#and then maria happened

[98chao]

[cherbearsz]

when shadow says to nine that "it was all about power", he says it like he's familiar with that motivation, like it was once shadow's goal as well, that he too had been reprimanded with the same accusation. and we know in the games that shadow has sought power! whether it be a "jewel containing the ultimate power", or destroying the earth, or black doom weaponizing his grief, confusion, and rage for conquest.

shadow's insistence on nine's villainy and his eagerness to be the one responsible for nine's defeat - all directed at a character he barely knows - switches from somewhat disproportionate to entirely justified when you realize shadow does in fact know nine, nearly as well as he knows himself. because nine IS shadow - a shadow without support, a shadow alone and discarded by everyone, a shadow whose maria came back only to dash his own hopes and dreams apart.

[nounaarts]

His farts smelled so bad

[tollsoftheclockwerkbelle]

what gets me about the shadow/maria dynamic is that it takes the trope of "weak helpless girl dies for a tragic plot device" and subverts it

Maria wasn't helpless in her fate. She did have a choice. Shadow would have been strong enough to protect them both (Where else could they even go? Would he need to hurt someone?) but instead she made a choice to protect Shadow.

Shadow's story isn't tragic because he failed to protect Maria and now spends the rest of his life tormented over it. Shadow's story is tragic because he is the strongest creature alive, but raw power isn't always enough, and his loving friend made a sacrifice to let him go hoping she was giving him a chance to learn compassion because she was strong!

Maria's purpose isn't that she's a weak little girl who dies. Maria's legacy is that she protects the strongest creature alive, and teaches it the strength of love.

Her character gives the moment purpose, not the other way around. Her willingness to die so he can go free, asking him to use his strength to protect the people of Earth, despite everything. It's her proof of love that gives Shadow's burden that kind of extreme weight. Shadow will live forever and with so much limitless power, would life be easy to discard without a second thought? Not Maria's. Not when she asked him to protect it. That weight will remind him, always.

[anwn]

shadow the hedgehog looks like that bc he was made to cater to the interests of a 12yo girl. hes a weapon of mass destruction but hes also her guardian and a little guy thats why hes so silly looking like an emo carebear. "shadow is a cartoon hedgehog bc hes based on ancient murals" my ass. if u were a preteen wouldnt u want to customize your personal care aide to be a cool looking anthro cartoony animal with stripes and eyeliner and spiky hair? yeah thats what i thought

[thelandswemadeofpaper]

I had the weirdest and silly idea and I was a bit worried if I should share, but this is Tumblr so....

You know when some mothers playful say to their babies 'oh! You are so cute! I could just eat you!' and stuff like this?

Imagine if one of the original Olympians (Kronos's kids)'s lover said it?

The Olympian in question:

Probally Maria since they had a second kid, so they have a longer relationship and most likely interacted with the kids as babies/toddlers

Maria: I wasn't serious, Hades! It was just baby-talk!

Hades, holding little Nico after snatching him off her arms: WHO JOKES ABOUT THAT KIND OF THING?

[lucky-draws]

low quality snakes and ocelots

[robertdowneyjjr]

a soulmates au where your words only show up after you’ve met your soulmate. sort of like an insurance policy, you know, so you’re not left wondering whether every other person you meet is the one if your words are too generic.

in this universe, captain america has been recovered and active for several years now. he runs missions and saves the world with his ragtag team of superheroes formed by SHIELD. steve's become a celebrity, which he doesn't love, but it's something he learns to live with because that's life for public figures in the 21st century.

tony never became iron man because he walked away from his father's legacy the second he turned 18. he and howard are still working on their relationship, but maria couldn't be prouder and tells tony so everyday. he built his own company from the ground up and it's thriving under his leadership. he's only marginally famous these days and he tries his best to stay out of the limelight, guarding his private life as much as possible. that's how it's been for twenty years and he's happy.

they meet on a day when steve is tired, irritable and angry. he's just returned from a mission where two of his teammates were injured because of the faulty information they received. he goes out on a walk to let off some steam and he's just slipping his phone back into his pocket after rejecting fury's fifth call for a debrief when he slams right into tony.

tony was having a good day. he'd just sent out a new set of designs and decided to reward himself for it. he goes and gets himself a fresh, delicious, life-affirming cup of coffee and is just stepping out of the cafe with aforementioned cup when a walking brick wall comes out of nowhere.

good news is, tony had ordered a cold brew. once every few weeks that's just what he's in the mood for and it had been one of those days. bad news is, instead of drinking it he is now wearing it.

sticky and cold and more than a little shocked, tony barely has time to recover and figure out what happened when steve starts tearing into him.

“god damn it, watch where the fuck you’re going! that could have spilled all over me! idiot!” steve yells at tony. and on a normal day, he’d be apologetic and he’d never curse like this at a stranger. but he really didn’t need yet another thing to go wrong today and he’s on a short fuse.

maybe later, when he’s calmed down, he’ll think back on the cute man with the giant brown eyes staring at him in disbelief and start beating himself up over how he behaved.

at the moment, all tony can do is look at steve’s pristine white t-shirt that somehow has not a single drop of coffee on it, then look back down at his own chest. he has no words except, “wow. you’re a fucking asshole.” and he just turns around and walks away.

tony gets home and strips off for a rinse before he gets ready for his flight to london for a week of meetings. all the while he can’t help but think that angry blond man looked vaguely familiar and he can’t place where he knows him from. he doesn’t notice the new string of words tattooed down the side of his thigh until he’s in his hotel room half a day later.

meanwhile, steve gets home after his walk, after he’s checked on his teammates, after sitting with fury for three long hours to debrief, and finally washes the day off of him. before he gets into the shower, he notices something different about his reflection.

along his left bicep are the words, wow. you’re a fucking asshole.

he thinks back on the cute man with the big brown eyes and a chest full of coffee and wonders how in the hell he can fix this mess.

[triple-starsss]

When Eggman started looking for people to form a band he knew he had a criteria he wanted to check off:

musically inclined (obviously)

young

no experience in being in a more 'formal' band (ie labels, managers, ALL THAT STUFF) he needed to make sure that they wouldn't understand that his form of band management is a lot more controlling than what it should be.

and if possible, already a little well known (like maybe they've performed at small gigs before or had a video go viral or something)

he got orbot and cubot to compile a list of people that would tick these check boxes !!(my guy does not have time to be scrolling and looking for people in the city who'd be good candidates for his band, he has nefarious plans to make).

eventually he received said list- looking through it only two really seemed to stand out, both hedgehogs, Sonic and Silver.

Sonic was known for his street performances, he'd play his guitar in the city centre as a way to share his love for playing as well as earn a little extra cash on the side, he was liked and people knew him well enough.

Silver had once posted a cover of a song on social media (team chaotix insisted he do it abskhd they encouraged him to share his talent with the world!!) and it got pretty popular fast!!

both with zero experience in doing anything professional and they seemed to lead fairly mundane and normal lives.

but two members for a band felt REALLY slim, he needed atleast one more member. but again none of these other people felt like good fits- and a band of hedgehogs, he could go somewhere with that. THEN HE REMEMBERED HIS COUSIN SHADOW.

and from then on he contacted them with INCREDIBLY vague info on what he was planning and bam Triple☆S was formed o7

[fizzytoo]

furnishing a cozy lesbian bar !

[whenthegoldrays]

The thing about the Maria and Henry scandal is that it was so stupidly avoidable. Over and over again, they were given the opportunity to not do what they did. Sir Thomas gave Maria full agency to go back on her engagement when he saw that she didn’t love Rushworth, but she didn’t. Henry didn’t need to go to London and see Maria, but he did. Maria was cold to him because she wanted nothing more to do with him and he didn’t walk away. He pressed on. He didn’t even want to have an affair — he was in love with Fanny! He had exactly zero need to fall in with Maria again and yet he did. And she gave the final push. It’s like a Greek tragedy. At once so avoidable and so unavoidable.

[thou-babbling-brook]

They like his ass

[themetallicnemesis]

Some human versions :]

[sporesgalaxy]

umineko posting jumpscare but for the record i would simply not be mean to maria ushiromiya ever even in the most scary witchy murdery circumstances because i get what it is like to be a creepy little girl. rip to the ushiromiyas but im different

[hishighnesstheprincess]

You guys ever think about Gerald messing with Shadow’s memories of Maria? How we have nothing other than Shadow’s memories of Maria to know her by. Do you think he changed more than her final wish? Was she really a force of pure good like she is in his memories? Were the blemishes smoothed over, the happy times emphasized just to make Shadow feel her loss all the more sharply? A girl who’s nothing more than a ghost constructed of memories we know are faulty.

Who was Maria?

[be-an-echo]

from another mother...

the day when Tess and Maria got shitfaced