i think part of what makes the IDW Sonic supporting cast so endearing is how well they fit into the franchise as a whole. like the Archie Sonic characters were created by and large to match the SatAM continuity, which was created by and large to give context to things happening in the games because it was made at a time when audiences knew shit from fuck about these characters or their world... so those characters kinda retroactively just don't mesh with the games at all. they're adjacent to an adjacency to the main franchise, so trying to imagine them existing in the tone and context of the modern games doesn't line up.
but then you look at the IDW characters, and they are entirely, wholly made to fit into the same mold and world as the games without being redundant expies of existing characters. Surge might be "another rival to Sonic", but she fits a narrative purpose Shadow, Knuckles, and Metal Sonic completely don't; the stories you can tell with Surge and Kit are unique to them, and no other characters would fit those roles. same with Tangle and Whisper; they make the world feel lived-in, remind you that things are happening and having an impact on people whenever Sonic and co. aren't onscreen.
they also have that quality that Pit has in Smash Brawl, where they feel like they have this super storied history and evolution over the course of years that we just didn't get to see. until i actually read IDW you could've 100% convinced me the IDW-originals were all updated versions of forgotten side-characters from spin-off games like Dark Brotherhood or Rivals, and i think that says a lot about how well-conceived they all are.
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favourite twdg villain?
I'm a fond enjoyer of the St. John's as villains. I don't know if they're my favorite just because they're only in one episode, but I love the concept of this family almost immediately jumping into cannibalism toward the start of the outbreak, dealing in human flesh to bandits, and casually feeding this group their friend's legs.
Like... what the hell was this family like before the outbreak that all three of them were like, "Hey now listen... nothing should go to waste, the dead are eating people so why shouldn't we? We gotta survive and in our defense, we only target those who were gonna die anyway... like y'all."
Dude, Mark was shot in this shoulder with an arrow. He wasn't going to die from that injury. It's so fucked that these seemingly friendly people took the group into their home and then fed them Mark's legs.
If we take the idea that everyone is infected and have the capacity within themselves to become walkers, to become monsters, then the St. John's were infected long before the outbreak, y'know? Not literally, but something was wrong with them and the outbreak just further spread that infection and changed them.
But again, are they my favorite? I dunno if I can say that since I have a lot more appreciation for Lily now. Yeah, some of her writing gets a little wonky in ep3 of TFS when she goes on her monologues and shit, but y'know what? I'm into it.
You have to remember who we're talking about and the fact that she's the antagonist; Lily isn't some anti-hero in TFS who secretly has a heart of gold that's brought to light because she reunited with Clementine... she's a fucked up woman who did fucked up things in the name of survival. She's full of rot now. She sees kidnapping children and turning them into soldiers to protect her home as a means to an end, but she doesn't actually give a shit about the people she's taking. They aren't people to her, they're as the episode title suggests, toys in her game. The only one she sees as a person is Clementine, and while that makes her hesitate at first, she sees Clementine's a prize to bring back.
She remembers what happened in S1; her father had a heart attack and as she tried to save him, Kenny smashed his face in with a saltlick and then expected Lily to just stand up and help him get back to his family because "he did what he had to, he made the hard choice." Yes, Larry was a piece of shit. No one liked him, and you can even question Lily on him and she'll tell you that he has a lot of pain. Yes, it makes him an asshole, but he's still her dad and he's all she has. I mean... the simplification is daddy issues, but in all seriousness, I don't doubt for a second that many of Lily's issues stem from Larry being a shitty father to her.
Then everyone thought she was losing it when she insisted there was a traitor in the group, which she was right about, but she was unstable. She was unwell, but how do you help someone like that when you don't have training to go about it? Then Lily ends up killing either Carley or Doug and the group turns on her, and either she's left behind or she steals the van and runs away.
Then we don't know what the hell happened to her until we see her again in TFS, but like... a lone woman with decay festering inside of her joining the delta? Exposing her to their methods? I mean, what else did she have to lose? She had nothing, she lost everything, and she has a lot of issues. Survival is easy when you're numb, when you don't care about the individual; they're all just cogs churning to make the system run, and if a piece doesn't cooperate, you get rid of it and find a new one.
Plus I think there's something to say about Lily not wanting to be perceived as weak again. That whole display she put on in the cells? Telling the story of what happened to Minerva and Sophie? I get the criticism that it feels like Lily did a 180 between episodes but like... yeah dude, because it's a performance. It's not just her and Clementine anymore. It's a display of power and authority. She's playing the part and thriving in it as she ensures everyone else is terrified of her.
But then when Clementine and AJ get the upper hand? Again, she's not afraid to play up the pleading to earn enough sympathy to spare her- hell, just to let their guard down enough to strike and get the upper hand again. I mean, she's got nothing else to lose, right? If she doesn't go for it, she'll be killed and sure, you can kill her anyway but at least she tried.
Honestly, I look at Lily in TFS and still see that scared little girl playing the tough bitch, just like Carley said in S1. It's just now escalated from "tough bitch" to a downright vile person. She's so... lost? I suppose? Lost within herself and the monstrous means she's taken to survive.
I get the criticisms of how she was used in TFS, but for me, it's like when people complain about Minerva not getting the redemption arc she supposedly should've gotten, y'know? There's no saving her. Lily was never on our side, and there was no getting her on our side. She wasn't ever going to redeem herself. Even if you spare her and she drifts away on her raft, can someone like her actually find redemption? Or will she just find another group that'll feed into her rot?
Truly, I say let her be horrid. Let her be the piece of shit villain with a few fleeting moments of humanity. Let her drown in the blood she's spilled.
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Anyways, my headcanon is that Kristoph has a very particular "type" and most of the people he's romantically/sexually attracted to meet at least two (2) of the following criteria:
Dark-haired
Sarcastic and/or mean but with a strong protective streak
Fiercely independent
Extreme, perhaps irrational sense of loyalty to their cause and/or loved ones
Buff/Muscular/Strong/Athletic (or at least buffer/in better shape than Kristoph which isn't particularly hard to achieve)
Older than him (even if only by a year or so)
Therefore, I feel fairly confident in concluding that Kristoph might hypothetically be attracted to all of the following people.
Phoenix Wright (the prototype, the whole package)
Godot|Diego Armando (no longer dark-haired, but he was pre-coma ).
Simon Blackquill (not an "older" man but honestly his height/build would probably more than make up for it)
Shi Long Lang (hair isn't particularly dark but the rest fits)
Raymond Shields ( fits apart from not being particularly buff but might still be buffer than Kristoph )
Dick Gumshoe (not particularly mean and a bit less independent than the others but the rest fits)
Dhurke Sahdmadhi (not particularly mean/sarcastic but definitely gives off 'intense, don't f*ck with me' vibes at first)
Damian Tenma (also not particularly mean but definitely more than a little scary)
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i’m never ever going to make a post like this again, but if i see ONE MORE POST about this im going to actually break down sobbing so.
Sun Wukong and the Six Eared Macaque are NEVER canonly stated to be brothers.
Yes, they are the origin of the “evil twin” plot point. Yes, the may be inspired by an older legend of “two monkey god brothers”.
But not once, does the text of Journey to the West say they are canonically brothers.
I did not spend an entire week researching these two (and done it multiple more times whenever it was brought into question), just for people to go around saying “They were canonically blood brothers in Journey to the West, and Lego Monkie Kid will make them brothers later on :)”.
(Of course, if you headcanon them as being brothers, or prefer to see them that way, that’s fine. I have no problems with that. It’s your interpretation after all. It’s people saying it’s definitely canon that I take issue with.)
First and fore most, Wukong literally can’t have siblings. Sure, he can have siblings by choice, like the other pilgrims, but he was born from a rock, y’all. I think we would’ve heard if the rock had done anything else.
Secondly: The text of Journey to the West does NOT say they are brothers. I don’t know why we have to go through this so many times. In fact; in Journey to the West, it says they didn’t even know each other. The Six Eared Macaque, as well as Sun Wukong, are declared as the same species (a mystic monkey, that doesn’t match up with any other kind of being, of which there are only four in this world), not as family. Six Eared Macaque was only able to disguise himself as Sun Wukong, and copy his abilities, because of his ability to hear the past present and future- he listened to all the training Wukong did, and thus replicated it. And even with the ability to hear so much, outside of no-one being able to tell the two monkeys apart, he doesn’t actually do that good of a job at pretending to be Wukong (hitting Tripitaka on the head for example). The two of them had never met before this in Journey to the West canon.
(I’m mainly keeping this post about Journey to the West, but it’s obvious Lego Monkie Kid has changed many backstories. However; if the show was going to go with the route of them being brothers, I’m extremely certain it would’ve been stated by now. For one, the creators do interact with the fans, and have encouraged Macaque/Wukong content. Secondly, “beloved friend” would most certainly have been changed to “dear brother”. He would’ve described the hero and the warrior as brothers in that story, because there literally would not have been a better time to drop that information story wise. If they were going to be confirmed as siblings, it would’ve been done by now, I assure you. Of course, this doesn’t mean I think Macaque/Wukong will be canon either. If anything, it’ll just stick to them being friends, which makes perfect sense in a story that focuses on friends and found family like this. You can headcanon them as brothers if you want, but do not go running around claiming it as canon- and telling newcomers who are questioning and genuinely don’t know that it’s canon.)
Thirdly: “but what about the movies where they’re brothers” you say. “but what about Dislyte, where they’re brothers” you say. Now look at me. If you were heterosexual, and you saw a story like the Six Eared Macaque being obsessed with Sun Wukong’s life, what would you take away from that??? Almost definitely, the first answer in your mind would be siblings. Not to mention the other popular idea of him literally being part of Sun Wukong (this is also not canon. Sure, allegorically he might represent Wukong’s internal battle with his violent tendencies, but literally almost every character in Journey to the West is an allegory. The whole damn book is an allegory. But we’re not looking at the allegory here, we’re looking at the story), these are both common directions that would be taken. But just because it makes for good story potential, to give a deeper meaning behind these two characters by making them siblings or part of one whole, does not make it canon. You can’t look at one interpretation of a story and say it was canon to another. Would you take Gnomeo and Juliet and say “well since they survived at the end, it must be canon they survived in the original play, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong”? No. No you wouldn’t. Because that’s an assumption, that’s a twist on a story to give a new meaning to it. But even if it’s fun, it’s not part of the original.
So, to put a cap on this post, sure, go ahead, think of the Six Eared Macaque and Sun Wukong as brothers if you want. I literally couldn’t care less. That’s your own interpretation of it. Block the shadowpeach tag if it makes you uncomfortable, that’s what tag blocking is for.
But do not. Do Not go into people’s askboxes and tell them the Six Eared Macaque and Sun Wukong are canonically related. Do not go into the askboxes of people who ship shadowpeach and send them death threats for their own interpretation of a shows interpretation of two guys who didn’t even know each other in the original text. Do Not tell people who ask that the two of them are canonically related, because then you’re just spreading misinformation.
Once again, if you view them as family, and don’t do any of the above, you’re fine, this post is not about you. Have fun with your ideas and stories /gen
This is the only post I’m ever going to make on this subject. If you try to argue with me you will be blocked. You can reblog, but for the sake of my anxiety I’d rather not have any replies or comments on this.
Please, y’all. If I can have enough respect to stay in my own bubble, and not force shadowpeach on people who don’t want it, and can keep myself from claiming that it’s going to be canon, then why can’t the people who have decided to interpret them as brothers do the same?
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