lore of the Sonic universe and it's pretty fun! You can either watch it or play it. Or STH2 and S.onic & Knuckles 3 are good in starting the classics to get some basics of story but there isn't a lot into it, they're introductions to Tails and Knuckles pretty much but there’s no dialogue so isn’t really entertaining to just watch.

In fact, most S.onic games do go on sale for a variety of platforms so I recommend checking what games are available for your favorite console or PC. Steam always has sales going on so most often it would be the classics, either Adventure games or the latest (Mania, Origins, Generations, Colors, Team S.onic Racing, Forces). Unfortunately some games are also pretty exclusive to the consoles they came out years ago (for example Heroes and Shadow the hedgehog are only on PS2/Xbox/Gamecube and S.onic and the Secret Rings/Black Knight is only for Wii).  But, even using an emulator can work too if you have a PC capable for running it and know how to work that out to download them for free in some sites.

But when you don't have the time or money to play the games, it's the beauty of cutscene complications on Youtube! There's already a lot out there to just sit back, relax and watch the game movie play! You can type whatever you like to watch and the scenes of the game or gameplay itself along with the plot are in it. So, I want to say watch SA1 first and see how you like it, then move onto SA2 and beyond. It's just that the modern Sonic games have more story and dialogue than what the classics have when there is none at all, they are very short and no dialogue but clear what was happening. Like Knuckles attacking Sonic and taking the Chaos Emeralds before running away or Amy following Sonic and crushing on him around before Metal Sonic kidnaps her in Sonic CD.

Now, for the cartoons. Sonic X is an anime that gives a twist to him and his friends being teleported to Earth while also having references from games like SA1 and SA2 in there, so you would appreciate it more if you played/watched those games. But I can't say it's directly to the main lore. Adventures of Sonic the hedgehog is really a silly cartoon to watch casually. Sonic SatAM is a blend of serious/adventure/silly so following him defeating Robotnik and others are more from the COMIC lore. Sonic Underground is also a completely different story/universe that follows him and his brother (Manic) and sister (Sonia) defeating Robotnik’s plans and finding their queen mother.

As for the comics if you may be thinking about trying, I DON'T recommend starting on that unless you really like or are getting deep into Sonic. That's a whole can of worms on its own but the new IDW Sonic is the way to go if you wanna read that. The old Archie Sonic is...quite a unique mess--but an interesting mess. If you’re THAT curious, watch THIS and determine how you feel lol.

Overall, it’s up to you however you’d like to dive into the Sonic media, but I would recommend just watching the cutscenes/game movie of some of the games that peak your interest first like Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2, etc BEFORE you decide if you'd like to purchase any of the games and determine if it's worth it to you. I also want you to look up the main games timeline of the games so you don't mix up when they have been released just in case to avoid confusion if they reference something you may not know. Here’s a simplified video about it.

What actually started for me getting into Sonic was just watching an episode of Sonic X out of boredom when I wake up on Saturday mornings to watch 4kids for like Winx Club, Bratz, or Magical Doremi. And I. Got. HOOKED. I was determined to wake up and watch a new episode be it in order or not. And after that, I got into looking at the games for PS2 since it was my only and first console to own. I got Sonic Mega Collection Plus but REALLY wanted Sonic Heroes and things went up from there. 

Hope this all helps, anon! 💙