#Honestly prime is all around a great time for shadows characterization | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

caffeine-clouds · 1 year

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All your Sonic takes are valid, okay?

Hello, today I am your pastor. Where is your regular pastor? I totally didn't throw him off a bridge. Anyways, sit down because I'm here to preach about a blue hedgehog man. I've seen a lot of discussion around Sonic's characterization in Sonic Prime and how some people absolutely adore the show's take, and some people hate it. Now this could have led the fandom to having interesting debates but alas this is the internet - where interesting debates simply do not happen. (I've seen a lot more toxic arguing on Twitter, the Tumblr crowd is much cooler) But it got me thinking, at least - what is Sonic supposed to be? Who is he?

And I think that answer will change depending on who you ask. Sure, we can get some basic traits of him down. We know he's a good guy, he fights for freedom, he a bit snarky, but loves the people around him. But this is surface level stuff, right? Let's discuss his overall demeanour- "He's relaxed and nonchalent!" This half yells. "He's hyper and energetic!" The other shouts. Hold on, how did this happen?

The answer is simple, my friends - it's the Sonic franchise's inconsistent writing! You are not the problem. Sonic has had so many different takes on his personality throughout the years and throughout different media that it's gotten to a point where there's no 'correct' way to write or interpret this little blue guy anymore. "Black Knight is peak Sonic!" someone cries "No, Movie Sonic is!" Another claims. How can that be when they're so different? Because there is no right answer. People have had different experiences with his character depending on what they were first introduced to or simply what they like better. A lot of people don't like 'meta era' Sonic but there are some people who still do and think Sonic is just supposed to be a quippy goofball in colourful environments in basic stories. It depends so much on personal preference.

This isn't just limited to Sonic either - who is Shadow supposed to be? "The man who learnt to fight for humanity, upholding a promise to the one that meant the most to him - learning to put the past behind him and fighting on for the good of others with a stoic, no nonsense attitude" or is he "Haha Sonic's rival go brr, he so obsessed with him and wants to kick his ass" Shadow has been written as both of these throughout his lifetime, arguably he has spent his time in the more recent games being written as the latter - as much as so many people prefer the former. However, some people interpet the most modern entries as more canon - so therefore, they accept and prefer the latter. I am honestly surprised at the amount of takes I saw that saw Shadow as just a meanie rival until I came to this conclusion. I could go on for every character, but I'm not going to because that would take too much time. So all in all, your takes? So valid my man. If you don't like Prime because of Sonic's characterization - that's so cool, just don't call the show objectively bad for it - because it is not. It's a you thing. And there are plenty of others who agree with that opinion. If you love Prime Sonic - also great, don't shit on people for thinking otherwise - your opinion, and there are plenty more that agree with you. Honestly I think the best characterizations of Sonic I see in the fandom spheres are the ones that can pull inspo from a lot of the different Sonic media throughout time and can mix and match the stuff they like. That's uniqueness, that's fun - I wanna read that. It may not be 'accurate' to the version of Sonic you like, but who cares? If it's not your thing, don't like - don't read. That's why, in terms of writing Sonic fanfiction - saying "make sure to not make the characters OOC!" is like- one of the worst pieces of advice?? Like what is even 'in character'?'? That advice simply doesn't WORK for this series. All you need are the bare minimum basic traits, and the rest - develop as you like. Their basic profiles are the pizza dough, and you are choosing your toppings. Choose the Sonic media and fan content that you like to consume, and respect the people who like the toppings that you don't - because no one is forcing you to eat their pizza.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic prime #sonic frontiers #shadow the hedgehog #sonic characters #sonic characterization #yall are valid your honour #opinion #sonic fanfiction #sonic fanfic #sth

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chubbyheroesworthyheroes · 4 years

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Flustered 🐷 Berkut where he’s doing his best to retain his image as a a regal lord despite quite literally turning into a farm animal?

me? finish shadows of valentia just so i could write this? not on your life my game world has been consumed by cowboys & adorable animals for the past few months...SO! I hope this is good enough characterization considering I have yet to get back to valentia & its cast

Being the heir presumptive to the Rigel Empire was something Berkut took great pride in, but it was also something that he took very seriously. His responsibilities were many, especially when it felt like he had to prove himself to his King uncle at every turn. It was certainly the sort of life that could turn a man bitter, but Berkut was determined to be seen as unquestionably worthy to succeed the throne. It wasn’t a matter of being the only one capable by blood to take the throne, he wanted to claim it on his own merits.

Rigel was a land of power. Showing his skills on the field of battle was simple and effective. However, a king could not solely lead from the back of a war horse. There was politics at home as well as abroad -- however little that actually happened.

Politics meant flexing a different kind of power. It called for wits and charisma. Observational skills. The means with which to always secure your desired result without the need for violence. It was a different sort of game within the walls of the court, but it was one that Berkut intended to master just as he had the intricacies of war.

“It’s so beautiful...don’t you think?”

The soft voice of Rinea was often missed by most, but Berkut was finely attuned to her more quiet and reserved nature. Though demure, she had a love for the parties and galas that took place among the higher class. It was hardly for the vanity of it all; she enjoyed the dancing, the artistry of the dresses that noblewomen pranced around in and the fantasy of it all. It was a fairy tale to her, and Berkut always tried to keep the political underhand from spoiling her time.

“It is. Though, nothing that sparkles here can even dare to hold a candle to--”

“Ah, my lord Berkut! What’s with all this standing around?” a booming, clearly already sloshed voice interrupted, its owner waddling over jovially. He was a portly man; red faced from either dancing or drinking, or both. Balding head shining with sweat, and looking like he had been absolutely stuffed into the ceremonial suit he was sporting. It stretched dangerously tight around the man’s bulging middle, and Berkut didn’t even bother to hide his grimace of distaste and annoyance as the nobleman clapped him eagerly on the shoulder.

Rinea had jumped at the loud intrusion, and shyly averted her gaze to the dancers on the floor as soon as the man had lumbered over to them. It set Berkut’s teeth on edge to have been so rudely interrupted by such a swine of a man, but he attempted to keep his temper in check. Chatting with idiots past their prime was just another part of the game, as much as it irked him.

“...We were simply taking a break from the floor,” Berkut supplied begrudgingly, brown eyes sliding to Rinea for a moment, making sure she knew that he had plans for them to continue where they left off as soon as this bloated windbag was done nittering on.

The older man seemed to take great delight in this, laughing uproariously despite no joke having been told. “Good lad, good lad! That’s exactly what young folk like you should be doing,” he blathered on, wiping at his brow with a kerchief and grinning widely. “We may not be youngsters anymore, but my wife and I still like to show these other stuffed shirts how its done!” the man waves over a tall, willowy woman, who saunters over with an air about her like she knew they’d wait for her.

Arrogance. These two were quickly getting on Berkut’s nerves.

Stiff introductions are made, the tension going unnoticed by the corpulent man just as it was making Rinea nervous.

“Charmed,” the elder woman speaks, tone haughty, sharp eyes staring at the younger couple over her hooked nose like a hawk.

“O-Oh, very! Your dress is lovely,” Rinea offered, making an attempt to disperse the brewing dark cloud over their conversation.

The woman sets her steely gaze on sweet Rinea for a solid minute before deciding to speak, sniffing derisively and responding as if it was a chore to do so. “Yes, well, I do quite enjoy keeping up with the latest fashions.”

The “unlike you” went unsaid, but it set fire to Berkut’s smoldering temper as Rinea simply gave a strained smile.

Snorting in contempt, he was quick to grip Rinea’s hand securely in his own -- perhaps a little too firmly on account of his anger -- his thumb running circles into the back of her hand as he spoke up in a clipped tone. “I’m sure someone like you has to work hard to retain what beauty she has left after time has taken its toll.” His burning gaze didn’t waver, boring into the shocked and then equally as fiery eyes of the older noblewoman that had so insulted his beloved.

Rinea was doing her utmost to keep a sweet look on her face despite the shock that was begging to be seen just beneath the surface. The portly lord was blissfully unaware of the out-in-the-open tensions here, chuckling away as he grabbed another glass of something bubbly from a passing servant with a tray. Some part of Rinea wished she could be as oblivious as this man…

Lip twitching as she struggled to reply to such a remark, the older woman stifled a screech of rage and grabbed her drunken husband by his fat arm, turning to leave. “What an insolent brat you are!” she harped, her eyes almost seeming to glow in the light of the dance hall as she stormed away -- her husband jovially bidding the young couple goodbye as he was dragged off.

Something about the way she looked at him set Berkut on edge, like a chill going down his back, but he chose to ignore it as nothing more than an optical illusion.

“Shall we return to the dance?” Berkut asked, his demeanor shifting into something more pleasant now that it was just Rinea and himself once more.

“O-Oh, yes, please!”

They danced for as long as the music played, getting lost in the movements and the sounds. It was several hours later when Berkut felt an unpleasant tug in his guts, and he had to pull them away from the multitude of dancers to recover. Rinea fussed over him for a little, telling him to stay put and rest while she went to get him something to drink -- preferably tea, as she so kindly put it, as adding alcohol on top of a bothered stomach wouldn’t help too much. So, Berkut sat in a chair out of the way, grimacing and resisting the urge to try and settle his stomach by rubbing it. He couldn’t recall eating or drinking anything that would have caused this. Honestly, he’d barely done either since he’d been so caught up in dancing with Rinea.

His stomach gurgled loudly, and Berkut was thankful for the cover of the music and the loud chatter of the people in the hall.

“Ugh, how irritating…,” he grumbled to himself, trying to find a position that alleviated some of his discomfort. Not even thinking about it, Berkut pressed a hand to his stomach in an effort to work out the pressure there, surprise hitting him like something physical when his palm pushed into soft flesh. Despite their comfortable look, the clothes he was wearing were still rather form fitting; there wasn’t much give to them.

So, when he looked down to see his stomach bulging softly against the material of his overcoat, his first instinct was to deny it.

It was late, perhaps he was simply tired and seeing things. Yes, of course, that had to be it. So, removing his hand and keeping it by his side quite firmly, Berkut chose to ignore the way his clothes were growing ever tighter as the minutes ticked away.

He’d have to find out what fool had tailored this outfit, as they were clearly lacking in an real skill if they couldn’t get a simple fitting right for him.

A nervous sweat was breaking out on his forehead the longer he repeated his mantra of denial to himself, his suit feeling increasingly restricting and suffocating as his whole body continued to bloat up with velvety pudge. His gut was pooching heavily over the tight belt at his waist, causing the young lord to squirm in his seat at the discomfort. His ass was spreading out beneath him, not only straining his trousers but billowing over the seat of his chair as he started to run out of room. The clasps of his overcoat were struggling to maintain their duty of staying closed the more he grew, stomach and rounding moobs stressing them.

Just when he was starting to think he should get up and leave to find a healer, someone approached him to chatter away with more nonsense. It was obvious they were pointedly avoiding saying anything about his appearance, and their speech and body language was nervous as they conversed about absolutely nothing of importance -- but, this only served to make Berkut double down on his denial. If it wasn’t anything people felt they should bring up to his face, then there was nothing truly wrong.

Even when it became harder to breathe in his ill fitting clothes as his body plumped up further. Even as the chair creaked dangerously underneath him. Even when his words started to come out with grunting effort.

There was nothing wrong! Everything was business as usual!

Fat face tinged red from the extra heat building up from his growing form in such tight and fancy clothes, Berkut snorted in surprise when a quick succession of pings sounded off from the clasps of his overcoat, the material even ripped near some of the metal clasps instead of the metal itself giving way, his enormous belly spilling forward in a tidal wave of jiggling flesh now that it was no longer held back. Bulging love handles still filled out the rest of his shirt, forcing the material to more or less cling to his form in spite of his continued growth.

The nobles that had been trying to hold a polite conversation with the growing Berkut quickly excused themselves with stammered words, hurrying off as the young lord huffed and puffed heavily in some short-lived relief at being able to breathe freely again.

Leaning back in his chair -- the ornate wood creaking loudly, almost cracking at the weight -- Berkut groaned low as he cradled his fat, monstrous gut with both hands in bewilderment. It felt so damn real, but this couldn’t be, could it? He was dreaming -- this was a nightmare, a foul nightmare!

As he looked away from the expanding mass of his gut, Berkut met eyes once more with the old woman from earlier. She looked rather pleased with herself, turning to leave triumphantly; and as she smirked at him, fanning out her thin fingers in a wave, he tried to rush to his feet to chase after her in indignant anger. However, his center of gravity was rather distorted now, and it took a great effort to even wobble to his feet at his current weight -- fat belly sagging down close to his knees, thick thighs jiggling and rubbing together as they fought for space. Laboring to even take a step forward, a blinding pain in his lower jaw had Berkut stumbling backwards with a squeal of shock, his fat ass coming down hard on the chair he’d been using and utterly demolishing it as he fell back.

Dazed and pinned to the ground by his own sheer mass, Berkut grunted as he tried to right himself, flabby arms shaking as they tried and failed to push him up. His breathing was heavy and staggered, panting mouth wide open as he tried to process the odd obstruction to his vision. Waving a tired hand in front of his face, he winces when he realizes that he’s struck his own nose, the sensitive thing twitching a bit as he breathes out of it. Why...was it so large? Fingers so fat that they’re starting to rip through the soft lambskin gloves he was wearing, Berkut touches his nose, mapping out the way it looks by feel -- and snorting in disgust when he recognizes it as a pig’s snout.

There is, by now, a lot of attention turning on him. Whispering voices and prying eyes, a sickening mixture of concerned, confused and jeering, all hyper fixated on the young man as dark colored ears grew to fit the style of his nose. Flat and floppy, like that of a hog. The pain in his jaw only increased, and Berkut soon couldn’t care a single bit that all eyes were on his fat hog’s body, bursting out of his fine clothes and unable to even sit up for the mountainous weight of his own belly, as sharp, shining tusks ruptured from his bottom jaw. He squealed at the discomfort, though there was no blood to accompany the horrific feeling.

Brown eyes darted back and forth, feverishly, as Berkut tried to come up with some sort of viable explanation for all of this...only for his panicked thoughts to be completely sidetracked by his new, pig-sized appetite to awaken with a rumbling growl from his stomach that was heard throughout the now shocked-into-silence ballroom.

#Anonymous #male weight gain #male wg #chubby!berkut #pig transformation #pig tf #oink oink you kinky heckers!!#i'm a little proud of this #if only because it was fun to see how far i could push his denial of reality

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thanksjro · 4 years

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The Death of Optimus Prime: Running from Our Responsibilities, in Stereo

It was 1986, and Hasbro murdered me on the silver screen to make room for the new toy line, emotionally scarring hundreds of thousands of children all over the world.

Optimus Prime has woken up on a planet he doesn’t recognize, with nothing but a busted Matrix and the stars overhead to help him figure out what’s happened. At first, he thinks he’s dead- a fair assumption, considering his surroundings. It’s looking a lot like hell at the moment.

Damn Optimus, you good? Need to talk about it? Should we go get Rung?

He recognizes the constellations as ones that would be visible from Cybertron, which doesn’t bode well for the fate of the planet. He thinks he might be in the past, but the missing moon seems to knock that theory on its ear. Perhaps the future, one where the Manganese Mountains have been eroded away, and the corpses of the Sweeps are still laying around.

Hmm. Maybe not actually, seeing how erosion and decay works.

Deciding to just see where the day takes him, Optimus wanders over to the ruins of Iacon, where he finds something rather curious: a populace.

You’re going to need a bit more of a repaint if you want any of these guys as toys.

Optimus gets recognized by someone- though he calls him Orion Pax, so it’s probably been a minute- who yells at him about the honestly ridiculously-long war. This guy is what’s referred to as a NAIL- Non-affiliated Indigenous Life-form, meaning he’s neither an Autobot nor a Decepticon.

Sideswipe and Whirl come by to make sure the NAIL isn’t bothering Optimus, and by that I, of course, mean that they’re here to be vaguely threatening because that’s the only way they know how to interact with anything anymore. The lack of a war is going to hit these guys HARD.

Whirl’s first little morsel of characterization in a comic, and it’s a pun. That’s how you know he’s going to be violent and angry at the world.

Optimus gets taken to Autobot High Command, where Rodimus and Bumblebee are trying to coordinate the entirety of Cybertron without causing any more incidents than necessary. Turns out Optimus has been missing for almost a month, but life doesn’t stop happening, even when the space-pope is seemingly dead. Rodimus gives him the skinny on what’s happened in the last few weeks.

Throwing the Matrix into Vector Sigma seems to have kickstarted Cybertron’s heart, which is why it currently looks like hell- it’s primordial. Bumblebee called all their Earth friends back to Cybertron, seeing as they needed all the help they could get getting things back up to speed.

Then all the NAILs started showing up. Turns out, Vector Sigma had shot off a sort of beacon, alerting every Cybertronian to the fact that Cybertron had been reborn. Of course, when they showed up, they probably were expecting something a little more… attractive, we’ll say, as opposed to the current, lava-y landscape.

This is Metalhawk. He’s a NAIL, and has to enter rooms by side-stepping, because his arms are silly. He and Optimus seem to have a past, though it’s probably been a bit. Metalhawk was opposed to the idea of factions from Day One, though if he had to pick one to side with, he seems to be a bit more soft towards the original ideology Megatron had been pushing, back when he was a writer instead of a warlord. He currently wants Optimus and his Autobot friends to leave the planet, and implies that they could potentially be forced out by the growing forces of the NAILs who are returning to the planet in droves.

Rodimus cuts in, saying that surely they can fix the planet with the magic of the Matrix, and then everything will be hunky dory!

Yeah, small problem there.

So, with the bad news about the Matrix shared, Optimus is shown all the redecorating Bumblebee and Rodimus have been getting up to while he’s been gone. Like the Decepticon prison they’ve fashioned out of the smoking remains of the Kimia facility.

Cyclonus is here too, and he’s mad as hell about it. That rat creature is Ratbat. He’s a disgraced senator.

Comic books are wild.

This is a temporary solution, of course, because this particular sort of housing is inhumane and illegal, and they’re going to have to do something with these POWs eventually. Perceptor calls Optimus with news about the Matrix.

You can tell Roberts is on this script because everyone’s apparently deep in the throes of depression, and has been for ages.

Optimus heads back to the workshop and finds Perceptor, and also Rewind. Rewind’s here because he’s an archivist, and he’s sussing out the inscription that Perceptor found on the inside of the Matrix. It’s old. Very old. So old, in fact, Rewind has a difficult time trying to translate it into modern language, though he’s got a few things.

Optimus, because he held the Matrix, knows that this refers to the Guiding Hand, though the details aren’t so clear, now that the Matrix is busted and gone forever.

OR IS IT?

Yes, it is, but now that it’s broken, the Matrix has revealed its true nature.

When you shine a light through half the Matrix, you get a real sweet light show that turns out to be a galactic map.

Over at the spaceport, Metalhawk is schmoozing up his fellow NAILs, before his plot-sense starts tingling and he jumps into the sky to see what bullshit the Autobots are about to pull now.

Back at High Command, there’s a riot outside, complete with a lynching reenactment featuring Optimus Prime.

This has all happened over the course of a couple of hours, by the way.

Inside, the lads are discussing the Matrix map, and Drift is regaling everyone with the history of the Knights of Cybertron, the guys who made Cybertron super rad during the Golden age and then fucked off to try and spread the good word of being cool and nice to other planets. Bumblebee thinks it’s a load of bunk. Prowl is weirdly pretty again, and also an asshole.

STOP IT.

Rodimus is totally on-board with this idea, though. He’s completely ready to pick up and leave Cybertron, the factions, and most importantly the war, completely behind.

Bumblebee, of course, doesn’t want to be left alone with the bureaucratic nightmare that is currently warless Cybertron, and tries to tell Rodimus how to live his life. Bumblebee has forgotten that Rodimus is pretty much a 15 year-old boy, and he’s not his real dad.

Rodimus is going to try and learn from the old ways- after all, if the Knights of Cybertron were as great as the stories say, surely they could teach the modern Cybertronians a thing or two!

Then High Command explodes.

One of the NAILs outside threw a power cell at the building. The situation is spiraling out of control rapidly, and Prowl’s going to need to make some calls.

Prowl was one of the few characters Roberts wanted for MTMTE that he didn’t get, so it would seem he’s using him to the utmost of his ability while he still can. Geezum crow, look at that bastard go. Cold as ice.

Prowl orders the Decepticon prisoners be released. Ratbat tries to take advantage of the situation, but nobody cares about Ratbat. The Decepticons start pummeling the NAILs, acting as crowd control in exchange for not being locked inside the barrel of a giant gun. The true nature of the I/D chips they’re all outfitted with is revealed: Inhibitor/Deterrence chips can A) prevent usage of alt-modes and built-in weapons, and B) kill you if you get too mouthy.

Who the HELL is throwing fireballs??

This is a huge mess, and it only gets bigger as Metalhawk’s hit with a laser. Optimus calls for him to be brought in for repairs, and the narrative returns to just who’s going on the space adventure with Drift and Rodimus.

Oh, and Magnus. He wants in on this, too, which surprises Prowl and Bumblebee greatly. His reasoning is pretty sound though: the Autobots aren’t wanted on Cybertron, and maybe the Knights of Cybertron can teach them a thing or two about living peacefully.

This sets Prowl the hell off.

If this seems like a case of “thou doth protest too much”, that’s because it is. You see, once upon a time, ol’ Prowler here tried to run away from the war, only for the ship he was on to get shot down over the Manganese mountains.

This confession makes everyone feel a little awkward, and Bumblebee is about to tell Prowl that he can leave the planet if he really wants to, but is distracted by the fact that Optimus has vanished. Oh no, where has he gone?

Why, he’s addressing the people of course, with all the sensitivity and thoughtfulness a leader ought to have in such a tense moment. His final point is an interesting one- Optimus himself is a giant burning torch for the war and everything it put the planet through. He offers the NAILs this: in exchange for allowing the other Autobots to stay on Cybertron, he will leave, never to return. Self-exile is an interesting approach, Optimus. Let’s see how that plays out for you.

Later on, Rodimus and Bumblebee are talking. Bumblebee agrees with Optimus’ decision, as well as his reasoning for it, and it’s very much implied that if Optimus hadn’t exiled himself, Bee would have done it for him. Bumblebee’s ready for everyone to start working together to make Cybertron a better place.

Bumblebee didn’t look up the IDW lineup for 2012, it would seem.

The fact that Rodimus is still going to try to find the Knights of Cybertron leads to a huge blowup between the two of them. Bumblebee needs him here to start fixing Cybertron, while Rodimus thinks that the Knights will be able to solve all their problems, if they can just bring them back. Their squabbling brings Optimus out of the shadows, and he hands them a half of the Matrix each, before walking off again.

This is like the opposite of a get-along shirt.

And with that, Optimus Prime fucks off into space, takes up the name of Orion Pax once again, declaring Optimus Prime dead, and is now finally, finally free.

I give it about a year before he’s back.

That’s the end of The Death of Optimus Prime, the one-shot that sets up all the final pieces to the dual publication of Robots in Disguise… and More Than Meets the Eye.

#transformers #jro #the death of optimus prime #maccadam #Hannzreads #text post #long post #comic script writing

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infinite-rabbits · 4 years

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hey, hiii just wanted to ask about your thoughts/opinions on shadows character

Do you mean like.... Overall or how it’s been handled lately?

It also kinda depends on which version of Shadow. I mean, obviously from my set of 4 Shadows I have on my desk, I love him.

SO I guess we need to break it down.

Sonic Adventure 2 Shadow: I love this silly edgelord. He’s basically a teenager who’s also woken up from a really long nap. Have you ever had nap brain before? Because it sucks, and I like to think that’s part of why he’s so grumpy and also why he had so many memory problems. He might have been out of cryostasis, but his brain was still waking up. He’s moody, he’s probably going through hormone swings because, you know, teenager, and he’s trying to figure out where he stands in the world. This is the Shadow I was first introduced to when my cousin had the game system and I was watching him play it. I literally made my mom buy me a gamecube and the game because I wanted to play with Shadow. I’m always late to the game with stuff. I mean heck, I only just now started playing Sonic Forces and that’s been out since 2017, but this game REALLY impacted my view on the Sonic franchise.

Shadow in Shadow The Hedgehog: Okay so I know a lot of other people really hate his depiction in this game. They don’t like the idea of Shadow going THAT edge and liking guns and all of that stuff due to his PTSD with Maria. But honestly... I don’t mind it that much? Because there’s the whole thing about him having amnesia again or whatever. And what’s more interesting to look at from this game’s point of view is that, just like a lot of other things in the Sonic Franchise, it’s an AU. This is a choose your own adventure where you can literally decide if Shadow is going to freak out and go down the villain’s path, stay neutral and do his own thing, or realize that he needs his friends and go down the hero’s path. So even if you’re not super into him using guns, you could still have him go down that hero path and find his true self. Plus this thing has one of the most bangin’ theme songs Shadow’s ever had. Like all of his themes from games are pretty awesome, but I personally LOVE this one. Especially the extra m e t a l version by Little V.

Shadow in other games: He can be kind of hit-or-miss in the personality department here. You’ve got him in Sonic Heroes with amnesia... again. And possibly being an andriod. But honestly I love that “date to die for!” scene because it’s so dramatic! You’ve got him in Free Riders for some reason being willing to help Rouge get money in the race even though he’s never actually been willing to help before. In most games he’s just kinda sorta... there, and it feels like the writers don’t fully know what to do with him if he’s not the main focus of the game. There’s one big exception to that though:

Shadow in Sonic 06: The game everyone shits on, mostly just because of some of the graphics being shitty here and there in the actual gameplay and also the whole “Sonic hooking up with a human chick” thing. However, this is one of the best characterizations of Shadow. He cares about his friends, he gets given the support he needs, and in turn he also winds up giving that support to Silver. You know, after giving him a boot to the head. As bad as this game might have been, we did actually get relatively good character development for some of these characters, and Shadow was one of them. His willingness to do his part and take Silver “under his quills” as I’ve seen other people say, properly shows off his compassionate side rather than him just.... being dark and brooding. You know?

Boom Shadow: Eeeeh.... I’m not totally sure how to feel about this one? I love listening to his voice for sure. I like watching his fight scenes. But it feels like they’re making him edgy just for the sake of being edgy. And he’s really easily manipulated? I feel like, while Boom has done some great things with other characters, Shadow has gotten the short end of the stick. He’s kinda bland most of the time when it comes to his actual characterization, and he’s boiled down to a one-note kind of guy. So like, I don’t hate it but I really think I could do better.

IDK comics Shadow: They kinda did the same thing here. Shadow started out pretty darn great in that scene with Sonic and deciding what to do with Mr. Tinker. Seeing Sonic get under Shadow’s skin about it and making him back down was a great way of showing how the two have really gotten to understand each other over the years and that Sonic knows Shadow better than he’s willing to admit. That’s where my praise ends. Shadow then basically disappears until we get him back being stubborn as hell and jumping right into a pit of zombots and BOOM, just like that he’s taken out of the game. We’ll see how things go once this virus thing is over (because honestly I feel like it’s been lasting waaaay too long.) and if they use this to humanize him a bit more or if they keep him being super stubborn and one-note. But yeah, as of now I’m not super happy with how he’s been handled.

Shadow in the Archie Comics: HOO BOY I SAVED THE BEST ONE FOR LAST. And by best I mean worst. Where do I even begin with this one? Let me start by saying that I haven’t read all of the Archie comics yet. I’m working on it now, and I’m reading them somewhere online because they’re expensive as hell to get a hold of. But dear lord, this writing is usually horrible! Some of the writers work well together while others *cough*kenpenders*cough* don’t bother to read each other’s stories or will get pissy about their own plotlines not going anywhere and others having to fix them. Shadow is... yanked around so heavily in this series. In some stories, he’s great. He shows interesting characteristics and shows that he’s learning and growing. In others he’s just kinda.... there. In others he’s going completely against what he’s learned and is treating people like shit unless he’s manipulated to do otherwise. One of my absolute biggest complaint about the Archie series is: Tyrant Overlord King Shadow, from the 25/30 years later arch. It’s so bad, you guys. *disgruntled noises* Ken Penders basically had Shadow do a complete 180 despite everything he’s ever learned. He forcibly married Sally, became a tyrant of a king who ruled with an iron fist, and when Sonic kicked his ass and threw him in another stasis tube and he was brought back later, he unleashed this weird Tikal/Chaos creature out into the world to completely destroy it after feeding her so much chaos energy that he hurt her. Also the writer completely freaking forgot to actually END that story. Sonic and the New Freedom Fighters defeat and re-seal away “Tichaos,” but there’s no closure as to what happens to Shadow. It’s just Ken Penders going: “LOOK MY SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME OCS JUST SAVED THE DAY.” And it’s like.... okay, but what about Shadow? Did he escape? Is he still in the castle? Is there a second part to this? And sadly, that’s as far as I’ve read with that line and I don’t know if it got any further before they had to do the reboot. So yeah, Shadow is kinda shafted in these comics too.

Overall: I think he’s a really great character with a lot of wasted potential. He tends to shine more when the spotlight is fully on him because in that case, the writers realize they need to work on him more. But when he’s a side character, they boil him down to one-note and that’s really not a good thing to do with any character. (I should also note that I haven’t actually gotten to purchase the DLC yet of Shadow’s story for Sonic Forces, so I’ll need to go and watch the cut scenes before I can properly say anything on that particular game.)

The Sonic Franchise suffers overall from a case of: Too many characters. Now I wouldn’t change that about them, especially this late in the game. However we’ve been introduced to so many characters that none of them ever really get their chance in the spotlight anymore. Another artist that I can actually compare this to is actually VivziePop. She designs a LOT of characters for her works, and she puts so much effort into them that they all come across as “main character material” and completely overshadow the actual main character of the story. The biggest time that has impacted her work was in her comic Zoophobia. The main character was some human chick thrown into the world, but then she spent so long establishing all of the almost hundred characters she’d made for the world that the story itself felt like it de-railed. She’s gotten a bit better with Hazbin, but Charlie still gets really overshadowed. Some of the Archie comics got to be the same way. They had introduced so many characters at that point that they needed to do storylines that didn’t involve Sonic, and Ken Penders himself didn’t really like writing for Sonic because it was so restrictive, where as he had a lot of free reign with the other ones he’d made or that weren’t the main character. So he just kept making character after character to throw in there, and that combined with the characters we got from all of the assorted media over the years means a lot more characters to try and focus on. So the ones that don’t get their prime time in the spotlight just kinda never go anywhere. Also Shadow not being the main precious blue boy probably explains why his writing can be so wibbly-wobbly depending on the media he’s in. Because Sega isn’t breathing down anyone’s neck anywhere near as heavily as they are for Sonic.

I should probably stop typing now because I’ve written you a novel. XD

TL;DR: I love Shadow but he gets the shaft more often than not by the writers.

#long post #shadow the hedgehog #sonic the hedgehog #archie comics #sega #sonic writing #Anonymous

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qaraxuanzenith · 5 years

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On Representation: A review of The Tyrant’s Tomb

It’s still too early to go to sleep and I have nothing better to productively do, so: time for me to rant angrily about representation.

IMPORTANT WARNING: this will include some (probably minor?) spoilers for The Tyrant’s Tomb by Rick Riordan. Since I’m pretending it’s a review of that book even though it is really just my angry thoughts about representation that were prompted by it. There will also be (definitely minor) spoilers about a character in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series.

Edit: this rant is long, in addition to the spoilers, so please (but actually, please) read it after the cut.

Okay. First of all: I enjoyed The Tyrant’s Tomb. I’ve been loving the Trials of Apollo series, and this is no exception, and I’m excited for the next book. But.

I have ranted, a lot, about representation before, because I so rarely see Jewish characters in books not written exclusively by and for Jews, and even rarer do I see observant Jewish characters in any media not created exclusively by and for Orthodox Jews. And obviously, I want to feel reflected in at least some of the mainstream media I consume.

The important preface to this rant is a quick review, though I have discussed this, too, before, of the intense pleasure and pain brought on by reading the character of Samirah al-Abbas in Rick Riordan’s Magnus Chase books. Samirah was almost, almost, almost the Holy Grail of “observant religious character” that I had described, almost to a T, of what I am constantly seeking in media: she was a major character, whose religion was a major part of her life in tangible ways throughout the books - from wearing her hijab, to observing modesty in her interactions with her fiance, to performing heroics while fasting for Ramadan - and yet who was characterized well enough that her religion, while inextricably an important part of her life, wasn’t her entire character, either. It was beautiful; it was magnificently done.

And it broke my heart. Because God knows observant Muslim people have deserved Samirah for so long; but her existence on these pages only drove home to me that what I was looking for was possible and yet, impossibly, I still didn’t have it. Samirah was fantastic, but she still wasn’t the representation that I was looking for: I wanted, and still want, those traits, but for a Jewish character, in whom I can see something of myself. I want Samirah, but I want that for me, too.

Flip ahead a couple years (and a few more representation in media rants) to me picking up and reading The Tyrant’s Tomb. I’d pre-ordered it in the summer, while ordering a few books as a birthday present to my sister, and promptly forgotten about it, so when it arrived, it was like a delightful gift from Past Me.

I started reading, and I was so, so excited when the character of Lavinia was introduced, right near the beginning of the book. Right away, Riordan telegraphed that she was both Jewish and queer, with the Magen David necklace and her interest in a female dryad. I was primed and ready to both love her and see myself in her.

And then I was let down.

Now, before I dig deep into the many ways in which Lavinia was a complete and utter disappointment, I want to offer an important caveat, referring to my preface about Samirah. I don’t want to give the impression that I’m castigating Riordan for trying, when so many other mainstream writers don’t. At least he made her canonically Jewish on-page, rather than hiding behind a Jewish-sounding last name and then declaring it to be the truth off-page (looking at you, Rowling and Anthony Goldstein). At least there is a Jewish character in his books (looking at... almost every other mainstream YA fantasy series I’ve ever read not written by Jews).

But the thing is, we raise our expectations of people based on what we know they are capable of. I’m a teacher; a level 3 “Meets Expectations” is going to look different for my academically-struggling student who is working really hard to improve, as opposed to my bookworm student who started the year off by turning in a long and erudite personal essay.

Most of those other mainstream YA fantasy writers, I don’t have any expectations of. Whereas Rick Riordan, the man who created Samirah al-Abbas: I know exactly what he is capable of. Which is why it hurts so much more that, when it comes to a Jewish character, he falls so strikingly short.

I’ll be fair: I wasn’t expecting a second, Jewish Samirah from him. That wouldn’t be reasonable. I would like that, someday, from someone, but that will have to be in someone else’s book; it wouldn’t make sense for Riordan to retread the exact same ground, and I understand that.

And Lavinia didn’t have to be observant - as I’ve recognized, he already has Samirah for that. But I was hoping, expecting, for her to be something more than Jewish In Name Only. (Strike that: she may have been Jewish on-page, but Riordan never even used the J word. He wrote around it. Why? I don’t know. Presumably not just to disappoint me.)

So what’s wrong with Lavinia? And how could he have done better with her?

Great news: I’ve got a bulleted list to help with that, starting with the simple and working our way up.

To start with: her last name. I’ve been going over and over this dozens of times, and I still can’t quite work out why, for his one Jewish character, Riordan decided to give her the last name of one of the most famous Jewish speculative fiction writers, and then (a) never once acknowledge this connection, and (b) acknowledge that she shares her name with a famous Jewish... fictional dancer. Why Asimov, if he wasn’t going to say anything at all about the Asimov?

Continuing with her name: her first name. I get that Riordan likes to give Romanesque names to the Roman demigods, but this overlooks the fact that the demigods are almost always named by their human parent; and while Sally Jackson had her reasons for naming her son after a Greek hero, most Jewish parents will give their child a Jewish name, if not the actual name of a recently-deceased relative. But okay. Fine. I wouldn’t want to mess with the thematic naming in the book; but how about a name that evokes the intersection of Roman and Jewish history: Salome, or Salome Alexandra, for instance?

Speaking of that intersection of Roman and Jewish: I’m still too relieved at finding a Jewish character, any Jewish character, in his books, to be offended that this Jewish character ends the book as a centurion in a Roman army, but - she should be. Lavinia should, at some point in the book, have expressed discomfort at the Roman side of her heritage, as it intersects with her Jewish culture and history. And it would have been so easy: throughout the book, Lavinia has problems with authority and with the structures of the Legion in particular. Just once, she could have defended that rebelliousness - honestly or not - with a reference to how the Roman legions once destroyed her people’s Temple, razed her homeland, and subjugated her people with an exile that is still, in many ways, ongoing to this day. Not in so many words, obviously; I’m not asking Riordan to write it the way I did. Just something like “Yeah, well, Roman Legions and Jews aren’t usually a good mix.” Or here’s another way she could have expressed her Roman discomfort: in that conversation about awkwardness. Instead of “You want awkward? Try telling your Rabbi that you’re taking a girl as your date to your Bat Mitzvah,” she could have said: “You want awkward? Try being a Jewish demigod.” “You want awkward? Try being a queer Jew in a Roman legion.”

SPEAKING OF THAT INSANE AND PERPLEXING COMMENT ABOUT RABBIS AND BAT MITZVAHS, I have so so so many problems with that line:

First of all, given the premise that Lavinia as written is very clearly not an observant Jew by any means or interpretation, and does not appear to have any Jewish community ties, it is strange to me that she speaks about having a rabbi. Typically, people who have a rabbi are either (a) observant people who go to this rabbi with religious questions, or (b) community-oriented people who see the rabbi of their community (or another chosen spiritual leader in their chosen community) as their rabbi. Lavinia appears to be neither, so why “try telling your rabbi that...” and not, say, “try telling the rabbi at your shul that...”?

Okay but forget whose rabbi this is: why is she telling the rabbi about her date? Why is that necessary? For those (like Rick Riordan??) unfamiliar with what a Bat Mitzvah is: A Bat Mitzvah is actually the term for a (female) person who has reached the age of religious responsibility in Judaism, and it happens automatically when a girl turns 12 (and for a boy - Bar Mitzvah - when he turns 13). But okay, I’ll stop being so pedantic, and agree that Riordan, and Lavinia, were obviously referring to the party that is commonly held to celebrate this milestone. But that’s all it is: a party celebrating a milestone. Although there is often a prayer service and/or a Torah reading, there is no ritual aspect to a Bat Mitzvah celebration. Other than, again, perhaps the prayer service / Torah reading, there is definitely nothing you would need to inform a rabbi of. You would definitely not be telling the rabbi about your guest list, unless the rabbi is your parent/guardian / the person paying for the party.

But never mind who she’s telling about her date: did you miss the part where I noted that a Bat Mitzvah is for a girl turning twelve. Speaking as somebody who has celebrated a Bat Mitzvah for myself, and who has attended many such celebrations as a guest, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt: you do not invite a date to this event, whether you are a guest or the girl of honour. For one thing, you are twelve. Twelve is too young to be bringing dates! For another, you’re going to a party full of twelve-year-olds, where there will be maybe a prayer service and then a nice meal and then probably a bunch of twelve-year-olds bopping around to some obnoxiously loud music. I get Lavinia’s trying to let us know she was already very gay when she was twelve, but that does not explain bringing a date, female or otherwise, to her own Bat Mitzvah. Just ask the girl as a normal guest and then awkwardly ask her to dance, for heaven’s sake!

In conclusion, that entire sentence made no sense, and it really only accomplished two things: (a) it gave me the impression, rightly or wrongly, that Riordan knows absolutely nothing about Judaism; and (b) it strongly implied, unfairly, that rabbis in general are homophobic, which it why it was so awkward for Lavinia to tell her rabbi about her nonsensical date.

Throughout the book, Lavinia’s big crusade is ecological safety, protecting the nature spirits and the environment, and the homeless people living in the park who would be impacted by the Emperors’ attacks. It would have been so easy to infuse this important aspect of her personality with her Jewishness, by just letting her throw around the term “tikun olam” in that context. It would have absolutely fit with the culturally-not-religiously Jewish air he was clearly going for, and it would have made her seem 10,000% more authentically Jewish to me, with just, my God, two words added to the entire book.

You want another way to make her seem more realistically, three-dimensionally Jewish? How about, oh, I dunno, her one Jewish parent? (By the way: it has not slipped my attention that Lavinia’s one Jewish parent is her father, meaning that except by Reform definitions, she’s not, technically, Jewish at all; just canonically connected to Jewish culture. Are paternal Jews who consider themselves Jewish valid and Jewish? Of course. Am I nonetheless extremely disappointed that he’s managed to water down the Jewishness of his one Jewish character in 20+ books in this additional way? Absolutely.) Apollo showed great interest in asking her about her father, the famous Asimov... dancer (I’m sorry, I still can’t get over that he named her Asimov and did not make a single reference to Asimov; is Isaac Asimov the only Jew he’s ever heard of or something???). She could have alluded to his Jewishness. “Yeah, Sergei’s still mad that I stopped coming to our Asimov family Seders.”

Instead, other than the absurd-and-mildly-offensive rabbi-and-Bat-Mitzvah line, what is the only evidence we have that Lavinia even is of Jewish descent? Ah, yes. The thing that got me so excited in the first place, as - or so I thought - a hint of Jewishness to come: her Magen David necklace. Except of course, Riordan only ever calls it a “Star of David,” because - okay, that’s what Apollo would call it in his narration, and of course Lavinia never said a word about it, despite all the times she played with it. Never explained where she got it from, or why she wore it, or what made it so important to her. So it had no sentimental or cultural value conveyed to the reader. It was just a visual cue to tell us: “Jewish character.” It was as anemic and anodyne a way of making her Jewish as the Menorah-on-the-Mantelpiece trick that I’ve often complained about in TV shows that want to suddenly establish a character is Jewish - except worse, because at least with a Menorah on the mantel, we’ve got the implication that somebody lights it (if it’s a Chanukiyah) on Chanukah. This is just a star, on a necklace.

In conclusion: Lavinia could have been great. She could have been a queer Jewish demigod, passionate about nature and about tikun olam, complex and uncomfortable with her role as a Jewish person in the Legion despite her absolute commitment to helping her friends survive the attack and defeat their dangerous enemies.

Instead, she was a disappointment. She was characterized well, for what she was. But what she was was a girl with a necklace. A queer Roman demigod with a famous dancer father.

I started this rant expecting to call her Jewish in name only. But she wasn’t even that.

Perhaps it’s unfair of me to call Lavinia a disappointment, from how anemic her Jewishness was. The real disappointment in The Tyrant’s Tomb was Rick Riordan.

#representation #jewish representation #representation done right #representation done wrong #representation in media #representation matters #trials of apollo #the tyrants tomb #rick riordan #lavinia asimov #am i jewish tumblr #rant #representation rant #review #not actually a book review #not lies either though #judaism #failed representation #samirah al abbas

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rhinocio · 6 years

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Voltron Fic Recommendations

Unsurprisingly, I’ve hooked my attention onto a new fandom of space gays, and boy oh boy has this series turned up some phenomenal stories.

Back With A Madness (Champion) by Mytay (Keith/Lance, Shiro/Matt -- Action/Adventure)

Lance gets himself mixed up in an underground fight club tournament in a bid to protect a local family and one by one draws the rest of the team into the fray, leading to extensive anxiety, battle practice, espionage and rigging, and way too many cryopod visits for a growing boy.

Has the most unique romantic confession scene I’ve ever seen in fanfiction, a healthy heaping of platonic affection between all characters, fun OCs, and an intreguing subplot involving Shiro and a clone.

The Dreaming Dark by Pterodotyl (Keith/Lance -- Thriller/Adventure)

The Garrison Trio comprise a deep sea explorative team tasked with diving 14,000 metres into the Kraydah Trench in search of answers as to what happened to the Kerberos Mission, and in doing so discover something a little more... monsterous.

By far the most well-researched story I have ever read. The author is a sweetheart and crafts amazingly cinematic scenes, and there’s a curious political subplot simmering in the background. The character interactions are gold, and things shift between fine and terrible so quick you can’t put the fic down. Lance has the voice of a chipmunk for two chapters. A close second on my Coolest Story Ever list.

Goodnight, Travel Well by Europa_report (Keith/Lance, Shiro/Allura -- Horror/Thriller)

The team discover a silent planet with a terrifying history, and awaken something with a very deep-seated grudge. Caught in a 400 day countdown until certain doom and with their leader missing, the paladins are stuck desperately searching for a way to defeat all-encompassing evil while handling undead invaders, an ancient curse, uncontrollable wormholing, and a baby.

Witty, wildly inventive, harrowing and so absolutely endearing in the character affection department that each new chapter makes me cry at least once. Tops my Coolest Story Ever list for its absolute complexity and complete deviation from the fanfiction norm. Cinematic to a fault. Heartbreakingly romantic and sweat-inducing terrifying. This is not a fic to pass by.

Ghost of The Future and Shadow of The Past by Wittyy_name and Zizzani (Keith/Lance -- Adventure/Romance)

In a freak ancient tech accident, Lance is launched exactly a year back in time... and his past self is launched a year forward. These two fics run concurrently, and between all the avoidance of “spoilers” by each team and the standard run of missions with one very out of place paladin, it becomes very obvious that doing the time warp is not good for a person, especially when you do it again.

I’m a sucker for loop distortion anyway, but these two stories really stretch the concept by creating two parallel event sequences that effect each other in real time. The romance is heavy, the paradoxes mind-bending, and the these fics get bonus points for being the final push I needed to start learning Spanish.

Homesick At Space Camp by Kobot (Keith/Lance -- Drama/Romance)

After realizing that Lance’s antagonism has been keeping Keith from really connecting with the team, he makes it his solemn duty to be the Best Possible Teammate, even if that means sticking his foot halfway down his throat and roping them into pretending to be lovers for the sake of avoiding Keith’s engagement to an alien.

Absolutely hilarious chapter titles, solid characterization, and a play on the fake relationship trope that’s quite grounded and realistic. Charming and sweet. Lots of dancing, an epic final battle worthy of the Jak series, and an exceptional butt-ton of all over gay.

Nothing’s Quite As Sweet by Dimpleforyourthoughts (Keith/Lance, Shiro/Allura -- Drama/Romance)

Keith works at a the world’s worst cafe due to debt and a simple lack of anything going on in his life; Lance works four different jobs and also across the street. Cats ensue.

Honestly this is the perfect coffee shop AU, no challenge. Have you been having a shitty day? Do you like soft non-sexual romance stories? Are you the opposite of a dog person? Look no further. Side effects include great need to snugglebum it up with gourmet lattes and overwhelming sense of hope for your own potential to change someone’s world.

Never Saw You Coming by Dimpleforyourthoughts (Keith/Lance -- Biography/Drama)

Keith has always been ready to run, to reach the stars, and to die, more or less in that order. Lance Fucking McClain repeatedly throws wrenches into all three of those ideas.

Repeat contender DFYT is back again because my dudes I couldn’t show you the soft fic without its bookender. Part Keith exposition and part romance story, this one is heartaching to a fault and pulls no punches. The rough and tumble idiot boys in love poem you’ve been hunting for.

Hearts Don’t Break Around Here by Klancekorner (Keith/Lance -- Drama/Romance)

They’ve been wheeling around each other since first grade, always with one foot in the other’s orbit, no matter the fights or fears or losses. Keith realizes he’s fallen in the same way the moon would if it arced too close to the Earth -- quickly, irreparably, and ending in disaster.

This seems to be an AU that already has a reputation, and for good reason. The song I Found by Amber Run encapsulates its core emotion, by which I mean the scenes are well-suited to a prime-time YA drama, and that at its heart this fic is daringly romantic. The author builds characters from the ground up and fleshes them out so fully that they might as well have called the entire cast OCs with canon name tags. I got weepy, I admit it.

The Purity of Sin by IcyPanther (Platonic Keith/Lance -- Action/Drama)

Being kept away from their lions and trapped on a hostile desert planet of short, angry cat-people would be difficult enough had they not gotten Lance wrapped up in sacrificial cult magic with a three day countdown. Thankfully, Keith is nothing if not determined to keep them both alive, no matter the cost or consequences.

Talk about a whump fic, but one with some solid worldbuilding, good characterization, and a satisfying, fit-for-TV climax. Great for those times you want affection and care between your characters but none of the romance. Allura cosplays as a cat.

#klance #voltron #vld #fic recs #platonic klance #shatt #shallura #hey look my system is getting even more organized #I'm telling you guys this fandom has some RAD COOL writing hot damn

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