Character: That reminds me of this story where this scientist hit his ass on the edge of a table, but didn’t feel it. Then, months later, he died of ass pain. They call it Temporal Ass Pain or TAP
Protag: I’d TAP that-
Character: Say we took two asses, and we both slapped them really hard, there’d be a 56.000079% chance that one of them won’t feel it. That pain didn’t just get absorbed by the ass tissue, it’s being transported to the future. They call people who don’t feel Ass pain until later…TAPers…I wonder…if they could transport ass pain to someone else-
Zero: Ive injected Ass Poison into all of your left buttcheeks. You have exactly 2 hours to solve my Ass Slap puzzle.
I love how it just says
"A
Sonic the Hedgehog"
I know it probably means "design A" or "product A" or something, but I read it as "A singular Sonic the Hedgehog."
OKAY, somebody in the comments called Teddie a "perv" again and NO NO NONONONONO I can't believe how much damage localization crunch has done to the perception of this character in the west. Teddie is CHILD. He's mentally no older the Nanako. He acts like that because he is lonely and wants attention by being mildly annoying and kinda funny, not because he's a predator! Vote Teddie to spread the truth. I love Koromaru, but I am sure best doggo would not stand for this slander of his bossom buddy.
It's not your fault, it's kinda a result of how the game was localized way back in the 00s... There used to be an article about it on the internet (the site has since closed down unfortunately), but the localization team for Persona 4 went on the record stating they were heavily crunched when translating the game, being given basically only 1-2 months for the entire job (which is insane for a game of that length), and while a majority of the translation came out amazingly well for those circumstances, Teddie, who had to be localized last due to executive meddling regarding his name and gimmicks, did suffer immensely from the crunch.
To make matters worse, for some ungodly reasons every localization team on Persona since then has decided to stay CONSISTENT with those localization errors and actively butcher Teddie's character for that purpose alone, and I honestly am baffled by the insane ripple effect this has had.
The damage done to his character was 3-fold:
1.) Miscasting
In Japanese, Teddie is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi, a character actor known for his amazingly consistent falsetto, among other things. He was probably cast for his prior performance as Flappy in PreCure Splash Star and uses the exact same voice as for Flappy to voice Teddie. Accordingly, in Japanese Teddie sounds like a *creature*, not a person, a childlike, alien being that could never be mistaken for a regular person, voice-wise.
Meanwhile in English, Teddie has been consistently (mis)cast and misdirected with voices that sound like adult men doing an annoying falsetto that doesn't make them sound any younger. The voice actors themselves are incredibly talented, but they are completely the wrong match for the role and ruin the impression the character is supposed to give off, making him go from "cute but annoying and misguided" to "pest".
2.) Mistranslated jokes
God, if I went fully into this one, we'd be here ALL WEEK, but, like, every second joke involving Teddie, especially the running gags, was mistranslated in the English version. Like, his bear-puns in English? They're an attempt to carry over the fact that in Japanese he has a heavy vocal tick that causes him to replace sentence ending floskels and sometimes even parts of verbs and nouns with "kuma" the Japanese word for "bear" (which, incidentally, is also his name in the Japanese version, because in the Japanese version YOSUKE NAMED TEDDIE. Teddie didn't have a name until he met the party, and since Yosuke got so annoyed with how hard it was to get straight answers out of the awkward little creature, he just ended up naming him after his vocal tick. This is, by the way, one thing executive meddling changed. The localization team initially wanted to keep Teddie's name and vocal tick the same as in Japanese.). However, this does not necessarily come across as Teddie trying to make jokes in Japanese, and more as a cute speech impediment that makes him resemble typical Japanese corporate mascots even more than he already does. In the Japanese version, the only time he snaps out of this tick is when he thinks a dear friend of his has died (if you've played the game you know what I mean) and is in absolute despair over it.
But this isn't really the thing that ruins the character. The way his actual jokes were translated is a lot more damaging. Most strikingly, there is his infamous running gag about wanting to "score" with girls.
Now, as it is written in the English version of the games it does come off as very sexual and inappropriate, however you slice it...
The problem is: This is NOT how it is in Japanese
The word used here is not "scoring". It's "逆ナン" ("Gyakunan").
"Gyakunan" is a Japanese slang term referring SPECIFICALLY to women or girls aggressively flirting with men/boys. NEVER the other way around!
Why is Teddie saying it then? Well, he caught it from Shadow Yukiko. Shadow Yukiko talked about her concept of a person she could completely rely on and wanted to be with forever as someone she wanted to do a "gyakunan" on. And that STUCK with Teddie. Teddie has intense abandonment issues, so the idea of being someeone to someone else that they want to rely on and forever be with is something intensely powerful to him.
In other words: Teddie does not know what the word means. That is extremely clear in the Japanese version (and also goes for 100% of other "inappropriate" things he says. He's always just parroting stuff other people said or the media, never actually speaking out of knowledge. His voice actor pointed this out in a talk show even. He does that because he is a needy child.)
The fact that he doesn't know what it means is even directly spoken about in Ultimax, where this dialogue happens:
Teddie: "I wanted to Gyakunan so badly, I did my very best to grow this. Hi there, Junpei~!"
Junpei: "Ahh... Ahem... YOUR. JAPANESE. A LITTLE. BAD."
Junpei: "HUMANS CANNOT BE GROWN. ONLY GIRLS CAN GYAKUNAN"
Since P4's localization had completely messed with this joke, the second part of Junpei's second line here was completely dropped from the localization, as you can tell.
So why does he keep saying it even when it's obvious that the others are uncomfortable with it? Because Teddie wants attention. He's like a little kid who has no idea how correctly express their emotions. When he feels alone, he lashes out by making bad jokes, even when he doesn't realize WHY they are bad.
This also directly ties into ANOTHER mistranslated joke from Vanilla P4, which happens right before Rise's dungeon:
Kanji: "It's... a striptease, huh."
Teddie: "A "striptease"!?"
Teddie: "Aha! I get it... That's when you're all stripey, right!?"
Chie: "...."
Teddie: "I said... It's when you're all stripey, right!?"
Everyone: *sweatdrop*
Yukiko: "I hate these neon lights... I think not even these glasses can keep my eyes from hurting from that."
Teddie: *unhappy*
Teddie: "You guys, when I make a stupid joke, somebody is supposed to get mad at me for it like in a comedy skit! C'mon, one more time..."
Teddie: "So a striptease is... when you go all stripey..."
Chie: "I wish he'd stop talking..."
Yukiko: "...Huh, stripey? Sorry, were you talking, Teddie?"
Teddie: *sadly* "N-Nevermind... Let's just go inside..."
In English, this was mistranslated badly:
In English, it was played as Teddie genuinely thinking it was a funny joke, when in Japanese he himself says, that he is just trying to lighten the mood by making an intentionally bad joke.
This also messes with the reason WHY this scene is here: Teddie is feeling useless and out of place the entire time throughout this arc and is afraid that if he can't even keep the others' spirits high by being annoying enough to distract them from the seriousness of the situation, there is absolutely nothing left he has to contribute. That's why he gets so intensely sad when nobody reacts to his dumb joke. This is part of why his Shadow manifests at the end of this dungeon.
God, I could go further with how the localization also kinda messes with the way the shadow encounter is written too, but that belongs under another point, namely:
3.) Misunderstood Arc
The English localization messes up a lot of small details about how Teddie acts and speaks even aside from his jokes. He often says words in Katakana to make it clear he's hearing them for the first time and doesn't know what they mean. It's made very clear that, just like Nanako, he's prone to quoting TV and commercials after he comes to the human world. Sometimes the English dub makes him sound overly eloquent in dialogue boxes that had him basically just make toddler noises in Japanese.
This all combines to the complete misunderstanding of his arc:
Teddie does, in fact, NOT have amnesia in Persona 4.
He has dissociative symptoms.
This first becomes apparent in the Japanese version of his Shadow encounter, when Shadow Teddie says this:
Shadow Teddie: "At the bottom of your heart you realize [the truth]... But you cannot accept it. Therefore, all you do is trying to create another "you" to bury it..."
Shadow Teddie: "You never had any lost memories at all."
Shadow Teddie: "The only truth is that you are trying to make yourself forget that very fact itself."
Teddie: (shakily) "N-No... No, you're lying..."
This dialogue is still there in English, but the phrasing is off and less clear, and it sounds like Shadow Teddie is just clarifying the type of Amnesia Teddie has, rather than saying that he has *no* amnesia whatsoever.
What Teddie actually has is some manner of dissociative condition. His sudden gain of self-awareness as a Shadow was so traumatic to him that he completely dissociated and can't connect himself to his existence before that point in time, because being a Shadow, in his mind, would completely and entirely isolate him from humanity forever, which would force the desperate need for human connection that birthed his self-awareness in the first place to go eternally unfulfilled. So he can't allow himself to even for a second think of the fact that he's a Shadow, because if he did, it would break him. (And in the bad endings, it DOES. There's a reason his "goodbye" letter reads like an, ahem, certain type of note that starts with "s". It's pretty clear that Teddie is, in fact, not alive in the end if you get a bad ending.).
That's also why his Persona awakening status line is different from that of every other character.
He'd never actually "faced the truth about himself" at this point. He brute-forced his Persona awakening because he was so desperate to be with his friends that the feeling was strong enough to bring his Shadow under control.
The time when he actually DOES face it is when he awakens to Kamui, after a certain someone wakes up in the hospital in the game's endgame. That's because at this point, Yu had convinced him that, regardless of his nature, who Teddie gets to be is up to nobody but Teddie himself. He's not bound to any "destiny" prescribed to him by his "nature". He can choose to grow up into and become whoever he wants regardless of how he started out. In that way Teddie is a heavy foil to Ryoji Mochizuki from the previous game, who never got to have this revelation and, as a result, didn't survive. (RIP Ryoji, my boy...)
Teddie's dissociative symptoms are why he gets more and more bratty the later into the game we get, right up until stuff goes down in late November. He does not make a secret of it towards Yu that he's anxious and dissatisfied with his progress in "finding out" who he is, and all the time, his Shadow is pressing on the back of his mind, probably only exacerbated by the fact he actively has to keep holding it down, since he didn't have a proper, stable awakening like the others yet. So he tries to overplay it by acting EXTRA annoying in fall, and his characterization in the PQ games (both of which are set in Fall from P4's perspective) suffers from it, something he directly admits in the endgame of PQ1, when he apologizes to Koromaru for the way he was acting to him and admits he admires him.
(Note: I only ever played Persona Q in Japanese, so I have NO idea how this scene was handled in English. Given people only ever talk about how bratty Teddie was to Koromaru in that game, I assume it wasn't translated well, unfortunately. I at very least know that his dismissive nickname for Koromaru in PQ was badly mistranslated. In Japanese, Teddie calls him "Inukoro", a slightly dismissive version of "puppy". Not rude, just mildly dismissive and punny because it has "koro" in there. The English translation went with "mutt", which is just... No. Just no. That is NOT how this should have been translated.)
ANYWAY, this turned into a Teddie essay, so let me end this on:
Vote for Teddie. Unlike Koromaru, he has been actively slandered in the west for years, and I think if Koromaru knew about this, he would want it to stop.
Signal boosting this. I've noticed a few of these myself and tried to point them out in my playthroughs and other videos (especially the "gyakunan" thing, there's a scene in Q2 that makes its mistranslation blatantly obvious).
I will also second the idea that Teddie is mentally a child. This was something I picked up on while playing the original P4, but I had to do it much more subtly via context clues (mostly, how well he gets along with Nanako and how it's the one friendship of his he takes absolutely seriously) rather than via it being clear in the actual text.
I think it's also way more telling in the original script that Teddie's speech is so childish, Junpei mistakes him for someone who doesn't speak Japanese natively. (Which is actually true, in a sense)
Also, Teddie talking and acting like a 'cute mascot' character from a TV show is even more fitting given he was born of the Midnight Channel. He's literally what would happen if a TV mascot tried to enter the real world.
Fun fact about the origins of Gyakunan. "Gyaku" means "reverse". "Nan" comes from "Nanpa", which essentially means "sleazy pickup artist". Basically the kind of guys we'd now call fedora-tipping "m'lady" types. So a girl doing that is "Reverse Nanpa" > "Gyakunan". (There's likely some sexist connotations here, implying guys doing it is "normal" but girls doing it is some kind of weird "opposite day")
The funny thing was, when I played SA2 for the first time in the 2000's, everything BUT Shadow became my entire personality.
This might've been because it was my first Sonic game, so this was my introduction to the entire cast.
Hi, Evan! I noticed you and Ian were both credited for Issue #84's story, so I was wondering if you could clarify which of you worked on which parts of the issue? Thank you in advance.
I'm collaborating with every writer in this arc, and each collaboration is different. We decide who is doing what ahead of time so nobody feels like they're not being heard and can contribute however they'd like. Ian wanted to let me take the lead, so I did a lot on this story.
I've set this up as a "here's how a comic script for Sonic gets made!" kinda thing, so here ya go:
-I write the overall arc outline (issue 81-100), and associated informational documents on the arc's various important characters and macguffin. The arc outline is on its own years-long review and approval process which I won't get into here.
-I write the page breakdowns for issues #84-86, detailing what happens on each page and how.
*first submission, to IDW editors*
-Thea and Bixie, our editors at IDW, give their notes on the breakdowns and I fix 'em.
*second submission, to IDW editors. Breakdowns approved!*
-Ian scripts the issues, adding panel-to-panel descriptions and dialogue.
-I check Ian's scripts, adjusting arc-specific elements where needed and editing dialogue. I mostly just did that for Belle and the villain. I wanted Ian on this story because he's the Sage guy, and of course he can write Sonic no problem.
*third submission, to IDW editors*
-Thea and Bixie give their notes. Ian and I do the fixes live in a shared document. they look it over and approve!
*fourth submission, to SEGA. This goes through SoA first, then is translated and sent to SoJ*
-Both SEGA offices give us their combined notes. Thea and Bixie negotiate with SEGA on any notes we decide to push back on, or need extra clarification for. We also got notes on the informational documents I mentioned at the beginning here, which affected some things in the story's finale. For this one we really only got notes on Sage and on the action sequence at the end. Ian did the Sage bits and I did the fight scenes.
*fifth submission, to SEGA*
-Hopefully it's all done now!
I would be a very happy bean if literally anyone could redraw this photo in their art style. I just think it’s so cute. They’re so happy, and that makes me happy!
In honour of Fan Art Day for Sonic Spirit Week 💎 I thought I would drop the covers for my two major fanfics, I Love You - Come With Me and Just Three Days! I don't draw very much anymore (I used to wayyyy more as a kid, and in any case, writing has always been my art), but I like to give it a go when it matters 💕
Think you're the biggest Sonic collector? Have a favorite character that you like to collect? Share your collections with us and it may be highlighted on our channel today!
My collection BEFORE and AFTER falling in love with this series again in January 2024.
...I may have a problem.
The Werehog and Sonic with Wisps figure come from the Limited Editions of Unleashed and Colors respectively. The Sonic and Amy plushes are from the 2007 Sansei line, Sonic was an import birthday gift while Amy was bought in Akihabara itself.
Not showing the full Lego sets, just the characters.
[reads again] oh good it doesn't have to be YOUR fan music. I wish I was that talented, but sadly no.
Here are some of my favourite fan songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1j0AASaPT4E
(I've listened to this for YEARS thinking it was official!)
And, of course, this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZEPgLkzhwE
Unofficial CrossWorlds Theme Song of Eggman mains.
Make sure you watch the audio dramas with subtitles, because they actually subtitled the window moment as "[Vector clumsily falls through the window]".
I just got back into writing Sonamy fics, and recently read most of yours as well. Obligatory kudos for I Love You - Come With Me - I'm sure at this point you know how special that fic is to the community.
Wanted to ask about something I noticed while reading ILY-CWM - what's your approach to squaring higher-level writing with trying to keep Sonic, Amy, and other characters, well, in-character? I'm a big fan of the IDW comic series, and while the writing in those comics is very good, there's still a little bit of a disconnect with how the characters communicate in a canonical source (which we know the IDW comic is) and well-written fanfic such as yours.
Obviously, some of this can be chalked up to the fact Sonic is an all-ages series (or, to put it less diplomatically, aimed at kids), something I'm painfully aware of as someone in his late 30s. But I loved your analyses here on Tumblr of Sonic's character and his relationship with Amy, and it's crystal-clear that there's more to the development of their characters and relationship, especially in the IDW series, than meets the eye.
This is something I've struggled with in my own writing - putting those layers of emotion and adult-level communication in my stories without making Sonic and Amy sound so contemplative, formal, and grown-up that it takes them out of character. However, they clearly aren't dumb - especially when you look at how the IDW comics have shown the depth of their capabilities and social intelligence - but I've had to make sure I stay away from that thing that can happen with shipping fics where not much is going on outside of two characters giving long-winded monologues about their feelings or talking to each other like therapists.
Shameless plug alert, I was thinking about finding this balance pretty much the entire time I was writing a fic I published a couple days ago, "One Equal Temper." It's a 6500-word short story, so it's not super-long if you want to check it out, and it's set in the canon game/IDW continuity: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14490674/1/
I don't know how many times I asked myself "Would Sonic or Amy feasibly actually say this?" before the story went live.
Anyway, thanks a bunch for reading and considering all this. I absolutely love the pairing and am looking forward to reading more of your fantastic work in the future.
Hello! Thanks for your kind words! It always brings me joy to hear that people like my work!
I'm honoured to be asked a question like this! I am by no means an authority on this subject, be it the subject of WRITING or the subject of SONIC, but I'm willing to share a bit of what my process looks like behind the scenes. I suspect some of the disconnect one might feel between canon sources and canon-compliant fan works is the lack of internal thought processes we are afforded in official media, and this is entirely due to the differing mediums.
Side note: It's absolutely not a requirement to be "canon compliant" or mostly there when making fan works, btw. Live life, breathe air, write that AU, share that headcanon!!
The long and short of it is that the calibre of storytelling and characterization this franchise is known for is far more mature than we give it credit for, in my opinion. Mind you, the highest rating this franchise has ever seen is an E10+ in North America, so lets not get lost in the sauce here, but I think it's fair to say we have more "Sonic Adventure 2s" in the franchise than "Sonic Lost Worlds."
When it comes to finding that balance, you said the core of my take quite well, already: "they clearly aren't dumb." Sonic and company have seen enough demons to have learned a thing or two along the way about how to live a meaningful life, but the vast majority of the cast are also teenagers. They have big problems to solve and not exactly all the emotional tools they need to navigate them, so it's completely natural for them to have a deep breadth of emotions and internal conflicts that are worth exploring.
I prefer to write with the more mature versions of Mainline Canon Sonic in mind. I firmly believe that Sonic is a highly emotionally intelligent character: someone who is capable of having fun and making the job look easy, but who also never loses sight of the mission and the severity of the stakes (immediate and long-term; of all varieties). When I enter that headspace, a lot of the rest comes naturally to me.
But let me get a little more technical, from a craft perspective.
How I write dialogue differs from how I write narration. When people communicate, they're making hundreds of calculations in their heads without even realizing. The way I speak to my family is different from how I speak to my friends, which is different from how I speak to people I work with, and so on. Yet, ALL of that is different from how I speak to myself.
There is room for flexibility when writing narration because in essence, the character is talking to themselves (or, an audience---it depends on one's writing style). Their thoughts are in the purest, unfiltered form. Sonic's raw thought process is different than how he might express an idea, in dialogue, to Amy, which itself might not be an idea he'd even consider expressing to Tails.
As someone who most often writes in first-person POV (usually Sonic's, sometimes Amy's), I point my focus toward:
How would they say this thought? Would they?
How would they describe something?
Would they use a metaphor here? Which one?
Is this something that would even catch their attention? AKA, Is this something I should even address?
I think a lot about word choice and sentence structure. A lot can be shown implicitly about a character through the words they default to. Sonic uses a lot of slang and sometimes truncates his words (Think: "Nah" instead of "No"), but again, only in dialogue. Tails leans on bigger words. Amy tends to ramble. Sonic and Amy are also quite impassioned orators, which means I have more room to consider literary devices like rhythm and repetition in my phrasing.
Children, in particular, are tricky because it's very easy to make them too cognizant. Young children aren't dumb by any means (naïve is a better word to use, and in fact they are highly observant), but they often lack the vocabulary and nuance to effectively comprehend and articulate exactly what they observe and how it makes them feel.
Therefore, a child's thought process is a lot less introspective. Their sentences are simpler; their words, less specific; their ideas, seemingly tangential. A child's thought might make an adult's brain skip to understand it because it's not said exactly the way an adult would think to say it, but all the information is there.
It's worth mentioning that a character like Tails is quite different. Intellectually, he is on par with many characters far older than he is, but he is still quite childish. His childhood is better shown through his lack of experience with people and emotions, his mannerisms, and his behaviours.
It's one of my favourite things about Tails, actually: he is a child, and despite how vital he is to the protection of the world, when he is "off the clock," everyone in his corner does what they can to protect that childlike wonder within him.
Anywho, that's all I can think of. I hope this was insightful and/or even answered your question lol! Again, I'm no authority on this! I'm literally just a one and a zero on the internet.
There's no right way to create. Just do what feels right to you :)
Really good insights. If I can add my own dumb thing, it's that how I do this is picturing the voice actors from the game/movie/show saying the lines I wrote. Does it sound natural in the actor's voice? If not, it's probably out of character. A simple approach, but one that works for me.
"You should create for yourself" and "it's okay to feel discouraged when creating your own original projects if no one interacts with them" are two sentences that should be able to co-exist with each other
On the one hand, you should kill that capitalist in your head that tells you to make art only for the enjoyment of other people. On the other hand, it's totally fine to be disappointed that you spent hours or even days on something that only got 4 notes. You can feel both ways.
Unofficial title, “Why Reboot Archie Sonic And Amy Are Basically Dating.”
If this panel doesn’t convince you, then hopefully you'll stick around a little longer.
…Hmm…still here, huh? Alright then, grab a snack and get comfortable because I love ranting about these two, and this post is long.
Disclaimer: I’m absolutely fine with anyone disagreeing. This is just my opinion and explanation as to why I have it. I'd like you to get where I’m coming from and boy I'm definitely excited to share my thoughts because it’s a doozy. Also, spoilers to those who haven’t read this comic in case anyone cared.
So, I’ve been reading over the Reboot Archie comics. First of all…I NEVER thought I’d be making this post. Honestly, I didn’t think much of this version of the ship besides a few cute panels that I saw floating around occasionally, or watching a few dubs.
Secondly, this comic might be my all-time favorite in Sonic history but never mind that. I love Sonamy and I mean I REALLY love it. It’s my favorite ship in all of fiction to be honest. It's unique, changes throughout the years, and the dynamic can have so much range. That’s what I’m talking about today. Reboot Archie Sonamy works within such a strange but accurate way to how I personally view the ship and I just need to ramble about them for a bit. Forgive me when I get off topic. I really want to get my point across as clearly as possible. Read at your own pace.
Thirdly, before anything else, I’d like to talk about the characterization of the hedgies. We can’t fully understand this version of the ship, without understanding what characterization we’re dealing with. It’s the most important point of this dynamic in my opinion. Not to mention gives you a chance to understand what I like about them as individuals. Let’s get started!
Characterization
Sonic The Hedgehog
The characterization here might be the best characterization I've seen so far.
This variation of Sonic is the embodiment of kindness, quick wit, wisdom, and courage, which we typically expect from him. The difference is that his standout moments of character progression really stand out. For example, despite not knowing Coral, the orange octopus, Sonic goes out of his way to stand up for her in front of the stuck-up jerk King and Queen of her kingdom. This willingness to support others, paired with moments of playfulness, a touch of anger, and even a hint of egotism adds a refreshing edge to his character that has been somewhat missing these days.
An important thing to recognize about Reboot Archie Sonic is his undeniably stubborn nature, which seems to be a consistent trait throughout his various portrayals over the years.
Exhibit A: In parts of this comic, Sonic is keeping a secret. It’s almost comical how many times he insists he’s “fine” throughout the various issues.
The foreshadowing around the Werehog was brilliantly executed, with a masterful build-up from issue 254 to 265. Imagine that quick moment when he saves Amy in Unleashed, amplify it to the maximum, and you'll have this. The character struggles with asking for help and surprisingly resorts to lying about his health (something Sonic almost never does canonically). His stubbornness is so evident that Amy and the others call him out on it in one panel, all because he thought he had “everything under control.” Eventually, he lowers his defenses and apologizes once he’s caught. Character development for Sonic isn’t common, but in this reboot, it feels entirely natural.
Side Note: These particular lines from Amy not only increase my love for her writing but also highlight how both she and Sally can pull Sonic back into reality when he’s lost in his corrupted mindset. I appreciate the bond these characters share. Even though this is an alternate universe from Archie and is well…a reboot, the quality of the writing gives the impression that these characters have history. A feeling that seems somewhat lacking in newer iterations. I realize this might be a hot take, especially from someone who didn’t grow up with Sonic, but based on what I’ve read (and other elements I can’t fully cover here), I find the storytelling here more…cohesive.
Back on topic, Sonic spends time adjusting to his new form with the help of a therapist/trainer named Moss, who is a sloth (a character I wish we had the chance to see more of). This experience allows Sonic to manage his anger and adds a unique layer to his personality. It’s surprising to see him face this kind of struggle. I couldn't imagine this happening in the games. I have mad respect for how the comics depict his journey, as it introduces fresh elements to the status quo. In this comic, Sonic demonstrates a greater emotional awareness and often relies on others for support in various issues, which genuinely brings a smile to my face. Sonic doesn't have to go through character arcs but this is a different continuity and it's written well, so I don't mind.
Despite the restrictions in Reboot Archie, it still offers more freedom compared to IDW. Sonic isn't typically overly emotional, but it does seem that his characterization trends more towards the games as the story progresses. Reboot Archie Sonic strikes a balance between his typical comicbook personality and his game persona, making him unique. Lastly, there's an element in this characterization that strengthens the Sonamy dynamic in these comics, but I’ll save that point for later.
Amy Rose
Ooooh, my girl is so good in this comic. I'll say with complete confidence, this is probably the best portrayal of Amy in any media. Not only in comics but in GENERAL. She's energetic, empathetic, compassionate, sassy, adorable, and hotheaded. But she's also a leader, responsible, and tough.
She's everything great about her old depiction and current depiction. I know many have stated their disappointment with her not being as cartoony as she could be but Reboot Archie Amy has zero problems with that. She's very caring towards her friends but doesn't mind calling them out when she thinks they're wrong. Much like Sonic, she's very strict about wanting fairness but that's not all. Later in the comics, in the underwater City of Meropis Sonic, Amy, and Rotor meet Coral, and with encouragement from her and Tikal ( yes she’s in these comics) Coral’s able to save everyone in her Kingdom. I’ll just show this moment of Amy relating to her.
It’s so sweet. Amy’s also a powerhouse and even learns to use the Mystic Melody which is a technique that locates magical forces of Sonic's world. When using it, Amy’s able to help her friends find the Chaos Emeralds in issue 164, and Knuckles to find pieces of the Master Emerald in a different issue that doesn't follow the main story but is still a part of it. Anyway, Amy not only helps Knuckles find the shards but also helps him emotionally. While everyone else questions him about why he's so fixated on doing one task all his life (that causes him to doubt himself), Amy says this:
I love this comic so much for this moment alone! During a time when her personality was still being questioned, this version of her shows that she is (and always has been) more than a “Sonic fangirl.” I know so many people bring up Boom or IDW when it comes to her characterization but in my opinion, nothing holds a candle to her having the same characterization as Unleashed, SA1, and SA2, and building off of it as Reboot Archie did. It basically took the best parts of her personality and amplifies it. Of course, she's getting back to her bubbly side, and I think she's still written well currently, but this comic did it before either Boom or IDW came out, and this should get just as much praise.
Amy displays how, even when everyone questions or doubts you (like in the case of Coral and Knuckles) you should always believe in yourself. Don't worry about everyone else because they're not you. Their praise shouldn't define you, you define yourself along with the choices you make. Of course, Amy has her hick-ups and isn't perfect, but the best parts of her attributes (and the parts she showed more often back then) are in this comic.
Also she’s hilarious. Look at these.
Side Note: I love the idea of Amy having magic powers but not by birth but by sheer passion and determination in terms of learning the Mystic Melody. She's SO COOL!
Sonic AND Amy
How does this dynamic differ from canon? It’s less about them being different and more about how their interactions are executed. That and the comics have the same headwriter, so I guess their dynamic here leaked into IDW in a way.
Canon Sonamy’s dynamic is subtle, almost quiet. Amy and Sonic are constantly in their own little worlds at times. Amy follows Sonic and he lets her, but she still has her own path too. They are very similar to each other more than most would expect, but their energies differ. Amy approaches problems slowly and personally while Sonic is more direct and quick about fixing probles. You'll get them casually hanging out with one another, or subtly check in on each other every once in a while. You'll see Amy hugging Sonic excitedly while he calmly accepts it. Their the couple you'd have to double-check and make sure they aren't just frineds.
Reboot Archie Sonamy are almost always on the same wavelength because of the enthusiasm they have and the stakes of their world remaining high. Their dynamic, while still subtle, is more in your face. The humorous side of Sonamy, being prominent in the past, is what drives their dynamic in the comics. Sonic’s ego balances out Amy's aggression whenever they're in battle. Sonic teases Amy whenever she is overstimulated while Amy not only humbles him but even sometimes joins in on his taunting. They're the loud couple that orders every food off the menu and argue about who's paying more for the other. But then try to play it cool when people start staring at them weirdly.
I love both versions of course but I guess because Reboot Archie strikes a balance between energy and subtlety that catches my attention. They are a chaotic duo with no limits. It’s when you take everything great about their dynamic from any piece of official media, put it in a blender, but then forget to turn the blender off. They complement each other, poke fun at one another, show affection, and…flirt? Yeah, they actually flirt in this comic. How did it go unnoticed back then? I have no clue.
The extra part of Sonic’s characterization I was talking about earlier is his Casanova side. The way he outright calls out Amy for her flirting with him, while also giving her soft looks is hypocrisy at its finest like…how else can you explain whatever is happening here?
And that’s the other thing with this continuity. If you thought the ship was obvious nowadays, they were downright dating already in these issues. Like…tell me why BOTH characters get jealous in this comic.
See Sonic and Amy’s body language and expressions? Also, I love how the name card calls Amy “the jealous type.” It's perfect and also a piece of comedy that stayed funny in these issues.
I enjoy seeing them bicker but not only that, they run off each other’s brainlessness perfectly. In most media, Sonic and Amy’s dynamic runs off of one hedgehog acting goofy while the other acts as the grounded one. This version has BOTH. They’re the definition of sharing the same brain cell. These two don't feel like best frineds getting closer because they're already close. See how much worry but notable faith Sonic has in Amy here?
The line on the left is also a reference to one of Sonic’s lines talking about Amy from SA2. The writing here is immaculate and no one can change my mind.
I’ve seen plenty say the main appeal of this ship is the chase. Here, it feels like both are running together due to being separated for so long. Which is probably why Sonic acted apprehensive about her leaving with Knuckles in this panel. Because he hadn't already seen her in so long. Before I read this comic, I didn't even think about any serious implications of this moment. It's a bit heartbreaking when you think about it. Even if it was written deliberately for laughs. Another reason I find this character writing engaging. The levels of layers on a tiny moment like this, showing Sonic’s vulnerability gives weight to a funny moment like this.
I doubt there was as much verbal banter between them in other offical content in the past. It doesn’t feel forced either despite it not being their specific dynamic. Even now, they don't have as much of that spunkiness in comparison. The hedgehogs always had a unique back-and-forth that doesn't require banter like a typical romantic couple, but the way they do it in Reboot Archie somehow fits like a glove. You can just feel them saving every moment they have when sharing a panel. You can feel their appreciation for one another even when it’s not being said out loud.
Why They Work Perfectly
Even with the same amount of ambiguity that Sonamy has ALWAYS been known for, this continuity feels as if they’re not being held back as much. As in, they’re about as blatant as Boom!Sonamy in some instances. But what makes me love this more is that Sonic and Amy can cover each other's weak spots, express themselves more openly, and feel however they want. Without making it unnatural too. With bad writing, this would not work.
The fact that this is a version of Sonamy that has (in my opinion) Amy able to comfort Sonic for once is crazy to me. The fact that Amy was able to give Sonic a pep talk made me fall in love with this version the most. It’s something we haven’t had in canon. At least not to the extent in my opinion.
Sonic’s also more openly affectionate around her in this comic. I believe the main reason he’s more open to her nowadays is because of this continuity. Either that, or Sonic’s allowed to be more affectionate in general. Either way, I appreciate the blatantness of Sonamy in the Reboot and am glad we’re getting more glimpses of that old flair these days. It’s not as much as I’d like, but I’m satisfied regardless.
Reboot!Archie Sonamy just shows off their dynamic with barely any limits. I feel like I’m getting more out of these two without the story having to focus on their dynamic specifically. I might just be pleased to see an older interpretation of their relationship before the 2020s that's less ambiguous but I digress. Their relationship isn’t the only good thing about this comic, but I can’t act like it’s not a huge reason I love it as much as I do.
Conclusion
Maybe the shipping fuel is unintentional but it doesn’t seem that way. The writing of their dynamic (like always) feels too…obvious for lack of a better term.
Yeah, I LOVE this comic! I wanted to shed more light on this version of Sonamy since it hasn’t gotten the attention I believe it deserves. I recommend everyone to read this comic when they can. You guys WON’T be disappointed.
The way I can best describe this version of Sonamy is balanced or even complete in a way. Despite the comic unfortunately getting discontinued, Sonic and Amy’s relationship feels like it’s hit its peak with great characterization, development, chemistry, and everything else I love about the ship in a perfect mix. Hope I was able to convince you this time. If not, then I hope you at least caught on to why this version of Sonamy means a lot to me.
I’m adding this because I have the pictures for it but couldn’t include it unfortunately. Even in the classic issues while Sonic still saves her, he somehow had faith in her abilities despite not knowing her very well yet. Here are a few panels of this. They were quite literally made for each other.
I'll also add a few panels of Sonic and Amy sharing the same brain cell too. :3
