straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2024-11-03 06:18 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2024-11-03 06:18 pm
291 | sonic x shadow generations + a yuletide meme
► Today, while I was visiting, my brother showed me parts of the Shadow portions of Sonic X Shadow Generations, and it was the most amazing time, oh my god. I was already inclined to get this game (high praise, since I can’t remember the last time I was interested in getting a new Sonic game!), but now I’m really excited to get my hands on it. (Though I am going to wait for a sale, because 50€ is oof.)
Mostly, I was shown the hub world, some of the stages, and a couple of the bosses—I’m mostly unspoiled when it comes to the actual cut scenes, and prefer to keep it that way. A few things I wanted to comment on:
I am dying over the squid thing. Please picture me chanting “what the fuck, what the fuck” under my breath every time I saw Shadow shift into that form. It’s not even that it’s a bad thing! It’s just that Shadow gaining the ability to shapeshift into a squid was not on my personal Sonic bingo card in any shape or form, lol. The Splatoon song (you’re a squid now, you’re a kid now!) is actually relevant reference to use for Shadow??? I cannot believe this is actual canon.
Related to the shape-shifting thing: we chatted with a few of the characters in the hubworld, and Omega had this dialogue where he brought up how Black Doom’s species uses organic weaponry and suggested that Shadow try to turn his arms into guns… to which my immediate reaction was, “wait... Omega has gun arms... he wants to bond over being gun arm buddies!”
I was also shown two of the boss battle: Biolizard and Mephiles. In terms of mechanics, the Biolizard looked more fun, but the dialogue in the Mephiles battle was an unending source of entertainment for me! I was absolutely losing it throughout. He came across as a cross between a scorned ex (!!!) and Yami Bakura, and it was amazing.
To go a little more in-depth on that... Near the beginning of the battle, Mephiles has this line where he goes, “You forgot about me AGAIN???” and I just. I started laughing like a hyena. For context: Shadow doesn’t recognize Mephiles at the start of this battle because, canonically, the timeline where the events of Sonic 2006 took place got erased at the end of the game! Technically, from Shadow’s perspective, none of that ever happened.
But. But! In Sonic 2006, due to timeline shenanigans, the first time Shadow meets Mephiles, isn’t the first time Mephiles has met him. However, Mephiles didn’t know that, so from his perspective, Shadow was the one to awaken him (I think?), and then just. Straight up forgot about him, until they met again at the beginning of Shadow’s story. Meaning that this battle is now the second time where Mephiles and Shadow meet without Shadow knowing who he is, and Mephiles’ reaction to that is just. An unending source of delight for me. I don’t remember ever considering Shadow/Mephiles as a ship, but his reaction to being forgotten again really did it for me.
► In a complete shift of topic… I sawshadaras and eglantiere do a Yuletide meme that looked pretty fun, so I decided to do it too! I’ve “only” written 14 works for Yuletide on this account, so there’s a little less variety than with someone more proliferant than I am, but I feel like it’s still enough works to make this meme be worth it <3
Five Most Popular Yuletide Fics (by kudos)
1. in muted light (Spirited Away, 3.2K)
Chihiro returns, for a little while.
Kudos: 520.
Not surprised by this one! It’s been around for over ten years, so it’s had time to accumulate some kudos, and it’s also a fic for the most popular ship for a canon that many people are fond. This was my first Yuletide assignment after I switched to this username, and also one of the first works on this AO3 account in general. I have fond memories of this one!
2. The First Drop (Tortall, 1.2K)
A brief moment between Daine and Onua the day after the spidrens attack. Set during the beginning of Wild Magic.
Kudos: 83
Nothing too exciting about this one. It’s canon-compliant missing scene gen. Again, I think the kudos on this one are from the accumulation over time + the fact it’s for a canon many people have a nostalgic familiarity with.
3. Blood in the Water (Chalice, 1.2K)
A moment of calm before the battle begins. The Chalice mixes her cup.
Kudos: 80
Spoiler alert: this one also makes my list of personal favorites. It’s worldbuilding fic for the novel Chalice, centering around a character that’s only referenced as a historical figure in-canon. I find her fascinating, and so do other people, apparently! I still semi-regularly get comments on this one.
4. A Mermaids' Guide To Collecting Humans (A Ladies' Guide to Collecting Mermaid Love Songs, <1K)
A newly born mermaid is given some advice.
Kudos: 36
I got a positive response to this one, but I personally consider it a failure, in that I was very much going for a specific mood, and didn’t manage it. I wanted it to be eerie, creepy, unsettling, and that’s… not what the commenters got from it.
5. The Fairy-Touched Queen: Discovering the Life of Queen Cinders Through An Examination of Her Mythical Counterpart, by Carla Edmundston (Cinders, 2.1K)
An article excerpted from Cutting Through the Veil: An In-Depth Look at the Historical Reality Hidden Within Common Myths and Legends.
Kudos: 32
This fic was mostly written because I’d just graduated from college and was very sad about the fact that I’d probably never need to write a historical researched paper again. So I decided to use those feelings to write a faux-historical research as worldbuilding as a treat for someone instead. I’ve written three Cinders fics, all for Yuletide, and I hadn’t actually realized this was the most popular one—it’s a pleasant surprise!
This isn’t a part of the meme, but out of personal curiosity, I looked at the years posted as well. The earliest fic on the above list was posted in 2013, while the latest was posted in 2016. (The last time I posted a work to the Yuletide collection in general was 2018, which, oof, that’s longer ago in the past than I realized.)
Five Personal Favorite Yuletide Fics
1. Blood in the Water (Chalice, 1.2K)
I did say this one would be on the list! I already talked about this one above, so there’s not much more to say, but I do have very fond feelings about this one, and I do genuinely think it’s good.
2. the still point of the sun (Shall We Date? The Niflheim, 6.3K)
An accident at Firelight Night leads to new revelations.
Shall We Date? The Niflheim is probably the closest thing I had to a main fandom for many years, but I never actually finished all that many fics for it before I lost access to the canon, despite having many WIPs and many feelings for it. This, however, is one of them. It’s by far the longest—dedicated to one of my absolute favorite ships in the game—and I poured so much of my love for the game into it. I was so excited to be writing for someone else who loved this game too, and overall I have so many fond feelings and remembrances when I look back on this fic.
3. In Transition (Princess Debut, 2.8K)
Isabel still doesn't really know how to be a friend. Sabrina still doesn't have a partner for the ball at St. Lyon's. Somehow, it all works out.
So. There is a very good chance that this fic isn’t actually good—I haven’t reread it in years, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might not hold up. That being said, I have so, so much fondness in my heart for this one. Princess Debut is a game I fell in love with when I was a teenager—basically tapping into the portion of my heart that loves otome visual novels back before I knew what an otome game was.
I remember being so thrilled to see a request for it—someone else who loves this game too! This might also be the earliest example of what later ended up being a thing for me—writing f/f (specifically, main character/side female character) fics for het-focused otome games. I poured so much of my love for this canon into every word, in a way which resonated with my recip as well, and to this day I can’t think of this fic without a sense of fondness and warmth.
4. Born From Decision (Cinders, 2.3K)
Post-canon. When the kingdom needs a new financial minister, Ghede seizes the chance to take care of another lingering problem as well.
So many fics for visual novels on this list… I do love to write for visual novel canons, so I suppose that’s what’s being reflected in this list! I love all three of the Cinders fics I wrote (all for Yuletide, as I mentioned above), so I thought I’d use the last two spots on this list to highlight the other two as well! I think this is the technically best-written of the three, and I liked how I handled the characterization.
5. Promises To Keep (Cinders, 1.0K)
Cinders needs advice. The Fairy needs to be remembered.
Or, how the Fairy became Queen Cinders' adviser.
I think this is the weakest of my three Cinders fics in terms of actual writing, but I’m so into the idea of Cinders/Fairy, as well as the concept that I was going for here, that I find myself quite fond of this fic anyway, despite its weaknesses.
Mostly, I was shown the hub world, some of the stages, and a couple of the bosses—I’m mostly unspoiled when it comes to the actual cut scenes, and prefer to keep it that way. A few things I wanted to comment on:
I am dying over the squid thing. Please picture me chanting “what the fuck, what the fuck” under my breath every time I saw Shadow shift into that form. It’s not even that it’s a bad thing! It’s just that Shadow gaining the ability to shapeshift into a squid was not on my personal Sonic bingo card in any shape or form, lol. The Splatoon song (you’re a squid now, you’re a kid now!) is actually relevant reference to use for Shadow??? I cannot believe this is actual canon.
Related to the shape-shifting thing: we chatted with a few of the characters in the hubworld, and Omega had this dialogue where he brought up how Black Doom’s species uses organic weaponry and suggested that Shadow try to turn his arms into guns… to which my immediate reaction was, “wait... Omega has gun arms... he wants to bond over being gun arm buddies!”
I was also shown two of the boss battle: Biolizard and Mephiles. In terms of mechanics, the Biolizard looked more fun, but the dialogue in the Mephiles battle was an unending source of entertainment for me! I was absolutely losing it throughout. He came across as a cross between a scorned ex (!!!) and Yami Bakura, and it was amazing.
To go a little more in-depth on that... Near the beginning of the battle, Mephiles has this line where he goes, “You forgot about me AGAIN???” and I just. I started laughing like a hyena. For context: Shadow doesn’t recognize Mephiles at the start of this battle because, canonically, the timeline where the events of Sonic 2006 took place got erased at the end of the game! Technically, from Shadow’s perspective, none of that ever happened.
But. But! In Sonic 2006, due to timeline shenanigans, the first time Shadow meets Mephiles, isn’t the first time Mephiles has met him. However, Mephiles didn’t know that, so from his perspective, Shadow was the one to awaken him (I think?), and then just. Straight up forgot about him, until they met again at the beginning of Shadow’s story. Meaning that this battle is now the second time where Mephiles and Shadow meet without Shadow knowing who he is, and Mephiles’ reaction to that is just. An unending source of delight for me. I don’t remember ever considering Shadow/Mephiles as a ship, but his reaction to being forgotten again really did it for me.
► In a complete shift of topic… I saw
shadaras and eglantiere do a Yuletide meme that looked pretty fun, so I decided to do it too! I’ve “only” written 14 works for Yuletide on this account, so there’s a little less variety than with someone more proliferant than I am, but I feel like it’s still enough works to make this meme be worth it <3Five Most Popular Yuletide Fics (by kudos)
1. in muted light (Spirited Away, 3.2K)
Chihiro returns, for a little while.
Kudos: 520.
Not surprised by this one! It’s been around for over ten years, so it’s had time to accumulate some kudos, and it’s also a fic for the most popular ship for a canon that many people are fond. This was my first Yuletide assignment after I switched to this username, and also one of the first works on this AO3 account in general. I have fond memories of this one!
2. The First Drop (Tortall, 1.2K)
A brief moment between Daine and Onua the day after the spidrens attack. Set during the beginning of Wild Magic.
Kudos: 83
Nothing too exciting about this one. It’s canon-compliant missing scene gen. Again, I think the kudos on this one are from the accumulation over time + the fact it’s for a canon many people have a nostalgic familiarity with.
3. Blood in the Water (Chalice, 1.2K)
A moment of calm before the battle begins. The Chalice mixes her cup.
Kudos: 80
Spoiler alert: this one also makes my list of personal favorites. It’s worldbuilding fic for the novel Chalice, centering around a character that’s only referenced as a historical figure in-canon. I find her fascinating, and so do other people, apparently! I still semi-regularly get comments on this one.
4. A Mermaids' Guide To Collecting Humans (A Ladies' Guide to Collecting Mermaid Love Songs, <1K)
A newly born mermaid is given some advice.
Kudos: 36
I got a positive response to this one, but I personally consider it a failure, in that I was very much going for a specific mood, and didn’t manage it. I wanted it to be eerie, creepy, unsettling, and that’s… not what the commenters got from it.
5. The Fairy-Touched Queen: Discovering the Life of Queen Cinders Through An Examination of Her Mythical Counterpart, by Carla Edmundston (Cinders, 2.1K)
An article excerpted from Cutting Through the Veil: An In-Depth Look at the Historical Reality Hidden Within Common Myths and Legends.
Kudos: 32
This fic was mostly written because I’d just graduated from college and was very sad about the fact that I’d probably never need to write a historical researched paper again. So I decided to use those feelings to write a faux-historical research as worldbuilding as a treat for someone instead. I’ve written three Cinders fics, all for Yuletide, and I hadn’t actually realized this was the most popular one—it’s a pleasant surprise!
This isn’t a part of the meme, but out of personal curiosity, I looked at the years posted as well. The earliest fic on the above list was posted in 2013, while the latest was posted in 2016. (The last time I posted a work to the Yuletide collection in general was 2018, which, oof, that’s longer ago in the past than I realized.)
Five Personal Favorite Yuletide Fics
1. Blood in the Water (Chalice, 1.2K)
I did say this one would be on the list! I already talked about this one above, so there’s not much more to say, but I do have very fond feelings about this one, and I do genuinely think it’s good.
2. the still point of the sun (Shall We Date? The Niflheim, 6.3K)
An accident at Firelight Night leads to new revelations.
Shall We Date? The Niflheim is probably the closest thing I had to a main fandom for many years, but I never actually finished all that many fics for it before I lost access to the canon, despite having many WIPs and many feelings for it. This, however, is one of them. It’s by far the longest—dedicated to one of my absolute favorite ships in the game—and I poured so much of my love for the game into it. I was so excited to be writing for someone else who loved this game too, and overall I have so many fond feelings and remembrances when I look back on this fic.
3. In Transition (Princess Debut, 2.8K)
Isabel still doesn't really know how to be a friend. Sabrina still doesn't have a partner for the ball at St. Lyon's. Somehow, it all works out.
So. There is a very good chance that this fic isn’t actually good—I haven’t reread it in years, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might not hold up. That being said, I have so, so much fondness in my heart for this one. Princess Debut is a game I fell in love with when I was a teenager—basically tapping into the portion of my heart that loves otome visual novels back before I knew what an otome game was.
I remember being so thrilled to see a request for it—someone else who loves this game too! This might also be the earliest example of what later ended up being a thing for me—writing f/f (specifically, main character/side female character) fics for het-focused otome games. I poured so much of my love for this canon into every word, in a way which resonated with my recip as well, and to this day I can’t think of this fic without a sense of fondness and warmth.
4. Born From Decision (Cinders, 2.3K)
Post-canon. When the kingdom needs a new financial minister, Ghede seizes the chance to take care of another lingering problem as well.
So many fics for visual novels on this list… I do love to write for visual novel canons, so I suppose that’s what’s being reflected in this list! I love all three of the Cinders fics I wrote (all for Yuletide, as I mentioned above), so I thought I’d use the last two spots on this list to highlight the other two as well! I think this is the technically best-written of the three, and I liked how I handled the characterization.
5. Promises To Keep (Cinders, 1.0K)
Cinders needs advice. The Fairy needs to be remembered.
Or, how the Fairy became Queen Cinders' adviser.
I think this is the weakest of my three Cinders fics in terms of actual writing, but I’m so into the idea of Cinders/Fairy, as well as the concept that I was going for here, that I find myself quite fond of this fic anyway, despite its weaknesses.