Why I deleted all of my Sonic Social Media
Hello everyone, for the previous year I had a somewhat constant Sonic Fandom Creator but it all disappeared a couple months ago. I received a couple emails asking me if I’d ever come back to talk and I appreciate the support everyone gave me when I had very limited exposure. So if you are on this tumblr, congrats on getting here but in all sense, I have removed all of my Sonic Socials and I do not plan on returning.
The reason why I didn't plan on doing it was because of one research video project I had been working on for quite some time, the MARIA ROBOTNIK HISTORY video. It was quite long and detailed all the history behind the lore of Maria as well as her conception and creation. From her first appearance in Archie to her last CoroCoro appearance and how she wasn't actually really Maria. During the research of her creation, I bumped into Please Save My Earth. Now, I have joked about this on my tumblr before and made remarks here and there but what I didn’t realize until after reading it and actually understanding it was that I could not accept that one of my favorites, if not favorite, fictional characters was based on a female character who was sexually assaulted.
For those of you who do not know the lore behind PSME, the story goes as follows: Alice, at 16, gets engaged to a seven year old named Rin after he fell off a balcony during an argument with her when she was babysitting him. After waking up from his near death experience, Rin recalls his previous life as Shion, the man Alice, as Mokuren, was previously engaged to after he sexually assaulted her. In their previous life, they were a group of humanoid aliens who were doing research on the Earth's moon for their home planet. In order to keep the peace with their moon crew after their entire planet had been destroyed, they were stuck on a moon base, and Shion's misdeed; Mokuren decides to forgive Shion and make the crew believe they were to be wed. In the current day, Shion is now controlling Rin's body and his plan is to get together with Alice at all costs, deploy the "doomsday" device he left aboard their previous life's moon base and get revenge on the moon team for leaving him to live alone for 7 years after they died from a disease outbreak in their base and only gave him the vaccine.
Obviously, a lot has changed since the time it was written between 1987-1994, but personally it just affected me on a different level as a woman. Especially, since it was a character I admired so much, and it just made me reflect on how women/girls are used in the media. How even if there is so much to give to a female character that is kind and sweet, there is always this risk that limits them to be SA’d or be pregnant. There used to be no goal in women in stories, but there are ways to make them better characters. Even though, Maria was a different charecter in a different world, I just couldn't unsee it. It really felt a lot like a parasocial relationship breakup. I got rid of it all, if not most, of my Sonic themed things. I just couldn’t understand how men would find joy in being vocal on “Yes, this character was inspired by an SA to love story.”
I know PSME is a historical manga, with many influences in media other than Sonic, but I just couldn’t let it go. This “break up” I had to endure was not great. I lost 20 lbs. I cried a lot. Eternal Sunshine and Harry's House were great listeners on my hour drives.
What I am hoping to do with this letter is let go. I plan on finally setting the sun on this tumblr and all fandom themed social media presence after I’ve had it for 12 years. I thank everyone for their support during my time as creator, and I hope people find more happiness in Maria than I did.
With love, yours truly
