major-wren

[major-wren]

yk how when a dog is raised in a really small space, it'll pace in endless circles even after years have passed and even when there's enough space? Yeah, that but with Shadow. I imagine the Lab section of the ARK wasn't very huge, or was full of fragile glass and tech anyway.

Bonus:

#my art #shadow the hedgehog #shadow #sth #sonic the hedgehog #sonic headcanon #amy rose #cream the rabbit #sonic headcanons #sth headcanon

[major-wren]

I headcanon that maybe he's embarrassed of it and doesn't want other people witnessing it since there is a form of vulnerability in it. I mean I think it'd be in-character that he wants everyone to think he has no disadvantage and has no struggles with adjusting to their world, even when its unrealistic. He totally does this stuff when he thinks hes alone though, and probably sometimes people like Knuckles happen to walk up at that moment.

At least that's what I like to headcanon lol, that he wouldnt get aggressive or visibly embarrassed if someone did happen to witness it, but that he tries to avoid it. In fact, I think it'd be sweet if he begins to openly show his wonder in the world in group settings, because he remembered that even someone like Knuckles was respectful of it and didn't judge him.

shadow is way too normal about seeing the world for the first time, what was that twitter take over where he was just staring at the trees or something. i want more of that, like being in a group gathering but he's just crouching over a distance away staring at ants marching, standing deadly still in a river just looking at the fish, standing at peaks of mountains, visiting farms, greenhouses and things alike, just looking at the world. it's his adventure of just standing and staring because he just can't believe it is real.

#major mumbles #id like to see his character evolve from being stand offish and asocial to simply being the type to enjoy quieter peaceful activities #like that hes included in parties and picnics even if its means hes afar from the group admiring something #and that characters would join him #shadow #shadow the hedgehog #sth #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic headcanons #sonic headcanon #sth headcanon #headcanon #idk i try to keep my blog organized by tags

[major-wren]

drawing your fave character so much that you don’t use references anymore and enough time passes that they start looking pretty dramatically different than they do officially. i call this the Lover’s Scrunch

[major-wren]

people who say “I block for spam liking” like damn sorry that you hate joy. Every time someone goes through and likes 3829278 posts on my blog I’m filled with a love and power that you will never know and I pity you

[major-wren]

The Sonic fan community better figure out how to rip the new dream team game FAST for Android users cuz I'm never gonna buy a damn apple product

#sth #sonic the hedgehog #sonic dream team #sth dream team #dream team #major mumbles

[major-wren]

I love the "ARK siblings" concept and I love cute lighthearted fanart of them being siblings but I feel like a lot of people forget that they literally canonically share a soul and that her death is, in my opinion, I think supposed to represent a part of one's self dying and that they're supposed to be, symbolically, a lot more than siblings.

I always saw Shadow's story as a symbolic way to express the way your inner child and innocence is sacrificed in order to survive complex childhood trauma. Maria's color scheme and the way she's written is, I think, clear to all of us how she's meant to represent innocence and youth. I mean, she doesn't really stand alone well as a fully fledged character or realistic child. I'm not sure if it was purposeful, but the moon's Maria are craters that take the hits of asteroids. These craters are mostly on the side of the moon we see, so the dark side of the moon, or "shadowed" side is better protected because of that. I feel like this is an extension of Shadow and Maria's symbolism. She took the bullet for him, protecting him, the same way Maria takes the comets, and the same way your brain will sacrifice your inner child (or freeze/rush your mental development) in order to survive intense childhood abuse. I know it all sounds extreme lmao but at the end of the day characters and storytelling are used to explore and express hard emotions and I don't think this randomly tragic character sprung out of nowhere for the Sonic games, which, before that point, always had very lighthearted positive characters (except for the echidna extinction in the game right before Shadow's). Having a character that was easy to approach, yet could represent scarier concepts as a child-friendly stand-in, felt like a very important tool to me growing up. I just hope that that writing can be appreciated in his character, with an understanding of how messy production can be and how a character can get pulled between many different people and ideas. I do think this symbolism was intentional to some degree, especially when it gets to the blatant soul-sharing and how characters insist that Shadow can't be a weapon because Maria's soul (his inner child and true morals despite the damage done to him) makes him "good hearted."

There's other things that uphold this symbolism of Maria dying representing his inner child being killed, like the rushed/suspended mental development in the face of trauma being illustrated by the fact that Shadow was forced into a dormant cyro slumber right after Maria's death, symbolizing the way he had to basically skip childhood or hit pause on development until he could escape the people controlling him. Much like how victims will have to pause everything and go on autopilot with only a goal of survival until they can escape their situation; only after they feel safe can they begin growing as a person and find their identity. In the Japanese language, there are different types of pronouns people can refer to themselves with instead of just "I" or "myself." In the Japanese dub of SA2, Shadow's creator said in an interview that he had been very insistent on Shadow using the pronouns reserved for young boys, despite Shadow's menacing villain role in the game, because he felt it was important to show Shadow's purity and his lack of experience in life so far. That "live and learn" theme.

And then in his self titled game, Shadow is searching for a way to reconnect with his past and to find the truth about this Maria person he keeps seeing in flashbacks, but in the end he throws away her picture and accepts himself as he is now, forever changed and stained by his past, but more than just a product of his situation. He is "all of him," including the negative impact he never asked for, and including the parts of himself he lost, but also the parts of himself he chose to become. Your environment and childhood shapes you even if you didn't want it to, but that doesnt mean you cant have control in your identity and recover your inherent nature once you've escaped the negative influence (nature vs nurture theme). He will never be the person he used to be, or could have been, (represented by Maria as a pure and untouched youth), but he still has a say in what that grows into.

I just feel like a lot of Shadow's identity issues and inner conflict stem from this whole soul sharing situation with Maria and that his character ends up inevitably being misunderstood if you water them down to just siblings. Especially considering, that it was never answered if Shadow actually even ever met Maria or if they're just memories planted by Gerald or caused by the shared soul. In Sonic Battle, it's also said in Gerald's diary that not only do Maria and Shadow share identical souls, but that Gerald literally modeled Shadow after Maria out of his love for her. I'm not sure to what degree or in what ways, but Shadow is supposed to share purposeful similarities with Maria, likely through the content of her character and her morals. That's what makes them so much deeper than just psuedo siblings, he's not only made for her, but designed after her too. It can't really be compared to, for example, Sonic and Tails.

I also think its what makes Shadow's character so substantial and meaningful. His self titled game's entire theme was purity, morals, what is good and bad. This question of purity and morality spreads into his appearances in other stories too- This question that, if you were badly hurt in your youth and shaped by evil- does that leave you impure? Stained? Destined to continue that cycle of harm and cruelty? I think these insecurities feel very real and relatable, and that it's even more realistic that despite these insecurities, that hurt and damage actually fuels him to protect others. Just as he said in Sonic Battle, "There's no need to repeat past tragedies! Nobody else ever needs to go through the things that I have!"

Statistically (despite media portrayal) abuse victims RARELY become abusers, because they understand the pain on a deeper level and can't bring themselves to force someone else into experiencing that same pain, knowing the permanent damage it causes. However, childhood abuse leaves people socially stunted and conditioned to harshness, which causes them to accidentally hurt others without meaning to. Or they end up hurting people out of desperation if they feel endangered (like Shadow's "means to an end" approach where he'll prioritize violence if it means reducing the end-impact). I think Shadow conveys all of this so well, and that Maria's true role is an integral part of it all that can't be ignored or misunderstood, or else Shadow ends up reading as unnecessarily violent or overly obsessed with her when you interpret her as just a sister-figure that he knew for... who knows how few years.

I think this symbolism runs deep with his writing. Just like Maria's meant to be that inherent purity and inner child, I think the black arms DNA is that stain that abuse or trauma can leave on you, that causes you to act out or feel like you're always holding back and trying to keep control over some darker part of yourself that was left behind in the damage done. Especially since they literally have a mind link with Shadow. In the Sonic Universe comic, they succeed in brainwashing Shadow and turn him against his friends. These mind-links, soul-sharing, and brain-washing from both Gerald and the black arms. To disregard the fact that he's deeply connect to these people on a metaphysical, identity altering level is to water down his character and leaving it feeling as though his motives are too weak to justify his harsh actions. I've seen people poke fun at his amnesia or insecurity in his identity, as though his confusion isn't justified, and I think it's because people don't realize he has these... literal fragments of other people inside of him, that that's pretty much what he's made of, kind of franken-steined together between a little girl's hopes and morals, an alien race's hivemind greed, a government and revenge maddened scientist's need for revenge/weapons, and even the chaos emeralds which we all know are spiritually whacky and potentially connected to another alien race's memories and energies. With all of that going on, plus some amnesia mixed in and his memories having been altered by Gerald- I mean.. you'd be searching for the "truth" of your identity too, who you really are. And of course, prone to frustration and aggression, or even a "wish-washy inconsistency." I think there's always a constant tug of war inside of him over and that his whole development was a game of tug of war between Gerald, G.U.N and the black arms too. "Am I a cure, am I a death-bringer, am I earth's protector, am I it's destroyer," etc etc

Idk I just think a lot of problems people have with Shadow's writing stems from not realizing how deep things go and what they symbolize. Not to say that something like his boom characterization is of good quality or anything, but I think it's unfair to call him inconsistent when a confusion in his own identity and purpose/goals is kind of the point. And I think people not realizing Maria's deeper, physiological connection to him and influence.

#Added a cut to this post and edited tf out of it so im reblogging the new version #if you want the old version then im sure you can pull it from an old reblog #major mumbles #shadow the hedgehog #ark siblings #maria robotnik #gerald robotnik #sonic the hedgehog #sth #shth #sonic adventure 2 #shadow the hedgehog headcanon #sonic headcanon #sonic analysis

[major-wren]

I've never seen anyone else ever bring this up, or it brought up in any of the official content, but like... Why didn't Shadow ever try to finish the cure for NIDs that his DNA was supposed to provide?? It's not like NIDs stopped existing or like it was a disease that only Maria had. The idea was that it was rare but still a very real problem that was killing people, right? Like that's why they had a whole team working on a cure? With 50 years of medical advancements, you'd think there'd be some sort of conclusion to that but it's never acknowledged in his self-titled game or his personal character arcs within the comics.

Like... he says he does volunteer work in communities, and at the end of the day he does still want to help humanity (even if he recognizes their major flaws and holds resentment for them) so I feel like it's strange he would just idk, totally drop all of that progress for the cure and never look into cooperating with any medical research team again. Maybe he worries he'd be taken advantage of to create more bio-weapons, but if that's the case then like- Why was it never brought up!!?? Are people out there still dying from NIDs while he walks around with the potential for a cure inside of him and thinking nothing of it? I feel like it was just forgotten somehow or that the writers didn't even realize that the cure could still be worked on regardless of if Gerald is involved or not.

#shadow #shadow the hedgehog #maria #maria robotnik #major mumbles #ark siblings #gerald robotnik #sonic the hedgehog

[major-wren]

How could she possibly believe in a God after witnessing the creation of life on Mobius

AMY ATHIEST MOMENTS IG

#amy #jk i know fleetway isnt canon #tekno #amy rose #tekno the canary #sonic fleetway #sonic frontiers #sonic frontiers spoilers

[major-wren]

I don't know about Tikal, but Chaos is actually in another game after SA2.

In Sonic Battle, at the end of the game, when Sonic arrives at an altar that Eggman has landed his Death Egg at, Knuckles says this:

"When that battleship appeared, the "Estuary" instantly froze over, and "Chaos" appeared. He's just sitting there, guarding the "Death Egg." Chaos is the guardian god of the Chao. He only shows himself in times of great crisis. Looks like we're in deep trouble this time!"

An Estuary is a body of water. Supposedly when Chaos are in deep trouble, the nearest body of water will freeze over and Chaos will rise from it. So I guess he's still alive. As for Tikal? No clue. I suppose she's sealed within the master Emerald, or with Knuckles and Chaos in spirit.

"are tikal and chaos dead or did they ascend or like where are they" well personally i think they just went to the angel island chao garden and just refuse to deal with any bullshit they see happenin outside of it

#chaos #knuckles #knuckles the echidna #tikal the echidna #sth #sonic the hedgehog

[major-wren]

In the final fight's action dialogue, Sonic says "Shadow, continuous use of your super form will cause you to dissappear"

and all the other characters on the ARK radio in to tell both Shadow and Sonic that if their rings deplete then they'll lose their super form, so they need to switch out with eachother so one can re-collect their super form while the other fights in their place.

It seems that Sonic's super-form was also ending at that same moment, so if he had stayed behind to catch Shadow, they would have both fallen, he probably only had seconds left. Additionally, in the Twitter takeovers (if you care to count that toward canon) Shadow stated-

"If I hadn't waved him away, Sonic would have fallen with me. But his determination in trying... I'll never forget that."

So we can assume that Sonic only had seconds left, and that Shadow was being purposefully uncooperative in order to protect Sonic. Also, nobody else had ever gone into their super-form besides Sonic up to that point- the vague wording of "disappearing" makes me think that Sonic wasn't even sure what would happen if he didn't return to the ARK.

Also, if you let the fight play long enough to hear more action dialogue, Sonic will repeatedly ask Shadow to return to the ARK, and repeatedly warns him his super form is running out, and will show concern and ask him if he's okay. It looks like he saw that Shadow was slipping, but couldn't get him to cooperate.

ALSO also, Sonic ends up returning to the ARK holding Shadow's ring, which means Shadow either slipped out of his grip, or Shadow purposefully left behind his ring to give Sonic enough energy to return to the ARK (cause as we said before, the rules of that fight was that you had to collect rings to power your super form)

Heres the video containing all the action dialogue in the final fight

Honest question from someone who has never played Sonic Adventure 2 before. Why is Sonic unable to save Shadow? Like I know the part where Shadow loses his Super Form, but couldn’t Sonic… carry him?

#and if thats not satisfactory then i like to imagine that there was a force of painful chaos energy surrounding him #just like that one IDW comic issue where he used a fake chaos emerald & then got trapped in an energy field that hurt anyone that got near #sonadow #shadow #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonic adventure 2 #major mumbles

[major-wren]

God thank you for that last drawing is like you reached into my brain and pulled that out. I've been thinking these past few days and this enter the headcanon territories, about the shadow/maria soul(also emerl) ughhh i love the posibilities ¿how/what does it mean gerald put the soul of maria into these two? I know it probably wasn't that literally but </3 imagining gerald with help of some mystic force splitting her granddaughter soul, and since maria died shadow technically is the reincarnation of her? She lives through him/is the same essence/will always be part of each other. And i like gerald but you cannot convince me even if he had good intentions, that he didn't fucked over maria/shadow/emerl/the biolizard/sentinent experiments. The whole point of lab rats/experiments will always be go beyond to make a breakthrough no matter what, the biolizard questionable conditions of life is proof enough to me. So no i don't agree with people saying oh it was a totally happy life in the ark and a good/morally clean childhood for shadow uwu that makes what happened after more tragic, mhm we do not have certainty of that and glimpses of evidence point to things being more complex than that, lastly imo it feels like a disservice to maria/shadow/the biolizard etc characters stating that all was perfectly happy good before the tragedy happened, so sorry for this long ass essay my brainrot was too strong sorry anyways maria is shadow, shadow is maria my beloved.

Thank you sm!!

Yea even though it's not colored yet I really wanted it to be out there already cause I feel like I never see content exploring this interpretation of Shadow. Like I said in an earlier post, I believe the characters to be more symbolic than literal. I mean, yes, you can interpret them literally, they're definitely set up for that too and it'd also be correct, but I think there's deeper symbolic meanings standing behind the literal interpretation too. I think Maria is supposed to represent innocence and lost childhood, and so in my mind I always loosely interpreted Shadow and Maria as being one and the same- a part of himself that he lost, or a part of himself that was tarnished and forever changed but that he still has control over moving forward. Your "inner child" and all that.

And then in the literal interpretation of their story, they're still not quite pure simple siblings. Shadow was made for her, literally modeled after her- how could you not have identity issues over it? Or inner conflict from your partly artificial and self-conflicting personality? That inner struggle of being both a weapon and a cure, trying to accept such polar opposite halves of yourself, the consequences of your development literally being a game of tug-of-war. I feel like in interpretations like these, his inconsistent behavior throughout media can make a bit more sense. Also yeah, Gerald was crazy dude, and even if Gerald was a pure soul before grief corrupted him, there was still GUN fighting for control over Shadow the whole time.

#major mumbles #ark siblings #maria robotnik #ask #shadow the hedgehog #gerald robotnik

[major-wren]

I love the "ARK siblings" concept and I love cute lighthearted fanart of them being siblings but I feel like a lot of people forget that they literally canonically share a soul and that her death is, in my opinion, I think supposed to represent a part of one's self dying and that they're supposed to be, symbolically, a lot more than siblings.

I always saw Shadow's story as a symbolic way to express the way your inner child and innocence is sacrificed in order to survive complex childhood trauma. Maria's color scheme and the way she's written is, I think, clear to all of us how she's meant to represent innocence and youth. I mean, she doesn't really function very well as a stand-alone character or realistic depiction of a child, shes always been more of an.. idea.

I'm not sure if it was purposeful, but the moon's "Maria" are craters that formed from the moon repeatedly taking the hits of asteroids at it's points of gravity. These points of gravity attract asteroids and draws then away from the Earth. The craters are mostly on the side of the moon we see, so the dark side of the moon, or "shadowed" side is better protected because of that. I feel like this is an extension of Shadow and Maria's symbolism. She took the bullet for him, protecting him, the same way Maria takes the comets, and the same way your brain will sacrifice your inner child (or freeze/rush your mental development) in order to survive intense childhood abuse. I know it all sounds extreme lmao but at the end of the day characters and storytelling are used to explore and express hard emotions and I don't think this randomly tragic character sprung out of nowhere for the Sonic games, which, before that point, always had very lighthearted positive characters (except for the echidna extinction in the game right before Shadow's). Having a character that was easy to approach, yet could represent scarier concepts as a child-friendly stand-in, felt like a very important tool to me growing up. I just hope that that writing can be appreciated in his character, with an understanding of how messy production can be and how a character can get pulled between many different people and ideas. I do think this symbolism was intentional to some degree, especially when it gets to the blatant soul-sharing and how characters insist that Shadow can't be a weapon because Maria's soul (his inner child and true morals despite the damage done to him) makes him "good hearted."

There's other things that uphold this symbolism of Maria dying as representing his inner child being killed, like the rushed/suspended mental development in the face of trauma being illustrated by the fact that Shadow was forced into a dormant cyro slumber right after Maria's death, symbolizing the way he had to basically skip childhood or hit pause on development until he could escape the people controlling him. Much like how victims will have to pause everything and go on autopilot with only a goal of survival until they can escape their situation; only after they feel safe can they begin growing as a person and find their identity. In the Japanese language, there are different types of pronouns people can refer to themselves with instead of just "I" or "myself." In the Japanese dub of SA2, Shadow's creator said in an interview that he had been very insistent on Shadow using the pronouns reserved for young boys, despite Shadow's menacing villain role in the game, because he felt it was important to show Shadow's purity and his lack of experience in life so far. That "live and learn" theme.

And then in his self titled game, Shadow is searching for a way to reconnect with his past and to find the truth about this Maria person he keeps seeing in flashbacks, but in the end he throws away her picture and accepts himself as he is now, forever changed and stained by his past, but more than just a product of his situation. He is "all of him," including the negative impact he never asked for, and including the parts of himself he lost, but also the parts of himself he chose to become. Your environment and childhood shapes you even if you didn't want it to, but that doesnt mean you cant have control in your identity and recover your inherent nature once you've escaped the negative influence (nature vs nurture theme). He will never be the person he used to be, or could have been, (represented by Maria as a pure and untouched youth), but he still has a say in what that grows into.

I just feel like a lot of Shadow's identity issues and inner conflict stem from this whole soul sharing situation with Maria and that his character ends up inevitably being misunderstood if you water them down to just siblings. Especially considering that it was never answered if Shadow actually even ever met Maria or if they're just memories planted by Gerald or caused by the shared soul. In Sonic Battle, it's also said in Gerald's diary that not only do Maria and Shadow share identical souls, but that Gerald literally modeled Shadow after Maria out of his love for her. I'm not sure to what degree or in what ways, but Shadow is supposed to share purposeful similarities with Maria, likely through the content of her character and her morals. That's what makes them so much deeper than just psuedo siblings, he's not only made for her, but designed after her too. It can't really be compared to, for example, Sonic and Tails.

I also think its what makes Shadow's character so substantial and meaningful. His self titled game's entire theme was purity, morals, what is good and bad. This question of purity and morality spreads into his appearances in other stories too- This question that, if you were badly hurt in your youth and shaped by evil- does that leave you impure? Stained? Destined to continue that cycle of harm and cruelty? I think these insecurities feel very real and relatable, and that it's even more realistic that despite these insecurities, that hurt and damage is actually what fuels him to protect others. Just as he said in Sonic Battle, "There's no need to repeat past tragedies! Nobody else ever needs to go through the things that I have!"

Statistically (despite media portrayal) abuse victims RARELY become abusers, because they understand the pain on a deeper level and can't bring themselves to force someone else into experiencing that same pain, knowing the permanent damage it causes. However, childhood abuse leaves people socially stunted and conditioned to harshness, which causes them to accidentally hurt others without meaning to. Or they end up hurting people out of desperation if they feel endangered (like Shadow's "means to an end" approach where he'll prioritize violence if it means reducing the end-impact). Also, they are more susceptible to being abused again after escaping the first abuser, because they are so susceptible to manipulation- Just like how whenever Shadow does switch sides, its usually because someone manipulated him into it or literally brainwashed him. I think Shadow conveys all of this so well, and that Maria's true role is an integral part of it all that can't be ignored or misunderstood, or else Shadow ends up reading as unnecessarily violent or overly obsessed with her when you interpret her as just a sister-figure that he knew for... who knows how few years.

I think this symbolism runs deep with his writing. Just like Maria's meant to be that inherent purity and inner child, I think the black arms DNA is that stain that abuse or trauma can leave on you, that causes you to act out or feel like you're always holding back and trying to keep control over some darker part of yourself that was left behind in the damage done. Especially since they literally have a mind link with Shadow. In the Sonic Universe comic, they succeed in brainwashing Shadow and turn him against his friends. These mind-links, soul-sharing, and brain-washing from both Gerald and the black arms... To disregard the fact that he's deeply connected to these people on a metaphysical, identity altering level is to water down his character and leave it feeling as though his motives are too weak to justify his harsh actions. I've seen people poke fun at his amnesia or insecurity in his identity, as though his confusion isn't justified, and I think it's because people don't realize he has these... literal fragments of other people inside of him, that that's pretty much what he's made of, kind of franken-steined together between a little girl's hopes and morals, an alien race's hivemind greed, a weapon-hungry government and a revenge maddened scientist's painful grief, and even the chaos emeralds which we all know are spiritually whacky and potentially connected to another alien race's memories and energies (the ancients from sonic frontiers). With all of that going on, plus some amnesia mixed in and his memories having been altered by Gerald- I mean.. you'd be searching for the "truth" of your identity too, who you really are. And of course, prone to frustration and aggression, or even a "wish-washy inconsistency." I think there's always a constant tug of war inside of him and that his whole development was a game of tug of war between Gerald, G.U.N and the black arms too. "Am I a cure, am I a death-bringer, am I earth's protector, am I it's destroyer," etc etc

Idk I just think a lot of problems people have with Shadow's writing stems from not realizing how deep things go and what they symbolize. Not to say that something like his boom characterization is of good quality or anything, but I think it's unfair to call him inconsistent when a confusion in his own identity and purpose/goals is kind of the point. And I think people not realizing Maria's deeper, physiological connection to him and influence might be part of the problem.

#major mumbles #shadow the hedgehog #ark siblings #maria robotnik #gerald robotnik #sonic the hedgehog #sth #shth #sonic adventure 2 #shadow the hedgehog headcanon #sonic headcanon #sonic analysis

[major-wren]

Sonic Adventure 2: "I was able to complete my project; Shadow. I designed it's mind to be perfect, pure..."

Sonic Battle: "He was researching a way to bring hope to people, but he was forced by the government to research for war. That's why he gave you a soul. A soul identical to his beloved granddaughter, Maria."

#do u guys think this soul thing ever makes him feel gender differently #like what is the logistics of this #ill color this one day but that day is not today #shadow the hedgehog #maria robotnik #ark siblings #sonic art #sonic fanart #shadow the hedgehog angst #my art #sth #sonic the hedgehog #fanart #shadow #sth shadow #sonic

[major-wren]

Eggman's programming

I know this has been mentioned before, but isn't it so weird that Eggman programs emotions and personalities into his robots??

People point out that this is really self destructive on his end because it can lead to some of his creations turning against him after building resentful emotions toward him, like Omega, Gamma, and all of the robots on Scrapnik Island.

My personal headcanon behind his thought process is that not even pure mechanical obedience can rival the loyalty a creation will have to its creator, or "father." It doesn't matter if you reprogram or rewire its entire structure to have its own free will if it's inherent personality, aspirations, and deepest desires will always be to make eggman proud of them, because of the way he's designed and conditioned them. They'll always return to him no matter how many chances you give them, because he's made it so that their biggest desire is to make him proud, even when given free-will or reprogrammed.

We see this most clearly with Metal Sonic, and Sonic will even tease him and take digs at him for it in the comics, telling him to "run home to daddy" (cringe). Clearly, even the characters in-story can see how eggman has raised all of his creations to depend on him for any sense of self worth or purpose. Truly evil, and I think something that's always overlooked when discussing eggman. People say he's not a respectable villain but I think this is really compelling and a unqiue way for a villain to function. Especially because his design is pretty dad-like to begin with, with the mustache, glasses, round body, and bald head lol.

It's so effective, that even when Metal Sonic gains even more power than Eggman through becoming Neo-Metal, he still only wants to take over the world to gift to Eggman. His influence even goes past his creations and gains loyalty from other aspiring inventors, like Dr. Starline.

Most of all, I think it's so effective because it's genuine. He really does love his creations, but simultaneously holds them up to impossible expectations and holds severe disappointment in them when they fail. I mean, think of it. Isn't it awful to design a creation that entirely depends on you for any feeling of worth or purpose, and to make it capable of love and such, only then to neglect and abandon it when it doesn't live up to your impossible standards? Just think of Scrapnik Island and the sheer amount of abandoned bots there.

I think after seeing Mr. Tinker and Belle, it raises the question, does Eggman deep down just want to foster these fatherly connections? To build childrens' toys and fun-rides and kiddy amusement parks, with his helpful heart-filled robot creations? He does often say that he only wants to take over the world in order to "enhance it" with technology, and that people just aren't cooperating. Maybe somewhere down the line his pure intentions got corrupted somehow into this extreme need for absolute control.

#reblogging this addition so that it's at the top of my blog while it's getting attention

[major-wren]

Did you know? Or did you forget? You can do whatever you want with your art. Put random scribbles wherever. Horizontal lines over your character. Add dots everywhere and on everything. Draw eyes different than the rest of the face. Change art styles halfway through. Cut and glue paper cutouts. Use paints and markers together. Use all the filters. Use photos on top to add texture.

You can do what you want. Like literally literally literally.

Add a rubber ducky in the corner for no reason, put text in different languages on the background, leave your handprints or wipe your fingers on the paper.

Go have fun now this stuff isn't meant to be stressful for you

[major-wren]

"any blonde woman or young girl"

I'll tell you more people do it with Tails too. Because he's yellow and has blue eyes. Yeah. (Though I guess Tails could be a young girl if you really want)

Even though their canon relationship isn't anywhere near that.

NO WAY?? How is this somehow more surprising than princess peach

I think Shadow growing softer with Tails and building a bond in fan-content is awesome when it's representing him adjusting to his new life and putting in effort to better himself socially and become involved in team Sonic, cause like its a point of reference for his self growth since he's always the harshest on Tails

But as a nod to Maria??????? To have Tails fill that hole? Nah... the whole point and moral of his self-titled game anyway was to stop seeing his loss as a hole inside him he needed to replace and instead accept it as a changed part of himself, "I am all of me" and all that

If Sonic's new super form is blonde and blue-eyed.... ppl better not start Maria-ing him lmfao

#shadow #shadow the hedgehog #tails #tails the fox #sth #major mumbles #maria robotnik #ark siblings

[major-wren]

Is anyone else annoyed over Fandom and old canon doing that thing with Shadow where he gets instantly attached to absolutely any blonde woman or young girl regardless of if she even has anything to do with Maria, or even regardless of if Shadow has shared much (or any) time with them?

Like sure I can see that happening in the beginning when her loss is fresh and he's just reaching for anything that could possibly fill that gap, or with Hope Kintobor from the archie comics cause she's literally in that family

But other than that I think he understands that Maria's value and his attachment to her isn't related to her appearance or that blondness is something unique and uncommon lmfao, like his first example of someone reminding him of Maria is Amy not bc they look the same but bc they hold the same morals and compassion

Like why do ppl make stuff of him with Helen from Sonic X or even... princess peach in the Olympics crossovers??? But never like.. ever point out the fact that Ivo Robotnik is identical to Gerald and is his grandson? Maybe I must be the one to make content of that, that conflict of familiarity from someone who hurts you but could have been family

I think ppl think PTSD triggers and grief are like.. "this new thing and the old thing visually look the same (even if the old thing is something common, like blonde hair) and so now I will apply the old feelings to it" and not "this experience just put me in the same headspace of the old experience/this new thing is intrinsically tied to the old thing and cannot be kept seperate which causes conflict for me" like commander tower who is literally related to Maria and has conflict with Shadow over Maria's loss

I mean Shadow helped eggman in Sonic Rivals and in Shth commander Tower has action dialogue expressing forgiveness/remorse where he offers to connect with Shadow and yet these connections between the Robotniks are never picked up again in canon or explored in fandom outside of Maria and Maria look-a-likes (Molly, Chris, Hope, and in fandom ppl will use Cream and Helen too)

Also if they do this with JoJo in the 3rd Sonic movie or something I'm walking out of the theater LMAO

#maybe canon doesnt explore it anymore since tower and hope already had their run in archie #shadow the hedgehog #shadow #maria robotnik #ark siblings #commander tower #abraham tower #hope kintober #helen sonic x #molly sonic x #chris sonic x #gerald robotnik #major mumbles #sth