#The same cannot be said Sonic 2.

[painting-warhammer]

C’Tan Shard of the Deceiver in the style of Sonichu (CWC)

I lied. This is my favorite figure. Commentary under cut.

#1: Rule Number One Is That You Gotta Have Fun

The other two figures I painted had ups and downs--days genuinely ruined and many frustrated moments where I just hated everything about this hobby and everything I was making. I'm sure this is no strange feeling to any artist, but since I kinda gave up on art over a decade ago only to pick this up after that decade, it really felt like that heartbreaking moment of making something that you know was bad and not improving fast enough.

I never had that for one second while painting Sonichu. I honestly giggled to myself a lot when I worked on him. When something fucked up (note how I didn't make as good of a glowing effect on the eyes) I just took that as "Well, that's just me being accurate to the original art." When something went well, I learned something that I would be able to apply in the future. If you look closely at the quills and the chest, you'll see that this was the first time I tried edge highlighting to get more of a good lighting effect. On top of that, I just used Baharroth Blue without a base paint, but rather as a base paint that I later darkened with a Tyran Blue shade wash for the creases in the sash. I did the same for the skin near on his abs and arms. (I should have made them blue. Damn.)

I also didn't get so bogged down in being accurate to the inspiration, or became better at knowing what to pick and choose. For example: Sonichu doesn't have a sash, of course. Instead, I decided to go with the color of the banner in Issue #0.

There was a point I briefly considered learning how to actually make a decal, then taking the title to be plastered on the front of the model, but I decided against it. I even considered some yellow streaks to give him a bit of a glow, but if you look at the base you'll see some of the experimental wetblending I tried (and would hypothetically cover later) and it just didn't look good.

Also the feet. Sonichu does have a distinct color for his shoes, but I just shrugged and figured it was more correct to just keep it in line with his hands on the model. I made the hands in the hideous style of the Bad Trailer Sonic, and figured the feet would probably follow the same principle. Besides, the sash had enough blue as it is.

#2: Rule Number Two - Just Don't Get Attached, Too

I said I had fun at all stages painting Sonic'hu, and I meant that. The painting part, that is. Gluing was a disaster.

If you're new to the hobby, understand this: Older models, things from the 90's or earlier, are produced using a plastic resin. It's very light gray (left) while the newer stuff has a dark gray tint and is made with a different kind of plastic.

Now Citadel sells ONE (1) glue, pictured to the left. It's a very good glue for the DARK GRAY plastic. It looks like this. Some people use the one on the right, but the listing on Amazon is apparently sketchy as hell and comes empty because they can scam you out of your money since you can't return or refund liquids. So I never fw it; if I encounter it in a hardware store or hobby shop, I'll pick it up and give it a shot.

This is all to ultimately say that in spite of Citadel selling only ONE KIND OF GLUE, that ONE GLUE cannot hold light gray resin figures together AT ALL.

I don't have pictures, but God was it frustrating. Sonic'hu would CONSTANTLY fall apart while drying. I would be holding his arm in place; the head would fall off. His spines would fall off. He'd flop over on his base. Even after priming him, his arm fell off again, and you can see his face is a mess of when my fingers were just covered and glue and I was just holding him in place frustratedly. I tried like three different glues (not including Tamiya, but Krazy Glue was one) and I don't remember which one worked.

However, whether Tamiya works or not, I actually did have to go back to resin on a different figure recently. I went through my old man's drawer and found this.

It's unreal how good this is. Put this on resin, and the plastic itself comes apart easier than the glue does. It also works okay on the dark gray figures, but I've had the odd part come undone and I went back to the Citadel Glue.

Fair warning though--I'm praising this version of Loctite specifically. There are a few varieties, and I can't say much as far as their quality, but I read online that the ones with an extra long cap tend to dry out and be unopenable later. This Gel Control version doesn't give me any problems like that, though.

#3: Rule Number Three - Wear Your Heart On Your Cheek

My only regret is not going harder with this.

There were some gemstones at the bottom of this model and I literally don't remember what happened to them. I was going to paint them like Chaos Emeralds, originally. Then I saw a paint job of the model that had stones encircling the C'tan Shard like he was making them rise up Dragonball style, and the thought came to mind to get little Chaos Emerald replicas to look as though they were orbiting him. (Unfortunately, Etsy pretty much only had them in a set size, and though Sonic'hu was the largest figure I'd worked on, he was too small to have those orbiting around him.)

I also wanted to learn how to model with Green Stuff using this model; there was a point where I considered making the actual sneakers, but more importantly the Pikachu ears and the one additional spine to bring it up to six total. I didn't not want to do that when I bought it, actually, but after the glue had settled after so much effort I was utterly sick of the prep phase and just went straight to painting.

There's also a little Necron that is at the base of the C'Tan that I also haven't painted, but the reason for that is that I am considering how to do the CWC's "The Classic" shirt on his rib cage. I keep waiting for the inspiration to strike.

So that's Sonic'hu. Honestly, having a shitpost figure was something that helped me be a little less afraid of failure and take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. I would resume tryharding by the next figure, and ultimately paint, in my opinion, my best figure yet.

[fernsnailz]

January 2024 Review Roundup

hello everypony‼️ something i want to do through 2024 is a mini review series where i recap some of the media i watched/played/read at the end of every month. this was inspired by tumblr user ponett’s 2023 media wrap-up, it's a great collection of quick reviews so go check it out!

i’m doing this partially as writing/analysis practice, but mostly because my memory is really bad and i want to keep track of what i've seen this year. with that said, my thoughts on everything i finished in january 2024 is under the cut :]

Portal 1 + 2

yyyup i beat Portal and it only took me (checks watch) 13 years

the first time i played Portal 2 was at a friend’s house when i was in middle school, and i had a fuckin blast. but after all that time... it still holds up! i don’t think anything i have to say about Portal will be particularly new since people have been praising this series since it came out. the writing, the level design, even the controls feel tight and engaging the whole way through. i played on switch and expected a bit of jank, but i was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it felt to play. the only part that dragged for me were the levels through the old aperture labs, but i think i would like them a lot more on a second replay. Portal 2 is fantastic and one of my new favorite games, the artistry behind it is truly incredible and i’m really glad i finally finished it. while i was playing Portal 2, i described Glados and Wheatly to a friend and said “they’re like if a ceiling fan could be passive aggressive and if Fozzie Bear was an evil golf ball”

I Think You Should Leave

finally. i can truly understand and appreciate Subspace Dubbed Over

i think one of my favorite things about I Think You Should Leave is how it utilizes horror. beyond sitting slack-jawed in disbelief at the crazy events unfolding before my eyes, a number of the sketches dipped into bits that genuinely kinda scared me. like the one sketch that circulates on here where the guy (pig?) in a mask crawls through a dog door, which is. genuinely terrifying. but so many of the other sketches have slow, nerve-racking pacing leading to crazy shit that would be perfect in a horror film were the context different. idk i like dissecting how horror and comedy are essentially the same thing and I Think You Should Leave was very good at enabling that <3 favorite sketches are probably “then let my wife eat the damn receipt” and “55 BURGERS 55 HOTDOGS 100 FRIES 100 TATER TOTS”

Sonic Prime Season 3

man. ohhhh man. i didn’t go into this with high expectations and i still feel let down. Sonic Prime Season 3 was definitely my least favorite “season” of the batch - abysmal pacing, very few character moments i actually enjoyed, and the things i praised about the show felt very underutilized through these episodes. Nine is the shining star of Sonic Prime and i was looking forward to seeing his more villainous side, but his character took such a sharp turn into pure evil and it felt like he spent the entire season repeating the same three lines. and as much as i praise Shadow’s writing in Prime, it doesn’t really matter when he spends half of the season trapped in a hole that he just… runs out of later.

lastly, i cannot stop thinking about how bad the pacing of this season is. three episodes for a repetitive final battle feels like such a waste of time when you see just how much they rush the emotional resolutions in the last episode. however, there is one thing i truly love about Sonic Prime Season 3 - i love the Sails and Mangey fakeout death. it's so fucking funny. like you really expect me to believe that two cartoon animals in this Y-7 rated show EXPLODED?????? absolute comedy gold.

overall, i just… don’t really know what to think of Sonic Prime. anything i enjoyed in the show was often fleeting, and much of it felt like its only purpose was to waste my time. also Rouge i can’t believe they did you so dirty oh my god

Ghost Trick

i was so proud that i figured out the secret behind Sissel’s memory loss like halfway through the game. however i also kept getting caught during the prison escape sequence like an idiot

Ghost Trick is in a similar situation as Portal where 1. it’s incredible and one of my new favorite games, and 2. there’s nothing i can really say about it that hasn’t already been said or just. shouldn’t be said. Ghost Trick is a fantastic mystery game, and because of that i think it’s best to go into its story as blind as possible. the narrative unfolds in such fascinating ways - even though the actual object manipulation gameplay isn’t directly about solving the mystery (like in Ace Attorney or other mystery games), it still ties wonderfully into the story in some incredibly unique ways.

i also really love the artstyle of Ghost Trick - i love 2D character artwork with that sharp lineweight, it reminded me a lot of Sonic Battle (another game with an artstyle i love). i was also really impressed by the 3D character models and animation - despite the limitations of the camera, you get a wonderful sense of everyone’s personality from the limited body language expressed in the overworld (even though the models lack much facial expression which. i guess they don’t really need? idk that was the only thing that threw me off). anyways yeah everyone should play Ghost Trick so Ghost Trick fans can be freed from their curse and talk about it without having to tag like 10 different spoiler tags. and for Missile

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

ok bear with me. i went into Scott Pilgrim Takes Off without reading the comics first. and i fuckin loved it

my understanding of Scott Pilgrim before SPTO was mostly from the movie (I KNOW I’M SORRY), but even with my base understanding of the series i really enjoyed this show for what it was. i found myself appreciating the time they dedicated to further develop every single character in the show - especially Ramona. she’s fantastic as the lead, i really loved watching her reconcile with her exes and seeing all of them grow instead of exploding into coins. my favorite episode was probably the one with her and Roxie - not only did i adore the movie-jumping set pieces, but you really understand the weight of Ramona’s mistakes in their past relationship and how much it hurt Roxie. despite the big climactic fight, the flashbacks are quiet, subtle, heartbreaking. Ramona’s apology is genuine, and it feels so wonderful to watch her confront her past throughout the show. also i think it’s really funny that for all these characters to become the best versions of themselves, they had to kill off Scott for most of the story

and holy shit the artstyle and animation. oh my god. i love watching something that makes me immediately go “i need to see the storyboards for this RIGHT NOW.” SPTO is such a visual delight to watch, it elevates the artstyle of the comics while also keeping what makes that style so appealing - i love the line weight on the characters, i love how much forward energy the animation has, i love the fucking. virtual boy section. as soon as i found out Science Saru was also behind Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, everything made immediate sense. i was destined to love this show.

another worry i had going into SPTO (besides the fact that i hadn’t read the comics lol) is that the original cast from the movie was returning. i think the movie cast is fine, but i wasn’t sure how some of them would fare with voice acting for animation. however, i thought they all did a good job - i think the whole cast loves these characters and would be able to fit into them fairly easily no matter what form their performance takes, and they definitely had a good voice director in the studio with them. the only thing that felt off about the voice performances to me was that sometimes it sounded like some of their mics kept peaking?? idk some of these episodes i watched high as balls and i felt like i could hear and see every single sound and frame of the show. so that might have just been me.

god i did not. expect to have this much to say about Scott Pilgrim. i really loved this show and i’m currently reading the comics to fully catch up on the general Scott Pilgrim experience - i think reading the comics AFTER Takes Off is making me appreciate even more of the character work that went into the show. like they do so much with Mathew Patel in SPTO, a character that was. not originally around for a long time from what i’ve gathered? also i like the funny little robot. oh my GOD i cannot talk about this show anymore whatever it’s good get me out of here

Sword AF Season 1

i put on the Smosh cast’s D&D series to play in the background while i was drawing. i did not expect to think much of it. instead, i had one of the most enjoyable D&D podcast experiences since i listened to The Adventure Zone Balance???

i haven’t really enjoyed other D&D podcasts since i dropped off of The Adventure Zone, and i wasn’t expecting much from Sword AF of all things. then i saw that Shayne was playing as a druid warforged made of plants and his name was fucking Fernie and i sat my ass down and LISTENED. while i think Sword AF is currently lacking in its world and larger story, those things just. aren’t really what Sword AF is really trying to provide at the moment. it’s main focus is comedy, and the players are genuinely such a delight to watch play together and build off of each other. they mostly focus on bits and goofs for the sake of she show's comedic tone, but i still found it thoroughly enjoyable because every player embodies and performs their characters really well. idk Sword AF was an unexpected hit for me this month, i thought it was fun. and i love Fernie so much

Plastic Death - Glass Beach

so originally i wasn’t going to include music reviews in these roundups at all, but then i was entirely surprised by a new Glass Beach album and oh my god. holy shit. oh my fucking god jesus christ. holy shit. its preddy good

Plastic Death gets the low point of the album out of the way immediately. it starts with the “phone call/conversation audio” trope that i don’t particularly enjoy - HOWEVER despite me disliking this opening, 1. it sets up the overall themes of Plastic Death very quickly, and 2. the rest of the album blows this 40 second opening completely out of the water. from there, the album grows into something beautiful and uncontained, and i just. i really like it

Plastic Death captures the beauty of the temporary, asks what it means to be created for a cause you can’t fulfill, questions if you can reclaim yourself from cycles and constraints designed to destroy you. and is also about being transgender. the lyrics are abstract in a way that requires a conversation with the listener, many of the vocals obscured and smooth like waves - this album is definitely one that needs to be listened to a few times. i wasn’t sure how i felt about the vocal style at first before realizing the vocals were the main reason i was relistening to this album, allowing myself to find even more that i loved about it. the instrumentation is also incredible, i love the use of marimba in a number of songs - distant, eerie, almost skeletal. and the fucking. 8-bit section?? which kinda rules???? and that’s the only point in the album it ever shows up??????? incredible. a fleeting, somewhat silly moment that i love every time.

this album left my heart aching, in part from my connection to it and in part from the pure love and joy emanating from this music. i can feel just how much fun this music was to perform and create, a cohesion of time and sound that just clicked for me. Plastic Death made me miss playing music, which is something i haven’t felt in years. all from an album that starts with a conversation about CrankGameplay’s dead youtube channel. good lord

i like this album a normal amount. go listen to it a few times. my favorite tracks are cul-de-sac and commatose

Wish

i watched Wish with a couple of friends and knew i probably wasn't going to like it. with that in mind, i gave myself a challenge: i wanted to find one thing about this movie that i genuinely really loved. it could be anything, and loving it for ironic reasons was allowed.

here's the complete list of things i loved about Disney's Wish (2023):

i love the one shot where King Magnifico stirs an evil caldron evily. i thought it was hilarious. what was he cooking

i loved that the end credits included a reference to Dinosaur 2001 at all, and i loved that they paid homage to Big Hero 6 by showing the forgettable villain of that movie instead of their Baymax cashcow for some reason. my friends and i saw him show up in the credits and were like "who's the trenchcoat guy??"

you may notice that this list is very short and 50% of it is about the movie's credits. so yeah this movie is not very good

Wish is an empty husk of a movie. everything about it feels so, so hollow - lifeless town squares, uninspired character designs (to quote a friend: "i have all of these characters' hairstyles in The Sims"), characters whose existence is only justified to fill empty space or an overused archetype, and an "evil" villain who lacks charisma and spine in a futile effort to remind the audience of previous disney villains with actual character. even the artstyle lacks any sort of sauce, the watercolor effect they were trying to go for only makes the backgrounds and character textures run together, and the dull lighting makes things look even more faded. it's like disney was scared of making a movie that made its audience feel... anything. all to celebrate 100 years of Disney slop, baby!!!

Some YouTube videos I liked in January: 💥 An Exhaustive Look at Pokemon Brilliant Diamond 💥 TomSka's Guide to Plagiarism 💥 Paradise Bombed (this video is a great piece of journalism and i’m definitely not doing it justice by throwing it into the youtube vid list) 💥 Surprising Our Friends with Zoo Animals 💥 Did FNAF Ever Have a Good Story?

thanks for reading! next month’s roundup will be wild because i’ll likely be reviewing House of Leaves and Hazbin Hotel. can you guess which cursed house gives me a worse headache? WHO KNOWS! (hint: it's Hazbin Hotel)

[polling-sonic-fans]

Tumblr Biases

Recieved yet another note on a poll expressing concern that it would be a biased result because the population of tumblr does not reflect all Sonic fans. This is true for all of this blogs polls - they can only, and only aim to, capture data on the Tumblr Sonic community.

A few expected biases that come to mind immediately, that you shouls be aware of interpretting the data from these polls (and many others on this website:

Tumblr seems to have above average incidence of neurodiversity when comparing large polls to global data (See Table 2). This is expected to affect polls regarding narrative readings, specifically in interpretting neurodiversity in characters, and interfan relations/ fandom culture.

Tumblr is known to overrepresent non-hetero sexualities (regrettably, citing buzzfeed here); this might suggest that polls will skew towards reading characters as LGBT, and a preference for same-sex pairings over more typically 'straight' user bases.

Tumblr has a higher proportion of women/ female identifying people, as well as a large non-binary and trans population. Considering that in 2015 Yougov found that more women than men listed Sonic as their favourite video game, (although we cannot extend this data too far - it is out of date, British, and a very specific wording), it could be said that this doesn't impact our polls as much as gaming communities with more men in them, however we should be aware that tumblr has a distinctly smaller community of cisgendered men.

Tumblr is perceived to lean left, although this is a difficult metric to quantify as 'left' is so broad. Still, we should expect polls relating to politics, ethics, and activism can be expected to be affected by this.

70% of tumblr users are Gen Z and Millenials. This should not be a major issue, as it is expected that the majority of Sonic fans will be under the age of 50 at present, but will impact the life stages we expect most users to have hit.

There will be more ways in which the data gained in these polls is biased by hosting on Tumblr. Blogrunner does not have ambitions to host polls on any other site, as this is where it is active. However please consider these and other biases if you intend to use any data gathered here for your own purposes, as well as the following caveats:

The reblogging nature of this site means that polls with small sample size cannot be considered reliable: one large blog might be able to share a poll and encourage their followers to vote in kind with them. I recommend that until polls start reaching 500 votes minimum, they cannot be considered fair representatives of the tumblr Sonic community, and as always the more votes the more reliable.

I am asking polls in English: these questions can only be considered to be reflective of the english speaking population of tumblr.

Polls on tumblr do not allow for changing vote - if wording is complex, votes are more likely to be inaccurate.

Polls regarding characters will include that characters tag, and therefore recieve more traffic from fans of the character who frequent that tag, than those who dislike the character, who may even have it blocked. Same for ships and games people may either follow or block.

That's all that's coming to mind right now. This post will be pinned as a disclaimer, please always do your own research and think critically about the ways in which netnography and survey are limited data points. Thanks.

[7grandmel]

Rip of the week: 19/08/2024

Apotheosis to Heaven

Season 8 No Album Release (Read More)

Ripped by Neofall

Requested by eg_9371! (Request Form)

A big part of why I opened up the Request Form, and why I continue to use it for ideas for the blog, is to give me inspiration in areas of SiIvaGunner to which I'm less well versed. There are some games and some rips by extension where I feel completely unable to write anything of substance, because I just lack the needed context for the rip to hit for me - but other times, the form opens my eyes to rabbitholes which I'm all too happy to delve into, through rips like Plantasia 2, mlp racism anthem (comix zone arrange), guess what​?​?​?​?​?​?​?​? and more. I've learned to trust eg_9371's judgement on quality as a requestee, and many parts of his massive catalogue of contributions have shown me quality in areas I'd never thought to look, through rips like kris gaming and Plasmaseeker. And so, I said, you know what? Let's give his endorsement one more shake, and approach a rip I'd initially looked past as not being for me. With that, I hit play on Apotheosis to Heaven - and was met with one of the biggest surprise hits I'd yet heard in the season.

Journey is a game that hits home for a lot of people, yet it was just outside of my periphery when it originally released back in 2012 - I was an 11-year old without a PS3. But even without attachment to Journey, Apotheosis as an ending theme to the game hits home to a degree I wasn't expecting, a swelling orchestral piece going through feelings of anticipation, sorrow, bittersweetness, acceptance, all throughout the span of a 7-minute long composition. The overall word to describe it, of course, would be grand. Yet much the same can be said, on the complete opposite end method, for the song with which Apotheosis to Heaven is being mashed up with, Ascension to Heaven by independant artist Xi. Like with the aforementioned Plasmaseeker, this is a song I know damn near nothing about, most prominently being featured in various Japanese rhythm games but seemingly also having a presence within the Geometry Dash community. Yet despite holding even less of an emotional connection to me than Journey did, it cannot be denied just how impressive of a piece Ascension to Heaven truly is, pairing a pounding electronic percussion with mellow strings and absolutely off-the-rails piano rolls - what feels like three entirely different forms of music and speed, mesh together for a piece with a sound I can only describe with the imagery of a lone bird flying toward the sun.

Loneliness, bittersweetness, strife, failure, perseverance - the emotions distilled into me through these two tracks are ones that were no doubt eons stronger for someone with attachment to either of the works from beforehand, and most definitely strong within ripper Neofall upon creating Apotheosis to Heaven. These are two songs that are both pulsing with emotion, yet accomplish it through very sonically different methods, one through swelling orchestral resonance, and the other through a pounding piano-driven rhythm. Yet that emotional core remains, and through some miracle and no doubt tons of love for the pieces featured, Neofall found a way to blend the two pieces into one grand feature - leveraging Apotheosis' atmosphere and grandure in order to use it as background scoring to Ascension to Heaven's insane melody. Even with one piece falling to the background and another to the foreground, however, it never feels as if one is overpowering the other - the two leverage one another's strengths seamlessly for a listen that manages to hit harder than just the sum of both's parts.

Without a thorough understanding of music creation or of either track's true sonic makeup, part of me does still feel uneducated, in a sense, to be writing about a rip of this quality in sound and scale - it's a mashup like many others, yes, yet every part of it feels ironed out and sandpapered to sheer seamless perfection between two tracks that would otherwise feel borderline incompatible. Yet...seeing such quality persist within areas of the channel that I remain uneducated on, feels like part of the magic of the SiIvaGunner channel. We are currently on SiIvaGunner's 8th year in the running, with its rippers having grown all the more able to express their passions and interests than ever before - and Season 7 and Season 8 have, in turn, given us some of the most ambitious, personal rips we've yet seen on the channel. Be it Luna, mi Amor, A Balcony atop the Labyrinth of Lights, The Paragoomba and the Wiggler, or so many more, we've had an onslaught of rips still only made by one to three people that feel creatively driven and magical enough to be justifiably mistaken for months-in-the-making passion projects. And even without a direct tie to its source material, Apotheosis to Heaven gives me that very same vibe: Of one ripper seeing what can be done through utilization of two tracks close to their heart, and going absolutely hog-wild in ensuring the execution be up to the standards raised by so many other parts of the SiIvaGunner team.

It is a blessing that we can be eight years into this channel's life, and still have rips of this caliber slip entirely through the cracks as if they're nothing but everyday, average rips. Today, the hearts of the SiIvaGunner team is on full display at just about every day of its operation - and I am eternally grateful that such seemingly niche pursuits like Apotheosis to Heaven remain part of that.

[true-blue-sonic]

Based on his personality traits, what kind of kid would make a good Tails/Marine type sidekick for Silver?

That's a good question I find difficult to answer, because every time I consider the idea of Silver having a younger sidekick, I get a very strong "no that is wrong" feeling, haha! That's presumably because Silver's always been teamed up with people who "act older" than he does, namely Blaze, Espio, and arguably Knuckles in Forces and the prequel comics. Silver's definitely not a kid sidekick, but in my mind he works better as the younger and more hotheaded person of a duo wherein there's a more quiet and logical (on the surface) person helping him out. But then in the same vein, I do see Silver as either the full decision-maker or someone on equal standing with his partner. So he fills an interesting niche in my mind when it comes to the "role" he fills as part of a duo or a group: while he's certainly The Leader, he's in the same vein someone who needs a companion who helps with decisions and lend a hand behind the scenes. He encompasses both leader traits and simultaneously traits of a sidekick who the leader must help, if that makes sense. Silver's dual nature, my beloved <3

But that being said, Tails and Marine are both foils towards Sonic and Blaze, respectively. Where Sonic is the embodiment of confidence, Tails is more insecure and humble about his achievements. Where Blaze is withdrawn, doesn't like being called by her title as Highness, and has a burdened past because of her responsibilities, Marine is completely full of herself, firmly convinced she's the boss before her character development, and definitely more sociable but also yearning for adventure because her life has been dull for years. So a kid sidekick for Silver would then presumably follow the same principle of said sidekick having opposing core traits as he does. Let's see...

Silver is fully confident around his abilities and is quite full of himself at times, has a strong sense of justice, has a heart of gold and a strong desire to help others, enjoys seeing smiles and lovely sceneries and gets sad when there's people jeopardising these, is extremely honest to a fault and therefore doesn't always get believed even though he's always right in the end, has a rather black-and-white mindset wherein his perspective is The Right One and people who don't share it are against him in the Rivals games especially, is a bit snotty and competitive at times and seems to enjoy brawling... I think with those characteristics, a kid sidekick with a similar personality as Tails seems the most fitting if we're going true foil here XD

Hmm, but that is boring, since Tails as a character already exists. One interesting thing about Silver is his honesty: in Rivals 2 he gets into a fight with Knuckles because he (objectively correctly) indicates the Chao are needed to save the world, for which Knuckles deems him crazy. In a Sonic Channel story from 2021, he doesn't get believed by Soleannan officials when he tells them he knows a bridge is going to collapse because he's from the future, even insisting to Sonic that that's the truth of the matter (which, also here, it is, haha). Since Silver's blunt, straight-to-the-point, and completely honest demeanours are therefore a core part of his personality, I think it'd be interesting if a kid sidekick is not that. But then immediately on the other hand, Silver wouldn't hang out with liars for sure if he values honesty so much XD The same goes with his sense of justice, which is often noted in bios and also seen in the games: Silver wouldn't waste his time on an unjust person, because the trait of justice (and honesty too) by its very nature cannot get along with someone who is not that. So I find it difficult to conclude what characteristics a true younger foil for Silver would have to embody to fall in the same category of sidekick as Marine and Tails are without becoming too much like those two, to be quite honest. But if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear about them!

UPDATE: asked a friend and she stated Venice as I wrote him in my very first fic ever, Belong: "someone quiet who does not at all want to be involved in things, whereas Silver is hotheaded and throws himself headfirst into any conflict". So someone very withdrawn who doesn't like brawling and fighting in the slightest, then!

[shadows-coffeebeans]

Okay, OC ask game, let's go!

2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 (or fellow kids I guess, he'd be like Cream's age, right?), 18, 19, 21, 27!

2. describe your character's voice. do they have a voice claim?

I always imagined Starlight to have a cartoony boy voice but after trying to search for a voice claim I decided they sound like Sprig from Amphibia‼️‼️

4. what's your character's favorite recreational activity?

Hm, I actually cannot think of any

5. what was your character's dream job as a kid? is it different than what their career ended up being?

Starlight wishes to become a hero just like Sonic! (spoiler alert: that's what they end up doing)

6. what is the thing your oc likes the least about themselves?

He doesn't like how he's not as fast or strong as his parents

7. what is the thing your oc likes the most about themselves?

He likes his optimism!

10. what kind of music do they enjoy?

I feel like Starlight would love the Sonic R soundtrack (but mainly cause I think of Starlight when I hear it)

12. how well does your OC do in school?

Starlight doesn't go to school, he's homeschooled by Amy and Shadow

14. An embarrassing secret about your OC?

Answered here!

15. who is your OC’s best friend?

They will be introduced soon...

17. how does your OC feel about their siblings?

Since you said to just talk about "fellow kids". Well I have 1-3 fankids I'm planning on maybe introducing soon (not from the same pair). Also also, cream would be around 19-20-ish in the au

18. a memory that still makes your OC angry?

Aside from every time he's told he's not allowed to fight alongside Sonic as he's still too young, not anything yet

19. a memory that still makes your OC sad?

Starlight tried making friends before but was unsuccessful, making him feel like no one truly wants to hang out with him

21. hobbies your OC enjoys?

Starlight likes training with Omega and Shadow. And talking, if that counts.

27. your OC’s zodiac sign?

Since I created Starlight April 15th I would say Aries!

-

Starlight masterpost

[magicwhiskers29]

So... Prime Season 3, huh?

I guess this is somewhere between an analyss and just general thoughts post. Probably too incoherent to actually be an analysis, but I just finished the season, and I'm going to talk about it.

So for this post? I want to talk about Nine.

Okay, so, yeah, Nine was FANTASTIC. His solo conversations with Sonic were brilliant, and so many of them hit so hard. His taunting of Sonic when Sonic first gets back to New Yoke is so good. Just. Wow.

"Don't you realise the power I have at my fingertips?" I love the delivery of this line. It isn't said as particularly menacing, as a typical villain line -- Nine sounds curious, really. Slightly irritated too, but he's not just raging, because all the time he's been convincing himself he hates Sonic, and that what they had really was just a lie. He wants to believe that so badly, because it justifies this, and what he'll have to do to Sonic.

We see things like Nine getting shocked, maybe even a bit upset, in episode 2 after noticing the citizens he's put in danger. His goal isn't to cause hurt, but he's just not above it. Despite it all, he trusts Sonic too. Trusts that Sonic will just keep everything safe, so he can do what he likes.

Later on, this even goes so far as he trusts that if lets the Shatterverse decay as far as it can go, Sonic will then come back to him, o save it, and give him up willingly. It's extreme, and it's villainous, but it's a gamble reliant on trut, and an understanding of Sonic's good character that isn't quite the same as just the 'You're like this because of guilt' type that he accuses Sonic of before this.

And oh. Oh. I cannot not talk about Nine and Sonic's conversation at the end of episode three...

SONIC: Ever wonder where we'd be if things had gone differently between us?

NINE: Not anymore.

SONIC: ...I do. All the time.

Nine: You had your chance.

Sonic: Right back at you, bud.

I really don't think just a transcript can do this scene justice, because the voice acting (aghghhhhh it's so good) and pauses in this exchange really give it life.

Despite what everyone says about Sonic, I think this scene really demonstrates that he does see Tails and Nine differently. He's clearly thinking of Tails when he asks about things going differently, because he knows a universe where things have gone differently, and Tails is his best friend, Tails his 'Always his wingman'. But it's more than that. He wants a universe where he and Nine are friends too. he says he's missed Tails so much, when he sees him again at the end. Nine can't just be a replacement Tils to him, but he still cares about Nine, because he knows the kind of person Nine could be.

He cared first because of Tails, and now because he believes in Nine. throghout the season, he always does. Even when he ahs to fight him.

And augh, if that "Right back at you, bud" doesn't half hurt... He says it so bitterly.. He admits here, that he wasn't all in the wrong for what happened. He has Nine telling him that he was cruel to him, that he used him, and he has everyone else telling him he was a fool to ever trust Nine, but he wasn't. He didn't listen, and that's what he later apologises for, but he wans't a fool for believeing in someone like Nine, and Nine just as much didn't listen to him. They never talked.

Nine had his chance to explain to Sonic what he really wanted. He didn't take it. this is on both of them.

Seeing Nine get all mad scientist at the slightest thing going wrong was fun, though, on a different note. I think Nine has always really worked because he's just kind of eerie. So much more jaded than Tails, so he often feels just sort of... off. So them leaning into Nine being kind of creepy like that was fun. Whilst still feeling a very Tails-y direction to tke villainy.

Alright, light note over. Sonic himself? Also fantastic.

Nine is right about his guilt, but he's wrong to call it Sonic's only motivation. He wants to save his friends because he cares about them, not just becaus ehe destroyed them accidentally before. But Nine has never felt like he's had anyone to look out for him like that before, so he doesn't get that. But Sonic sees Nine that same way. It's why Nine doesn't believe him when he tells him that. And it's why Nine is so eager to believe Sonic betrayed him, and is a bad guy, because he wants to reduce Sonic down to a guy that's just all about himself because that's easier to picture as the bad guy, easier to picture as the kind of bully he's always been dealing with.

But Sonic isn't that. Sonic is ready all season to die to save the Shatterspace, and that isn't just because of guilt. That isn't just because Shadow beat him around a bit and told him this was his fault. This isn't because he's seen the chaos that he's caused the alternate-universe versions of his friends. And isn't just because Nine told him that, once again, he hadn't listened.

No, Sonic can't fathom him having hurt his friends, and yes, he'd do anything to not do it again, but... He'd have done that before, right? His flaw was that he didn't listen to his friends, and that he didn't rely on them, not that he was ready to leave them behind, or that he wouldn't have given his life for them before. He was careless, but he always had a big heart.

Nine keeps calling him predictable, but he never predicted Sonic's biggest motivation, because he never wanted to consider what it was, because that would mean Sonic actually cared about him, and he would have to care if taking Sonic's energy killed him.

It hurts Nine to do that, in the end. It hurts him to have to potentially kill the only guy who ever did listen to him, and speak up for him. But he does it because, like always, in the end he does believe in Sonic.

Their hug at the end is very sweet. Sonic listens to Nine, and Nine admits that he can care, and does care, to Sonic.

Nine will never be, and would never have ever been, Sonic's best wingman, not like the Green Hill tails, but he could be Sonic's friend, and a very different kind of Right-hand Man.

If the ending was a tease for a season 4, I definitely hope we get a Sonic and Nine reunion in it!

[hedgiwithapen]

This is an odd one but Cisco as The Flash for AU headcanons?👀

I think I've read a fic with that premise (I know I have, I just. cannot recall Details like. title or writer.) So if I Plagiarize that fic by mistake please no one yell at me ok? ok. 1. now this IS partially from the fic I think, i'm already being a criminal, but like. it was still Nora Allen who died, not Ms Ramon (who I have named Pilar and no comics contradict me so!) and Eobard is very like. well shit, gotta adjust the Plans. on the one hand, can kill barry whenever, don't need him, but on the other hand what if I do? what if he also becomes the flash at the correct time for him, and this thing with Cisco doesn't work out and then I am stuck? bro's playing 5d chess against himself and it's not helping. so barry lives, for now, and Dante sits in an ugly plastic chair waiting for cisco to wake up. 2 I think for Cisco to get struck by the lightning it goes like this. Ronnie and Cisco both go into the accelerator. Two of us can get the vents (or whatever Ronnie was doing faster than one.) and the thing is it almost works. it almost works. almost is never enough. someone-- maybe hartley, in this au, maybe a distraught caitlin, closes the door at the 2 minute mark. all that energy goes up and out-- and the lightning bolt strikes into the heart of star labs along that same path. when the fema crews etc go shifting through, they find no sign of Ronnie--firestorm-- and Cisco, lightning scars branching down his body, comatose. 3. Cisco picks his name right off the bat. Barry starts writing about him-- and not very positively (barry had the blog in e1 and the writers forgot but I did not) because he what if that's the guy who killed my mom?? Joe, Joe /look/. And Cisco is a little offended! goes to confront Barry (who tries and fails to hit him with the CCPD's second shittiest microscope) and goes hey, could you not?? first " the man in the lightning " is a damn mouthful, I'd rather something like, i dunno, Sonic Boom, or The Flash, and furthermore I was all of 8 years old when your mom died so uh stop it??? there is a very tense moment and then they're Friends Now. Cisco doesn't understand why Wells is so deeply against having a CCPD liason??? we need one? this guy already believes in the impossible and also someone killed his mom and we can help! what do you mean no ??? ok fiiiiine. 4. Eddie, not Joe, is the one who sees Cisco fight Mardon. Eddie is more than happy to be the new liason to star labs, this is Great!!! he can use this to win over Iris and Barry! (he has big crushes on them both. potentially he gets over these crushes and he dates Cisco, I think that'd be fun.) 5. Cisco obviously does not build the cold gun, so Snart never actually manages to steal anything in central city, but he sure does try! it really does not work out for him. kidnapping an engineer to build you a weapon would be one thing if you could. you know. hold on to said engineer. Cisco Simply Dips. 5, right? fuck it one more for funsies 6. while cisco's in the coma Caitlin keeps a tv going with every episode of Star Trek queued up. constant background noise. Dr. Wells can't decide if he's learned his lesson about fucking with time or if he's so sick of the music he's going to go back even further the second he gets a chance and make them compose something else.

[beevean]

I hate the defense of dramatic irony for Lanolin's actions, to be honest. Especially because it's not even good dramatic irony: it just stems from characters being idiots and shit friends to each other (see: the entire bit of Silver and the DC in issue 63 and 64.) Sure, Lanolin can't know Duo is Mimic! But 1. We as audience sure do because we are constantly beaten over the head with it, making her be a bitch all the time extremely frustrating because we KNOW she is wrong, and 2. She SHOULD, because the only reason she hasn't noticed yet is because the plot demands the DC to be betrayed again no matter how OOC everyone must become to make that so.

Also, Whisper saw Duo kick Silver and he clearly told her Duo's face changed (of course not to Tangle and Lanolin too though), so why is she hanging out with him now?? Even if Duo's lifethreatening four feet fall didn't show he was Mimic, does she doubt herself so much that she thought she imagined the kick too or something?? Girl just pull off his glove and check his hands, you know the puckers on there are Mimic's clear tell. Or even his brown eyes, Duo's color, or the fact he looks 80% like your dead friend.

As I said in the past, Lanolin was a terrible choice for this sort of plot. You know those cartoon episodes where the antagonist pulled pranks, and then the protagonists got blamed in their place, and it's all haha funny hijinks? This is the same thing, which is already not a very engaging plot, because the characters we care about are getting punished for no fault of their own. To make things worse, we don't know Lanolin! She has just appeared in her new #girlboss version, and right off the bat, she's antagonizing characters we have spent years knowing and getting attached to, both the comic OCs and canon characters.

Why would I want to side with her, or see her POV? She is wrong, she is not entertainingly wrong, and her behavior is not only nasty, but even unfair in-universe: she has brushed off both Silver and Whisper without giving them a single chance of explaining themselves, especially bad in the former's case because it was a case of "he says, he says", but she immediately jumps to berate Silver and treat him like an idiot instead of doing the leader thing and try to listen to both sides. And as for Whisper, yes she was stupid to not bring proof with her, but the moment the name Mimic slipped out of her mouth, Lanolin should have at least questioned her more and tried to understand why she was suspecting Duo, instead of immediately being like "WHY ARE YOU HARASSING MY POOR LIL KITTEN 🥺". fuck that "she cares about everyone and it shows", she's only biased towards Duo, which would be unfair even if he wasn't the villain in disguise.

Forget Duo, I don't even know how Whisper can hang around Lanolin by #67 without secretly seething for this whole accident. I really, really don't like how she orders Whisper to "control herself" after she says that she suspects Duo is actually the guy who traumatized her, especially after she learns that she was betrayed and has good reasons to not trust easily. Where's all that compassion now? Brings all sorts of unfortunate implications about how Lanolin sees Whisper. (also "Silver is one thing" sounds really demeaning too)

Yes, it makes sense for the kind of character she is meant to be, the no-nonsense rule stickler. I'm allowed to think she's an ass and to say I find her thoroughly unenjoyable.

But yeah, Whisper simply letting all go makes her look very weak and insecure. "welp, guess Lanolin was right, and I was dumb! Oh well, my trauma makes me unstable! No hard feelings bestie!" yeah no it's not how it works. It doesn't help that in her next appearance, Sonic also walks all over her resentment towards Surge and guilt trips her into accepting the girl who beat her up and stole her Wisp friends - this poor woman cannot catch a break, everyone treats her like shit.

[emotionalhxc]

PART 2: Strawberry Hospital Instagram Q&A Q: Also do you like Sky Eats Airplane? Some of your songs give me the same vibe

N: "lowkey in shock that this band was brought up to me because they were (partially) the reason I found out what a DAW was in the first place because I read some interview of theirs back then describing their method of creation or something formative memories of listening to this one on a school computer in 5th grade" Q: When making an EP, do you usually have a "concept" or "vibe" before making the songs? N: "mostly! it is typically reflective of whatever sonic fixations I had in the years preceding the release itself + a culmination of whatever emotions are stirred up by life circumstances once I have that intersection pinned down, it begins to take a form of its own"

Q: Is there a story behind the Phantasmaphilia album art? It's so mesmerizing *0* N: "indeed ! the dead insects themselves were found outside of where I was living during the completion of the album, around this time of year. myself and some old friends collected them and brought them inside to scan in for the sake of the cover artwork. as for the bathtub image source, I am actually not holding my own legs but another person (out of frame) but we were wearing swimming trunks haha I wanted to create a feeling of ghostly vulnerability and I appreciate said old friends for helping me realize my vision at the time" Q: your music heals me and makes life bearable, thank you from the bottom of my heart. ❤️‍🩹 N: "I am so so grateful... thank you for sharing with me, it keeps me pushing forward knowing that my music reached you in the same way that other music heals me too (hug)"

Q: Squall. I love that song so much. I would love to hear your reasons for that song. N: "oh yes Squall! I wrote that for an internet friend who lived somewhere that was basically a perpetual snowstorm, I would stay up late talking with them and it meant very much to me during that period of time to me, the flurry of splittercore kicks and icy trance lead melodies reminded me of a blizzard" Q: How did you get your name? N: "strawberry hospital? or neptune? I'll answer both! strawberry hospital was intended to follow the naming trend of many bands and artists I grew up with, but also represent the otherwise polarizing thematic elements (bittwersweetness) and stylings present within the music and lyrics my name Neptune is chosen but I have kept it for over a decade now, it reminds me of the ocean and a cold planet very far away from here"

Q: Ilysm I sry if this is a dumb q but are the songs on halfawake all vocaloid or ur voice N: "awe no questions are dumb! the original release is exclusively vocaloid as I was too anxious to include my own singing in my songs in 2016. but the live version of the song is special, because I sing the chorus with my own voice instead. other albums feature a combination of my own voice and vocaloid (with exceptions)" Q: what is your bowling ball size? N: "this question is so unrelated I love it... so I cannot bowl to save my life and maybe I'm missing a double meaning here but they say a bowling ball should be 10% of your own weight right? in that case, like 12? I am unfortunate epitome of gay people failing at sports stereotype"

Q: what's your personal favorite song you've ever release?? 🖤 N: "Halfawake, Memento, Phantoma, Azure, Rhythm 0" Q: so like whats next for uu? N: "I'd love to play a few more shows before the year ends... maybe an international one? we shall see... otherwise trying to explore new forms for the project to take, I never want to reiterate what has already been established to the point of monotony heh" Q: I really love Tacit ❤️ and would love to know what it's about N: "Tacit is an apology for not being able to fulfill the role of what somebody would like you to be for them. not exactly a hard rejection but an assuring one (if such a thing exists) ... sometimes you need to use your head over your heart? I struggled with this at times p.s. it was heavily influenced by the haibane renmei OST!"

Q: Would you ever go on a tour! Californian fan here and I love you and your music :D N: "it will happen someday I am certain, playing a show in California feels obligatory (in a good way) plus I have had a few invitations from fellow musician friends that I need to take them up on" CONTINUED INTO PART 3 ON MY NEXT POST

[theonewholivesinthemovies]

So in vigilantes, I love the banter that aizawa and present mic have. I wanna try and write what aizawa’s first day as a teacher was like.

————————————————————

Aizawa: “I didn’t apply because you asked me. Nezu asked me.”Mic:

“mmmHHHHMMMMmmmmm And who else has been asking you for years?? Hmmmm?? C’mon aren’t you EXCITED to work with me?” Mic taunted

I dread my productivity rates with you being around constantly. Quite simply not rational.

Mic: “Not rational cuz I’m gonna be distracting you ?” He fluttered his eyes. Putting both of his hands under his chin, his yellow shades sliding down slightly to look down at Aizawa’s slump.

yeah because you never shut up”

NOPE! BECAUSEEEEE you are gonna see me all the time and realize how much ya love meee and teeeaching and Midnight and Vlad and -

His Apple Watch started ringing. “OOP! Gotta run can’t be late on your first day there, Teach!”

Hizashi poked his finger at his shoulder. “Can’t make that impression with your class!”

Before Aizawa could follow up his confused reaction by asking “who was vlad” and then resolving it wasn’t worth the effort to ask, Present Mic had dashed out towards the door, hair hitting the frame of the threshold on the way. Aizawa looked at the clock.

Dammit, he was right.

Mic: “gotta go dash!” He said, a stupid wide grin on his face. (He’s trying to say gotta go fast as a sonic meme but not quite landing it)

Mic was right. He had to go or else he would be 10 minutes late to being early by 15 minutes. Hizashi knew this. He knew this from when they roamed these same halls together. Dammit. “He DOES know we aren’t attached at the hip right?” Aizawa thought to himself. Too much work to focus on something so irrational.

And loud.

Why did it matter who convinced him to work at UA anyway.

It’s simply makes sense to teach the next generation to carry on efficient work. As much as he did at night, he knew better than most that one man cannot solve everything. Not even all might. Working with the same colleagues he has worked in battle with was strategic planning, efficient, and effective. Teaching was just like a fight.

“Yeah” he muttered under his breath, convincing himself.

Getting to the point of the lesson and knowing good team work. Trimming the excess was something he was good at. Regarding teamwork, Aizawa recognized he was garbage at English, (part of the reason he hated press conferences) which is where Mic shines, and even as annoying as vlad king is, he makes a great coach for driving results. He didn’t know press work like Midnight.

He started to feel small. Tunnel vision started suffocating him. This feeling choked him and made him feel useless, especially being so reliant on his eyes. He looked around from side to side to try to steady but to no avail. What was he doing here? Teaching? Working with kids? Was he worth anything to guide students?

In 2 -3 - 4 hold 2 - 4 - 6 -7 Out 2 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8.

He stopped and caught his breath, like his mandated therapist from the agency suggested. The only thing that stuck. It was the quickest was to the parasympathetic nervous system and logically can shut down these unproductive thoughts.

The thoughts just like…

Like…Before oboro convinced him he really had a place here among the heroes.

He sniffed and shook he head, shaking out the past and emotions from this fight and hoisted the wrap around his neck to cover to his chin.

“Only rational to work as a team, just like they taught me. I have my strong suits, Mic has his.”

He thought.

He added, almost correcting himself subconsciously, “Err- everyone has their strong suit to teach at UA. You have to in order to work here. The primary objective is to make the best students into the best heroes to protect the future. Even though he preferred individual work, there was value in team effort, and this school called nothing but the best display of understanding your team and pairups.”

“Just rational.” His thoughts continued. “Nothing else. Even if I prefer to work alone, I can excel in teaching these kids that. Teach kids how to know themselves best so they can make a team even more powerful.” He smiled as he walked in to HIS classroom. Nobody could see that smile of course.

The classroom was already set up. He’d been in days before to make sure everything was spotless, seating tags in place, stocked supplies, including his sleeping bag and training clothes. He was nervous to break it out on the first day in case Nezu were to walk by, probably not a good look first day, but packed it before the shift tonight.

He walked around to inspect everything, and read through his class chart at the podium. He glanced at the clock on the wall.

15 minutes.

He turned on the police radio under the podium he had placed so he could spend a few minutes relaxing and planning his route for the night shift. That was much easier than what was about to come. After a few moments, when he turned to sit around at the desk, he noticed a sticky note on top of a pink retangle piece of rubber:

Hey Eraser,

You are gonna do GREAT!

If you want to, we can meet after your first day to talk?

-Zashi

His tired eyes flung open and burned from the sudden wind.

He flipped over the eraser and squinted to study it. There was an address on the back. A local coffee shop. His favorite local coffee shop, actually.

It wasn’t the invite to hang that was weird. This felt….genuine. Not over the top. Preplanned, not spontaneous. Zashi. Not Mic. Friend, not coworker.

They hadn’t been “friends” in so long. It pained him to admit it. Zashi had always tried to keep the friendship open but he…

He…struggled to reach out.

He worked late, woke up early to plan stings, worked out, was on call for police, and had 3 rescue cats and cactus at home.

He barely ate more than coffee, cigarettes, protein drinks, and takeaway.

Maybe Mic - Zashi, knew that? He wanted to reflect back on their relationship. He was taken aback by this small act. He felt perceived about his nerves despite…being himself.

How could he expect to attend to a friendship or relationship? That’s not what this job is -

He stopped himself. He had to remind himself of several lessons that were beaten into him on the significance of teamwork. That line of thinking was not going to get him anywhere.

He sighed.

There was no excuse. Zashi had always tried to keep the line open. Aizawa was the one who never followed up.

Maybe, this job would be good for him. Maybe he wasn’t as stable as he thought~

The door slid open

Ah. My first student.

[shadowxamyweek]

Did sonic find his wallet? Cause how did he pay for the bakery on the train station to write Amy's name on a cake and pay for it?

Dis he lodge in their kitchen and make a cake in super speed?

See, okay, I was wondering the same thing.

There's three things we are told in regards to this mystery over Sonic getting the cake.

1-He lost his wallet, and so far as we know, does not find it.

2-When asked, Amy says that no, Sonic has not given her a birthday present (YET- Yet is the key word. This was in tandem with Shadow and his present for her.)

3- At the station, he claims there is a bakery near by that he spotted. Thus, he is able to pick up a cake.

Here's where I find a flaw though that undermines the whole thing: not only does he not have his wallet (so far as we are aware), but the cake he picks up is a custom cake. Any custom cake, particularly one with a picture and writing, needs to be called in and paid for in advance. That's just how the business works.

Now, to your point of, 'did he bake it really fast:' scientifically that isn't possible. In real life, you cannot speed up bake time to the degree that this senario woils require. However, we're talking about fictional hedgehogs. Maybe Sonic's super speed did a wibbly-wobbly time thing and enabled the cake to bake super fast.

Okay. That's assuming he can bake though. Or even decorate a cake to the level required to pull the one in-game off successfully.

Now, the answer to that would be that he and Amy have been hanging out more and she has taught him to bake, which is an awesome possibility, but I lean in a different direction.

I think someone called in the cake in advance.

Sonic's present to Amy WAS the cake, and, in knowing he can be forgetful, placed an order in advance at the nearest bakery to the station they would be arriving at.

Or

Someone bailed him out.

To the second option, the one I like above all else, that someone who called in could be anyone, really, but my money is on Tails or Shadow.

Tails knows Sonic best. Tails would have heard Sonic agree to bring the cake, probably talked to him about, "Hey, are you really going to remember to do this considering you are perpetually busy and preoccupied?" then looked up info on the train and scoped out a bakery in order to keep both his friends happy.

Or

Shadow, having Opinions on Sonic and assuming the worst, covered his ass and ordered the cake. Shadow obviously wants Amy to have a good day (else he wouldn't have even shown up, let alone the whole thing with the tickets), and, like, Shadow doesn't hate Sonic. I don't even think he necessarily dislikes the man. They have a difference of opinions, attitude, and outlook, but they are ultimately on the same team and willing to work together. It is not outside of the realm of possibility that Shadow would bail Sonic out. It's entirely possible that Shadow did this preemptively, but i think what is most likely is he overheard Sonic's conundrum of not having the cake/wallet/maybe forgetting other important stuff, told him he'd cover it, and placed an order for the cake while on the train.

These are all offscreen solutions with little evidence. Who actually knows? It is fun to think about, though! (and I'd be lying if I said I haven't been thinking about it XD).

EDIT: HOLD UP IM PRETTY SURE THERE IS ONLY A MICROWAVE ON THE TRAIN?? FOR SONIC TO BE ABLE TO BAKE THE CAKE HE'D HAVE TO FIND THE INGREDIENTS, KNOW THE RECIPE, FIND A KITCHEN, BAKE IT AT SUPER SPEED, FIND THE STUFF TO DECORATE, AND DECORATE THE CAKE. I WAS WILLING TO GIVE THE BOY THE BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT BUT I REALLY DON'T THINK HE MADE THAT CAKE XD

[sonicstorybook]

The King’s Champion

A SatBK AU where Shadow is the one sent to Camelot and Sonic is the doppelgänger- the one and only King Arthur!

Chapter 2/?

Summary: Arthur the Hedgehog pulled the legendary sword Caliburn from the stone, and he became King Arthur, the ruler of Camelot. Shadow the Hedgehog appears in a flash of magic in the middle of his banquet hall, and he becomes Arthur’s problem. As the sun rises over the kingdom, a pre-dawn conversation between both hedgehogs also helps them reach... well, not quite a mutual understanding, but progress is progress! 

(Shadow doesn’t know where he is, what’s going on, or why he’s there- but it doesn’t matter. He’s Shadow the Hedgehog, the world’s ultimate life form, and he’s going to play this weird game by his rules.)

Contains: Pre-relationship/platonic Arthadow (Arthur the Hedgehog x Shadow the Hedgehog)! 

Rating: G

Word count:   1,453

Note: Having a terrible time formatting this story on Tumblr, soooooo I'm gonna be splitting this thing in half. Possible into thirds? IDK. It's all up on A03 under the same name and username, tho, if u cannot wait! C:

Arthur looks between Shadow’s face and his offered glove with growing trepidation, regretting his impulsive words. Shadow was mysterious, and for all his sad brittleness, this dark hedgehog definitely had a deadly edge. While it didn’t seem like Shadow meant him or Camelot any harm… Well, King Arthur long learned that couldn’t put his trust and life in others the way Arthur the Hedgehog might.

“I thank you, sir, for your most generous offer,” Arthur says slowly and carefully, trying to find a polite way to decline the unexpected offer in a way that doesn’t embarrass him or offend his prickly guest, “But... the stairs to the tower are short and narrow. There is barely enough space for one hedgehog, let alone two, and I fear it would be most uncomfortable and cumbersome.”

“Who said anything about stairs?” Shadow snorts dismissively, leaning over the edge with an alarming recklessness to point at a silver chain further down, “This will be faster.”

Arthur is not sure what the exact distance from the top of the tower to the chain is, but it is significant. Even Sir Lamorak the Hawk with all his feathers would think twice before throwing himself down from this height! Shadow is mad to even suggest such a thing! It’s foolhardy and reckless and ill-advised, not something a respectable and wise king would consider-

But Arthur’s treacherous heart longs for adventure.

It is a very sturdy chain… and Shadow seems very confident in his abilities… and the potential danger just makes it more exciting! His heart beats with eager anticipation so quickly it feels as though it might burst. Perhaps…

It takes all his will power to look away, and Arthur forces himself to take two agonizing steps towards the trap door, “The stairs-“

Arthur jumps as he feels Shadow grab his wrist to physically stop him. It’s been a long time since he’s been spontaneously touched like that. Most wouldn’t even dare to be in his personal bubble, let alone try to restrain him in any capacity... It’s a good thing they’re alone up here- Shadow would undoubtedly lose that hand if any of Arthur’s more hot-tempered knights saw his daring.

Shadow lets go quickly, though, obviously only attempting to get his attention. The other hedgehog crosses his arms over his chest defiantly, tone accusatory, “Why do you expect me to trust you if you won’t trust me?”

‘Trust is the first step on the path to loyalty,’ Sir Hector’s voice rings in Arthur’s head, ‘Prove your worth through deeds, no words.’ 

Arthur takes a deep breath, pushing his reluctance and uncertainty to the back of his mind and steeling his nerves. If a runt of a boy was able to mold a lawless, violent time into the dream of Camelot, then King Arthur could certainly handle throwing himself off the top of his castle’s tallest tower with a recklessly bold hedgehog.

“All right,” Arthur holds out his hand out, palm facing downwards, as though offering it for Shadow to kiss. He meets the other hedgehog’s eyes with determination and focus, voice sure, “I trust you, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

“Good,” Shadow smirks at that, viciously satisfied, and uncrosses his arms. His smirk isn’t as nice as the smile, but it’s playful and confident and much better than his more usual apathetic frown. 

Shadow takes Arthur’s hand in a grip that is strong and confident. It feels like he won’t let go for anything in the world, “Here we go.”

Shadow jumps backwards, pulling Arthur off the ledge with him, and is meanly delighted as the king’s eyes widen in surprise.

“Whoa-!”

Arthur’s stomach lurches as they’re in free fall, and it’s exhilarating . The wind ruffles his quills like an old friend, tickling the insides of his ears. Arthur is one with the fast moving colors around him and his heart sings in his chest. 

For the first time in a long time, Arthur feels free .

“Haha!” 

He focuses on every sensation, hoping this moment never ends. Arthur’s cloak billows behind him violently, twisting and turning as the wind pushes and pulls it until the clasp holding it in place finally breaks. He watches his cape shoot up into the sky as it fills with air and he feels like he may float away with it-

But Shadow’s hand on his forearm keeps him grounded. The dark hedgehog is looking down and gives a terse nod of his head, “One foot in front of the other. Don’t fall.”

Arthur barely has time to process those words before something hard is crashing into the bottom of his sabatons. 

“Merlin’s beard!” Arthur instinctively throws one hand back as his body sways, trying to keep his balance on a chain that feels too thin. The momentum of their fall propels them forward, and the world moves around them at a dizzying speed. 

The ghastly shriek of metal grinding on metal is barely audible over the heartbeat thundering in his ears. It’s fast and dangerous and reckless- and Arthur can’t remember a time when he was happier. 

“Whoo!” He cheers, laughing in delight. Shadow’s grip is reassuring, a constant and warm pressure that doesn’t let him tip too far to one side of the other. Arthur feels safe with him, laughing breathlessly, “This is amazing!”

“Legs further apart,” Shadow instructs, more focused on Arthur’s posture than the direction they’re going. The chain is connected to another tower that is coming closer and closer. He tugs Arthur’s body to the right, angling him into a more stable position, “Bend your knees. Lean backwards to speed up next time.”

Next time? Arthur doesn’t have time to ask before Shadow scoops him up and holds him against his chest. The white patch of fur is soft and ticklish against Arthur’s nose, and Shadow’s lean muscles are taut under his hand. (Arthur feels small like this, even though he knows he’s taller.)

Shadow uses their momentum to skate along the side of the tower, feet as confident and sure as though he were running on the bare ground. Shadow jumps off the side of the tower, half-curling on himself and pulling Arthur closer as they fall again.

Shadow’s unusual sabatons come to life with a dull roar, expelling heat and air that slows their descent. They could probably simply float down like this, but Shadow surprises him once again by riding the air currents. 

Somehow, Arthur’s strange companion is able to see the wind gusts and use them as though they were solid objects. Shadow moves as though he’s dancing, gracefully twirling and turning as he follows the wind’s lead. Arthur has never seen anything like it before. 

It ends too soon. With a last little flourish like he’s bidding his aerial partner goodbye, Shadow lands on the cobblestones of the courtyard lightly.

Arthur’s heart continues to pound with excited adrenaline, and he gives a disbelieving laugh, “Incredible!!”

He notices he has had his arms looped around Shadow’s neck this entire time, so he lets go as the other hedgehog puts him down on his feet, “Are you a sorcerer? It’s like you can control the wind and use the gusts as stairs! How do you do that?! Can you teach me?”

“Hmph,” Shadow tosses his head with an arrogant smirk, preening at the praise, “That’s nothing! You’ll soon see why I’m the ultimate life form.”

Arthur doesn’t understand the explanation, but he can’t dwell on it for too long. Their dramatic entrance didn’t go unnoticed, and there is a clamor from the far side of the courtyard as the door is thrust open.

[wolf-in-shining-armor]

Justice, pt. 2

Terra, Sol System

3152

As Hadrian waited outside the Star Colonel's office, he forced stillness into his whipcord tail, letting it curl neatly on the floor next to him as he waited for the Star Colonel to finish up with the elemental and the pilot, who'd gone in first. 

He'd seen this song and dance dozens of times since the Clans took over, asserting their dominance with these rigged shows of “justice”. They would pretend to hear out both sides, before letting the Clanner off with a slap on the wrist and hitting the Spheroid with a demotion or worse. It was sickening, and Hadrian had seen his fair share of pay cuts in the ten months since the Republic had breathed its last. 

As the knob on the Star Colonel’s door began to turn, Hadrian began to stand, shifting his weight carefully so as not to break the chair beneath him. While he loved his body in so many ways, the world was not designed to accommodate someone of his sheer weight, even if Clan architecture did account for his size fairly well. 

As the two soldiers filed out of the office, Hadrian noted with some satisfaction that the elemental’s head was hung, as though ashamed of his actions, mirroring the hunched posture of the pilot behind him. 

Good, he thought, at least he’s willing to chew his own man’s ass.

“Come in,” came the officer’s voice, low and rich. Well, thought Hadrian, time to pay the piper.

The Star Colonel was not at all like Hadrian had expected. Despite the rumors of just how advanced the Clans’ genetic manipulation could get, he still expected a fully human, if exaggerated, form. 

What faced him instead was closer to a biological version of his own form than anything else, the features of an anthropomorphic jaguar staring impassively at him as he entered. Despite the man’s gargantuan proportions, he still wore an expertly-tailored uniform, bearing the symbols and iconography of the new Star League, a stark contrast to Hadrian, who wore only the same leather jacket he’d been wearing since he gained his new body, itself only a resizing of the jacket he’d worn as a mechwarrior of the Federated Suns. 

“Star Colonel Osis,” he said. “Major Hadrian Winters.”

“Major Winters,” the officer said, “Thank you for coming. Please, sit and tell me what has occurred. I have already heard the others’ accounts of the incident, but I find that in a story with two sides, the truth is, more often than not, somewhere in the middle.”

Hadrian paused a moment, cocking his head to the side, before relaying his side of the incident, unable to keep a note of confusion from his voice. Through it all, the Star Colonel simply listened, only occasionally interjecting with a clarifying question, for all intents and purposes the very portrait of quiet contemplation. 

As Hadrian finished his summary of events, the star colonel sat back, taking a deep breath and tapping a single clawed finger against the polished wood of his desk. For a long moment, there was nothing but uncomfortable silence, until the totem warrior spoke once more. 

“You understand that I cannot simply let this go?” his voice was stern, yet sympathetic, as though he were reprimanding an unruly child. 

And there it is, Hadrian thought bitterly. He can't punish the pilot for a mutually initiated fight, but he can sure as hell drag me over the coals for it.

“No Sir,” Hadrian says “I suppose you can't.”

“You attacked another soldier, and even if it was in defense of another, you could have seriously injured Point Commander Kevin if it had gone wrong.” The star colonel waited a moment, as though giving Hadrian the opportunity to interject, before continuing. 

“Not to mention, you used a sonic weapon to incapacitate and intimidate several soldiers and members of staff.” The officer paged through a document, seemingly a formal incident report of the situation, half-written. With a snap, he closed the manilla folder, placing it gently on his desk. 

“However,” he said, “you also intervened in the defense of another soldier's safety, perhaps even his life. In such circumstances, I am hesitant to assign a punishment too heavy.” His voice was meandering, tone rising and falling in a way that suggested a great deal of subtle enjoyment in this little ‘game’. “I believe that, after hearing all sides, I have found a consequence suitable to your actions.” his feline lips curled back in a strange imitation of a smile, one practiced and consciously performed. 

“I am assigning you extra duties for the next three weeks-” he said, and Hadrian prepared for the worst. Latrine duty, perhaps, or some other menial task, designed to humiliate and disgust him. “You will act as my personal chef, seeing as my last aide has recently taken leave of his senses.”

For a moment, Hadrian was dumbfounded, running a diagnostic scan on his aural pickups and re-running the stored data, but the message didn’t change. 

“Pardon?” he asked, utter confusion evident in his tone. 

The panther-man erupted in laughter, tears welling at the corner of his eyes as he slapped the desk. As he continued, Hadrian began to grow angry, infuriated that this Clan scum-rat would mock him. However, as the man’s laughter slowed, Hadrian began to realize that there was no guile in his tone, nor was there any cruelty in his laughter. “Pardon, he says.” the officer chuckles, wiping the stray moisture from his face. 

“If you’ve had quite enough, sir, I’d like clarification.” Hadrian said, doing his best to keep his frustration and rage out of his vocal buffer. 

“I mean exactly what I said, Major Winters.” the star colonel said. “I’ve heard that you are an excellent cook, and I am currently in need of someone to prepare my meals. If I rely on the base kitchens too much longer, I fear they may have my head.”

Hadrian was still confused, but at least now he was sure that it was the star colonel who was insane, not himself. It was true that he was a proficient cook. As a matter of fact, it was one of his favorite hobbies, cooking for others. It brought him no small amount of joy to see others enjoy his cooking, to reclaim one small part of a world forever lost to him, along with the flesh and blood he’d left behind decades before. 

In a flash, Hadrian saw the star colonel’s plan in crystal clarity. He didn’t want to punish Hadrian, but had to do so because regulation and duty demanded it. So, he’d chosen something he knew would be somewhat pleasurable for Hadrian, and something that would serve his own ends as well. 

He had to admit. For a Clan brute, it wasn’t a bad idea. 

“Very well, sir.” Hadrian said, with a nod carefully calculated to give an impression of sly acceptance. “I suppose that is a fitting punishment, under the circumstances.” 

There were many things that Hadrian disliked about the Star League, but maybe some of it wasn’t so bad, after all.

[martinys-world]

the girl (3)

I have chapter 4 half way done. I am just trying to clean it up and put some background in sliver. if everything go right I might get chapter 4 done quickly.anyone want to be my proofreader or editor. one more thing

“All mysteries get solve with time.”

I turn my head to the left to see that there was a lady in her late 30s, reading magazine . 

Simple black hair. That cover her eyes. I

“What do you mean.”

“Time comes with more clues to tell a story.”

“What if the story is so unbelievable.”

Pulling her sunglasses down with her magazine, Leaving it open on the page.  Her eyes were yellowish brown. Her eyes shine like a star at midnight. 

“Sometimes a story has a meaning, no matter to situation.”

“What if it feels like a memory?”

“that’s the thing with our brains. They closed off painful corridors. So, memories aren’t so clear. They can change a memory or event, so it is less painful. Making it harder to understand.”

“It takes time to heal. It takes time for more clues. It takes time to solve.” I said finally getting the bigger picture. 

“There you go.” 

“Would the whole brain be protecting me or whatever it’s called. would it change people or the beings in the memory.”

“It- “

“Hey sliver.”

 Our conversation was cut off with a voice. Losing focus of the nice lady. I saw tails coming without sonic. 

“Hey. All done?”

“Yes. Noah would be back in a minute. He had to go bathroom. We better pack up so we can split.”

Putting my journal in my bag, with my pen. having the page marked so I can continue to get at least some understanding of it. I wanted to at least thank the lady. Looking back at where she was. No one was there.  her magazine was flip open to the page she was reading

I walk over there. there was no cushion indent.  When I put my hand on where she was. Ice cold. The ice cold I thought I would have felt on that ape last night.  I look at the book she was reading. The only indicator that she was here. A random fmagazine that I read hundred and one times. 

What may my spine chill was the page, she was on had an ad about Colgate toothpaste. Lady had her hand wrap like she was going to a boxing match. The wrap in her mouth trying to show how strong her teeth are. I mean they shine and there getting the tooth paste across. The model was her.  Down to the very last detail. 

What made my blood turn cold that across the page was acritical. “Women died in multiple car pileup.”   farther down the article. it shows that same women by the way her name was Susie.  playing with her dog with her dog and a caption that says. 

At the ripe age of 38. Susie Cook was playing with her dog mere hours before her death. This was the last photo taken when she and her family playing in the back yard. I am petrified. Am I the new ghost whisper? was I talking to a dead person? No if she was a ghost. She wouldn’t be holding or moving this book, and she drop the magazines. The wind has not been strong enough to move an entire book. 

Her eyes held yellow in them not like this magazine. This has another mystery weren’t over it. 

“Sliver, are you okay?”

Looking at tails that eyed me up and down with worry. My big green bag was in his little arms. Quickly grabbing the bag, so he won’t hurt him self anymore. 

“I thought I saw something.” 

“Did you see a ghost?” 

I can't lie to a kid but I cannot fully tell him the turth. “I don’t think that possible.”

“Hey kris, sliver we got to go?”

Thank you, Noah.

Kris chasing his bigger brother. I look back and grab the magazine this was defiantly going into the journal. This is too crazy to not too.

______________________________________________________________

the girl chapters: (1) (2)

tags:@apexprime

[true-blue-sonic]

Would you say that Silver is empathetic?

Hmm, I find that an intriguing question. Let's see... One definition of empathetic is "having the ability to imagine how someone else feels". Empathy meanwhile means "the ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person's situation". Thus, it means that you experience the same as another person going through an emotion in a situation: if they are happy, you are; if they are sad, you are. This is how empathy differs from sympathy, which is that you feel understanding and care for someone when they are suffering. They are thus slightly different: the best sentence I found that describes it is "sympathy is feeling for someone, while empathy is feeling with someone".

So, for Silver to be empathetic, it would mean that he can both imagine how someone else feels and can feel the same, apparently based on his own personal experiences. And thus, I find this question hard to answer, because I find it difficult to objectively prove when a character is feeling an emotion that another is also feeling in a game. But that being said, we do see Silver express sorrow a few times when bad things happen to those around him. The main scene I have in my head is '06, where the Duke has just died and the Flames of Disaster are sealed in child!Elise. It is a bit hard to tell with the awkward yoinky movements, but Silver seems quite distraught:

Notably, in the first picture he's not blinking: his eyes stay closed for far longer than just a blink (about 2 seconds, I would say). In grief, perhaps? Elise just took on a huge plight while having no say in it at all and the Duke died, and Silver is notably not immediately running off to take the princess to a safe place like her father asked; instead he seems remarkably stricken by it all, like he needs some time to process it.

In the cutscene after, where Shadow and Silver meet up again, Silver's response to Shadow's question if he "did it" (seal Iblis), Silver's answer is a "...Yes. The 'Flames' are properly sealed". There's a bit of pause before he answers, and he's also not looking at Shadow while he says it. And when Shadow tells him it is time to return, Silver responds with another hesitant "Yes... Of course...", that his voice actor makes sound almost unwilling. He has also not moved from Elise's side the whole time since putting her down against the tree. And in his own story after Shadow has left, he very tenderly gives her his Chaos Emerald with the urging that it is a lucky charm, when he hears her call out for her father. I think all that combined can be seen as an indication that he feels very bad for her. And lastly, when Elise dies, he also seems to hold himself back in sadness for a bit, with his head drooping and his hands balling into fists:

What is also interesting is his argument with Amy in '06, wherein she chastises him for wanting to kill Sonic. He's clearly thrown off by it and is left saddened as she leaves him:

And more importantly, the reason Silver came to the past, namely to stop the Iblis Trigger and his actions, gets put a temporary stop to. In the cutscene after, Silver specifically wonders if it is right to kill someone to save the world: in other words, is it alright to hurt one person to help many? The fact that he can muse it over and the fact he is thinking in terms of 'hurting' and 'helping' others might relate to sympathy and empathy. He's clearly seen that there is someone out there who loves an alleged to-be-world-destroyer and who would follow that person to the end of the world. I would say the fact the Iblis Trigger is cherished by someone is making Silver hesitant about killing him, because there are others (alongside Sonic himself) that will be hurt by Sonic's death. That does feel like empathy to me.

But with those examples from '06 out of the way... I cannot think so much of other games wherein Silver expresses either sympathy or empathy for other people. Definitely not in the Rivals games, Colours DS, or Generations, because there's just nothing dramatic and saddening like deaths and stuff happening in those games. Maybe in Forces? When the Resistance is infiltrating the Death Egg, Silver heatedly says "That's one more thing Eggman will answer for!" when Vector and Espio imply that Eggman apparently murdered/otherwise rid himself of his prisoners there. However on the other hand, Silver kind of doesn't really express either sympathy or empathy when Amy is sad about Sonic having "died" in Forces: he focuses more on (bluntly) underlining the facts of the situation they are in, namely that Sonic is "dead" and Tails has "just lost it". But then again, in the Japanese version he's a bit more kind about it, saying he "wishes he could believe that, but the reality is..." instead. Although, that could be more his direct and self-proclaimed realistic nature and the fact Sonic has been "dead" for six months already, maybe?

So... yeah. I think overall, Silver is susceptible to feeling sadness when bad things are happening around him, especially in the heat of the moment. He can also think about what consequences his actions have on others, especially related to causing them hurt. And he can express anger at the mistreatment others have faced. But perhaps the best way I can put it is simply that Silver isn't involved in so many stories that have things happening where you would expect empathy, so to say. The main game that I would say had a dramatic story with many saddening plot points was '06, where we see him be rather distraught at Elise's and the Duke's fates. That aside, there aren't many games that come after that have him in it and that focus on plots like that. So my answer overall is that Silver can indeed feel saddened or angry concerning others' situations, but it is not often shown because the plots do not dive into such situations much. And whether he feels sympathy or empathy, I am not too sure: at the top of my head, I cannot think of an example wherein Silver expresses the same emotions as another because he is putting himself in their shoes.