※Translated and reposted with the artist’s permission※
Was asked about more Super Paper Mario a couple months back, and luckily I had completely forgotten about the most recent addition to kaishin’s good good SPM content. So enjoy the rest under the cut!!
ah yeah, right back where we left off! Buns is seeing double trouble right now- UH OH??
The Anti Shadow’s already proving to be a worthy adversary with his remarks
Any sonic (not any characters) angst?!? I haven't seen any angst headcanon of him
Sonic angst? Oh boy y'all are enabling me now, thank you for the ask!
I'll do a top 5 in no particular order, heads up it's quite a read!
1. Boom!Sonic's bandages and excessive sports tape, used for "support", is just the aftermath of Sonic's iconic running abilities and generally growing older. Osteoarthritis is common with long-term runners, it's the irreversible degeneration of the cartilage in the joints of your body and causes joint pains. I like to think that's why Boom!Sonic is considered one of the slower Sonics and doesn't have the same "show-off" fighting style as, say, game Sonic. It's pretty sad to think about..
To quote Robotnik himself, "Don't run, it'll only hurt more if you do, and it's bad for your joints - they've proved it."
2. It's staple knowledge that sonic is afraid of water and cannot swim. However, as someone who unfortunately also has bad thalassophobia and general aquaphobia, I feel Sonic's fear is quite misunderstood. Everyone experiences these fears differently I wont deny that, but for me I believe it's not so much the fear of water itself for Sonic. We all know he's claustrophobic too, I think its the sheer claustrophobia the water brings and how it prevents him from being able to run - which just so happens to be a vital characteristic of his.
It's far more prominent in Sonic X with multiple occasions where his fear is brought up, the incident with Chris' pool and the Chris' family boat for example. With the pool, he struggled to run and get out and relied on Chris to pull him up. Yet when he was actually in the water, he was reasonably relaxed? Annoyed, but far from panicked. Even to the point where he was just sitting at the bottom of the pool in defeat.
With the boat, Sonic goes as far as to launch himself off the boat amid the distress of not being on land. Now, with myself having these fears I would never ever dream of trying to get to land (or yeet myself off a boat to be fair) in any case like this. Just the thought is stressful enough haha.
This brings me to a more specific fear that might suit Sonic better, Cleithrophobia is a specific focus of being being trapped or otherwise unable to move properly in an area - such as water or the boat. People with cleithrophobia are often fully comfortable entering small areas that they are free to leave, this would be why Sonic is comfortable is smaller spaces but not when he feels trapped. Being unable to swim does not help the hog either. He most likely feels misunderstood too, I know I do, and the fact it isn't really taken as seriously by his friends likely brings in a lot of insecurity and doubt too. A brave hero such as the famous Sonic the Hedgehog, afraid of water? Yeah, that's what it seems like. Poor guy.
3. He's the CEO of repressing emotions, he practically invented it (/j).
I won't dive too deep, but if you break down the events of all the games and comics and so on, you'll notice he experiences a lot. Held as a POW? Check. Watched his friends die before him? Check. Been yeeted to another world or even universes against his will? Check. Has his body transformed and taken over by an evil force? Double check. And that's to name a few, as you'll know.
These events are mentioned, sure, but it's rare for his experiences to be fleshed out in canon. Of course, it's unlike his character to let these things bring him down because he prides himself in looking forward and not being hung up on the past. However something Sega needs to learn is that "moving on" from events does not always equal to healing from them. Especially as being a main character, think of how important the representation of some vulnerability from him would be. Sonic is wonderfully intelligent emotionally, he's often the one to provide what people need to hear - as mentioned in the official wiki page post here.
So, he practically cremates his emotions. He probably thinks about traumatic events often and relies on himself to pull out of emotional episodes. The things that happened in satbk and satsr did happen, he gets frustrated when nobody believes him and mourns the people he met but will never be able to see again. He's a person who likes to keep things to himself when it comes to emotional well being, hence how Dark Sonic exists. A manifestation of his anger and repressed feelings when exposed to the negative energy the fake emeralds exerted, far different to Fleetway as Dark's intentions are more guided by Sonic's key morals - i.e protecting his friends and bringing down evil rather than being the evil.
A person can only hold in so much, over time it will be harder for him to repress so much. Things like this lead to depression or anxiety disorders, I believe one day he'll break, let him go apeshit Sega - or at least let him talk about his feelings please.
4. Sonic struggles with having too much energy. He often find himself overwhelmed or overstimulated and ends up running and pushing his abilities to get it all out, essentially burning himself out. He feels like he's too much for the people around him, they struggle to keep up with him when he talks a lot about something or another and cant keep up when he runs. Sometimes he disappears for days according to Tails, but he trusts that Sonic will come back.
Tails has picked up on knowing when this is going to happen, little things like leg bouncing or tapping things or fiddling with Tails' stuff. His most noticeable one is the nose rubbing thing, they're all nervous ticks that he has when he feels overstimulation or his anxiety creeping up on him.
5. Sonic doesn't fear death, but fears losing the people he loves.
His friends and family mean more to him than anything in the world, he sacrifices himself over and over for people without even a second thought. His character shows such a strong love for nature and protecting it, he has some kind of connection to the Earth so I feel he wouldn't fear his inevitable death.
If he was to die, he'd die protecting the world and it's people. A hero realises that love brings a duty of protection, and so, love is for the brave only.
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