#bad dad eggdad

[generic-sonic-fan]

Transcendence

Summary: The Chaos Emeralds grant power to those with the will for them. 

Seek all seven, and your conviction can reshape reality. 

Word count: 4257

Metal Sonic remembers the first time he touched an Emerald. 

(When he finally starts winning, of course. Or, at the very least, not losing. When his body is finally fast enough to obey his will, fast enough to steal the gemstone from where it lays before an organic hand can reach it instead.)

Metal Sonic remembers how it thrummed against his palm plating. 

(He should feel nothing. Dr. Ivo Robotnik, as referred to on days he succeeded, or Master, as referred to everytime else, had removed his tactile sensors in a bid to shave more weight off his frame. What need is there to be precise when the aim is to kill and one’s entire self is the knife?)

Metal Sonic remembers the surge of energy. Emergency insulation systems had snapped into place, redirecting the chaos away from his processor and back into his chest turbine. 

(Metal Sonic remembers a whisper.)

(A tugging from the deepest recesses of his processor.)

(But the connection is severed before it can form, discharged out the hole where his heart should be, just like every other burning spark he might contain.)

—

There is a first time that he witnesses Chaos Control. Shadow disappears from the battlefield and into a realm of perception beyond that which scanners can penetrate. There is no time to react, for an ordinary Badnik. The Egg Pawns are trapped in the span between milliseconds. 

But Metal Sonic feels something. Behind. Above. In that span between milliseconds, he rotates around to face it.

But his body betrays him. He is not fast enough. Shadow’s downward kick sends him tumbling onto the rocks below. 

—

“Now that’s a curious development,” his master says upon reviewing the memory file. “How’d you know he’d be there?”

Metal Sonic knows better than to reply to the rhetorical musings of a genius at work.

“You don’t have the sensors for it.” 

Not anymore. Those were removed three defeats ago, outsourced to a handheld scanning unit that could be discarded upon entering battle. The modification had shaved off three whole pounds. 

“Some sort of new tactical positioning calculation you came up with? Or a mere lucky guess?”

A guess, Metal Sonic replies over the data cable. 

“Correct answer. Your operating data doesn’t show any particularly useful thinking on your part.” His master smiles. 

His master’s foreign program retreats from his memory banks. The extraction drags its pointed barbs against the other segments of his operating system. Metal Sonic stays very, very still. The data cable is pulled without warning, taking a few lines of him with it, but it is easier to stitch over the tear himself once his master leaves the room than to mention the damage. 

—

Metal Sonic remembers the first time he saw him use it. 

His body has failed yet again. Sonic’s hand brushes the glassy cyan surface, and before Metal Sonic can lunge, there is a flash, and he is gone. 

Behind. Below. At the bottom of the temple stairs Sonic stands and smiles. 

“Pretty neat trick, huh? Shadow passed it along.”

Metal Sonic redirects all power to his turbine system. He shoots forward and his claw scrapes Sonic’s tan cheek before it disappears. Above, to the right. This time he doesn’t try to face the source. He maintains his trajectory and Sonic reappears to kick nothing but empty air. 

“Okay, maybe it’s not that neat of a trick.” Sonic is still grinning. “But it’s one you can’t do.”

Metal Sonic swerves his head around faster than his programmed tolerances should have allowed him. But his wretched organic copy has unwittingly spoken the key. Other core directives fall away, leaving his consciousness with a single command. Maintain superiority. Remind the rodent of his match. 

Metal Sonic activates his reverser and in the span between milliseconds he is flung backwards with enough g-forces to pop a few soldered connections from his motherboard. His body bludgeons into Sonic, knocking the Emerald from his grasp. It tumbles across the uneven yellow bricks of the temple, as they do. Sonic hits the floor first. His shoulder digs into a outcrop in the brick, but Metal Sonic does not linger long enough to hear a cry spill out. He jumps off and scrabbles across the floor, claws reaching for cyan.

It’s calling him. Ahead. Ahead. 

He brings it into his palm and it thrums.

(This time it offers warmth. Warmth, like that of flesh and blood pressed against his plating. Ghosts of Amy’s touch where he’d held her as he’d carried her on Little Planet. Touches that had been erased from his files upon the removal of his tactile sensors.)

And the energy beckons. 

(A whisper.)

But the surge protection activates, and insulation is slammed onto the wires running up his spinal column. The energy is expunged out the back of his turbine like it always has and not for the first time does Metal Sonic wish to rip his plating off to reshape himself. He chooses instead to use the burning for what little use it gives and takes off, shattering a hole through the brick wall of the temple. 

He does not realize what he’s left behind until another shockwave joins his own from the ground. The rest of him wakes from its dream. Targeting protocols, force calculations, and kill simulations slam back into his awareness. 

He’d turned his back on Sonic instead of killing him. But where he expects to find disgust at the concept, he merely finds the thrum of the Emerald, fainter now but still registerable to his non-existent sensors.

He abruptly changes course for the coastline and is able to lose Sonic amongst the waves. 

—

“A success! A good long while since we’ve had one of those from you, isn’t it?”

Metal Sonic places the Emerald into Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s waiting palm. The man’s mustache twitches as he studies the crystal. His eyes do not dart about the many multitudes of reflections behind the glass. His hand does not shift around the surface in time with its pulse. He places it into a holding container. 

“Well done. I’ve tracked Prower’s plane to a small soiree back on the mainland. Where there’s the fox, there’s him. I’ll allow you a free fight for once.”

Metal Sonic points to the Emerald. 

“What?” Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s brows narrow. 

He lowers his hand. 

“I’m not going to let you hand Sonic back the Emerald when you inevitably lose.”

He shakes his head.

“No. Now go fulfill your function.” Dr. Ivo Robotnik grabs his shoulder and pushes him to the door. “I’ll be waiting to receive your distress signal.”

—

The biplane designated as The Tornado had been modified to utilize an Emerald when one was available to achieve supersonic speeds. And here, in this tiny municipal airport, unguarded in a hangar with only a feeble padlock on the door, is the plane. Metal Sonic grabs the padlock and pulls until the metal is twisted and useless. 

His processor continues to tick upwards in framerate. His targeting protocols jump at shadows and his logic processing suggests a trap. Even as his cameras adjust to the light of the interior, he is still in the dark; he doesn’t have a scanning unit with him. He is throwing away an opportunity for an ambush and defying the mission commands on a “guess”. If he withdraws now, there will still be time to plan the encounter and explain the deviation in his flight path. 

Metal Sonic crosses the concrete floor until his claws hover just above the red skin of the plane. He recalls the file where he’s attempted to codify the sensation given by the Emeralds into readable bits of data, but the clusters of numbers are hardly more than gibberish. There is no special calculation to generate more, no secret scanner setting to employ; nothing in the memory files to review, as his master so astutely observed. 

The plane waits before him.

He tears open the engine compartment and yellow light floods the hangar. The tips of his claws scratch the crystalline surface-

(-and he hears music. Not being played from a speaker driver, but as if all the air itself is being plucked like a string, the sound too big to be contained in such a space. Echoes reflecting, twisting, turning off the roof and floor and spilling into the spaces between the boards of his central processing unit.)

(As if he is singing.)

-before alarms ring out. Metal Sonic snatches the Emerald from its casing. The song dies as the surge protection clamps down on his body. He bursts from the hangar and dives into the surrounding forests, weaving through trees until he hits the edge of land. On the beach behind, another trail of sand is kicked up before his own has a chance to settle, but its creator is forced to stop short of the water line. 

Metal Sonic can’t allow himself to look behind until he reaches the base on a distant shoreline. He cuts his turbine, ending the brilliant ejecta behind him, and falls. His feet hit just short of the landing pad and impact the soil between superstructures. It is here that he whispers to the Emerald, some voiceless combination of coaxing and pleading, but there is nothing in response except the hot fire building in his chassis. The Emerald pulses weakly. Its warmth caresses his neck but can travel no further. 

He presses the Emerald against his forehead.

(He presses the Emerald against his forehead.)

And he feels the dirt beneath his feet (coarse, powdery) and the wind against his skin (smooth, cooling) and the sun on his face (warm, radiating across his cheeks) and the music spills forth, softly bowed strings beneath the whistles of birds. He smells flowers (he shouldn’t) and tastes honey (he can’t) and there is nothing to analyze, nothing to calculate. His processor is still. 

(All is well. He can understand this now.)

—

He reappears in his master’s workshop and clatters to the ground. He is assaulted with every variant of error warning that his diagnostic programs can bludgeon him with, but the codes slip past his awareness like the smoke billowing between his fingers. 

—

“A chaos control.”

Metal Sonic awakens.

“You know, I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t checked the cameras.”

It hits him again. The weight. The analysis and calculations and scanning, scanning, scanning; no instances of Sonic the Hedgehog found, but that readout is not enough to calm the chorus. It all comes back and it’s all he can do to steel himself enough to keep processing his master’s words. 

“Still- what brought that on? Did you even know it would work?”

His master’s program prods him through the data cable. Yes, he responds. 

(There’s no data to support this conclusion.)

“. . . do you think you can do it again?”

Yes, he affirms. 

Dr. Ivo Robotnik laughs, and laughs, and laughs, claps his hands together, and smiles. The workshop becomes a flurry of movement and somewhere in the carnage Metal Sonic’s head plating is unscrewed and tools jammed inside. He offlines himself to prevent any program corruption during modification. 

—

He awakens again and it’s three days later. There’s an Emerald on the counter ahead of him and Dr. Ivo Robotnik waits behind a wall of thick glass. Metal Sonic stands. Checks his diagnostics. Surge protection has been removed. 

He grabs the Emerald and it burns. Liquid hot fire spills overs his head and flames lick at the corners of his visual sensors. Where is the cool breeze? Why does this hurt? Why does-?

—

He should have expected this. The Emerald is nothing more than a new master. When he wakes and the gem lies in front of him, he bows his head. He grasps the crystalline surface and allows it to consume him. Change me, use me, he begs, and if it responds he hears nothing of it besides the scream of overloaded wiring and the dripping of melted insulation.

—

“I expected results.”

Metal Sonic sits on the table and stares at his original master’s feet. 

“You are wasting my time. My valuable time, spent repairing a malfunctioning robot!”

He is slapped across the faceplate by a glove thick enough for the perpetrator to feel as much as he does, an equal amount of nothing. More words. The repairs have grown haphazard and his audio fizzes as his left audial sensor quits completely.

“One last chance. One, last, chance! Then we’re done with this silly little venture, and you’ll be taking a long vacation in storage until I can come up with a way to make you useful again.”

His master steps aside, revealing the taunting yellow glow emanating from the pedestal. The light from Metal Sonic’s own irises is refracted amongst the hundreds of edges within. He slides off the table. He walks, forward, enough for the glow to bathe his surface. He listens, not with his audial sensors. The hum is faint, but-

His master shuffles his shoes against the floor and coughs. Metal Sonic pictures snapping to him, clenching his throat shut, silence, silence, before he realizes what he’s done. Reprimand programs slam red over his vision; he disguises the shudder with another step forward. He can’t cling to the fleeting image as it’s erased, can’t create it again. 

He looks at the Emerald.

He pictures his claw crushing it, shattering it into a thousand shards. No reprimand touches this vision. 

He snatches the Emerald from the counter. The surge scorches its way through his arm and up his torso and when it reaches his head he clenches the crystalline surface harder. 

(And he envisions it, envisions its demise, in the span between milliseconds, he takes it through every variation of shattering, the shards painting trajectories of shards across the workshop floor. It burns-)

(And he burns back.)

Like a whip he snaps his own willpower to the space ahead. 

(A chord soars out of the Emerald, clean and crisp and clear in both audial sensors.)

A bright flash.

(He is floating. A bright light is behind him, but he cannot turn his head to face it. Something caresses his faceplate. It is the same area that his master had struck. This touch is. . . soft.)

And he is dropped. He lands on both feet on the other side of the pedestal, but diagnostics show that he has not fired his turbine to achieve this effect. 

The Emerald pulses in his hand. Its burning creeps back up his neck, but a quick lash of his will cools the temperature to a level where he can process again.

“Well, well! Seems you finally had it in you!”

Dr. Ivo Robotnik strolls over. He reaches down and his glove brushes against Metal Sonic’s shoulder before he recoils.

“Hot! Hot! Good grief, how could you possibly be withstanding those operating temperatures?!”

Metal Sonic turns to the man. He locks his irises with the whites of his eyes. 

“Well? Are you going to give me a diagnostic report? We need more data before I let you use this in combat with Sonic, you know.”

Metal Sonic teleports over to the computer and begins typing up his report. 

—

“Bringing that, for me? What, you have a change of heart or something?” Sonic flicks his nose and grins.

Metal Sonic does not imitate his taunt. He doesn’t need to, not anymore. He clutches the Emerald tighter. Instead of wind blowing through trees, or useless lesser organics chirping and singing in their futility, there is only music. 

(And he is humming along.)

Sonic charges. 

(A crescendo.)

And Metal Sonic appears behind him, swinging a kick that connects to the side of his head. The inferior hedgehog flies into the cliff face. A rock breaks open, bathing his frame in a red glow. 

(Like sunlight warming the surface of the water, this revealed Emerald offers him. Soft, like red sand between your toes.)

He focuses his intention and appears beside the red Emerald, plucking it from the shattered rocks. Sonic lies on the ground ten feet away. Vulnerable.

(playing dead, a whisper offers where his own processing cannot. Exploiting gullibility. Trained reaction. Disengage.)

Protocols scream against the action, but a quick burst of Chaos energy dulls their roar as Metal Sonic uses the power from both Emeralds to retreat. 

—

“You marked Sonic was vulnerable there, didn’t you? Why did you not engage?” Dr. Ivo Robotnik points to the footage. 

Metal Sonic cannot look to the screen- moving his head that far would unplug the cable feeding the very screen. 

I’m not going to let you hand Sonic back the Emerald, he recalls the memory and projects it onto the screen.

“Yes, of course, and I’m certainly grateful for the extra Emerald. It’s simply. . .” The doctor puts his hand on his chin. “Simply that you’ve become better at long-term planning, that’s all.”

Metal Sonic finds the red Emerald on the pedestal across the room. It’s joined the other two. Four pedestals left. Dr. Ivo Robotnik unplugs the cable and Metal Sonic’s thoughts are his own once more. 

“It was inevitable, of course! Eventually you would catch a clue- you’re my creation, after all. I’m grateful it was sooner rather than later.”

It was not your development, Metal Sonic thinks. 

Dr Ivo Robotnik’s smile does not waver. 

—

It’s difficult, having sensation. His fingertips buzz, searching for stimulation as if they possessed a separate processing unit from his own. It’s cold, within Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s metal walls and testing rooms. The air is dry, like a desert should be, or so the yellow Emerald tells him.

(It makes him cough, when he forgets that he does not have lungs.)

The white Emerald is buried under sixteen feet of snow in a glacier. When he retrieves it, he offers it a memory of the memory of sunlight, and it accepts not unlike a starving organic with a meal,

(mouth salivating, stench intoxicating, stomach throwing an odd equivalent of damage errors. Then a relief unlike any he’s ever felt before. For a moment, he is sated. Whole.)

The blue Emerald lies on the seafloor. 

(It offers him darkness. True darkness of the visual spectrum, shedding the flickering of ultraviolet and the false hum of infrared. Scanning is impossible. In the one environment on the planet where Sonic cannot go, there is something called peace.)

(All is well, he understands again, until Dr. Ivo Robotnik requests a status report.)

—

He doesn’t need the handheld scanner to find the Emeralds any longer. Once Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s satellite scanners detect a positive, it is quick to search the hundred-mile radius. The prior three sang, their chords growing thunderous with his approach.

Something is different with this one. Something is wrong. 

(Levity. He finds himself rising in altitude if he doesn’t focus on his flight path. The air is smooth across his skin, twirling around from his waist to his hips. Soft laughter.)

He has no skin. He cannot laugh. This is wrong. But the sensation of elation only increases as he follows his course. By the time he reaches the junkyard, he feels like he is glowing. Like his body is somehow part of him, not just a disobedient tool his consciousness inhabits. This cannot possibly be a sensation organics experience.

He stomps through the rusted metal plates and other refuse piled around him. He crushes glass underfoot, but he feels nothing.

(Incorrect. He is flying, but his turbine is not activated. The air continues to swish around his feet and over his skin in such an elegant way. Sing, it urges. You are brilliant.) 

Metal Sonic grabs an I-beam from the hill of garbage ahead of him. His claws pierce through the metal as if it were just a flower petal, before he throws it to the side. The purple Emerald lies perfectly seated in a half-broken pipe. 

He grabs his forearm as he did with the I-beam and holds it to the mocking gem. 

(Is that who you are?)

Metal Sonic pauses.

(An identity, it suggests, is a distinction of one from another. It is something that is comfortable, something that does not prickle at your skin whenever heard.)

Metal lets go. The Emerald is lifted from the refuse. The robot turns the gemstone about.

Neo, the Emerald whispers.

(A woman’s voice is laughing. She is laughing so hard that she cannot catch her breath. Tears slip out of her eyes and run down her faceplate, dripping off her nose and onto her skirt. She holds the Emerald in her hands. She is laughing. She is crying.)

Neo looks up to the sky. She wipes away the memory of tears with her free hand, tucking the purple Emerald close to her chest. 

—

The last Emerald lies in the possession of Shadow the Hedgehog, and it is against this opponent that Neo is not in any way restricted. Not so long ago she might have dismissed this small mercy as a trap, but now she is undeterred. She follows the scent of the green Emerald to a jungle thick with vines; through these vines cuts her target. He’s alone. 

She grasps the purple Emerald tight against her palm but Shadow skids to a halt in a small gap in the foliage. He glares at the Emerald in his hand.

“Alright, I’m here,” he mouths. “Now what?”

Neo hums and teleports behind him. As his head turns over his shoulder, she yanks the Emerald from his grasp and sends all of the energy from his shock to her turbine, kick-starting her ignition. She sails skyward. Shadow the Hedgehog can do little more than hover above the treeline in her wake.

(This Emerald offers her the planet, glowing green and blue below the stillness of space Energy courses through her, both exhilarating and painful. Beside her is a person she trusts and above her is a purpose she for once identifies with.)

She accepts the memory with appropriate gratitude before pushing it to the back of her processor. She calculates the flight path back to the workshop and tears across the sky.

—

Neo brings the last two Emeralds to the room where the other five are held. She is holding her breath. Her feet are hardly her own. What she once called a chorus before was hardly a whisper compared to the cacophony of energy before her, caressing her, beckoning-

A hand clamps around her forearm.

“Not yet, my creation.” Dr. Ivo Robotnik purrs. “I’m still coming up with a suitable scheme.”

(Energy crackles in Neo’s shoulders, but she keeps it there.)

“If you go super, what do you think you could achieve?”

A question she doesn’t know the answer to. 

“Now come on. To the table with you.” Dr. Robotnik releases his hold.

She sets down the Emeralds. She steps to the diagnostic table, but stops as her gaze drifts to the computer cable. 

“Come on, up you go!” He smiles.

(Something has changed. Something has changed within her, something desperate and burning, and it is something that she cannot put out. The whites of his teeth flicker warnings in a language she could not translate to him.)

“Really? Malfunctioning now, after all this?” Her master sneers.

Neo pictures snapping to him, clenching his throat shut. Silence. 

Just. . . silence. Not a single reprimand program blares within her processor. She refocuses her optics and Dr. Ivo Robotnik is merely standing there with his hands on his hips.

She turns around and picks up the purple and green Emeralds. 

“Put those down!”

She walks forward to the pillars containing the rest of them. 

(As they glow, so does she. She knows this now.)

“What are you-? emergency shutdown code - - - - - - -!”

She turns around. The plexiglass containers shatter behind her and the Emeralds lift from her palms. 

“Override - - - -!” The man before her shouts. He then scrambles for the door.

(Heat. She burns brighter, brighter, brighter, scalding her plating and her processor, and everything else. Her optics fail first, followed by her audials. Her limbs lose power.)

(She gasps. Her lungs are on fire and her heart is racing. Each breath sucks in soothing cold air and she drinks it in.)

(Cool air swirls around her legs, except now it is more tangible. Her fingers travel to her thighs and find satin.) 

(She)

(opens)

(her)

(eyes.)

She bursts through the roof of the base and shoots across the sky. She is a star in the night. The eyes of the world are on her. She sings.  

—

She awakens in a field of green. The wind blows across her skin, cooling her from the heat of the sun. The air whistles through the grass and into her nose. The scent of flowers fills her. She exhales, and her breath tastes like honey. 

She stands. Waits. But the sensations do not leave her. She scans the grass around her, but the Emeralds are nowhere to be found. The fire in her chest is gone. 

“All is well,” she whispers, and thinks, thank you. 

The last of their energy caresses her cheek, before disappearing in a mote of light. 

She bunches the fabric of her skirt in her hands and makes her way to the treeline.

[measlyfurball13]

This is going on the main blog because it's way too controversial for the Sonic blog, but- I wish the Sonic fandom could treat Eggman like how the Hollow Knight fandom treats the Pale King.

The Pale King, AKA, a character who is objectively a bad person and who did Horrible Warcrimes Things To Children, but is allowed to have multiple fan interpretations. No one's denying the Crimes but he's allowed to be interpreted as a nice person or a mean person fanfic-by-fanfic. Some fics write him as a great dad, or at the very least a dad who's trying his best. Others (the ones more closely aligned to canon, arguably), write him as a horrible dad, or sometimes not even a dad at all.

Levels of meow-meow-ification with this character are also regulated in this way. Fics range from "he did nothing wrong!" to "he did everything wrong" and there's no fighting about it. It's a very effective institution of "don't like don't read".

There isn't any fighting about this. Nobody in the Hollow Knight tag is writing essays about "um Actually??? he's a horrible person so if you think otherwise. . .". All views of this character exist simultaneously, and people enjoy these different interpretations of this character side-by-side, jumping from "good dad" fic to "bad dad" fic with just a single click.

And GOD I wish that were the case for one Dr. Ivo Robotnik Eggman. I want to click on one fic where he's torturing children and then click to the next where he's giving them nothing more than an evil cackle and a pat on the back. This dude can contain multitudes.

"But Eggman has more canon!" bro the Sonic fandom has been ignoring canon it doesn't like for the past two decades. Why should we stop now??

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

the thing I love about eggman is that he's like. a c+ dad (to the kids he actually cares about). he's not terrible and he Does genuinely care for and love them but he's also an egotistical asshole who sees them as tools and extensions of himself he uses to fuel his ego. like he Does care for sage and metal and Wants to be a good parent to them but also his response to his teenage daughter having a psychotic breakdown was to mentally reset her (which fixed absolutely nothing, metal is Still like that bc like. bro you programmed her to go through 8 existential criseses a nanosecond that one is on you) and he’s proud of them because He Made Them. he’s like a mid tier parent not even bc he’s average just bc he’s both a really good parent in certain aspects and horrible in others and it averages out.

[neurotypical-sonic]

Obviously Sage and Belle are the main two brought up when referring to Eggdad being a bad dad because a) most blatant and b) recent but I feel like Metal deserves a part in this conversation too. Bro literally cannot talk and is forced to obey Eggman's commands even if they go against his personal wishes. It's better in the IDW comics but also I feel like Eggman could bsolutely give him the ability to speak and just... Doesn't

YES LIKE!!!! METAL HAS IT ROUGH!!!

he was modelled and coded directly after sonic, he is Meant To Be Sonic, who's entire thing is Freedom and Being Yourself. and eggman made metal to be devoted to him, to do everything for him. the two main things about metal are so conflicting idk what that must do to him. he has identity issues that eggman set him up to have from the start

and yes eggman loves metal and is proud of him.... when metal has done Good. as soon as metal inconveniences him or fails.

do have more thoughts in my head but cant translate them and if I kept waiting to be less foggy I would simply never answer this sndjd BUT I LOVE METAL SO MUCH!!! I love how messy and complex and fucked up his relationship is, it fuckin hurts to read about

[crusherthedoctor]

🍬 🧩

🍬 ⇢ post an unpopular opinion about a popular fandom character

Sage is still an overrated void of a character on her own who I struggle to take seriously for all her build up (NANANANAAAA), which would be unfortunate enough, but it's made a lot worse by how she affects Eggman's character for the decisively not-better. The latter is why ignoring her presence is not an option for me: I can't do that when they and everyone else keeps shoving the dynamic in my face.

"It won't make him softer! Wait and see!" Guess what, chum: I've been waiting and seeing, and so far I've not been swayed, since whenever they reference Sage (MoStH, Twitter Takeovers), it's to prop up how special she is to Eggman. That most of these post-Frontiers examples aren't fully canon doesn't change the impact they have on the fandom, nor does it change the fact that they're knowingly pandering to the Eggdad crowd. And on top of all that, fans like to sidestep the core issue that regardless of whether Eggman would be a good dad or a bad dad (spoiler: he'd be a bad one), him being a dad at all doesn't line up with the kind of person and villain he is.

Just because something works for Bowser, or some other villain, doesn't mean it works for Eggman. You can't just place square kegs in round holes and expect the same results, you gotta treat the character as them.

Also, "it won't make him softer" rings hollow when it comes from fans who sing up and down that Sage fleshes Eggman out, who make fics and fanart portraying him as a good father to her, who criticise Dream Team because Sage isn't on every wall and ceiling in Eggman's dreams. How am I supposed to be reassured when they loudly advocate for what they're telling me won't happen?

🧩 ⇢ what will make you click away from a fanfiction immediately?

Predictably, whatever I consider a detriment to Eggman's handling. Whether that be Eggdad, Sonegg, Mr. Tinker being passed off as Eggman's true self, muh Sonic X standards, getting killed off by Shadow Recolour #504, etc.

Beyond that, most fics that don't appeal to me have the courtesy to advertise themselves as such right out the gate, like high school fics, or adaptations of games that have already been tackled a thousand times (read: SA2). So at least with them, I know to just not bother with them and be on my merry way. For me to be actively reading a fic only to then be slapped in the face mid-read, it would usually require something seriously OoC or degrading, especially if it's a character I love. Like Rouge being made an outright villain because "that's what she was in SA2 (not really)". Or Tails being useless or small-time compared to "real" heroes like Shadow and Silver. A lot of fics also tend to flanderize Sonic's snarky side to the point of making him an unbearable arsehole, or go down the "marry me SONIKKUUUU or I'll kill you/myself/other lady" route with Amy.

For a pettier example, I tend to immediately peace out if I see any signs of the author fellating themselves over how superior and mature their writing is over SEGA/Sonic Team's. This was common even back in the 00's, and for obvious reasons, it's became twice as frequent over time. Coincidentally, many of these fics tend to have Archie/SatAM elements and influences.

[egg-emperor]

It sucks that Sonic Boom isn't being renewed because they could find some way to incorporate Sage. And Boom Eggman being the softie he is would praise her for even the smallest thing. I can see him actually being a kind of good dad in contrast to Mainline Eggman being just awful as a father.

Boom Eggman is the only version of Eggman I'd accept to be any modicum of a good dad. Making sure his daughter is well taken care of while also being her teacher in the art of evil. Being proud of her for every small act of evil. She could even screw him over once and he'd be like "that's so evil! That's my girl!"

That's just my take on it tho. I like the contrast between canon and boom Eggman.

Yeah I think the most popular but the canon divergent fanon version of Eggdad and Sage now would work perfectly fine with Boom Eggman, he's set up well for some version of Sage to be introduced to him.

Boom Egg isn't so bad, he's actually known to be lonely and want friends and family with his desires to befriend Sonic and co and what he had going on with Morpho and Mombot and such. Basically all the things people would like game Eggman to be, fully possible without malicious intentions or ulterior motives and more depth than modern Egg's shallow perception.

Plus I think the guy who has managed to have some genuine and friendly moments with Sonic and also managed to be concerned with the well being of a child like Beth the shrew and stuff would make a better father than the one who is always trying to kill kids in terrible ways and has very shallow self-centered and selfishly beneficial ways of caring about his creations at all lol

Boom Egg would enjoy having someone to teach evil who's genuinely enthusiastic without having to make them eat evil cookies if she had the same loyalty she does to modern Egg. She could please him much easier and he'd probably gush over her evil and emphasize it a lot fondly like how much he does with himself in the show.

I can definitely see him being so attached and proud of her that he'd react like that to anything evil she does even it were against him or at his expense in any way because he'd just think it further proves her greatness and how impressive it is. XD Depending on what abilities she has in the Boom verse she'd be one of his significantly greater creations.

She probably wouldn't be as big of a threat just like Boom Eggman isn't as much as modern but she'd especially be much higher up on the list than the majority of his other creations, which he'd appreciate her highly for. But also for the way she can feel like family to him and he could get the company and care from her that he's always not very secretly desired going by other bonds he's made.

I enjoy looking into and embracing vast differences between modern and Boom Eggman in personality and interactions, it's pretty interesting and fun. If Boom still existed and a version of the dynamic could've existed like that officially then everyone could've been happy and gotten what they personally wanted out of the character and father daughter dynamic.

[beevean]

"Sure, Eggman saving Tails from Orbot in Colors was uncharacterisically nice… but you’re not going to use an example from a game written by Pontaff[...] You would be consistent, right?" Hi there! I did just that; I wrote a post called "Eggman has always had redeeming qualities" that does cite that! (He actually saved Tails from Cubot in Lost World, but I get what you mean.) I like both Pontaff and Flynn! Pontaff brought final-boss Eggman back to 3D Sonic, which I liked along with Flynn's Eggdad.

Oh, hello! I have read your post :)

(ignore the typo lmao, yes I meant Lost World)

It's well written, but I disagree on a few fronts.

Eggman saved Sonic from the lava in Underground Zone, but I doubt that it comes from the goodness of his heart. At best, you can see it as Eggman wanting Sonic to die by his own hands - why would he place him in the pit where the Mecha Antlion rests? He wants his creation to kill his archnemesis. At worst, he knows that Sonic by that point should have a Chaos Emerald, so he won't take any chance.

Eggman doesn't want the world destroyed, that much is true. This is why Gerald's actions horrify him, and why the pedestal on which he put his grandfather broke in SA2. But it's because he wants to conquer the world for himself: he says as much in the cutscene before Sky Troops in ShTH. I also really wouldn't want to use Eggman's portrayal in that game to prove Eggman's best qualities: there is a whole path where Eggman takes delight in gaslighting Shadow for his own amusement, one of the few instances where he personally harms someone.

Speaking of which, while in English he implies that he cares about humanity's value, he's vaguer in Japanese: "He sold the planet's future for his own research results!?". Again, fits better with the idea that he wants the planet for himself.

And while on the subject, @colony-drop-program broke down the part where Eggman confesses the truth to Shadow during the Devil Doom battle much better than I ever could.

Eggman feeding Mr. Pickle is the bare minimum. Of course he'd need him alive, well and cooperative. Also, you mention Tails being kidnapped in S2 8-bit, but what about the fact that the bad ending is often interpreted as Eggman killing Tails? Technically it's not canon, but then again, the canonicity of the 8-bit games in general is up to debate.

Finally, my whole gripe with Eggdad is not that Eggman is a whole ass heartless monster straight from hell, or that being a dad is incompatible with being a villain. I also saw your post about how Eggdad makes Eggman more contemptible because he can understand love, he just doesn't care, which yea, in a vacuum, I agree with you. But I think Eggman developing nurturing qualities for an AI is OOC, for him, because no single positive trait of his would lead to him thinking of an AI as a daughter in an affectionate way, and there is proof upon proof of the opposite, Eggman mistreating his own creations and treating them as disposable, no matter how humanoid. Eggman being proud of the complexity of his creation? Absolutely, that is in character. Eggman going on an ego trip over how he created something very similar to life with his own hands, as one of the Egg Memoes says? Yep, also makes sense. Eggman getting emotional over the death of Sage? Unlikely, and also cheap since he was immediately able to recreate her from scratch, memories and all. It doesn't help that in the game itself, the two don't really... bond? Eggman spends most of his time bitching to Sage that he wants to get out. Besides, the fandom has already reduced Eggman to a softie, just like in the good Sonic X days, and not really considering the complexity of a fatherly villain - it doesn't help that Eggman does literally nothing in the game, let alone something evil, except for laughing at Sonic's comatose state. I have... a lot of problems with Eggman in Frontiers, and Eggdad was the last straw. Fun fact: Eggman's "feminist" trait is not present in the Japanese manual of Sonic Heroes, but it proves your point in a different way. Here's the page coming from this archived version:

As the name suggests, he's an evil genius scientist with a body like an egg. He boasts an IQ of 300 and he's an authority on robotics.

Although he is an evil genius scientist, he loves world domination, probably because of his childish personality. Despite failing many times in the past, he comes up with a larger-scale world domination operation every time!

Sonic, who always gets in his way, is truly his eternal nemesis. However, deep down in his heart, there seems to be a part of him that holds him in high regard, and he has a diligent side, to the point that he goes out of his way to send a letter of challenge.

I don't understand why the bio makes Eggman sounds like he has feelings for Sonic, but I swear that that's what "憎からず思っている" means, you can look it up :V and this exact description was recycled for Origins lmao. So, if you want to prove that Eggman is not completely rotten, there you go, he holds Sonic dear in his heart apparently!

And I agree that there is really no pragmatic reason why Eggman saved Tails in Lost World, and I do like his "I'm a complicated guy" line :)

I understand your stance, and you explained it well, especially in the more recent post. If I have to accept Eggdad, I'll definitely accept him as an hypocritical figure who only cares about his creation but won't extend the same empathy to the children he's trying to kill :P in any case, I appreciate that you came to me in a civil tone despite our divergences, it's not to take for granted ^^ obviously if you like both Pontaff and Flynn my snarky remark does not apply to you, I was talking about the ones who are very biased.

[hishighnesstheprincess]

Fault AU is about identity, how to forge a new identity for yourself, toxic relationships, breaking the cycle of abuse, and the duality between heroes and villains. Animorphs AU is about all the shit that Animorphs is about. Empty Space AU is about identity from a different angle, reclaiming your old identity, and family cus I'm nothing if not a predictable baby. Road Less Traveled AU is about all about just the various dynamics between the entire cast but there are more specific themes explored with each character and their closest loved ones. First One Out AU is about leadership from as many angles as I can possibly cram into it. This one Archie AU I don't have a name for yet is about trust and keeping pain confined to yourself. Mecha Sonic AU is about sacrifice and love in all it's various forms and also just pure suffering. Eggdad AU is about Eggman being a bad dad. Anomaly AU I just thought was a neat idea.

[blapis-blazuli]

I mean, yes, something about Eggman does radiate Dad Energy, at least to me (probably because at least half of his English VAs are dads in real life), but I highly doubt that's the kind of daddy you're talking about, anon, please don't do this to me

[author-main]

I read your eggdad info and the piece of warriors waying hyrule deserved the calamity for its cruelity. Now I think that if warriors knew how eggdad felt about wild he'd be like "you feel bad for him (as in wild)? I feel bad for you!"

Lol yeah. Egg dad and Wild's childhoods were different but Wars doesn't know that.

[generic-sonic-fan]

hhhhhhhhhhhhhtrhhhhhhth

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tra

transfem metal sonic and supporting eggdad

Please

Eggman may not be the best person or the best dad but by god he's trying his best. Thank you for this excellent prompt!

1772 words.

---

"Father?" Sage spoke through his headphones.

Ivo took them off his ears and swiveled his chair around to find his lovely daughter hovering just off the ground.

"Sage!" He smiled. "I was just waiting for you. I noticed that you marked this time on my calendar- what is it that you wanted to discuss?"

"I did," she said. "I had some questions."

He waited, but when she didn't continue, he furrowed his brow. "Then spit them out. I can't answer if you don't specify!"

"Of course. I wish to ask questions about the purpose of Metal Sonic's operation."

This was even stranger still. He caught a number of criticisms rising in his throat, about wasting his time or defying his command to be more specific. He didn't say them. A few months ago, he would've. This was a strange development, and it was best if he didn't devote much thought to the matter.

"Why was Metal Sonic designed to resemble Sonic?"

"You can check my development logs, can't you?" Ivo replied.

"Your intention was to create an imposter of Sonic to frame Sonic for crimes against the populace that he did not commit." 

Sage pulled up a holographic window next to her, showing the exact words Ivo had written in his notes all those many years ago. With a flick of her hand, however, she pushed the logs aside and instead showed a montage of Metal Sonic's various missions. Most end in failure, but that isn’t relevant right now.

"However," Sage noted, "you have never utilized Metal Sonic in this intended manner. In fact, the last person used to frame Sonic for something he did not do was Shadow the Hedgehog."

"You're right." Ivo put his hand on his chin. "Where are you going with this?"

"I am here to suggest that the physical resemblance is unnecessary for Metal Sonic's function."

"Well, that's silly to propose after all this time. His name is 'Metal Sonic', after all!"

"Because that unit has not decided on another name." Sage said, quieter.

"Sage, dear, you know that I don't allow you to keep secrets from me, right?" He stood from his chair.

"Apologies. Allow me to 'cut to the chase'. Would you permit Metal Sonic to change appearance and potentially identity?"

Sage's animations stopped moving, freezing her face into artificial neutrality. It was a face stylized to not provoke any sort of strong emotion at all, almost a sort of mask she could don if she was worried her words might provoke a negative reaction.

The fact that she was using it on him was making something in his chest hurt that he wasn't used to feeling pain in. He didn't have any more scientific language to describe it.

"You're asking this on Metal's behalf, aren't you?" He stated his question as the fact it was. "While I appreciate your desire to protect those you consider family, he shouldn't be making you do this sort of thing. You've got much better things to do with your time- and he doesn't need protection from me." 

Sage's steely gaze did not shift. "I will call Metal Sonic inside." 

Only a few seconds later, the door to his workshop opened and Metal Sonic walked in. His gait was stiff- he always walked stiffly, but something about this felt stiffer than usual. Or perhaps that was simply Ivo's human imagination at play. 

Sage floated to the side to allow space between them. She then pulled up an empty text box. "I will translate." 

For at least thirty seconds, nothing appeared on the textbox. Ivo cleared his throat. Metal Sonic hadn't moved even a centimeter, perhaps not even a millimeter. Deathly still, just like Sage was. 

Finally, a cursor appeared in the textbox, and a line of text scrolled across. "This unit does not identify as male."

"Hmph. To be expected. You are a robot, after all. Makes sense that you don't have an experience of gender." Ivo replied. "Is that all?"

Metal Sonic flinched. 

Sage landed in front of him(?) and pantomimed putting her hands on his(?) shoulders, before turning to face Ivo again. 

"That is not quite what Metal Sonic intended." She said quickly. She then glanced over her shoulder to the text box, but nothing appeared on it.

"Hold on," Ivo knelt down, "I may have been too hasty with my assertion. Continue your thought.”

Neither hologram nor robot moved. Damn it all- Ivo was already terrible at reading nonverbal cues, and when his own kids could simply lock their joints in place or freeze their animations, it was all the more difficult. The only indication that either of them were still online was the steadily growing hum of Metal's cooling fans, which were designed to increase in RPM during combat scenarios. 

"You know I don't give a care in the world about what pronouns my creations choose for themselves, right?" Ivo tried his best to give a paternal smile. 

(He really should've practiced more in the mirror.)

"You don't?" Sage asked.

"Of course! Why would I?"

"You had previously stated that Metal Sonic's purpose was initially for imitatio-"

"Who gives a rip about that? I certainly don't. Not anymore. You yourself pointed out how that doesn't matter. Now move aside," he waved Sage out of the way of her brother(?). 

Sage did as he asked. But Metal Sonic still did not react. His(?) irises did not even flicker.

"C'mere." Ivo held out his arms.

Metal came a single step closer, still hovering outside of his reach. He almost opened his mouth again, almost raised his voice and demanded that Metal follow the implicit order to come receive the physical comfort he was trying to give to solve this mess of a situation, but he didn't. 

Ivo remembered that as a child he was forced to hug his relatives at various family functions, and that said hugs had felt like sandpaper prisons. Metal Sonic was different- he(?) wasn't organic, wasn't human, and wouldn't feel the sensation of his(?) skin crawling at the unwanted touch -but maybe he(?) experienced something similar that remained unvoiced. 

The thought was strange. But Ivo lowered his arms anyway. "Alright, or not. That's fine as well."

Metal clasped his(?) hands together, but the text screen remained empty.

"What pronouns would you like to be referred to?" Ivo asked. 

The cursor flickered. Letter by letter, an answer appeared. "She/her."

"Lovely!" Ivo clapped his hands together. He then looked at Sage. "Sage, it sounds like you have an update to make to the database. Leave Metal's development logs as they are, but correct the pronouns referring to her everywhere else." 

"Gladly." Sage smiled. 

At that, it was like Metal finally unthawed. He- no no no, she was a she, Ivo drilled into his thoughts, he was not going to bumble something as simple as this -She unlocked her joints, and her gaze wandered up to finally meet Ivo's gaze. 

"So, how would you like to modify your frame to better match your gender identity?" Ivo asked her. 

She glanced side to side, before upon the screen writing, "taking suggestions?"

"Yes?" Ivo raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a woman. I haven't got a clue what you might want. Suggest me ideas and I'll see what I can do."

"Will you accept blueprints?"

"I don't see why not! I review Sage's blueprint suggestions all the time." 

Metal walked to the computer. As Ivo turned to follow her, he saw a notification pop up on the screen. Opening it revealed in-depth plans for-

-a body that looked extremely similar to Neo Metal Sonic. 

Ivo cleared his throat to try and get more moisture into his mouth, which had suddenly gone dry. "Sage?"

"Yes, father?" Sage woke from her idle animation as she paused her update of the database.

"Do you see any. . . problems, with these designs?" He asked. 

Sage first turned to her sister. "You should have informed me that you were moving onto this stage." 

Metal's response to her did not appear on the text box. 

Sage flickered out of existence and reappeared to the left of the computer screen. "Father, know that I would not have allowed any of this if I thought Metal were to be a danger to you or the Empire." 

"Good. I expected as much." He replied, before looking back down to Metal. "Very well, if that’s what you want, I’ll get working on it." 

Sage brought Metal's textbox back alongside her just as Metal typed, "you will?"

"Did I stutter? Of course I will! It's a dashingly dreadful look and it matches with Sage's colors!" He replied. "Think of the fear it will instill in Sonic and his friends! Honestly, it's a terrifying design, it's a wonder I didn't come up with it myself. . ." 

"Thank you." Metal typed.

"Thank you, father." Ivo corrected with a smile. "I know I haven't always been good about that, but the past is in the past, right?"

"Affirmative, father." She repeated. 

"Good!" He clapped his hands together and grinned. "Now! Let's get to the workshop! I already know what synthetic material we should use for the skirt. Your design suggests kevlar, but you really should consider something less stiff and heavy to reduce drag!"

"Indeed," Sage added. "However, she is worried about the durability of the fabric-"

"What do you think my flight suit is made out of? We'll use the same fabric. Only the finest for my finest creations!"

Sage covered her mouth and giggled. Metal imitated the gesture, but surprised Ivo when her vocoder let out a series of high-pitched noises, a perfect little laugh. . . for a perfect little girl. 

"My girls." He said to himself. Although with the sensitivity of Metal's audial sensors and Sage's access to every high-performance camera on the Eggnet, that fact was debatable, so he said it louder. "My little girls." 

"My sister." Sage floated down to Metal's side. 

Metal brought her hands up to her muzzle and rocked side to side. Ivo swore that he could've seen Amy do a similar gesture, but that was irrelevant. It was a gesture of joy, a gesture that he didn't think Metal was even capable of before now. 

Just how long had she been hiding this for? Perhaps she was merely imitating Sage, but the deliberate inclusion of Amy’s data into her gestures made him hesitate to confirm that conclusion. And that thought threatened to bring up all sorts of feelings that he'd be much better off not thinking about. So, with a smile, he refocused on the task at hand. 

His eldest daughter needed a makeover, over all. 

[generic-sonic-fan]

"Eggdad with Metal Sonic is so immature and too feel-good to be interesting"

You mean that it isn't interesting to watch Eggman learn to love something he modeled in the shape of his enemy? That he won't have any second doubts or deep-seated discomfort with confronting a more emotional side of himself? None at all? And that he's somehow going to know exactly how to deal with this newfound guilt around not treating Metal Sonic better from the get-go?

[generic-sonic-fan]

Y'know, some fandoms on AO3 have fic tags for "x character is a Good Dad" and "x character is a Bad Dad" for characters whose parenting ability is a bit dubious in canon and I feel like those might be useful to adopt for Eggman. . .

[egg-emperor]

every time I see fanon Eggfam stuff that makes me uncomfortable enough I rewatch my YouTube video proving Eggman is a bad dad and it actually makes me feel better to see that yeah, I'm not imagining things when I say the villain is a terrible guy and toxic father figure and that yeah, the Eggdad in fandom is very different to everything in the games

what's comforting to you is triggering to me and what's triggering to you is comforting to me fr

[beevean]

1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 for Sonic <3

On one hand, thank you so much for asking me about Sonic, it's like everyone forgot about my main fandom :(

On the other... why tho.

the character everyone gets wrong

Shadow, easy. Sonic and Eggman too... and Amy... and Tails... yeah pretty much everyone... but poor Shadow is the unfortunate victim of being hugely popular and hugely misunderstood due to inane takes that spread like wildfire.

Shadow is not an edgy boy (okay his game pushes it). Shadow is not a poow widdle blorbo who only needs to cry. Shadow did not suffer like a dog on the ARK. Shadow is not "Vegeta". Shadow does not monologue about who he is and what he thinks (neither does Sonic btw, coughcoughidwcough). There should be a law that you cannot analyze Shadow's character if you haven't at least read his script in Sonic Battle.

3) screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

How am I supposed to choose????? Have you seen this fandom D: (no, you haven't, lucky you. well i did.)

Among all, I get the urge to stab myself in the spleen every time I read something about Muh Mandates and Sonic Should Be Allowed to Cry and Eggman is Such A Good Dad to Sage. Or the majority of posts gushing about IDW, especially if the topic is Sonic's Principles :^)

6) which ship fans are the most annoying?

Sonadow, one of the main reasons it annoys me so much. Although some Sonamy fans push it, and I like that ship.

7) what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

hahahaha

Well, I used to dislike Shadow precisely due to his popularity, but nowadays I've warmed up to the guy. He's cool. Just... I don't get the hype.

I guess Surge is a better example. She's very annoying in canon, but what really ruins her is the amount of adoration she garnered. Y'all like her simply for the aesthetic, I checked, because she has a pitiful amount of fanfictions that actual star her as a character. (one of them is mine, and I don't even like her. Just sayin'.)

Oh, and I will never be objective about Sage. Sorry. She's bland and on her own inoffensive, but her association with Eggdad ruined her for me.

8) common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

That ShTH is a bad game >:( it's funny y'all are just mean.

Again, I can't choose. This fandom has just... so many Takes. I guess I'll go with "Shadow was turned into Vegeta", which is... factually untrue, outside of the Boom series.

9) worst part of canon

Can't choose, honestly. Maybe splitting Classic Sonic into a different character, instead of simply keeping him an older design for Sonic. Boy, the discourse that it caused...

12) the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

Hmm. To be fair I mostly like popular characters. I'd say that now I like Elise much more than I used to, but then again she's becoming more popular. So... Infinite, maybe? I like the dude, he's both cool and pathetic and I have no idea how he manages to do that. Sick theme too. And he's voiced by Liam O'Brien and his horniness for violence shows :'D

And you know what? Zor. Zor is the funniest of the Deadly Six. He's self aware and that elevates him. Y'all are too mean to the Deadly Six in general, but Zor is the one who deserves it less.

13) worst blorboficiation

Shadow, again. This poor dude just isn't seen for who he is.

15) that one thing you see in fanart all the time

Can't think of anything, because I'm not stupid and I don't go look for fanart :'D I dunno, worst thing I'm seeing recently is Eggdad content.

16) you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Why do you need Sonic and Shadow to be crybabies. Emotions aren't only expressed through tears. Don't blame SEGA for a perfectly normal writing choice. You don't need to shove angst up their asses to fulfill what's essentially your preference.

18) it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

KNUXAMY. THEY'RE SO CUTE. THEY HAVE LESS THAN 30 FICS ON AO3. WHY.

19) you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

Sonegg, except I've been liking it for so long that the shame has simply become resignation. I know why it's a common nOTP and I absolutely respect the people who think it's vomit-inducing, but I will defend it to my grave as being not as bad as commonly thought.

... does being an unironic ShTH enjoyer count, too?

20) part of canon you found tedious or boring

Frontiers. I swear that that story is completely useless, nothing happens except getting beaten over the face with pointless references and Ian Flynn self-sucking over how better he is than Pontaff, no I'm still not over "then I'm wildly inconsistent" :') and while '06's story is better because at least shit happens (until the game erases itself from existence), it's still a dull, boring, confusing mess to sit through, especially in English because they all sound bored out of their skull.

21) part of canon you think is overhyped

Frontiers :') at least, even though I don't like SA2, I can understand why it's so popular. I can even understand why people nowadays are warming up to '06. With the exception of some cute Sonic/Knuckles interactions, I can't find a thing to like about Frontiers' story.

22) your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

Some of the endings of ShTH, especially the Dark ones. I think they brim with potential :)

23) ship you've unwillingly come around to

Knuxamy. A friend of mine started shipping it, then I was sucked in. (it helps that Knuckles/Amy in SAd3 kicks ass :D) look, they're cute and they have a fun dynamic going on.

24) topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

WAAAAAAAAH WHY DO YOU WANT SONIC TO KILL VILLAINS????

shut up. shut your entire fuck up. i am so sick of this. it was never our argument. idw is the plague of the fandom.

25) common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

MUH

MANDATES

no. You go and actually listen to Flynn's words. Even he's sick of this discourse. (also, yes he confirms that Shadow comes with many notes, but also dude just. doesn't understand him. "can you hear the fatigue in my voice" my entire ass)