#did they see Sega making some really good sonic games and say | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

crusherthedoctor · 2 months

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"It doesn't matter. The vast majority of the loudest fans have already made their mind up. They swear that he's not a bad guy after all. And with how fans have grown to easily influence the official side of things (exhibit A: Ian Flynn being everywhere), it's likely that their interpretation will be pandered to no matter what their intention originally was."

Not trying to start a fight here, but this post felt a bit too... defeatist. You say there's more that annoys you about the current trend, but (genuinely curious) is there, aside from being fatigued by fandumb's bs (and people outside the fandom)?

And believe me, I do understand it. Sometimes it really does feel like it's you vs the world. And your worry in particular seems to be that the loudest voices in the Sonic fandom (which are often also wrong and/or biased) can end up becoming influential to some extent, which will only validate said voices (and people outside the fandom, since those voices will be the only ones heard) and make them stronger, especially in light of recent events given the new general perception of this being "the rebirth of the good old Sonic".

With Eggman's view on Maria's death and Sage's general existence as recent catalysts, you are correct in that the fandom already has a predetermined view of him being "not so bad". Moreover, I'll say the fandom is fully willing to incorporate any canon aspect into that interpretation, no matter how contradictory. But honestly, is it really the fault of Sage as a character that the fandom takes everything about her backwards? Even back when she didn't exist, back when Belle didn't exist, back when Eggette didn't exist, the fandom was going through the exact same motions with Metal and how Eggman clearly thinks of him like a son and that's a tell-tale sign that he is dad of the year. Some even went through the same with Orbot and Cubot. Some even did it with the E-Series. If Sage didn't exist, the fandom would continue being the same, just with a different character as a catalyst.

This is all just a general part of the fandom existence, one that's not even unique to Sonic, even if in lesser capacity. Is it unfortunate? Yes. Is it unfair? Yes. But sometimes things just are, and you gotta live with that and persevere.

As for Flynn, to me, a person who doesn't like the comics, he just feels like a living marketing gimmick to Sega. They know his name (and to an extent, the comic) drums up attention and so they wave his name around in attempt to sell their games to all the possible audiences. Don't take this as me saying your feelings are unjustified, I'm only saying you don't have to take it all beaten down.

Sorry if what I said was too blunt or harsh. I'm relatively new to your posts, so I don't know the finer details of what the fandom put you through, but I think you are letting them influence your thoughts too much, basically handing them the victory over you. Let dumbasses be dumbasses, you keep being you and doing what you like. There are more voices like yours out there than you may think, they will hear you. Just don't give up. Be as stubborn as Sonic is.

If you call this defeatist, I'd like to see what you think about all the people who spent the entire previous decade lamenting repeatedly how they're drifting away from Sonic due to their disapproval of the Pontaff games.

I've already made clear that I don't think the other characters' writing and overall handling have been up to par either (with exceptions, such as Dream Team). I've already made clear that I have other issues with Frontiers/IDW/Prime, such as the way plotting is approached in general, including the trend of casual retcons. I've already made clear that I don't even like the gameplay of Frontiers all that much, meaning I'm not particularly hyped about the possibility of that being the norm going forward (disclaimer: I'm actually open to, er, open world gameplay, but not like this).

I wouldn't be concerned about it if there wasn't already a precedent for it, meaning it's likely to continue happening.

Yet another opinion I've expressed multiple times beforehand: I don't care for Sage even on her own merits due to how boring and - for how much she was hyped up as Eggman's greatest creation yet - surprisingly and consistently incompetent she is. Her dragging Eggman down is merely the cherry on top of the shit cake.

And you're absolutely right, fans have indeed already used Metal Sonic and other characters for this sort of thing before, and would have continued doing so regardless... but that doesn't mean SEGA themselves should be egging them on, intentionally or unintentionally. They could have simply continued right along, but instead they've provided their own semi-legitimate ammunition for these fans to go "See??? See???", thereby making it a whole lot more inescapable than ever before. And considering how it's a tale as old as time that other villains in the franchise are regularly praised for being "truly" evil, such as Mephiles for example, it's obvious that they just want Eggman out of the way so that the Real Villains can take center stage.

Just because it exists in other fandoms, and has been a thing since fandoms have been a thing, doesn't mean I can't complain about it. Especially with how long I've endured it. With all due respect, this falls into whataboutism territory.

You know what else they can easily use to drum up attention, knowing fans would go crazy for it?

Portraying Eggman like this. Because it's been established that fans (generally speaking, not referring to literally every single person in it) think Eggman is stale and one-note unless he's a father figure or brings up a moral standard every time he speaks.

Sonic is a fictional character who can conveniently be written to have that level of stubbornness no matter what he goes through. I'm a real person, not a product of the writer's pen, and reality is rarely as straightforward.

I've dealt with alienation for over a decade. I've dealt with on-and-off harassment for over a decade, which has only increased in frequency ever since IDW became a thing and I started criticising it (before you ask, the harassment I screencap and show in posts only makes up a small percentage, there's a lot more that I don't bother showing because it would be redundant). Various details about me that are beyond my control, such as my autism or simply being a white male, have been repeatedly brought up and jeered at despite not being relevant to my Sonic opinions. No matter how concise I attempt to be in expressing my opinions, people are guaranteed to paint said opinions in a false and overly simplified light just to portray me as an idiot who doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about. When I experienced an attack in real life in 2019, people cheered it on and expressed to my face how they were disappointed that I wasn't killed. When I experienced a different incident last year, I didn't even go into details publicly because I knew they'd cheer that one on too. When I lost my grandmother, they celebrated her death just because it was me. My friends have been frequently subjected to similar harassment and abuse over the years, either because of their own opinions, or because they happen to be friends with yours truly. And every time I show a little bit of frustration, or fatigue, usually within my own lane at that, I'm the one who is portrayed as a deranged maniac who is out to make people suffer, while the fans who throw around death threats like they're candy, either to me and my friends or to people associated with the franchise, curiously don't get held up nearly as often for their behaviour.

It's very easy to wave the finger at me and tell me to not give up, take it on the chin, and so on. But this isn't about them "having the victory over me". This is not a video game. This is real life. Mental health is important, more important than painting a fake smile as I sit through an insufferable, volatile, hypocritical, emotionally draining echo chamber of a video game fandom just because "Sonic would peservere through it". Trying my best is one thing, and I always will try my best, but I can't pretend to be someone I'm not. I'm allowed to get upset. I'm allowed to get tired. I'm allowed to admit that I feel more welcomed and respected regardless of differing perspectives in other fan communities. I shouldn't be held up to a near-impossible standard while other people in the same community scream bloody murder over the slightest things on a regular basis.

#Crusher's Asks

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gayemeralds · 8 months

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thoughts on sonic’s rivals and sega’s usage of them

knuckles: has been relegated to a very friendly rival. sonic and him are not fighting near as much as they used to. i think sega could benefit from making knuckles a bit more antagonizing, at least in regards to when angel island is in danger, but otherwise after all these adventures together it doesn’t REALLY make sense for knuckles to actively be an antagonistic force. so i don’t think knuckles should be classified as a rival anymore really. that said knuckles is also a character that should be used in specific circumstances- as in he should really only be in games when the master emerald is relavent (ie, missing). so knuckles should be limited based on that alone, but his friendship with sonic has also impacted his “rivalry”. all that to say knuckles isnt really a rival anymore and he shouldn’t be used often as an antagonistic force given that he’s already been tricked 100 times and has spent the past 30 years with sonic.

metal sonic: honestly when sega wants “antagonistic force for no real good reason” metal sonic should be the first thing to pop up. he’s a great rival for both racing and actual boss fights. sega just needs to use him more he’s a great foil to sonic, he has no limitations on his personality or circumstance, so he should be an active, repeated rival in the sonic games but for some reason he keeps getting ignored

shadow: complicated feelings on him. shadow can’t act like his sa2 self which is what sega tends to want from him. shadow should be more of an ally to sonic than an outright antagonistic force given that shadow also wants to save humanity. the only source of conflict that works is when sonic and shadow have different opinions on what “saving” means. sonic battle is a great example of this. so shadow can be a rival but it has to be done well and meaningfully. additionally shadow’s a pretty powerhouse character so im inclined to think he shouldn’t be involved in games unless eggman is trying to like, blow up the planet again.

blaze: blaze went through a character arc and isn’t really a rival to sonic anymore. she’s a bit like knuckles in that they’re too friendly to actually be antagonistic to each other, unless there was some sort of misunderstanding; but again, blaze has worked with him enough to know that sonic’s a good guy here to help. so blaze is a great friend but she’s not really a “rival” anymore. that said she’s also severely limited in appearances since she lived in another dimension; as such she should only appear when a game threatens her dimension/emeralds.

jet: jets a pretty solid character that should still be reoccurring. like he’s a fantastic option for a racing rival, if sega makes more racing games. why the fuck he isn’t in any racing games after sonic riders series is beyond me. but i think jet works best as a racing rival so i can’t see him being used as a boss fight or anything. anyway sega should use him more but specifically for racing games

silver: kind of not a rival any more either? he would probably only fight sonic again based on a misunderstanding but again, he’s fought with sonic long enough by now that he knows sonic isn’t going to actively try to destroy the world. his motivation is probably similar to shadow; sonic and him will agree to save the world, but might disagree on how, and that can cause conflict. that said silver’s more of an ally now than a true antagonistic force. plus he’s from the future so his appearances should be limited to only immensely severe threats.

bonus- mighty (& ray): honestly they’re not really rivals. they work a lot better as friends. plus mighty is limited to the classic games at this point and if they did bring him to modern games, he should be a friend. he honestly doesn’t have any major conflicts with sonic.

bonus- fang the sniper: again, only in classic games. honestly i don’t think he’s interesting enough to be a reoccurring rival in the main games. he’d be fine for side missions or one off boss fights but he wouldn’t be interesting for being a full on antagonistic rival

#anyway. this is what i mean when i say they should make a new rival to sonic #a) they only work as rivals if there’s a misunderstanding #b) they’re too friendly to be rivals anymore #c) they (should be) are limited in their appearances #sega official speaks

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sonicjustbecause · 9 months

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Sonic characters - who I like, who I'm fine with, who I dislike

This is what I wrote yesterday. I want to underline that this is just my opinion and that I have nothing against you. I'm adult for a while right now. Sonic is just a passion that makes me happy, that I enjoy for fun, but is not my life. I say that because knowing what the Sonic fandom may be like, is easy to feel intimidated by different point of view.

Let's start!

Favourites/I love:

SONIC (of course)

I discovered Sonic games in 1991. I was friend with two fraternal twins since kindergarden and we were among the first kids who were able to play videogames (I owned a commodore 64 my uncle gifted me, the twins owned a Sega Master System and a Game Boy). There were not much informations about Sonic's personality, but talking with my friends, we all perceived him being very similar to Shadow. Just openly more gentle.

In 1995 there were Sonic cartoons (Sonic SatAM, AoStH, in collaboration with Italy). Sonic was not like Shadow, but he was 'meh'... I liked him but he wasn't really my favourite. Also the design left me confused (my brother was more into the western design, i was more into the Japanese design).

To be honest I think the western design is cute. I would fix the quills, more classic sonic style instead of the mohawk and the hands, making them with five fingers instead of four. And some little adjustments on the ankles but for the rest is fine.

I loved Sonic in Sonic Adventure 2 and I liked Ryan's voice. I easily tend to imagine his voice if i read some story about him. I like Ryan's, Jason's, Deven's and the italian VA Renato). What I like most about Sonic is his kindness.

TAILS

There was a period were Tails received a lot of hate, maybe just because he is a child. But in early '90s' Tails was loved by player. His ability to fly made the level easier to beat, so everybody played with him. Since he is a fox, I excepted him to be cunning. Of course not toward Sonic (he is his friend after all) but toward Eggman, outsmarting him. I also considered Sonic and Tails being brothers. All of this before knowing him.

When I noticed he had two tails instead of one, I though it was because of an experiment by Eggman. The two tails genetic mutation does exist in nature, although is rare.

KNUCKLES

I saw knucles in early '90s for the first time but he didn't catch my interest. He was Sonic's opponent. I never had occasions to play Sonic's games until we finally got Sonic Adventure 2. Then I noticed Knuckles was about the stereotype of the cool boy... except he was not so bright and he was quite naive.

SHADOW

I loved his balanced design. The first thing I though is that he could be a great character for graffitis. Early Shadow seemed based on emo kids, it was fashion in early '00s'.

He was also quite depressed, almost suicidal at times. After 2006 Shadow became famous as 'the edgelord', almost an unintentional caricature of himself. Before 2006 Shadow seemed slightly friendlier and laid back at times. That bit that was enough to made him seem more alive. As if he sometimes did things just to have fun like Sonic. And it happened his idea of fun match Sonic's. In later years he seems recovering from his edgelord days.

AMY

Amy didn't caugh my attention earlier but right now is one of the characters I like. Though i miss her fangirling about Sonic. Also because they decided to remove that part of her, it was considered a flaw. Yet Amy could see Sonic's flaws and was honest with him about what she though. All the rest of Amy is there. And she had and has a lot of good qualities.

EGGMAN

Eggman is funny, hilarious. But he is wicked, manipulative, sadistic, cruel and I mean actual cruel towards beasts. And toward kids.

All Eggman's doing.

Also Eggman's doing.

Most Sonic's friends (including Sonic) are teenagers. Eggman has shown to be capable to kill fellow humans too. Without problems.

I like, but they can be better:

ROUGE

Rouge is a female Lupin III. I compare her to Lupin and not to Fujiko because, although she is a thief and a spy, although she may be cunning, she is a loyal friend.

The thing I don't like about her is her original design:

I'm not against her design for political correct bullshit reasons. Simply this design seems somewhat unfinished, heavy and awkward and the pink is overhelming. Rouge herself doesn't look much athletic. Also she looks like a character coming from the middle of the '900 and not a modern character.

I like more the prime design, where her figure is more atletic, muscular and balanced like her job (spy, thief) would suggest.

CHAO

The chao design actually is perfect the way it is. I love all the variants seen in SA and SA2. And the chao's minigame (I raise them only with Sonic and Shadow. They're the only who don't hurt them accidentally). However in a story their role should be about the same role of the flickies. Cheese is a prominent character, but it feels forced.

(Ignore Mario)

CREAM and VANILLA

I think they should be supporting characters when needed. They're nice and all, but I can't see them taking on adventures. They worked well when they took care of Sonic but they're better characters for slice of life or lighter adventures.

BIG

This one is quieter and more a loner than Shadow, yet he is very happy, kind and gentle. He has the natural nice personality most real cats have, especially male cats. Like Cream and Vanilla, i think his role would be more the one of a supporter character. The one who listen and who make all characters feel better after a chat. He doesn't work as protagonist and i think his start was rough. Big is a Siberian cat. Those cats have a cobby bodytype and are long haired

An actual Siberian cat

METAL SONIC

Although a robot, he can work. But he is like radioactive material. He should be used carefully.

Meh... forgettable

BLACK DOOM

I think his ugliness alone was more than enough to made him a laughing stook. He is evil manipulative, sadistic, abusive and all, sharing his flaws with Dr.Eggman. But he lacks Eggman's positive traits. Is not even funny. So fans and even comic writers treat him like one of those mignon who are all words and no substance. It might be unconscious.

Woooh, how treatening... villain's empty words.

Just an example of how people see Black Doom... (Drawn by Ama)

STICKS

Sticks may seem cute, funny, but in the end she's not that memorable. She's nothing more than the caricature of a conspiracy theorists, thin foil hat and such. That can work in another media but not in Sonic.

SILVER

I fail to understand this guy. Is he a blend between Sonic and Shadow? His design keeps leaving me unimpressed and it doesn't suggest me a personality in particular. Redundant.

CHAOTIX

Hate at first sight. Redundant.

MOST I WON'T MENTION, TOO MANY TO REMEMBER.

They're redundant, not much interesting.They seem a blander blend of main characters. Is like wanting to fix the main characters or wanting to create an upgraded version of the main character, instead is only taking away the fun.

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therummesoccupied · 4 months

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FANG THE HUNTER: ISSUE #4 - THOUGHTS

I know! I'm very late! I'm sorry!

It's just... I can't think of a ton to say about this one that I didn't already say about the other three.

The writing is good, there are lots of neat character moments, art is stretchy and fun with plenty of visual inspiration from the games... yeah, it's cool!

Some specific points I'd like to note, though...

I do really love this scene where Fang just straight-up yoinks the Heavy Shinobi's katana and KO's him with it. It's the kind of thing I wouldn't normally think SEGA would allow, since we haven't really seen any character use a sword in canon since Black Knight (if Black Knight is even canon, for that matter).

Perhaps its the anime kid in me, but that was rad as hell.

I've seen a few folks complain about this moment - namely after Fang's proclamation that "Nobody takes what's mine" back in Issue 2, but... I dunno, I think it's fine.

Firstly, the situations are not equivalent. This isn't really a case of somebody "taking" Bark from him as much as him choosing to leave Bark behind.

Secondly, a big part of this comic's story has been the growing strain on the Hooligans' relationship as the story has gone on. His feelings about the other two have certainly changed since then.

Thirdly, I think he pretty clearly... doesn't mean it?? Like, all it takes is Bean looking at him funny and he decides to go help Bark out.

I dunno, this does not seem like a huge deal to me.

I also really like the fight between Bark and the Heavy King.

With the detail they add to Bark accruing damage over the course of their brawl and the little bits of lighting and shadow they add to him, they manage to make Bark look... kinda badass?

Like, I get he was always meant to be a cool fighty guy, but he's also always had that Silly Classic Sonic verneer over him that keeps him from seeming too... I dunno, COOL!

I'm just glad they even went the length to add this little bit of visual intensity.

Speaking of Bean and Bark, though, I must regretfully acknowledge that what I predicted did ultimately come to pass...

The Hooligans have broken up.

(Also I keep seeing Sonic YouTubers refer to them as the "Hoodlums?" That's... not their name? Whatever, it's just weird.)

Anyway, I actually really enjoy this move. It's not often in IDW we get to have a tale end in tragedy, so it's nice to see the conclusion here be so bitter. These are three characters we've been used to seeing together for YEARS, even before IDW Sonic began, and now, they're no more.

Maybe they'll have a heartwarming reunion someday, but thus far, this split has even carried over into the games, as we've seen in Sonic Superstars.

Speaking of Superstars...

That's how our comic ends - with Fang setting off for Northstar Island to begin the plot of Sonic Superstars!

In the time since this issue came out, I've learned this move was fairly controversial, but I dunno, I found it neat! This is the first time I can think of that we've had the plot of IDW play directly into a specific game!

They haven't firmly established if or when stuff like Team Sonic Racing or Sonic Frontiers happens within the comic yet (my personal headcanon is that neither have occured up to this point) so it's cool to see the IDW story so clearly connect itself to the games this way.

It's also neat to see IDW's Classic Era link itself to the Modern Era with Fang ending up in possession of the Warp Topaz, which of course, we will later see appear in the hands of Dr. Starline. I already did my big rant about how much I LOVE the Warp Topaz being here and how it has firmly gotten me onboard the Unified Timeline now, but it's still a very cool note to end on.

It does leave me asking a few questions, though?

Firstly, if Fang has the Warp Topaz at the beginning of Superstars' plot... why doesn't he... use it? I can't think of a single time he teleports or warps around in that game. Heck, his ace in the hole is a big mech of himself that doesn't appear to do anything of the sort.

Then... how does it end up in the cave where Starline finds it? Was there some form of confrontation between Starline and Fang we'll never get to see?

And wouldn't that be SICK??

As weird as the choice to end the story with Fang in possession of the Warp Topaz was, I'm pretty happy with how this miniseries came out! I really hope that, in the future, we get more arcs like this centered around specific members of the games cast.

I like the IDW cast just fine, but... c'mon. You KNOW that's not who we're picking up the comic to see.

The book tells me everything I need to know about them just by the way it puts them in the story.

The reason I love arcs like this and Scrapnik Island is because they take the characters I'm already familiar with from my time with the games - Fang and Mecha Sonic - and tells me things I didn't know about them, puts them in situations I've never seen them in before. Takes stuff I know from the games and EXPANDS upon it!

All in all, this is up there with Scrapnik Island and Chao Races & Badnik Bases as my favorite arcs in the series.

With Fang in the rear view, we head back to the Modern era for the Phantom Riders arc, the first issue of which is already out, and I hope to talk about it before the next one is released this time.

Thanks for reading!

#sonic the hedgehog #sega #idw sonic #fang the hunter #comics #review #issue 4 #mini series #idw publishing

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spruzu · 6 months

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Sonic frontiers chat

Before i start i don’t have the game and as much as i want it i definitely have to wait because it’s expensive as heck.

Over the past couple days i’ve been watching the vods on Snapcubes second channel from about a year back and oh my GOD i’m enjoying it so much. What does make it so much better is the way Penny plays the game, she makes the game seem so fun and i hope that when i do play it, it’s as fun as she’s made it seem. I’m on the last part now and if i’m honest this seems like an incredible game. It’s made me really really want to buy it and of course there probably some negative parts with the controls that i obviously can’t say anything about because i literally haven’t played it myself but the story line is amazing and the game play looks so fun.

An open world sonic game is so fun to watch, there are some parts where i can just have it on in the background while i’m drawing or doing drum practise but there’s also some parts where it’s like a movie and i’m hyperfixes on watching it. Yesterday all i did. was watch the third part because it was so good and the story just made me want to keep watching. It hurt to see sonic in his whole glitching thingy form and tails worry about him made me want to curl up in a ball and cry it was so sweet. Also the chat that sonic and tails have about tails feeling as though he’s not as good as sonic and he just “stands on the sidelines” honestly made me feel so bad for tails. He deserves so much better and i kind of want a tails game now where you just play as him, that would be amazing.

I would say though, i haven’t finished that last part so i can’t say too much but it does feel like sega skipped the edges with some parts of the game and story line especially with the islands. The last two islands look like Kronos island which is slightly disappointing. Don’t get me wrong i adore the vibe of the islands but it would be so much cooler if we had a new island with a different style specifically with the last island.

I want to say that these ‘memory tokens’ could have been so much more relevant if they fully kept in the “My name… My name is?” lines that sonic does. There was an open socket for sega to do the shadow the hedgehog move and pull out the amnesia on sonic but i get they probably didn’t have enough time and had to focus more one other part of the game but i would love to see it i a different game at some point… maybe sonic x shadow generations :^

Over all though this game seems amazing and the only parts that i can SEE are bad are some cyberspace levels and parts of the controls that Penny has pointed out. Until i manage to play the game i will be able to say my full opinion on what’s good and what’s bad about the game.

Also i really like the flower fields, i want to be in one.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic frontiers #sth #sonic fandom #sonic game #sonic analysis #analysis #Snapcube #sonic gameplay #knuckles the echidna #tails the fox #amy rose

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antirepurp · 6 months

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One thing I think Sega has really missed out on is reminding everyone that Shadow is the same age as Sonic. Like, okay, Shadow is more mature because trauma has a way of maturing people but he is still a teen like Sonic. What's more uncomfortable than everyone realising that Sonic is just a kid? Everyone realising that Shadow is just a kid.

G.U.N comes marching into the local hospital because they have reports on having a man down and want to check him out to take him to their military hospital, they search up and down all the different wards in search of him only for a doctor to to lead them to the pediatrics ward were they see Shadow sitting in a brightly coloured room with a plastic mobile over him and a pair of neon coloured cast on an arm and leg. He looks so out of place but also so small in that bed.

i think a lot of why that hasn't gotten highlighted recently is because shadow just. hasn't been in a lot of games after 06. he was only in forces and that game is already a bit of mixed bag in many ways so it's hard for me to say anything concrete on shadow's portrayal there especially when it's not fresh on my mind. on the contrary i think shadow 2005 did a really good job at showing shadow as the teen he is, i talked about it before when i was hot on my playthrough that i should resume at some point honestly, and that game does it in ways that remind me of the way RoL did the same with team sonic. shadow acts all edgy to the point it goes a bit over the top the way a teen would do it, he swears excessively like a kid who just learned that saying "fuck" might not get them grounded anymore would, and despite the tone of the game shadow sometimes says some absolutely goofy shit from what seems like nowhere ("this is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me!" among others) that often comes across as him trying to make some clever remark that doesn't quite work because his sense of humor is immature and also the amnesia beams probably don't help the cause. i think there's a similar flare to sa2 and heroes, though it's perhaps less in-your-face since there are other characters to focus on, and 06 is an overall a more serious game so naturally it would focus more on the way shadow has grown over the last few games as opposed to highlighting his childishness

i know that the mysterious writing guidelines sega has for these characters have most likely evolved since and i feel like their current stance is to focus on shadow's apparent maturity in comparison to his friends, and i think that's probably fine, it fits in with his position as the resident edgelord anti-hero "im so evil and fucked up but my heart is in the right place and i only hurt people who deserve it and my rival sometimes maybe but not for realsies" type character. i definitely wouldn't mind a good old reality check that hits you like a brick while reminding you that the dark and mysterious hedgehog that enamored you is actually 15 and going through his most emo years

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giveamadeuschohisownmovie · 6 months

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I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how the Jak and Daxter series was able to survive having a sequel that was drastically different from the first game. For most series, I think they wouldn’t be able to survive having a sequel that went against the prior installment, especially if the execution was bad. Yet Jak II didn’t sink the franchise. In fact, I’ve noticed that the 2nd Jak game has received better reception in the years since it was released.

As a kid, even though it took some getting used to since I loved the 1st game, I wasn’t put off by Jak II being this cyberpunk GTA title. But I never understood why.

After revisiting the game (I watched a playthrough on YouTube), I think I have a working theory:

1) Jak and Daxter only had 1 game out at the time.

So, the expectations for how the characters would be portrayed wasn’t that strict. Think of it like this; Nintendo wouldn’t get away with turning Link into an unhinged, smartass killer who openly flirts with Zelda. Neither would Sega with Sonic, that’s why Shadow exists. Link and Sonic are too well-known and established that people have expectations on how they should be portrayed, thus not a ton of room for experimentation/deviation. Naughty Dog had some leeway since Jak and Daxter weren’t really household names.

2) Turning Jak into an unhinged, bloodthirsty killer who openly flirts with Keira and has serious anger issues wasn’t that drastic.

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. You start off as innocent Jak, then he got pumped full of Dark Eco. Also, he was tortured for several years, so it’s not hard to see why his character turned out the way he did.

3) The game still feels like the 1st Jak and Daxter, even with the change in tone.

It controls the same. It looks the same (as in the artwork still feels like it was made by the same team). You’re still doing puzzles. And, aside from Jak, the other Jak 1 characters are pretty much the same. I think it’s Daxter and his obnoxiousness that really makes Jak II feel like it’s not a completely different franchise. Without Daxter, I think players would notice the dissonance from the 1st to the 2nd game a lot more.

4) Continuing from point 3, the new gameplay elements only build on from the 1st game rather than take away.

Sure, you get guns, a hoverboard, vehicles, and Dark Jak. However, everything else is still the same. If you remember the controls from the 1st game, you shouldn’t have any problem jumping into the 2nd game, which I feel helps in easing veteran players in with the new tone and setting.

5) Even with the change in tone and setting, the game doesn’t really deviate too far from how Jak was in Jak 1.

Even though Jak is unhinged, angry, and hellbent on revenge in Jak II, he’s still an overall good dude who goes around helping people. Jak still feels like Jak, albeit traumatized and angrier for valid reasons. It helps that Jak was sort of a blank slate in the first game. Because he was a blank slate, there was more room for Naughty Dog to develop his character in Jak II.

Jak is also a bit of a meathead dudebro in Jak II, which isn’t really how he was portrayed in Jak 1. But Jak being a dudebro isn’t that crazy when you consider his best friend is Daxter. And the open flirting isn’t that crazy since Jak already had a crush on Keira.

6) Jak II commits to its dark and edgy tone without going too dark or too cartoonish. It feels like a genuine attempt to take the first game and just “edge” it up.

What my point says. Jak II feels like a genuine continuation of the first game, but darker and edgier. But the game doesn’t go too edgy to the point that it takes you out of the story. It’s not like Jak is going around dropping f-bombs and chopping people’s heads off. It’s a solid balance, that’s what I’m trying to get at.

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rabbithaver · 2 days

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Ye ha Idk if can talk abt it to my friends, explaining mephiles' age makes it sound really weird tbf (still dont properly understand it but I think it's fine? Shipping someone who's immortal or smth weird but has only been their own being for 10 years Is a weird thing to explain) and they usually dont allow proper explanations, ur blogs relaxed and calm.

ok im on hold with planned parenthood right now so i can answer this on my phone

honestly like... in 90% of franchises i would say to keep the ages in mind, but the Sonic franchise is kind of unique in how mind-bogglingly inconsistent it is? the numbers given to each character have been really inconsistent and all over the place — and also seem to only be present in the West, from my understanding? i could be wrong about that part, so take it with a grain of salt. but yeah, i sincerely do not care about the 'canon ages' the characters used to have because SEGA clearly... doesn't?

i was aware of Sonic for like eight years before i got really into the fandom, and i had no idea any of these characters had ages until literally last year. i have always interpreted Sonic and Shadow as early to mid 20s, and Blaze and Amy as like. 19, Tails as 12, etc. Silver is the only character i really do actually interpret as his 'canon age' because he is written as younger to me. these things haven't really changed for me because it's just not at odds with the canon we see in the games or the comics.

the way i see it, SEGA has never cared about the characters acting as the arbitrary ages they have given them so like... why should i? especially since they don't tell their own writers how old they should act. and the fact that even SEGA quietly decanonized the ages is, to me, evidence that they'd rather leave it up to interpretation.

i think some parts of this fandom have gotten so hung up on what is 'really canon' that they don't leave room for fanon interpretations. they seem to care more about being a fan the "right way" than about letting other people have fun in their own ways, you know? i dunno. like, on the one hand, i get it, but i have seen some really vile harassment based on numbers SEGA themselves don't even consider canon, so... i dunno. i dunno! i avoid age discourse like the plague for this exact reason. i know good people who consider the ages canon and i know good people who have their own views. i think fandom is big enough for both.

i just think that using those numbers to decide what ships are worth harassing people over is unnecessary. and also just harassing people about giving them the wrong ages seems shitty to me anyway? why would anybody spend their limited energy being angry about something that's so insignificant? i don't understand it.

but anyway that's not the point. i'm sorry your friends won't hear you out. i don't know much about your situation but to me, if they're not willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, they don't sound like very good friends.

i might be biased, though. i used to be part of a friend group like that and it was terrible for my mental health. it wasn't sustainable at all. i felt like i had to walk on eggshells and be perfect all the time or else they'd all turn on me — and they did. in late 2019 there was a huge fallout because i made a mistake, and it completely messed with my head. i spent three months dissociating like crazy and cutting off everyone i knew irl. in the end i'm glad im not part of that community anymore because they cared much more about never doing anything wrong than actually doing something right.

that whole thing is largely why i try so hard to keep my blog a relaxed and calm place. i don't want to live the way i used to, and i don't want anyone else around me to have to live like that either. you deserve to be around people who are willing to give you the benefit of the doubt!

#basically anon i think you would be better served spending your time with people who are willing to trust you and your taste #rabbit.asks

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shadouge01 · 8 months

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I’m back.

My discombobulated thoughts now that I have finished Sonic Prime SPOLIERS!!!!!!!

********

Okay so I watched season 1 in parts and season 2 when it came out and just watched season 3 today. I binged everything, so if I don’t remember something 100% correctly, that’s why.

Sonic prime is good.

I know, shocker.

Okay, I haven’t watched any of the other shows so I can’t compare it to X or Boom or whatever. But this seemed to have a darker tone than most other sonic media and I enjoyed that a lot. (I know I need to watch SATAM, don’t yell at me.)I’ve dipped in and out of this fandom a lot. And my participation is all over the place (I won’t be posting about Ken spenders anymore, I took my Kenspiracies too far when I had that stupid twitter account yeah, that was me) but ANYWAY

This show was great. Not perfect, the main flaw I found was the pacing is very fact paced and action heavy which is good for a Sonic show and good for a person with ADHD like me. However I found the first season took awhile to get going and was more episodic. I know it was to introduce the characters but I got bored a bit. I’ll say again I liked the episode in Season 1 with Thorn Rose but the Boscage Maze and especially No Place never felt that fleshed out to me. I still wanted them to be saved because I cared about Sonic and his friends, but the worlds weren’t very interesting.

I. Love. New. Yoke. The aesthetic of this place is perfect and VERY Sonic CD bad future-seque which is PERFECT. I only wish we spent more time there. Especially in season 3 which takes place entirely in the Grim after the first two episodes, which I get, I do, but the pacing again, I felt was too fast and too much action and not enough character moments. The he ending felt rushed, because I really wanted to see the rebels rebuild New Yoke after the Egg Council was gone (assuming the other shatterspaces didn’t freeze in time like Green Hill did, but I got the implication that was a unique case.) and I wanted to see the others return home as well. I guess this leaves it open to a sequel or expansion of some kind, comics, some kind of spin off media, I’d even love an animated movie if they fixed the pacing issues, but yeah, that was my only gripe. I guess I wanted more time with Sonic and Nine reconciled too before everything happened but that’s the painful thing in life, sometimes you don’t get that. We know the prism still exists so then interacting again some way in the future might be possible, if they know how to control portals and such, hell with the chaos emerald they might be able to go to other worlds anyway. I wonder where Shadow is keeping the prism. I wonder if Nine stays on the Grim by himself or if he goes back to New Yoke. He deserves friends, and I’m sure some of the others would come around to him given time. renegade Knucks was up there fighting with Sonic after all. It could work. I just want him to be happy :((

I guess those are small nitpicks in the grand scheme of things because I want to say that the tone and storytelling was GREAT, the music was epic and cinematic and fit the tone of the show very well, the contrasting color palettes of different worlds really helped make it pop. The 3D animation was fantastic and felt perfect for a show like this. Characters were VERY expressive. (Hey Sega, can you update your in game models please thanks, you know it’s bad when the SA2 models have more dynamic facial expressions). Anyway, I thought the voice acting was great. Shadow’s voice felt a little wrong but I’m probably just used to Humphrey and Griffith, I don’t like his voice in forces either but I digress. It worked for this. Sonic’s VA was amazing and really able to convey a wide range of emotions and I thought the other characters had good VAs. Nine was great. I do wish maybe he’d had a redemption earlier against a greater threat a la Zuko style but one can dream. Nine is still easily the best version of Tails, ever. I was lukewarm on Tails as a character before and Nine made me appreciate everything about all versions of Tails. Incredible. What I love about Nine is he takes things too far because he has serious trust issues and him and Sonic fail to communicate which as a neurodivergent person is very relatable. I think Tails in general and especially Nine, is very autistic coded, and I love that. I just wish season 3 Nine had more development before the end because his arc was perfect until the end of season 2 but I’m at least glad he did realize and did the right thing. He’s really just a scared kid who wants a safe place, don’t we all? Again I REALLY want to see more material with him in the future and what becomes of him with Sonic gone.

My other favorite side characters were Thorn Rose, Rusty Rose, and Dread, but I thought they were all great. I loved that the roses had a great character moment, as did Dread when he finally realized that saving his friends was more important than treasure. The Egg council was awesome, taking different traits of Eggman and turning them into a squabbling family was PERFECT. The fact that they met their demise because they were arguing over the prism was so real. Great stuff.

I want to talk about Sonic himself because this is one of the best Sonics I’ve seen. I haven’t decided if this is better than Movie Sonic, but I love both a ton along with Adventure. This Sonic is one of the most expressive Sonics with the most emotional range. Yeah, he’s still overly cocky and hilarious, and mostly always optimistic, but I love that he actually learns from his mistakes and comes up with new ideas. The fact he even took inspiration from the Egg Council to never give up was great. I loved the robots of all the main characters as well. Sonic was well written, VERY in character but still serious when he needs to be (unlike Archie Sonic (sometimes) and 06, which is bad).

Speaking of 06, this is the best written Shadow we have gotten since 06. I mentioned very early on in this blog how I love his arc through Shadow 05 and Sonic 06. Sonic is way out of character and the Elise thing is stupid, BUT, Team Dark was perfect in 06. It’s sad we don’t have Team Dark anymore, but Rouge on team sonic was cool, I just like Rouge in general and if they’re gonna make her part of the main cast, good. Okay, back to Shadow. His development in game is that he goes from being angry at the world and wanting revenge, to being emotionally numb and trying to figure out the truth, to finally realizing his purpose and knowing not to give up and kicking the bad guys when it hurts. He’s hard to crack, but he DOES care about his friends, as you can see through subtle actions, rather it be Team Dark, Sonic, whatever. He’d never ADMIT to Sonic that they’re friends, but I do genuinely think he cares for Sonic.

Anyway, Shadow has been stagnant as a character since then, the best writing was in Forces with him vs. Infinite but it didn’t do much to further his character. He hasn’t been in a lot of media lately like Frontiers (although maybe they knew they couldn’t write him well for games and wanted to see how he went over in prime and the upcoming movie). Prime Shadow made me more excited for Movie Shadow, because if we got one of, if not THE best Sonics ever in Prime as well as the movie, I’m expecting good things from Shadow in the movie, considering they really nailed Tails and Knuckles in Sonic 2, imo, and now knowing that Shadow is allowed to have feelings again is so good. He’s very in character, overly serious, and cold, but he is incredibly dedicated to the cause and unquestionably a hero, like 06 Shadow. Prime Shadow reminds me a LOT of 06 Shadow and that’s GOOD. He’s also just great with his subtle nod to Sonic when Sonic talks about his friends, their excellent back and forthing with Sonic cracking jokes “I didn’t know you were a hugger” and Shadow responding with his straight man persona “do you want me to save you or not?” It was great stuff all the way through. I thought he was decent in Season 2, but Season 3 was AWESOME. I guess I had to trade Nine for Shadow, sigh. Nine did come back around in the end which GOOD, if they kept him as a villain the whole time I would’ve been pissed, but I digress. This might be the best Shadow since SA2, he’s SO GOOD YALL and I could keep raving about Prime Shadow all day. I loved when Dr. Deep called him an edge lord, it’s great meta humor, and in character for Deep who actually is an edge lord. Really hope SEGA takes the positive feedback from this and makes Shadow better in upcoming games/comics. LET FLYNN WRITE A GOOD SHADOW FOR GOD’S SAKE!

Ahem.

Anyway, I’m glad I watched Prime, it gave us the best Sonic Shadow and Tails maybe ever and it took the darker tone that Forces tried and really fleshed it out. Good job guys.

#sonic prime #spoilers #sonic prime spoilers #sonic prime season 3 #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #ramblings #nitpicks #me raving over Shadow OMG

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enginator2000 · 1 year

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What are your thoughts on Infidget (the ship of Infinite and Gadget the Wolf)?

i think its fine? i dont inherently dislike it or anything, and i dont mind seeing it from time to time. the only thing that i dont like is like, a lot of the shipping community's interpretations of it. and by that i mean the people that twinkify and feminize gadget into being a little wooby baby that cant do anything without his big strong man and infinite is just the stereotypical scary-on-the-outside soft-on-the-inside masc/male/im a man/im he him boyfriend. either that or gadget is fine and its just infinite who is extremely out of character. i had a lot of "he would not fucking say that" moments with infinite when infidget was at its most popular bc these kinds of depictions were everywhere and it was really annoying

the only version of infidget ive ever shipped was a lovers to friends to enemies to... somethings type deal where they dont go back to how they used to be by the end but its not vitriolic, they just outgrew each other in their own ways during the events of forces. that or their relationship cant get mended at all and theres no closure bc infinite dies or whatever like he did in canon. and i know this is the best version of infidget bc i made it up, thanks

i actually shipped it before forces even came out bc i thought that that was sort of the route that sonic team was going to take with tying the avatar into the story. it made sense to me for the avatar (or in this case gadget) to have some sort of previous history or connection with infinite bc in my onion, that makes their dynamic a little spicier and more compelling. in my version, gadget and infinite (then zero) used to be very close until zero started getting more involved with a local gang, the jackal squad, which began to drive a wedge between them until they got more and more distant from each other. and then some more time passes and gadget hasnt heard from zero for a long time and then the events of forces start. i think part of the idea was from this dialogue that we got to hear when footage of infinites second battle came out before the game itself:

(image text reads as infinite saying "and those eyes.. i feel like we've met before.")

-which implied that the avatar and infinite had history. which was technically true, but it was within the timeline of the game bc it turned out he was referring to like. the flashback cutscene of the avatar being too scared to fight back the first time they ran into infinite before joining the resistance, so it wasnt what i was hoping for

another reason iirc was uhhhh whatshisface? sega scourge on youtube? they made a theory video about infinite getting his mind wiped by the ruby or something and that added fuel to the fire. its a really cool concept and while i dont think that the avatar wanting to avenge those they lost is necessarily bad, i feel like its just kind of meh for the kind of story forces was trying to tell, what with the friendship-is-cool themes and whatnot. so i thought the avatar/gadgets arc was going to be we get to find out how they and infinite (or at least just the former lol) know each other, and how infinite became infinite in the first place, and gadget wanted to both help put a stop to everything but also get his friend back through, you guessed it, the power of friendship. hooray! i read a really good fic that was like that called til we touch the sun on a03 (that fic still makes me go insane thinking about it) that went with a sidestory for gadget that was quite similar to what i just described

plus the idea of infinite and gadget having shared a past but only one of them remembers it and now has to deal with a monster that looks like who they used to be but is no longer the same in every other regard due to them going dark side (willingly or unwillingly) is super angsty. and i like my ships raw and some degree of brutal for the soul. it keeps me young

but yeah im overall neutral. tl;dr: infidget is a fine ship, i just wish it had more canon-supported flavour and i wish the majority of shippers would stop writing infinite so poorly to make him fit properly into their milquetoast domestic fluff romances, but whatever. we all get enjoyment out of different things, even if theyre wrong :3 (for safety reasons i have to disclose that the previous statement was a joke)

#he said ask #thats my new ask tag. nickisnotgreeners understand the reference #fortywholecakes #engie.txt #infidget #sonic forces #gadget the wolf #infinite the jackal #sth #and i just have to reiterate that i dont think that anyone who does twinkify gadget or any other chars for ships are bad people #i just think its really boring and heteronormative to make a male char excessively feminine just for the sake of a ship #like do we have to talk about how assigning hetero-relationship roles onto queer couples is weird and stupid #or can we not bc i thought that got left in 2015 #i should also add that i have not been in the infidget tag in years so idk what people are up to nowadays #hopefully more progressive than 2018 lol

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darkgorerat · 2 months

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Hey. My name is Gore Rat. This’ll sound so cringey and weird. I don’t know WHY I thought clicking on a random fucking link on a random fucking twitter post was a good idea, but hey. Make me an example to never click on SHIT without looking up the source.

It was your average Friday afternoon. I was in my room, scrolling on Twitter. I came across a post – linking to a website I didn’t recognize. I decided to read through the post, just to see if this website was worth clicking on.

“I found this weird Sonic game just lying around on the web. Played it for a bit – actually pretty damn cool. Instead of Sonic or Tails or any of the big popular characters, you can play as Silver and Blaze! There’s also a villain story – kind of like Sonic Adventure 2. Just thought I'd share it around the internet.”

Weird. It’s a classic Sonic game... but with Silver, Blaze, and a villain story? The longer I looked at the tweet, the more I wanted to click the link. Damn you, internet.

So, I did what any person would do. Opened Discord and hopped into a call with my two friends, Sasha and Riley. We boot up the link and immediately see red flags. The SEGA logo flickered? That’s not normal. I didn’t notice it at first – but Sasha did. She pointed it out, but my computer is trash as hell so I brushed it off as it processing the code weirdly.

The game played pretty normally, for the most part. Playing as Blaze was pretty damn cool, given we were never meant to play as her in the classic sonic mode. Sure, there were glitches here and there – some of the assets were unloaded. Looking through the recorded footage, we should’ve realized that was NOT normal.

The minor glitches only really happened in Green Hill. It didn’t matter much; the game was still very playable and fun. They died down in Chemical Plant. This, as far as we were concerned at this point, was just a fangame made by some Sonic ‘06 fanatic.

The next red flags, which were slowly getting more apparent as we played through the game, were the pop-ups. Things like “Warning - this game might have a virus!” and “Warning - suspicious activity within Classic_Silver_the_hedgehog.zip.” MAJOR red flag, but I guess we were too caught up praising the Blaze sprites to care.

Speaking of those, her sprites were kind of broken. Glitchy and the coloring was off. That’s why we were paying so much attention to it. It’s a dumb reason to ignore the red flags waving in our faces, but whatever. It was, like, three am. Our brains were too focused on how pink she looked rather than the off coloring and saturation of the background and the enemies, or lack thereof.

That was the next red flag. Where the hell were the enemies. We were meant to be fighting Eggman, but he just... wasn’t there? The game crashed after that. We all kind of agreed that was odd but we opened the game up again and decided to play as Silver, just to see how his powers would be implemented. Silver’s version of the game, good god was this shit BROKEN. Glitches, saturation, ZERO enemies, and there were flashes of words we couldn’t read because they lasted FIVE FUCKING SECONDS. This was probably the BIGGEST red flag.

We all agreed that we would continue playing in the morning since it was now four in the morning and Riley had things to do the next day. So, I closed out the game, left the call, and crawled back into bed.

Thinking about the situation, it kind of reminded me of that one news thing that happened when I was young. This guy named Kyle found dead in his house, his friend Tom following with a Sonic disk in his hands. Broken, at that, but that story always freaked me out. What murderer kills two guys and blames a Sonic the Hedgehog disk for it. Freak. Whatever, I eventually fell asleep.

We all got up the next day, and when Riley was free from the grasp of his dentist, we hopped on call. We booted the game up again and continued playing Silver’s route. Once more, let me say, HOLY FUCK, this game was BROKEN. The glitches got worse every single level, and the flashing words made me lower the brightness on my computer to avoid wanting to rip my eyes out. That’s how bad it was.

Sasha managed to go through the previous day’s footage and get the stuff from the flashing words. “HELP US,” “WHY WON’T YOU DIE,” “STUPID SLUTTY BITCH.” These sentences were so fucking... vulgar. And for what? A kids game? I swear, they were NOT warranted for whatever they were targeted to.

We got to the boss part and the game crashed again. I was actually going to start freaking out, cause when we opened the game, it mentioned me BY NAME. My computer’s name is DarkGoreRat. NOT my name. Freaked me out. I have NOTHING that refers to me by my actual name – my friends literally just started calling me Gore Rat.

I deleted the game, obviously. I’m not fucking stupid. I’m not keeping a game that knows my full name when I don’t even have it fucking saved.

If the creator of that fucked fangame reads this: You are an asshole. Spreading your game directed towards people and breaking their computers. Get a life, dickhead. But, otherwise, that’s all I can share until we can get everything figured out.

#what the fuck #creepypasta #spooky vibes #short story #sonic.exe #silver the hedgehog #blaze the cat #what am i doing

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crusherthedoctor · 7 months

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"Mario never undergone a drastic redesign for plots"

I mean...the proportional change between the SNES era and N64 era for Mario is massive, and design again changed a lot for Early GC era. And less said of the 1981-85 designs the better

Or hell, Bomberman doing whatever the fuck until Super Bomberman 4

https://twitter.com/a_kinopio/status/1243785430299865088?s=20

Sonic also very much HAD gradual design changes between 1991-7...it's just that the general public didn't give a shit. We go from this tubbiness

To long legs and hair mcbrow here. Hoshino did Sonic CD and R 2D art, and the diff between that and here is still indicating an overall evolution. Only Amy and Eggman drastically changed, which for the former I'm glad. Better than being a literal girl Sonic clone. The rest are just continuing a trend then adding iris color

But really I feel Sonic Team did the redesigns to welcome a new era, given how Japan unironically forgot about Sonic. It's jarring- if you ignore 6-7 years of the franchise, but also distinctively full of much needed energy given the crap 1995-7 period.

Similarly I feel we're missing cultural context; both the US and Japan had a problem with associating design with specific tone, so you ended up with typecasted designs. Sonic despite having attitude and games like 3K WAS associated to being a cutesy generic mascot inferior to Hello Kitty in Japan, which is not a good thing. Almost all noncanon manga further just divorced itself from actual game tone to be a parody or cutesy manga, which both Naka and Oshima didn't like, same for early Sega Harmony Calendar art.

The US market had a forced redesign that lasted till 1994 that while ass, unfortunately just lended to the idea of not accepting a design as is, regardless of tone. So Sonic Team gave in to that for Adventure, which a competition was held in 1997 to see how it was recieved. Uekawa won ironically cuz he had the safest design, but took elements of Okano's art later to add flair and zaniness as it'd defeat the point otherwise

I feel Capcom had a similar problem with Megaman: they didn't feel comfortable with solely using the same design for bigger stories, so they opted for the more adult X spinoffs, and then similarly did the same for Legends and Battle Network (ironically I feel this backfired). Even Ruby Spears attempted to be faithful for their show pilot, but test audiences didn't like it, so we got a mediocre jocked up muscle Mega Man. While in Japan the anime OVAs were very cutesy and basic, despite games being more action oriented

It's hard to say if this issue disappeared now, and I feel it's revisionism to say "oh, if the redesigns didn't happen, no one would be mad" cuz the truth is...Sonic would die if he didn't change harder

I feel both ignoring every middle design and just lumping Sonic as "Classic" "Modern" is a very stupid thing as both are fucking subjective and tempermental terms. Adventure isn't "modern", and anything with sentimental value and nostalgia is "classic". Heroes is fucking over 20 years old, and can be considered one to some, as unpopular of an opinion that is. Sonic Team didn't have eras awkwardly like that in the 10th Anniversary book, and even said "Sonic will continue changing", but after 10 more years of the fandom, original creatives outside Iizuka leaving, and game reviewers destroying nuance and history, they forcibly had to split him like so for Generations. I see the same fan mentality outside Sonic for Golden Age era cartoons, it's maddening. Just look at Looney Tunes fans on how they treat Daffy, it's the same shit

Sorry for ranting, but I hate when history and evolution are ignored just to make strawmanned points when it boils down to "wishful revisionism under MY misnostalgia/control". I saw someone make an SA1 mod to make stages "More classic" with checker spam when not only is that term bullshit, Sega and Okano literally showed us concept art of Adventure stages before the char designs tweaks, and it's the exact same texture and bg prop set as final. That is maddening

I'm tired of it

At the risk of being blunt, I'm aware of all that. I assure you that I could never forget American the Assface and Ivo No-Eyes no matter how much I'd prefer to.

As for Mario, his earliest designs had the excuse of it not being fully set in stone yet, and with the N64 era onward, they generally only involved slight proportion changes or subtle details in the clothing and what have you... much like Sonic in the years between 91 and 97, American Assface and other questionable SoA decisions notwithstanding. The point is, Mario wasn't redesigned for the explicit purpose of seeming like a more mature bing bing wahoo man. :P Neither was Kirby, who I used for reference due to his reputation of fighting eldritch abominations and occasional dark subtext despite resembling a pink blob with stubs for arms.

Finally, I can't speak for how others choose to use the terms, but I use Classic and Modern for simple convenience. I agree that there should never have been an official line in the sand between the two, at least outside of Generations' context, but this is what the franchise has taught us to do at this point. That's the ugly truth, I'm afraid. As is the ugly truth that the vocal, dramatic shift to the Adventure designs and style - regardless of intent, regardless of justification, regardless of the gradual alterations and differences between artists in the years beforehand, regardless of every angle of relevant context - still brought on one of the single most notorious divides in a fandom full of them, up there with the debut of SatAM. We can debate all day as to whether it was fair or not, but the divide happened all the same.

I'm not a Classic-only purist. SA1 is one of my favourite games in the series, and I love various other Modern titles. And to stress once more, I like the Modern character designs and have no personal beef with them whatsoever. But I can't ignore these things in an age where Adventure era rose-tinted goggles are at an all time high, and while it's true that not everything is straightforward, that goes both ways in cases like this.

#Crusher's Asks #Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic Character Designs

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spiderman616 · 3 months

Note

Indulging in ur request to discuss Archie: I thought Ian Flynn mostly just smoothed out bumps in the writing of the comic until he started being forced to make it closer to the games— he seemed like a huge Archie fan bc he would constantly slip in obscure shit from old issues or use old plot points, but he did like the games too so there was some shit used there which is fair. Although to be honest the show Archie was based on, SATAM, was more similar to the games than even the comics ended up being after it got past that initial period of newspaper strip continuity. Not trying to suck up to him bc there were plenty of past writers I really enjoyed as well, and I think Ian had some greenness to his writing at first that he’s kind of grown out of that went in directions that weren’t so great in Archie. I think back when I read Archie I liked it when Ian’s era came in mainly bc it started getting consistently better artists like Jon Gray and Tracy Yardley (ik you don’t like them but I liked the clean lines it was very easy to understand where the characters were placed and what the pose was… sometimes. There were absolutely weird ass expressions and fumbles lmao)

in regards to flynn's run its hard to say what elements were because of sega/sonic team's growing involvement in the story, the requests of the editor at the time (who wanted to reboot the continuity at issue 160 but was talked down by flynn) and flynn's own personal biases and choices. there's no doubt ian flynn was a big fan of archie, having sent several of his own scripts for stories to the comic before being hired, but he was also the first lead writer for archie sonic who was actually a fan of the sonic video games, and i don't think that didn't affect how he wrote the comic. little things like characterization tended towards the characters' game counterparts, and plot details like the seven chaos emeralds in the special zone may have utilized concepts from previous issues but were also tinted by flynn's enjoyment and knowledge of the game. any prior writer, if tasked with the same jobs flynn had, would have handled things differently. saying something is "similar to the games" when the only games you had to work off of were sonic 1 and 2 is also a little bit disingenuous, seeing as there really wasn't much readily available story material to work with. to archie's credit they did sneak in influences from the genesis games when they could, but the plot was still majorly based on satam. flynn isnt a bad writer by any means but i dontttt think he was all that. previous issues also had really good writing, its just that the last few issues before 160 had a lot of behind the scenes turmoil that made flynn's direction look better. you can't pin everything you like or dislike about the comic's story on one specific person, something people are quite fond of doing with both flynn and penders. saying the art only got good after 160 is also... not true lol. post-160 art was more on model to the mobian style maybe, but saying that is better just betrays your personal opinion rather than any objective quality difference

#i like jon gray and yardleys art i just think its overhyped #not really my top archie artists but im not gonna complain if im reading a story drawn by them most of the time #archie sonic #<- maintag cuz i ended up yapping more than i meant to

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tenebraevesper · 1 year

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Sonic Cyber Revolution, Entry 35: Speeding Through Stardust

''One foot after the other, we will find our way through. One day after another, come on and let it rip!''

– So Much More… by Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing

xXxXxXx

''Hmmm…'' Amy hummed absent-mindendly as she and Minami were walking through Sentoraru, both of them searching for an Anime-themed or Mascot-themed café. She had actually asked Sonic whether he'd like to join them, but he explained that he had plans of his own with Lucas. ''Which one do you plan on visiting? You said there are several of them.''

''Well, I wanted to see the Moko Moko-chan Café, which is based all around a cute mascot lizard,'' Minami told her. Amy placed her finger on her cheek, tilting her head as she thought about it.

''Do video game characters get their own cafés? Because I would like to see a Sonic the Hedgehog Café,'' Amy told her, smiling dreamily as she cupped her cheeks with her hands. ''Imagine having a drink or a dessert based on my character.''

''I imagine you might get a strawberry shortcake-based sweet,'' Minami responded. ''Maybe some cute cookies as well.''

''That would be great,'' Amy responded, only to suddenly stop, feeling the wind picking up. She looked around, surprised to see her surroundings flicker and change into an unfamiliar area. Minami gasped as she and Amy took a good look at their new surroundings, finding themselves on a golden highway adorned with instruments and Time Warp signs. There were even more highways around them, some connecting to the modern cityscape below them, its lights illuminating the light sky. Some of the buildings were under construction, dotted with various factories, as well as an Eggman-themed statue in the distance.

''Woah, where are we?'' Amy asked in awe. Her ears twitched as she heard Minami hum in thought, glancing at her partner, only to notice her with her arms crossed as she tried to figure things out. She then opened her eyes, snapping her fingers.

''Of course, this is Stardust Speedway!'' she said excitedly. ''It's a Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, or just Sonic CD, and it is set on Little Planet.''

''Unfortunately, this doesn't ring a bell,'' Amy responded in a deadpan tone.

''It's one of the older video games. As a matter of fact, it is where your character makes a debut,'' Minami explained.

''Really? That's interesting,'' Amy replied, being quite intrigued. Minami nodded, only to narrow her eyes.

''That makes me wonder, though… How did we end up in a location from a video game?'' she asked.

''I suppose we just got trapped inside an AR Field and now we need to find an exit,'' Amy replied, only to narrow her eyes, her expression now matching Minami's. ''Although, why would we end up in an AR Field? Someone had to put us here intentionally.''

''Exactly, so it was probably either Dr. Eggman or Dr. Starline… or both,'' Minami replied. Amy gazed at the Eggman-themed statue in the distance. It looked different from the Eggman she knew, as this statue of Eggman had a longer moustache, no goggles or his signature red jacket.

''Something tells me that Dr. Eggman is totally in on it,'' she said. ''So, what do we do? Any ideas?''

''Well, this is a video game location, so playing through it would make sense. Although, that involved you getting kidnapped by Dr. Eggman, or rather, his Classic self, forcing Sonic to fix the future and turn this place into an amusement park and then battle Metal Sonic,'' Minami explained. ''However, I don't see any of that happening.''

''We are still stuck in this Zone, so one could say that Eggman did complete the 'kidnapping' part of the video game's plotline,'' Amy said, her comment causing Minami to smile in amusement.

''We could just go explore it. If we run into anything hostile, like Badniks, we'll smash it into pieces,'' she suggested. Amy held up her hand, with digital particles appearing before her, turning into her hammer. She then placed it over her shoulder, placing her other hand on her hip.

''Then, let's go!'' she said.

xXx

''Thanks once again for your help,'' Tails told Shadow, who just nodded in acknowledgement.

''I hope that you'll be able to put the data to good use,'' Shadow responded, resuming walking, him and Tails being accompanied by Warren and Touka. Tails wanted to call Sonic and Lucas about what he and Warren learned, but for some reason, they couldn't reach them. They managed to track down the signal of their AR Visor to their last location and decided to investigate, with Shadow and Touka volunteering to go along, as they had their own suspicions in regards to what was going on. Of course, it was always possible that it was something completely harmless, like Sonic and Lucas being too busy to call them back, but their gut feeling told them to check the situation regardless.

Unfortunately for them, they were right about that.

Tails walked a bit ahead, his gaze focused on the information displayed on the Miles Electric, and he didn't even notice his surroundings suddenly changing, at least until Warren gasped in surprise.

''Warren, what is- Oh, no…'' Tails jaw dropped as he and Warren found themselves in an unfamiliar area, with Shadow and Touka nowhere to be seen. The area itself appeared to be in outer space, as it showed them a view of Earth, and was covered by an orange-brownish wall. The platforms were light gray, decorated with some patterns and warning signs.

''I can't believe it! We're in the Death Egg Zone!'' Warren ran over to the edge of the platforms, staring at the Earth below him. How he and Tails were still breathing or even unharmed being in outer space was beyond him, but he was even more baffled by the fact that they were inside a video game location. ''Well, at least I think this is the Death Egg Zone. It certainly looks like it.''

''The Death Egg Zone?'' Tails gave Warren a confused look.

''Ah, yeah, you wouldn't know much about it,'' Warren replied, turning to his partner. ''Basically, the Death Egg Zone is a video game location from Sonic the Hedgehog 2, and it appears at the very end of the game.''

''I see…'' Tails muttered, looking down at his Miles Electric. ''There is no signal either, so we cannot call any of our friends.''

''It looks to me like Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline had managed to get ahead of us,'' Warren said. ''However, given how we vanished so suddenly, perhaps Touka and Shadow will find a way to get out of this place with Chaos Control.''

''I hope you're right,'' Tails replied worriedly.

xXx

In one moment Silver and Makoto were talking to Knuckles and Lily. In the next, they found themselves falling through the clouds, with Silver saving both of them thanks through his psychokinesis.

''Thanks, Silver!'' Makoto breathed a sigh of relief, despite the fact that he and Silver were now floating high in the sky, with everything below them being bouncing platforms and narrow pathways surrounded by mountains and clouds, as well as swirling fans, for some reason. If they fell between platforms, there was nothing to save them from the bottomless pit.

''That was so close,'' Silver said. ''Where are we, and where are Knuckles and Lily?''

''Honestly, I have no clue about their whereabouts, but this place feels kind of familiar,'' Makoto responded. ''Could you get us down on one of those platforms?''

''No problem!'' Silver replied, gently placing them down, while also eyeing a nearby row of spikes with a suspicious look. ''What's going on here? We've been at Eden just a moment ago?''

''I assume that we're inside an AR Field,'' Makoto replied, trying to remember why this place looked familiar to him. ''Is it Windy Valley? No, that's not right. It has to be something else.''

''What are you talking about?'' Silver asked.

''This place looks to me like a location from a Sonic the Hedgehog video game, but I can't recall which one it is,'' Makoto explained. He walked up to the edge of the platform, noting the swirling fans below and squinting his eyes. ''Wait a sec, is this place Sky Canyon?''

''Sky Canyon?'' Silver gave him a confused look.

''Sky Canyon is a location in Sonic Advance 2. Basically, in the game, Dr. Eggman has kidnapped Knuckles and Tails and Sonic goes to find them, while also meeting another character called Cream the Rabbit and her Chao friend Cheese, who are on the search for Cream's mother Vanilla,'' Makoto explained. ''I wonder why we'd end up here.''

''I bet this is all Eggman and Starline's fault. We already know what Eggman is capable of, and Starline had also managed to trap Sonic, Tails and Knuckles in an AR Field,'' Silver said, clenching his fists.

''I hate to say it, but you're probably right, Silver,'' Makoto replied. ''The most we can do now is to find a way out of this place.''

xXx

Both Shadow and Touka were on high alert when their surroundings had suddenly changed and Tails and Warren vanished. Instead of being in the city, they found themselves in an ice-themed area with northern lights appearing above the mountains. They could also see platforms around them lined up with crystals and gems. Unknown to either of them, they had actually found themselves in Twinkle Snow, a Zone from Sonic Advance 3.

''Where are we?'' Shadow asked, taking a look at the area. Next to him, Touka hugged herself, shivering.

''I-I have no clue, but it's really c-cold here,'' she said, lamenting the fact that she didn't have any leggings to wear under her shorts. She then shook her head, trying to ignore the coldness. ''Wait, where are Warren and Tails? They were with us just a moment ago.''

''I guess we got ourselves trapped inside an AR Field, the same kind Sonic, Tails and Knuckles found themselves in,'' Shadow said, assessing the situation. ''Tails and Warren probably ended up in a different AR Field.''

''Great,'' Touka sighed, arms folded across her chest. ''I hope they at least ended up somewhere warmer. In any case, we need to get out of this snow area. I'm sure that this is Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline's doing.''

''Don't worry, I'll get us out of here,'' Shadow told her, snapping with his fingers. ''Chaos Control!''

However, nothing happened. There was no flash of light blue light, nor did they find themselves outside the AR Field. Shadow was stunned in regards to the fact that Chaos Control had somehow failed, but he quickly snapped out of it, realizing that something was interfering with his power. He growled in annoyance, with Touka giving him a knowing look.

''I suppose that the two Doctors had also figured out how to block your Chaos Control, we'll have to find a different way out of here,'' she said.

''Hmph.'' Shadow, admittedly, was still irked by having his powers blocked. ''I don't really see an exit, unless you want me to create one by force.''

''I don't think that would be a smart idea,'' Touka replied. ''We are still inside an AR Field, and overloading it might cause it to collapse and then we would be trapped in it for good.''

''Then the only thing that we can do is to explore this snow area,'' Shadow replied, with Touka nodding in agreement.

''Yeah, and maybe I'll get a bit warmer if I keep moving,'' she said, shivering. ''Seriously, couldn't the Doctors sent us to some tropical area?''

Shadow just shrugged in response, a bit amused that Touka's main issue was that it was cold and not that they were trapped. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to share her plight.

xXx

''I won!'' Sonic exclaimed as he ran past a signpost that had his face on it, causing it to spin uncontrollably. He turned around, with Lucas arriving just a few moments later. ''Okay, so if this is the end of the Zone, shouldn't there be some kind of exit or maybe a sign to let us know we're entering the next Zone?''

''I don't know,'' Lucas admitted, shrugging. ''I have no clue whether this Zone is supposed to be completely game accurate.''

''Well, it had a bunch of obstacles and Badniks for me to smash through,'' Sonic replied, pointing with his thumb at the path they came from. Lucas looked up, noting the Flickies Sonic saved by smashing into the Badniks flying past them.

''Yeah, but still… This is Eggman we're talking about-'' Before Lucas could finish his sentence, their surroundings flickered and the signpost vanished. When everything returned to normal, the two made a rather unnerving discovery. ''W-Wait… Are we back at the beginning of the Zone?!''

''Oh, com'n! I like running as much as the next guy, but going back to the start?'' Sonic complained, being now just as frustrated as his partner. He put his hands on his hips, looking around impatiently. ''Egghead! I know you can hear me! I know that this is one of your schemes, and I will find you and beat you up! However, if your plan is to just trap me, then at least you could've added some variety! Or maybe an enemy or two, since I already smashed all of your robots during my first run! I'm sure you're more creative than this!''

''Nice to know that you got your priorities straight,'' Lucas said in a deadpan tone, with Sonic just flashing him a grin.

xXx

''If I knew that Sonic would treat this all like a video game, I would've added something to make him truly miserable,'' Dr. Eggman grumbled, watching the monitor before him.

''But, this is technically a video game,'' Cubot pointed out.

''Actually, it is just an AR Field simulation of the Green Hill Zone from Sonic the Hedgehog, but anyone could make the mistake of mixing those two up,'' Orbot explained.

''Com'n, Egghead! I'm bored! Give me a real challenge!'' Sonic shouted.

Eggman rolled his eyes, muttering, ''Oh, I'll give you a challenge, Hedgehog…''

''I suppose that means that Metal Sonic and I will be going after Lucas and Sonic,'' Ferra said, with Eggman glancing at her and Metal Sonic. The robotic hedgehog had a bloodthirsty gaze on his expression.

''No, you won't,'' Eggman told the two resolutely, with Ferra looking surprised and Metal Sonic genuinely offended. ''Instead, you will be going after one of the Hedgehog's friends.''

''Sir, if I may interrupt…'' Dr. Starline, who was listening to the whole conversation, spoke up, ''Why wouldn't you send Metal Sonic after Sonic? From what I've gathered, you have Sonic caged in an inescapable AR Field, and Metal Sonic appears to be a capable fighter – and, don't take it as me complimenting you; I'm merely stating the obvious,'' he added, casting a side-eye towards the two, much to Ferra and Metal Sonic's annoyance. He then turned back to Eggman. ''He is trapped like a rat. It would be wise to unleash the cat and finish him off once and for all.''

''Ah, yes, but you see, a cornered rat will fight back, especially this blue one. Sonic, and even his friends, have demonstrated that engaging them in a direct battle is not wise, since they're more than capable of fighting back. Not to mention, their human partners, what they lack in pure power, even with Chaos Surge, they surely make up with their way of thinking.'' Eggman leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands and twiddling with his thumbs. ''During my first attack, I made sure to prepare for every possible outcome. The Buddy Bots kept the authorities occupied and the public in fear. I also made sure that the Death Egg Robot would withstand any of the attacks Sonic and his friends launched at it, including Chaos Powers. However, what I did not account for was how much the human partners would have an influence in the battle, even if they were drained of energy because of the Chaos Surge. They picked my plan apart like the little ants they are, but now I know better.'' He flashed them a malicious grin. ''This time, they cannot do anything to save themselves. There is no way for them to escape the AR Fields, let alone power them down since they are maintained by Neos City, and the authorities have no clue that I'm in control here.'' He then waved at the monitor. ''As for the Badniks, they're just data, and as Orbot and Cubot put it-'' The two robots gave each other a confused look. ''It is just like a video game, so I can respawn the Badniks endlessly. I have separated Team Neos with no way of communication between them and they are trapped in an endless loop, being locked in the chosen Zone. There is absolutely nothing they can do.''

''So, what do you plan to do with them then, Sir?'' Starline asked.

''Oh, now that's the fun part, isn't it? Since I have them exactly where I want them, I can play a game with them, a survival game, if you want to call it,'' Eggman responded, pressing another button and revealing two distinct robots that looked a lot like Sonic on screen – one of them being small, but bulky and silver, while the other was taller and blue, with a red screen where they eyes should be. ''These are Mecha Sonic and Mecha Sonic Mark II. I will be sending them in soon to battle in the Death Egg Zone and Sky Sanctuary Zone respectively.''

''Ah, I see,'' Ferra quickly caught on, well aware that these two were Bosses from their respective Sonic the Hedgehog video games. ''That would cover Warren, Tails, Lily and Knuckles… So, does this mean we'll be going to Stardust Speedway to deal with Minami and Amy?''

''Precisely,'' Eggman responded, pleased with how fast Ferra understood her assignment. Metal Sonic, on the other hand, looked quite sour that he wasn't going to fight Sonic at all. Admittedly, he didn't care that those two new robots would be fighting Sonic's friends, as long as they didn't fight Sonic. If the latter case were true, then he might as well… interfere.

''That covers three out of three…'' Starline observed, raising an eyebrow. ''May I know your plans for Silver and Shadow? These two struck me as the more powerful ones of the team.''

''I had assumed that you would finally want a challenge of your own, Dr. Starline,'' Eggman said, grinning knowingly at the platypus.

''M-Me?'' Starline was starstruck when he realized the implications. ''S-Sir, I don't know what to say-''

''Well, you can choose to participate in eradicating two powerful hedgehogs and prove your worth, or just sit back while I do all of the work,'' Eggman told him off-handedly. To his amusement, Starline quickly protested.

''N-No! I never said I wouldn't accept your offer, Sir! As a matter of fact, I am honored that you consider me for this task,'' Starline bowed with a flourish. ''I will go and immediately prepare everything for the assault. I already have several contingency plans on mind, if you wish to hear them…''

''No, no, I'd rather see those contingency plans in action,'' Eggman said, clearly not in the mood to listen to Starline's rambling. ''You may go now.''

''As you wish, Sir,'' Starline responded, strutting proudly out of the room. However, just before the door closed, they could hear loud squealing coming from the hallway, resembling that of a screeching fangirl who just shook her hand with her idol. Ferra and Metal Sonic rolled their eyes in unison, with Ferra then asking Eggman.

''How long do you plan to keep him around?'' she asked.

''As long as necessary,'' Eggman responded.

''You mean, as long as he's useful to you,'' Ferra replied in a deadpan tone. Despite being hidden behind glasses, it seemed as if Eggman's eyes glinted and he gave Ferra an amused grin.

''Dr. Starline is an interesting fellow, and he certainly has useful skills, not to mention being completely devoted to me. However, even I can see a sense of arrogance from a mile away, and the platypus might become a headache in the future, but for now, I will keep him here,'' he explained.

''I'm surprised you have nothing to say about me and Metal Sonic,'' Ferra continued, with Eggman raising an eyebrow, clearly a bit surprised by her question. ''Toshiro and Mephiles betrayed you, and what I know about Starline is that he isn't exactly trustworthy – or sane, for that matter – either. So, what's your plan with us?''

Metal Sonic stared at Ferra, then gazed at the Doctor, who seemed to be quite intrigued by the question. ''Ho-ho, I thought you knew it already. After all, it was all in the contract…''

''It's all part of the game, isn't it?'' Ferra sighed.

''Precisely, but more in a 'You scratch my back so I won't disintegrate yours','' Eggman responded. Ferra could only roll her eyes. ''Make no mistake, so far, you two have proven to be the most useful. The alliance with Toshiro and Mephisto was always going to be temporary, and Starline is another matter I can deal with in time. It certainly would be a shame to see you leave, especially since we have the same goal.''

''The only thing I care about is what Metal Sonic wants, and that's to destroy Sonic,'' Ferra responded, with Metal Sonic nodding sharply. Eggman got up from his seat.

''As I said, we have the same goal,… plus or minus some world conquering,'' he quickly added the last part in a casual tone.

''Right, except you won't even let us deal with Lucas and Sonic,'' Ferra said, her and Metal Sonic folding their arms across their chest and shooting a glare at the Doctor.

''In time, in time…'' Eggman huffed. ''In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the Hedgehog manages to worm his way out of this trap as well.''

That statement came to both Ferra and Metal Sonic as a surprise. ''What? But, you just said…''

''That I finally have Sonic cornered, yes. Except, knowing that Hedgehog, he will find a way to destroy my plans, again,'' Eggman said, pointing at the monitor behind him, with Sonic still yelling for the Doctor to give him some kind of entertainment. ''As a matter of fact, in a different life, that Hedgehog won't stop at anything to ruin everything I come up with.''

''A different life… you mean the video games?'' Ferra asked, a bit stunned.

''The Death Egg, Chaos, The ARK, Iblis, Dark Gaia, The Time Eater, the Wisps, the Zeti… Hell, even Infinite and that damned Phantom Ruby… not to mention, the Metal Virus… I have reviewed all possible plans, and I cannot exactly use them if the other side is just as well informed as I am,'' Eggman responded, only to smirk. ''Nevertheless, it has given me a couple of ideas. If you believe that I'm confident that there won't be any future confrontations, then you're quite foolish.''

''No offense, but I hope that you won't unleash any Metal Virus on Neos City,'' Ferra said, feeling a bit nervous. If Eggman had indeed prepared a Metal Virus project, she knew that it would be a disaster.

''Don't worry, I crossed that one off my list. The last thing I need is an army of unruly Zombots that would infect me as well,'' Eggman told her, then grumbled under his breath. ''Not to mention, I don't have any safe planet to escape to.'' He heard Ferra sighing in relief, and continued, ''If I'm going for something bigger, it would probably be Eggperial City, but that would be a problem if the authorities of Neos City notice anything.''

Ferra and Metal Sonic exchanged glances, having to agree that this would be a dumb move, at least for now. They both then glanced at the Doctor. ''So, what do you have planned?''

''Oh, I had been working on a certain, well, I suppose I could call this little project a program, but it would certainly give me a peace of mind when it comes to having someone I can trust with my plans, someone loyal,'' Eggman explained. ''I'll leave this project as a surprise.''

''I don't…'' Ferra trailed off, when it suddenly hit her what Eggman was talking about. ''Wait, you mean… her?''

''Ah, you're quite sharp. I'm glad that I hired you,'' Eggman told her. Surprisingly, Ferra flashed him an approving smile.

''Actually, it's a project I'd love to see the come to fruition,'' she told him. ''It would be nice to have someone here who actually has some sense.''

''Hmph, how about you run along?'' Eggman told her, with Ferra nodding and her and Metal Sonic were about to leave when Eggman called out to them again. ''Oh, and keep an eye on Starline.''

''Sure thing,'' Ferra responded as she and Metal Sonic walked out. She placed her arms behind her head, only to realize that there was something else she wanted to ask Eggman. She turned on her heel, but the door behind her was already shut. She stared at it for a moment, then shrugged, deciding to leave it for another time.

'There is something else on your mind,' Metal Sonic observed.

''Yeah, the fact that Dr. Eggman has no issues with me talking to him like that,'' Ferra replied.

'Do you plan on intentionally pissing him off?' Metal Sonic asked.

''Well, I would like to see how much it takes for him to finally explode, but I guess that, whatever I ask him, seems to be amusing to him,'' Ferra replied. ''It feels a bit strange for him to actually patiently answer all of my questions.''

The two then noticed a shape walking through the hallway, realizing that it was Starline. Exchanging a glance and a nod, they quickly followed the platypus into one of the rooms at the HQ. The room itself was actually something of a collector's room, with desks and shelves adorned with all kinds of figurines. Starline walked over over to one shelf stacked with mechs, observing each of them thoughtfully.

''Hey, Starline, what are you doing here?''

The platypus was startled when he heard a familiar voice calling out for him, almost jumping out of his skin, only to turn around and see Ferra and Metal Sonic walk inside. ''Have you ever heard of KNOCKING?!''

''Hey, you're the one sneaking around,'' Ferra pointed out.

''May I remind you that Dr. Eggman entrusted me with access to the whole HQ?'' Starline told her.

'No, he didn't,' Metal Sonic pointed out, causing Ferra to smirk. Starline, however, had no clue what the beeps meant, and just frowned.

''So, why are you here? I thought you were preparing for your mission,'' Ferra asked.

''This is part of my preparation,'' Starline told her, rolling his eyes. ''I'm trying to decide on which mech I shall pick for the upcoming battle. I'm certain that Dr. Eggman would be pleased to see how expertly I can maneuver one of his creations. Of course, I might also add some of my own ideas to them… After all, the mechs would just be easily manipulated data.''

''Honestly, I don't think that just throwing a mech at either Silver or Shadow would work,'' Ferra said.

''What do you even know about using a mech? From what I've seen, you usually fight directly,'' Starline responded, sneering at her. Metal Sonic just shot him a glare. If Ferra told him so, he would've already pinned the platypus against the wall.

''The Doctor already fought them with a mech and lost. What makes you think that you will succeed?'' Ferra asked. Starline huffed.

''I know I will suceed, and I'm looking forward to the Doctor praising my efforts,'' Starline told her. ''Something that surely cannot be expected from you. From what I've seen, you have lost most of your battles, or ran away like a coward.''

Before either Starline or even Ferra could register it, Metal Sonic vanished in a flash and grabbed Starline by his collar, slamming him against the wall, his red eyes flaring.

'I DARE you to repeat that!'

Even though Starline couldn't understand the robot, he did understand the murderous intent behind Metal Sonic's gaze, flailing around helplessly. ''Agh, don't stand there! Tell your robot impostor to let me go!''

''I don't know, you kinda deserved that for calling Metal a coward,'' Ferra told him placidly. Metal Sonic turned to her.

'He called you a coward. I wanted to make him pay for that,' he explained. Ferra snorted, feeling a sudden surge of warmth.

''Awww, that's so kind of you, but don't worry, I don't care about that. You can let him go,'' she said. Metal Sonic turned to Starline, shooting him a glare, before unceremoniously dropping him. Starline hit the ground with a thud, rubbing his chest as he could feel the scratches where Metal Sonic's claws dug into his flesh.

''I still can't believe that the Doctor decided to hire someone unhinged like you,'' Starline grumbled, glaring at Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic, in turn, looked like he was about to strangle the platypus hadn't Ferra intervened.

''Keep talking, and you'll have enough rope to hang yourself with,'' she told him, extending her hand. Starline stared at it for a moment, reluctantly accepting it as she helped him to get up. ''Listen, I may not like you, and you don't like me nor Metal, but I'm not here to stand in your way. Metal Sonic and I only want to fight Sonic and Lucas, and we would've done it whether we were affiliated with Dr. Eggman or not.''

''Your point being?'' Starline asked.

''I want to call a truce,'' Ferra replied. ''We will keep out of each other's ways and go on with our mission as planned. However, take note that neither me nor Metal Sonic are your subordinates, but colleagues, and you will address us as such. Or else I might let Metal Sonic use you as a stress reliever.''

''…Fine,'' Starline grumbled, still glaring at both.

Satisfied, Ferra and Metal Sonic walked out, with Ferra adding at the door. ''Also, tone it down with the arrogance, Doctor. You aren't infallible, and your ego will be the end of you if you continue like this.''

''Tch, who does she think she is?'' Starline grumbled, placing his hands on his hips and frowning. However, before he could continue, something caught his attention. He turned to the nearby shelf and, to his surprise, found a figurine of himself. He grabbed it to get a closer look. ''When did the Doctor even have the time…''

He trailed off when he saw that the figurine of himself looked rather strange, with red eyes and a more… metallic body. It was as if Dr. Eggman made a figurine replica of a robotic Starline. The real Starline stared nervously at his robotic replica, unsure what to really think of it. He did admire the craftmanship, but something about him left him with a pit in his stomach.

Does the Doctor-? Starline suddenly shook his head, placing the figurine back where he found it and quickly walked out of the room. After all, he had a mission to focus on.

xXx

''Man, this place feels endless,'' Minami complained as she and Amy walked through Stardust Speedway. Amy then ran up to a nearby Badnik, whacking it with her Piko Piko Hammer.

''Well, at least we get something to do,'' Amy told her.

''True, but I feel like Eggman is better than this. At least he could've given us a bigger challenge,'' Minami said.

''If you're so bored fighting Badniks, then I guess we might leave as well.''

To Minami and Amy's shock, they spotted Ferra and Metal Sonic standing on top of one of the structures, with Ferra having her arms crossed on her chest, smirking at the two. Amy lowered her eye-lids, looking at Minami.

''You and your big mouth,'' she said in a deadpan tone. Minami just smiled sheepishly.

''Hey, at least we might get some answers from these two,'' she said, only for the full implications to hit her and she turned back to them. ''Wait a second, how did you two get here?! Where the hell is the exit?!''

''Nice that you got your priorities right,'' Ferra replied in amusement, leaping from the structure and landing before them, with Metal Sonic following her. It appeared that this AR Field didn't exactly obey the laws of physics, Minami noted, as Ferra should've broken her legs from that jump. ''Besides, it's not as if we're going to tell you anything.''

''You don't have to, since we already got everything figured out,'' Minami responded, much to Ferra's surprise. ''I bet the rest of Team Neos also got trapped like Amy and I did.''

''How did you-?!'' Ferra was genuinely shocked by that reveal.

''Oh, please, having the villain split up the team and face a challenge individually is such a cliché thing to do,'' Minami replied, then arched her eyebrow. ''The only thing I don't understand is why Amy and I got you two. I thought you'd be fighting Lucas and Sonic.''

''The Doctor has other plans with these two,'' Ferra replied.

''Would you tell us what those plans are?'' Amy asked, tightening her grip around her Piko Piko Hammer as she glared at Ferra and Metal Sonic.

''As if-'' Ferra was about to respond, when Minami suddenly gasped.

''Ah, of course! This is Stardust Speedway, after all, and Metal Sonic was the Boss of this Zone. So, is your plan to kidnap us and lure Lucas and Sonic into a trap?'' she asked.

''Not everything is game accurate!'' Ferra snapped angrily. ''Besides, you are already trapped, you idiot!''

''Awww, so there is no Metallic Madness after this Zone? What a pity,'' Minami replied, pouting. Next to her, Amy sighed, noting that Minami couldn't care less about the peril they were in. Of course, she may have also been baiting Ferra and Metal Sonic into attacking them.

''How about we defeat them and then ask questions?'' Amy suggested. Minami nodded in response, extending her hand.

''Chaos Surge!''

In a flash of pink light, Minami was revealed to be carrying her own hammer, while Amy's Piko Piko Hammer was empowered by her BioEnergy. Ferra snorted in response to this display of power.

''They already made a mistake,'' she muttered, loud enough for Metal Sonic to hear her. ''Let's make sure it is their last.''

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