"I see the signs of a lifetime" -- Don't Delete the Kisses -- Alice Wolf
I found out that someone made an edit of this old sonamy picture, replacing Sonic with Shadow. Now, I'm all for that kinda thinking nowadays ;) But please don't use my art without my consent.
Murder Mystery claws at February's Mystery Skulls Animated update.
Hey ya'll! For this month, we're showing off a screenshot of a scene that has plenty of post processing goodness going on!
This process has continued to be the focus since our last update in that we're going through tons of post processing and background art assets. The main sequence in particular is getting many of its unique background and post effects turned in (which is a hard thing to really articulate without showing it off...)
Full Patreon Update: Click Here
So I've seen you address Sonic being shy and you seem to have more doubts than not about it. But if Sonic is not shy with Amy, then why does the Sonic team keep saying he is?
I'm asking this to see what you think not to necessarily disagree with you (you seem to be more on the side that he's not) I personally think the shy allegations are over played and don't work all that well. The only way him being shy could make sense to me is if he's just shy with Amy because of who she is and little to do with feelings he has for her. She's been described as overwhelming to him because of her passion. She's been bold with him about things she wants from him that he's uncomfortable with like marriage. It makes sense to me that he would be awkward and nervous if he had feelings for such a person. Not excusing all his behavior, but for someone who is normally sure of himself it also kinda makes sense that he wouldn't want to deal with it.
I level with you on the idea that he's casual and she's not so thats what I think the shyness comes from not just because he has feelings for her hence why he can be such a flirt with people like Rouge and Knuckles. (I do wonder if the flirting is just a Western thing though. Flynn seems to enjoy writing that stuff!)
An argument I've heard is that he only flirts with other characters because he can never actually want them, like he does it to Rouge just so he can defend himself against her, and he does it to Knuckles just to tease him, so he doesn't flirt with Amy because he really is interested in her and that's why he's shy only with her. If true, if thats exactly how he works for ANY love interest he can EVER HAVE then it seems like all he can do is lead people on until he actually develops feelings for them then... then what? He can't flirt with them anymore? That's weird to me. Off-putting. I don't understand what can be so appealing and cute about that. I hope this is not what they're actually going for because it would make him look... well... pretty pathetic honestly.
I've picked this apart and I can't make sense of it any other way. What do you think?
I gotta be honest with you, I donât think I can give you a good answer. Youâre probably better off asking a s0namy fan. I think trying to pick apart Sonicâs treatment of Amy and looking at her personality to try and justify/explain it runs the risk of putting the blame on her. He was running from her LONG before she mentioned marriage:
[Sonic Adventure]
She didnât mention marriage, draw her hammer, or even try to flirt with him in the slightest, yet he still abandoned her and a helpless Flicky, the kind of animal he usually protects. This is a Sonic problem, not an Amy problem, and I think the fandom has put way too much time and energy into trying to make it her fault. Iâve said everything I need to say about Sonicâs treatment of Amy here.
(I know youâd never blame her yourself, but itâs an approach Iâd rather avoid in a general sense.)
I hadnât thought about the gap between the eastern and western portrayals of sonouge, but I think youâre right. Rouge has an extensive history of flirting with Sonic...
[Sonic Battle, 2003. Yes, she really said that. It makes enough sense in context, but. Like. Rouge. Think of the children! đ”âđ«]
[Sonic Chronicles, 2008]
[Sonic Colors, 2010]
...but he usually doesnât flirt back outside of western media:
[Archie Sonic Universe issue #2, 2009]
[IDW #6, 2018 & #80, 2025]
[Crossworlds, 2025]
[IDW #59, 2023. That last one is Evan Stanley, but literally everything else is Ian Flynn. Thatâs kind of hilarious. This man has been single-handedly steering the sonouge ship since at least 2009. What a champ]
The Japanese dub of Crossworlds completely erased their flirtation:
Sonknux has been following the same pattern as sonouge in American media these days:
[Sonic Frontiers, 2023, Ian again. I canât be the only one who thought this was going somewhere other than a fist bump]
[IDW 2024 Annual. Written by Iasmin Omar Ata rather than Ian, but itâs still IDW]
But although Sega is letting Ian have a field day with Sonic in English, theyâre not really translating it into Japanese to my knowledge. That Frontiers scene that arguably screams sonknux in English is much less emotional in Japanese. I think thatâs a shame because these interactions feel the most like Sonic to me. Fun, free, casual, playful, charming. I love it.
Sonic has had a lot of different writers over the past three decades, some better than others, and his characterization has changed. He also is/was a teenager with all the confusion and inconsistencies that brings, and Sonic Teamâs recently been bargaining on us not knowing the lore, pulling stunts like trying to convince us that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles have always accepted Amy as a valued member of the team when they demonstrably havenât. The writers arenât being fully consistent themselves, so donât worry too much about trying to make it make perfect sense. It wonât. Youâll tie yourself in knots if you try. That even goes for the games, let alone that excerpt at the top, which is from a 2005 Disney Adventures magazine. Iâm not saying Sega necessarily isnât aiming for the shyness interpretationâI donât know any better than some Disney employee doesâbut itâs a non-canon external magazine that wasnât even put out by Sega. I take things like that with a pile of salt and stick to shadamy whenever possible.
So I've seen you address Sonic being shy and you seem to have more doubts than not about it. But if Sonic is not shy with Amy, then why does the Sonic team keep saying he is?
I'm asking this to see what you think not to necessarily disagree with you (you seem to be more on the side that he's not) I personally think the shy allegations are over played and don't work all that well. The only way him being shy could make sense to me is if he's just shy with Amy because of who she is and little to do with feelings he has for her. She's been described as overwhelming to him because of her passion. She's been bold with him about things she wants from him that he's uncomfortable with like marriage. It makes sense to me that he would be awkward and nervous if he had feelings for such a person. Not excusing all his behavior, but for someone who is normally sure of himself it also kinda makes sense that he wouldn't want to deal with it.
I level with you on the idea that he's casual and she's not so thats what I think the shyness comes from not just because he has feelings for her hence why he can be such a flirt with people like Rouge and Knuckles. (I do wonder if the flirting is just a Western thing though. Flynn seems to enjoy writing that stuff!)
An argument I've heard is that he only flirts with other characters because he can never actually want them, like he does it to Rouge just so he can defend himself against her, and he does it to Knuckles just to tease him, so he doesn't flirt with Amy because he really is interested in her and that's why he's shy only with her. If true, if thats exactly how he works for ANY love interest he can EVER HAVE then it seems like all he can do is lead people on until he actually develops feelings for them then... then what? He can't flirt with them anymore? That's weird to me. Off-putting. I don't understand what can be so appealing and cute about that. I hope this is not what they're actually going for because it would make him look... well... pretty pathetic honestly.
I've picked this apart and I can't make sense of it any other way. What do you think?
I gotta be honest with you, I donât think I can give you a good answer. Youâre probably better off asking a s0namy fan. I think trying to pick apart Sonicâs treatment of Amy and looking at her personality to try and justify/explain it runs the risk of putting the blame on her. He was running from her LONG before she mentioned marriage:
[Sonic Adventure]
She didnât mention marriage, draw her hammer, or even try to flirt with him in the slightest, yet he still abandoned her and a helpless Flicky, the kind of animal he usually protects. This is a Sonic problem, not an Amy problem, and I think the fandom has put way too much time and energy into trying to make it her fault. Iâve said everything I need to say about Sonicâs treatment of Amy here.
(I know youâd never blame her yourself, but itâs an approach Iâd rather avoid in a general sense.)
I hadnât thought about the gap between the eastern and western portrayals of sonouge, but I think youâre right. Rouge has an extensive history of flirting with Sonic...
[Sonic Battle, 2003. Yes, she really said that. It makes enough sense in context, but. Like. Rouge. Think of the children! đ”âđ«]
[Sonic Chronicles, 2008]
[Sonic Colors, 2010]
...but he usually doesnât flirt back outside of western media:
[Archie Sonic Universe issue #2, 2009]
[IDW #6, 2018 & #80, 2025]
[Crossworlds, 2025]
[IDW #59, 2023. That last one is Evan Stanley, but literally everything else is Ian Flynn. Thatâs kind of hilarious. This man has been single-handedly steering the sonouge ship since at least 2009. What a champ]
The Japanese dub of Crossworlds completely erased their flirtation:
Sonknux has been following the same pattern as sonouge in American media these days:
[Sonic Frontiers, 2023, Ian again. I canât be the only one who thought this was going somewhere other than a fist bump]
[IDW 2024 Annual. Written by Iasmin Omar Ata rather than Ian, but itâs still IDW]
But although Sega is letting Ian have a field day with Sonic in English, theyâre not really translating it into Japanese to my knowledge. That Frontiers scene that arguably screams sonknux in English is much less emotional in Japanese. I think thatâs a shame because these interactions feel the most like Sonic to me. Fun, free, casual, playful, charming. I love it.
Sonic has had a lot of different writers over the past three decades, some better than others, and his characterization has changed. He also is/was a teenager with all the confusion and inconsistencies that brings, and Sonic Teamâs recently been bargaining on us not knowing the lore, pulling stunts like trying to convince us that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles have always accepted Amy as a valued member of the team when they demonstrably havenât. The writers arenât being fully consistent themselves, so donât worry too much about trying to make it make perfect sense. It wonât. Youâll tie yourself in knots if you try. That even goes for the games, let alone that excerpt at the top, which is from a 2005 Disney Adventures magazine. Iâm not saying Sega necessarily isnât aiming for the shyness interpretationâI donât know any better than some Disney employee doesâbut itâs a non-canon external magazine that wasnât even put out by Sega. I take things like that with a pile of salt and stick to shadamy whenever possible.
titsay
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
kianamaiart
amandla
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
romaincrisis
snowghoul
