Welcome to Shipping and Handling, named after an MLP Fan Song of the same name. Think of this like a Research Bin only focusing mostly on ships. And since it’s based on an MLP Song, I might as well make it about MLP and the two most popular ships for our favorite Cow Pony: Rarity and Rainbow Dash. The finale showed us Rarity coming in alone and Applejack and Rainbow Dash arguing. Many people consider this meaning Appledash won the ship and no matter what I say on this that shouldn’t stop you from enjoying that moment for your favorite ship.
But are they a couple? You could see that scene and say “yep, they’re together” but you could also say “yep, they’re still rivals but at least it's more friendly”. Meanwhile the Rarijack Shippers got Equestria Girls for their fuel as well as plenty of moments here and there. Yet one question remains, which pair is the best? Honestly, for me, I can see the three as not in a relationship and them more focused on their careers but where’s the fun in that? So let’s compare our two favorite pairs of Jacks and see which one is the ship ahead for me.
Appledash
Rivals turn lovers are a popular trope and they are definitely rivals. So many moments and episodes are focused on those two trying to one up each other. As for hints, we got plenty. Not only that final scene but we got stuff like the IDW Gen 5 Comic hinting at it as well as the Gameloft games hinting at it with their future selves. And let’s not forget they did name drop Apple-Dash in the series with Twilight’s unforgettable line: “Team Apple-Dash is basically unstoppable... And apart they'll spend all their energy trying to one-up each other, so that only helps my chances.”
Which comes to the biggest flaw of this pairing: they do tend to bring out the worst in each other. Both never give up but both are also very stubborn. They match up with each other very well in terms of character traits. But it's because of that their competitive nature comes out. Fall Weather Friends have them ruin the Running of the Leaves. Non-Compete Clause almost had them dying. Trying to beat the others in Triple Pony Dares have then disrupted each other to the point that Pinkie had to step in to stop them.
Back with the positives, when not competing against each other they work well together. Still not enough to beat Fluttershy as Teacher of the Month but still a huge improvement. And they each trust each other to cover for them, like Dash asking AJ to cover her classes or AJ asking Dash to take a look at the museum for her. And they do have a bunch of great images that definitely would be great for shipping. This pairing is pretty much a pretty good match.
Rarijack
Another popular trope is opposite attracts. So much so there’s a song about it. While the pony side of things point to Dash, Equestria Girls has a strong pull for Rarijack. Rollercoaster of Friendship seems to be all about them being possibly more than friends. Not to mention Applejack made a frikkin closet for her and made her sushi. Now with Ponies, there are plenty of episodes with Applejack and Rarity being both the main focus or being paired together while focusing on the other. But while opposites attract, they can also cause friction.
As seen in Look Before You Sleep, their differences can cause clashes. With Rarity being proper and pampered could clash with AJ’s down and dirty lifestyle. And then there’s AJ’s overworkness where Applejack's Day Off had her fixing the Spa for the entire time instead of relaxing like how Rarity wanted her to do. Yeah, looking at things it does seem that Applejack’s stubborn nature is usually the cause of these things like insulting fashion when Rarity picked her as a judge during Honest Apple.
But that episode is an example of them knowing what the other needs to hear to get it through their head. Just by introducing Applejack to Strawberry Sunrise Rarity allowed AJ to figure out what was wrong with her style of judging and the mistake that she made. Conversely, Apple Jewel in Simple Ways showed Rarity how foolish she was acting trying to impress a guy she liked that had no interest in her. Despite being opposites, they know each other pretty well.
Which is Superior?
Again, you are free to ship whoever you want. As long as they’re not related and are appropriate for each other you could ship Applejack with Rarity, Rainbow Dash, both of them together or even with Vinyl Scratch. This is just who I think would be the better pairing of the two based on my own thoughts and for me that’s Rarijack. I think they just have more chemistry together. Helps that Equestria Girls strongly hint at this pairing and you can see elements of that in the main show.
But that’s me, who do you think should be with Applejack?
With Generation 5 almost done, I figured I might as well start on the IDW Comics. And like Tell Your Tale, I plan on doing the main series two issues at a time while any big one shot hopefully in one article. So let’s begin.
Issue 1
The comic begins with Sunny looking for Canterlot while her father watches on. It's nice that they show his importance despite his obvious death. In the present, Sunny, Pipp and Zipp are gonna play Flyball and Zipp is probably the only one among the three who knows how to play. Izzy wants to play, not knowing what game it is, but she can't because she ain't a Pegasus. She tries hanging out with Hitch but he’s too busy trying to hunt for butterflies and Izzy is too loud. Basically, Izzy is feeling left out because she’s the only unicorn among their friend group.
But it seems Magic is acting up. A unicorn almost got crushed because their magic suddenly stopped. And now Izzy and Pipp are falling because they can't fly. Luckily Sunny saved Zipp and Izzy saved Pipp via Ice Cream. It seems everyone's magic is glitching, even Sunny's though not as badly. Zipp questions how this could be because as long as everyone is united Magic should remain, but it's Sunny who figured out if ponies are united and magic is glitching, then something bad happened to the Crystals. And she was right as the Unity Crystals are now missing. Specifically the Pegasus one.
Not wanting things to go back the way they were, Sunny vows to find the Unity Crystal and reunite them. The others agree. Pipp tries to livestream the news but Zipp warns her it may cause a panic. Cue panic going on. So they begin their investigation at the scene of the crime and Detective Zipp is on the case. We also find out this is supposedly her first actual case. But on a positive note, she is doing a good job so far. Using previous footage from this morning provided by Pipp’s livestream, she found a Vase had been moved and a long strand of hair. And Zipp compares the hare to variations of Platypus.
Using Cloudpuff, he sniffs the hair and begins running. Three hours later and they’re still on the trail. And what’s worse: Pipp’s phone died and she doesn’t have a charger. Sunny calms the argument between sisters down, but she also suggests they have to do more than follow the dog. So the Pegasi are gonna take to the sky (just low enough so the trees can catch them with no issue). Izzy doesn’t think it's a good idea to split the party but they have no choice since time is of the essence. And it's not like they’re going to be too far off. But in reality, it's another instance of Izzy feeling like the odd one out of the group.
The issue ends with Izzy investigating a cave to find a gate. And when she opens it, it's Canterlot. Or what remains of it. So the bad, Pipp isn’t as good as she is on the show. Positives, Zipp is actually doing good detective work and we have a story setup for Izzy exploring the fact she’s the only unicorn of the group until Misty shows up. And unlike the show IDW is REALLY going for that connection between Generation 4 and 5 like the series suggests it is. So let’s see how this continues.
Issue 2
We’re back with our ponies in the sky. Pipp is tired between all the flying, Zipp playing eye spy with only trees around, and Sunny analyzing the leaves to see how well they pollinate. Sunny decides to regroup with everyone but Izzy isn’t there. Luckily for her Cloudpuff is leading them to where she was. While Izzy was scared of the gates, Sunny is ecstatic because they’re the Gate of the Ancients: the gates that lead to Canterlot. Sunny is so excited because she’s finally living up to what her father believed she could and even though Canterlot hasn't seen life in years, Sunny is excited and she can’t hide it. She’s about to lose control and I think she likes it. And they find Izzy in Donut Joes’ old shop.
Now he’s an odd thing: Sunny saw Canterlot as a perfect beacon of friendship where Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies lived in harmony. But during Celesta’s time this was where most of the high class ponies go. Though that could have changed when Twilight became ruler. Sunny is sad because seeing Canterlot this way makes her worried about keeping Maretime Bay that way. But she gets over it when Zipp suggests examining the Royal Castle she gets over it. She’s going Twilynanas in a positive way. She’s even crying because she’s walking the same floors the Princesses before her were.
Hitch tries to stay vigilant since Sunny’s fangirling could distract them from a trap the thief made, but it was too late. They got captured and are now contained in a cave with a fancy dinner with handmade place cards with their names on it. And you know who would do something so chaotic like that: Discord. Sunny is acting like any fan of a celebrity meeting them and knowing who they are. Sort of reminds me of when Donald met Shirley Temple, except one sided because this is Discord after all. Sunny asks him for help looking for the Unity Crystal thief but Discord begins to tell a story instead.
Sunny begins to criticise the story in comparison to the history books but Discord’s pet Opossum had a sign especially made for Sunny to not do that. It's basically his version of why the Unity Crystals were made in the first place and it was because some pony was responsible for spreading disharmony. And here’s where IDW Criticism begins. Ignoring the story because we still don’t know the actual details, a filly had to leave Fluttershy because her unicorn parents didn’t want her to learn from a pegasus who can’t levitate an apple. Said Filly was an Earth Pony.
It's also still vague, as while a shadow that looks like Opaline was shown, we don’t see a lot of the major details that the Bible suggested. Basically something bad happened after everyone started to hate each other. Then Twilight made the Unity Crystals with the express instructions that as long as all ponykind lived in Harmony, magic will be kept alive. REMEMBER THIS FOR LATER! MUCH LATER!!! After the story, Sunny asks Discord for help but he basically reveals that he was the thief: thinking society is peaceful without magic. And he invited them here to decide what to do with the Unity Crystal he stole.
The gang tells him to bring it back and let them embrace each other. But Discord uses Izzy’s current insecurities and sees the same excuses Fluttershy made despite it hurting her deep inside. So he decides to go full Wanda Maximoff (complete with the House of M ending reference) and try to find a way to destroy the crystal once and for all. They try to stop him, but this is Discord after all. He quickly immobilizes them and escapes, leaving them to wonder how they could stop him.
IDW’s greatest strength is their willingness (or ease) of using the Generation 4 stuff. Discord thinking that society is better off without magic is kind of funny since you could argue Discord’s magic has caused as much trouble as the Ponies’ magic. So him wanting to make things peaceful by removing magic is ironic since his bread and butter is chaos.
It's just issues here and there that makes this not as good as the Animated versions of Gen 5. And another flaw, they sometimes stop the plot to do something else and we’ll see that next week.
It's a hot day and it's only Zipp who seems to be enjoying it. That’s because she’s the only one at the beach while everyone else feels it's too hot to go there. Zipp is trying to convince others to go to the beach and only Misty seems to be listening. But what about Zipp’s friends? Hitch is helping Sunny with the Smoothie Shop because everyone is begging for smoothies to stay hydrated. And Izzy and Pipp are arguing about where the fans should go: outside to help the ponies out there or inside to keep those inside cool?
Zipp gives up and decides to go to the beach on her own. Misty sees her upset and decides to join Zipp. They’re having fun and posting it on their socials. And this inspired others to join the beach. It ends with Pipp suggesting that someone should have said something sooner and Zipp being angry, but Misty calms her down. A nice episode for these hot summer days. And probably good advice if you can get access to a beach or another water source.
Sparkle School
Misty is looking at all of her friends' cutie marks and notices that they tend to glow randomly. But her cutie mark never sparkled. It had close moments but never the full glow. Izzy sees Misty being sad and finds out about her not having her Cutie Mark Glow. So guess what Misty is gonna do? She’s gonna go Cutie Mark Crusaders on Misty and take her to Sparkle School. Cue montage to the Song “Up”. I honestly like it. But this song does make me realize how much this series likes repetition. Party Party Party. Work Work Work. Up Up Up. Down Down Down. Flame Flame La-da-da-dee-da-da-da.
Sadly like Pre-Cutie Mark Crusaders the montage failed. Misty runs off thinking her Cutie Mark won’t ever work. Luckily she is found by Sunny who was worried about Misty. Misty feels like nobody would understand her but Sunny totally does. She is the only Alicorn she knows and tells Misty that despite that, she doesn’t feel alone because she had her friends helping her, just like Misty does. This understanding gives Misty the Cutie Mark glow.
The others see this and congratulate Misty. And that’s where it ends. A nice song, a really fun episode seeing Misty going the Lengths you would see the Crusaders put people through at times, a real treat. Next week is the final batch of Tell Your Tales before the final Chapter of Make Your Mark.
(Other Things Considered: Sonic Super Special #10, Sonic the Hedgehog #144, The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia, Sonic Universe Online #50)
Triplets born. The throne awaits. A seer warns of a deadly fate. Give up her children. Separate. Bide her time. Lie in wait. This is the intro of Sonic Underground and it does sum up the reason for this world, but there are more details. Aleena gave birth to Triplets: Sonic, Sonia and Manic. But by this time Robotnik’s takeover was about to begin and the Seer foresaw this. He warned the Queen to separate her children to avoid Robotnik’s wrath and when the time comes, the four will unite to create the Council of Four and rule Mobius justly. The Seer also informed Robotnik about this future, setting in stone his desire to destroy Sonic and his family.
Sonic was given to a noble family who didn’t like the rule of Robotnik, so they decided to go off grid and live in a cottage in the forest. They also know of Uncle Chuck who was possibly a Freedom Fighter. One day, Robotnik found the family and Sonic’s father told Sonic to run as fast as he could to Uncle Chuck. Sonic never saw his adopted parents again. Years later, he was a secret weapon to the Freedom Fighters moving so fast no machine was able to detect who he was. But when Sleet and Dingo became employed to Robotnik, he was found out. He found his siblings after the Seer instructed him to follow the music but they all lost their adopted family. Now their quest is to find their mother, form the Council of Four and defeat Robotnik once and for all.
Sonic’s biggest attribute in his series is his medallion. He could use it to summon a guitar, that’s also a gun. But there’s more power inside that piece of jewelry. With it, he can control a giant Stone statue made in his image. And with the Power of Music, he can basically control reality. Transform things, change scenes, speed up or slow down time, there is no limit other than the length of the song. Manic, with his medallion, negated a tornado made of Chaos Energy. A broken Chaos Emerald alone was enough to threaten the entire planet and their Music can lessen if not negate the effects of it. Other stuff he has are explosives, The Sleeper (a bio-mechanical electronic override that is used to alter the molecular structure of machines) and Anti-Gravity Shoes.
While the series ended with them defeating Robotnik after a successful mission, they never achieved their goal. Ian Flynn originally wanted the 50th Issue of Sonic Universe to be the ending of this series. While fans made their own version of it, this is not the official version of what Ian Flynn had. All that was done were breakdowns, blurbs and a rough cover. But what he did remember was that their friends and allies across the series came together to support them, they broadcast a concert worldwide with their mother as a lead singer. They overthrow Robotnik and we get some time-skips. And since we know the prophecy, we know in the end the four reunite, form the Council of Four, and lead Mobius to a new peaceful age.
Sonic X
(Other Things Considered: Sonic X (Comic Series), Sonic X (Game))
Not much is known about this Sonic the Hedgehog. We just know he met all his friends and fought Eggman prior to the events of the first episode. Eggman gathered the Chaos Emeralds and because of some stray gunfire, the Chaos Emeralds caused Chaos Control, sending Sonic and everyone in the area to another world where he befriends Chris Throndyke. For two seasons, he goes on adventures with his friends thwarting Eggman and all his Monster of the Week inventions. But eventually if they don’t return back home Time will be frozen, meaning there would be no past or future. It takes a while but Sonic does return home.
But it doesn’t end there, the Metarex came to his planet seeking the Chaos Emeralds. To protect them, he scattered them across the universe so Sonic and his friends must find the Chaos Emeralds before the Metarex does. Sadly, it was too late and Dark Oak was moments away from fulfilling his goal. It took the sacrifice of Cosmo to stop his plan for good and save the universe. And not only is Chris Throndyke a constant companion of Sonic in this series, even in Season 3 for some reason, he shows appreciation to human females in this series. But while he does seem to be bothered by Amy’s more obsessive nature in this series, he does care for her.
Sonic is a user of the Power Rings like SatAM Sonic. While his version is smaller, they give the same kind of boost SatAM gets. What makes this different is that they’re connected to the Chaos Emeralds. So he can use more than one to boost his strength and speed even greater and have a similar effect with one Chaos Emerald. But with Seven Chaos Emeralds he becomes Super Sonic. This gives him the ability to perform Chaos Control, the teleportation move. He has only seen the ability to Time Stop once and never used it. There is also Dark Sonic, similar to Super Sonic but drawing upon the Negative Energies of the Chaos Emeralds. He only used this once with fake emeralds.
In other weaponry, he has five different shoes to do different things. Nitro Blasters give Sonic a Football (soccer) inspired projectile, Power Shows that gives him wheelies but with saw blades. Soap Shoes for grinding. Hover Shoes to keep him above water. And while never seen, he would have Speed Shoes to increase his friction to move even faster. But while the series focuses too much on Chris Thorndyke, Sonic continues to prove he’s the one true hero of this series by being the one to save the day from Eggman and the Metarex.
Sonic Boom
(Other Things Considered: Sonic Boom (Comic Series), Sonic Boom (Game Series))
Not much is known about this Sonic the Hedgehog. But prior to going to Bygone Island and the Future Hedgehog Village, Sonic met Tails, Amy and Knuckles and was facing Eggman. This adventure led them to Bygone Island where Sonic accidentally released Lyric from his imprisonment. Knowing he wants the Shattered Crystals, Team Sonic stops the Snake man twice and decides to stay in this village since it seems Eggman also decided to take residence near it. Here, they would meet Sticks and have many adventures across three different medias.
This Sonic has a lot going for him. In terms of weaponry, he has the Enerbeam that allows Sonic to whip and grab things from a distance. A Swatapult which is a small catapult with a big Fly Swatter at the end. Blue Force One, a Motorcycle that can adapt to any terrain. A 3D Printed car. And a Luminous Suit for seeing in the dark. For a time, Sonic had an Ultrasonic Speed Amplifier to make Sonic move so fast he phased his molecules into a different plane of reality. Tails created a second one to get Sonic back to his normal reality but there wasn’t enough speed for both of them to get back. Then Sonic just went faster and got them both back. Makes you wonder if he needed this at all considering when Eggman slowed down time Sonic was basically unaffected by it.
The big surprise is that Sonic has access to a Mech Suit. This is an Ancient Technology that trades Sonic's speed for Raw Power. He's still acrobatic, just not as fast. It makes up for it by giving Sonic more abilities. He can fly with it, create an energy shield that can take almost any bow and the ability to fire energy projectiles. Even on its own, it was able to keep up with Eggman's Mech powered by the Tummel Crystal. And considering Tummel is Yiddish for Chaos, you could make the assumption that they’re as strong as a single Chaos Emerald. This Sonic would appreciate such a reference since they do like to Break the 4th Wall a lot. Not very well when in dangerous situations but still pretty good.
While this series has no official finale, Sonic did manage to do a lot of great stuff. He faced both Shadow and Metal Sonic and even a Cybonic Version of himself. In Fire and Ice he can absorb certain energies to allow him to control Fire and Ice. And when chunks of an Asteroid fell to the Earth after Knuckles shattered it with his fist, Sonic was able to knock all 50 of them away from the town, avoiding any damage to the people. Don’t let his more comedic nature lure you into a false sense of security, Sonic Boom Sonic brings a lot to the table and he needs no Chaos Emeralds or Power Rings to make a difference.
(Other Things Considered: Sonic Christmas Blast, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine)
Not much is known about this Sonic the Hedgehog (get ready to hear that a lot) but the earliest incident was dancing around one random area until a baby landed on top of him. This was the young Miles Prowler who had no parents and was trying to find a family to be with. Sonic didn’t think much of it since he didn’t want to be slowed down but once Miles revealed he can fly the duo of Sonic and Tails came to be. Sonic grew to love Tails like the little brother he never had and the two would travel across Mobius to defeat the evil that is Dr. Robotnik.
The biggest adventure was the Quest for the Chaos Emeralds: a four part episode that sees Sonic and Robotnik traveling through time to gather the Chaos Emeralds. In this series, there are four of them and each one grants certain abilities: Immortality (can’t die), Invulnerability (as long as you are the King of the Hound Table), Invisibility (the one Sonic has shown to use directly) and Life (to bring anything to life). Together, they created the Supreme High Robotnik, ruler of the Universe (and thus King of the Hound Table). For Sonic and Tails to defeat Robotnik, they would have to team up with their past selves to work together to remove the Chaos Emeralds from Robotnik and return them to their proper timeline.
Despite being known for his speed and quick thinking, this Sonic got a ton of stuff to bring. The Vanquisher was a one time Villain Weapon that combined four different weapons into one. He also had a Transfigure Bomb to transfigure people. Of the four Chaos Emeralds, he used the Chaos of Invisibility the most so that is the one he is allowed to have. He also had a Blue Gem Necklace that counters the Immortality Chaos Emerald. Thanks to Tails he has a flying cycle and three different methods to Time Travel. He also has the Ring of Ultimate Velocity, which will be explained later, and being one with the Toon Force he can basically pull any of these out of nowhere.
And that’s the unique thing of this Sonic: he fully embraces the Toon Force of being a cartoon. The Dupe, despite what people think, is capable of working on anyone regardless of intelligence level. He can change the scenery or even time and once move the sun. And this isn’t a one time incident as he was hit with a blast that took out the sun as well. But this Sonic tends to use his wits over his physical prowess. While he has fought a good number of times as well as used his Toon Force to make opponents fall off cliffs, he’s more Bugs Bunny in his approach as he prefers to trick his adversaries over brute forcing them.
How his series ends is with the Sonic Christmas Blast special. While there are references to SatAM, it’s a voiceless Sally and the name SWATbots being used. Regardless, because Sonic had the Ring of Ultimate Velocity, he was allowed to take three tests to achieve Ultimate Speed. Sonic passes with flying colors and, without any aid, circles the planet numerous times to deliver the presents to every child on the planet. He is now Sonic Clause and he wishes us a Merry Christmas.
Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)
(Other Things Considered: Ben's Vision - The Lost Sonic SatAM Third Season/Film Documentary, Sonic-16, Sonic Mars, Trolls Associates Book Series, Golden Book Series)
Not much is known about this Sonic the Hedgehog but the earliest incident was when he was five years old and met Sally Acorn. They became friends and were already showing off their dynamic until their future selves tried to stop Robotnik from taking over Mobotropolis. But because Sonic had Chilidogs on the mind, they were too late and only gave their younger selves time to escape. Five years later, alongside their friends, they formed one of the many Freedom Fighters whose goal is to overthrow Robotnik and restore Mobius to their original beauty.
Sonic's biggest weapon in this series is the Power Rings. Generated every 12 hours (originally 24), Sonic usually carries one with him on missions to Robotropolis. Pulling it out, this allows Sonic to be faster and stronger than he was before. It also has various other abilities, like negating Mind Manipulation, projecting energy, drain energy, display thoughts, and be used as a projectile. And if the situation calls for it, seemingly out of nowhere, Sonic can use up to three Power Rings to overcome any dangerous situation he is put in. But those aren’t his only claims to fame.
When it comes to other equipment, he has the usual Freedom Fighter kit: explosives, a laser cutter, a grappling hook to climb things since they have to explore Robotropolis. His Power Sneakers even have an Anti-Gravity feature that could allow Sonic to stand on walls and ceilings and slow down his falls. But his most impressive weapon is the Deep Power Stones. These two stones when used together can do one of two things: If connected via the jagged edges it could cause the destruction of the entire planet. But if connected by the smooth edges it has the same potential as 10,000 Power Rings.
It is this weapon that was used in Sonic’s greatest Adventure as well as the finale of his series: when the Doomsday Project was happening Sonic and Sally used the smooth edges to destroy Robonik’s machine once and for all, leaving nothing where it was. But a cliffhanger promised Snively will become a threat with Naugus by his side. We never got that but a tie-in had him meeting Knuckles. And while Ben’s Vision was never fully revealed, the logic suggests that in the end, the Freedom Fighters will prevail and they will live happily ever after.
OVA
(Other Things Considered: Sonic the Hedgehog #101)
Not much is known about this Sonic the Hedgehog. All we know is that he has met Tails and Knuckles, faced Eggman numerous times, and earned the trust of the President of the Land of the Sky and his daughter (one of many human love interests) Sera. But one day, the President sent the Old Man Owl to come to his office. This is because Eggman told him that Metal Robontik (Black Eggman in the Sub) has taken over Eggman Land and overloaded the reactor. If not stopped, it will destroy Planet Freedom in its entirety. Sonic doesn’t trust him, but considering how serious the situation is he had no choice but to play along.
Turns out Sonic was right. All of this was an elaborate plan to copy Sonic’s Bio-Data to create Hyper Metal Sonic. Using him, Eggman plans to destroy the Land of the Sky and fully take over Planet Freedom. But with the help of Tails hacking and Sonic knowing what Metal is gonna do (strange, isn’t it?) he eventually defeated Metal Sonic. But by that point Metal Sonic was being more like Sonic. In order to save his organic double, Metal Sonic rejected Sonic’s attempt to help saying there can only be one Sonic. The OVA ends with him running off to his next adventure as friends, enemies and others chase after him.
Since there is only one OVA (and about 3 to 5 pages in a comic) for this version of Sonic, there isn’t a lot of stuff going for him compared to the others. But I believe he is the first instance of Sonic doing the Jump Dash, this is a technique later used in Sonic Adventure when the Homing attack doesn’t have a target. This allows Sonic to basically dash in the air and in the OVA it sometimes feels like it's akin to flying. Not to mention by this point he had the most impressive fight among the Animated Sonics when facing his Robotic Double.
But with one showing, Sonic doesn’t have a lot of stuff going for him. He has the least amount of feats so far and does not have any notable equipment. Tails is the one to get the Watch Robotnik gave them to locate the reactor which in turn allowed him to get into Metal Sonic’s programming. And it was only luck that the data Eggman still had was destroyed when his Tortoise Missile finally connected. But sometimes quality trumps quantity and when you’re as good as the OVA you could get away with a lot.
As you probably guess, I’m a fan of wrestling. While I do have a preference for WWE, I still try to watch others and do watch AEW weekly (now if TNA can just get back to beginning at 8 instead of 9). But the Internet seems to love to be split between the two fans. I like to try to be in the middle as possible but I do end up replying to comments that are pro-AEW. One in particular that comes to mind was when someone was discrediting WWE making names like Jericho, Moxley, Danielson, and Punk as big as they were since they wrestled elsewhere. My reply (which is still up) was as follows...
You think Jericho would be the big star he is now if he only wrestled in WCW? You think people chant YES! YES! because of Danielson's work on Ring of Honor? Do you think Danhausen gave AEW a big Rating's Push since he signed up? Both signed established names but both also signed up said newbies, nobodies or who cares talent. Let's see in 10 years how the landscape will change.
Well, this post was 4 years ago and the person saying WWE lives off old stars like Edge now has to Cope with the fact AEW now has him. Meanwhile the guy I dismissed, Danhausen, is probably the biggest success story in recent times. He was always a big shirt seller in AEW (in reality Pro-Wrestling Tees) and continues to do so for WWE and now the Knicks. Such a crossover appeal could lead to Basketball fans checking his stuff out and becoming fans of WWE and maybe other Wrestling Promotions.
My history with Danhausen is sadly not that much. I knew of him and did see him in AEW, but it's never for a good amount of time. This Video by Top 10 Wrestling highlights why it was so hard for me to find Danhausen in AEW. And ultimately, it's most likely because of AEW’s preference of showcasing in-ring work over character building. They do have characters but rarely do they stand out. Orange Cassidy was there from the beginning and only won the International Championship, originally the All-Atlantic Title, twice for single’s gold. Lio Rush has a fun character going on now and the last time he won a match in AEW was in 2024. But they do have success stories like Timeless Toni Storm.
Danhausen’s success in WWE proved he probably could have been a success in AEW if pushed right. Instead he was used in 21 matches in total and disappeared from them until 2025 for WWE. He did appear on the indies since then as well as two appearances in Ring of Honor in between then, but ultimately he proved his worth after a not well received introduction on PPV. To be fair, it wasn’t his fault and people did seem to enjoy it. But the fans set themselves up for disappointment expecting someone else to join like Jericho (who as of this writing is still All-Elite).
Danhausen quickly made himself known to the WWE Audience, with a lot of backstage segments to establish who he is as a character. He had a few matches that fit his style of wrestling. And the best coincidence as his uncursing of the Knicks led to them winning an NBA Championship after 53 years of not winning it. Now he is a cross sports star that Knicks fans know for helping their team win while being a big money maker to both the Knicks and WWE. He probably doesn’t even know who I am but he definitely showed me that he could be the ratings draw I originally didn’t see him as. And he definitely does deserve to make all the Human Monies he has made.
Time to continue the Daring Do series. (No Images)
Daring Do is at a fancy party trying to sneak into a conversation. She's like me because she isn't that big on socializing, only on the things that interest her. In this case, the Eternal Flower that could possibly grant immortality. And while she's forced to listen to stuff she has no interest in, she might as well have a little bit of the bubbly. She spots the ponies of interest and while she can't hear them, she can read lips. Shame the crowd cuts them off at times. But she does read that they said Eternal Flower and wants to keep it a secret among everyone.
Too bad for Daring Do that while she was spying on her two targets, she too was being the target of another: Dr. Caballeron. Fight scene! And I got to give credit to the band, they played up the tempo when Daring Do got going. After that, Caballeron got her targets tied up and seemingly got what he wanted, but Mr. Vine (one of her targets) gave her the clear that what Caballeron got was nothing important. So Daring Do let him and his goons leave as Daring Do got to talk to her main targets personally. Though he does leave her irritated because he said she looks nice in a dress.
So it turns out Mr. Vine and Mrs Fern were actually hoping Daring Do would have helped them do a mission. Their friend (and Daring Do's uncle) Gallant True is missing and while Caballeron has the Eternal Leaf, only her Uncle Ad(venture) knows the secrets about it. After all, making her sneak into a fancy party to recruit her was all his idea. After receiving a key, she was given alone time in the library. And man, no wonder Quibble Pants like the logic puzzles of the first series. This one Uncle Ad set up felt like it came out of a classic Point and Click Adventure Game.
After finding everything she needed, she went after Dr. Caballeron to recover the Everleaf he stole. Why? They need two of them to find the Eternal Flower and Daring Do got the other one. She found him, but it was too late. Ahuizotl got the leaf and Caballeron got the money. Even worse, Ahuizotl got the Uncle. Daring Do rushed off to find Ahuizotl but she's not alone. A pegasus named Rosy Thorn who was there alongside Caballeron was following her. She wants to help and she knows where Daring's Uncle is. Daring Do reluctantly lets her tag along, but it does seem like Rosy is interested in knowing more about the Eternal Flower. I bet it's a “my loved one is dying and I need it” kind of deal.
Ahuizotl was using the leaf but since you need both its not pointing in the right direction. And his henchmen got her uncle. And the Uncle is a Unicorn who is entrapped in a Unichain that negates unicorn magic. So it's the two pegasi trying to save Uncle Ad, get the Everleaf and escape with both. And Daring Do instructed that it's every pony for themselves so if one pegasi is captured, don't expect the other one to help. Fight scene! Good news, Daring Do got her Uncle and the second Everleaf. Bad news Rosy got captured. What makes it even worse, her Uncle could have escaped anytime. He stole the key the night before and could have left anytime.
But they don't seem to care as since they got both leaves, they find the light leading them to where the Eternal Flower is: The Isles of Scaly from Generation 5! And luckily for Daring Do, since it needs Dragon Power to travel there, she got a key to a dragon that can drop them off there. Knuckerbocker, the dragon, is an old friend of Daring Do's. This was her second time using that summoning shell he gave her. So plot twists happen here and honestly I won't spoil the rest of it. It is a pretty good read and I'll just skip to the end. The two managed to be the last ones standing and found the Eternal Flower. So what did they do with it? Nothing. They just saw it and left.
So why didn't Gallant take the Eternal Flower? Because he was more interested in the chase than the end goal. And if he were to have taken it to study its magic, others who wanted it for their own needs would try to take it. And while he doesn't have the Eternal Flower, he does have the Regenerative Plants from Scaly, which instantly regrow after being burnt. So while he won't live forever, this research into the Phoenix Flora could make him immortal in another way. It's a pretty good read and has some interesting lore. I say give it a read and see how this turns out for yourself.
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