• Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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    8 days ago

    It always pissed me off that Shadow joined G.U.N.

    It’s actually one of the many reasons I don’t like Shadow the Hedgehog (the 2005 game, not the character, Shadow is cool)

    That game makes attacking G.U.N. the bad guy route and Sonic is all like “Hey they’re on our side!”

    Like ffs Sonic what happened to you, you hated cops in SA2. G.U.N. Tried to arrest you and run you over with a truck. Hell, they DID arrest you and then Amy had to break you out of Prison. Man SA2 was weird.

    And yeah, for Shadow, they killed Maria and kept him in a pod for 50 years. And then they tried to kill him after he escaped, and then had to Shadow give his life and die to clean up their mess (yes I consider Gerald’s revenge to be G.U.N.s mess) so like… sorry but I don’t think forgiving them is heroic. They’re clearly an evil organisation.

    It really feels like Sonic Team realised how anti-govenrment and anti-police SA2 was and went “Oh shit we better backpedal on that or we’ll get in trouble.”

    Why am I over-analysing the stupid glitchy go fast kids rodent mascot game?

    • Cammy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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      7 days ago

      That bugged me with the movie in addition to situating the movies in the real world. Sonic isn’t treat brained and he wouldn’t help cops, let alone live with one.

      Portraying G.U.N. as mistaken good guys was bad and not arresting Sonic at the beginning was wrong on so many levels. And not just because they didn’t play City Escape at all.

      G.U.N. shot Maria and a bunch of other people when they shut down the space station. And they made Gerald go without mentioning Maria in the whole movie. I still think about the scene in Sonic Adventure 2 where Gerald says his last words before being executed by G.U.N. at a fucking black site.

      They didn’t need to have G.U.N. at all is the worst part. It’s a violent antagonistic organization that doesn’t have to exist in a Sonic movie continuity.

      Hell, they didn’t even need to have Robotnik as a government scientist. He could’ve just been a scientist.

      But no, they had to put as much of the US empire into the movies and then throw in free PR for Olive Garden.

      It wouldn’t be so annoying if the movies didn’t try to make this grounded in the ‘real world’ and then do everything to hide the parts of the US that would actively harm Sonic and everything he supposedly stands for.

      Lmao I’m heated about it too. I was about to go all in on Sonic liking chili dogs as the worst localization trivia that is stuck to Sonic.

      • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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        7 days ago

        Lmao I’m glad I’m not the only one then. Everyone seems to love the movies and the Sonic 3 movie did really well but I just can’t get over how much Sonic just… isn’t Sonic.

        Sonic would never work for G.U.N. he wouldn’t ever work for any organisation. He would do things his own way.

        • Cammy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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          7 days ago

          Oh shit I think I get it.

          It’s part of the reason Sonic doesn’t associate with any humans under 30.

          He’s the Sonic the Hedgehog who wouldn’t judge a prospective adult viewer for being lame or an agent of capital and he’s not going to do anything that’s a potential bad influence for that viewer’s kids. He’ll grumble, but he will eat his vegetables.

          But it’s more than that. In addition to making him seem more like 12 than 15, he’s just not that rebellious. He doesn’t defy authority. He doesn’t question authority. He works for authority. He’s not going to break the law to do the right thing.

          • Dirt_Owl [comrade/them, they/them]@hexbear.net
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            7 days ago

            Exactly. Our media isn’t there to express artists ideas, or even to market to the general public anymore.

            It’s made to appeal to investors and will reflect their ideals of a stable, ordered society that doesn’t rock the boat. The current status quo suits them and therefore it will not be challenged.

            Chuds mistake this for wokeism and not wanting to step on progressives toes, but really it’s about not stepping on capitals toes. On the toes of wealthy investors and their families.

            • Cammy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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              7 days ago

              It just really hurts with an adaptation like this because it was an actually transgressive piece of media. It was deliberately about how things are more complicated than good people and bad people.

              Not only did you play as antagonistic characters who helped saved the world, you got to see compassionate characters twisted into trying to destroy the world.

              In the movie, they took agency and complexity away from Shadow, Gerald Robotnik, and Maria.

              Maria’s final act was to save Shadow from G.U.N. at the cost of her own life and Gerald sought to avenge her death when he was overcome with grief. After he tried to find a cure for her fatal illness. Shadow’s whole arc was him realizing that Maria didn’t want revenge on the earth, but for him to live happily on it.

              In the movie, Maria dies in an accident because Gerald was negligent enough to bring her along for no reason. G.U.N. isn’t held at fault and Gerald is a kooky villain with a musical sequence.

              Oh my god an actual adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 would have been so cool. But no, gotta have cop dad adventures and a clean G.U.N. agency.

          • JustSo [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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            7 days ago

            Woah holy shit. Thank you for sharing.

            I may have to re-evaluate my general attitude towards extreme sonic fans. That is gnarly.

            Sidenote: cool username and profile pic. my partner in crime is/was a Cammy main.

            • Cammy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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              7 days ago

              Thanks for checking it out. It’s a rough dub and the story is somewhat nonlinear, but Sonic Adventure was rated E for Everyone and so having a story like that slip past my parents was really formative for my childhood.

              And thanks! Cammy is always my pick when it’s an option.

              • JustSo [she/her, any]@hexbear.net
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                7 days ago

                Yeah I only really played the first couple of sonics for brief periods on other peoples’ systems and later a bit of half hearted emulation, so I only got the general vibe of “big robot man is enslaving / killing the animals and we save them” but I was just chatting about this little revelation with said partner who is a much more well rounded gamer. She pointed out a bunch of stuff that helped it all click into place for me.

                Cammy is dope. I’m terrible at fighting games lol, I love watching tournaments with good commentators though and I’ve learned how they work, how to appreciate good play. etc etc. Kinda sucks that I was only really introduced to “real” fighting games (ie not just spamming basic attacks in MK) when SF4 dropped. Mostly stopped gaming not long after that, but I still enjoy high level play and watching a few of the scene OGs do variety streaming etc.

      • Binette@lemmy.ml
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        7 days ago

        Considering the Knuckles TV show had an Israeli ex vet as a good guy, I wasn’t suprised at all the copaganda

          • Binette@lemmy.ml
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            7 days ago

            I don’t remember much about the events of that episode, but it was the bowling guy’s mother. There was an episode where the guy goes to see his family, and it turns out that they are jewish and have to do a celebration, which is fine. But then His mom says something about being a verteran in the Israeli army.

            Edit: Her name is Wenda Wipple and is the mother of Wade Wipple

            Edit2: Just to prove that I didn’t mistakenly hear this, in the sonic cinematic universe wiki, there is this exerpt:

            In the middle of dinner, Wendy made friends with Knuckles, who was surprised to learn of her strength with Pilates and her skills in Krav Maga, while Wendy was amazed by Knuckles’ backstory and the disappearance of his tribe.

            Krav Maga is an israeli martial arts taught to IDF soldiers. She also mentioned being a veteran alongside that line

      • Cammy [she/her]@hexbear.net
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        7 days ago

        Yeah, but that felt more like course correction. Having an explicitly evil inhuman enemy really simplified the morality themes in Sonic Adventure 2.

    • Horse {they/them}@lemmygrad.ml
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      7 days ago

      he just killed a man
      turns out they don’t just go boink and disappear in a puff of smoke when a sharp thing rolls into them at 100mph
      kinda fucked up tbh