AND I AM VERY PROUD!

Thought on being Genji's first love after his accident.

After coming to terms with his new body under Zenyatta's guide, he still never really put himself put there. Back before Genji always had someone to spend time with, he never was as alone as he was now. He always had a girlfriend or many people he spoke to, but now it's just him and a body he still didn't really like to look at. He more focused on training, meditation and any missions overwatch sent him on.

That was until the new overwatch recruit came along, they were friendly and treated him like a human. He enjoyed talking to them, either training alongside them or a quick wave when they passed by. He felt his heart quicken a little bit when they were near but he pushed those feelings down, nobody could love something like him right?

Soon enough him and that new recruit would spend time outside of overwatch, getting lunch together or him walking them home. With enough convincing, he would eventually show his face to them. Removing the helmet willingly for once, his face was so pretty you couldn't help but admire it. Genji felt embarrassed, scars were everywhere and he didn't like to think about them.

He reached for his mask again but you caught his hand, stopping him from covering his face again. He relented and let you touch his face, his cheeks were dusted a soft pink and he averted your gaze.

"I don't know why you cover your face, it's very handsome."

His blush deepened, he tried to reply but he couldn't think of any words. You realized what you said but before you could apologize he spoke.

"Thank you.. I. I never expected to hear that.."

He smiled softly, he took your hand in his.

"Especially not from someone as beautiful as you."

Genji never thought he would be called handsome again, but maybe this was the beginning of something new.

Relationship Headcannons

| Reaper | Soldier:76 |

Reaper (Pre-Fall)

He loves you with all his heart; always letting you know how much you mean to him. In his line of work, he never knew if he was going to come back home from a mission, so he wanted you to know that you were his world.

You are his everything; he wouldn’t know where he’d be if it weren’t for you (most likely drowning beneath pile of paperwork and neglecting his health to distract himself from romance).

Being in a relationship with the Blackwatch commander definitely came with benefits. You were treated as an equal by the other higher-ups, soldiers were as sweet as can be to you and you were allowed to put your input when it came to missions.

The benefits of being in a relationship with Gabriel was also accompanied by a high number above your head for your life by villainous organizations that wanted the Commander to suffer.

Gabriel loved to shower you in affection; hugging you from behind as you worked, giving you kisses whenever he saw you, complimenting you on how well you looked and how you always managed to steal his breath away.

He loved taking you out on date; being able to show that he was your lover was a privilege and he took it with pride. He would take you to different restaurants, letting you lavish in the expensive life style, but he always preferred to stay at home a cook a delicious meal beside you, slow dancing in front of the fire place while soft music played in the background.

He did his best to protect you. Whenever you were assigned to a mission, he tried to talk you out of it, but soon understanding when you refused, telling you that he completely understood and that he wanted you to come home safe and sound.

Reaper (Post-Fall)

He refused to show you his face, fearing that once you saw his rotting features you would see him as a monster and never near him again.

He kept you secret from Talon, making sure you were under the radar from the terrorizing group. He also never spoke word of his occupation, telling you that it was better left unsaid.

He always kept you safe, protecting you from anything that threatened you; whether it be a stranger passing by or Talon itself. He would do anything to keep you out of danger, even if it meant taking down Talon himself.

He wanted to ravish you in jewelry and pricey items, but you refused the gifts, telling him that his presence was gift enough and being near him always made you feel safe.

Reaper always surprised you with appearances; showing up out of nowhere with a bouquet of flowers in hand. He would occasionally be at your front door, but you became used to leaving your window unlocked for him whenever he wanted to visit.

You were his getaway. You were the one that made him happy and feel as if he was worth something. He wanted to show you how much you met to him, but he never found a way to express himself. He was nervous to speak of romance around you, fearing that you would change you mind of being his lover.

He loved you with all his being, whether he was dead or alive, his overwhelming feelings for you would never shift. Even though he was always one to stray away from affection, telling you that he loved you whenever he saw you was something he never forgot to do.

Soldier: 76 (Pre-Fall)

He was excited to have you as his lover. He had loved you dearly and when you had said yes, he was over the moon with happiness.

He cherished every moment with you. Laying in bed beside each other? It was everything to him. Seeing you laugh and smile? It was the world to him. Every moment with you was held with upmost importance.

Forehead kisses were a staple in your relationship. He loved pulling you close, his chest against yours, to press his lips to your forehead.

He loved seeing you kick ass while out on a mission; it was hard for him to hold himself back because you looked so amazing. Your clothing left nothing to the imagination, allowing you to be more agile. You looked down on your defeated enemy, your foot on their back to hold them still as your gun rested on your shoulder. You were a total badass is Jack’s eyes.

Jack loved to you to the movies, even though the whole demand for a cinema was dying out. He would always ask you which film you wanted to see and what snacks you wanted. While you watched the movie, he would pull you close, his arm around your shoulders and your head leaning against him. Occasionally he would settle for holding hands, but he loved it whenever you were pressed to his side.

Whenever you were sent on a mission that he hadn’t been assigned to, he would walk up to you before you left on the Dropship. He would cup your face and pull you into a passionate kiss that left you wanting more; “Come back to me safe so we can finish that.” He would say, sending a flirtatious wink.

He was slow with everything, making sure you were comfortable. Before your first kiss, he asked you if it was alright and waited to see if their was any hesitation. He cared about you and he wanted you to know that.

Soldier: 76 (Post-Fall)

Reluctancy at it’s finest. Yes, he wanted to be in a relationship with you, but he was scared of the consequences to come. What if you found out who he truly was before he was read to explain? What if Reaper began to target you in a form of revenge? Thousands of “what ifs” flew through his mind when you first popped the question, but after a while of speaking with one another, he said yes.

He was gentle with you, afraid to hold your hand or even kiss your cheek. He didn’t want you to regret your decision.

Your happiness was his happiness; whenever he caught eye of your grin or your laughter filled his ears, he couldn’t help the small smile that crawled onto his lips.

While out on missions, he always looked after you, making sure you were covered and safe — even though you continued to tell him that you were okay on your own. He never wanted to see you slightly injured, let alone a severe wound that could possibly claim your life. He wanted to be the one to take the attacks instead of you.

Soldier: 76 was not the first to say “I love you”. He wanted to tell you how much you meant to him, but he was scared, especially being a wanted man. His heart fluttered when the words left your lips — he felt as though he were on Cloud 9.

A simple home-cooked meal shared in front of the sunset was his favorite date. He would have a bundle of flowers set in a vase in the center of the table; nothing too tall and invasive, but just enough for there to be a decoration. He always enjoyed sitting down with you, the warm glow of the setting sun caressing your skin as you chatted about your day.

Being alone with you was relaxing; no one pestering him about paperwork or going on missions. Just a calm atmosphere as you relished in each other’s company. He liked his personal space, but he couldn’t help the way his heart skipped a beat when you fell asleep leaning against him.

————————————————

Masterlist

venom, what's your favourite thing about Eddie?

Venom:  “And also he lets us watch the television while he’s sleeping.”

Age of Triumph…

“Cayde!? CAYDE!”

“Woah, hey, kiddo. You alright there?”

“Cayde, you’ve got to listen! Someone’s going to kill you, and I-”

“Easy, Tal. From the top, take it slow.”

“I…” Talyn takes a deep breath. “I was, um…practicing.”

“We talkin’…” Cayde pantomimes shooting himself.

“Yes. You and I were fighting together, in the Prison of Elders. We almost had everything under control, but…”

“Buuut? C'mon, this sounds like a good story.”

“Cayde, I’m being serious! We got seperated, and I couldn’t make it before some…thing shot Sundance. You died in my arms, and I…”

She wraps Cayde in a possessive hug. He pats her on the back.

“Listen, it’s just a dream, alright? I’m fine. See? Got all my arms, got all my fingers.”

“Cayde, these are glimpses of the future. I can’t just write it off.”

“Look at it this way- I’m stuck in this Tower. Not a lot can shoot at me up here, y'know?”

“Yeah…heh, maybe I’m just being silly.”

“Maybe. But hey, who doesn’t get silly every once in a while?”

“Cayde?”

“Uh-huh?”

“…promise you’ll keep safe?”

“‘Course. I promise. Now you go get 'em, Tal.”

Thoughts on Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)

Shadow has been my favorite Sonic character for years. My earliest exposure to Shadow was at my local Boys & Girls Club. We had a GameCube where kids would take turns playing games. I distinctly remember watching several kids try to beat the final boss of Sonic Adventure 2, though I didn’t fully click with it at the time. My first real exposure to him was through cutscenes posted to YouTube in the early 2000s because I didn’t have a gaming console growing up. I would watch Sonic X when I was able, specifically seeking out the episodes with Shadow. When I finally got a PS2, I got Shadow the Hedgehog because, well, Shadow.

I was not great at it. I struggled a lot because of the slippery controls, flying off stages, and bombardment of bullets. I maybe got through one ending if that.

And for the longest time, that’s all I really had. I got a PS2 towards the end of its lifecycle, the PS3 was already out and I struggled to find other titles.

I had other Sonic games like Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Colors, Sonic and the Black Knight, but outside of party games like Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games and Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing, Shadow the Hedgehog is still the only story driven game I own where Shadow is playable*.

So, when the recent news about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic x Shadow Generations dropped, I decided to finally beat Shadow the Hedgehog after all these years.

Over the course of 4 days, I worked my way through the 8 remaining endings I had left (having completed the true hero path and the semi hero path a few years prior). And after a decade of owning the game, I beat it.

So what are my thoughts?

While I can acknowledge the game’s flaws…I still don’t hate it.

I’ve watched several videos that explain why this game is terrible, from the mechanics to the butchering of Shadow’s character. And I agree.

Chaos Controls

The game is hard to control, I recognized this even growing up, but I mainly chalked that up to “I’m bad at Sonic games”, which is also true.

Until I beat Shadow, I’d never beaten a Sonic game because I lacked the reaction time. We’ve come close, we’re at Eggmanland on Sonic Unleashed, but I had never beaten a Sonic game.

I even tried to play Radical Highway on my friend’s copy of Sonic Adventure 2, and I struggled hard with the controls.

Shadow’s controls are indeed wonky. Multiple times my homing attack would send me flying off the stage, Shadow wouldn’t aim at the enemy right in front of him, and I’d miss jumps because Shadow would stagger on the edge of a platform.

After I learned how to better manage these flaws, the game became much easier. I began to slow down my homing attacks so I wouldn’t fly away, and started jumping before the edge of the platform. This didn’t erase these problems, I still fell off the stage from time to time, but they didn’t happen as frequently. I got so good that I got A Ranks on the neutral paths for Westopolis and Prison Island.

Shadow’s air shoes make him slippery to control, but I feel like all Sonic games are slippery? Maybe that’s just me, but even with Adventure 2 and Unleashed, I felt like I was slipping and sliding all over the place. So, with Shadow, I’d slow down a bit if I felt like I was going out of control. Granted, this is still a Sonic title where speed is key, so the advice to “slow down” is not really the best if you’re going for all A Ranks.

I Think You’re the Fake Hedgehog Around Here

This is the game where Shadow gains his “Edgy Hedgie” status.

He has guns!

He says “damn”!

He hates humans for killing Maria! (Even though…that’s not what Maria wanted)

He wants to learn the truth about his past cause amnesia’s a bitch! (Even though…he already learned hakuna matata in Sonic Heroes, apparently)

Yea, I admit this game is a huge step backwards for Shadow’s development. Post-SA2 Shadow cares deeply for his closest friends, mainly Rouge and Omega, but is reserved around others. He’s a hedgehog of few words. He has respect for Sonic, a little bit of a rivalry, but it’s not to the extreme where Shadow hates him. He doesn’t hate humans, but if push comes to shove, he will defend himself if they attack him first. This side of him is well illustrated in the cutscenes for Sonic Heroes and, yes, even Sonic ‘06.

However, this is not the Shadow we see in his titular game. Shadow’s cold towards Sonic, he sounds annoyed anytime he shows up. Depending on the path you take, he becomes downright cruel. He never really talks to many of the other characters outside of the ones in cutscenes. And when he does speak to them, it just feels out of character most of the time. Shadow has a distain for humanity, commenting how they’re pathetic and he doesn’t have time to for them when the Black Arms begin destroying Westopolis.

However, there are a handful of parts where the Shadow of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes can be seen.

Any level where Maria is your companion is a good example. Especially the cutscene before Lost Impact.

Cryptic Castle Hero, you help save Cream and Cheese, afterwards he heeds them to stay away from Doctor Eggman, showing he does care about them.

The Pure Hero path is probably the closest you get to Shadow’s true character, even though there’s still a few moments that feel off. “This is like taking candy from a baby, which is fine by me” is probably the most out of character line, and you’ll only hear it by doing Hero missions.

Apparently this line still relevant to Shadow, as he steals popcorn from a Chao in an official Sonic Team Racing animation.

This might be a hot take, but the Dark Path on Final Haunt didn’t feel like a sudden betrayal to me? The way Sonic talks during and after the fight makes me feel like he saw it more like a friendly competition. Especially when you compare his dialogue to the other endings where you fight Sonic.

Final Haunt Dark Path

(Before the Boss)

Sonic: “Shadow! Why are you siding with those black creatures?”

Shadow: “Siding with them? You’re joking, right? I’m just siding with whoever goes against you! This time you’re going down, Sonic!”

Sonic: “hehehe, if that’s how it’s gonna be, Shadow, then bring it on!”

(Start Boss Fight)

Sonic: “Alright. Ready to do this? Come on!”

(After the Boss)

Sonic: “…Man…I didn’t think ya had it in ya…”

Sonic’s delivery makes it feel like he’s not angry with Shadow, but that he’s impressed. At least that’s how I read it anyway. He doesn’t sound distraught or scared like he does in the Pure Dark Path, he just sounds exhausted cause Shadow put up a good fight.

Sonic even offers Shadow a “friendly competition” if you do the Hero Path in Westopolis, but Shadow declines because he’s got other priorities at the time. He still doesn’t agree with Black Doom’s mission, he just wants to take Sonic up on his earlier offer.

Regardless, this game has had a lasting effect on Shadow’s character that he’s still trying to shake off. He went from a solemn hero who cared deeply for his closest friends, to an angsty anti-hero who only cares about himself.

Thankfully, it seems like he’s starting to get back to his old self in Sonic Prime (I’ve only seen season 1 and a handful of clips from the recent seasons, haven’t been able to get caught up, so correct me if I’m wrong).

Let’s hope Sonic 3 and Sonic x Shadow Generations continue to repair the damage.

In His World, Your Choices Don’t Matter

Shadow’s gameplay has three paths you can take; Hero, Dark or Neutral, with 10 possible endings. You can mix and match these paths however you please. You can start Dark then redeem yourself, turn on your friends in an act of betrayal, or just say “nah, imma do my own thing”. This freedom of choice was a massive selling point for the game. Do you want Shadow to be a “black-hearted evil” or “brave-hearted hero”?

This freedom of choice is present in a handful of my favorite games, like Epic Mickey and Undertale.

But, Shadow fails at this “choose your own adventure” format. Yes, your choices impact which of the 10 endings you get, but none of these 10 endings are the true ending.

This is apparently left over from the Sonic Adventure-style games where you had to play everyone’s storyline to unlock the last story, where all the characters join together and fight the Final Boss.

However, this format does not work when we follow one character for the entire game.

In order to unlock the true ending, you have to complete all 10 endings. And if you’re someone like me who always goes for the good endings because being mean makes you feel bad, then this will be a hard pill to swallow.

The Last Way begins with Shadow already in possession of all 7 Chaos Emeralds, we have no idea how he got them, so basically every path you spent hours playing mean nothing. They’re not canon. Only a few parts here and there are still relevant past this point.

No matter what you did, Shadow will always turn on Black Doom, destroy the Black Comet with the Eclipse Cannon, and save the world. Which kinda negates the whole “choose your own adventure” gameplay.

Epic Mickey’s ending is also the same no matter what you do, Mickey still defeats the Blot and frees Wasteland. However, you’re still shown how your actions impacted the residents of Wasteland. For example, if you choose to paint the Clocktower boss, you see it happily playing with some Gremlins. But if you destroy it by thinning its arms, you see it lying in ruin.

Shadow’s endings are more like the ending from Clue.

The only parts that remain canon are the Chaotix story, and conversations Eggman had with Shadow on the Neutral path.

Throughout the game, the Chaotix are digging into old files. Charmy is looking for secret disks on Prison Island, Vector is looking for the notorious computer room on the ARK, and all three were hacking into Eggman’s computer before Digital Circut. The data they found contained a video message from Professor Gerald addressed to Shadow. Gerald explains the purpose of the Eclipse Cannon, and we’re shown it was recorded before Maria’s death, as she pops in at the end.

That is one revelation that enhances Sonic Adventure 2’s story, in my opinion. Professor Gerald created the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Black Comet when it returns in 50 years, only using it against humanity after Maria was killed.

If you battle Devil Doom past the 9 minute mark (which I did a handful of times because I’m a terrible shot), Eggman will tell Shadow he lied about him being an android and that he rescued Shadow at the end of Sonic Adventure 2, and he is, in fact, the real Shadow. Which…I feel like was obvious because our Shadow had more polygons than the androids.

Also the Sonic Heroes manual straight up says that he is the real Shadow and he survived the events of Sonic Adventure 2, so…

Where There is Shadow, There Must Also Be Light

I’m the type of person who always tries to find the good, even in the worst things. So here’s some things about Shadow that I did love.

The pre-rendered cutscenes look amazing. Almost 20 years later, and they still hold up.

By the way, guess who worked on these amazing cutscenes? After watching the credits 11 times, I noticed a couple names in the credits, Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller. Not ringing any bells? Well, Fowler went on to direct the live-action Sonic movies, and Miller was a producer on them. This is their only Sonic credit outside of those movies, so I think it’s safe to say we wouldn’t have these awesome movies if it weren’t for Shadow.

The soundtrack is also great. “I Am…All of Me” is still one of my favorite Sonic and Crush 40 songs, “Never Turn Back” struck a cord with me, and the rest of the lyrical songs had me vibing while I took a breather during the credits.

It might just be because I had to replay the levels multiple times, but I’ve had a handful of those tracks stuck in my head for years. Circus Park, Sky Troops, Lava Shelter and Cosmic Fall are a few that stick out. “Vengeance is Mine” from Sonic Adventure 2 returns as the soundtrack for the 2P Battle Mode. Yes, it took me a long time to realize it was the same song. Even when Sonic games are “bad”, they never slack on the soundtrack.

Goodbye Forever, Shadow the Hedgehog

I consider Shadow the Hedgehog to be one of my guilty pleasures. I recognize there’s a lot of things that don’t work. Shadow’s character took a drastic turn that he’s still trying to recover from, the controls feel like roller skating on ice, the “choose your own adventure” gameplay forgot about the “choose your own” part, and it’s so edgy you can slice your hand open just by touching it.

But despite all of this…I still enjoy it? Even though I was annoyed and exhausted by the game, I still had fun. The good parts are still good enough that I unironically enjoy them. And the bad parts at least can get a laugh out of me with how dumb they are. “Where’s that damn FOURTH Chaos Emerald?” and “Find the Computer Room!” are classic Sonic memes.

Do I recommend beating Shadow? Oh hell no. Not unless you’re a serious Shadow stan or a masochist. I’d say play as much as you can tolerate.

*in the time since I wrote this, I got a copy of Sonic Heroes. Currently stuck on the Power Plant level with Team Dark. HOW DO I GET PAST THE LAVA??? 😭

Nice Question. My favorite of all is obviously Beauty and the Beast. 😊

Most Romantic Disney Movie?

Asking for opinions for... REASONS. But what Disney movie (I’m talking original animated) do people think is the most romantic one out there?

Saw your most recent tiktok🤭

Could you do something for Lucio when you get the chance? Please and thank you

First date headcannons with Lucio, Cole Cassidy, Mauga, Lifeweaver, and Genji with gn!reader

Word count: 1.7k

Warnings: Fluff, a little suggestive but not too much.

Notes: The ask probably meant NSFW but wanted to write something light while i work on an anon request for Cole Cassidy. Prefer girls? check here

Lucio:

I always think of his valentines day voiceline bless him, he'd be quite nervous to ask you out. If you don't do it for him, he'll most likely want to be traditional and get you flowers before stuttering out an invitation.

Once you've actually said yes, he'll relax a little bit.

Most likely your first date is going to be music related. He won't take you to his own concert, but if there's a concert playing music he knows you'll like he'll take you there.

Alternatively, might take you dancing to show off a little. When he's around music, he feels much more confident so he'll be able to be himself and even be a little flirty.

You might have to put up with people coming up to him for his autograph though. But it'll give him a rush when everyone realises he's on a date with you.

After dancing the night away, he'll probably take you to try some street food. He'll insist on paying, he's a celebrity after all! But he ends up not needing to when the vendors recognise him as the hero who stood up to Vishkar and insist on giving you both what you want free of charge.

Given that the weather is nice, he'll do his best to be respectful and not look at your body too much. However if you're wearing shorts...lord have mercy, they're his weakness.

When you guys part ways, he might cheekily ask for a goodnight kiss but he's happy with anything. Considering how much fun you both had, he's confident you two will go out again sometime.

Feeling the beat of the music, Lucio moves like it's second nature to him. You both laughing and joking as he starts to dance with you, his hands respectful in their placement before he spins you around, making you both laugh again.

"Not bad babe, maybe you should be a backing dancer at my shows." he teases playfully, trying not to let his eyes look down at how your legs look in your shorts. Although with the way you start to move, he isn't sure he can resist the temptation.

Cole Cassidy:

Will ask you out pretty smoothly in conversation, hardly giving you time to process that you've been asked on a date before the cowboy starts to think about his ideas.

Invites you on a hiking trail, giving you both plenty of time to talk and get to know each-other.

He'll do the stereotypical action of taking his hat off when he sees you and gives you a small bow, flustering you a little.

As you walk, he won't initiate physical contact for a while, waiting until you guys cross some sort of stream or rough terrain; he use the opportunity to hold out his hand to help you over, before interlocking his fingers with yours.

Quite easy to talk to, and flirtatious comments seem to roll off his tongue without him meaning to. He'll compliment your outfit and hairstyle, before making comments about how the sun reflects so lovely off your eyes.

Prefers asking you questions and listening to you, he's working on being more emotionally vulnerable and open especially about his past, but it's still difficult for him.

Afterwards, you both will have worked up an appetite, so he'll take you to a diner for a bite to eat. Sitting in a booth, he might teasingly play footsie with you under the table to watch you laugh.

He'll have to get coffee, since he hasn't had his cigar for hours. He didn't want to smoke while on the date, a little concerned you'll find it rude. But towards the end he'll get a little twitchy.

Will offer to pay, southern values and all that.

Will also offer to walk you home, and will definitely come in if you invite him.

Approaching a stream, the running water providing a soothing ambiance as Cole steps forward. He hops over the stream before holding out his hand for you, causing you to giggle.

"What? A cowboy can't be a gentleman?" he teases, as you take his hand and he helps you across, "There you go pumpkin."

Smoothly, he interlocks your fingers, holding your hand tight and gently rubbing his thumb over the back of your hand as you both resume the walk. Looking to his left, he makes some remark about the surroundings to distract himself from the warm feeling in his chest as he feels the heat of your palm against his.

Mauga:

This man is CONFIDENT, he asks you out with his cocky grin almost like he knows you'll say yes.

Wants a relaxing date, so will ask you for drinks at one of his favourite bars.

Once you meet him there, he's nothing if not charming. He lays the compliments on pretty thick, with a cheeky smile that gets wider the more you feel flustered.

He's also hilarious, finding it so rewarding to make you laugh and giggle at his jokes. Isn't afraid to play the part of the fool if it means you'll be entertained.

Is hyper aware of his large size, and while he loves feeling bigger and stronger in the bedroom, in this context don't be surprised if he hunches himself over a bit to make you feel more at ease.

Also don't be surprised if he grips his glass too tight to make it smash, pretending to be hurt worse so you'll dote on him, he likes the attention more than he should.

He has to really restrain himself from getting too handsy with you, he doesn't want to scare you off. But he'll brush his hand against your hair or arm as he speaks.

Most likely will just get up and leave without paying lmao.

And will most certainly invite you to go home with him.

"And someone as pretty as you with a guy like me? People will think i'm payin' ya." he says with a laugh, causing your cheeks to burn as you giggle alongside him. Taking a sip of his drink, his eyes won't leave yours. "Someone as small as you as well, though it ain't hard for someone to be smaller than me."

You can't help but agree with his statement as he hunches over the bar with you, his thigh brushing against yours. He notices, and subtly presses his thigh more into yours, almost manspreading on the bar-stool.

Lifeweaver:

oh my god, the ROMANCE.

Listen I've said before he's the type of nerd to read romance novels and take notes, best believe he's planning the most romantic date he can, especially if he's caught feelings for you.

He'll show up, dressed to the nines with a bouquet of red roses with gold string attaching a little love note and hand them to you. He'll kiss your hand and open the car door for you and drive you to a lovely restaurant.

Most likely booked ahead to score the best table, and told the waiters to make it as romantic as they could.

But despite everything, he's secretly nervous. He planned it all so meticulously in his head, what if it goes wrong?

Not that you'd know his internal panicked monologue with how he treats you, he'd be so complimentary without overdoing it. Charming you with speech about your clothes, hair, everything. Will also start to drop in petnames like 'darling' and 'petal' to see how you react.

Is a little scared to hold your hand cause his hand is a little sweaty from the nerves, so he'll gently trace your fingers with his metal hand instead.

He's paying for the meal, you''ll have probably have guessed that already.

Will take you home and kiss your cheek, but will most likely leave it there. He doesn't want you to think he only wants you physically, so he'll be as respectful as possible.

"Well i assure you, you're the most radiant person in here." Niran says with a soft smile, his eyes tracing up and down your body and face as you sit down. His hair half up, he places his metal hand on the table, gently nudging your hand as if to ask permission.

"But please, order anything you'd like. My treat." he says, almost stuttering when you hold his hand, the cool metal refreshing against your touch. When you thank him and look down at the menu, he releases a breath he didn't realise he was holding. It's going well so far, he thinks, even if he's blown away by how you look all dressed up.

Genji:

bless him, he's also kinda nervous. He used to be a playboy, he never once used to be bothered with asking people out. But after his accident, now that his body is mostly metal, a lot of his confidence has been knocked.

But he'll try to hide it as he suggests an aquarium date. He finds the colours and the marine life quite therapeutic and calming, and hopes you'll feel that way too.

Prefers to stay away from the crowds, standing by the less popular exhibits to talk to you.

Will love to ask about your job, especially if it's more 'mundane' than his. He'll want almost a taste of the normality, something he's never really had in his life.

Will offer to take your picture against the backdrop of the fish tanks, his chest feeling fuzzy as he sees how gorgeous you look.

As you two explore, he'll gently go to hold your hand. When you reciprocate, he won't let go, clinging to your hand like a lifeline.

When you go into the gift shop, he'll surprise you by buying a soft plush toy of a fish or shark behind your back.

Most likely will ask if you want to go back to his, not realising how it sounds until after he's said it, to which he'll quickly reassure you he doesn't expect anything to happen.

"Oh look at those." you say excitedly, tugging him over to the jellyfish exhibit. He of course follows wherever you lead him, his hand firmly gripping yours.

"Here, let me take a picture." he offers, taking your phone and stepping back to get a good angle. You pose, and he swears he stops breathing when he sees your through the phone camera. He has to look at you above the device, mesmerised by how the blue hues reflect on your face.

"Genji? Have you taken the picture?"

I’m going to make this post as an intro to Sonic characters for people who don’t know them. For fun.

And also because the new Sonic Movie series I just feel like there are a lot of potentially newer Sonic fans or people who blur the two and they’re really not the same character.

I mean, Movie!Sonic gets the goodwill and acceptance of fans, even though he’s not the game Sonic, because of how genuine and earnest the effort is. And it is genuine and earnest, but it’s also hit or miss. Plus like 1% of my friends know anything about Sonic, so I’m going to make this little post both to remind new Sonic fans of who the characters actually are, from the games, and also to introduce them to my friends. Because they’re all basically confused that I like Sonic.

Starting with the main four you see everywhere:

Sonic the Hedgehog

(I’m not going to go into like, Classic Sonic vs Modern Sonic or the different genres of games and gameplay or whatever. I’m just going to talk about the general characterizations of the character. If you want history, here, in a nutshell: SEGA made an old-timey pixel game to give them a mascot that could rival Super Mario Bros. and they did it in a smash-success with a much more brightly-colored and, at the time, much more sophisticated and cool character than Mario. And then in the 90s he got upgraded to the sleeker, less-cartoony anime character you see everywhere, but people got sad and missed his retro look, so now sometimes his Retro Self makes an appearance as it’s own character.) Sonic’s two superpowers in his natural state are that he can go fast and roll into an energized ball. But he never had lightning in his quills—he just has quills, and it’s implied that they’re sharp, so he can roll up really fast and make himself a spiky wrecking ball.

There are no canon explanations for why he can do the super-speed thing. It’s just his thing. It’s also not treated, in any game, like an amazing Chosen One ability; generally, the Bad Guys tend to go “you think your speed will save you?!” Or something like that. Nobody reacts like he’s got superpowers. Everyone reacts like this is a normal thing for a blue hedgehog to be able to do. Also, nobody is like “after” his “power.” People in general mostly treat Sonic like he’s a really athletic guy who happens to be cool, and the thing they’re most in awe of is generally his personality. Since this post is about characterizations, let’s talk about that personality.

The whole point of the Sonic Story, always, is “Keep Moving Forward.”

Sonic himself is the main propellor of that theme. He’s a teenager (loosely) and he’s heroic, and he’s cocky and committed to doing things “his own way.” He has theme songs about it. But all of those aspects of who he is are just the shiny package around the Main Point of him, as a character: “Keep Moving Forward.”

Sonic never gets angsty. Sonic will not get bogged down in grief. Sonic refuses to dwell on failure. (He also refuses to accept failure but that’s kind of adjacent.)

Even the game mechanics of him, as a character, are all centered around that theme. Sonic games aren’t about speed, as in, how fast you can go. They’re about momentum. When something stops you, you get up and try to build up speed and work through the level again. Literally. The character falls into spikes, loses all the rings (points, second chances) he was carrying? He gets up and dashes forward again. But here are some story examples:

In the most-beloved Sonic game of all time Sonic gets tricked into locking himself in an escape tube and getting launched into space in front of his grieving friends. He doesn’t panic or freak out. He puts on a cocky grin and says, “it’s up to you now!” And gets blasted away. But even then he doesn’t give up, he tries something that should-be-impossible just to see if he can, in his final moments. And it works.

Even in the worst game of all time Sonic makes a really close friend (yeah that’s what we’ll call it) and risks everything including his own life to save her over and over, and in the end they find out that to save the world they have to rewrite time and erase their moment of meeting. And Sonic goes, “Just smile, and do it,” basically.

In the anime a beloved little girl who had a love interest in the main cast and who’s story was the central plot of the second season sacrifices her life and has to leave Sonic and all his friends behind to do so. And while they all grieve and are devastated (and so’s the audience,) Sonic comforts them, but serenely goes, “It was really great having you around, Cosmo!” And blasts off to his next adventure.

In the same anime the audience-surrogate character, Chris, a little human boy who loves and befriends Sonic, has to leave him to go to his own dimension not once but twice, and the final time he’s blasting off in a trans-dimensional rocket and he it’s on a schedule so nobody even knows he’s leaving, let alone tell him goodbye, he’s crying, the other characters are reacting sadly in future-flash-forwards, but then Sonic just appears, speeding along to keep up with the rocket’s trajectory, and cheerfully goes, “I’ll be seeing ya, Chris!”

Not once but twice special friends of his that he’s dedicated to helping die in the video games, both times because he didn’t react quickly enough—which is his whole thing, speed—but after a moment of grief he gets up and figures out a new path to keep carrying on with the adventure.

He gets sickened at least four times I can think of off the top of my head—usually with a magical or digital or technological curse or malady of some kind. Every single time, the affliction usually has something to do with Sonic having the choice to either feel sorry for himself/focus on himself, or fix his eyes on the goal and keep moving forward. For example, he gets hit with the Cyberspace corruption because he keeps accessing a forbidden dimension to free his friends, even though he knows it’s killing him to do so. Or with the zombot plague, it literally can only be kept in remission if he keeps moving forward physically and refuses to slow down. 

All of this is not to say that Sonic doesn’t ever experience grief or rage. That happens all the time. But it’s usually just a brief reactionary moment, and it propels him to win a fight or keep going—and he never takes it too far and gets murderous or vengeful. (Once he almost did in the anime but he stopped, and that’s where the whole “Dark Sonic” you may see floating around comes from.)

But the point is, he’s a positive character, a very secure, very confident character. He knows exactly who he is. He knows exactly what he wants to do. He likes doing it with friends, but he literally will save the world by himself every time, for the rest of time, if for some reasons his friends won’t go with him. Often a staple of the character is that he will run off when everyone else is having a victory party, or he’ll disappear before the people he’s saved can thank him: because he’s just as happy chasing adventure on his own as he is with any friends. 

So Movie Sonic gets that wrong. 

Super Sonic, also, they get wrong. The whole point of Sonic being able to turn into Super Sonic is this Chaos Emerald thing—here, really quickly: the Chaos Emeralds are very powerful mystery items that, when they’re all together, have the power to create change, or “grant wishes,” based on what the heart of the user is feeling. If that sounds vague, it’s vague on purpose so they can do just about anything when the storytellers need them to. But suffice to say: they’re almost always used like batteries, sometimes batteries to empower “Transformations,” and if someone transforms with them into something evil, they turn grey and appear to lose their power. 

BUT SUPER SONIC can fix them. It’s just Sonic, nigh-invulnerable, glowing gold and able to fly—specifically because he’s such a positive guy. It’s literally his positivity that turns him into Super-Sonic. 

And in the movies, he turns into Super Sonic to grimly end a big fight, or to get revenge on Movie Shadow. When in actuality, he should be grinning and flashing around happily. “Super Sonic” is short for “Super Positive Sonic.”

So that’s Sonic. The main point of the character is that everybody else in the story is weighed down by:

failures

insecurities

the past

legacy, 

their heritage, 

and one or two of them are even slowed down by fears for the *future* as a change of pace. 

But Sonic is consistently associated with the confidence and cockiness that comes with “living in the moment” and “keep moving forward.”  

So the next three or four characters are very influenced by Sonic, for that reason. 

Miles “Tails” Prower

Tails is Sonic’s best friend and is treated like his little brother. He’s a technology whiz, and he has a huge brain. They’ve really been capitalizing on that in the most recent portrayals of Tails, especially in the movies: he’s the “gadget guy” and he speaks in technobabble. 

But the part of Tails that was really awesome, the part that actually had an arc, didn’t have much to do with his big brain, in the beginning. It had more to do with a) his young age and b) his mutated tails. 

Because focusing on those two things made him a great example of one of those Character-Focuses that Sonic does not get weighed down by: Failure. Or, more precisely I guess, Insecurity.

Because of his two tails and his young age, Tails meets Sonic and he thinks Sonic is the most amazing person in the world. He’s cool and confident and really capable. Sonic lets Tails follow him around, and from Sonic, Tails learns how to use his mutated tails and believe in himself. Because every time he falls or fails, Sonic sets the example of, “get back up and keep moving forward.”

Not that the technology-thing isn’t a big part of Tails, too. His name is a pun on “Miles Per Hour.” Which is a way to calculate speed. So as a character, Tails is always running calculations: he’s always trying to see if he measures up (to Sonic), see how to solve things, comparing himself to Sonic. So over and over the games sort of have him “come of age.” He’s usually separated from Sonic in some way, or Sonic appears to “die,” and Tails is left to save the day. Usually he does. 

But the main point is that, even in the games themselves, Tails is an example of how “Keep Moving Forward” is too hard for anybody to do if they don’t have friends. Actually, all three of Sonic’s main-friends are examples of that lesson. Tails, for example, can pick Sonic up after he falls into pits or low areas in the game levels, and carry him out so he can keep running. It’s like a metaphor. 

Generally, the appealing thing about Tails is that he’s always there for Sonic and he has total faith in Sonic—and Sonic returns that favor by having total faith in Tails.

Knuckles the Echidna

Knuckles is Sonic’s first “rival,” which turns out to be a recurring character-type in the franchise. But because he was the first, now he’s just one of Sonic’s best friends. (He also introduced “lore” to the Sonic games. Before Knuckles, they were sort of cartoons.)

Knuckles is can hit really hard, climb walls, dig, and glide (by catching air in his dreadlocks. So. If that doesn’t scream “Rad Red.”) 

Knuckles is a dupe in the movies, and he’s a dupe in the games. But that’s only one facet of his character. Remember how I said Tails is the Character-Focus of “Insecurity?” Knuckles has a Character Focus of “Heritage.” You can see that in the movies, too. They did an okay job with Knuckles. 

Basically, Knuckles is the last of an extinct race, and his job is to guard a really big magical Emerald called the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald can trump the Chaos Emeralds, and it sits in a big shrine on an island, and causes that island to float (it’s called “Angel Island.”)

Because every other echidna is wiped out, Knuckles doesn’t have anybody to ask for advice on the best way to do his job, or protect his home (he’s basically a crabby hermit.)

So he just does it his way.

But that’s the thing about Knuckles, and about Sonic rivals. They usually take one character trait of Sonic and then SPIN IT OUT OF CONTROL.

So, Sonic likes to do things “his own way,” right? Knuckles likes to do things his own way too—but like, on steroids. He won’t budge if he thinks the Master Emerald is in danger, and he prioritizes it over everything, everything else. If the world is in danger but the Master Emerald is ALSO in danger, Knuckles usually says “let the world burn, I have to save this Emerald.” Or his island. Whichever comes first. 

Sonic’s more “adaptable” than Knuckles, is what I’m saying.

While Sonic would never be saddled with a type of “guardianship” that forces him to stay in one place and never grow, Knuckles refuses to abandon his post, ultimately. You do see him grow a little bit: he does go on adventures with Sonic and Tails, so he’s not always chained to the Master Emerald and his island like a Guard Dog. But he still takes that same singleminded approach to every problem: for example, in the anime, when they think their little girl pal Cosmo might be a spy, Knuckles is like “okay then let’s take her out…”

… because he starts to see whatever his mission is as the new metaphorical “Master Emerald Which Must Be Protected At All Costs.”

Whereas Sonic would never do something like that. Sonic always believes in doing things his own way: but his “own way” would never hurt somebody who’s only-bad-by-accident. He’d find a way to stop the bad guys and save the naive person they’re using. Knuckles would just punch everything—innocent, misunderstood, doesn’t matter.

But I will say, the thing Sonic teaches Knuckles (because remember, it’s always Sonic teaching other characters) is that he can adapt. He can change his mind. The first thing Knuckles changes his mind about is Sonic himself. 

When they meet, Knuckles has been tricked by Eggman (main bad guy) into thinking Sonic is after his Master Emerald. Sonic turns out to be the hero, and Knuckles gets a little more open-minded from that point on. Now they’re friends.

One of the other prime examples of Knuckles learning to be more open-minded is his repeat-rival/lover: Rouge the Bat.

(Rouge is a super-spy-jewel-thief-treasure-hunter. She comes to steal the Master Emerald, and Knuckles throws hands, in his usual straightforward way, and doesn’t like Rouge. Except he does. And after saving her life, she gives him back what she’d stolen—and he apologizes to her for being too rough and from then on they have like a flirtatious maybe-friendship maybe-rivalry. So there’s another example of him changing his mind, opening it up, a little.)

Amy Rose

This is the Girl Character. She just showed up at the end of Sonic Movie 2. She has undergone the most change out of the Main Four over the years, because…well, because this is the West, and because ideas about what an acceptable Girl Character can be have changed.

For better or worse, Amy Rose is Sonic’s Love Interest. She’s introduced as a fangirl of Sonic’s who is rescued by him—because he’ll rescue anyone, not necessarily because he has any special interest in her—and then she follows him around.

Amy’s “powers” are that she can run fast (to keep up with Sonic) but she’s got a really big hammer. That’s it. (We don’t know where it came from or how she always has it with her or what it’s made of, it’s just a big hammer.)

Her deep backstory (which faded away in the early 2000s but is making a reappearance because it’s “trendy” to be a witch nowadays,) is that she had special tarot cards that told her Sonic was going to have a big impact on her life, or was her destiny, or something like that.

Bottom line: she steadfastly believes that Sonic is her One True Love. 

Sonic, initially, was portrayed as running away from her affection because he’s either not interested or he just doesn’t want to be tied down, and she’s clingy and possessive.

And initially, Amy was portrayed as chasing after him endlessly, no matter what. That was her character. But slowly, they’ve added in stuff and reshaped her so that she has her own fighting ability (big hammer) and is more about “loving all creatures in general” than “obsessively loving Sonic.”

The thing that I would say stays thematically similar about Amy, even from her damsel-in-distress-clingy days, is that she never gives up.

So her Character-Focus is “Insecurity” like Tails…but more intensely. More like “Self Focus.”

Amy’s whole sense of who she is comes from Sonic, and how close she is to him. But he literally won’t stay close to her, so she complains and gets mad and keeps trying. But her first big moment of “character development” comes from watching Sonic, who never focuses on himself—he always looks at what needs to be done for the day to be saved, and wastes no time feeling sorry for himself or wondering if he can do it. 

Amy starts realizing that she should stop focusing so much on herself and how people treat her, and focus on “helping others.” That happened late in the story, around the time Shadow the Hedgehog was introduced. But since then she’s slowly but surely become more (bland) about “helping others” than “helping herself,” so that’s been pretty consistent.

And of course, the Villain. 

Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik

Eggman is the villain, he’s only recently become more than one-dimensional, and he was intensely unlikeable (except ironically) until recently. But his whole thing is that, as a character, he’s Sonic—if Sonic were an opposite-day parody of himself. 

Instead of a cute/cool animal Eggman is a gross bloated human.

Instead of a fun-loving free spirit Eggman is a calculating mastermind usually encased in a fortress or battle-mech.

Instead of saving creatures Eggman imprisons them to power his robots. 

Instead of enjoying nature, by the way, Eggman wants to pave over everything and populate the world with robots.

Instead of living and letting-live Eggman wants everyone to obey his every command.

Instead of having friends he cares about and would do anything to save Eggman has manipulated and double crossed every non-machine relationship he ever has.

But paradoxically, some things about him and Sonic are similar. 

Sonic does things his own way and won’t let any circumstance or person change that—so does Eggman. (They have a theme song about this.)

Sonic stubbornly refuses to give up—so does Eggman.

Sonic chases every impulse—so does Eggman.

Sonic is cocky and won’t be intimidated by eldritch powers or unstoppable forces way over his head—same for Eggman.

Sonic is competitive and will sometimes do things just for the thrill or just to prove he can—so will Eggman.

Sonic picks himself up after failure and tries again, and can’t be kept down—so does Eggman.

Recently they’ve tried to make it Eggman’s “thing” that he’s kind of a lonely soul. That nobody has ever appreciated his genius, so he’s content to remake the world to be full of robots—but whenever he has the opportunity to feel kinship with mankind, he actually begrudgingly finds a way to welcome it. 

The movie did just recently start nodding at that character-theme. But this first happened in the early 2000s, when he started the adventure off chasing his grandfather’s legacy, and ended it by helping Sonic and the gang save the human race. He’s also helped end alien invasions, and in the anime, actively fights aliens, too. It’s culminated nowadays in Eggman creating a little Artificial Intelligence girl named SAGE who he winds up feeling affection for and wishing she could remain his “family,” (which isn’t really character growth, because he always wanted to invent a world of his own where non-organic life forms adored him, so.)

Now he’s getting likeable. His sheer tenaciousness and the fact that when the chips are down and non-mortal, evil entities threaten the world, he jumps in and draws the line out of stubborn “if I can’t have the world nobody else can” is weirdly likeable. 

Let’s talk about just one of the other characters you’ll hear about, so they’re definitely going to be in the movies at some point:

Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow I’ve already made more than one post about. He’s bizarre, on the surface. If I try to explain to you that Shadow is not a cartoon hedgehog like Sonic—he’s a Frankenstein’s monster made of alien DNA invented to cure all disease and grant the human race immortality while inexplicably being shaped like a hedgehog and wearing rocket-skates and shooting lightning out of his hands and teleporting—

then you’re going to go “that’s so weird.”

And it is.

But they managed to make it feel totally acceptable and correct in every iteration.

In the movie, he’s not a science project brought to life by a mad scientist made from the DNA of an alien and a hedgehog. He’s just an alien, himself. So that’s…that’s somehow more believable.

In the games, however, Shadow the Hedgehog is Sonic’s thematic shadow. He was thought up as this dark, twisted version of Sonic himself.

The best way I can describe it, and the most succinct way, is:

Shadow the Hedgehog is Sonic the Hedgehog, if Sonic had, at a young age, saved a bunch of birds from Eggman’s robots only to have those birds turn around and peck Tails, his best friend, to death right in front of him, burn his home to the ground, and somehow lock Sonic away to stew on that traumatic event for 50 years afterward. He’s like an alternate-universe Sonic, where instead of positive and carefree, Sonic is negative and full of nothing but cares.

Shadow was created by Eggman’s grandfather. In the movie, Eggman’s grandfather is a psychotic old villain bent on revenge. But in the games he was a kindly old genius who just wanted to use his intellect to benefit the world, starting with his sick granddaughter, Maria. He made a ton of stuff, it all pops up in the games all the time, but the main two things he made were a) Shadow himself and b) a big space station that doubles as a giant laser cannon.

It’s a laser cannon because he was hired by the military to make weapons. He kept cheating them out of weapons and inventing like, healing pouches and living water-robots and stuff, instead, though. Shadow was supposed to be a weapon—a living weapon—but Eggman’s grandfather doubled his purpose and used him as a part of his research into curing his sick granddaughter Maria. 

Shadow came to life on the space station and spent an undetermined amount of time bonding with Maria, his only friend, and testing out his superpowers, and dreaming about the day they’d go to earth, the planet he was made to protect. Shadow’s superpowers are: teleportation, time-warping, and controlling Chaos Energy (he can shoot lightning out of his hands and turn into a living energy-bomb.) But then the military got scared of what he could do, even before he’d really done anything, and raided the space station. In all the confusion, they captured Eggman’s grandfather and chased Maria and Shadow into the escape-pod room. She knew they were after Shadow, so she made him promise to live his life protecting the people of Earth and giving them a chance to be happy (which is a very Sonic the Hedgehog wish to make) and then jettisoned him out of the space station. But not before one of the military soldiers got trigger-happy and shot her to death in front of Shadow’s eyes.

So. You know. The humans he was brought into existence to protect murdered the little girl best friend he was brought into existence to cure. And then her sacrifice almost didn’t matter because they captured him anyway and locked him away and he woke up looking for revenge. 

But then Sonic (and AMY people forget AMY) showed up and stopped Shadow, and reminded him of Maria’s real wishes, and his real purpose. So from that moment on, Shadow becomes this self-sacrificial character.

But remember, all Sonic Rivals (and Shadow is the Ultimate Rival of Sonic) take one character trait of Sonic’s and they blow it way out of proportion. So which one is Shadow’s? 

Shadow has a lot of the same character traits as Sonic. He is cocky, but with him it usually comes off as “I’m objectively the most powerful thing ever created.” He is competitive, but with him, again, it’s usually just to prove the previous statement. He is caring about his friends, but not demonstrably caring; it’s all hidden. He is a teenager, but because of everything about his existence, you can’t tell.

So what does that leave us with?

Shadow is basically Sonic’s “Never Give Up” mentality, on steroids. But like Knuckles with the “I Do Things My Own Way” extremity, Shadow usually takes his borrowed-Sonic-trait way too far. Sonic will never give up on reaching the goal, but he will change the goal if it means some good will come out of it. For example, in one of the video games based on King Arthur’s Knights (stop laughing, it’s the best one) Sonic has to reach a certain milestone within a time limit to be knighted and save the world. He doesn’t let villains, traps, or rivals get in his way—but as soon as a little girl is crying on the side of the road he willingly drops all chances of getting to the milestone in time and becoming a knight…and potentially even saving the world. Just because he’s not going to leave a little girl crying on the side of the road.

In another example, Sonic always jumps into smashing Eggman’s robots with both feet. But when Amy tells him one of Eggman’s strongest series of killer robots is actually “nice,” he shrugs and goes “whatever you say” and moves on immediately.

So Sonic will never give up on his goal—unless he finds out there might be a chance for somebody to do the right thing. Even if he doesn’t believe in that person, and he’d rather fight them and get it over with, if one of Sonic’s friends protests, Sonic is easygoing, shrugs his shoulders, and believes in his friend’s judgement. Because for Sonic, it’s not a personal vendetta. He’s too cool to make everything about himself.

But Shadow? It takes a lot to convince Shadow that when someone does something wrong, they shouldn’t immediately be neutralized. Even though he, himself, was wrong and had to learn to do the right thing once. His “Never Give Up” mentality is very “Mission: Complete.” Mostly because he was invented to save everyone, but the people he had a personal interest in saving all got tragically murdered a long time ago. So now he does everything out of a sense of grim duty, and gets very little pleasure out of it.

That’s kind of the beauty and tragedy of his character, and it’s why it’s so fun to watch him interact with Sonic. Because any time he has to team up with or duke it out with Sonic…you see that deep down, Shadow enjoys the competition. And it’s fun to see him just enjoy something. That’s what Sonic brings out in him.

The main thing Sonic brings to the table with a character like Shadow is that Shadow is entrenched in the Past. And Sonic is all about Keep Moving Forward. So Shadow takes that lesson more like “marching orders” than Sonic’s “race” mentality. But it’s still a cool dynamic.

Anyway. There are many more characters that are awesome. I particularly like the “Redeemed Robot” characters, and there’s this interdimensional Princess who’s awesome, too, and many people are going to be mad that I didn’t include Metal Sonic on this post.

But this is just the rough overview. If you’re not into Sonic, that’s fine. But just to set the record straight on one of my favorite franchises ever: it has a profound point, the main character is as likeable as say, iconic characters like Percy Jackson and Luke Skywalker, and the movies are nice because they’re a genuine labor of love, but not because they get Sonic exactly right.

That’s all.

Blackwatch! Genji x reader. No Sleep.

Hey losers it’s like 3 am and I’m gonna write cause I can (“cause fuck you that’s why.”) I was thinking about this with a different character from a different fandom but I’m here with blackwatch age Genji. So…

~Nox

You took a deep breath and rolled over determined to get some sleep. But just as your heart settled down anxiety busted down your door and now you were wide awake. You sat up in your bed and took a look around at the shadows that made your mind swim even more.

You got up, grabbed a blanket and headed to the common area of the Blackwatch Headquarters. There you could watch tv and try to fall asleep on the couch.

After a few long episodes of a show you weren’t invested in a small cough drew you attention to the figure leaning over the back of the couch.

“You’re up late Y/n” His voice was quite.

“I could say the same for you.”

He walked around to sit where your head was laying.

“May I?”

You sat up and let him take the place of your pillow. His bionic legs were unarmored and covered by his lose sweats. His soft red eyes looked down at you, he never really looked this vulnerable. He started slowly running his fingers through your hair and the motion made sleep seem closer than ever.

“So why are you up y/n?”

“My mind wouldn’t shut up. How about you?”

“I can’t really sleep anymore.”

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t say anything more he just kept stoking your hair. His free hand found your side and he softly started massaging. You had to think of a way to return the favor at a later date but right now sleep called your name.

“Thank you Genji.”

You barely got out before you fell asleep on his lap.

~Nox

anymore movie sonamy head canons?

ok! It's been a hot second so, here we go!✨

Movie Sonamy Headcanons (PART 3) ✨

At the start of their relationship, Sonic Would Forgets that Amy's his girlfriend now

(Just hear me out for a second)

When I mean by him forgetting I mean that he is in so disbelief that he and Amy are dating now and would get surprised when Amy gives him loving affection

Here's some lest that could explain this too >>>

His friends would also have to remind him too XD

And there goes another Headcanon rambal ✨