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When All Else Fails
I figured that if I were to get any brutal honest and scathing critique on my first video it would be from here. It's called When All Else Fails, It's based on my on-going series of mini essays questioning aspects of "geek culture", and episode one is all about what's wrong with Shadow The Hedgehog. I've learned my audio sucks and I'm working on a different mic technique to change that slightly. I talked a little too fast before so I'm going to go slower for numero two, and uh, anything else I hope I can learn from here.
Youtube link, Blip tv link.
Youtube link, Blip tv link.
Comments
Okay, after a hajillion edits, I'm just going to sum them up into one post
You, sir, need to do your damn research when it comes to the Sonic universe. Especially when I'm around.
This fire?
The next installment is sounding a lot better now that I know what I'm doing. My mistake, It's what I've called it for years and old habits die hard. the gamecube version was the only one I've ever known. No I said it was rendered empty by the fact he was still sort of alive, nothing to do with his clones. I just added the clones were thrown in as well and amde the whole thing seem like a way to induce more ridiculous pathos from everyone;s favorite black hedgehog. Honest mistake, I forgot to double check and it's been a while since I played the games. I'm aware, I never said all dark characters were, I'm saying Shadow was. It's totally nonsensical and unnecessary. What does a super powerful chaos controlling hedgehog need a gun for? Anti-hero or not, he can kill with his bare hands, it's just a useless add on to make him grimmer and grittier. I thought different, my mistake, I didn't play the first level of Shadow the hedgehog so I was unaware of that goal, I played different parts of it when at a friend's place. I learned the plot via research. I wasn't faulting the game's mechanics, I was faulting it bringing Shadow back too quickly or at all. I'm fully aware Knuckles used to be his enemy, I never said he was the enemy, rivals don't have to be enemies, they can be entirely friendly but still be rivals.
Also I saw that movie, very strange, likable in some ways and so bad in others. What did you think of it? Also, I don't think we can count that is any sort of canon since I'm still working with the games here. And I suppose how we see them as rivals are based on perception. A character tends to need to have a reason to exist or they may as well disappear into the ether like the rest of the Sonic one-shots.
I'll keep that in mind, though really, quite a few of those were honest flubs in my attempt to compress a lot of stuff. Good show nevertheless dear gent.
Rouge: Do you actually believe that...you're the real Shadow?Shadow: No doubt!
Rouge: Even your memories might not be real...you know?
Shadow: Even if my memories are not real...it's still me, Shadow. And I will fulfill my promise to Maria. That's the only thing that matters to me now...
His pathos wasn't ridiculous. In fact, I think he is the most emotionally believable character in the entire franchise. The exception to that is Sonic, but only if you define his emotional substrate as prideful hedonism. But why? How do you differentiate his "dark"-ness from the examples I gave you? What are your parameters?Look, could Shadow physicaly kill with his bare hands, yes, I'm sure he could. However, you can't forget that this is still a kids game. I know it sounds silly to use that argument when debating the merit of him using guns in the game, but which would be more palatable to parents or children: Shadow teleporting on top of a GUN solder and crushing his windpipe with his gloved hands or shooting the armored soldier from a distance. And the soldiers don't even die; if you walk up to them, they talk to you and you can even revive them with use of one of the items accessible through the Shadow crates or, if your on the flashback ARK level, one of the medkits.That's not gimmick. That's the progression of the story of the universe, like it or not.But they aren't even rivals. Rivalry would neccesitate a similar goal or skill set. Knuckles is a treasure hunter who would love nothing more than to be left in peace while guarding the master emerald. The only reason he gets mixed up in any of these adventures is because either
A. Someone has messed with the Master Emerald or
B. Someone is threatening to destroy the world (which, by inclusion, would destroy the Master Emerald)
Then and only then does he team up with Sonic et al. Note: "team up".Plot-wise, it's decidedly non-canon, but the characters are the same. The animation quality is average for its time and the english voice acting is, predictably, horrible. But the story is decent and funny. I'd give it a C+ with Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex being A.I disagree. In fact, I could easily argue that Sonic doesn't have a "purpose" either. But lets chart the changes in Shadow's purpose, shall we?
- Sonic Adventure 2: Avenge Maria by destroying humanity.
- Sonic Adventure 2: Fulfill his true promise to Maria by preventing the immediate destruction of humanity.
- Sonic Heroes: Pursue Eggman to regain memories of his identity.
- Sonic Heroes: Questions if he is a clone, goes to seek out "original" Shadow.
- Sonic Heroes: Fight Metal Overlord to prevent the destruction of the world.
- Shadow the Hedgehog: Still having no memories, he continues to pursue his memories, teaming up with either Black Doom or Sonic et al, depending on how you play the game.
- Shadow the Hedgehog: Eggman tells him that he is not an android or a clone, but the original Shadow, whom Eggman had rescued with one of his robots after Shadow fell from space. While the game has multiple possible endings, the generally accepted ending is that Shadow teams up with the good guys to defeat Black Doom and decides to set his past behind him, finally ready to move on.
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2006): Shadow, now an agent of G.U.N., works with Rouge and Omega to defeat Mephiles and Solaris and save the world and his own personal future. However, due to a time paradox caused by Sonic and Princess Elise, Shadow, (along with everyone else), doesn't remember this.
For each story, a character's purpose or inner need changes based on that story. As you can see, Shadow's "purpose" does that to great effect. Actually, in a franchise that has been around as long this one, if a character consistently kept the same purpose, the same need, throughout all their appearances, that, to me, would exhibit laziness on the writer's part by not giving the character any growth. Amy Rose, for example. You gotta understand; I grew up playing Sonic games, I considered Sonic to be one of my role models as a kid, and I've been using my handle for nigh a decade. It's the one franchise I'm particularly attached to and when people get things wrong about the series it bothers me about as much as if you told a Star Wars fan that Greedo shot first. I'm generally a very agreeable person, but this is my one vice.Pfft, forget Sally, Have you seen Nicole?
Come to think of it, that was the last Sonic comic I ever bought. The art style seemed to really go downhill a short while after.