So I just watched the Sonic Boom episode with Shadow in it against my better judgement, and what the fuck was that shit? How could they be so blatant about only including him because he's popular while simultaneously making fun of his popularity? And also being assholes about it by poking fun at his fanbase?
Is Eggman's fanboying the writers' idea of what his fanbase is like? Squeeing over every little thing he does even when he does fuck all? Why would you exploit a character for their popularity, then make fun of the people that like him? They even attempt to point out how silly it is to like him, even though this boring cliche is a far cry from the version we like. He's not popular because he "stands in a corner not participating," he's popular because he's different and compelling. He's a dark character for the Sonic franchise and that makes him novel. He's a Byronic character in an overall upbeat series, and the contrast is interesting and allows for compelling narratives, something the comics understand and use well, most of the time.
And then they do nothing with his character. He barely has any lines and does nothing but stand around looking angry for most of the episode. They try to make jokes about how inexplicable liking this broody version of Shadow is, but seem to completely miss the fact that this version suuuuuucks and isn't the one that's popular and they only achieve highlighting how much this Shadow pales in comparison to the real one. I can't emphasize that enough, they make fun of people for liking the version of Shadow they created, without even realizing their version isn't the one that's well liked, that's too sad to even find funny. Do they actually think their version is interchangeable with the original? Fuck right off with that delusional bullshit.
And he doesn't even interact with Sonic in any significant way. He shows up, beats him up, then fucks off. Sonic doesn't say a word to or about him. As if they needed to make it even more obvious he was only there to be exploited. He has no impact on anything, then leaves on a promise to return to tantalize his fans. Their exploitation of him doesn't even try to be subtle.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but it honestly felt like they were trying to make fun of his fans, and that's a dick move no matter the context, but it's especially galling when they're milking his fanbase at the same time. Ugh.
I'm curious, why do you like Shadow? What about him makes you like him and be interested in his character? If you dislike the Boom version as much as I do, why? What do you think makes Boom!Shadow different, and worse, than the real Shadow?
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8 years, 5 months ago
23 Nov 2015 12:35 CET
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