#like without a SHADOW of a doubt

[valend]

okay ive gotta give it to John Lennon if I was in the same psychotic paranoid state he was in and I had just experienced the absolute whiplash of listening to too many people and 3 legs I would have also been certain that dear boy is about me

[quinn-pop]

sailor has a habit of venting to meta knight about stuff

[krafterwrites]

It's genuinely kind of impressive that they managed to set up their SA2 adaptation in a way that makes it impossible to directly adapt any of the scenes from the source material

[edettethegreat]

Ive posted about this a hundred times and I'll post about it again

the fact that edmund knew that if he were to hold a letter, gloucester would demand to read it-- the fact that edmund knew that no matter how reasonable of an explanation he could give, gloucester would assume the worst--

[bloodyhandprint]

the thing is meeting a partner on tumblr has in my experience given nothing but long distance heartbreak. however i really genuinely do believe my ideal partner would be someone who could see my tumblr blog and still want me. bc i feel so cringe+annoying on here but it would be nice for someone to see all this and love me anyway. is that possible

[tiny-smallest]

Sonic Movie Universe prediction: Robotnik is an orphan because of GUN

I think what was supposed to be, tonally, a silly throwaway line is actually winding up to punch us in the face later.

Bear with me.

I barely remember the first movie since it was so long since I watched it, but aside from one, maybe two, of the comic universes, this line is the first time we have ever gotten anything at all about Ivo Robotnik's personal backstory. And it's that he's an orphan. In a story series that explicitly sets him up with a human identity- none of that Eggman stuff as his identity, not even a whisper of the name until it's a silly insult Sonic throws out later- this movie bothers to give him a Normal Human Society Firstname Lastname and a job.

(Okay, so Robotnik isn't exactly a normal human surname. But it's established canon that is the family name so. Suspension of disbelief.)

A series that we know will later delve, at least a little, into the story of Professor Gerald Robotnik WHO IVO APPARENTLY, ACTUALLY, DEFINITELY KNEW IN THIS CONTINUITY, AS HE HAS A SPECIFIC GRANDPA NAME FOR HIM AND NEARLY CRIES.

The original line was a ridiculous rebuttal to Tom during the fight in the house during the first movie. "Rub that in my orphan face," he says in response to Tom sharing a detail of his childhood during Silly Action Scene Banter. While there is a sort of tension there since the movie universe makes no bones about Sonic being an actual child and he is confirmed to be an alien, thus making the danger present of government capture and experimentation very real and kind of horrific, the scene as it plays out isn't overly out of character for something you'd expect in a Sonic movie. And although Robotnik is the threat here, he plays a large part in also keeping the scene lighthearted because of how utterly he fails to respond like a normal human being to literally anything. The comment about being an orphan at least makes sense based on what Tom said, but it's still weirdly personal and, therefore, kind of inappropriate to say. Like dude back up you're trying to kill a child why are you sharing your trauma with me that's uncomfortable.

Which brings me to the obvious point of that line- it's not just to make the scene funny, it's to show us how set apart from other humans Robotnik is. This is a man who has no idea how to interact with anyone, like, absolutely nobody, and every single scene he's in reminds us of this, including this one.

Now that the third movie has explicitly drawn a line between Shadow's backstory and themes of pain and loss, and we see Gerald Robotnik weeping over what I think is Maria's body in the aftermath of the murder (jesus that's dark) I have to connect a few dots of my own.

The first movie had another piece of foreshadowing they threw at us, this one way more obvious: at the end of the first movie, a government agent is sent to speak with the Wachowski couple. He tells them that Ivo Robotnik has been thoroughly erased from existence. As far as any documentation of him ever existing on Planet Earth, there is none. He hasn't merely disappeared- it's like he never was.

If they did this to Ivo after this catastrophe it's not a stretch to think they did the same with Professor Gerald. Hell, I thought that after movie number one. "That has to come up later- we have a character the government explicitly turns on in this series. Like, as a major plot point. The defining moment in several characters' stories. No way does their ability to erase someone not come up later."

But now I think they went a step further.

They've already murdered a little girl and broken an old man in their efforts to contain the genius they were frightened of.

Personally, I don't think it's a stretch to think that Ivo Robotnik, very young himself at the time most likely, is an orphan because GUN decided to eradicate the entire family line in an effort to prevent anyone like Gerald Robotnik from ever existing again.

Except. The son survived. Well shit. Uh. Stick him in an orphanage and keep an eye on him, I guess.

And where does he end up as a adult? A branch of the government. Where they can keep an eye on him.

(More than that, if they did erase Gerald, Ivo clearly remembers him... so Ivo may have joined them specifically to look for traces of the grandfather he knows existed and who doesn't seem to have any records proving that whatsoever. But that's Ivo's motivations and we're talking about GUN's, so, moving on.)

It's likely based on his sheer intellect, assuming Ivo wasn't embellishing too heavily, that he didn't have to grow for very long before that brilliance was obvious. Though the government's decision to let him live was strategic, weighing the gamble of assassination with the gamble of him inheriting the genius and deciding that risking him having the same genius as his grandfather was better than trying to kill him at this point, the gambit ultimately failed. Even though he was more than likely still only a child, they'd let him live too long. In just a few short years he quickly became a very real threat to the government- as in, if given a reason, he could be a very real threat. And nothing Ivo does is ever subtle or quiet, so his genius was probably very loud, and there was likely lots of attention, making an assassination impossible, because if there would be too many questions before, there would be an insurmountable amount if he died or disappeared now.

So, since they couldn't kill him, they continued to keep an eye on him and took him on at the government when he was old enough with the intention of keeping their enemies closer. Except all of their caution still wasn't enough and he went rogue the first time he was presented with the opportunity to grab at power they didn't already have, power capable of things beyond their wildest imaginations- a monster of their own making.

Ivo, who never asked for what happened to him, very likely a victim of circumstances he had no hope of ever controlling, who responded to this trauma by making his choice that power mattered more than anything- more than morals, more than hurting people who are just like he was once. That shaping his own world after all the horrors he planned to do in pursuit of that may finally, finally "be enough."

(Be enough for what, exactly, Ivo. You never did explain that. "Who knows? Maybe that will be enough." Elaborate.)

Whether he knew the truth about why he had suffered or not, Robotnik made his choices. He stood at that crossroads that demanded he make a choice about what kind of person he was going to be in the face of all the pain and loss, and he made his choice. This movie is about Shadow making his.

If this movie really wants to beat us all to death it won't just draw comparisons between Sonic and Shadow, but Shadow and Ivo Robotnik.

(If this movie wants to exorcize our souls after we're dead, if it intends to be a trilogy and not make more movies in following the original vision for Sonic Adventure 2, it'll place Ivo at a new crossroads, and this time, he'll make a different choice.)

(Especially since Professor Gerald, in a much worse state of madness and malice than Ivo, who the movie is setting up specifically as someone Ivo loves, admires, and almost certainly misses, probably won't.)

[jabberwockymoreau]

The thing about the Mindflayer lore in ST is that everything keeps contradicting itself. The First Shadow is apparently like "The Mindflayer possess Henry, it's an evil alien, it's in charge, Henry is just a pawn." and that makes sense with Dustin's S4 comment that Henry's the "five star general opening gates for it"...except Henry tells El/Nancy that he shaped the MF into the spider creature we know it as, and we know it actually does look like that from Will, so that seems to be true? And then Will says it's weird to know that the whole time it has been Henry that he's felt....as if he agrees with what he's been told by El/Nancy/the others and as if that suddenly makes things make sense?

And sure maybe the MF wants Henry to think he is in charge and Will might not be able to identify the thing he's been feeling and so simply believes when he's told that was Henry. After all they did make a point of how Dustin is usually right and has a knack for conceptualizing the supernatural (except Dustin keeps getting undermined by Steve who is right also. Dustin and Robin crack the code but Steve figures out the Russians broadcast from Hawkins, Dustin says he knows where Skull Rock is, but Steve leads them there, Dustin calls Steve stupid for suggesting Vecna is a vampire but he's right Vecna is a vampiric figure!)

But then why introduce Henry at all, when in S3 the MF already had personal beef with El and it was implied (or at least I interepreted it that way back then) that it was because she foiled its plans and closed the gate on it in S2. Then S4 goes actually maybe that was the moment Henry realized he was dealing with El and that whole thing was because of what happened in the lab back then. So what is the point of the Mindflayer?

Especially when in S1/2 the Mindflayer/Demogorgon/hivemind aren't being portrayed as evil aliens but as alien animals? Like yeah the demogorgon is a vicious predator but it's being compared to a shark, Jancy lure it with blood, it's hunting! And then in S2 they make a point of how the Lab is hurting the gate by burning it to keep it from spreading and so the hivemind burrows underground and then when Will is possessed and sends those soldiers to their death he says it was because they were hurting the hivemind (i don't remember if he says "it" "him" or "us", but the point stands). And Dustin is able to form a bond with Dart because that's just an animal! If you treat it kindly it will not attack you!

So it's like, who is in charge, Henry or the Mindflayer? Who is being used? What even is the Mindflayer like we're still not sure on that, are we?

Anyway I think I might just give up and say it's both and neither. Try to make sense of that

[dreadfuldevotee]

Idk... I thought Rolin already debunked that Louis killed the baby in one of his interviews? Personally I don't believe he ate his nephew, but the event or the possibility of even considering it left him feeling ashamed.

Ik Sam and Rolin have debunked Lestat killing Paul but I haven't heard anything personally about the baby. I wasn't as active in the fandom then as I am now so that could just be an oversight- But I think you're supposed to wonder, atleast. Like I said it does not bode well that years after the incident, the only sign of Grace's children are the twins, the show makes absolutely no attempt to back Louis up on the baby. This to me is another manifestation of Louis' denial of his vampirism. He's far too close to his family to protect them (especially in the state he was in, Underfed and ravenous because he was revulsed by himself) but too distant to maintain the thread. He's trying to find the balance but is failing, and everyone is paying the price for it.

[rayfishandchips]

starting Ace Attorney bc I was in a minor car accident and very bored. Anyways Edgeworth's opening statement reminds me of my habits back in the time I still do british parliament debate lol

[sonknuxadow]

please tell me people are joking when they say sonic prime is queerbaiting with sonic and shadow. that is not whats going on here please be serious you guys just see sonic and shadow interact in any way and become unable to turn your shipping brains off

[by-ilmater]

i would like to know what's going on with my back and why it's like that all the time and only really getting worse. but i'm scared it's something that can only be solved by surgery because i will never ever in a million years get back surgery. so that means i'll be stuck like this forever

[l-inator]

Happy Shadow-y Halloween once again! Enjoyed this one a lot!

[atlasisntdead]

Avpd or, as I like to call it, how-to-be-as-little-of-a-person-as-possible disorder.

[oswednesday]

a woman almost lost her life when i was on my way to my class, the opposing vehicle had exactly two bumper stickers 1) my other ride is a broom in "harry potter" font 2) fueled by caffeine and disney in "disney" font, she cut my mom off at speeds and my, woodstock born detriot raised precision driver while under multitude of Influences, mom who has never lost a car accident decided to grant mercy by merely honking the horn instead of tapping the bumper in a way that would have torn the mini van asunder