#i love shth05 so fucking much

[sonic-adventure-3]

these are both sequences where shadow is on a mainly hero/neutral path until the end where he betrays sonic. what the fuck do you mean “destiny for two” and “a pair of shooting stars” what do uou mean by that

[shadowxamyweek]

Hey I know you don’t like the Archie sonic that much, and that is understandable, but I would implore you to at least read Sonic universe 59-62. It is fucking awesome, and you don’t have to read the rest of Archie to understand what is going on. It made me bow to the king.

Hey @sharkrad08222222! I didn't forget this ask, I just needed a day off to sit down and read XD

Honstly, I'm glad you sent this in. You're right- I'm not the biggest fan of Archie, but I've got to give credit where credit is due- Shadow Fall is a lot of fun. If anyone else would like to read it, you should check out this Applebees gift card. ( @biolizardboils I'm never gonna get over that joke XD)

So anyway, here's Shadow Fall

As an aside, I'm really glad that many of the original Archie Sonic crew were able to move over to jobs at IDW and stay on Sonic. I cannot imagine the horror of watching that whole... everything... happen. As someone who has been in a similar (abet still different) position within my own field, it's a genuine nightmare. Furthermore, the fact that many who made that move from Archie to IDW are still there, and that we haven't heard any ill-will from those who have since left/retired- maybe it's the optimist in me, but I want to believe that everyone's doing okay at IDW, and that's good.

Anyway, you didn't ask, but I decided to kinda make this *a thing.* So many people, myself included, sometimes squint at Archie/IDW and go eeeeeeeeh a lot. That does the entire story a disservice though. There's so much fun in these comics. Better yet, you can feel when the comic team is having fun, too. There's moments where the dialog or the art is just immaculate and you can tell that people were really excited about these parts. It's a joy to see.

So, I'm gonna talk about some of the joys I saw in this, or things I just really liked and kinda would like to see again.

1- Shadow and Team Dark's relation to G.U.N.

I like this. I like this a lot. I like Shadow not being afraid to be a snarky bitch, I like the fact that Shadow doesn't really enjoy working with G.U.N, I like the fact that G.U.N doesn't trust Shadow let alone the rest of Team Dark really. It's an alliance by necessity. Each member of Team Dark stays together because they WANT to stay together, but they only stay with G.U.N because, for one reason or another, they have deemed that their best possible option for now. There's a palpable tension that has a lot of history and can still be used in really fun ways like this. I deeply enjoy it.

Speaking of Team Dark-!

2- We Love a Bunch of Freaks

You're honor, that's a family. I love the dynamics. I love the trust and camaraderie and banter. I love the way they rely on one another and make sure to be there for one another. They took what is visible in the games and cranked it up to a 12, but it feels natural, especially when you take into consideration just how LONG these comics had gone on for. I talk about the history between Team Dark and G.U.N, but there is a history between Shadow, Rouge, and Omega as individual people too, let alone being a team under the thumb of a military force.

This is love right here, and I love it.

3- I Missed the Critter Smiling

Shadow smiles... so much in Archie. I love it. And for those of you who are confused and might think this is out of character, I point again to SA2. He smiles rather frequently in that game, even if it's a smile that says 'oh I'm going to enjoy beating your ass.' He also smiles a bit in Heros, Battle, Rivals, and SHtH05, though not as much.

4- The Art, Story, and OCs are Fun

The art is FUN! That first set of panels in particular- I love that. What a clever way to set that up! That's what I mean by you can feel that people were enjoying themselves working on this! Plus, this comic doesn't shy away from horror. I know we got that (beautifully done I might ad) in the Zombot arc, Scrapnik Island spinoff, and Dr. Starline with Surge and Kit. Like, whoever liked horror and had the inspiration for this stuff at Archie either made the transfer to IDW or heavily influenced some of the people on that team, because it's the same vibe. It's a classic, timeless sort of horror that I enjoy most, and it's very palpable here.

As an aside, they did a REALLY good job of making you like these new characters off the drop. I'm not saying I don't like the OCs of IDW (although I don't like Lanolin and, frankly, I don't think I'm SUPPOSE to like Lanolin. She's that perfect example of wanting more to be right than she does to help and I LOVE THAT because you get those people even in the best of causes but anyway). Eclipse though? As soon as that freak showed up on page and I read what he was saying, I loved the little gremlin. You feel for him, and for the Black Arms, which is excellent. They are still CLEARLY the bad guys- they don't HAVE to eat people, they CHOOSE to- but like... damn- you wish there was a way to make things right, and when you watch it all fall apart, you grieve a little. I'm sure if I read more of Archie I'd find more OC's I was meh about but it's just something I was thinking about as I kept going back and looking at Eclipse's body language and facial expressions. Like- look at this bugger-

He lobbied on Shadow's behalf for Black Death to NOT kill him because he so desperately wanted a 'big brother' who could join his 'family' and meet all the new babies and everything. He wanted so badly for Shadow to like him and like being with the Black Arms and make a new life and lkajsdfl;jasd augh....

5- Shadow feels like Shadow

Oh fuck yes.

Mind you, there are other times in Archie where the characters DON'T feel like a natural progression of their game counterparts. I've seen and read moments where Archie Shadow feels very... wrong... but in this? You're 100% right. They are VERY themself in this and it's a treat, a little hard candy for the soul to suck on. I am delighted.

6- It's The Little Things

Maybe it's just because I get the volumes and not the individual comics, but I don't see the fanart submissions or the Q&As. You use to find those sorts of things in all kinds of publications. I remember when I was getting my first game magazines in the mail, there would be stuff like that. It was always fun to page through.

I would adore if they brought those back, but I can also see why they wouldn't. While I think the fandom has gotten much more relaxed in some ways, in others, it's still nutty and weird and, frankly, a little terrible sometimes, but maybe that's just all fandoms. I dunno.

Anyway, it was nice to see that sort of stuff again. I missed it <3

So yeah, this was a lot of fun to read

Thanks again for the recommendation. I deeply enjoyed it.

It's wild too, because there are so many people who are now a part of Sonic's comic history that I remember on here just... goofing off. @bumblekast's Ian Flynn went from working as a writer at Archie to being a head writer at IDW, but I remember reading random posts of theirs online. @chibijenhen and @spiritsonic I remember being on Deviantart and following them. I remember finding bits and pieces of @tysonhesse's work online. I just, all these people, kinda showing me that, if I wanted, I could give a shot at tossing my hat into that ring, too. I ended up going a different way career wise, but now, I'm seeing all these awesome people AGAIN in an online space I'm in and going, 'You know... maybe I can try this for real.'

I don't know. It's just... it's been giving me a lot of hope, and hope is nice, especially when you're stubborn enough to foster it and give it reason to grow.

Maybe one day, that'll be my name in the credits, if I work hard and I'm lucky.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, yeah? <3

[sonic-adventure-3]

okay what the fuck IS lost impact? the stage from shth05 takes place in the past, yet has two branching missions that lead to different stages. what gives? this is me trying to make sense of it. plus the routes that come after it:

after death ruins hero or mad matrix hero, shadow gets teleported to what looks like iron jungle where sonic meets him with a spaceship.

sonic tells him the black creatures are headed to space

“we” inclusive of at least sonic, tails, vector, and presumably literally everyone else, are headed to the ark

so “we” inclusive of sonic and shadow are going to the ark too

on the ship, shadow steals the chaos emerald powering the ship (rude), and alarms sound

shadow has a flashback to alarms sounding on the ark, and maria pleading with him to help her. to help the professor, and those aboard the ark. geralds experiments with artificial chaos have gone horribly wrong

shadow swears he’ll do whatever he can for the ark and the professor

lost impact time:

artificial chaos are wreaking havoc on the very much still functional and habituated ark of 50 years ago

the hero mission is to take out every single artificial chaos at maria’s request (deeply annoying mission btw), and the neutral mission is to get to gerald’s laboratory because shadow is worried about him

something interesting about all this, is that in idle dialogue shows that he’s at least partially aware he’s in a memory. meaning this isn’t something he’s just remembering having happened (which would make no sense with the branching paths), he’s actively re-experiencing everything.

this distinction is important cause it means the conflict of having a level set in the past have two endings is solved. there’s no finite account of what happened, he’s back there, making that choice again.

what changes based on the route you take is what shadow remembers, and what happens next, but the reality of what happened 50 years ago isn’t changed by his choice.

anyway. what happens next after the lost impact hero mission:

shadow remembers maria’s final wish, the promise he made, and being ejected in the escape pod

when he comes to, he’s running with sonic on the ark (for the life of me i could not recognize that environment at all until now, but comparing it to other “present” ark stages, im pretty sure its the ark), and the black comet passes by, final haunt hero time.

after final haunting all over the place, shadow faces black doom and says he’s going to fulfill his promise to maria and save the world she loved so much

“i am shadow the hedgehog, and i made a promise i intend to keep. with the power of these emeralds, black doom and his army are finished. this is who i am”

this is the pure hero end. yippee

rewinding a bit, this is what happens after lost impact neutral:

(listen ok, i’m gonna gloss over how incredibly stupid everything about gun is in this game, and also i’m doing a little work to make things make sense. some of the logic in this route is complete bullshit but i think what it’s trying to do is really interesting so i’m giving it the best chance, ok?)

shadow doesn’t remember the promise he made with maria, nor her saving him. he’s still confused about why he was created and what happened on the ark

when he comes to, he’s on the ark, and the commander of gun is pointing a gun at his head

the commander tells him that he saw shadow being created by black doom and the professor. he says that shadow was responsible for the ark tragedy and maria’s death.

the commander tries to shoot shadow to serve justice for what he believes happened, but shadow dodges. he says he’ll respectfully accept his fate when it comes time if what the commander says is true, but first he has to find out the truth of what really happened.

cosmic fall time:

cosmic fall takes place on the dilapidated and actively exploding ruins of the ark in the present.

if you do the dark mission and just get to the end, then eggman shows up to take the 6 chaos emeralds shadow has collected up til now. he says various stuff about how it was his grandfather who created shadow but honestly doesn’t do much.

“i am shadow the hedgehog, the ultimate life form born and raised aboard the ark. i shall live on… i am the protector of the ark… i am living proof of the ultimate life form. this is who i am”

shadow tells eggman to leave immediately, he won’t allow anyone to defile the sacred ark. this is the semi-hero dark end

rewinding a bit:

if in cosmic fall you find the computer room with vector for the hero mission, then shadow asks black doom if it’s true, if he’s a monster responsible for the ark and was created by him.

black doom says it’s true, and shadow resolves himself to avenging the victims of the ark tragedy. black doom says thats stupid and tries to kill him so shadow defeats him, saying it’s what he must do as his atonement

“i am shadow the hedgehog, a research experiment gone deadly wrong. i’ve caused so much destruction… i never should have been created. this is who i am”

then shadow presumably kills himself. this is the semi-hero hero end

thanks for reading. i love this fucking game