So I don't think that the stories presented in Sonic really radicalized me. As a kid, I grew up in a very, 'protect the environment' household, and both of my parents never fully trust cops or the government. They'd seen enough assassinations and government coverups and outright lying for capital gain to ever fully trust any governing body.
What sort of happened is, as I grew older, and I ran into things, like, the WW2 Magical Artifact Arms Race, the various Super Soldier projects from WW2 on through the Cold War, secret government testing facilities and violations of human rights under the guise of 'advancement of humanity and the sciences,' certain things in Sonic that I remember from the games would make me go, 'hey wait a minute,' and then I'd dig in deep. So I learned a lot about various horrors because, well, life imitates art, and we draw on life when making art, so I was seeing parallels between real life and what (intentionally or unintentionally) writers and developers for Sonic were drawing on when they made certain games. That most certainly radicalized me a bit.
Then just- being online, being a part of the Sonic fandom, especially on Tumblr- there are a lot wonderful people here who are also exceptionally politically involved. I've learned a lot from them. Socialists, Communists, Anarchists, regular Leftists, recovering Fascists, and people from all backgrounds and countries and experiences- that was immensely helpful. I can read in textbooks all I want about these various points of view, but it's something different when you can talk to someone and have a dialog to better understand, you know? Plus, we all have blindspots. Being on here, having access to articles and resources I normally wouldn't because I wouldn't think to look in those particular places, that has been wonderfully helpful.
There is, I believe, something inherent in Sonic that draws that kind of crowd. Sonic is a guy that just wants to do what he feels is the right thing. He wants to help. There's a bit of a power fantasy in that, wow, don't we all wish we had super powers or whatever where we could do whatever we wanted to immediately fix a situation and help people? But beyond that, there's also just... being seen. Being recognized. We, too, are just some random fucking people who want to help, and we can. We can pull upon our own strengths and areas of expertise to help.
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