that’s really interesting! I love the concept, great art too :D
perhaps a more confusing part of the rewrite is the fact that the true story of forces is obscured within its own world. two versions of these events occurring, a more wholesome and toned down layered over the truth. after all, as far as we're concerned, sonic is strong. he's supposed to be fine. he will be fine. sonic doesn't need a hero to save him.
Prisoners of War, the Effects of Solitary Confinement, and Sonic the Hedgehog
Remember when Sonic was a prisoner of war? Well turns out, that can damage your brain in some pretty awful ways (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). It’s been revealed in several studies that being a POW can cause schizophrenic disorders, anxiety, debility, etc.
But, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s talk about the torture that happened in those six months.
Sonic Forces is said by many fans to employ the term “torture” loosely, that simply being confined to an empty room for an extended period of time (six months in this case) is no warrant for the term. While yes, the game certainly does not address the event properly, making it seem as if this circumstance is no big deal, in reality, being confined to an empty room with no human contact is what is defined as “solitary confinement”, a punishment becoming more and more infamous for its adverse effects on those it is inflicted onto.
The various consequences of solitary confinement on a person’s psyche go as follows (Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement):
-Hyperresponsivity to external stimuli, including ordinary things such as the sound of plumbing in another room.
-Perceptual distortions, illusions, and hallucinations, mostly auditory, but may be visual depending on the individual
-Panic attacks
-Difficulties with thinking, Concentration, and Memory
-Intrusive thoughts, typically those of violence against captors
-Paranoia
-Lack of impulse control
-Delirium
Furthermore, the effects and issues with solitary confinement are so severe, that a UN human rights expert stated that solitary confinement for more than 15 days has every right to be labeled as psychological torture (https//www.ohchr.org).
I’ll drop a bit of the professional tone because, well, this is Tumblr, but on with the hedgehog.
As shown here, Sonic has cuffs around both his wrists and ankles. In all honesty, this is even worse than being locked up in a small room. All proper movement for him was restricted. There was no proper stimuli around him, he was locked in a metal prison. Once again, this was for six months. Sonic already struggles with staying still, he feels the need to run most constantly. Being restricted for that long could not have been good for him.
The thing is, you don’t even have to stretch to say that Sonic was tortured, because solitary confinement is torture. Perhaps it would explain why he didn’t give Tails a proper hug upon his return. After all those months with no proper contact, it might have been too much for him at the moment.
“Yawnfest” is nowhere near the proper term to describe these conditions. The proper term is said in the game itself: “torture”.
Maybe this was why Infinite said Sonic “reeked of fear”. Sure, it could easily be interpreted as infinite stroking his massive fucking ego, but what if Sonic truely was afraid? Not only was he defeated (easily) by him, but also Infinite locked him in solitary confinement (ie: torture) for six months.
You don’t have to come up with a bunch of stuff not shown on screen to feed your angst needs (I mean, if you want to, all power to you). You’ve got all the ingredients for a delicious angst-pie right here.
Prisoners of War, the Effects of Solitary Confinement, and Sonic the Hedgehog
Remember when Sonic was a prisoner of war? Well turns out, that can damage your brain in some pretty awful ways (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). It’s been revealed in several studies that being a POW can cause schizophrenic disorders, anxiety, debility, etc.
But, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s talk about the torture that happened in those six months.
Sonic Forces is said by many fans to employ the term “torture” loosely, that simply being confined to an empty room for an extended period of time (six months in this case) is no warrant for the term. While yes, the game certainly does not address the event properly, making it seem as if this circumstance is no big deal, in reality, being confined to an empty room with no human contact is what is defined as “solitary confinement”, a punishment becoming more and more infamous for its adverse effects on those it is inflicted onto.
The various consequences of solitary confinement on a person’s psyche go as follows (Stuart Grassian, Psychiatric Effects of Solitary Confinement):
-Hyperresponsivity to external stimuli, including ordinary things such as the sound of plumbing in another room.
-Perceptual distortions, illusions, and hallucinations, mostly auditory, but may be visual depending on the individual
-Panic attacks
-Difficulties with thinking, Concentration, and Memory
-Intrusive thoughts, typically those of violence against captors
-Paranoia
-Lack of impulse control
-Delirium
Furthermore, the effects and issues with solitary confinement are so severe, that a UN human rights expert stated that solitary confinement for more than 15 days has every right to be labeled as psychological torture (https//www.ohchr.org).
I’ll drop a bit of the professional tone because, well, this is Tumblr, but on with the hedgehog.
As shown here, Sonic has cuffs around both his wrists and ankles. In all honesty, this is even worse than being locked up in a small room. All proper movement for him was restricted. There was no proper stimuli around him, he was locked in a metal prison. Once again, this was for six months. Sonic already struggles with staying still, he feels the need to run most constantly. Being restricted for that long could not have been good for him.
The thing is, you don’t even have to stretch to say that Sonic was tortured, because solitary confinement is torture. Perhaps it would explain why he didn’t give Tails a proper hug upon his return. After all those months with no proper contact, it might have been too much for him at the moment.
“Yawnfest” is nowhere near the proper term to describe these conditions. The proper term is said in the game itself: “torture”.
Maybe this was why Infinite said Sonic “reeked of fear”. Sure, it could easily be interpreted as infinite stroking his massive fucking ego, but what if Sonic truely was afraid? Not only was he defeated (easily) by him, but also Infinite locked him in solitary confinement (ie: torture) for six months.
You don’t have to come up with a bunch of stuff not shown on screen to feed your angst needs (I mean, if you want to, all power to you). You’ve got all the ingredients for a delicious angst-pie right here.
Edit: Just realized that solitary confinement and torture were said as two separate thoughts in the original dialogue. Jesus fucking Christ.
I do love a whole lot of the parts of s3, but…
Why was the fight FOUR EPISODES?! This caused a huge pacing issue making it so that the ending felt rushed, and thus I didn’t get the satisfaction and emotional conclusion that I wanted. The fight felt SO LONG. Just the fight was about 1 hour and 20 minutes, which is INSANE. If I were to rewrite season 3 (because I do still adore s1 and s2) I would make the fight only 2 episodes. Then, we can have Nine’s redemption feel less sudden, and we can have the ending of Sonic seeing his friends again, maybe even crying like he had before. We could have Sonic and Shadow have a moment together that could be interpreted as romantic, much like many of their other scenes. And finally, NO cliffhanger. It almost made everything feel pointless to me, idk. All in all, s3 was kinda disappointing, in my opinion. A noticeable drop in quality from season 1 and 2.
wow, what a season! It was really fun to watch. And seeing my headcanon about Sonic’s reasons for his actions come to fruition was amazing. I honestly thought it would have been interesting if Mangy and Sails stayed dead? My main gripe is the ending, it felt so rushed and it didn’t really give me the satisfaction I hoped for. Though, because they originally ordered 24 episodes, and there are only 23, I’m guessing that there’s going to be some kind of special? Idk, maybe not. I wish there were tears when Sonic and the crew reunited. On a positive note, Shadow’s expressions when he saw the condition of Sonic were beautiful.