#the is very much just my personal opinion and read on idw shadow lmao

[fernsnailz]

i saw you mention that some of the idw plotlines for shadow were Not Very Good - im curious if you would expand on that? just what you think wasnt done well, how it could have been handled better, that sort of thing. i know some people have issues with his handling in the metal virus arc for example, but i dunno i felt it was in character? misunderstanding advice and being too proud to follow it, falling under his own hubris. he definitely could have been more fucked up about it when the arc ended, given his history with losing control but

i dunno!! i wanna know your more general thoughts

yeah sure! sorry this turned into another essay post because i have a lot to say lol

i don't think idw shadow's characterization is terrible, but i don't think it's very good either. i think idw does a decent job at showing that shadow looks at the larger picture of how the story events will affect the world he’s meant to protect, and his actions are usually in an effort to stop problems as quickly as possible. shadow doesn’t like to waste time, especially when people’s lives are on the line. i misspoke a bit when i said his plotlines where bad, because i think the general story beats he hits are okay.

the big issue i have is with how his dialogue affects his character. while i think most of shadow’s actions are in line with his motivations, there are multiple instances of his dialogue directly undermining or changing his characterization and motives.

the most notable (and talked about by fans from what i’ve seen) is in the metal virus arc: the whole “cowards run. i win” line.

more under the cut because i have Many Thoughts hhoough boy

ever time i see this line i cringe a little bit, but i’ve never really been able to figure out why. it's difficult for me to argue that it's out of character - shadow’s ego is something i would define as his greatest flaw, being present from the very beginning of his character. it has previously distracted him from his larger goals - for example, fighting sonic on prison island after being called fake, thus distracting him from rescuing rouge. however, shadow's ego doesn’t exist to prove he’s the strongest or better than his foes - it’s about proving he has a REASON to exist. he was created for a very specific purpose, to be the ultimate lifeform and protector of humanity. shadow has nothing left after his previous life was lost. so if he’s a failure, then what was the point of all that loss? what's the point of his final promises?

when reading the "cowards run" line, it re-frames shadow's ego to be about winning above all else. it's strange to read if you know shadow, ESPECIALLY when he later mentions he’s the best chance to fight off the zombots due to his immunity to disease.

because he’s RIGHT!! this is what he was literally created for - his immunity was a fundamental part of why he was created as a protector of humanity. this is his purpose!! and he's right to oppose sonic in this issue as well - technically, sonic indirectly allowed the metal virus to happen. shadow isn't wrong to be furious at him.

but then both of these beats are immediately thrown out the window with the "cowards run" line, because it turns this moment into another instance of shadow trying to prove that he’s good at fighting and better than everyone else. shadow is serving his purpose as the ultimate lifeform and he's standing his ground against sonic's morals, but that ONE LINE re-contextualizes these actions as a plot to prove that he's strong. it’s SO CLOSE to being good, but it fumbles completely with just four words!! shadow being the ultimate lifeform in idw reads (to me) as him needing to be the strongest physically, which is never what it was about.

personally i would have really liked to see a version of the metal virus arc where shadow actually WAS immune to it. there would finally be a purpose to the very specific disease lore regarding the ultimate lifeform, and it would force him to work alongside sonic and anyone else who was left standing. but to be fair they probably wrote him out to heighten the stakes and save us from more bad shadow dialogue

his lasting thoughts on the metal virus arc after this are... okay i guess. they feel vague as hell to me, but i think it makes sense for him to reflect on his mistakes in this sort of way since he always tries to learn from previous failures.

and we see how shadow's reflection on his failure here affects what he does in the next arc. during the chao race, he searches for dr. starline so he can attempt to stop any problems before they begin. yet despite being in reach of starline, he leaves the fight and joins sonic in trying to stop an avalanche. so even though shadow's character falters in some moments, the story seems to be actively working to improve him.

however, the biggest sin i think idw pulls with shadow is regarding his relationship with team dark. obviously i am VERY biased here because i love team dark and i want them to be friends, but some of these issues are just… oough. the line in idw that hurts me most is this one while rouge and amy are trying to help omega after he literally got torn to shreds.

shadow states that he has no desire to help omega after the robot almost died. i want to die

i can try to give this scene the benefit of the doubt: maybe shadow doesn’t see the need to help omega because he knows omega will be fine. or maybe he doesn’t think he can help omega because he literally has no clue how robots work. whatever it may be, shadow feels his time is better spent hunting down starline. but then why not say that? he's previously been able to communicate to team dark where he thinks his abilities are most needed, so why does his dialogue turn this into another moment of selfishness? why do they break 20 years of characterization and relationships just to turn him into a boring, brooding loner? these questions keep me up at night and i want to bite something

this scene really hurts considering shadow and omega’s relationship up until this point. every time i see this page, i remember that omega waited in stasis for 200 YEARS to save shadow in sonic 06. and sure, that was over 15 years ago and from a game most people act like doesn’t exist, but their relationship is important in modern sonic too - in forces, shadow is the one to go look for omega first after he goes offline while fighting infinite, and they work together to fight the zombots before both perishing. their bond and trust is there, whether they be friends or just allies.

it's strange because this is a line shadow says again later to sonic, but i think he's valid in ignoring sonic here due to their conflict over the mr. tinker situation and the release of the metal virus. sonic and shadow's relationship has been on edge since the start of idw, so shadow being uninterested in a team up makes sense to me. but why would he say the same thing to omega, an ally that needs help?

still, it's clear to me that the idw team is absolutely trying their best to make shadow work within the limitations they're given. despite shadow stumbling into the edgelord trope pit, characters around him will challenge his perspective and choices, causing him to rethink his actions. this is most notable in the chao race arc, which (aside from the ignoring omega part) is probably one of shadow's stronger stories in idw.

there is so, so much potential for shadow in idw. and it sucks, because the writers know his character and want to write him better! head writer evan stanley’s fan comic ghosts of the future has some shadow characterization that i love, and ian flynn is responsible for some of my favorite shadow stories of all time. most people cite the “sega mandates” as the reason for shadow’s lackluster modern character and. yeah. it tracks. very much so.

idw shadow feel so strangely out of place compared to the rest of the comic, at least to me. he feels like a remnant of the mid-2010s sonic culture where they were really leaning into sonic being a funny meme with no depth. but thankfully idw shadow seems to be improving, even if it's REALLY slowly.

so yeah uh in short. i think idw shadow should stop saying dumb shit and be allowed to have friends again

[another-sonic-blog]

@maishemicalromans​

(Sorry for posting this like this but Tumblr won't let me answer your ask properly, idk it's acting weird)

Alright, so I was going to post first the Silver character analyzation and writing tips but I’ll love to answer your question first since I think I need to put this out before the Silver post.

I want to first say that I am not doing this to talk negatively about the current writer of Sonic IDW’s comic. This is merely my opinion. An opinion of a fan, who although does not master the art of writing, I am still allowed to express it. However, I still believe that every opinion should be backed up with evidence and that’s what I am going to do. Sorry, if the answer is too long but I think what I am about to write is necessary.

I haven’t read the Archie comics because I heard that was a mess until Ian Flynn showed up, I read he wrote pretty good things. However, because of the whole mess with Archie Comics, SEGA implemented rules as to how people should write Sonic and friends. I don’t know how strict these rules are and if that’s the reason why Flynn is writing a very ‘unlikeable’ Sonic (In my opinion)

I am not here to talk about that but just putting that out there. I am not criticizing Flynn nor SEGA (If we had to blame someone it’ll probably be Ken Penders and SEGA but we don’t talk about that guy in here) but just the writing.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way I am going to say that there are 2 things that I STRONGLY DISLIKE about Sonic’s character in IDW.

1. Sonic manipulating Shadow

I don’t have words to express just how wrong it is to bring up someone’s past mistakes, use that against them and manipulate them. Yes, this is manipulation. Sonic is using Shadow’s insecurities to benefit him. How does even Sonic DARE to compare Shadow to Eggman? Eggman who has tried to conquer planets, destroy worlds, kidnap innocents, tortured him, tries to kill him (and friends) and started wars? Eggman does all of these when he is CONCIOUS, he does all of those things because he WANTS to. Shadow in the other hand, in SA2 he doesn’t want to destroy Earth but he is doing it because he CARED too much for Maria and the ‘promise’ he made to her. He did everything because of a PROMISE he made to a little girl, a sister, the person who cared for him. The person who sacrificed their life in order to protect him. How does that even compare to Eggman? Who only seeks destruction for his own benefit? Not only that but Shadow redeem himself. He helped save the planet and Shadow continues to help saving the world. He does this for multiple reasons but one of them is that he still regrets trying to destroy earth back at the ARK. He still remembers this incident and the regret still haunts him till this day.

Why would Sonic even bring this up? Sonic out of everyone must know the turmoil Shadow has been through and still he decides to use Shadow’s insecurities against him. He really went out and said “Look I am not saying you are wrong but remember that time you fucked up? Yeah that was bad, you were really evil back then too. You are in the same level as the person who constantly tries to kill me and my friends. Oh, but you saved the world multiple times? Yeah, I know and I don’t care. You are always making the wrong decisions, just listen to me because I am right. Your opinion is invalid because of the mistakes you made, because you were bad.”

Can’t he see Shadow’s hurt face? Can’t he understand how the words affected him? Shadow was again reduced to thinking that no matter what he does, he is always going to be seen as evil. That everyone will remember his mistakes and that no matter what, they will always remember that. Sonic just deepened that wound, he increased Shadow’s insecurity.

And Sonic still has the guts to smile? Boy, what the heck are you smiling at? You just denigrated Shadow the Hedgehog, a hero, to the likes of Eggman. Get out of here.

“Losing one’s memory doesn’t make them any less dangerous”

And you know what makes me sad the most?

That I am sure that Shadow saw himself in Mr. Tinker. Shadow said that he wanted to ‘destroy’ him. It makes me think that if Shadow could, he would also like to destroy the past version of himself. If the Shadow right now could go back to the past and destroy his past self … He would.

I am sure Sonic knows this. So, still it just makes me wonder why? Why Sonic the Hedgehog, a character who is said to always live in the ‘present’ looks backs at Shadow’s past mistakes and manipulates them to his benefit? To the benefit of a Eggman who he knows has brought pain to him, to his friends and the world?

You would think that after Sonic Lost World, Sonic would have learned something about listening to others or thinking before acting. Especially when the whole mess on Sonic Lost World was due that Sonic jumped into action without listening to Tails first. Shadow is really telling Sonic to not trust Eggman so easily for two reasons.

1. Experience, Shadow more than anyone knows that losing one’s memories does not make them any less dangerous. (No pun intended lol)

2. He is doing it to protect what is left of the world. In Sonic forces, it is stated that Eggman conquered 90% of the world (Or more, I don’t remember exactly) The world is basically in ruins and after the war they have begun to restore it. If Mr.Tinker remembers he was Eggman, the Resistance would be at a total disadvantage. They have no resources nor people … how can they win another war?

This bothers me as well …

Sonic doubted Eggman … and he still left him … unsupervised. Like why in the world you trust a man who has attempted to do genocide multiple of times?

2.   Sonic’s lack of guilty

This? Good

This? Bad.

“But heroes have nothing to be sorry about.”

           Can he just shut up?????

Was that really necessary to say? Honestly, he could would have said, “But she has nothing to be sorry about.” That would have been great.

Why?

When Sonic and Tangle are talking, he is actually apologizing. Tangle tells Sonic that he has nothing to be sorry about and that she knows that Sonic would make things right. At first, I thought Sonic was saying that Tangle was right to reassure her. That way, Tangle could get infected with some peace at her mind. She can go away thinking that her hero didn’t do anything wrong and that he will fix things for everyone.  However Sonic still thinks he is at fault.

That would have shown so more deepness in Sonic’s character. But no, Tangle got infected and he went ahead to make it about himself because he is that self-centered, right?

That line, ruined it. ‘But heroes have nothing to be sorry about?’

This whole thing really went down like:

Tangle: “You have nothing to be sorry about.”

Sonic: “Lmao you are right.”

Because that line wasn’t meant towards Tangle, NO it was meant for himself. He literally is saying that he has nothing to be sorry about. Now, I am not saying its Sonic total fault or that Sonic should be crying saying that he is sorry or something like that. What I am saying is that Sonic was really reckless, overconfident, and naïve (Which is no good because he already has enough experience dealing with Eggman, this can even be see as stupidity.)

Maybe Sonic it’s not at fault that Mr. Tinker got turned into Eggman, but Sonic DID contribute to the problem at hand. To an extent he is at fault.

Letting go of Metal Sonic even when there was the possibility of him turning evil? Of someone using him for their benefit?

Not listening to Shadow and recklessly leave Mr.Tinker alone when there is the possibility that Metal Sonic is looking for him? Or that they may encounter each other at some point?

Deciding to trust a criminal who constantly tries to kill you instead of trusting the hedgehog who saved the world, redeem himself and knows better of how dangerous people with amnesia can be because he himself has being there?

I think what bothers me the most is that we have already gone through this.

In Sonic Lost World, Tails pointed out that Sonic trusted Eggman more than him. Tails was right, Sonic did trust Eggman more. Sonic trusted Egmman to shut down his machine over Tails. (Sonic has seen Tails do amazing things, why wouldn’t he trust he can shut down a machine? IDK but oh well) Sonic even admitted to doubting Tails’ abilities and then went head and said he was never doubting him again.

So, watching this I was like alright. Sonic learned something, he developed. Sonic will trust his friends, listen to them and won’t doubt their abilities.

But then again, he decided to trust Eggman.

And the worst is that he is no showing remorse whatsoever? Even after they had been through a similar situation before?

He didn’t listen to Tails back then. He didn’t listen to Shadow now and because of that the world is at stake again.

To conclude all of this, I want to say that it just seems that Sonic hasn’t develop whatsoever. He hasn’t learned a thing and won’t ever develop if he keeps thinking that he wasn’t done anything wrong. Mistakes are good because you learn from them but at this point it seems that Sonic is so self-absorbed that he just won’t admit that he made a mistake. Because he is a hero, he always makes the rights decisions. There is just no way that he can be wrong.

Sonic is self-centered and self-absorb. Those are character flaws which would have been fine, the thing is that we have already gone through this and it seems like he didn’t improve at all. Or he is not even trying to improve.

Some may argue that Sonic is just good like that. That his character is made to see the good in everyone. Be good at all costs and accept people for who they are and of course that this fiction and the way the world interacts is different from our world. However, what makes a good character is how they react to different circumstances. You are trying to write a character that is relatable to us, but you can’t do that unless that character shows different sides. A character needs to make mistakes and overcome them, to be vulnerable.

Alright that’s it. This was all over the place lol. Anyways, it’s not terrible writing and like I said this is not to talk bad about IDW. I am just pointing out some of the things that I dislike. I really hope that on the next upcoming issues, Sonic at least develops a little. Maybe he starts to be a little bit insecure about himself or just doesn’t trust anyone that easily. Any type of improvement would suffice. I won’t stop reading IDW because at the end of the day I think the story is good. The characters are decently written and the story plot is pretty entertaining. I like how Flynn has done the other characters.

This is a pretty long post but I hope this the type of answer you wanted? Like I said I don’t like to give an opinion unless I have evidence to prove it. Anyways, thank you for asking! This was fun to write.

For my other followers who wanted a Silver Character analysis and writing tips, that would be up soon enough as well. Thank you!