General Sonic The Hedgehog thread

That's what I'm hearing, and I figured as much, but the problem with that are the litany of racial slurs and similarly derogatory terms that could also be argued to, nowadays, have taken on a different meaning through the people who willfully ignore their historical context.

I mean, people use n/f-bombs to mean "friend" but that doesn't mean we apply it in public without backlash, or that it loses it's previous meaning.

What happens when the term "nazi" becomes less associated with its literal definition and more with "awesome NBA team" or "a pet term between people who are extremely close?" What if we decide "fascist" is now the term for characters who has [insert trait we dislike]?

The outbreak of slang, I think, shouldn't override what words actually mean. Or in this case, the linking of "edgy" to a common use that is frequently meant to discredit is a tragedy, a failing of language.

Edited by Soble on Feb 20th 2019 at 5:56:15 AM

But annnnnnnnnnnyway. How about those kicks Sonic was wearing in the movie poster? Those things are baller.

Wah, it's not the same! And now I'm reminded of his weird legs! They're too weird to belong to my ideal Sonic! Waaaaaah!

Oh, in terms of the informal meaning, Shadow is DEFINITELY edgy

• Dark and brooding
• Black and red colour scheme
• Morally ambiguous
• Presented with a mysterious backstory (even if it ended up being explained in the same game it was still presented with a deliberate lack of context at first, just girl ded in space station)
• Rival who looks like the hero turned evil
• Cocky (Remember "I'm the coolest!"?)

But I'm not saying any of that as an insult, ultimately Shadow did have substance behind him, which makes all the edginess actually work instead of being one of those laughable things.

Shadow is edgy relative to the series up to that point. Which had barely any edge, though it did have a radical side to it. Infinite is so edgy its an obviously parody, in-universe I'm pretty sure he is trying to be edgy.

That's a charitable interpretation of a poorly-written character.

Infinite is a character?

He tries to be, I guess.

Well, he lacks official artwork in the Sonic Channel, so don't pay him much attention.

I think he had though?

Nah, those were the latest ones to get it...

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/4/41/SCInfinite.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/134?cb=20171020145314

He did get one though

Infinite exists, and he has a voice actor.

I wouldn't call him a deep character, or a good character, or even a consistent character, but you can't deny he was a character. We let Zavok count in this franchise, we've gotta let Infinite count too.

The problem with Infinite is his backstory is really shitty writing. Either that or they were intentionally trying to make him come across as a Psychopathic Manchild with a really petty excuse for becoming a full fledged villain.

But considering how Sonic Forces had tons of issues it was likely shitty writing. I think to make him more nuanced that you'd need to throw the whole backstory out of the window.

Edited by Wispy on Feb 20th 2019 at 8:20:22 AM

Or show, prior to his encounter with Shadow, he had several other (preferably more serious with proper gravitas) moments that withered at his sanity, and thus losing to Shadow was just his final breaking point.

Edited by erazor0707 on Feb 20th 2019 at 8:24:31 AM

That could work. Or maybe have the deaths of his squad be the breaking point and not getting beaten by Shadow.

Or getting beaten by Shadow just ruined his pride pretty bad.

Or going with his original backstory which still has tiny fragments of existing within the base game (that backstory being that he was made by Dr. Eggman)

Is the implication really meant to be that Jackal Squad were killed? I just sort of assumed Shadow beat them all up or something.

Not that it'd be amazingly wrong to have killed them during battle or anything, but Eggman's sitting there having survived being in about a hundred exploding mechs and spaceships and stuff. You know? I just sort of assumed 'annihilated' was supposed to equal to 'defeated, really really badly'. You'd think Infinite would bring it up!

I doubt they could without having to up the age ratings. To me it was heavily implied but not flatout stated.

I can definitely understand the reading. Infinite walks up saying 'you destroyed my squad', etc. It does really highlight a pettiness in Infinite's character though.

Shadow: *kills all his team*

Infinite: darn

Shadow: u suck lol

Infinite: I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS SLIGHT

Edited by Lavaeolus on Feb 21st 2019 at 9:43:26 AM

But, that's better than him caring for his team.

Come to think of it, Infinite would've been a better character had he still been leading a squad of mercs working for Eggman.

I've always defined "edgy" as "Overbearingly dark and/or tryhard to the point of being 'cringy' or at minimum awkward". Shadow doesn't fit that. He's just dark for the series' standards. Shadow? If he was poorly writen he'd likely count, but I'd be more likely to call Scourge edgy over Shadow.

I'm not going to rule out that Infinite's motivation was bad writing, but in a weird way I do kind of like that one of the most unambiguously cruel and evil villains in the series really IS just a pathetic loser given too much power, who in the end doesn't live up to his own hype. I guess it works on an unintentional meta level. Sometimes bad people are just really shallow and don't have any good reason for being the way they are.

I don't like Infinite as a character, more as a narrative device, and through that I can see the potential Forces plot could have had if it was better written as far as having an emotional core. Infinite and the Avatar could have been intended to be foils to each other, with the Avatar growing in courage and strength through his/her friendship with Sonic while Infinite's ego and self serving attitude gets the better of him. Again, not original, but something meatier than what we got.

I feel like I'm the only one who doesn't mind Sonic's little speech on The Power of Friendship in Forces. It's the only time he gets kind of sappy, and it's only one brief moment. It's corny, but I like Sonic breaking his "cool" attitude for a bit and being sincere. He kind of says it out of nowhere, but I got the feeling that Sonic had really wanted to say that to Infinite for a while, but didn't want to break his cool act until Infinite was less a threat. Probably reading too much into it, but I think it gives Sonic just a little bit more depth, depending on how you look at it. If I'm comparing it to Dante in DMC, it's that moment around the final battle in each game where he stops joking and says or does something from the heart. That's just me.