Under YMMV.Shadow The Hedgehog, Black Doom was moved from The Scrappy to Base-Breaking Character. Thoughts on that? It valid?
It would fit the change in fan perception about Shadow The Hedgehog, the character and the game, since Forces came off as underwhelming that made the prior attempts at Darker and Edgier (which were serious enough it was half-successful, or the failings were Narm Charm or So Bad, It's Good, in contrast to forces not taking itself seriously thus failing to appeal to either camp).
I think that Base-Breaking Character sounds right for Black Doom. If you're willing to accept Shadow the Hedgehog for what it is, then I don't really see what particularly would be Scrappy-like about Black Doom. You may not agree with the tone Shadow the Hedgehog is going for, but I think its consistent at it (maybe with the exception of Circus Park) and Black Doom fits it.
I suppose some of his plans don't make sense, but that's just due to the choose-your-path nature of the game, not really a fault of Black Doom as a character so much as some plot threads that don't really need to work because they don't connect to the Last Story.
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I've been seeing a lot of Shadow defenders, and that includes Black Doom appreciators. In fact, want to know something funny?
Black Doom is listed as number 9 best villain on Watchmojo's list of Sonic villains (or antagonists, since Knuckles and Shadow are mentioned). And Flynn loves to parody him in the Bumblekast.
So,yeah, it appears Black Doom has fans.
To win, you need to adapt, and to adapt, you need to be able to laugh away all the restraints. Everything holding you back.There might also be some people rethinking about Black Doom in light of the Sonic 3 movie and also the Snap Cube dub of Shadow's game.
For my two cents, I don't mind him.
I very dimly remember Black Doom having fans back in the day as a "serious" villain compared to Eggman's more buffoonish portrayal at the time. Mephiles stole his thunder in the "Obviously Evil entity that tries and fails to manipulate Shadow as part of a complex scheme" department though, so maybe that affected his perception here.
Also holy shit, Shadow the Hedgehog is going to be 19 years old this year. Christ on the Dark Rider, I feel old.
Edited by Negacube on Jan 29th 2024 at 5:45:37 AM
I can see Black Doom as being more of a Base-Breaking Character rather than The Scrappy. Even though Shadow the Hedgehog was an odd game, Black Doom was a bit of an interesting antagonist and I think it's because he added a bit more to Shadow's backstory that made people a bit more interested in him.
I love animation, TV, movies, YOU NAME IT!I think the idea of Black Doom being Shadow's blood donor father kinda deal makes a good lick of sense as potential backstory fuel, elseworld scenarios, and world building with his connection to a greater alien cosmology.
That said, I find him kinda a bland villain. The demonic Dr. Claw-esque growl voice is also a thing I found overplayed when I first played the game and I still find it kinda uninspired years later. Mainly I think the lost potential or fact he never gets a second chance to do something beyond manipulating an amnesiac shadow is kinda a sticking point for me too.
My position is that Mephiles overshadowed Black Doom due to '06's greater infamy and Mephiles' Large Ham portrayal compared to Black Doom's relatively Cold Ham portrayal. Mephiles isn't "better" (I remember when he was in the Trope Pantheons as the god of Complexity Addiction), but since his source game is seen as one of Sonic's biggest mistakes while Black Doom's source game is written off as a dumb spinoff, Mephiles is marginally more "visible". I was going to bring that up in earlier drafts of my post, but I decided to cut it for brevity. In hindsight, I'm not really sure why I did that. Apparently I thought I was editing a feature-length video essay rather than a short forum post...?
Mephiles is more popular because he is recolored Shadow, let's not fool ourselves. He has the same body type as the rest of the Sonic cast. This is why the loser of Infinite has fans too while the Deadly Six and Lyric were hated.
Since Black Doom has a Non Standard Design, he gets ignored. Which is sad as everything fans say good about Shadow and Mephiles relationship was already done better with Black Doom in my opinion. The worst part of Black Doom compared to Infinite is that he more bland, as the character lacks proper character acting.
To win, you need to adapt, and to adapt, you need to be able to laugh away all the restraints. Everything holding you back.So just Fleetway sonic made canon?
Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Jan 29th 2024 at 6:28:11 AM
Watch Symphogear
When you think about it Shadow the Hedgehog is basically a "Groundhog Day" Loop that Black Doom has trapped Shadow in, and every time a playthrough is finished, Black Doom resets the timeline and tries again (hence the multiple choices). Last Story happens once Black Doom concludes that Shadow is a liability to his agenda and decides to bring the Black Comet to Earth anyway to bring about his endgame plan (not that it stops him from trying to brainwash Shadow at the last second though).
x4: I always thought Black Doom was hardcore AF.
x3: oh wow, I never thought of that!
Anyway, you thought it was over for mobile rumors, but it's not!
Not only are we still getting word about a supposed Sonic games based of Fall Guys, but now we're getting word about a Sonic sports game and…(wait for it)…a Chao game!
The only downside is that the sports and Chao games are subscription exclusive. The sports game will be exclusive to Apple Arcade and the Chao game will be exclusive to Netflix (ergo, if you have a Netflix account, you'll be able to play it on iOS and Android with zero ads).
I guess Apple Arcade and Netflix has been working very well for Sega?
Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, because an informant for Sega and Atlus stuff found a website
that very much has to do with a Sonic Generations remaster:
https://sonicxshadowgenerations.com/
("Hey stupid! That just goes to a 403 error page!")
And apparently a 403 page is code for "we haven't actually activated this website yet, so stay tuned!"
Edited by TargetmasterJoe on Jan 30th 2024 at 9:57:13 AM
Was about to post the same thing but yeah, that's what the rumors are leading up to it seems.
I see Sega is feeding the Sonadow shippers again.
Edited by taotruths on Jan 30th 2024 at 7:13:03 AM

If the rumors are true, then at least Nintendo fans will have some satisfaction knowing there’s an actual port of Sonic Generations on a Nintendo console and not just a lesser version on the 3DS. I know there were a lot of Nintendo kids miffed that they couldn’t play sonic generations on the Wii when it first came out.