#the only other person in the entire world that mean little cat likes is archie. this infuriates everyone except archie of course

[lesbaurinkos]

its actually criminal that hiram never got to have a classic Bad Guy Cat (tm) that he could sit ominously in his chair in his study slowly petting. it would be the most horrible mean little beast in the world and he would pamper it like a little princess. during the various times he and ronnie are fighting and he takes down her portrait he replaces it with a painting of the cat

#cant you see it now.... why didnt hiram get to have a Villain Cat he would love a Villain Cat lets get hiram a Villain Cat #he probably names it veronica 2 or something and shes like daddykins im gonna fucking kill you dont name that beast after me #the only other person in the entire world that mean little cat likes is archie. this infuriates everyone except archie of course #archie is busy petting her like aww shes a sweetie:) and ronnie is like that thing is the fucking devil archiekins #hiram is furious that his cat would betray him in this manner and tries to have archie killed again over it. etc #riverdale

[nikibogwater]

Final Daniel Spellbound Blethers:

They were. So. Close. 

Daniel Spellbound was just inches away from being amazing every second of its runtime. They had the creativity, they had the intrigue, they had the interesting world and likable characters, but every time this show approached the line of Greatness, it would always trip in some small, but still painfully noticeable way.

(Mild spoilers and a very long rant/review under the cut)

Daniel as a character is ripe with potential for meaningful development. He’s just likable enough for the audience to care about, but still has those rough edges to him that need to be sanded down over time. He starts the series as largely cynical and self-centered, perfectly set up to go through an arc that would result in him growing into a loyal and selfless hero. Except....the writers forgot to give him a solid arc, and by the end of the first season, he’s just magically (ha) become a better person without any clear development. He doesn’t really learn anything, he just....changes for no real reason. And yet the pieces were right there, the writers had given themselves everything they needed to craft a great character arc, and they just didn’t use any of them.

This also extends to the relationship between our main trio. The dynamics are there, we can see that these three work well as a team, and by all appearances, they seem to care about each other, but we’re never shown any real growth in their relationships. These characters never sit down and just talk to each other. There’s nothing to their friendship outside of the main plot. I can’t really see these three hanging out and being friends in any situation besides the one they’re currently stuck in. Which is extremely frustrating, because again, the potential is RIGHT THERE, I can practically taste it. Daniel and Lucy have a fun rapport, their friendship could be something very compelling and emotional, but the writers stopped just short of the goalpost. 

And Hoagie--ohhhhh do NOT get me started on Hoagie. I really liked him in the first episode. In that context, his non-stop snark and obnoxiousness made sense and fit the situation he was in. But the episode ends with him and Daniel becoming business partners--and perhaps, maybe even friends. SO WHY IN BLAZES DOES HOAGIE CONTINUE TO SPEND THE ENTIRE SEASON BEING AN OBNOXIOUS LITTLE SNOT WHOSE ONLY CONTRIBUTION TO THE STORY IS THAT HE CAN TRACK THINGS BY SCENT?! And another question: WHY DO DANIEL AND LUCY PUT UP WITH THIS LITTLE JACKASS?! And a follow-up to that question, WHY DO THEY NOT ONLY PUT UP WITH HIM, BUT ACTUALLY LIKE HIM AND CONSIDER HIM THEIR FRIEND?! 

I’m not exaggerating when I say Hoagie does absolutely nothing to endear himself to these characters, or to the audience. He has zero positive traits, apart from sometimes occasionally deciding to do the noble thing because Plot Reasons. He made me smile one time throughout the entire season, and that was in episode one. And to make matters worse, just like with everything else in this show, this issue would have been such an easy fix. Either take away Hoagie’s ability to speak altogether, or sprinkle in some of those quiet character moments where we actually see him make an emotional connection with the others. 

I hate to keep comparing this show to Tales of Arcadia--really, I do, I know it’s not entirely fair--but I have to bring up Archie the talking cat again because he is the perfect example of what Hoagie should have been as a character. Archie is snide, mischievous, deadpan, and haughty. But he is also shown to be loyal, affectionate, and loving towards Douxie. (I mean, he’s also much quieter than Hoagie and has much better comedic timing with his jabs, so there’s also that). For every snarky comment that comes out of Archie’s mouth, we also see him actively working to keep Douxie safe and accomplish their goals. For all his teasing, we can still see how much he genuinely cares about his friend. 

Hoagie desperately needed that balance--something to make the audience believe that at the end of the day, he is truly Daniel’s friend, no matter how much he may bluster and complain. So much of his characterization could be forgiven if they had written in even just one scene of Hoagie and Daniel opening up to each other emotionally. I kept waiting for Daniel to bring up Hoagie’s missing eye, or for one of Hoagie’s jabs to sting just a little too much, and lead into a conversation where he (and by extension, the audience) learns a little more about why Daniel is all alone, why he takes the dirtiest, sleeziest jobs, why he has this disdain for magic users. But it just never happened. It was all set up and ready to go, and the writers just never got around to it.

There were other small factors dragging the show down, most noticeably in its music, moments of painfully bad action choreography, cringe-inducing snippets of dialogue (especially from the villains), and weird contrivances. What’s most bizarre about all of this is that this is not a consistent issue throughout the entire show. Some of the action sequences work just fine, sometimes the dialogue is snappy and fun, sometimes the music perfectly sets the mood of the scene and every beat works to reinforce a certain ambiance. 

I know all of this makes it sound like I hate the show, but I actually really loved everything they had to work with. I loved Daniel and Lucy as characters, I loved the way the writers delivered important worldbuilding information to the audience without it feeling forced or overwhelming, I loved the amazing creativity on display with the visuals. I loved the endless potential this show had for a heartfelt and exciting story. And yet somehow, in spite of giving themselves all the groundwork they needed to accomplish something like that, the writers couldn’t quite put all the pieces together. I had the same issue with Roster Teeth’s RWBY series. I was never able to enjoy that show for what it actually was, only for what it had the potential to be. And somehow that is so much worse than just watching a terrible show and hating everything about it.

The last episode of Daniel Spellbound does set up a plot for a second season, and in spite of all my criticisms here, I do really want to see it get one. I think a lot of these problems can be chalked up to inexperience, and that maybe with one season under their belts, the Daniel Spellbound team will finally be able to cross that line of Greatness that they’ve only managed to briefly touch with this first season. I want this show to do well, and it has everything it needs for that. I want to see more shows like this, not connected to any pre-existing IPs or writhing under the thumbs of greedy corporate execs who couldn’t write their way out of a wet paper bag. 

So if you have time and are even remotely interested, I would recommend checking out Daniel Spellbound for yourself. It’s only 10 episodes so far, and if nothing else, I can safely say that it was never boring, nor do I feel like it wasted my time. It was a very earnest effort at creating something new, and for that alone, I give many kudos to everyone who worked on it. 

#niki rambles #netflix #daniel spellbound #semi-review #final thoughts

[daydream-believin]

The Never-Ending Roadtrip (Cavern Creeps)

SUMMARY: Reader joins Douxie in the quest for Nari’s safety. He’ll need company won’t he?  PART 8) Douxie is not having a good time, Nari is not having a good time, no one is having a good time.          start -> (part 1)  next -> (part 9) WARNINGS: swearing, lots of panic and anxiety, anxiety attack WORD COUNT: 2420 A/N: it’s becoming increasingly clear that i do not have any control over where the plot goes in this fic. i never have and i never will. seriously the outline prompt for this one was ‘some downtime in trollmarket’ idk what happened

Douxie opened his eyes. He had been having a dream in which he was lost in a series of caves. No matter how many walls he marked to keep track, he couldn’t remember which way he came from. The marks kept disappearing. He’d etch them with all his strength, and they would fade. The tunnels were endless. He was sure he was too far underground now. The oxygen was getting thin. He had to find the way back up. He had to. The others were waiting for him. His chest got tighter, his breaths shallower. Why was this so hard?

Turns out both Y/n and Archie were sleeping on his chest. No wonder dream-him couldn’t breathe. He wouldn’t move them. The gentle snores filled his ears. It was still late, or more, early. Doux wouldn’t be able to breathe well enough to go back to sleep without another strange dream, so he didn’t try. That was okay. He got a solid three hours in, and that was better than most nights. He felt relaxed in the embrace of his small family. Douxie listened to their breathing. It was cozy, snuggled with the two people who mean the most to him, feeling their heartbeats against his own chest. This is how it would always be, just the three of them. Three magic signatures. No one else in the room. Wait.

Douxie tried his best to keep from waking Y/n and Archie when he bolted upright. He failed. Y/n groggily took in her husband as his panicked gaze shot around the room. She didn’t know why he was panicked but it made her panicked. Y/n also looked around the room to help despite not knowing what she was looking for. Douxie gently nudged her off and moved Archie so he could stand up. Y/n reached her hand up to him, silently asking to be pulled up and Douxie obliged. As she stood to her feet, Y/n got another look around, taking in the whole of the room. Now slightly more awake, the gears turned and she realized what was wrong with the scene. Nari.

Bleeding balroths, they lost the veggie lady. The one person they were supposed to keep close, protect form the Order, or the fucking world will end, and they lost her. Granted, they were asleep when it happened, but still. They lost her. Douxie and Y/n burst out of the door with Archie in tow. Douxie had hoped Nari would have just been in the living room but nope he couldn’t be that lucky. Figures. He could feel his racing heart in his throat as the impact of what was happening settled in his chest.

Douxie quick as lightning scanned all of Trollmarket that his eyes could see. Nari was nowhere to be found. He could barely hear Y/n and Archie start calling out the forest spirit’s name above the incredibly loud screaming inside his head. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Merlin was going to kill him. The Arcane order wasn’t even going to get the chance to end the world before Merlin’s ghost strangled him right here and now.

They were running through the streets of the village, asking every troll they came across if they’d seen her. No luck. Archie couldn’t find her as he flew over either. Douxie kept checking shops over and over, despite Y/n telling him they’d been in every building already and he was looking like a madman. He was a madman. Dictatious was not any help. Beyond seeing the veggie lady leave the house, and not caring enough to alert Doux, he had no idea where she might be. At least now they knew she’d only been out for a little over half an hour. She couldn’t have left the settlement, could she? Could she? Douxie felt ice water flow into his veins.

A quick check of inventory and sure enough, no horngazzle. Oh, fuzzbuckets. FUZZBUCKETS! Y/n went off to acquire another horngazzle from Bagdwella, sprinting across the town, and leaving Douxie alone with his thoughts. The world was gonna end soon, and it would be all his fault. He knew he shouldn’t have trusted the forest child. He had a feeling she was going to have been his downfall, he just hadn’t expected it so soon, or like this.

It’s over. The Arcane Order will win. The universe will be destroyed. He will have failed the one thing he was supposed to be doing. He had one job. Merlin’s last dying wish. And he had botched it. His short reign as a master wizard would be incapsulated by failure. This was his fault. He started taking risks, he stopped listening to Merlin, he stopped studying, he started making his own path, and now he was gonna take everyone else down with him.

Douxie saw Y/n blast out of the shop and head towards the grand entrance gate. His chest felt tight, and he couldn’t breathe again, even though he didn’t have both a wife and a dragon weighing his ribcage down this time. He felt his own feet carrying him the direction of the gate to meet Y/n but barely registered the scenery going by in a blur. Doux barely registered Archie land on his shoulder and the dragon claws digging into his flesh as he watched Y/n drag the magic key across the cavern wall in an arch. If it had been any other time he would have enjoyed the cute little way she did it. She was like a ballerina, leaping as she made the motion. It was an effort to make the door taller so Doux could walk through it without hitting his head, and it worked. Good thing too, as he wasn’t paying enough attention to not when he absent-mindedly ran past her and out of the gate like he was on fire.

When Y/n caught up to the other two, Douxie was huffing and puffing hunched over while Archie made an effort to fan his brother with his wings. The dragon cool-off was not entirely effective. Douxie wildly tossed his head around as he visually searched the area around the river and bridge. His pupils were wide with fear. As scary as this was, it pained Y/n to see him scared like this. She knew he struggled with anxiety, and had even seen his attacks before, but this was amped up to an eleven. She didn’t like it.

As desperate as they were, with the time ticking away, Y/n decided what was best was to calm Douxie down before they did anything else. She pulled him close into her embrace, letting him rest his head on her chest. Her steady heartbeat was bringing him slightly back down to earth.

“Shhhh, I’m here.” Y/n rubbed comforting circles on his back. “Can you look up for me?” It took a moment, but Douxie managed to grant her request. His hazel eyes were still blown wide, haunted. “Good, good. Let’s take some deep breaths. Okay, can you tell me five things you can see?”

Douxie shifted, looking beyond Y/n’s back. “Uh,- river,, trash, in river,,- tree, other trees,, Archie, you.”

“Okay, four things you can feel?”

He breathing was starting to go back to its regular pace. “You,, your hands on my back,, Archie rubbing my legs- the wind.”

“Good. Three you can hear?”

Douxie straightened, his voice sounding a lot calmer, “the wind in the trees, the water in the river, Archie purring.”

This prompted Archie to purr louder in support. “You good now or do you need to smell?” Y/n chuckled.

“Yeah, I think I’m fine now.” Douxie smiled, albeit weakly. Y/n gave him another grounding hug for good measure. She looked past his shoulder as she squeezed, something catching her eye. She let go of her wizard and started off towards the trees behind him.

“Where are you going?” Y/n was a bit worried about how strained Douxie’s voice still was.

“Well,” She turned around to face him and gestured her hands as she spoke, “If I was a forest goddess, where would I be? The forest of course.” She motioned to the treeline. Yeah, she was right. That made sense. He caught up and grabbed her hand for her to guide him to wherever they were going. He needed to hold her hand. It was her left hand, he could feel the cool metal of the ring on her finger. That helped.

They desperately wandered through the trees with no luck. It’s not like they had a veggie lady tracking device. They should get a veggie lady tracking device. Perhaps disguised as a bracelet cuff. She’d like that it was similar to Douxie, so she’d actually wear it. Or maybe they’d just get one of those baby leashes. Bad little forest goddesses have to wear the baby leash of shame. Maye she wouldn’t mind it, if it was shaped like a teddy bear or something. They’d cross that bridge when they got there. Once they found her. If the Arcane Order hadn’t got to her first.

The couple passed so many trees they started to all look the same. Oak, river birch, river birch, oak, sugar maple, oak, oak, oak, river birch. Every now and then there would be a troll carving on a tree or a rock, that they could use as landmarks, but they still had no idea where they were anymore. Thankfully, it was impossible to get lost with Archie around. Speak of the devil, the black dragon appeared through the trees again, calling them over to follow him.

The cat-dragon led them along many twists and turns in the forest. Every now and then Y/n would catch glimpse of a deer trail, but no signs of humans. Douxie accidentally bumped his head on a tree branch because Y/n had pulled him along so fast he didn’t have time to duck. Okay, so Doux didn’t accidentally bump his head as much as Y/n had accidentally made him. It wasn’t that low. She had had no trouble with it herself. It wasn’t her fault he was a giant. He should think of that next time before becoming over six foot. After what seemed like a lifetime, the started approaching a small tributary of the river. A small tributary that a small forest goddess was kneeling beside.

“NARI!” Y/n couldn’t help but cry out in relief at the sight of Nari safe and sound. The loudness of Y/n’s voice startled the veggie lady, and she whipped her head around to see the others as the joined her. Nari’s expression of surprise quickly morphed into one of guilt, like a child getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar. While neither of them looked particularly angry at her, she thought Hisirdoux was a little worse for wear. She supposed she’d caused that. She was always causing trouble for others it seemed. Just in the last week she’d gotten two homes destroyed, several humans injured, and worst of all, Merlin was gone now. It was all her fault.

Nari wasn’t aware of the tears streaming down her face until Y/n was wiping them away. She had crouched down to comfort the little spirit, “Hey, hey now, it’s okay, none of us are mad. We were just really scared for a bit there. But its alright, Nari. We’re just happy you’re safe.”

The forest child tucked her face into the crook of Y/n’s shoulder. Douxie stood a distance away. Archie was perched on his shoulder once again. He shifted between his feet, feeling the soft earth and wet grass of the riverside. Doux couldn’t shake a certain feeling of uneasiness and his familiar sensed his anxious energy. He had his staff raised and all ready to go if the trees so much as shake in the wind. Nothing happened. But he was ready.

He knew it was irrational, but Douxie couldn’t help but feel like they were near. The Order. Something was off in the air. They needed to get Nari back underground fast. However, he was worried that such a thing wouldn’t stop them, and he would just be damning the trolls and their new happy settlement. He hadn’t been too sure before about the plans Y/n had for tomorrow, but now he was. They would be safer if they got to a heavily populated area. It would mask their scent. They had lingered in Trollmarket for far too long now. They would be overstaying their welcome big time if the Arcane Order showed up.

Once Nari had calmed down quite a lot and the tears had long stopped flowing, Y/n wanted to get to the bottom of the reasons for this little late-night escapade. She fixed a braid on the side of Nari’s hair as she asked, “Can you tell me why you decided to come out here.” She was careful not to word it accusatively, lest she upset the poor frightened spirit further.

“I- I needed to get out from there. It’s so cold. There’s no stars down there. The air doesn’t move.”

Y/n nodded to express her sympathy. “I understand.” She really did. Trolls were great, but the underground vibes just weren’t for everyone. It was easy to feel trapped in Trollmarket. Like the world was weighing you down. The cavern over your head going to collapse at any moment. She stood to her feet, waiting a beat before asking, “Do you think you can go back down there for a little while longer? I promise we’ll come back outside in the morning.”

Nari looked up and smiled, taking Y/n’s hand as she helped her up, “Yes. I think I’m ready to go back now. For just a little while longer.”

~ ~ ~

Once they were all safe and sound back in Trollmarket, Y/n was relived. It was early morning by then, and the sun was rising outside, but they still had enough time to get a few more hours in. She looked up at her husband. Bags under his eyes as always, she didn’t think he’d be able to fall back to sleep after all this, actually. A few more hours of cuddle time, then. They passed by the pub on their way home. That could help ease poor Doux. Y/n nudged him with her shoulder, “Wanna go get a pint or two?”

Douxie chuckled, “Nah, I’m not one for glug. It’s a tad too gamey for me.”

“How bout we make some chamomile tea once we get home then?”

“Oh, that sounds heavenly.”

#hisirdoux casperan x reader #douxie x reader #douxie casperan x reader #douxie x y/n #douxie imagine #hisirdoux x reader #hisirdoux casperan imagine #douxie headcanons #douxie casperan imagine #tales of arcadia x reader #hisirdoux casperan #tales of arcadia imagine #douxie #my writing #nert

[theoptimisticdaydreamer]

I binged Wizards in a day and it was only afterwards I discovered it was only going to be a single season.

I think it needed more.

If only to involve more characters and give them their deserved character growth and attention.

Am I talking about Steve? Yes (among others) but Yes.

I was bothered the entire season how Steve was mostly tossed to the side and used entirely as comic relief (which got old really quickly). I spent the entire time wanting Steve to be taken seriously and given a real weapon that he could do real damage with. But no. He got trained as a knight, ish, but I never saw any of those skills in action.

What irritated me the most in retrospect, is how Steve and Steve’s emotions were never taken seriously. He finally broke a long cycle of abuse and stopped aspiring to be his abusive, dead beat father and BRAVO. It was an incredible feat that was never really recognized and applauded. He started treating the people around him better and even got himself an alien girlfriend (and was incredibly calm about the alien part). He was involved in the end of the world twice and then his best friend and girlfriend go back to a planet light years away.

All of that leaves would leave anyone with many many emotions.

But none of those emotions are allowed to get processed.

For the people person that Steve is, it makes absolute sense that he would be lonely and uncertain.

He then finds himself centuries and centuries in the past with no real confirmed plan of getting back which means he potentially lost all of his family (his mother and his stepdad/father figure/person-who-actually-cares-about-him Coach) along with his friends (both his other Earth friends as well as Eli and maybe Krel) and his girlfriend (Aja).

His feelings are never given the time of day and are trivialized and brushed off repeatedly.

He then finds a look-alike mentor in Lancelot (the similarity is never explained) who takes him under his wing to only die brutally in front of his eyes. That would definitely be traumatizing for Steve.

Like he can’t catch a break!

I feel like if they had more seasons, Steve wouldn’t be just type casted as the village idiot and we could see him really shine.

I also wish that the dynamic between Steve and Claire was better. Because they are the only familiar faces each other has in a seriously-distant past (besides Douxie and Jim (who spends most of the series either in stasis or in the dungeon or on the run)) which should have been an opportunity for some sort of friendship to grow and strengthen (because one cannot be catapulted back to Camelot and not become friends) but nope. Claire has a Jim tunnel vision and doesn’t really care about Steve either.

I thought that Toby would be more integral to the plot as well since him and Steve are the only two who have appeared in every series but again noppeeee. He got left in the present and I was left scratching my head like what???

I also wanted to see more of Krel but he gets introduced at the latter end of the show only . And just like Toby, doesn’t have a really big impact on the events of the finale.

I know that there is going to be a movie in 2021 involving everyone in this mini universe but I think that it will be the Jim show featuring everyone else.

Which like I’m not necessarily discrediting that, as far as main characters in franchises Jim is great and definitely deserves a break, but I find myself getting attached to the secondary characters and they never seem to get the arcs and the screen time and the chance to shine as they deserve.

And I think the format of an episode rather than a movie gives the opportunity for the spotlight to be shined on the supporting characters.

(Also more seasons would give me more moments between Douxie and Archie!! Freaking LOVE that cat - he was the right blend between being witty and funny and having an important role)

Would still highly recommend the series.

But this is just a missed opportunity that I will forever be a little salty about.

#tales of arcadia #wizards tales of arcadia #wizards #steve palchuk #toby domzalski #krel tarron #STEVE DESERVED BETTER #LET STEVE HAVE EMOTIONS #LET STEVE HAVE A FREAKING WEAPON AND KICK SOME ASS #STEVE IS NOT JUST COMIC RELIEF 2020 #GIVE STEVE HIS PEOPLE BACK #GIVE SUPPORTING CHARACTERS PROPER ATTENTION AND RESPECT 2020 #wizards needed more than one season fight me #it was brilliant and Douxie’s arc was incredible and the animation was beautiful #but they needed to spotlight the supporting characters more #supporting characters matter just as much as main characters!!!

[douxie-casperan]

❥? <3

This was specifically requested to be the Heart of Glass AU! If you want any more information on that, please click the link :)

❥ - A childhood memory

There were still good days and bad days even after what felt like months had passed since… It happened and he ended up in a third home nothing like any of the others. Sometimes he could talk fine meaning the worst problems tended to be caused by his accent or slang he’d picked up that would then need explaining but on other days the frequent nightmares or panic attacks he was still suffering would rob his ability for speech and he’d be stuck with making gestures or rely on Archie to translate while generally hoping for the best. Then there was also a third possible option of these, one where his voice would just give up at random without any warning. Now those ones he particularly hated for the frustrating embarrassment alone as it loved to be when he was mid-sentence or trying to have a proper conversation. They never pushed him about it which he did appreciate, in fact all of them acted like it was the most normal thing in the world to happen and adapted to whatever condition he was in while being incredibly understanding of the frustration he felt or if he needed a minute before they resumed with whatever was going on at the time. If anything similar happened before he was often expected to do all the leg work so it was nice and helped him feel like he actually mattered as a person.

This was more important than ever given how badly his confidence had taken a hit.

Now Douxie might be nineteen so he was hardly a child in people terms but that was barely anything in their eyes which could explain why they acted how they did or at least a little bit? Because while they had promised Morgana to keep the two of them safe from harm it still felt like they were constantly going above and beyond what they really had to and while it was tempting to ask but it didn’t seem right to, not when he hardly was the only one suffering from recent losses both physical and otherwise. So he tended to tiptoe around certain things but never avoided them completely simply from not knowing any better and wanting to be useful. He just… Didn’t like the idea of being a burden to any of them and it’s why even while mute he would do little things to help out be it sorting books, helping track down ingredients misplaced in the past century for lack of need or sneaking a blanket to Bellroc while working without being asked or even hinted at. Scarred, battered and bruised as he was he was still himself through and through with a heart too kind for the world it found it’s self in.

The Order did their best though despite the amount of problems his simply being there caused. One that came up was when Skrael in not understanding the concept of human food while also on the rare occasion of not running anything by Nari first led to offering a pile of natural things stuffed in a woven basket gotten from who knows where. This was fine on the face of it except unfortunately they were all of the distinctly poisonous variety which was a rather awkward conversation to deal with afterwards. The compromise they managed to make was to get them to Nari so she could do as she wished ensuring they wouldn’t go to waste and the resulting relief of not having to find out what would happen if he ate one anyway. This particular subject had been a somewhat constant minefield and the temptation to just try and do something about it himself would be far greater if not for being too fragile to risk it and the concept of outside being too raw to contemplate. Maybe soon but not just yet.

On another occasion a tunic appeared on the blanket nest he had to sleep or generally crash out on and he didn’t really have any idea who the culprit was seeing as it wasn’t there one moment then it was. While it lacked the all essential hood which was an admitted favourite and was blatantly oversized being for an adult he figured if he managed to scrounge some thread from somewhere he might be able to do a hash job taking it in a bit? Having a few more clothing options would be nice given he wasn’t shy about burning all traces of Camelot (Bar the pouches mind) that he originally wore the very second he was able to purge the last bits of holdover the place had on him. The success of this experiment led to other things appearing at random in the same spot that he often ended up waking up to which also included a solitary sock making the entire thing feel like a cat was leaving gifts except the closest thing to being a cat in the entire fortress was completely innocent. He never would figure out who was behind it or if it was in fact all three.

One of the most prized possessions he would be given is a blank journal that is naturally woven in a way only Nari would know how to do and came with the means to write as well. When he took it into his hands he was given the promise that no one could look inside without his express permission presumably to respect his boundaries. While the latter part didn’t need to be said he appreciated the reassurance anyway of being able to decide for himself whether or not he felt comfortable to do so. It was probably for the best too, trying to practice writing with his right hand proved a complete disaster as all can be when it’s their first time trying while his replacement left, well, holding something that was thin in a way that could be manipulated easily he was struggled with greatly because of the sensation of something there is much more muffled compared to skin. He keeps trying though, page after page not flipping to the next until there wasn’t a space left determined that by the end of the journal he would write his name in full and that it would be legible.

He wanted to show them what he’d achieved and that it was only thanks to their help, their choice to let him stay. While it'd be something small it would be something he made with his own hand and seemed a better thank you than anything else he could muster in it’s place.

#ice-demigod-skrael #No facts truer than a good meme #Heart of Glass

[recentanimenews]

Why Eggman Is the Only Good Thing to Come out of Sonic X

  There’s a saying that all great heroes need a great villain, and in the case of Sonic the Hedgehog, that really couldn’t be any more true; after all, where would SEGA’s iconic mascot be without his equally great villain, Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik? While everyone is hopping on the Jim Carey train thanks to the new live-action movie, we figured now was a great time to remind everyone of the one true shining Chaos Emerald of the Sonic X anime: Eggman himself! That’s right, the rotund and robust professor of pain is, really, the only thing Sonic X did that’s worth remembering. So, for this momentous movie event, we figured there’s no better way to honor the legacy of Eggman than to talk about why he single handedly made Sonic X worth watching.  

Chances are that if you grew up in the US sometime between the '90s and '10s, you watched a lot of your anime on TV during your childhood. For many anime fans, that meant healthy doses of WB and 4Kids inspired treatments of shows, and Sonic always featured prominently in those Saturday morning blocks somewhere. But the first real Sonic anime to hit American television, Sonic X, took a departure from the Archie comics inspired weirdness of previous Sonic cartoons to present a modern, updated, post-Sonic Adventure 2 vision of Sonic: Sonic X! And boy, was it not very good! 

Now, we get it, we aren’t trying to assassinate your childhood or anything; we thought the show was kinda fun too when we were younger. But looking back on it, the weird story of Sonic and company being transported to Earth and living with a generic, no-name character and his weirdo family certainly wasn’t the type of Sonic storylines we expected to be seeing (although the opening song was pretty legendary). Even worse, the show tried to balance the absolutely bloated cast of Sonic Adventure, including appearances by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Rouge, Amy Rose, Cream the Bunny, Big the Cat, and even the Chaotix team for some reason. But the true star that made the show entertaining was the good doctor himself, Eggman! Without Eggman, the show was frankly boring and pretty flat, with storylines like Sonic trying to beat a racecar driver (which we all knew he could do anyway, right?!). No, Sonic X owes all of its greatest moments to Eggman: blowing up the moon and making a new, better moon, awakening Shadow, and even defeating the intergalactic horror of the Metarex were all only possible because of the ingenious skills inside that beautiful brain.

And, yes, Eggman is the villain of a kids show; most of his plans aren’t very complicated or evil, but they propelled the entire plot of the series in most cases; heck, he even draws his own money while pretending to be President instead of doing anything really evil or creative with the idea. But without Eggman’s schemes, most of the first two seasons go absolutely nowhere, and it’s only due to his determination to defeat Sonic and take over the world that Shadow is even discovered in the first place.

But perhaps Eggman’s greatest single accomplishment in Sonic X is the story of how he blew up the moon. Yes, you read that correctly: the sphere in the sky responsible for controlling tidal flow and other things was “accidentally” destroyed by the great doctor; we know, he probably didn’t mean to cause any real harm. After all, he invented a NEW moon to take its place! What a great guy!

The moon saga of Sonic X remains one of the funniest memories of the entire series (and, personally, the main reason I even remember the show at all). It features all of the general ridiculous ideas you might expect in a Saturday morning cartoon, with the cast acting almost entirely out of character, save for Eggman, who of course is working a long con of helping the people of Earth after he LITERALLY BLEW UP THEIR MOON ON PURPOSE by selling “sunshine balls,” and when Sonic catches on that this plan isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, gets the President of “a country” to agree to take martial action against Sonic.

Honestly, rewatching it, the entire sequence feels like it’s borrowing cues from the conclusion of Devilman, with the main cast being harassed and swarmed by angry mobs of random people, lusting for the blood of Sonic, while Eggman simply reclines and bides his time before finally gagging the President and… drawing money with his own face on it. That’s it. That’s his final, real idea for this caper. Assuming that he’ll become the next President once Sonic is dead and the world is at his fingertips, Eggman simply ties up the current President and… doodles fake money, before, of course, Sonic comes and ruins everything by saving the day. Nerd.

Almost every story in Sonic X works in this fashion when Eggman is involved, and the 70+ episode-long series really owes it to him for carrying all of the weight of the show on his back. The Earth-based storylines, like the race car driver and other goofy things, are barely even worth watching, let alone remembering, and it isn’t until Eggman makes some sort of appearance on screen that anyone should even care about the show. Eggman is reverse Poochy: everyone should be asking where Eggman is at all times, but unironically.

In the climactic ending of the third season, Super Sonic and Super Shadow can’t even defeat the Metarex without Eggman’s help, and literally no other character is in any way more useful than the doctor that they’ve all been negging on for the entire series. Shows how grateful they really are! Frankly, this type of villain reversal was always a common, but fun, trope in Saturday morning TV fair, and Sonic X really nailed it by taking advantage of how awesome Eggman really was in order to pull it off effectively.

Honestly, maybe that’s what makes Eggman so great in general as far as a villain and a character is concerned. Although his plans usually amount to being totally ridiculous (seriously, just… going to turn animals into robots? That’s your big plan?), when Sonic series media wants things done or explained, it generally falls to Eggman to do it. Shadow? Eggman. Chaos? Eggman. Chaos Control? Also Eggman. The entire point of Sonic in any game, comic, show or movie has no momentum unless Eggman appears to push things along and get the blue rat to lace up his sneakers.

Even the final episode of Sonic X requires Eggman to intervene in order to send original character and human protagonist, Chris, back to Earth, because no one else is smart enough to get the dimensional machine working again. Without Eggman, Chris would have just been stuck in Sonic’s world as a 12 year old forever, but you didn’t hear Eggman begging to be thanked for all of his hard work! Instead, Eggman simply takes it all in stride, claiming that Chris makes Sonic too strong, and sends him home. What a secret softie!

As Sonic’s movie hits theaters and people start to fondly reminisce on what they loved the most about the franchise, we hope that this little PSA has reminded you of what’s truly important: that Sonic X was a pretty whatever show with one of the best characters of all time: Dr. Eggman! Doctor, we salute you in all that you do!  

Are you an Eggman fan? Did Eggman write this? Let us know what you think in the comments!

    ----

Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

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[jennikkugoesoff]

Jennikku goes off about a Sonic the Hedgehog Reboot.

If you follow me at all or have read many of my other rants, you’ll know I love Sonic the Hedgehog. A lot, with all my heart. I met my friends through Sonic and it’s a franchise that’s changed a lot in my life, for better, for worse and everything in-between. It’s the reason I started to draw, to write and to really give creativity a chance.

It’s a series that has been through many twists, turns, up and down and all arounds over the course of it’s long, 28 (as of the time of writing) year lifespan, and has stood the test of time, being heralded either as one of the best video game franchises of all time, or, well, one of the worst out there, becoming more and more dated by each passing day.

But, it didn’t start out that way. Everyone’s told the long, terrible story now about Sonic’s massive rise to the top of 1990s American Iconography and his massive plummet into the depths of Hell, dragging his now-bitter fans down with him following the turn of the century and segwaying into the modern age, so I won’t bog you with the details you already know, but here’s the main point.

Sonic the Hedgehog... kinda sucks.

And that’s because it’s a mess. An astronomically confused, tired, and beaten mess. In the 28 year lifespan of Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s canon has become massively tangled in knots. Inconsistent games, inconsistent comics, inconsistent cartoons, and so on and so forth. Anyone who’s a fan of Sonic comes from a place where they heard about Sonic, be it the games, the cartoons, the comics, and so on, and therefore, have a different mindset about what Sonic the Hedgehog should be, which is the cause for much of the heavy, almost unpleasable climate the fan community gives off.

Really? The only way I see the series being salvageable is to wipe the slate clean and begin... at least somewhat anew, and see how these scatted pieces of broken glass we call the ‘Sonic canon’ can fit together.

This has been tried once, with Sonic Boom, but it didn’t really end well, and I’d like to change that, so let’s have this hypothetical reboot take the same form as Sonic Boom, as a potential ‘new face’ for the entire series, rather than a spinoff continuity. (I feel like this was the original intention of Sonic Boom, but due to the backlash, was revoked.)

Are you comfortable? Let’s go. It’s gonna be a long-ass, tiring, winding post.

(Seriously I spent fucking 3 days just writing this post. For that reason, there may be a few gRaMatTcul eRors here and there, just bear with me, okay? I’m tired and I just wanna heave out this monster of an idea.)

Housecleaning and on wiping the slate clean

Ok, before we actually get into redoing the series, I wanna make this clear, when I say I want to ‘wipe the slate clean’, that’s sort of an exaggeration. I don’t think Sonic needs to be completely rewritten from scratch, and certain elements of the series DO work very well, so it’s more we’re gonna ‘wipe the slate clean, but immediately redraw things back on, except bigger and better than they were before.’

The reason why is, Sonic the Hedgehog has a kind of ‘hoarder complex’ when it comes to his franchise. As I established earlier, the main problem with rebooting Sonic the Hedgehog as compared to another franchise like, say, Ducktales, or Ghostbusters, is that Sonic the Hedgehog has a lot of lore. Too much lore. Think about the crazy amount of lore surrounding Solaris, Mephiles, Dark and Light Gaia, the Wisps, Chaos, and Tikal, Shadow and the Black Arms, Silver, the Sol Dimension and Blaze, Eggman Nega, the Nocturnus Clan, the list goes on and on and on. It’s head-spinning, it’s confusing, and most of all, obtrusive to what’s actually important in the Sonic Canon versus what seems important.

This isn’t helped by the fact that Sonic has never really had a consistent ground to stand on in terms of his world and where he lives because where he lives changes with every game or new thing Sonic is in. So, introducing these new, complicated gods and grand, sprawling history all of a sudden doesn’t give the world Sonic lives in any ground or any real meaning if it’s just going to be ignored later on when Sonic Forces completely rewrites the world map from Unleashed. (This is a problem I have with the Mario and Kirby series too.)

Even if you claim something like the Sonic Archie comics have consistency in their setting, think about how much the comic’s version of Mobius changed over the course of its lifespan after not only being completely rewritten (thanks Ken Penders. I’m sure your horrific 3d render children are proud.) and two crossovers, not to mention all the subtle shifts and changes the comic made from its debut comic to its cancellation.

So, if we’re going to do this, we need to get this straight right now.

A new Sonic reboot will NEED to cover EVERY base of the Sonic continuity. Games, Comics, Cartoons, Merchandising (with the exception of maybe some anniversary stuff), The Whole Echidna- er, Enchilada.

If the problem with Sonic as it is, is that the continuity is messy because it keeps adding new stuff? THEN STOP FUCKING ADDING NEW STUFF!!

NO ONE’S GONNA LIKE THE NEW STUFF ANYWAY!!

PEOPLE FUCKING HATE CHANGE!!

THIS FRANCHISE IS SO FUCKing MiSTReATED!- FUCK!!

Nah, but seriously. If this reboot is gonna work, then it needs to BE a proper reboot. Not a side-series like Sonic Boom, not an ‘alternate dimension’ to dip into for mainline games, not a one-off series of animated shorts, no quills, no pillows. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna go all in. At least in terms of continuity.

So, you know what we’re gonna name this reboot?

Sonic the Hedgehog

Just, Sonic the Hedgehog. Yep. All in, indeed.

Audience, Tone, and Genre

I feel maybe I should’ve split these into multiple sections, but, they really all go hand-in-hand. 

If we’re gonna remake Sonic, we gotta first decide how Sonic should feel, and who he’s going to appeal to. So, let’s consider what we’re working with first, based on the history of who Sonic has appealed to.

The whole point of Sonic’s young, hip, snarky personality was to appeal to the American youth of the 1990s (kids, teenagers, and young adults), the young, hip, snarky and coolest people around. Sonic sought to identify with these kids by being a little bit ‘edgier’ and ‘cooler’ than most other cartoon characters of his era, but still with the capability to be as cute, wholesome and inherently charming as his competition. Like the perfect little blend of the sarcastic wit of Bugs Bunny and the lovable personability of Mickey Mouse and Felix the Cat.

Many Sonic clones of the 1990s like Bubsy, Aero the Acrobat, and Zero the [CENSORED] Squirrel tried to piggyback off of Sonic in this manner by trying to play up Sonic’s edgy, snarky appeal, but what they lack is that more wholesome, laid back, simple, round and friendly aspects of his design. It’s why Sonic can look like this:

but also like this

like this

but also like this.

It’s why Sonic works so well as a cartoon character in animated shorts and cartoons, as well as an action character in high octane blood pumping action anime, and one of the reasons why I think his design is so appealing. It’s this, this perfect balance between cool superhero and cuddly, wholesome cartoon character that makes Sonic such the iconic character he is.

So what’s the point of me telling you that?

Well, lots of people disagree on what Sonic the Hedgehog’s tone should be, and what audience Sonic should appeal to. Many argue Sonic is a series strictly meant for children, and therefore shouldn’t take any risks and be cutesy, wholesome and bouncy. Others argue Sonic should market itself to teenagers and young adults by pushing its envelope with it’s material and turning itself into a giant melodrama with three-dimensional characters, intertwining relationships and giant, epic Dragon Ball Z style showdowns with blood, guts and the crunching of noses and teeth.

You know what’s popular right now though and seems to have been for a while? A blend of those exact two things.

It sounds dumb but, think about it. Video games and cartoons have been taking this turn toward being a little bit of the best of both worlds. Steven Universe, Undertale/Deltarune, Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, even stuff like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, that sort of thing.

So, I think a new Sonic reboot should be an Action/Adventure-Comedy. It’s a series about long, lengthy quests and the ongoing war between nature and machine, but it’s also about a quick-witted cartoon character having fun picking on an overconfident evil scientist and his lackeys.

And you know what? I think Sonic is and has shown that this is the environment he flourishes in. Think about why Sonic Mania Adventures and Team Sonic Racing: Overdrive work so well, or why OK KO: Let’s Meet Sonic! is so great! It places Sonic and co. in an environment in which they have the opportunity to be funny and cartoony, but also leaves itself open to lead into more strict action sequences or serious, emotional moments, should it feel the need to. It lets the characters be the characters, without being impeded by everything needed to be babyproofed, but also not interrupted by fanfic-tier melodramatics every 2 and a half minutes. And, considering how much any media featuring Sonic relies on its characters to garner appeal, this is important.

Besides that, this is also important for something I think is going to make this reboot go from good to great.

: ✧･ﾟ: U N I F I C A T I O N ! :･ﾟ✧ : 

I’ve said this before in my other essay on how I’d reboot Sonic, but I truly feel that bringing together a lot of different elements of Sonic’s history together for this reboot is a top-notch idea for not only bringing the series back together whilst maintaining a wide appeal but also broaden the scope of potential characters, settings, and plot points we can work with, rather than just limiting it to just the classic era, or just the modern era, it also might leave veteran fans wondering just who or what was going to show up in the next game, or next episode!

Why limit ourselves to just a classic-style series or just a modern-style series? Why not mix it up a little?

Let’s take the cute classic stuff and mix it with some of the cool modern stuff!

I mean of course there’s gonna be purists but, hey, if we have a little bit of both we might just start seeing eye to eye!

So, what does that mean for the audience? Well, I think in that sense, Sonic should be able to appeal to, about anyone, really. Adults, Kids, Teenagers, anyone. It’d be like going to see a Marvel Superhero movie in the theaters or watching Spongebob on TV, yeah, it’d be something kids enjoy, but also something young adults can appreciate too. Although if we absolutely have to stick to a demographic, I’d say the ideal targets for a Sonic the Hedgehog reboot are two groups of people specifically.

Older fans of the series who grew up with the Adventure and Classic games, and Younger people who are more familiar with the modern games. As far as drawing new people or embittered old fans in?... Well, we’ll get to that.

Plot synopsis

It may seem like a no-brainer what the plot of Sonic the Hedgehog is, right? Well, of course it is. It’s been the same for over 20 years, and, I think the premise? Is fine.

“Sonic the Hedgehog is the fastest thing alive and a protector of nature who loves adventure. He’s smarmy and mischevious, but with a heart of gold and an unshakable sense of justice with a can-do attitude. His archnemesis, Dr. Eggman, wants to take over his natural, sprawling home and begin building his planet-conquering empire in its place. It’s up to Sonic and his group of friends to defeat Dr. Eggman, and restore peace to the world, and the green back to the hills.”

This? Right here? This is Sonic the Hedgehog. No matter who you ask, from any branch of the franchises thousand-foot tall family tree, this is Sonic the Hedgehog. There’s a couple of doodads and twists here and there depending on the specific game, but that’s really honestly it when you break it all down, that’s the plot of almost every Sonic game. But this can easily get lost and bogged down between all of the God-summoning and all that shit that other Sonic media does.

So, let’s keep the focus on this, and this alone. Just the ongoing misadventures, setbacks, leaps forward, threats and triumphs between Sonic and Co. and the forces of evil.

...(But let’s add the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald, I don’t think I can stand having a Sonic continuity without them and they make for good plot fodder, plus, I’ll be damned if I’m not seeing Super Sonic by the time a series finale or end-of-game hits.)

Setting + Background Lore

So, to set a location, let’s dumb down where Sonic actually lives. (Figuratively anyway, Sonic has no true home, just places he likes to be at any one time.)

In the Genesis days, Sonic lived on a tiny island called South Island, and the game’s settings often took place on South Island or on it’s neighboring islands Westside and Angel Island, and, given how important these old zones, like Green Hill and Chemical Plant Zone, are to the current Sonic Canon, I propose that maybe the setting for this potential reboot takes place on said islands, with one island for each of the cardinal directions on a compass, but also some of the other islands that are included in the Sonic series (as well as some adjusted ones!)

And, as a reference to the days of yore, we could even call it

The Mobius Archipelago

Each of these islands would have their own unique areas (referred to as ‘Zones’ for both nostalgia and convenience’s sake) based on the different levels from Sonic games. I’m unsure of the exact geography of these islands in question, but, you get the idea if you’re at all familiar with the canon, South Island has all the zones from Sonic 1 (16 and 8 Bit), Sonic Chaos and Sonic 2 (8-bit), Westside Island has all the zones from Sonic 2 and a couple from Sonic Mania, Angel Island has all the Zones from Sonic 3 & Knuckles, North Island is essentially a fusion of all the different Eggman Zones (Crystal Egg, Sleeping Egg, Scrap Brain, Metropolis, Eggmanland, Robotropolis, Robotnik Winter, the zones from SegaSonic the Hedgehog, etc.), Flicky’s Island has all of the zones from Sonic 3D Blast, Cocoa Island has all the zones from Tails Skypatrol and Tails Adventure, Mirage Island has all the zones from Sonic 4 and also Never Lake, and Little Planet (and hence all the zones from Sonic CD) you get the idea.

I’m unsure what exactly Eastside Island would have on it, but I figured that Sonic games have so many zones and levels across so many games, surely something would find a nice home on that island, perhaps some of the zones from Sonic Mania, Sonic Blast, maybe even the Adventure games, who knows? But, inevitably, space is going to run out on those other islands and we’ll likely have zones or locations that’ll be good for the series to have.

And then, we also have a mainland sprinkled with City. This is where your Adventure/Modern style cities are, Station Square, City Escape, that sort of thing.

It may not seem like much, considering some Sonic games have settings that span entire planets, but when you think about how many zones are crammed into a few little islands in the genesis titles alone, it’s hardly a limited setting.

The natives of this island chain would be Mobians and Mobini. Mobians are your typical Sonic characters, your Sonics, your Tailses, your Knuckleses, and so on and so forth. They’re the more humanoid animals. Mobini, on the other hand would be all of the smaller animals, the kind that Sonic frees from badniks or are just knockin about doing little woodland creature things. For more information on Mobini, I’ve included a little blip about them in the ‘Side Protagonists’ part of this little shanty ‘pitch guide’.

Humans would live on the mainland, although some researchers and scientists would visit the Archipelago every so often because of it’s mysterious ‘new frontier’ kind of appeal, even if Mobians find their research a little weird.

Generally, Humans also keep to the mainland, and Mobians keep to their islands, but, make no mistake, Mobians and Humans don’t hate each other. Some Mobians and Mobini have taken to the urban lifestyle, whereas some humans have taken to the natural wonder of the Archipelago, starting environmentally friendly cities and towns in the sleepy groves and corners of this untamed wilderness.

This Archipelago would be the point of focus for our Main Characters because, well, it’s their native home, and it’d draw our Main Villains because this island is also home to the Seven Chaos Emeralds, and their Master Emerald.

The Chaos Emeralds are the main MacGuffins of the Sonic series, and for good reason! Gathering all seven of these things grants their holder infinite access to chaos energy, a kind of force that will turn their thoughts into power, whether positive or negative. While most Mobians would prefer to leave the Chaos Emeralds alone, due to them causing, well, chaos, villains seek these gems out on purpose so that they can easier accomplish their goals. However, if a hero were to gather all seven chaos emeralds, and had enough purity, desire for good, and strength in their heart, the emeralds will grant them immense power, too.

Upon a vast amount of energy being used however, the Emeralds will scatter across the Archipelago, waiting for their next holders to come, and initiate chaos once more.

And then, there’s the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald is very similar to the Chaos Emeralds, and contains tenfold the amount of energy of a full set of Chaos Emeralds, but also acts as an on/off switch for the Chaos Emeralds. The Master Emerald can completely drain the Chaos Emeralds of their power, or multiply their power exponentially if one knows how to control it, making the Master Emerald incredibly valuable too. However, villains usually tend to opt for the Chaos Emeralds instead, not only because legends of the Master Emerald are believed to be false, or even if it is real, no one knows how to control it, but the Master Emerald is also said to have a guardian. A very, very angry guardian.

There’s also the lesser-known Time Stones.

The Time Stones reside on Little Planet, an anomalous celestial body that appears only once every year over Never Lake on Mirage Island. These stones seemed to have formed in a similar fashion to the Chaos Emeralds, but rather than bending SPACE to the will of their holders, the Time Stones will instead, bend Time. The Time Stones, for this reason, are even more dangerous than the Chaos Emeralds and are responsible for many of the temporal anomalies within the Archipelago. Due to their danger, the Time Stones see much more infrequent use than the Chaos Emeralds, and keeping them on Little Planet as opposed to bringing them to the surface of the Earth is much safer, as the Time Stones will only seemingly affect the time stream of Little Planet and not the Earth.

The Time Stones won’t matter until later in the series when Sonic and Co. start tampering with time, and for a while, the focus will remain on the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald.

But enough about where Sonic lives, let’s look at him and the rest of our colorful main cast, shall we?

Main Protagonists

Hooh, boy I am not gonna make many friends with this decision, am I?

This is kinda where my reboot starts to get a lot little tiny bit more personal, but, I have reasoning behind picking who I pick. The characters I’d pick to be the main protagonists, as in the characters that the viewers of the cartoon series, readers of the comic, or players of the games are going to be:

A) Playing as

B) Rooting for

C) Following throughout most of the adventures.

are as follows:

Sonic the Hedgehog

Miles “Tails” Prower

Knuckles the Echidna

Amy Rose

Mighty the Armadillo

Ray the Flying Squirrel

The first two seem obvious enough, Sonic and Tails are the two spotlight protagonists of most Sonic games and are the two chief playable characters in most games of the Genesis Era. Knuckles should come as no surprise either for the same reason, although I’ll touch on Knuckles later when I assess the protagonists on an individual level. 

I chose Amy as one of the leads because, well, Amy frankly hasn’t seen that much time in the sun as a true character, and I feel like that’s a shame given her longevity in the series, being with us ever since CD. Her most complex appearance was in Sonic Adventure 1 and even then, she’s kinda reduced to the same traits as her white-bread, palid, boring, Genesis counterpart. While I would like to have another female character so Amy isn’t a ‘token chick’, I don’t really want to shake up the formula too much.

Mighty and Ray are a little bit different. With the release of Sonic Mania Plus though, I feel that Mighty and Ray are more relevant now than they ever were, and considering their placement as main characters in Mania Plus, I think that we could really benefit from their addition to the main lineup of Sonic’s friends! Sure, Mighty and Ray don’t have much personality, but maybe this is where we can change that and give these lost stars a chance to sparkle as main characters after spending so long in the shadows of the past!

However, I do wanna state, that I understand if some people feel Mighty and Ray are irrelevant. I get that, really, I do. It’s one of the things in this projected reboot that I feel is much more personally appealing to me than it is ‘what I think is best for the Sonic franchise’. Put plain and simple, Mighty and Ray are just... not as popular as other Sonic characters. And, adding these two to the roster of main characters means that the main character count skyrockets from an easily manageable 4 to 6, which can seem like a bit much to some people I’ll agree, and means that they’ll likely see more screentime than other popular protagonist characters like Cream, Silver or even Blaze. But, at the same time, I also feel that if they’re popular enough to be included in Sonic Mania Plus, then there at least is some interest in the fan community of them being relevant, regular characters again. And, what better niche for them to fit into than being two of Sonic’s close friends again while going on adventures with him regularly?

(Side note, I also felt like including Sticks as a main character, and I may come back to that idea later if I end up making any content for this reboot, but as it stands I felt 7 main characters were just a bit too much, although it would’ve been cool to have a character for each Chaos Emerald, and I think there are a lot of real, genuine comedic possibilities, as well as some unique action choreography from her.)

I also don’t think Sonic’s design or the design of his friends need to be changed around too terribly much for a reboot? (Although there are some characters I think could benefit from a rework, but Sonic and MOST of the main characters are okay imo) There’s a lot of contention on Sonic’s design in any sense but, personally? I think Sonic’s designs can actually be pretty well unified, all things considered. I think Sonic could benefit from a few design ADJUSTMENTS, but maybe not a full-scale redesign like Sonic Boom.

For instance, these early concepts for Dreamcast Sonic are an excellent starting place, as I feel they capture the spirit of all three versions of Sonic pretty well all things considered, save for their quills being a little long. the proportions on them are a little off, however, with a couple of adjustments, I think this could actually be a really good idea.

Nendoroid Sonic is also pretty close to what I think a unified Sonic design could look like, if someone held a gun to my head and told me to pick an ideal new design for Sonic, it’d probably be very close to this.

(Credit to JaysonJeanChannel on DA for this render of Nendoroid Sonic.)

Or, even moving back a little bit, “Toei Sonic“, although kind of overrated in my opinion, is a really nice compromise between the cutesy, cartoony nature of the original versions of Sonic, while still updating Sonic to be more obviously sleek, sharp and spring-loaded for his modern audiences, and is full of personality. That’s not to say I think Toei Sonic should be the new face of Sonic the Hedgehog for years to come, but it’d be a great starting point to work from, given that Toei is a version of Sonic suited for intense, rubberhosy, slippery animations.

In the end, the only thing that truly matters is that Sonic looks like Sonic, and not like a weird little blue goblin if the backlash on the first pass of the Sonic Movie is any indication? We shouldn’t try to fix what isn’t broken, I just think that maybe trying out a hybrid between classic and modern Sonic to see how people feel about it might be a nice compromise between those who prefer Classic Sonic vs. those who prefer Modern or Adventure Sonic, again, unification, the best of both worlds.

That being said, let’s have a look-see into each character individually, shall we? For this, I’ll give a name, my projected voice actor for them, and a little blurb about their personality, as well as a short list of their abilities.

I’ll also try to justify my reasons for some stuff that people may consider odd after all of the character bios.

Sonic the Hedgehog:

Voice Actor: Ben Schwartz/James Arnold Taylor

Sonic is heroic, ambitious, and a complete adrenaline junkie. He'll take on any challenge that's given to him in the history of forever, even if absolutely knows it's impossible or he could get hurt trying to do it or he's absolutely not skilled enough at what he's doing to do it. Hence, Sonic is extremely competitive and gets easily absorbed in things he does, even around friends. Sonic tends to not look before he leaps as he's able to get himself out of situations so easily, preferring to live on his feet without thinking too hard about anything, although he's not dumb by any stretch of the imagination and will slow down and strategize if he absolutely needs to, and will always be willing to slow down for someone in need. Sonic is cocky, snarky, and believes a little too much in himself, he has an ego the size of the sun and will do anything he has to protect his image, especially how he views himself. Sonic also has an incredible amount of attitude and makes fun of people he doesn't like or thinks deserve it with insulting nicknames or cruel jokes, often being sarcastic and witty even at the worst of times to be. Although Sonic tries as hard as he can to keep his cool a lot of the time and prefers to live without consequences or regrets on his mind, when he's angry, sometimes he can lash out at people and can become downright completely rude when upset. Sonic is also something of a juvenile delinquent, often breaking rules just because he can or he thinks it's fun or funny, which often gets him into trouble. Sonic EXTREMELY Dislikes being called 'slow' or things being faster than he is (often wanting to prove his mettle against whatever is faster than him even if it hurts him), and has even less patience for slowing down unless he absolutely has to. He hates to wait and hates to be kept waiting, oftentimes getting bored and leaving in mere seconds if a situation doesn't matter that much to him, although he's known to show much, much more patience when people are hurt, or upset, and has an affinity for relaxing for long periods of time with friends after lengthy expeditions and adventures. Sonic hates to see innocent people cry or have their feelings hurt and will often get  extremely upset at the cause depending on the person/situation, and believes that any situation he can tend to is important (as he often can do things so quickly it's often no trouble for him.) 

Abilities:

Insta-Shield (Allows Sonic to deflect incoming projectiles with precise timing. This also extends Sonic’s hitbox a bit so it can inflict damage, and gives him invincibility frames!)

Wall Jump (Sonic can wall jump, but they need to be timed properly, as when Sonic lands on a wall, he’ll begin to slide, sliding down a wall for too long will cause Sonic to slip and eventually fall.)

Super Spin Dash (Sonic can rev his spin dash up much faster and much more efficiently than other characters, Sonic’s spin dash also has higher maximum propulsion, and will break walls much quicker.)

Super Peel Out

Light Dash (Using the light dash on a trail of rings will allow Sonic to pick up vast amounts of speed instantly by traveling along a trail of rings, being slingshotted out of the trail at an intense speed, the longer the trail of rings is, the faster he’ll be when he comes out of the trail, but also the more vulnerable he’ll be when he’s flung out of the trail. Sonic can also easily reclaim his fallen rings by light dashing, but there’s no guarantee you won’t go flying into the hazard you just tried to avoid when you do.)

Can use the abilities of elemental shields

Miles "Tails" Prower: 

Voice Actor: Collen Villard 

Tails is Sonic's closest friend. Tails is very intelligent and is something of an amateur technician, roboticist and mechanic, although he specializes in work with aircrafts, small-scale robotics, and computer systems. Frequently he prefers a much slower, methodical approach to problems as opposed to rushing into everything headfirst like Sonic does. Often relies on his intuition over instinct. Tails feels he and Sonic hold a kind of 'mutual responsibility' over each other to keep each other safe, hence Tails keeps Sonic out of trouble or from doing things that are REALLY REALLY stupid, but most of the time, Tails likes to indulge in Sonic's antics with him and even enjoys being kind of silly or being a rebel with him. Tails really looks up to Sonic and wants to have the same kind of respect, cool and wit that he does, however, in doing this, because of his low self-esteem, Tails will often ignore a lot of his more positive traits and attempt to mimic Sonic instead in an effort to seem 'cool', which can really make him do some out-of-place or seemingly strange things at times when he doesn't mean it because he can be a little shy to be himself. Tails is a firmly humble inventor and often attributes his successes to the support of others more often than his own work, and he will not ever invent anything for the purpose of competing with someone or for the sake of jealousy, believing that his best work comes from his heart.

Abilities:

Flying (This would be nerfed significantly from Sonic Mania and S3&K so Tails couldn’t just fly over everything. Tails’ gameplay should encourage exploration in more ways than just one.)

Spin Dash

Tinkering (Allows Tails to reverse conveyor belts, turn off sawblades, and do other shit to help him get through mechanical levels.)

Ring Bomb (Short range projectile at the cost of rings, explodes in a small radius)

Remote Robot (Allows Tails to explore places he can’t otherwise get to at the cost of 1 ring per second)

Knuckles the Echidna: 

Voice Actor: Dan Green 

The key word to Knuckles is STRESS. Knuckles is the guardian of the Master Emerald, and boy does he take his job seriously, being the very last living Mobian Echidna, and being very in-tune with his family and extended tribe's history. He has an inherent connection with the Master Emerald that allows him to sense it's location, wherever it might be, if this feeling of his is tampered with only slightly, it sends Knuckles into an incredible, panicked rage that can only be quelled by returning the gem to where he left it, or by retrieving the gemstone from whoever stole or moved it. He will only leave the emerald alone for long periods of time once he is one-hundred percent confident no one will touch it or move it (and even then he oftentimes gets worried about it anyway) and hence, interacts with Team Sonic on a more infrequent basis because of this (although he still has plenty of moments dedicated to him.) However, when not guarding the Emerald and forced to loosen up and relax, one can find that Knuckles is rather stoic and full of quote en quote 'sage-advice' (or rather stuff that seems and can be profound but can also be kind of insane ramblings from someone who spends too much time alone with some rock.) He often doesn't understand Sonic's more urban lifestyle, preferring his more traditional, simple 'off the fat of the land' kind of life, but he's surprisingly receptive to new things (unless said new thing gets the emerald stolen of course.) Knuckles is also incredibly suspicious and paranoid of people, even believing people he's close to having the capability of turning on him, and because of this, he's incredibly gullible when it comes to people 'changing' or 'turning evil' or 'wanting to take the Master Emerald', although he's usually smart enough to not fall for the same trick twice... or at least, not for a while after it happens once. Because of his ability to be tricked so easily, and because tricking him often leads to bad things, Knuckles' temper and patience are very short, and very small things easily can make him very upset. Knuckles actually has a weakness for romance, being such a lonely soul, he often gets shy and acts noticeably different (read: Happier) around people that can charm him, but often won't admit it.

Abilities:

Gliding

Climbing

Spin Dash

Burrowing (works sort of like the burrow mechanic from Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, except Knuckles can remain and move underground for a bit to be invincible, although this ability is very limited and cannot be done on metal or synthetic flooring.)

Melee Attacks (Knuckles can punch things in a short range, nuff said.)

Amy Rose: 

Voice Actor: Kristen Schaal 

Amy is positive, bubbly, loud and honestly kind of a silly airhead sometimes. Although at first, it seems there's very little to her, there's actually a lot more to her than her outward appearance would suggest. Amy tends to not judge people by their looks or by their behaviors, and is very open-minded and emotional, often getting choked up over things she really doesn't need to. Amy is also pretty selfless, willing to help people without any benefit to herself or any reason besides being a good person, although that's not to say she just lets people walk all over her. Amy is also something of a social butterfly, having connections with about everyone anyone else even remotely knows, and can easily tell you all about them and will want you to meet them upon even the mention of their name. Her inherent energy makes her a lot to deal with at once, even people like Sonic, Tails, and Mighty can get tired of her very quickly, even if it's very clear that she means well. She also makes for a great therapist and is willing to help anyone with problems they might be having, even if they push her away at first. However, Amy isn't all the girly girl she seems sometimes and has kind of a violent edge, anyone who pushes her around or says anything bad about her friends is gonna get walloped with her hammer, and believe me, you don't ever quite forget a feeling like being Piko'd by Amy Rose. On this note, Amy also kinda... doesn't know her own strength, and can seem stronger than Knuckles, or even Mighty at times because she just absolutely does not know her limits, expect lots of spine-crushing hugs.

Abilities:

Triple Jump (Amy can jump three times in succession, however, each jump significantly degrades in height boost. Her normal jump will go the highest and her third jump will go the lowest. Because of this ability, Amy also does not spin when she jumps, meaning she can’t defeat Badniks or damage enemies by jumping on them, she won’t take damage from bouncing on them, it just won’t destroy them.)

Hammer Smash (A mid-range melee attack that will destroy most enemies instantly.)

Hammer Spin (Both an Aerial attack to make up for the fact Amy can’t spin jump and a dash attack to make up for the fact Amy can’t spin dash.)

Peel Out (Functions similarly to the peel out in Sonic Advance or Sonic 2: Pink Edition, replaces the Spin Dash.)

Mighty the Armadillo: 

Voice Actor: Beck Bennett/Travis Willingham 

Mighty is one of Sonic's oldest friends and is his foil in a lot of ways. He prefers to take his time with a lot of things and doesn't really mind going slow. Mighty is something of a 'meathead', he's naive, and kinda absentminded at times, even if he doesn't mean to be. Mighty is very strong and takes incredible pride in his abilities much like Sonic. He adores his own strength and quote en quote 'manliness' and will do anything to keep his ego inflated and his muscles bigger than everyone else's' (as opposed to Knuckles who views his strength as a humble reward for his years of training). Despite this, he has a very brotherly (read: dudebro) sense of personality though and likes to call people 'bro' and 'sis', and has a habit of saying 'not cool' when things don't go right or when people wrong him. Most of the time, Mighty's slow and naive ways can make him easily influenced into believing things (like conspiracies and the idea protein powder actually does things), and he's not afraid to speak his mind, often coming off as insensitive (which is how he got kicked out of Team Chaotix), when really, he just doesn't happen to know any better, although most of the time he really does mean well. Mighty also really likes to hear himself talk, oftentimes telling long-winded stories or going on long-winded rants or explanations. He tends to butt heads with Sonic and Knuckles, who get annoyed sometimes by his easygoing, borderline dim-witted nature, oftentimes reminding him of obvious things that are happening/have happened. However, Mighty greatly cares for his friends, and the one thing he absolutely will never bend on is he will not ever hurt someone who didn't do him wrong, and despite his naivety, Mighty's incredible sense of justice always triumphs over his unassuming nature. He's also Ray's best friend and will defend Ray over any other person.

Abilities:

Natural Armor (Allows Mighty to take one free hit from spikes, and defeat spiked enemies without being harmed. If a projectile hits Mighty while he’s spinning or jumping, the projectile will bounce off of his armor. This is only while Mighty is spinning, attacks from the back or while Mighty is running will still land.)

Hammer Drop (A ‘stomp’ attack that allows Mighty to crush most Badniks instantly, and will also instantly crush breakable objects and solid blocks much faster than other characters.)

Spin Dash

Mighty Arm (If Mighty presses an action button near an enemy, monitor or breakable item, Mighty will pick it up. While picking something up, Mighty will move slower and his jump will be downgraded, but he can throw the item to deal heavy damage to whatever it hits! And, picking up certain enemies or items may just come with some surprises!)

Super Wall Jump (Mighty can wall-jump much like Sonic, but upon sticking to the wall, Mighty will hang there, and will only slide down at the player’s discretion.)

Ray the Flying Squirrel: 

Voice Actor: Debi Derryberry 

Ray is neat, quiet, shy, easily disturbed and has a bit of a stutter to his voice. Ray tends to be sort of asocial compared to other members of Team Sonic and prefers not to get in the way if he thinks he's being a bother. However, despite this, Ray is much smarter than he might seem and has a level of resourcefulness to a point that even trumps Tails (who is much more intelligent) at times. Despite being so shy and cowardly, when he gets the chance, Ray is more than willing to do whatever it takes for the greater good, even if he's afraid to do so. Mighty is his best friend, and he gets obsessively worried about Mighty when he's not around, often worrying that he's wandered off or might have been hurt, kidnapped, etc. this often leads to Ray trying to find his friend or panicking that he's 'gone missing', even if Mighty was right under his nose the whole time, ironic, given his intuition and incredibly eagle-eyed nature. Much like Mighty as well, Ray can also be a little bit naive, although usually less so than Mighty himself.

Abilities:

Soaring (Ray will glide and can sweep upwards to gain height at a cost of speed, but also dip downwards to gain speed at a cost of height.)

Lite-Climbing (Ray can climb, and he can climb much faster than Knuckles, but players will need to position themselves carefully, as Ray can’t climb forever, and will eventually slip and fall, the more speed Ray has when Ray collides with the wall, the faster and longer he can climb it.)

Scout-Sense (Ray is able to detect hidden items nearby like Giant Rings, 1up Monitors, and power-ups, once Ray moves close enough to an item, an exclamation point will appear above his head, and the item he notices will be outlined in yellow.)

Dismantle (With similar timing to Sonic’s insta-shield, Ray can choose to land on a badnik instead of destroying it (even if he lands on something like a Shellcracker’s claw or Bubbles when spiked out), and he will begin to unscrew the badnik until it breaks. This rewards Ray with rings or more hidden items, and can make tricky badniks like Asteron and Shellcracker more bearable to deal with! This also works on bosses, except dismantling a boss will only cause a hit of damage to the boss, although Ray can stay latched on to deal multiple hits of damage if he isn’t knocked off!)

Hookay, if you’re not winded by all those character bios, let me try to explain some of my reasoning. I won’t be doing this with later characters because this post is already the size of a fucking dump truck, but, here we go anyway.

Yes. I chose Ben Schwartz over Roger Craig Smith and Jason Griffith for Sonic. No. I don’t hate Jason Griffith or Roger Craig Smith’s voices for Sonic. Yes, I realize Ben is going to play Sonic in the Movie. I know. But, you know what? I think Ben is the perfect person to play Sonic, he’s able to inflect a real smarmy teenager vibe and I DO like that a LOT. But Ben can also play a deeper or moodier teenager too, and I feel like that’s important for Sonic’s character just as much. Jason Griffith and Roger Craig Smith make a 15-year-old sound like he’s 24. Moving on.

I think Sonic needs to not be such a prep sometimes like he is in Colors, Generations, and Forces. Like, I get that Sonic is all about doing the right thing, but, Sonic is also a smarty-pants delinquent who disrespects authority because he can. There’s this great video on the design analysis of City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2 that shows just how much of a jerk Sonic is toward people he doesn’t care for, and how he feels about obeying rules and regulations. I feel being an asshole toward people he doesn’t like, is part of Sonic’s character, it’s just we need to make him an asshole in the right direction. Sonic can be a Bugs Bunny if we let him, it’s just that it shouldn’t be completely overblown... otherwise, we get STC Sonic.

Tails needs to do more things, and not sit on the sidelines like he does in Unleashed, Colors, and Forces. He does things in Sonic Adventure and Sonic Boom, hence this version of Tails is based more on those versions OF Tails. I don’t hate Unleashed and Colors Tails, but I feel the objectively superior version of Tails comes more from Boom (who I also feel captures all of the good things about Modern Tails ANYWAY) and Adventure (which is Tails at his most resourceful, intelligent and helpful.)

Knuckles needs to be not stupid. We can make other characters stupid, but Knuckles is not stupid, Mania made Knuckles stupid and I hate that because it’s never been who Knuckles is. Sure, he’s a bit of a dense knucklehead, but he’s not dumb, just dense, which is my problem with Boom Knuckles. There’s more to his reasons for why he does things the way he does than he doesn’t know better. He’s stubborn, he’s prone to anger, he’s traditional and very much centered on the past he never had, he worries, he panics. I don’t think Boom Knuckles is a bad character, I just think making KNUCKLES the character to get this personality was kind of a bad idea. 

Amy just needs a better-developed personality. Seriously, she’s, already kinda set in stone in terms of who she is, it just needs to be expanded upon. But, Amy kinda already has the groundwork laid out for her with Boom and Modern, it’s just it needs to be molded a little bit.

Mighty comes from the classic era, and he, therefore, has no real, defining personality traits besides being a wall-jumping armadillo. I think Mighty could easily inherit Boom Knux’s personality, (as I feel a character named ‘Mighty’ would have kind of a strongman, meathead personality) but maybe changed up a bit. Instead of being just, dumb, I think Mighty being more oblivious than just stupid is better, plus, at any one time, most of the characters in-game or onscreen are able to deduce what’s going on instantly, having Mighty be a contrast to that is interesting. I also think a slow, easygoing lifestyle is kinda befitting to the Mighty we’ve seen recently, given that he doesn’t seem to emote all that much when Ray finally finds him after he’s been missing for, well, a good while, and doesn’t seem to know his own strength all the time. The only other information I know about Mighty is that he doesn’t like to fight all that much and he’s similar to Sonic, so I tried to include aspects of Sonic in his personality, but also make him kind where he can be.

If Ray’s SegaSonic sprites are anything to go by, Ray just might be a little bit of a scaredy-cat. And, I think this would make for an interesting dynamic between Ray and the rest of the team, he’d make a nice Luigi to everyone’s Mario, a character who is afraid, but willing to set aside his fears for the greater good and even for himself. He’d also be #relatable to the stressed-out teenage and young adult audience he’d be appealing to. 

Side Protagonists

Here are my choices for side-protagonists in this reboot. These are ‘friendly characters’, characters that the main 6 characters regularly interact with, but are just not focused on as much. These characters would probably not be playable (except for Silver and Blaze MAYBE.)

The Mobini

Espio the Chameleon

Charmy Bee

Vector the Crocodile

Cream the Rabbit (and Cheese the Chao)

Big the Cat (and Froggy)

Silver the Hedgehog

Blaze the Cat

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

wHerE’s TeaM DaRK?!

Just, chill out..., okay? I’ll get to Team Dark in a minute.

I’d also like to clarify if this became a series, Silver and Blaze are probably not going to become relevant characters until much LATER in? I feel like Silver and Blaze should be saved for a very specific time in the reboot’s continuity and I’ll explain that later when we get into how I’d set this series’s continuity up, but there’s a very specific reason why I want to save Silver and Blaze for when the time is right, not because I hate Silver and Blaze, but because I think it’d make the most sense.

I also feel like the Chaotix should appear a lot more and play more of an active role in this new hypothetical reboot than they do in most modern Sonic games... and let’s make them a team of vigilantes instead of detectives. A team of vigilantes that uses TEAMWORK!... And combi-rings!

...Oh and while we’re here, let’s make Cheese a Hero Chao, mkay?

But enough talk about general things! Let’s dive into each of them individually!

The Mobini:

Voice Actor: Various, it’s likely mobini won’t need voices so much as varying sound effects.

The Mobini are the local, native, feral fauna of the world of this new Sonic reboot, all your normal birds, insects, lizards, fish, mammals, et cetera are all Mobini. Mobini, are mysterious creatures, as they harbor an inherent connection to the Chaos Emeralds, and are believed to contain small fractions of the Emeralds’ infinite energy. The Mobini are what first drew Dr. Eggman to the Archipelago in which South Island resides, as with this small portion of infinite energy within them, they can be used as organic batteries to power machines indefinitely!... Although this makes them very unhappy. Contrary to what you may think, Mobini are actually sentient, and remember friendly faces... and unfriendly ones too, so be kind! If you’re ever in trouble or lost in the sprawling forests of the Mobius Archipelago, Mobini may just be able to help you out. The most curious kind of Mobini are Flickies, small little birds native to Flicky’s Island and South Island (although they’ve seemed to branch out more recently), who are said to have an even closer connection to the Emeralds, and can even hold a super form! The phenomenon of Super Flickies is incredibly rare, but when it happens, Super Flickies will be more than willing to lend their power to someone who needs it.

Chao are a special type of genetically unstable Mobini that have no ‘Earthly’ counterpart. From the time a Chao is born to the time they pass away, a Chao will gain the traits of its parent, it’s friends, and or it’s caregiver. This makes Chao ideal pets, as their personality will adapt to suit their owner, this makes Chao not only incredibly diverse but surprisingly intelligent. Just be kind to Chao... you don’t want to know what kind of horror being unkind to these little creatures can lead to.

Espio the Chameleon:

Voice Actor: Phil LaMarr

The de-facto leader of the Chaotix, and the most responsible of the team, Espio is a lot quieter than most of the main cast, and much prefers the sound of a rushing, serene stream over loud, punchy rock music. With a powerful, free-flowing fighting style inspired by martial arts, Espio is an honorable fighter, believing only in fighting fair and straight and without exploiting an opponent’s extreme weaknesses. While he tends to be sort of reclusive and becomes easily annoyed by the antics of the Chaotix and Team Sonic, he’s a lot more unshakable than he looks, and actually kind of likes the excitement from time to time. He also has a long, sticky tongue which he happens to be embarrassed by, but sees more use as a tool than he’d like to admit. Espio will often dictate his mood or state of mind to people by changing his color.

Espio’s weapons of choice are giant shuriken, which he seems to be able to pull out of hammerspace.

Abilities:

Color changing

Partial Invisibility (Espio can cloak himself to appear invisible, as long as he stands still and isn’t connected to anything. This ability sees more frequent use when Espio is alone, as it doesn’t really apply much when he fights with his team.)

Combi-Ring Fighting Style

Tornado Spin (Similar to Sonic’s Spin Dash, except Espio spins horizontally instead of vertically, the tornado spin is very slow compared to the Spin Dash, but it’s just as deadly.)

Tongue (Much like Yoshi, Espio’s tongue can be used to grapple onto things with a surprising amount of force, either to pull them toward Espio, or Espio can ‘tongue punch’ things. He hates to do this.)

Charmy Bee:

Voice Actor: Sam Lavagnino (Ideally anyway, I understand if he’d be unable to, but imagine it! Catbug as Charmy Bee!)

A ‘junior member’ of the Chaotix, Charmy is a little bee in training to become a vigilante! However, he’s a little too excited about that fact sometimes. He’s meant to be cute and lovable, but also a realistic child fighting against things he probably shouldn’t be fighting against. It’s hard to hate him when he means so well though and tries his very best at anything he does. In this new reboot, Charmy also gains a small affliction toward electricity!

Abilities:

Flight (no duh.)

Combi-Ring Fighting Style (Charmy is surprisingly adept at carrying his fellow Chaotix members around with a Combi-Ring in hand, with Charmy around this can make for some high-octane, high-momentum fighting due to Charmy being so lightweight and quick.)

Volt Sting (Charmy can use his stinger, and believe me, it hurts. Fortunately, Charmy can sting more than once! and his sting will deliver an electric shock to anything it touches, this is bad news for anything mechanical, or wet!)

Thunder Shoot (Charmy can instantly ground any flying enemy by electrifying an ally and tossing them at the flying enemy!)

Vector the Crocodile:

Voice Actor: Keith Silverstein (Although I’m open to someone else if everyone else if sick of FIND THE COMPUTER ROOM!)

The Chaotix’s greedy, but fiercely defensive ‘leader’ (he’s able to make tough decisions a lot better than Espio, but he isn’t very responsible in many ways). Vector got into the whole vigilante business because of the money he could gain from it, but after meeting Charmy and Espio, his whole world changed, and the rough-and-tough reptile has found a new calling, being a leader. Although Vector is often harsh, blunt, and dismissive, he’s also incredibly resourceful and has an eye for small details, so if he does push you away, it’s likely because he has a hunch on something related to it.

Abilities:

Air Dash (Vector can dash in any direction while in the air. This does not protect him from harm.)

Death Roll (Vector’s trademark donut-like Spin Dash, it’s a bit less controllable than a traditional Spin Dash but it’s immensely powerful because of Vector’s spiked back.)

Combi-Ring Fighting Style (Vector specializes in a ‘wrecking ball’ sort of display with his fighting style, performing a Death Roll followed by his opponents flinging him into something by way of Thunder Shoot or Espio’s speed.) Vector can also achieve the same effect by flinging Charmy or Espio into an opponent, or by ‘holding’ (think Knuckles Chaotix) them.

Fire Combination + Volcanic Dunk* (While Espio is tornado spinning and Charmy is spinning as well, Vector can grab the both of them to make ‘fighting gloves’ of sorts. With this, Vector can perform the Volcanic Dunk, in which he turns Espio and Charmy into powerful fireballs which can smash into enemies to deal tremendous damage!)

*Yes I know this is what Team Sonic uses in Sonic Heroes but do you honestly want Vector Breath to be something that’s regularly used?

Cream the Rabbit (and Cheese the Chao):

Voice Actor: Michelle Ruff (I’d list a voice actor for Cheese too but... do I HAVE to? Chao can be easily voiced with stock squeaks or Chao sounds from SA2.)

A pleasant little girl who seems to get caught up in the ongoing war between Sonic and the forces of evil. Like Charmy, she’s a kid, although Cream is much more patient and polite than Charmy. Cream in this reboot would sorta fill the niche that Tails filled in SatAM, rarely going on adventures, but looking up to the main cast and always being ready to support them in times of need.

Abilities:

Flapping (Cream can flap her ears to gain a little extra height, although it’s made very clear this isn’t exactly equal to Tails’ flight and is very limited.)

Cheese (Cream can sic Cheese on anything she wants, although Cheese isn’t very tough, he’ll do his best until he’s knocked away!)

Big the Cat (and Froggy):

Voice Actor: Jon St. John

Big is large, and not very bright, even less so than Mighty. But he’s terrifyingly strong, he may just be one of the strongest characters in this new reboot in terms of raw damage output, probably second only to Omega actually. But, Big’s not a fighter and prefers to spend his days by the lakeside, fishing with his companion Froggy.

Unbeknownst to him, though, Froggy harbors a dark secret, and, in fact, is the current owner of the tail of the ancient God of Destruction, Chaos. How Froggy exactly came upon Chaos’ tail is unknown, but it’s gotten Big and Froggy into trouble before.

Abilities:

Super Strength

Fishing Sense (Big can sense what kind of fish or how many fish, or even foreign objects or other animals are in bodies of water. It’s unknown how he does or knows this, but he does.)

Silver the Hedgehog:

Voice Actor: Scott Menville

Silver is from an alternate future, a long-forgotten timeline in which Robotnik succeeded in conquering the world, But his massive cities and factories were later laid waste to by the sands of time, and ancient forces of nature, throwing the future Silver resides within into complete Crisis. And now, filled with a sense of vengeance and justice, Silver has come back to the past, determined to find the one responsible for whoever did this to his future, but... there’s just a couple problems. 

He’s only fourteen years old.

Silver is also rather bright-eyed and gullible, and him messing with the streams of time might have a bigger domino effect than he realizes, even if he has no intention of messing anything up.

Abilities:

Psychokinesis (Silver can move, and throw objects with his mind. Silver’s telekinesis is limited only by his focus and stress, as if Silver gets too stressed, he may release some of the objects he’s holding, the same goes for if he becomes unfocused. Using said telekinesis can make Silver very physically exhausted though, especially if Silver moves HIMSELF with his mind, which he can do to hover in the air for a while. Objects held by Silver will freeze, suspended in whatever state they were in when Silver grabbed them, and the objects Silver holds are denoted by a cyan aura.)

Psychic Knives (Silver can condense his energy into crescent-shaped blades of energy, which he can fire off at his discretion, again, only limited by his physical exhaustion)

Teleportation (Silver has the limited ability to teleport short distances, although he doesn’t seem to have a very good handle on it, as he often messes up his positioning and seems to almost... forget he can do it?)

Blaze the Cat:

Voice Actor: Tara Strong

Like Silver, Blaze is from an alternate future. Blaze is Silver’s best friend, but also kind of a sisterly figure to him. Blaze is older than Silver, and is much more reserved, mature and wary than Silver is, although she’s still more than happy to help Silver, and ensure a good future for both him and herself. Blaze is proud, trying to make the best out of her situation by trying and believing herself to be the best around, in a way, she sort of views Silver more like a sidekick, even if Silver does tend to pull his weight.

Abilities:

Pyrokinesis (Blaze can summon, control and is immune to fire. Her ability to do so is limited, although her fires are known to become more intense whenever Blaze is enraged. Blaze can use her fire either for offense by spraying jets of flame from her hands, or defensively by cloaking her entire body in flame, or using the power of fire to float for short periods of time.)

Tornado Spin (Like Espio, Blaze tends to spin horizontally rather than vertical, this, combined with her pyrokinesis, makes her incredibly fearsome to deal with.)

Main Antagonists

You know what the fuck’s going on already. These are all my picks for Major Villains in the reboot. The big bads. The guys who are gonna come in and try to take all those Chaos Emeralds and Time Stones and shit I was talking about and wreak havoc on the peaceful Mobius Archipelago.

They are as follows:

Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik

Orbot and Cubot

Metal Sonic

Heavy King (And the Hard-Boiled Heavies)

Great Battle Bird Kukku XV

Chaos

Emerl

Mephiles, Iblis, and Solaris

In the end, it was hard to decide on what villains to choose to be big bads, Sonic has so many good ones, but this is what it all bled down to eventually. I feel kinda like Dragon Ball Z or... like, any fucking action anime or cartoon ever tbh. I wanted to give some more underrated villains a chance to shine like Kukku and Emerl, while also bringing back some old favorites like Chaos and Mephiles.

...ALSO, I’M GONNA GET TO TEAM DARK DON’T WORRY!

Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik:

Voice Actor: Mike Pollock (as if there were any other choice.)

Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik is the biggest bad in this reboot, as he should be. Robotnik was formerly a young, gentleman scientist, who arrived on South Island with his colleague, Dr. Madonna to study the Mobini that lived there, however, using the grant money meant for his research, and not much caring about nature himself, Robotnik instead betrayed Dr. Madonna to begin forging an empire with his own two hands, an Empire he believed would eventually be able to conquer the world. And he would’ve gotten away with it, too... if all not for a meddlesome blue hedgehog child, who REALLY liked to compare the doctor to an egg. Since his first outing against the blue blur, Dr. Robotnik tried tirelessly, day and night, to get his empire up and into the air, coming back with bigger, and better firepower each time, even succeeding in conquering South Island and collecting six of the seven chaos emeralds at one point, but he was thwarted by this blue hedgehog, and later, his friends each time. This war has gone on for over 5 years now chronologically and maybe more in the actual scheme of things, and all those years of trying have really quite nipped at the doctor, who had gained a significant amount of weight, became a social pariah and had torn all his hair out, save for his mustache, which has overgrown and has become frayed, and the doctor had taken the name ‘Eggman’ as a shallow attempt to mock the blue blur. It’s not to say that Eggman hasn’t succeeded, his conquest and lust for power had bled everywhere, his Badniks, a series of small robots built by him, are an epidemic across the archipelago, he has factories, operations, and eyes everywhere, and Robotnik eventually succeeded in taking one of the Archipelago's many islands for his own, renaming what was once ‘North Island’ into ‘Eggmanland’, this little island is only a twisted glimpse into the madness of what a world under the doctor’s control could look like, his own personal carnival of evil, smog and dust, celebrating him, and only him. It’s these little successes, as well as his never-ending stubbornness and undying believe that man can and will always triumph over nature, that has warped Dr. Eggman from a nefarious, dashing gentleman, into a balding, crazed, nasty old coot. If trouble’s brewing on the islands, and you smell smog wafting by, you can be assured Dr. Eggman isn’t very far behind. To call him a ‘mad scientist’ is an understatement, but even through his delusions and megalomania, he really is a genius.

Orbot and Cubot:

Voice Actors: Kirk Thornton, Wally Wingert

Orbot and Cubot are the Doctor’s trusted aides and second-in-lines, and... probably the Doctor’s only friends as of current. Orbot and Cubot have special AI hand-crafted by the doctor and are arguably his most advanced and most sentient creations crafted by his own two hands. Orbot is serious, intelligent, and bitingly sarcastic, as he was meant to relay information about factories, schemes, and developments back to Eggman, whereas Cubot is dim-witted, slow, and lazy, as he was more meant to perform basic duties like keeping Robotnik’s living space neat and tidy (although he doesn’t always do the best job at this.) However, Orbot and Cubot have become more than that as time has gone on. Unlike the Modern games, Orbot and Cubot can actually hold their own in combat... well, sort of. They have their own unique ‘Scratch and Grounder’ style of dealing with Sonic and Co. and they don’t usually make much progress or get much done in this regard. In this reboot I want Orbot and Cubot’s designs to be updated besides being just ‘ball’ and ‘cube’ so that they can fight alongside Eggman and just look a lot more interesting in general.

Metal Sonic:

Voice Actor: Ben Schwartz (with an intense, robotic filter) if we HAVE to give him a voice. I’d really just prefer Metal to be silent or voiced by music cues and sound effects.

Metal Sonic is Dr. Eggman’s greatest creation. Designed and built by a Dr. Eggman from the future, Metal was sent back in time to aid the Eggman of the past, this, however, proved to be a mistake, as with Metal under his belt, the Doctor became easily overconfident in his victory, thinking now that he had his supposed greatest creation to aid him, nothing could possibly stop him. 

Which made it all the more disappointing when Metal Sonic inevitably failed and was defeated by Sonic.

However, that wasn’t the end of it for Metal Sonic, after being recovered from the future on Little Planet, Metal was repaired, and sent to do reconnaissance on Sonic and Tails during their visit to Mirage Island. In the process of getting there, however, Metal absorbed an artifact while patrolling around the Lost Labyrinth Zone, which superseded the limits of Metal’s hardware, and not only restored Metal to his former greatness but gave Metal something that few of Eggman’s creations can ever claim to have. True sentience. 

Now fully aware of who he was, and what he was doing, Metal easily made it to Sonic and Tails, and upon seeing his organic counterpart for the first time in so long ever since their duel on Stardust Speedway, Metal was filled with rage. Rage, unlike anything The Mobius Archepeligo had ever seen.

The artifact has given Metal all sorts of mysterious abilities, like the ability to manifest a near-indestructible shield, the power to harness the electricity flowing through his circuits to send himself into overdrive and utilize his own overloading as a weapon, and along with being a creation of a Dr. Eggman who has seen the fall of the Earth...

Who knows what kind of sadistic, inhuman thoughts lie behind those synthetic, glowing eyes?

Abilities:

Hyperspeed Thrusters (Metal’s thrusters easily make him as fast as Sonic, and, like Sonic, Metal can still spin, although Metal can also fly with his thrusters.)

Black Shield (Metal can form a defense matrix around him using the power of the artifact he absorbed in Lost Labyrinth, the Black Shield is completely indestructible. Nothing can break through it. Not even something as powerful as Super Sonic could even crack it.) The only caveat is, using the Black Shield renders Metal completely immobile, and unable to attack, and it has a slight warmup and cooldown period.)

Overdrive (Metal can use the artifact he absorbed to utilize the electricity flowing through his circuits to send himself into Overdrive. While in overdrive, Metal Sonic’s entire body sparks with electricity, and Metal can manipulate how he uses that electricity, whether it’s to cloak himself in sparks to beef up his physical attacks or create pillars of sparks and arcs of electricity to attack foes from a distance. The only thing is, Metal cannot do this too much, as doing this can easily cause Metal to overheat, or completely overload and have a ‘blowout’... in other words, explode.)

Heavy King:

Voice Actor: Jim Cummings (Yes, I know Jim did SATAM Robotnik but that’s not the voice I’m imagining for Heavy King. Jim can do more than just Robotnik you know, even though my decision was partially influenced by it being a nice callback. Again, these voice actors are only projections.)/Barry Humphries

Heavy King used to be EggRobo, a robot (which later became a line of Robots) built in the image of Dr. Eggman himself and meant to serve as a decoy for him, and as a stand-in to carry out his own ends.

But the energy of the Phantom Ruby changed that.

Now, Heavy King is the leader of an elite squadron of his EggRobo brethren known as the Hard-Boiled Heavies. They used to serve Robotnik, before breaking free of his control and serving their own ends, beginning a new (albeit, much, much smaller) empire under their own names. He and the other heavies are a force to be reckoned with, few are able to match the ruthless, cold, metallic hand of Heavy King. Despite this, however, Heavy King is known to be much more diplomatic and reasonable than Robotnik, ironically enough, because he believes himself to be vastly superior in every way to organic life. However, his inflated ego pays a steep price if you catch him at the wrong time. However, Heavy King is the current holder of the Phantom Ruby, and that alone should scare you.

(Also I won’t go over each of the Heavies individually because I don’t feel like it, but, I will list their voice actors.)

Heavy Gunner: Patrick Warburton... or at least a cheap impression of him.

Heavy Rider: Eliza Schneider

Heavy Magician: Alexia Khadime

Heavy Shinobi: Seth Green (I picture Shinobi having much more of a nerdy weeb voice than having a serious Japanese accent like Espio.)

Great Battle Bird Kukku XV

Voice Actor: Tom Kenny

A lesser-known big bad, or rather, big bird, Great Battle Bird Kukku XV (he gets upset if you don’t say the full name), is the leader of the Battle Bird Empire, a battalion of birds who, at one point, sought to take over the archipelago in a similar manner to Dr. Eggman, however, Great Kukku XV was thwarted by Tails. Tails, funnily enough, doesn’t remember him at all, in fact, no one does. As a villain, hardly anyone takes Great Kukku XV very seriously, even with his massive armies and capability. Fact is, Great Kukku XV is just a little too immature to be a leader, and hence, he’s not very dangerous. However, his battalion did give rise to a certain, screwy, trigger happy, fellow green bomb-throwing bird who happens to be a defector of his...

In this reboot, there would probably be a lot of jokes about people not knowing who Great Kukku even is, or how dangerous he is, but don’t worry, he’ll get his time in the sun eventually. 

Chaos

Voice Actor: N/A, Chaos only speaks in water sloshes.

Chaos is one of the many original forces of nature that populated the Archipelago many years ago. Legend has it that Chaos was responsible for the mass extinction of the Echidna on Angel Island, and was the one responsible for flooding Hydrocity Zone, and the former Hidden Palace Zone. Chaos was formed when a Chao, who happened to be very old and unhappy due to the Echidna tribes of the day treating his people very unfairly, mutated due to the exposure of Chaos Energy to the Chao’s genetically unstable body. Chaos is a being of pure hate and pure destruction. It’s almost entirely composed of a thick, water-like substance that can take on liquid or solid properties at Chaos’ discretion. His body hungers for Chaos Energy, and he is willing to destroy anything that stands in his way to have it, specifically by absorbing the Chaos Emerald. With each emerald Chaos absorbs, Chaos only becomes bigger, and stronger, becoming harder and harder to defeat. And if Chaos gathers all Seven of the Emeralds? You’d better hope you can find some way to calm this Great Old One down, otherwise, your world may just end up underwater. Luckily, Chaos was sealed inside of the Master Emerald by its former guardian, Tikal, and there he shall remain... for now, at least.

Emerl

Voice Actor: Various (copies the voices of others. To speak it splices lines that it’s heard together.)

Originally created directly to counter Chaos whilst the Echidna tribes were facing extinction, Emerl is a Gizoid, a kind of Robot created to copy the physical data of others. Although one can initially defeat Emerl pretty easily, it’s advised not to vary your tactics too much, as Emerl’s original purpose, and his ultimate capability, is to copy any behavior he’s seen, in order to not only replicate it, but replicate it better, and hence, conquer its original user. Terrifyingly, Emerl can even copy phenomenon that he otherwise wouldn’t, or shouldn’t be able to use, such as Chaos Control, Sonic’s Maximum Speed, or Tails’ intellect. The only thing truly limiting Emerl... is the kind of opponents he faces. And, if you give Emerl to someone who understands him and knows how he works, you may just be dealing with one of the most fearsome fighters the Mobius Archepeligo has ever known.

Mephiles, Iblis and Solaris

Voice Actor: Dan Green (Mephiles only) (This is just because Dan also voices Knuckles ideally but, again, if Dan doesn’t wanna come back to Sonic after being replaced, I understand that.)

If Chaos was the patron saint of water, Solaris is the patron saint of fire. Born from a sacred flame created by the Echidna, Solaris was worshipped by the surviving Echidna as a force that could potentially vanquish Chaos, as the ‘’sun’ to dry the rain. However, the tribes’ malicious intents caused their newly formed ‘God’ to become more of a beast, and it only helped Chaos in driving the Echidna extinct. Solaris later retreated to the bottom of the ocean after all was said and done, slumbering beneath the surface in an underground cave, in a damaged, unstable state.

Solaris has re-awoken twice since this has happened, and both times, his unstable shell split and formed two halves, it’s raw power, known as Iblis, and it’s mind, and spirit, known as Mephiles. The two halves of Solaris first re-awoke in an Alternate Timeline where Robotnik had conquered the world, re-awakening as the folly of the dictator had driven the Sun God’s split soul to awaken when the intense greenhouse heat began to boil the ocean. Mephiles’ primordial form simply died off in the intense heat, but Iblis remained awake, laying waste to the already horrible wasteland that was Robotnik’s Bad Future. Many survivors who reside within this future came to blame Iblis for their problems, even though Robotnik was what had destroyed it centuries earlier.

As for the other time The soul and body of Solaris re-awoke?...

Well... we’ll get to that. Let’s come back to someone I’m sure you’re all waiting for.

Antiheroes

HERE HE IS, OKAY? YOU HAPPY? I was saving him for a good reason! I actually want Shadow (and Rouge, to an extent, she kinda keeps her evil side tbh) to start out as a big bad! After Shadow’s done BEING a big bad though, he’ll become similar to his post-adventure 2 self, specifically how he behaves in Sonic 06 and Sonic Heroes, except with a bit more sympathy. Modern Shadow has a lot of brooding, edgy bite to him, and while that’s cool and all, I feel like there should be more to Shadow than just brooding and standing around crossing his arms and saying ‘tch’ all the time.

Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow the Hedgehog:

Voice Actor: Anyone that’s not Kirk Thornton. I actually don’t have a good answer for who Shadow’s voice actor should be but, honestly, anything would be better than his current one in my honest opinion.

Shadow was synthesized fifty years ago on a small, man-made satellite called the Space Colony ARK by the brilliant scientist Dr. Gerald Robotnik. He was born from a desire to find a cure for the seemingly incurable disease for his granddaughter, Maria. However, due to an accident when splicing the genes of the quill of a Mobian Hedgehog, and experimental biomaterial found on the fragments of an asteroid that collided with the Earth millions of years ago, the doctor accidentally created something he absolutely didn’t intend, Life. And thus, Project Shadow was born. Gerald felt attached to his creation, viewing the resulting creation, which he called ‘Shadow’ as one of his own. Shadow developed rapidly, quickly maturing into an infant, and then juvenile, yet seemingly normal Mobian Hedgehog. Shadow’s equivalent age later capped once Shadow was done growing, and he remained that way, immortally perfect. The Ultimate Lifeform. Tests with Shadow later showed his destructive capabilities, as it seemed the asteroid’s DNA had morphed Shadow to be far beyond the capabilities of any normal Hedgehog, even in peak physical condition at that age, capable of creating explosions, firing bolts of energy, and even freezing time, appearing to ‘teleport’ in the process. Despite these curiosities, Shadow grew fond of Maria in his stay at the ARK, although Shadow couldn’t help her recover, he did make her much happier. However, a raid on the Space Colony by the mainland’s military led to a massive capsizing of the project, with the intention to destroy Shadow, who was viewed as a dangerous, alien, unholy abomination. Before he could be killed though, Maria shot Shadow down to Earth in an escape pod, where he subsequently landed deep in the jungles of Cocoa Island... but, Maria was murdered in the process of doing so. Shadow was later recovered by Gerald’s other grandson, Ivo Robotnik, 50 years after the tragedy. Hesitant to release Shadow immediately, it’s known that Robotnik has spoken to Shadow in his pod, although about what matters is unknown. For now, Shadow slumbers deep within the confines of Eggmanland, waiting for his proper, strategic time to be unleashed and to wreak his horrible vengeance upon the Earth.

I’ll bring up Shadow again later when we talk about how I project the series to actually go, for now, just sit tight and let’s talk about the rest of Team Dark... and some familiar faces.

Abilities:

Spin Dash

Homing Attack (Shadow can automatically home in on opponents while also performing an Air Dash.)

Burning Rollout (Inspired by the flame ring of Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow can cloak his spinning form in fire by turning on his shoes when rolling, doing this will significantly up the strength of his spin, and make a nice little ring of fire around his spinning form.)

Chaos Control (Can be used as short-distance teleportation, as a way to buff Shadow’s speed immensely, or as a way to freeze or dramatically slow Shadow’s relative perspective of time by dramatically increasing his speed.)

Chaos Spear (These are green bolts of pure, chaos energy. The energy used to form these bolts is so unstable that once hurled at something, the ‘spear’ will likely explode, although, if it doesn’t, it will easily pierce through whatever it hits. Shadow likes to shout ‘DISAPPEAR!’ before hurling these at things for some reason.)

Chaos Blast (Shadow’s Chaos Blast can be considered his ‘ultimate’ attack, Chaos Blast sees Shadow creating a kind of ‘mini-singularity’ with chaos energy that will detonate after a short time, easily eradicating anything caught in the explosion’s radius, even the ground around Shadow. The only problem with this is, doing this is a huge strain on Shadow’s natural supply of Chaos Energy, so a lengthy cooldown period is inevitable.)

and of course, we can’t forget

The Roundhouse Kick

Minor Antagonists

These are characters who are villains but are also more likely to show up in arcs that are only a couple episodes long or are side or off-boss fights. 

I’ll be honest, most of you know these characters already, so I’m just gonna run through them super quickly and give my suggested changes and my justifications for them.

Rouge the Bat

E-123 OMEGA

Dave the Intern

Fang the Sniper (Nack the Weasel)

Bean the Dynamite

Bark the Polar Bear

Rouge the Bat:

Voice Actor: Karen Strassman

Rouge is a thief and a treasure hunter but is also working for the military agency of the mainland, G.U.N. Rouge is sly, sneaky and has a silver tongue, easily able to manipulate people into what she wants by pure wordplay alone. Rouge is a lot less active of a fighter than Sonic and Co. as she prefers to stalk quietly in the shadows, and strike when the time is right. In this reboot, Rouge is gonna wear something a bit more modest. I’m sorry, I hate Rouges’ clothes in canon. That fucking catsuit? has gotta go. She can still look cool and... *gag* “”sexy”” but, I’d rather her not wear... THAT? But, I do want her personality to remain mostly intact because in full honesty? She’s not a bad character on paper. Like Shadow, though I do kinda want Rouge to be a straight-up antagonist at first, and a very greedy one at that.

E-123 OMEGA:

Voice Actor: Vic Mignogna

What can I say? Omega doesn’t need to change much at all, really. He works in about any Sonic setting tbh. He’s loud, and he likes to blow things up, and he doesn’t emote very well, what else is there? In this reboot though, Omega will be the only E-Series Robot, or rather the only... surviving one. And, yeah, like Rouge and Shadow too, I think Omega should start out as an antagonist.

Dave the Intern:

Voice Actor: Ben Schwartz (What? We gotta keep up the tradition of Dave sharing a voice with Sonic!)

An odd choice for a minor antagonist I know, but Dave the Intern is REALLY funny? And I love the idea of a character just hating Sonic for no discernable reason other than ‘he’s popular and cool and I’m not.’ I also thought it’d be cool if Dave frequently got way in over his head with the shit he does, and put himself into trouble that Sonic (reluctantly) had to get him out of. Plus, I really wanted to include some representation of Sonic Boom in this reboot because Sonic Boom as a show is really funny and really good, and I think taking a page from it might be good, plus, Boom is a part of Sonic’s history too!

Fang the Sniper (Nack the Weasel):

Voice Actor: Dwight Schultz

Fang is the leader of Team Hooligan, and in a similar vein to Great Kukku XV I think he’d take himself way too seriously, but would play off of other characters. In Fang’s mind, he’s a trained assassin, like an evil Aussie-accent Batman or something of that stretch. But, really? He’s just a sleazy conman with a popgun. I feel like a good joke to make in this series would be Fang reaching for what he thinks is his actual pistol, but then he’d pull it out and fire it and it’d be one of his fake popguns. And, do I even need to make a joke about the comedic possibilities between him and Shadow using guns? Also, his real name being Nack the Weasel but he wants everyone to call him Fang the Sniper is funny. I’m sorry but ‘Fang the Sniper’ is just a silly name and I like the idea of Fang being the equivalent of one of those nice guys with Otaku Katanas who think they’re WAY cooler than they actually are. I wanted to choose Fang as a minor antagonist in the reboot just because of the kind of character I think he is, he thinks he has everything under control and has all the cards laid out in front of him when in reality, this setup of his just fails dramatically. The kind of interactions between him and Sonic this could spell out are amazing.

Bean the Dynamite:

Voice Actor: Eric Bauza

What do you get when you throw Daffy Duck and Woody Woodpecker in a blender and make him an unstable arsonist? Bean the Dynamite, that’s what. I’d want Bean in this reboot to be an off-the-wall, screwy, but surprisingly resourceful and clever, explosion-crazed maniac. He wouldn’t be... *gag* ‘insane’, so much as he would be just hyper and unable to calm down, again, like Woody Woodpecker or Daffy Duck. He’d be quick-witted, fast-talking and zippy, even more than Sonic himself is. (In the end, Sonic would always outpace him, but the reflexes on THIS bird are crazy.) Also, I feel like the idea of Bean being a defector of the Battle Kukku Armada is just... great, considering they’re all bomb-throwing birds, but THIS one was a little too off-the-handle for even them? He’d be a real character and a surprisingly dangerous threat for Sonic and Co.

Bark the Polar Bear:

Voice Actor: I’m... actually not too sure who to cast Bark as tbh. Mostly because I see him being very quiet and not... speaking, much at all?

Bark is a quiet tough guy. He’s smarter than he looks, but he’s big, he’s mean, he’s tough, and he will Hulk slam at least one character in the length of this reboot. I don’t really have much idea on where to take Bark, I just think he deserves a place as a minor villain.

Projected direction for canon

So, we have all the pieces of the puzzle, let’s see how they all fit together! I’ll be going through these with the assumption that one game can be made to represent each season of the show in its entirety.

For this, I honestly think it would be best if we split this reboot up based upon Sonic the Hedgehog’s current history with its elements. Think, almost, the way Sonic Generations told its story. We’ll start with something with a more Classic Vibe to it, then move into something more Adventure-like, and then, finally, we do something a bit more Modern! It’ll be a little less linear, and we’ll double dip here and there, but it’ll all line up!

Because of this, I’d like to establish what games have already PASSED before going into this series. This is what all has happened going in, in roughly the chronological order they happened in.

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (16-bit)

Sonic the Hedgehog 1 (8-bit)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit)

SegaSonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (16-Bit)

Sonic CD

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

Sonic Chaos

Sonic Triple Trouble

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episodes 1, 2, and Metal.

Sonic Mania

The intention is to begin sort of... around the time JUST before Sonic Adventure 1 happened in the old rudimentary timeline before Sonic Forces came out and clarified Classic and Modern Sonic were different beings.

Season 1/Game 1: Genesis

The first few episodes of the series will be more dedicated to introducing the characters and Sonic’s new home. We’ll see the new Sonic, the new Tails, the new Knuckles, Amy, Mighty, and Ray for the very first time, and we’ll also get to see some of the characters’ new capabilities as they take on some minor villains or assaults led by Orbot and Cubot for the first couple episodes; but not at all subtly tease at something bigger and better coming, although we’re also shown how frequent scuffles between Sonic and Eggman exactly are, as we see plenty of mention of the Doctor, but he never physically appears.

Then, I’d say at about Episode 5 or 6 out of say, 22-24? Eggman steps in and introduces us to his new Master Plan, as he does. To build a new Death Egg (which, Sonic obviously chides him on doing the same thing a THIRD time.), but, as Robotnik does, he turns out to be serious, and the episodes from there on out are a race against time for Sonic and co. to gather all the Chaos Emeralds from various different zones of various different challenging geographies, fight off villains and giant robots, learn valuable morals, run into some familiar faces, and have a couple laughs along the way.

The climax of the season would come with a few episodes left, where Sonic and Co. finally have all the Emeralds, and they chase Eggman down to the New Death Egg, maybe there could be an encounter with Metal Sonic along the way because nostalgia and to introduce Metal into the continuity, and of course things’ll play out from there, Robotnik gets the upper hand and shows his shit, gets in a giant robot, dukes it out with Super Sonic, and BAM! End of Season/Game!

At the very end of season 1/Game 1 though, I’d like to include a little teaser for Season 2/Game 2 in the form of a familiar-looking escape pod in the middle of a jungle, full of green bubbling fluid, and a flash of red eyes.

Season 2/Game 2: Chaos Emerald Chaos

Right out of the gate in Season 2/Game 2, we’re back in the game as Sonic and Eggman are seen duking it out a while after the first game/season has ended, but in a much different area than we’d seen in Season 1/Game 1. This fight would lead up to the pod in the teaser after Eggman lures Sonic into a dark room with the green glow in sight. By one way or another, maybe on purpose or on accident, this pod breaks open, and something is released from it. Sonic is understandably confused, but then, is knocked down, and a panning shot reveals one of three of our major antagonists for the season/game, Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow fucking wipes the floor with Sonic in this first encounter, but instead of finishing him off, Eggman instructs Shadow to leave him be and search for the rest of the Chaos Emeralds instead. Shadow nods and simply leaves via Chaos Control. Eggman, on the meanwhile, begins transporting Sonic back to North Island via dropship, revealing by surprise that this isn’t on North Island, but rather a much smaller place Eggman was using as a trap.

Meanwhile, Sonic’s friends (with Knux noticeably absent) are confused to learn that Sonic has been... committing crimes, upon his return back from a scuffle back with Eggman, and seeming very much unlike himself, always hiding away in the dark and staying away from everyone. When they go to confront him, it turns out that this was actually Shadow, disguised as Sonic, who was simply searching for the emeralds for Dr. Eggman.

Sonic’s friends demand to know where Sonic is, but Shadow kicks all their asses instead, and something about the Master Emerald is mentioned after the fight. We then cut away to Knuckles, who is soon confronted by Shadow.

Shadow puts up a hard fight, but, with the help of the chaos emerald he already had, defeats Knuckles, and goes to take the Master Emerald. But, in a last ditch effort to save the gem, Knuckles shatters the Master Emerald, causing the shards to scatter all across the islands. Shadow, understandably frustrated by this, scoffs and leaves, seemingly fooled into thinking the Master Emerald WAS destroyed. Unknowingly, however, shattering the Master Emerald caused Chaos, slumbering within the Emerald, to awaken.

Knuckles, obviously horrified by what he’s done, abandons Angel Island and sets to work on finding both the pieces of the Master Emerald, and any Chaos Emeralds he can, to stop Chaos before anything goes wrong.

At this point, we go back to Sonic, who finally escapes as the dropship taking him to EggmanLand and, by extension, escapes from the city as he hurries to try to reunite with his friends and tell them what happened.

From there, a combination of the events of Adventure 1 and 2 (with the addition of Metal Sonic and some other characters of course.) would transpire, with Rouge the Bat getting involved with Knuckles due to her finding the shards of the Master Emerald, and the Chaos Emeralds trading hands several times, all up until the Season/Game’s climax.

It would all build with Robotnik planning to use Chaos to terraform the Earth by transforming him into Perfect Chaos, who, once he takes form, begins wreaking havoc on a coastal city on the mainland. At this point, the Chaos Emeralds seem shut off, and even though the Master Emerald is restored, it seems like there’s nothing that can be done. Shadow, having already begun to go through a change of heart when he sees the kind of destruction the doctor’s plans have wrought, and after some choice words from Amy, decides instead to join Sonic and Co. in what seems like their darkest hour. And, Shadow mentions that Chaos only absorbed the negative energy of the emeralds, being in-tune with Chaos Energy himself, he’d know this.

And so, Super Sonic and Super Shadow defeat Perfect Chaos together, Knuckles and the spirit of Tikal work together to seal Chaos back inside the Master Emerald, and the city begins to drain.

Shadow, having felt satisfied with this, then decides to go off on his own for a while, and mentions something about ‘wanting to discover himself’, and ‘trying to decide what Maria would have wanted me to be.’ 

Oh, and Eggman is finally thrown in prison for literally capsizing an entire city. But don’t worry, he’ll be back.

End of Season 2/Game 2.

Season 3/Game 3: Triple Trouble!

This Eggmanless Season/Game would feature a ‘Triple Threat’, in the form of 3 major villains! And all three of them brand new to the series! We’re introduced to Emerl in this season, as well as Great Kukku XV, and Heavy King.

The entire season would be intense, Team Sonic rushing to get the Chaos Emeralds once again, while the Battle Birds (frequently interrupted by Bean the Dynamite, calling out to his ‘brothers’) and Heavies scramble to get them before the team does.

All the while... Emerl grows stronger and stronger by the minute.

And, in a surprise twist, Emerl, having copied the data of Great Kukku XV and the Heavies, among many others, grows the strongest he ever has, and, like Mecha Sonic in Sonic 3, uses the Master Emerald (likely stolen by Heavy King or Kukku at this point) to attain a Super form, and Emerl becomes a terrifying conglomerate of everything that has led up to this point, Perfect Emerl, the thing originally meant to take down PERFECT CHAOS.

But, luckily, Kukku and King realize when they’ve been beaten, and decide to help Super Sonic take down Perfect Emerl. 

End of Season 3/Game 3. But like Season 1, let’s end off on a teaser. How about a small, flickering flame, with a visible shadow?

Season 4/Game 4: Return of Solaris

This is the final season/game I have planned out, although that’s not to say more couldn’t be done with this concept, it’s just about as far as I got. Essentially I was thinking this season could be a retelling and retooling of Sonic 06 with some details omitted or changed up like, for instance:

The romance between Sonic and Elise being outright axed! Matter of fact, while we’re at it, let’s just NOT make Elise a focus character so she doesn’t eat up screentime?

The weird time shit in this season/game being altered with Time Stones instead of Chaos Emeralds!

Less plotholes!

Focus on NONLINEAR timelines with LINEAR storytelling.

Silver is less silly!

Metal Sonic!

The Chaotix! AND THEY’RE HERE TO ACTUALLY BE HELPFUL!

Important Sonic characters being important!

Hey guess what? Eggman’s back and busted out of jail and he’s kicking ass! And he’s totally gonna release Solaris even though that didn’t work out so well for him last time!

Mephiles is still a cool villain! And he gets cool new designs for this series too that don’t stray too far from his original form!

I feel like this season/game would be kind of a hard fusion of Sonic CD and Sonic 06, with elements of Sonic CD being changing the past to ensure the future, and the future/present changing as a result. 

The climax of this series would be, well, you know by now. Sonic getting shot in the back, but then revived using the Chaos Emeralds and Time Stones together. But, even with Super Sonic, all seems hopeless, but, Sonic and Knuckles seem to have an idea, and it leads up, to our grand finale:

Solaris, the extra-dimensional being of ultimate power.

Versus

Hyper Sonic, Super Shadow, Super Silver, Super Tails, Super Knuckles, Super Amy, Super Mighty, and Super Ray.

With Solaris finally felled, Sonic and Co. use the last of the energy of their super forms to do two more things. 

Vanquish the flame of Solaris and Mephiles, and ensure that Solaris may never return to any Time Stream.

Silver’s future, although still broken, now looks much brighter, and the world is saved for the final time.

End of Season 4/Game 4.

I’m sure these ideas could be tweaked or changed around to span more seasons/games if certain characters or aspects of the series become popular, or if demand for certain characters appearing gets to be enough. Sonic has an immense library of games to do over or retell in this reboot, why not? 

And, this is just my idea for it, it doesn’t have to go this way explicitly. My only goal with this was to try to unify the Sonic lore in an interesting, unique manner, but also in such a way that it was new, fresh, and it made sense, most of all!

Opening

This really applies more toward the cartoon part of this reboot, that’s not to say the video game COULDN’T utilize the cartoon’s opening or something, it’s just that the opening is more for the show than it is for the games.

There’s a number of ways to go here, but in my mind, the best way to open a Sonic cartoon? Is the way you’d open a Sonic game. How about a condensed ‘remake’ of Sonic CD’s opening, with a few short clips from the first few episodes thrown in there to get people curious and excited about the show when it first airs?

There’s a cover of Sonic Boom by Crush 40 and Cash Cash just waiting to be used for this very thing!

I also think a condensed (that is to say, censored. I hate to censor a great song but ‘kicking-ass fast’ is a bit much for a show that’s likely gonna be PG-rated.) version of the Zebrahead (aka the BEST) version of His World would make for a GREAT opening.

Or if we wanna piggyback off of the recent success of Mania, how about a condensed version of Friends? Maybe we could even end the intro off on a remake of Sonic Mania’s title theme if we wanna have like, a classic Sonic emblem at the end of the opening.

I’d say the opening should be about... 60% new animation with Sonic platforming around and parkouring like he does or whatever, and about 40% old animation of various clips from the show or maybe even the games if we’re feeling kinda frisky to show off the series we’re about to watch, but also for budgetary reasons and to, again, get people interested in what’s actually IN the show, or maybe we could even do it like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’s part 1 opening or something where a couple of important scenes from the very beginning of the show or games are re-animated in a flashy way to achieve the same effect, but also wow the audience. That'd be a huge budget sink though and going a classic clip-show-and-new-shit route may just be the ideal compromise.

Marketing

This next part is also a lot more cartoon oriented, and kinda heavily depends on who’s gonna be sponsoring the show and who’s gonna be running it, but, hear me out.

Part of Sonic’s rise to popularity in the 90s was controversial, competitive advertising. And you know what? I haven’t seen anything really quite like this in a long time (except maybe for cleaner commercials), but, lots of people remember how pushy and in your face these commercials were, and how much they really pushed the superiority of the product they were advertising. So you know what? Let’s bring this back. Let’s bring back Sonic’s violent guerilla marketing campaigns.

It’d be a great throwback as well as a statement about Sonic REALLY comin’ back and comin’ back hot; which might get some new people interested to at least watch a few episodes, and in the process of that, they may find they like the new show/games a lot!

(NOTE: I DON’T HATE NICKELODEON, AND THIS ISN’T EXACTLY WHAT I THINK THE SHOW’S SONIC SHOULD LOOK LIKE, THIS IS JUST A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT OF WHAT I THINK THIS SHOW’S ADVERTISING COULD LOOK LIKE)

Or, if we want to opt for more positive, passive marketing strategies, why don’t we revisit an idea that was misused and make it better?

Idk about anyone else but I actually really like the ‘blue streaks to show where Sonic’s been’ idea that the movie posters did, and I think it has potential to make a really memorable-looking advertisement.

Or, why not opt for a more nostalgic passive approach and recreate some of Sonic’s old box art?

Again, it’d be a great throwback as well as a way to get people interested in the show. Although, if we go this route I WOULD say maybe we should make it a little more interesting than just ‘Sonic 1 pose on a black grid or popart background’? Maybe we should combine these box arts and add the pop-art details for little pops of color while Sonic bursts out of this black-grid frame with a richly detailed drawing of Green Hill in the background? I dunno.

Conclusion

Okay, so. I didn’t get to everything I wanted to explain (like other marketing stuff, merchandising, the new actual GAMEPLAY for these new games, how to write the characters and humor, how I think the general ART STYLE of these new cartoons and games should look, etc.) as a matter of fact, I still have a ton more ideas for this reboot, but, here’s the main point:

Sonic the Hedgehog, right now? Sucks. Because it’s such a mess. It has too many ideas that are going off in too many different directions. The best way to change that, in my eyes, is to start over and try to unify all these broken-up ideas into one. I believe this is possible, while still maintaining a pretty widespread appeal and giving broken, old ideas a second chance to shine, but still being fresh and new enough to have a lasting impact and leave the door open for new content later.

I’m really bad at ending posts like this, but, if you went into this post thinking that Sonic can’t or shouldn’t change, I hope I’ve at least provoked thought on the matter. And, maybe, all those hardworking people at SEGA will decide one day that things need to change, whether by a reboot, rewrite or just... doing something a little bit different.

Maybe then, just maybe.

Our blue blur will really shine again.

- Jenny, of @jennikkugoesoff and @jennikku

#Sonic the Hedgehog #Sonic the Hedgehog Reboot #Sonic Reboot #Sonic #sth #jennikkugoesoff #my rants #my essays

[authorazumarill]

Happy birthday @professor-cinnamon-roll !!!!

Running errands had never been a problem for Maxie. In fact, he quite enjoyed having the day to himself just to run around the city while also being productive. However, this is the first time that he's had to deal with Archie's grocery list. He's read it once, twice, and then multiple times after that and still had no idea what in the world Archie was planning on doing. He didn't even know where he was going to find half of the items on his list.

Oh, the joys of dating a warlock.

He looked at the paper list again as he stepped into the department store. Surely he could knock a lot of these items off of his list with this single stop. He didn't feel like running around the entire city trying to find these inane items. He pulled out a cart and got to work.

Some items were pretty straight forward. Long candles, check. Matches, check. Salt, check. A tablecloth, check. Archie must not want to face any rage that came from destroying Maxie's table. Good. Raw chicken breasts? Weird but okay. At least ten different herbs? Again, weird but okay. Eye of newt? Mazie pursed his lips in thought. Why in the world did that bastard put that on the list knowing damn well Maxie would never be able to find it. Instead of looking up and down the shelves for hours in this hopeless task, Maxie spared his sanity by pulling out his phone and calling the bastard in question.

One ring. Two rings. Then finally, he heard Archie's voice on the other end.

"Hey troublemaker." Maxie could already envision the cheeky grin on Archie's face.

"You're never allowed to make lists again," Maxie stated, getting straight to the point.

"Having trouble finding that toe of frog, huh?"

"Toe of frog?" Maxie knew that his vision was leaving him as he aged, but he's looked the list up and down and didn't see that written down. "Oh haha. Way to pull my leg, jackass."

Archie laughed on the other side of the line. "Christ Almighty, mate. I ain't joking. It should be on the back of the paper."

The back?! Maxie flipped it around and sure enough, there were more things to pick up. Maxie threw his head back and groaned, causing Archie to laugh even harder.

"You didn't see it!"

"I didn't think to look!" he countered. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright. The call was originally made to figure out what the everloving fuck eye of newt is, but also, what the fuck is toe of frog? Why the hell would you even add that on the list?"

"I knew you had no idea what they were so I figured you would call to ask and that just means I get to hear your voice."

"Oh, aren't you a charmer." If Maxie wasn't so annoyed he would have found Archie intentions to be endearing. He probably would end up finding it endearing once he cooled off.

Another snicker. "I try to be. But anyway, toe of frog is buttercup and eye of newt is mustard seed."

"Was that so hard?"

"It definitely wasn't as entertaining. Is there anything else ya need?"

"Not from the list. I may need to pick up some migraine medicine after dealing with your shit."

"Or I could brew ya up something that will prevent you from having migraines ever again."

Maxie browsed the aisles, finally finding the 'eye of newt.' Now onto the 'toe of frog' and he could finally wrap up his trip. "No medicine or magic known to man could allow me to handle you without feeling repercussions."

"Give me a lil' credit, love. If I was strong enough to raise ya from the dead, I think I could deal with a pesky headache."

Maxie couldn't really fight that logic. He was never one to keep the fight going after Archie pulls the "I raised you from the dead" card. If it weren't for Archie, Maxie wouldn't be here to stand and fight. He was so lucky to have met him in the bar on that fateful night. "Perhaps," Maxie hummed, a small smile spreading on his face when he found the last of Archie's items. "You may have to hold off on making that elixir tonight though. It looks as though you will be summoning a strong demon with these items."

"A furious beast will be tamed, yes, but it won't be messy."

"It better not be," Maxie warned. "You're in my apartment so you best summon Hell's politest demon."

"I'll try," Archie laughed.

"I'll be home in a little bit."

"Aw, I guess I'll cherish these final few seconds while we're still on the call."

"You have to be the world's biggest sap, you know that, right?" Maxie replied with a cheeky grin of his own.

"You remind me every day."  

"It's because it's the truth. Now goodbye. I'll see you soon. Love you."

Maxie could imagine that doofy grin Archie had on his face. It was the same one he always had when he heard those two oh so special words.

"Love you too, Max." Archie's words were delighted, not to Maxie's surprise.

Maxie was quick checking out his items. The less people saw his demon summoning objects, the better.

///

As soon as he pushed open the door, Maxie was met with the joyful barks of a dog ecstatic to see him again. The dog jumped up and tried to paw his legs for pats, but Maxie was unable to deliver since his hands were occupied with plastic bags.

"Sharpe, not now!" Maxie warned.

"Sharpe!" Archie called as he came rushing into the living room. "Behave yourself and sit." Without protest, Sharpe took a seat on the floor. The black furred beast sat with his tongue hanging out, knowing he was going to get a pat for being such a good boy. His prediction was correct. Not only did Archie pat him on the head, but once Archie took some of the bags out of Maxie's hands, so did Maxie. Maxie kicked the door closed and followed Archie into the kitchen, placing the bags down on the counter.

"You can just leave it," Archie said as she started to get his items out of the bags. "I'll go through them."

"It's not difficult to take things out of plastic bags," Maxie countered.

"Yeah, well, I got another favor to ask of ya."

Maxie had to stop himself from throwing his head back. "And what might that be? Do you need me to find a discarded vampire fang and the shredded shirt of a werewolf?"

"That would be cool but no."Archie stepped away from his project and grabbed a leash lying on the table. "Can you take Sharpe out for a walk? I haven't gotten the chance to do it and it might be best if he ain't here while I'm setting everything up to begin with."

Maxie rested his hands on his hips. "And what about Cami? I should get your dog out of harm's way but my cat can stay?"

Archie held up his hands to show he didn't mean to start a fight. "No. Cami's been staying away from me since he doesn't like me. He shouldn't be a problem. And I promise he stays safe. What I'm about to do won't hurt him anyway."

"What are you planning on doing exactly? I know I've been joking around with demon summoning, but I have a feeling that's not what you're up to."

"Good detective work." Archie winked. "But I can't disclose what I'm about to do just yet. Once I'm allowed to, you'll be the first one to know."

Maxie rolled his eyes before swiping the leash from Archie's hands. "When I get back, your police friends better not be here. Or any magic being, for that matter."

"Even me?"

"You can stay, but you're on thin ice." Maxie walked back out to the living room, noting that Cami was in his usual spot. The fluffy orange cat was curled up all nice and cozy in the recliner. Fleece blankets made the chair even more comfortable. So comfortable the cat didn't even raise his head when Maxie entered. Sharpe, on the other hand, looked thrilled as Maxie came back and hooked the leash on his collar. "I'll be back soon."

"Like, an hour?"

Maxie eyed Archie's suspiciously. That smile was hiding something. "Half an hour."

"Alright." Archie didn't deflate, but the way his shoulders slumped made Maxie think he wasn't too happy with that answer. "Be good, troublemaker."

"You best take your own advice," Maxie hummed, then led Sharpe out the door.

Sharpe was quick to take the lead once they were out of the building. His tongue flopped around and his tail wagged happily as he trotted along. Maxie shoved his free hand in his pocket, his mind feeling free to zone out for a moment as he thought about what in the world Archie could be up to. Knowing him, whatever he was doing was unpredictable. He could be summoning a demon or he could be making a brew to keep the grey hairs from showing in his hair and beard. Maxie would rather take his chances with the demon. He quite liked seeing Archie's age.

He wasn't a fan of Archie keeping secrets from him, though. Archie has been very transparent about everything. About who he was. About what happened that fateful night in the bar alley. About the world of previously unseen magic. He has been the world's best tour guide, and not to mention the most attractive as well. The fact that he wasn't telling Maxie what was up was...curious. Maxie doubted that it amounted to anything, but he couldn't help but keep his suspicions.

After taking a lap around the neighborhood, both Maxie and Sharpe were rather tuckered out. Both were old souls who couldn't party it up like they used to. Sharpe's tail never stopped wagging though. Archie claimed that Sharpe was the best familiar a person could have, but Maxie still couldn't grasp the whole concept of a "familiar." Sharpe was a good boy, best dog, and this was coming from a person who was more of a cat fan.

Upon entering the hallway to his apartment building, he was met with a delightful aroma wafting through the air. It was sweet and nowhere near overbearing. His brows furrowed in suspicion. The scent grew stronger the closer he got to his apartment door, so this had to be Archie's doing. What in the world was he up to? He had to be brewing something.

Maxie unlocked the door and took Sharpe off of his leash. Sharpe dashed in to the now dark apartment. He blended right in to the darkness. Maxie only knew he went to the chair because Cami hissed, very upset that the big dog was trying to be friendly to him while he was napping.

It was a good thing that Maxie really loved Archie, or else he wouldn't have time to deal with these kind of shenanigans. A pitch black apartment? Sweet scents roaming the air? Maxie stepped in and tried flipped the light switch on, only to find that it wasn't working. He flicked it a few times, only to get the same result.

"Archie?" Maxie called out. He instinctively looked toward the kitchen only to find that it was blocked off by something. It looked like one of his black blankets was floating in the air. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Archie emerged from behind the blanket.

"Hey! Uh, you're home a lil' sooner than I thought."

Maxie placed his hands on his hips. "I'm old. When I get tired I come home. Now what in the world are you doing?"

"You'll see here in, like, ten seconds."

"Is a very provocative demon about to emerge from the pentagram you're hiding?"

"I wish," Archie laughed and walked over to him, pressing a soft kiss against Maxie's huffy cheeks.

"Archie, you know I don't like playing these games."

"You'll like this one," he hummed. He waited one, two, three seconds before finally clapping his hands twice. The lights flicked on, but they weren't bright enough to fill the room. They stayed dim, filling the room with soft browns and warm oranges. The gems and sparkling stones on the shelves that filled the living room twinkled a little in the light. The blanket stayed up though.

Archie wrapped his arm around a very confused Maxie, gingerly leading him to the entrance of the kitchen. "I was working on a time crunch, but I say that I did a mighty fine job with all of this."

"With all of what?" Maxie inquired.

With a wink and a cheesy finger gun pointed to the blanket, the blanket dropped and slithered away to the edge of the room and out of their way. The kitchen table, normally cluttered with newspapers and other junk was transformed into something marvelous. A tablecloth draped over the edges. A candle stand sat directly in the middle of the table, supporting three unlit candles. With a snap of his fingers, the small flames flickered to life. Delicious food that looked like it would take hours to make was placed right in front of their plates. Oven roasted chicken was speckled with tasty herbs and juices, along with plenty of buttery rolls and sides that made Maxie's mouth water. Light of the flames bounces off of the half filled wine glasses.  

Maxie stood in curious disbelief. He looked over to Archie, who couldn't help but laugh at the clueless look on the redhead's face.

"We've been through a lot of hell as of late," Archie started to explain. "What, with you dying and our investigation getting deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole and all. We just need a night to rejuvenate ourselves. Plus, you keep on talking about how much you've been wanting to have a fancy date night, so I figured this was the best way to do it since, y'know, killers are lurking everywhere and all that."

Maxie could have gone without the gripping reality of it all, but Archie's sentiment was really sweet. He practically melted into the man's touch. His normally stern and tired face softened with rare, genuine smile. He cupped Archie's hairy cheek with one hand and turned it so he could give him a sweet kiss of gratitude. Now it was Archie's turn to melt into his touch.

Maxie broke the kiss, only to take Archie's hand into his own. "I must say," he said as he led the other to the table, "this is definitely much better than being met with Satan himself in my kitchen."

Once at the table, Archie released his hand and pulled out Maxie's chair like the true gentlemen he was. "I normally save that for the sixth date."

Maxie laughed. His huffiness was gone as he took his seat. The small flames continued to flicker, illuminating Archie's beautiful smiling face with soft tones of orange. Maxie was by no means an artist, but if he painted the view he had right here and now, it would be considered a masterpiece.

The air was soft and sweet. With another finger gun, Archie's phone on the counter began to play soft instrumental music to drive the mood home. This may not have been the fancy restaurant Maxie wanted to visit, but this was much better than that. He also didn't have to worry about the waiter poisoning his drink either.

"You are by far the best thing that has ever happened to me," Maxie admitted. Such a confession took Archie by surprise, but the goofy grin on his face said that he didn't mind it one bit.

"Love you too, Maxie."

#happy birthday!!!!!! #based on an idea between me abd a friend #c:

[nikibogwater]

“Feline Paralysis”--a Tales of Arcadia fanfiction

Feline Paralysis (def): A state of immobility caused by the presence of a cat on top of one's person.

Archie's boy has been working himself too hard ever since Merlin took them in, and Archie is determined to put a stop to it by any means necessary.

It is Soft Douxie-Archie Friendship Hours, my dears. @poetryinmotion-author gave me the prompt, and I think I may have taken it way further than even she was expecting, so....yeah, buckle up, it’s time for some Feels. 🙃

Read on AO3

Or below the cut:

Archibald was on the hunt. 

It was actually a rather nice change of pace, truth be told. Archie hadn’t needed to hunt even once since Merlin took them in two weeks ago, and while he certainly appreciated having immediate access to food at all times, he had been growing a bit stiff and lethargic as a result. A cat (and a dragon too, for that matter) simply had to spend a little time stalking and chasing, or else they would lose their edge. Today’s hunt was a bit different, however. This hunt was not about obtaining food, or even just keeping his claws sharp. No, this hunt was about something a little more dear to Archie’s heart. 

Today, Archie was hunting Douxie.

Something strange had come over the boy in the last two weeks. He had been uncannily industrious, jumping at every opportunity to do even the most menial of tasks, slaving away in Merlin’s study long after the Master had retired, even badgering the old wizard for more chores to do. Douxie was no stranger to hard work, that was true. He may have been an excellent con artist, but he still had to earn his bread the old-fashioned way from time to time. But he also relished what downtime he and Archie were able to get. Douxie had a mind that liked to wander, and a great affinity for sleep. And he was still a growing boy on top of that. He needed his rest. Yet ever since they had come to live with Merlin, Douxie had hardly stopped moving, except to collapse into bed at any ungodly hour of the night, only to rise again with the sun a few hours later. It was beginning to take its toll on the young wizard’s health. He somehow looked more gaunt and malnourished here than he did in the gutters of Camelot, and his normally brilliant mind was a jumbled mess of task lists, potion ingredients, and whatever new spells Merlin was managing to teach him in between his frantic bursts of labor. 

Archie intended to put an end to this nonsense. This just wasn’t like Douxie. Whatever was going on with his Familiar, he intended to suss it out and squash it like a bug. And so, the hunt had begun. He had been stalking his quarry since breakfast, and had yet to see him so much as pause to breathe. In just four hours, Douxie had gathered and prepared thirteen different varieties of herb for potion brewing, tidied and swept the study, memorized seven new spells, milked the Slorr, done the laundry, tidied and swept the study again, and now he was occupied in reorganizing the bookshelves (which he had already done just yesterday). Archie prowled in the shadows nearby, tail flicking back and forth as he watched for the opportunity to strike. 

Douxie’s arms were full of heavy tomes, and he had a quill pen stuck between his teeth as he glanced between a roll of parchment on a nearby lectern and the half-empty bookshelf. He fumbled with the books for a moment, managing to slip one back into its proper place on the shelf before the other three went tumbling out of his arms and landed with a soft thud on the floor.

“Oh, fuzzbuckets,” Douxie groaned, taking the quill out of his mouth and crossing something off of the parchment. He set the pen down and knelt to gather up the fallen books. He wobbled a bit as he stood up, and had to brace himself against the bookshelf for a moment. Archie flexed his claws impatiently. Douxie shoved the other three books into place and checked his list again, crossing off a few more lines. He stopped for a moment, eyes darting between the parchment and the bookshelf once again, and his brow furrowed. He looked over at his Familiar, who immediately pretended he had been washing his face the entire time. “Archie, you haven’t seen Merlock’s Grimoire of First-Level Spellcasting, have you?” 

“You left it in your quarters last night,” Archie replied, lifting his glasses with one paw so that he could wash around his eyes with the other. “Though why you were studying it is beyond me. You already know all of your first-level spells.”

“Fuzzbuckets,” Douxie said yet again, dragging his hand across his weary face. “I don’t suppose you’d go get it for me? I don’t want Master Merlin to miss it if he needs it.” 

“What, and break my spine trying to lug it all the way back here? No thank you. This is your job, Douxie. You do it.” The boy shot Archie an irritated look that was only intensified by the evident exhaustion in his face. A lesser cat would have broken. But Archie had seen an opportunity here, and he intended to exploit it. He held his ground and stared back with blatant defiance. A moment later, Douxie heaved a sigh and shuffled out of the room, unaware that Archie had stood up to follow him the moment he turned away. 

Douxie’s chambers were far less orderly than the study, which was rather impressive, considering they hadn’t been living there for very long. But the floor was already a mess of open spellbooks, hastily-scribbled notes, and various magical bits and bobs to study and observe at a future date. It was almost too easy for Archie to slink into the room at Douxie’s heels and conceal himself amongst the chaos. He crouched behind a stack of books, golden eyes fixed unblinkingly upon his target, waiting for the perfect moment. Douxie rifled around the mess on the floor for a moment, checked inside the writing desk he hardly ever used, then finally noticed the object of his search sitting innocently on the bed, half-covered by a fold of the blanket. Archie tucked his paws beneath him and coiled up like a spring as Douxie approached the bedside. The boy bent down to pick up the book, and that’s when the dragon attacked.

Launching himself into the air at full speed, Archie shifted into his larger reptilian form and slammed into Douxie’s back with his full weight. Weakened and unaware as he was, the young wizard toppled onto the bed with a startled yelp. There was a moment of confused flailing and scuffling, and for one terrifying heartbeat, Archie could feel the tension of defensive magic in the air, as Douxie’s powers flared instinctively. But it was gone a second later, as the boy managed to roll over and see his Familiar perched on his chest, grinning down at him smugly. 

“Really, Arch?!” Douxie barked. “I could have killed you!” 

“Don’t make me laugh,” Archie scoffed. “The worst you could do in this state would be to ruffle my fur.” He settled down on Douxie’s chest and began to knead. 

“Arch, stop it. You’re being an ass.” 

“And you are digging yourself into an early grave,” Archie shot back, never wavering in his kneading. “Do you know how many hours of sleep a boy your age needs?” Douxie opened his mouth to argue, but Archie cut him off. “Nine to eleven hours, on average. Do you know how much sleep you’ve been getting every night since you came here?” Once again, the boy tried to speak, but Archie wouldn’t hear it. “Four to six. You spend all day running around after Merlin, and even when he dismisses you, you won’t keep still, you just go hunting around for more work to do. Your head is so jammed up with magic incantations, it’s a wonder you even remember to breathe sometimes. You are killing yourself, Douxie. And as your Familiar, it is my duty to put an end to it. You are going to lie here in this bed until I say you can get up, and you are going to think of nothing related to Merlin or your apprenticeship while you do.” 

“Archie!” Douxie protested. 

“No arguing. Now keep still.” 

“Archie, you don’t understand!” Douxie’s voice had shifted from annoyed to pleading. “I have to finish my chores. I have to study. I need to do a good job!” There was a moment’s silence as the cat regarded his boy, taking note of the desperation swimming in his sunken hazel eyes. 

“...Why do you feel that way, Douxie?” he asked softly. “Why do you feel like you’re not allowed to rest?” 

“...I....I don’t...” The young wizard fumbled for an answer, eyes darting around the room to avoid meeting Archie’s gaze. 

“Hisirdoux,” he said gently, using a tone of voice that Douxie hadn’t heard from him since he was a small child. “Please talk to me.” Archie felt his boy give in beneath his paws as Douxie let out a long, tired sigh. 

“...I don’t want to go back on the streets, Arch,” he whispered. “I don’t want to go back to hiding who I am.”

“Well, of course not. But what does that have to do with the late nights and the obsessive cleaning?” 

“...I guess....I don’t want Merlin to regret taking me in. Living here in the castle, learning magic from a real Master Wizard, having a real home...It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. I don’t want to screw this up. But I do screw things up, all the time. I’ve mislabeled ingredients, spilled ink on one of Merlin’s books--you know, he won’t even let me practice real spells yet because even my magic is full of mistakes. I need to do better. If I can’t do this right, then....what good am I to him?” He paused and took a deep breath. “...I just want to be worth something to him.”

A long, heavy silence followed. Archie had stopped kneading and was staring sadly at Douxie, who looked uncomfortably close to tears after that admission. His poor boy, thrust out of his home and family when he was only eight for something he couldn’t control, rejected by the world, beaten down by poverty, and his only source of love was a little black cat searching for a purpose. And though Douxie put on a brave front, laughed in the face of misfortune, and did his best to carry himself with all the dignity of a true wizard, he was still just a child; a child who had suffered terribly from the unfairness of a cruel world, and was somehow convinced that it was his own fault. 

“Douxie...” Archie began softly. “...I can’t speak for Merlin. I still don’t know what motivated him to rescue you from the knights that day. But I do know that, with as many mistakes as you make, you are good enough for me. I’ve met a great many humans in my time, Hisirdoux, but you were the only one I chose to be mine. And if you are good enough for a dragon-turned-Familiar, then you are certainly good enough for that crusty old windbag. He won’t turn you out simply for being human and making a few mistakes.” Archie laid his head down and tucked it beneath Douxie’s chin. “...I won’t let him.” 

He felt the boy’s breath stutter and heard him swallow thickly. Two scarred, gentle hands came up around Archie and held him close. Douxie’s thumbs stroked absently across his Familiar’s fur as he spoke in a quivering whisper:

“Thanks, Arch.” Archie purred and pushed against Douxie’s chin, his paws resuming their methodical kneading against his chest. Another silence fell upon them, this time a warm and comfortable one. Douxie sniffled once or twice, but his hands were steady as they ran up and down Archie’s back. “...I really should finish organizing the books, though,” he murmured. “I left the study in such a mess.” 

“Now, now, Hisirdoux.” Archie dug his claws into Douxie’s shirt--not enough to hurt, but enough to make his point. “You wouldn’t be cruel enough to turn away a poor, wretched cat that has come to rest upon you, would you?” He shrank back down into his feline form and squinted his golden eyes fondly. 

“No, no, don’t look at me like that. Archie...!” Archie snuggled down against his boy and gave a contented purr that he knew could never be resisted. Douxie gave up with another sigh and closed his eyes in defeat. “Fine. Just for a little bit.” 

*****

“Hisirdoux!” 

Merlin Ambrosius had had many apprentices in the past, but none of them had ever mystified and bewildered him as much as the grubby lad he’d pulled off the streets two weeks ago. The boy was a whirlwind of energy and untempered magic, always hovering at Merlin’s side or bustling around the castle. The old wizard had even resorted to asking some of the castle servants to abandon a few of their chores, just so he would have something to keep the lad occupied and out of his rapidly thinning hair for a few hours. And now after all that, he had returned to his study after a long morning of attending to a very irate Arthur only to find half of his library strewn across the floor, and his newest apprentice nowhere to be seen. 

With an exasperated sigh, Merlin magicked all of the books back into their rightful places (Why were they even out to begin with? Didn’t Hisirdoux reorganize them just yesterday?) and stormed out of the study, already preparing an extensive lecture on the dangers of carelessness and lack of focus for when he found his young ward. A brief scan of the nearby area for magical signatures told him that the boy was currently holed up in his chambers. That was a bit odd. Hisirdoux usually didn’t spend much time there. No matter. Merlin swept down the stairs and through the hallways with the great sense of purpose that only a Master Wizard can achieve, and burst into his pupil’s room without even bothering to knock.

He was immediately greeted by a blast of fire. 

Fortunately, he was able to fling up a magical shield just in time to save himself from what would have been a very nasty burn, but to say that Merlin was displeased by this greeting would have been an understatement. He turned his furious gaze onto the culprit, who was hovering in midair and baring his fangs like a wild beast. 

“Archibald, what is the meaning of--!”

“Shh!” The ungrateful little creature cut him off with a growl. “If you wake him, I swear I will end you.” Merlin looked past him to see Hisirdoux curled up on his bed, sound asleep. 

“What in the name of all things magic is going on here?” Merlin hissed. “Why was my study left in complete disarray, and what is my apprentice doing lazing about in bed in the middle of the afternoon?!”

“Your apprentice,” Archie spat the words out like poison. “is a child. A child who has been working himself to the bone trying to please you. He has been dead on his feet for the last fifteen days, and I was only able to get him to rest through brute force and manipulation, two things which I would rather avoid using on my own Familiar when at all possible. We are grateful for your kindness, but I will not allow you to disturb him now, regardless of the state of your study!” 

Archie had been prepared to drag the Master Wizard from the room by his hair if necessary, so he was rather surprised when Merlin reacted, not with anger, but genuine surprise. 

“...Hisirdoux hasn’t been sleeping?” he queried softly. 

“No,” Archie replied shortly, landing on the floor and staring up at Merlin disdainfully. “He hasn’t.” 

“But why on earth not? I did tell the servants to provide him with a comfortable mattress.” 

“The mattress isn’t the issue. Douxie believes that if he does not make himself useful at all times and do everything perfectly, he will be cast out of the castle.” 

“Who put such madness into his head?” Merlin demanded. “Of course I expect him to earn his keep here, but I never told him to expend himself to the point of exhaustion. And as for perfection, if I had been looking for that, I certainly wouldn’t have gone searching for it in the gutters of Camelot.” 

“...Then may I ask what exactly are your intentions regarding my Familiar?” Archie inquired, narrowing his gaze. 

“I simply wish to help him, Archibald. Nothing more or less.” The cat opened his mouth to reply, but froze as Douxie gave a muffled grunt and shifted in his sleep. The wizard and the Familiar both silently regarded the boy for a moment. “...I suppose the life of a street urchin can dull one’s belief in basic human kindness,” Merlin sighed, a gentle look coming into his normally stern eyes. He looked back at Archie. “When he awakens, please tell him that I have decreed in no uncertain terms that he is in no danger of losing his home here.” 

“I...” Archie fumbled for a response for a moment. “...Yes, of course.” Merlin gave him a curt nod, then looked back at Douxie. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, then he raised his hand and, with a soft pulse of green light, pulled the rumpled blanket across Douxie’s slumbering form. Then he left without another word, closing the door softly behind him. Archie sat where he was for a minute, staring at the closed door as though he could still see the wizard who had disappeared behind it. Then, shifting back into his cat form, he rejoined Douxie on the bed, curling up against the boy’s back. 

Good enough, indeed, he thought. You are more than good enough, Hisirdoux.

#tales of arcadia #toa #wizards: tales of arcadia #wizards: toa #douxie #tales of arcadia archie #fanfiction #archie is a therapy cat #and douxie is a precious moppet #merlin is just a tired dad

[quilser]

3rd Times a Charm ~ Choni-Shot

Prompt: The 2 times that Choni hinted at their relationship, and the 3rd time where no more hints needed to be given.... ;)

~ A pretty popular request of wanting the gang/school to find out about Choni, so I did my variation on the fun little idea. Hope everyone enjoys and please keep it up with the prompts my loves - Quil ~

Read on ao3

“Are you insane? How on earth is Love, Simon better than Rebel Without a Cause?” Jughead practically screamed toward Toni as they both sat in the back corner of the Whyte Wyrm as they had been for the last few hours. Betty was out with her mother attempting to pacify the overzealous grandmother who wanted to buy everything in a 50 meter radius for her two new grandchildren so Jughead had some time on his hands.

“Jug, have you ever even seen the movie?” Toni snarked as she reclined into her seat in the booth with a smug look knowing what Jughead’s answer would be. She watched as Jughead readied himself to answer but quickly closed his mouth and crossed his arms with a pout before releasing a muffled ‘no’. Toni chuckled to herself.

“Thus, my point is proven. Love, Simon is infinitely better than your wanna-be-indie-kid movies from the 50s.” Toni laughed after her words at the look of Jughead’s further disapproval. She would’ve continued laughing had a particular tone not come from her phone signaling that she’d received a message.

Toni looked at the screen and immediately smiled seeing the sender of said message before quickly swiping it open to read through. Jughead, seeing the quick change in Toni’s demeanor, attempted to stretch his neck in such a way that he’d be able to see whoever the pink-haired Serpent was messaging.

“Sorry Jug, but I have to head out.” Toni, unaware of Jughead’s actions, locked her phone screen right as Jughead was able to read the first letter of whatever name the messenger possessed. Jughead was about to speak in protest to Toni’s sudden exit, or at the very least ask what had her off in such a hurry, but before he could speak his friend was out the door and on her motorcycle rearing off into the night.

Jughead was, to say the least, confused over Toni’s behavior. She wasn’t one to simply leave on someone else's whim. She was independent to a point and yet one text from someone managed to get her up and moving without a second thought.

What had that name been; ‘C’ something?

-`-`-`-`-`-`-

It had been a while since Cheryl had one of her infamous sleepovers. Veronica could vaguely remember the last in which a long and rather tedious hair brushing train and been the only interesting part of the night - so far as she knew.

That’s why she was so surprised to see Cheryl accept playing Truth-or-Dare as part of the current nights events as she tended to stray away from things that made her have to pay attention to the lives of the other girls.

Betty and Josie were on either side of Veronica as Cheryl sat directly across from her. Josie had just finished up her dare of texting an ex of hers a “drunken message” which Betty was allowed to type out since she’d given the dare and so the girls turned towards Cheryl in anticipation.

“Alright Cheryl. Truth or dare.” Veronica spoke as she wiggled her eyebrows towards Cheryl only to watch the other girl contemplate her words before deciding on an answer.

“Truth. No way am I doing one of your dares.” Veronica faked offense before the entire group laughed. Almost in an instant, Veronica knew the truth she wanted to ask though.

“Alright Cheryl, but I must warn you, my truths aren’t any easier.” Veronica winked in the other girls direction and visibly saw as Cheryl shifted uncomfortably from her spot on the floor.

“Your truth is…” Veronica took a moment to build the anticipation of the circle. “What’s up between you and that Toni girl who came last time we did this?” Veronica had noticed the absence of a certain pink-haired Southsider who’d made an appearance at their last get together. While Veronica had known about, but been pleasantly unaware of the details of the girls connection to Cheryl, the absence of her made Veronica’s mind jump immediately to a falling out between the two.

“That...is a secret even you couldn’t bribe out of me, Lodge.” Cheryl spoke without a thought and was quick to take the “failure-to-complete” shot that had been made the punishment of the night. While Cheryl was never very forthcoming with information, her willingness to drink without even dancing around the bush to try and get out of it sent everyone into strange looks and stares at one another.

What exactly was Cheryl’s relationship to the new female face at Riverdale High?

-`-`-`-`-`-`-

The usual gang of students was sitting in the student lounge of Riverdale High without a care in a world. Unlike a few months prior, the general group was now accompanied by a select few of the Southside kids who’d recently joined their picture perfect high school experience.

“I’m serious Toni! Your one of the best cheerleaders to ever grace the halls of Riverdale High. Even Cheryl couldn’t make a negative comment about you, and trust me, that’s a rarity at best.” Betty was speaking to Toni as the other girl attempted to modestly speak on her involvement in the River Vixens upon questioning from Archie about her joining the team.

“Oh come on Betty. It’s not like Cheryl has some vendetta against all other people and strives to be mean towards them. She was just being nice.” As soon as those words left her mouth, she received questioning looks from the rest of the group sitting around her who had never heard the words ‘nice’ and ‘Cheryl’ in the same sentence before unless the word ‘not’ sat in the middle of them.

“You half-wits don’t have to look so surprised at someone calling me nice.” All heads whipped around to see Cheryl standing with arms crossed and one leg extended in her usual “bask-in-my-glory” pose. No one saw the way Toni smiled seeing the redhead enter the room.

All eyes followed Cheryl as she walked over to what they presumed to be the empty couch in the room, but all took in a slight gasp when Cheryl sat down next to Toni. All eyes went instantly towards noticing the proximity of Cheryl to Toni which could challenge even Archie and Veronica’s level, or rather lack there of, personal space.

“Honestly Cheryl, I wasn’t really aware that you wanted to be known as nice…” Betty’s words trailed off as she, like the others, continued to look between both Cheryl and Toni. Both girls who had become the object of everyone's attention seemed unaware of the stares. Cheryl only rolled her eyes at hearing Betty’s comment as she usually did towards anything that she saw as a waste of air.

“I can be nice when I want to, bleach-blonde-Barbie.” Now everyone's eyes trained onto Betty in search of a potential comeback, but Betty was too consumed by the way Toni laughed softly to herself upon hearing Cheryl’s comment.

“Whatever Cheryl.” Betty said this almost as a question with her eyes still trained on Toni with a confused stare on her face as the two only seemed to be getting closer.

Conversation returned to normal with both couples resuming back to talking among themselves; seemingly forgetting the pair that was whispering quietly between themselves across the coffee table. No one noticed their presence again until the shrill sound of a bell rang throughout the school, signaling the end to lunch.

Betty was the first to get up, as she was never one to even risk being tardy to class, and Jughead slowly rose behind her not nearly as interested at the prospect of investing himself into a math class directly after lunch. Just as Betty and him were about to leave though, Jughead made a quick grab at Betty’s arm and stopped her only to turn around to look at Toni.

“Hey Toni, you want to meet up at the Whyte Wyrm tonight? We never got to finish our discussion on movies the other night when you left.” Jughead watched as Toni started to open her mouth to agree, but instead shut it immediately at the sound of the girl next to her overpowered the room.

“Sorry serial-groper. She can’t tonight.” Cheryl took a moment to look in Toni’s direction before speaking again. “She already has plans.” Jughead caught the way Toni smiled before shaking her head in agreement.

“What she said Jug. Sorry. Maybe another time?” Jughead was about to give a confused, but accepting nod before Cheryl beat him to any type of response.

“Great! See you tonight babe.” Cheryl planted a quick kiss onto the corner of Toni’s mouth before giving a quick wink and walking out with bag in hand leaving a very much surprised Toni. Jughead’s mouth hung open alongside Betty’s and Veronica’s who had also witnessed the display of affection.

“Wait. You and Cheryl Blossom? She’s the one you’ve been texting?” Jughead’s voice raised with each question and all Toni could do was sit with her mouth agape just like everyone else. Obviously, she hadn’t been expecting Cheryl to kiss her anymore than the rest of the group had been.

“Wait, I’m confused. Was the fact that Cheryl and Toni were dating a secret or something?” Everyone, including Toni, immediately turned their attention to Archie who was still seated on the couch with Veronica standing next to him. As he looked around, he realized that some explanation was in order.

“They were literally making googly eyes at each other for the past 2 months.” Archie spoke looking at everyone else in surprise for them not knowing before he spoke again. “....And I might have seen them making out outside of the locker rooms one day after practice…” Archie whispered this last part only to receive a slap on the arm from Ronnie.

“Archiekins! Did you not think it prevalent to relay such knowledge to your girlfriend at the very least?” Archie, seeing the double-edged sword staring him in the face opted to simply remain quiet and look at Toni in hopes of her taking the attention off of him.

“Well I guess that cat’s out of the bag…” Toni once again received the eyes of everyone in the lounge and just as Veronica was going to speak up, a second warning bell rang signaling that only 2 minutes remained to get to class sounded through the halls.

“We’re gonna be late.” Betty was the first to speak up and her words were immediately followed by her pulling a still very shell-shocked Jughead away behind her. Hearing the bell, Veronica decided that Toni could be placed on the hot-seat at another time and instead geared her attention towards nagging at Archie for not telling her as both left in the way of their next class.

Toni still remained on the couch even after the last bell rang, very well accepting the fact that she really wasn’t going to focus on school for the rest of the day.

The only thing that pulled Toni out of her trance was a quick ding of her phone saying that she’d received a new message. Toni took out her phone and saw the name with a small red heart emoji sitting beside it and opened the message immediately to see what the girl had to say for herself.

Cheryl <3

Sorry for the surprise kiss Cha Cha. I just wanted the King of the Hipsters to know that any little plays at touching you were unwarranted and entirely unwanted. See you tonight ;)

Toni let a smile slip across her face reading Cheryl’s words after noticing the jealousy that seemed to drip off a few words throughout the text. Cheryl was many things as Toni had come to find out, but a sharer, no; that wasn’t one of them.

#choni #choni fic #cheryl x toni #cheryl blossom #cheryl bombshell #riverdale #riverdale fic #I didn't feel like adding all the conversion stuff #So sorry that it isn't perfectly canon #But I just can't with that storyline atm

[genderbinaryisforlosers]

in ep4, painting 2, mata mentions that mcferson “underwrote an exhibit of attieno’s work at the tate modern in 1971,” the same year mata recorded her tapes of claudia’s work there. i’ve never noticed that line in my listening before— could that be suggesting mcferson plays a role in controlling what mata discussed/ thought in her guide ? could mcferson be working with the society/institute to brainwash mata ? that could explain why her information on claudia is inconsistent throughout episodes.

(con’t) listening through that painting, mcferson is killed, so maybe he’s actually like mata ? in that his trying to remember/ discuss claudia’s pre-society representation in her art drew too much attention to him, causing him to be hunted down and killed as a precaution to the society ? i’d love to hear your take on this

thanks for the ask! Archie is an interesting one. i didn’t catch the “underwrote” line the first few times i listened either, and when i did i wasn’t sure what it meant. 

underwriting can be defined as “undertake to finance or otherwise support or guarantee (something)” which would just mean that he bankrolled the exhibit. considering he was a banker and apparently a fan of Claudia’s (he owned a collection of her work) this is entirely reasonable

but i like your take too. as Roimata points out, money yields influence, and since she suspected he paid off the World Council to let him have personal bodyguards, maybe he did have some control over what went in the Remembrance Wing in 1971. let’s remind ourselves of those paintings

Still Life with Orchid

House with Yellow Door

The Charcoal Dish

Woman in Bath

Self Portrait with Cat

here is where i’m going to remind you that Archie and Claudia were friends. not always an indicator of good intent, i know, but the nature of their friendship specifically causes me to be skeptical of any special shadiness here

they shared conspiracy theories

specifically, Roimata mentions the Institute, which is depicted in 3. The Charcoal Dish. if Archie had anything to do with choosing the paintings in the Tate Modern, it was to make damn sure that The Charcoal Dish was there. The Truth Is Out There etc etc. he probably just wanted it talked about. the others, i can’t be sure of; House with Yellow Door discusses life before the Society, so that could’ve been him too. and who knows, maybe he knew something about Self Portrait with Cat that we don’t?

the Remembrance Wing is the only exhibit he’s mentioned to have funded, and then he died in 1974. under, uh.... suspicious circumstances. so of all the characters to be involved in hushing up the Society, he would be unexpected! and considering he died before the inconsistencies began, highly unlikely.

i wouldn’t be surprised if Archie never got mentioned again, and if he is... i have a feeling he might get tweaked just a little bit too.

#archie mcpherson #within the wires #wtw theories #wtw s2 #meta #a-cogless-automaton #riley replies

[minky-beta]

Cheryl Blossom x Reader:  Whole New Side

Request: When requests open: Cheryl x reader: the reader is a huge power rangers Nerd and is an expert martial artist because of it. This information is unknown to Cheryl and the reader's friends the core four and Kevin. Secretly the reader has been sneaking off to compete in martial arts competitions. One day her friends and girlfriend get suspicious and follow her only to witness her win first place and win a massive trophy. End with Cheryl calling the reader Daddy. Please and thank you.

A/N: I used to be really invested in my old dance studio, so I tried to kinda apply that, hope it worked. Also I know like -nothing- abt martial arts, so I was pretty vague, sorry if that bothers anyone

The reader is gender neutral.

I hope you all like it! And stay amazing! <3

You loved martial arts. It was your thing. Mad? You could do conditioning to grow stronger. Sad? Just fill your head with technique, not on what was hurting. Bored? Try to learn some new punch or kick or way to take someone down. Power Rangers was what made you first ask for lessons. Considering how got into martial arts, your parents thought that you would lose interest and quit after a month or two. Being good at martial arts didn't mean that you would get a neon suit and fight aliens and get superpowers, but you stuck to it. 

You loved it because it was fun, and you were good at it. As school got busier, you went down to only having classes on the weekend, though a lot of the time you had competitions. 

It was kind of like a separate world to be honest. Even though you loved it, it wasn't something that you talked about it at Riverdale High. You had a whole other different circle of friends, and you kind of felt like a different person around them. Don't get it wrong, you loved both of these worlds, they just never intercrossed. 

While your martial arts world was strong and exciting, your Riverdale world was comforting, it felt like home, even when drama was whirling around everywhere. One thing that reassured it as home was your girlfriend, Cheryl. 

You and her had been together for a while already. She was like a cat to you; she was strong and independent one second, then cuddling and kissing you with a cute smile the next. 

You usually were able to balance the amount you spent with your girlfriend and your friends with martial arts, but lately you had been cancelling in order to fit in more practice. The state martial arts competition was coming up, and it would determine whether or not you went to Nationals. 

The year before you had gotten close to Nationals, only to end up losing your last match, and losing the chance to get to Nationals that year. You were more nervous about this competiton than usual, so the extra practice helped you stay calm, even if it was just for a while. 

That didn't mean that your friends weren't suspicious. Your group had made a habit of meeting up at Pop's after school, and they all came up to you asking questions after you missed three days in a row, though you were too busy thinking about the competition to actually give them real answers. 

As the weeks went by, your friends only got more and more worried, but you only kept cancelling more and more often (which made them more worried, really bad cycle). 

After two weeks of acting like this, Cheryl was seriously concerned about you. She had been the calmest one about this at first, thinking that you just needed some alone time, but she noticed that even when you were hanging out with her or your friends, you weren't really there.

It was now the day before the competition, and you were shoving stuff from your locker into your backpack, trying to get to the dojo soon, when Cheryl grabbed your wrist to freeze you. You raised your eyebrows at her. "Is everything alright, Cher?" 

She scrunched up her eyebrows. "I was about to ask you that," 

"What are you talking about?" you asked, shutting your locker, "I mean, I'm a little stressed, but nothing that's a big deal," 

"Stressed? Why are you stressed? There aren't any exams coming up," 

You were about to answer when you saw the time. "Listen, I'm running late. But I promise that I'll talk to you later, okay?" you sighed, before leaning closer and giving her a chaste kiss, "Bye sweetie," 

Before Cheryl could try to stop you, you were out the school's doors. She huffed. She wasn't used to people just brushing her aside, especially not you. You were one of the most attentive people she knew, that was one of the reasons she liked you so much; it showed you cared. 

She clenched her jaw before she stalked out of the school, figuring out a plan as she head towards Pop's. Cheryl opened the door and all but ran over to the table where your friends were, usually you were with them, but she wasn't surprised when she saw you were missing. 

Veronica noticed her first and raised her eyebrows. "Cheryl, what are you doing here?" Although she had grown nicer with your friends, her and the group themselves weren't exactly friends. 

Cheryl slid into the booth; Archie and Jughead sliding to accommodate. "Is Y/N not interested in me anymore?" 

The table looked surprised, and Betty shook her head with wide eyes. "No, Y/N is still very into you. Why?" 

Cheryl pressed her lips together. "Then what's going on with them/her/him?" 

"We thought you knew," Jughead said. 

"Nope," Cheryl admitted, "Y/N's barely talked to me these past few weeks to be honest," 

"The same thing's been happening with us," Veronica said with a frown, "We thought that they/she/he were cancelling to hang out with you," 

Archie leaned on the table. "What do you think is going on then?" 

"I don't know," Betty sighed, "But I'm really worried about them/her/him," 

Cheryl nodded. "Y/N's been really distracted and stressed. I'm really worried too," 

"With Riverdale..." Veronica added with a frown, "You have no idea what could be going on," 

"Would Y/N really get involved with something bad, though?" Archie asked and Jughead nodded along. 

"Polly seemed fine," Betty said, "And it turned out that she was stuck in an asylum for being pregnant," 

Veronica nodded, before Cheryl spoke up. "I heard Y/N on the phone during lunch, apparently there's something really serious after school tomorrow," 

"We should follow them/her/him," Veronica suggested. 

"Isn't that crossing a line?" Jughead raised his eyebrows.  

"What if Y/N really is in trouble?" Betty asked, "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if Y/N got hurt because we weren't there," 

"Either way, we can at least see what's stressing Y/N out," Veronica said, "Whether or not we should be worried," 

"I'm doing it," Cheryl said, shooting a look at Archie and Jughead, "Who's with me?" 

"I am," Betty and Veronica followed. 

"Count me in," Archie mumbled. 

Jughead clenched his jaw before he nodded. "Okay, I'm in too," 

You were a bundle of nerves the entire day. Your leg would bounce up and down during classes. You would keep zoning out of conversations and class. Although you felt sick, you forced yourself to eat more than usual at lunch, the last thing you wanted was to feel dizzy at competition. 

Because of this, you didn't notice the concerned glances your friends kept sending each other. But you always drifted the conversation to something trivial (talking about the competition just made you feel worse). 

You rushed out of school as soon as the bell rang, meeting up with one of your friends who was also competing. "You ready?" they asked. 

"Nope," you laughed, "Pretty terrified," 

"Same here," they smirked before the car started, and the both of you were on your way to the competition. 

Your friends and Cheryl were only one car behind you, making sure that they could see you. Archie was driving with Cheryl in the passenger seat, while the rest were in the backseat. Although Betty and Veronica tried to keep a conversation going, the entire ride was tense and mostly silent. 

Cheryl had lost track of time when you all pulled up to a different high school. Despite it being past the last period, the parking lot was full, and they struggled to find a parking spot. 

The group looked at each other with raised eyebrows as they got out of the car; they had lost you once you pulled in. "What would Y/N be doing here?" Veronica asked as they slowly made their was to the doors. 

"I don't know," Betty said, "Why are there so many people here? It doesn't make sense," 

"But that probably means that Y/N isn't doing anything dangerous," Jughead commented, "What criminal ring would do business here?" 

"I'm still a little worried," Archie admitted as the group stopped in front of the doors. They glanced at each other before staring at the doors, waiting for someone to take the first step. 

"We could still turn back," Jughead whispered, "Y/N would never know that we did this," 

"No." Cheryl clenched her jaw and pressed her lips together. "I want to know what's been making Y/N so stressed these past few weeks, whether it's dangerous or not, I want to be there for them," 

Before anyone could comment, Cheryl turned on her heel and strutted past the doors, oozing an aura of confidence that at the moment, she didn't possess. 

How the group found seats in the crowded gym, none of them knew. The sounds of the crowd was deafening, and Veronica could already feel a headache coming on. They couldn't find any clues as to what was going on, only a few mats on the gym floor. Cheryl's eyes ran over the crowd, looking for you, and she got worried when she didn't see you. She had never met the person that you got into the car with, and she wanted to believe that you were alright. 

Before she could voice any of these concerns, a man stepped into the center of the gym with a microphone. He gave a short speech that she didn't pay attention to, before yelling out some names. Cheryl furrowed her eyebrows when he yelled out "L/N!". 

"Was that Y/N's name?" Archie asked. 

"I think so," Cheryl muttered, and they both looked at each other confused. Betty gasped and nudged Cheryl's arm as she pointed to the floor. "I think that's Y/N!"

When Cheryl squinted, she could make out your features. You were in a martial arts uniform, with another person in a uniform standing across from you. The ref repeated the rules to the both of you, and you two nodded at him. 

He nodded at you, satisfied, before he blew his whistle. Faster than Cheryl could think, you and the person had begun fighting. You both threw punches and kicks, all looking random to Cheryl, but she knew from your tense form that there had to be some sense to it that she didn't know. 

Cheryl winced when your legs were thrown out underneath you, making you land on your back. You grunted as you swung your leg towards the lower part of your opponent's legs, making them fall as well. You jumped up, grabbing their arm and pulling it behind them. They struggled, before the ref blew his whistle again, and the both of you relaxed. 

You smiled and held a hand out to your opponent. Cheryl could make out you saying "Good fight up there" as the two of you shook hands, before another pair was brought up to the mat. 

Countless pairs went up against each other, and she tensed up whenever you came up. She would calm down whenever you bought yourself another win, only to get worried again by the next round. 

"Y/N's killing it," Jughead said with a wide smile and raised eyebrows. Veronica nodded. "How did none of us know this?" 

"I don't know," Cheryl said with a smile as you brought down, yet again, another opponent. She couldn't comprehend how she knew so much about you, yet so little at the same time. She could recite your favorite books, your favorite lines from movies, and your favorite songs. She knew what your dream house was, so much so that yours and hers had melded into a middle ground. And this had never came up. 

She could tell by your focused eyes, yet complete ease at the end of the fight, that you had done this for a long time and obviously cared. Her eyes glazed over as you sent them a huge smile, complimenting them before going back over to your coach and friends. 

Archie nudged her with concern evident in his eyes. "What are you thinking about?"

"It's just... Here I was thinking that I finally understood Y/N, and then I find out that there's this whole new side that..." Cheryl trailed off with a small smile as she watched you. "I've never touched or thought about. A side I didn't even know existed,"  

Archie nodded with a smile before another pair came up to the mat; the group immediately taking sides and bets on who would win just based off of how they stood.

“Redhead’s definitely taking this one,” Veronica shrugged, “Look at those shoulders; they could bulldoze someone,” 

Jughead shook his head. “They were clumsy just on their way to the mat, no way they’re gonna last long,” 

Your hands were shaking as you stared at the last fight. You would fight the winner of this fight, and that would determined your placement in this competition. By now, you were guaranteed to move onto Nationals, but there was a difference between moving on as 1st or 2nd. 

Your coach put their hand on your shoulder and squeezed it. "You'll do fine kid," You sent them a nervous smile, before the ref blew his whistle. You gulped as the winner stood up with a smile. They shook hands, and the next thing you knew, you were standing up, on your way to the center. "I can do this," you whispered to yourself before you stepped onto the mat. 

They smiled at you and moved their blonde hair out of the way. "Good luck," "You too," you smiled, feeling yourself relax just a tiny bit. 

The ref repeated the same rules to the both of you before blowing the whistle. You dodged their kick, pushing back on their leg to make them lose their balance, throwing a punch before they could regain it. They moved out of the way, stumbling for a moment before standing straight. 

You huffed before taking a deep breath. You threw a punch, before aiming another kick at them. You moved closer to them as you threw punches, making it harder for them to dodge it. 

It was a flash of adrenaline as you aimed your hits and kicks, while trying to dodge the ones they threw at you. This fight was lasting longer than usual. Every time you thought that you finally had them, they would throw a punch that would take away your breath, or hit your legs and make you stumble. 

You swept your leg under theirs, feeling relieved when their eyes widened. You threw another hit and used your weight to get them more off balance. You both grunted as you hit the ground. By the time that you had collected your thoughts, working to make sure that they didn't get back up, the ref's whistled cut through your panting. 

You froze for a moment before you scrambled off of them, helping them up. The ref grabbed your wrist, pulling it up as he said your placement. 

Your opponent clapped with a sad smile. "Congrats," 

"Thanks," you said, "You did great ya know," 

"Thanks," they said, before you turned to your coach, giving them a tight hug. As you hugged the rest of your friends, you felt exhausted, happy nonetheless, but exhausted. You shook your head as you got away from your friends, walking right outside for the fresh air. You shut your eyes as you leaned against the wall, realizing that your limbs were even heavier than you had anticipated. 

"Hey," you heard a soft voice that was familiar. 

You opened your eyes, breath hitching when you recognized Cheryl. "Hi sweetie," 

She smiled at you, stepping closer before she gave you a peck on the cheek. "Why didn't you tell me about this?" ‘

"I don't know," you shrugged, "It just never came up," 

Cheryl rolled her eyes with a smile. "All those late night talks, and you never thought to tell me that you were some karate badass?" 

You laughed, grabbing her hand and squeezing it gently. "How did you even get here?" 

"Me and your friends were worried about you," she trailed off. 

"You guys didn't follow me, did you?" you said, before laughing when she said nothing. "You are all ridiculous, why do I hang out with you?" 

"Cuz you love me," Cheryl said, pressing her mouth against yours, relaxing against her and putting a hand behind her neck to try to pull her closer. She pulled away, leaning her forehead against yours. "You were really hot out there ya know," 

"Really?" you laughed, wiggling your eyebrows up and down. "It really was," she whispered, kissing you again before pulling away a lot sooner than you liked, "Daddy,"  

You let out a small laugh as you pulled her closer, kissing her again before biting her lower lip, smirking to yourself when she whined against you. 

You pulled away from her, about to speak, when the doors to the school opened, your friends stepping out. Betty and Veronica rushed to you to give you tight hugs. "You did so good out there!" Betty cooed next to your ear. 

You laughed and said thanks as the boys came up to you, giving their own congratulations. You text your friends that you had a ride home, while climbing into their car. 

"Ya know," Cheryl said with a smirk, "You could stay at my house tonight. I know your parents off on a business trip," 

You smiled. "Cher..." 

"Please," she said, pouting out her lower lip. 

"Okay," you said, giving her a chaste kiss.

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