#do those writers even KNOW about SA2 or sonic lore in general?

[gritsandbrits]

Daily Reminder that King Sonic from the Archie Comics would have been Peak Power instead of that crummy old man we saw getting upstaged by Mary - I mean - Lara Su.

[taco-night-frenzy]

Shadow the Hedgehog part 2

Whats up, I’ve been listening to more SA2 Shadow songs, felt the need to continue where I left off. 

Again, I want to just give off a general warning, this is just my interpretation of an interpretation of Shadow’s character. I love the way Shadow is portrayed in song, and I feel the musicians had a better grasp of his character than Sonic Team. 

Ironically, the problem with Shadow is his identity crisis. Not the good one where he doesn’t know who he is, but the fact that Sonic Team doesn’t know what they want to make him.

I think a big factor in his failure as a character is that he was often portrayed as “Bad Sonic” and just... an evil Sonic. And the thing about that, is Metal Sonic pulls this off much better, and Shadow really had some backstory and thought put into him that made him different from that. The good part of his character isn’t the “bad Sonic” part of him. In fact, for the most part, Sonic doesn’t even seem to be important at all to Shadow’s character or backstory, other than he was possibly designed to look like Super Sonic. (Again, almost none of what I say is canon as the series goes on because Sonic Team kept adding weird things to Shadow’s ‘lore.’) 

Anyway, let’s ignore that, just some of my bad opinions there. Let’s get to the real bad opinions I wanna talk about, and what I think Fumie and Bradly (the composers and lyric writers of Shadow’s songs in SA2) tried to portray about Shadow.

I want to now get to Supporting Me, but I think this requires us to look at one song before. I think the lyrical songs go in order, and Supporting Me is directly after For True Story. For clarity, I think the songs go Rhythm and Balance, Supernatural, For True Story, and finally Supporting Me. 

With Throw it All Away somewhere. Probably at the start, I’m not sure. My belief is Throw it All Away is meant to be just a general telling of Shadow’s character.

Now, wake up Now, wake up Now, wake up

Everybody tries to be straight But things are still unchanged It's useless to resist Their effort will be wasted Head straight for your goal by any means There is a door that you never have opened There is a window with a view you have never seen Get there - no matter how long it takes

Oh, dark - the darkness that dozes in the dusk Throw it all away No one can break you - nobody can tear you You live an endless life forever Oh, dark - the darkness that dozes in the dusk Throw it all away You see a light wherever you go You have to face it again and again And again... And again... And again and again and again 

You live an endless life forever... Forever... Now, wake up! 

I cut out a lot of repeats so I don’t make this post longer than the Great Wall, but feel free to look up the lyrics yourself if you want to see exactly how it was sung.  Anyway, first things first, I wanna talk about the important part of the song that is similar to Supporting Me. There seems to be two different voices singing this song. I believe that scratchy, dark voice is Shadow’s unconscious thoughts, or the thoughts Gerald Robotnik put into Shadow. Or even Gerald Robotnik himself. 

Now, I know if we look at the canon and the later games, this really does not make sense, but I’m looking at this solely from SA2′s point of view and the song writer’s point of view, and also just kind of how I would like to see it. 

Now, wake up 

obviously it’s that inner voice, or Gerald Robotnik telling Shadow to wake up when he’s found by Eggman. Or it could more easily represent “wake up and do my bidding.” Sort of like a sleeper agent, who isn’t aware they’re under control.

Everybody tries to be straight But things are still unchanged It's useless to resist Their effort will be wasted

Now here is why I think that dark scratchy voice is more Gerald Robotnik than anything. I don’t think Shadow knows enough of humans to know what they’re like. I think these are words by someone who tried to do good, tried to make things for the better, but it didn’t matter. 

Head straight for your goal by any means There is a door that you never have opened There is a window with a view you have never seen Get there - no matter how long it takes

And here’s obviously the instructions. “Do my bidding at any cost, do whatever you have to do, I don’t care.” Gerald Robotnik’s goal being to destroy the Earth obviously. (Is it that obvious? I don’t know. Again, after SA2, it becomes even more unclear what Gerald Robotnik really was I feel.) 

But here’s the interesting part, it’s not exactly clear that this is Gerald Robotnik saying it right? I think this is because this was made into Shadow’s very being. Even if it was Gerald Robotnik’s feelings, they were put into Shadow. They still technically ARE his feelings as well. Even if they’re someone else’s, even if they’re programmed into him, it’s still part of him, and I think this is where that really interesting struggle comes from. 

Oh, dark - the darkness that dozes in the dusk Throw it all away No one can break you - nobody can tear you You live an endless life forever Oh, dark - the darkness that dozes in the dusk Throw it all away

Now we’re at the lighter singing. I believe this to be more Shadow, or at least his more conscious self. I think it’s really really easy to see the dark and light comparison and think “oh he is just struggling between being good or evil” but I don’t think it’s quite as simple as that. 

I believe more that the darkness simply is just those fake memories and feelings Gerald Robotnik programmed into him. The fact that it’s “dozes” again makes me think it’s unconscious, like a sleeper agent thing. It’s this strange hidden thing in the back of Shadow’s mind that he can’t quite see or know what it is. It’s telling him what to do, although probably not as literally as that with the lyrics. He obviously doesn’t HEAR someone telling him what to do, but a force in him seems to be making him do it. 

And the part of Shadow that is more himself does not like this. He wants to throw that part of himself away. Again, this doesn’t really mean his lighter side is “better” but it more represents that he’s fighting with himself and who he is. Even if he doesn’t like that dark part of himself, that’s who he is, but he won’t accept it, or perhaps doesn’t know how. 

You see a light wherever you go You have to face it again and again And again... And again... And again and again and again

I think, again, it’s very easy to see this light and just be like “Oh it’s Sonic! Getting in his way!” But I think it’s more than that. I think Sonic is part of that, yes, but I think this light is just about everything. Take out Sonic, there will be someone else. 

The light could be Maria. In my previous post, I talked about how it seemed he was uncomfortable with her in one song (although this again is more of Gerald’s Programming I think.) If he does one thing, he has to face his memory of Maria, and is he doing the right thing? According to him, Maria wanted everyone dead and he promised he’d do it. Although, what if it was actually Maria wanted everyone alive? Which promise does he keep? And then, was it real anyway? 

No matter what Shadow does, he’ll have to keep facing this light. Even Eggman could be represented as light. Eggman I don’t think really wanted to destroy the earth, but that goes against Gerald’s/Shadow’s plan, so eventually he’d be in the way too. Everyone was against him, including himself. Because there can’t be dark without light. It’s just always there. 

You live an endless life forever... Forever... Now, wake up!

We return to the dark voice. Both of them telling him he’ll live forever. He can’t die and escape it. It’s something he’ll have to deal with, both of these voices fighting against each other. 

I took too long with this again, but whatevs. We’re moving on to Supporting Me now, which I believe is the final chapter in Shadow’s character in SA2. Also easily probably one of the best songs in the game.

This is directly after For True Story, which I think is Shadow’s lowest point, his most confused, where he refused to accept anything. 

Now at Supporting Me, I believe things are a little bit more clear, and he’s accepting things just a bit more. 

I'm gonna be desperate Never Lose... Hurry... Never Lose... Hurry I believe in my future, farewell to the shadow, It was my place to live, but now I need your hand. Lead me out with your light, I have breathed in, The disgusting air of darkness, but I never lose out. To the pressure, everything's just like, An illusion, I'll be losing you, before long. Never Lose... Hurry... Never Lose I never lose my confidence, I know you are supporting me, Supporting me... supporting me... I'll be losing you before long.

So again, like Throw it All Away, we have both those voices again. Except, here, it feels less like Gerald Robotnik is that dark voice. Here, it feels just a little bit like Shadow has more accepted that part of himself. A little. 

I'm gonna be desperate

This voice is the lighter one, I think the one that’s more his own self. I believe Shadow is just desperate at this point to know who he is, desperate to hold onto these memories, to hold onto anything that is him. But he knows it’s not real. Or at leas probably not real. So he desperately holds onto it. 

Never Lose... Hurry... Never Lose... Hurry 

These lyrics seem to be sprinkled throughout the song, and are all creepy and distorted. Again, I think it’s just his unconscious self, that part of Gerald that programmed him to never give up, get there at all costs. It’s always there, it’s part of him. Although, this time Shadow is using it for his own goals now. Kill the Biolizard, try to understand more about himself. Again, it feels slightly more like he is accepting it, to me at least. 

I believe in my future, farewell to the shadow, It was my place to live, but now I need your hand. Lead me out with your light, I have breathed in, The disgusting air of darkness, but I never lose out. 

This one is a little hard for me to understand. Forgive me, I know I’ve probably been wrong on everything so far, but I will probably be even MORE wrong here. 

This is still the dark scratchy voice talking. I think he is saying farewell to his oldself, his old self that fought between this light and dark side. “It was my place to live,” I believe was this dark and scratchy voice, the Gerald Robotnik side saying “I was meant to tell you what to do, you were under my control, light side, but now I need your help.” 

Again, I think this is Shadow accepting that darkness in him, at least a little bit. “Lead me out with your light.” I think even the dark side of him has accepted the other side as well. It’s less Gerald Robotnik now, and more himself. Slightly. 

“The disgusting air of darkness” is referring to itself now. I think this dark voice knows its bad, but still, he’ll use that dark side to stay confident. “I never lose out.” 

To the pressure, everything's just like, An illusion, I'll be losing you, before long.

And here obviously, we have Shadow’s conscious feelings. He knows he might be fake, his memories might all be fake. Everything he’s been told has lead up to this. He doesn’t want it to be fake though. I don’t think anyone would want to know their memories are fake, especially of the good people, like Maria. 

He doesn’t want to lose Maria, that memory he held of her. It’s not that he’s forgetting her, but he’s realizing more and more that it was probably fake, that he probably never even knew her. 

I never lose my confidence,

This is probably the most clear lyric in the song. I like it. Maybe it is just me, but it feels like a combination of that light and dark voice. It’s him accepting himself a little bit more, not fighting it, and using it to stay confident, stay on track with his goal. I think it’s obvious he does lose his confidence, but this is what he’s telling himself, this is at least what he wants to be I believe, and trying to be. It’s one of the only thing he knows. 

I know you are supporting me, Supporting me... supporting me...

I will admit, this part gets me a little. It’s sad, and its the end of the song before it loops, so really the end of Shadow in a way. 

The voice itself is really low, really hard to hear, and slowly fading away. He’s trying to imagine Maria supporting him, trying so hard to stay confident that he’s doing the right thing, that maybe she’s real. But, he knows she’s not real. She’s not supporting him. There’s no one. And that feeling is fading away, but he desperately wants to hold onto it. 

I'll be losing you before long.

This could be taken a few ways. I think most likely, it is Shadow realizing Maria is fake. Her support is fake, his memories of her are fake. He’s coming to accept it, where as before he never really could. Once he knows for sure she’s nothing more than a fake memory, she’s lost. It won’t have the same meaning. It’s hard to feel the support of someone who isn’t real, right? 

It could also mean Shadow knows he’s going to die soon. Could be both. But either way, he’s accepted it. At least a little bit. 

Man, I have written so much. If anyone managed to read through all this incoherent nonsense and still have respect for me, then thank you, I appreciate it. I really wrote all this more than anything to try and put down my thoughts and feelings as it’s been on my mind a lot, and try to make sense of this character, so its for a selfish reason that I write all this, and I don’t expect or want to force my views on anyone. 

But I really love this inner turmoil Shadow. I think this is what I wish he could have been and what he was meant to be, at least for the most part. Maybe he was simply this, but at some point Sonic Team or someone higher up said “No, he needs to also be a copy of Sonic! People love dark copies, make him that!” And then “Wow, he was really popular! Bring him back! But give him GUNS! He’s edgy and dark right??” 

And we sort of lost what made Shadow so interesting in the first place. Even in Sonic Heroes, I think they tried to bring that air of confusion and mystery for Shadow, when we find out he may actually just be a clone of the real one! That could have worked actually! That could have been a good way to bring him back and keep up this inner turmoil! 

BUUUUT then you find out in his game that he is actually the real one, and there’s not really... any turmoil there. It’s cool, dw, you’re real, everything was real all along! So... why are you still edgy? Eh, I dunno, it’s fun. 

Ah, whatever. I don’t want to poop on people who like him, because I think there is generally a good character in there somewhere, it’s just the Sonic Team writers didn’t know how to bring him out. The composers and music makers did I feel, though, and I want to give them praise for making Shadow seem really cool. 

And uh, that’s it I guess. Thanks for reading my bad opinions and bad interpretations that are not canon at all! I hope maybe it can at least let you see a different side to Shadow and maybe find him a little bit more interesting! If not, that’s okay, I understand.  Ah, so I wrote a story here after writing all this nonsense. Check it out if you managed to enjoy this for some reason. 

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen’s Rambling XXVIII: It’s just a [         ] (Fandoms)

So yesterday on one of my RP blogs I talked about making a blog for a character from the Fate franchise since I’m playing Fate/EXTRA and getting reacquainted with the Fate series in general. An anon was nice enough to give me a bit of a brush up on Fate lore, but told me that the Fate RP community had a reputation of being unwelcoming, to which I gave this response: 

Dude, I’ve been forged in the fires of Gaia Online’s RP forums, trudged through the Touhou, Dangan Ronpa, and Blazblue RP communities my first three years of RPing on Tumblr, and have dealt with 18+ RP forums off this site. There’s not much I haven’t seen or dealt with in terms of difficult (RP) communities and fandoms.

After that, the anon asked me why I would then go an RP community with a bad reputation when I’ve already experienced similar issues with others. I told that anon that specific question was Ramble-worthy, but the short version was that I’m older, wiser, and know what to look out for in terms of figuring out how a community behaves nowaday. Now, I’m not gonna’ talk about RP stuff since this is my personal blog and all, but I did want to talk about fandoms and my general view of them.

Honestly? I could care less about the behaviors and tendencies of a fandom. 

To give my general opinion, I don’t think any fandom is bad. I think some fandoms have rather loud, rather toxic voices in them at times, but at the end of the day whatever we’re into, whatever we’re talking about making ships and fanfiction about is just a game. It’s just a show. It’s just a book. It’s just a comic, and so on. These things are just pieces of media and it’s when one try to make them something more than that is when I get worried about that person.

As far as my own involvement in fandoms go I do quite a bit. I write lyrics to the BGMs of videos games I’m into, namely fighting games. I occasionally do comedic or serious graphics. I write fanfiction when the mood strikes me. I make RP blogs and write stupid, crazy crack plots with other RP writers. I’m... not linking that last one since I don’t do canon RP blogs as much anymore, but you get the point. I do all these things in the fandoms I’m in, but I try not to let them consume me. I’ll spend a solid 5 hours on a fanfic and lyrics, but that’s mostly out of my pride as a writer and lyricist, not my obsession with the fandom... I hope anyway. -_-;; 

That’s not to say I can’t take semi-critically look at a thing and pick it apart if I felt like (just wait until I start comparing FE: Fates and FE: Echoes), but I do realize it’s just a piece of media in the end, and whatever I say about is just my opinion. Whatever feelings we have about a certain thing, I hope we can all realize that these pieces of media don’t matter at the end of the day, it’s not destroying people’s lives, it’s not plaguing the nation with disease and famine. It’s just... a thing. I know a lot of people know this, but I think it’s worth saying to remind everyone that it really is just a piece of media at the end of the day. 

This isn’t to say that shows and media don’t effect people, they do. 90% of the interests I have now are due to media. My interest in fighting games and shounen anime had me taking martial arts when I was in middle school. My love of manga and anime inspired me to draw. All the cheesy YA books I read made me want to write. My interest in writing lyrics actually came from the Blazblue LA Vocals. Half the reason I wanted to play an instrument was to play my favorite video game BGMs. Hell, I got into rollerblading, a passion I’ve had since I was ten, solely because Shadow the Hedgehog was and still is my favorite character in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. When people asked me how I was able to rollerblade so well so quickly I just said it came naturally. No, what I really did was analyse Shadow the Hedgehog’s animations in SA2 so obsessively and Radical Highway so often that when I copied them at age 10 I was rollerblading perfectly with little assistance. No, fandom and media can push you to do many things, I won’t deny that. However, just know that when something about a fandom is making you upset and angry, it’s the people and not the media. And if the media is making you upset, then it’s time to find a new piece of media.

Of course, I have my fair share of annoyances with fandoms too. The fighting game community can be quite annoying when patches and update go through and I have to read through text wall upon text wall of complaints, “git gud” is an honest-to-god trigger word for me, and hearing commentators talk about who has skill in a game and who doesn’t just... drives me up a wall sometimes as a casual player, even if I can see where they’re coming from. I swear the next shounen/action anime that makes people spam it’s yaoi ships at me out of some social justice nonsense will be block. The next time I hear some asinine western cartoon discourse about horses and space rocks I might just scream, but... all the same, I don’t think fandoms are bad, you just have to find what you want to see and tolerate what you don’t... or block it, whatever works for you. At the end of the day, it’s just a piece of media, and if the people surrounding that media make you uneasy, then just enjoy the thing privately with those you trust and tolerate, nothing wrong if that. 

I mean, there’s a reason I tag my Video Game Updates and not my Anime Updates after all.