Been thinking on why the Operator is so much more aggressive in Rosswood compared to Marble Hornets and just wanted to share my thoughts.
In Marble Hornets, the Operator has always had at least one victim: Tim. And while Tim was able to resist the Operator for the most part, we know that he was still capable of spreading the Operator's influence. Whether he only ever spread it to the Marble Hornets cast, or if it had happened previously as well, the Operator still had someone to feed on.
Meanwhile in Rosswood, Someone who is never named, but in all likelihood is Tim is stated to have disappeared as a child, and is presumably long dead by the time the events of the miniseries happen. With no ongoing victims to spread the influence or to be fed on themselves, the Operator has likely been starving for a long, long time. With the hospital abandoned for so long, nobody new would cross it's path save for the odd urban explorer, so when Alex and Jay turn up, it's potentially the first proper meal it's gotten in years.
If you're well fed, you might save part of a meal for later, stick it in the fridge for the next day, maybe combine the leftovers with something fresh if you get the chance. But if you haven't eaten in days? You would be scraping your plate clean. Victims of the Operator in Marble Hornets are like those leftovers, put aside for later and combined with new victims when they make the mistake of getting someone else involved, left alone for the most part until the Operator feels like having a snack. Fed on just a bit, before the fridge is closed and you are safe until it's next visit, but never truly free.
Victims in Rosswood are the scraped plate, eaten down to the bone all in one sitting, every scrap consumed until there's nothing left, right down the marrow. There's no reprieve, no escape, just a hungry predator hunting you down and taking everything you are and everything you ever will be.
I think it's also important to remember that Rosswood also takes place a long time after Marble Hornets would have. The Operator has gone a lot longer without a good meal than it ever had to in the main timeline. Even if we say that Tim not being there wouldn't have made a difference, the Marble Hornets Operator was feeding on Alex since at least 2006, and then Jay since 2009. This version didn't have that. So when a two course meal wandered into Rosswood and got ready to stay the night? The Operator had no intention of doing things the slow way. Alex and Jay never stood a chance.
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Establishing that Minamimoto doesn’t like meat is the bravest thing the twewy sequel could do. This man has FANGS, he is a LION, and he wants his pink stawberry boba or else he will pitch a fit.
For me, Shadow and Amy's dynamic is basically two different types of touch starved in a person
((If any of the gifs on this post aren’t loading for you on mobile--like they aren’t for me--you can download them or check the sources listed. As for desktop, they play just fine, but they won’t line up next to each other like they do on mobile. Tumblr is a comedy of errors.))
Yes! Absolutely. I’ve seen tons of fans say Shadow is prickly and would respond badly to hugs, but canon says otherwise. This is a bad reaction:
[Sonic 06]
Whenever I feel like being sad, I wonder if Bad-Future-06 Silver has ever been hugged.
This is a bad reaction:
[Sonic Unleashed, gif source.]
And I shouldn’t have to say this, but...yeah. These are very bad reactions:
[Sonic X]
[Sonic Generations]
Yikes. I feel bad for both of them.
But this?
[Sonic Adventure 2, gif source.]
This is Shadow’s only canonical hug in the games, and aside from jumping slightly from being snuck up on, he seems to like it just fine.
Just look at that smile! He’s happy. He finds it endearing.
It was a hug from a complete stranger meant for someone else, but he still drank it in--and, given that he’d effectively just lost Maria, he really did need it. It’s the combination of Amy’s gentleness AND her speech that changed his mind. After all, if someone as sweet as her sees something in the humans, maybe they’re not so bad.
My buddy who runs @shadowxamyweek recently reblogged a post about this hug, and their tags sum it up perfectly:
[ID: A screenshot of tags on a post. The tags read:
#official art #4kids #shadow the hedgehog #amy rose #YEAH 😭 #listen I read nothing that has happened with them in SA2 as shippy - and i ship them #THIS HUG? THR SPEECH ON THE ARK? #those are two lonely kids #those are two left behind kids #those are two kids so desperate for affection #for two vastly different reasons #Amy loves with her whole chest and will never stop doing so- no matter what happens #and Shadow does too- that is key to remember- Shadow loves... so fucking much... that it hurts #you are RIGHT op when you say this is probably the first time someone has been gentle with him in a long long time #he doesn't even run away #in the game- when Amy flees- he takes a step after her- a moment's hesitation- a 'wait' #this kid NEEDED a hug #and i firmly believe part of the reason Shadow listens to Amy in the end is BECAUSE she is the only person who showed him gentleness #softness and kindness and affection #if only for a moment #fjdodhdofjgor THIS is what i mean when i say 'be gentle- be kind' #it MATTERS #it FUCKING MATTERS
End ID]
Shadow doesn’t hate hugs inherently; it’s just that no one hugs him in the first place...
...aside from one person.
Amy’s easily the most affectionate character in the cast. It’s cute at first glance, but there’s a common thread to every instance that puts a damper on it.
She’s always, ALWAYS the initiator.
She puts more into each hug than anyone else does.
She’s always the last to pull away.
The most reciprocated Amy hug I know of in canon is this one:
[IDW Sonic issue #22]
Which is absolutely adorable...but Amy still initiated. Because it’s always her job. Even the characters who like affection don’t need it the way she does...with one exception.
And this tiny detail just killed me. The little, “wait, come back 😟”
It’s the only time I know of when someone has actually stepped after her like this. In a game where everyone left Amy behind, he wanted to follow her. Mister so-called-prickly didn’t want the hug to end.
Because he’s the only one who needs it as much as she does.
He wants to be held as much as she wants to hold someone else, and no one else is warm and sincere enough for it. Compare these instances:
[IDW issue #6]
Sonic thinks Shadow is wrong about something, so he grabs Shadow’s arm to stop him, and Shadow aggressively wrenches it away and leaves.
[Archie Sonic Universe #23]
But when Amy thinks Shadow is wrong about something and grabs his arm to stop him, he gently removes her hand and thinks about what she has to say.
Even when he doesn’t want to be touched, he makes the distinction between “don’t touch me” and “not right now, please.” These are from two different continuities, of course, but I think the point stands. Amy’s special. He’s gentler with her than he is with other people, and that’s consistent across all canons.
Side note: how often does Amy get to feel special like that? I actually really like that Sonic doesn’t place others in a hierarchy of importance, and I wouldn’t change that about him even if I could...
[IDW issue #2]
...but Amy does play favorites. I want her to feel like she’s someone else’s favorite, too. I want her to have someone who puts her first and likes her best. I think Shadow’s more than capable of that. I believe he craves clinginess like hers deep down, even if he hasn’t consciously figured that out yet.
I have an entire tag for these two being affectionate. My favorite is probably this one.
Of course, there may be those who say I’m reading too much into one (1) hug. And you know what? Maybe they’re right! We need a bigger sample size. Sega, make more characters hug Shadow, please. Let Rouge comfort him after he confides in her about something. Have Omega give him an awkward metal embrace because he read on the internet that organic beings like that kind of thing. Make Shadow himself pull Silver into a hug when he’s breaking down crying from the stress of always having to be a hero. Show Tails accidentally grab onto him out of fear when they’re trapped in a lightning storm, and when he gets embarrassed and pulls away, have Shadow hold him for the rest of the storm and admit he’s not fond of bright lights, either.
[Sonic Boom]
That scene where Shadow and Amy rescue Cream and Cheese from Cryptic Castle? That easily could’ve turned into a cute group hug.
[Shadow the Hedgehog (2005)]
And I have seen some absolutely adorable fanart where he holds Cream’s hand while he and Amy lead her through Cryptic Castle to make sure she doesn’t get lost 🥺
Have Knuckles give him an empathetic bro-pat on the shoulder when he finds out Shadow’s the last one of his race, too.
[Archie Sonic Universe #89]
Have Sonic try to hug him, and then when Shadow inevitably pushes him away and says he doesn’t do hugs, have Amy arrive and latch onto Shadow instead while he tries to stutter out an excuse as to why she’s allowed to and Sonic isn’t.
The most affection Shadow has in recent history is stuff like this...
[Sonic Prime season 2 episode 1]
...where Sonic tries to hug him and Shadow immediately pushes him away, knocks him over, and tries to punch him in the face. Kind of says it all. Amy stands out as the only one with a good track record here.
[IDW issue #36]
Especially when you have him look at her like this when someone else is on the receiving end of that affection.
So in the absence of further evidence, I have no choice but to interpret this in the most Shadamy way possible. Your move, Sega.
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my friend asked me to pretend to be her boyfriend because her parents are homophobic af but they ended up hating me so much that they were glad when she said she was gay task failed successfully
be a goth. conservative christian parents don't approve of goth men. show up to their house wearing all kinds of satanic symbols if you can
know more about religion than the parents. they'll try to introduce you to christianity because you don't exactly look like a christian but your dad's an ex priest and has a phd in theology so *cracks knuckles* you'll correct them on every little mistake they make
call your fake girlfriend every annoying petname under the sun. i'm talking about babu, shmoopie, snuffleupagus. when you run out of annoying english terms of endearment call her shit like "my liver" or "my little cabbage" (actual greek terms of endearments but the parents won't know this they'll just think you're annoying :3)
to continue this, talk to your fake girlfriend in the most high pitched annoying voice possible but talk in your regular voice to everyone else
stare at her older brother's ass for just a little too long
have an annoying laugh. think of sybil fawlty but a stereotypical villain playing a church organ in his castle
let them quote bible verses to you. then ask "so when were those two destroyed for sodomy?". it's very funny to do this when judas kisses jesus, and it's even funnier when you've just corrected them over a minor mistake in church history
ask WHY abraham was begging for sodom. it doesn't make sense to you why a good christian man would go and beg for tha-
be over possessive of your fake gf (dont really do this, it's just an act)
go and fuck her brother in an alleyway. the parents won't know about this so it's an optional step
use words no one knows the meaning of. do this without realising because you always talk like that
just be yourself! that's enough on its own to make them despise you tbh
Show up again to admit to dating the brother, but dress like a typical suburbanite and act like you've never met the parents before. Absolute power move.
first of all i'm just gonna show the difference in what i was wearing
an example of what i would wear as my friend's fake bf:
and as my boyfriend's actual bf:
when my bf and i showed up his dad did such a double take
sooo yeah my bf told his parents he's gay, they looked surprised but told him it was fine... then they shared a look of pure horror (seriously, it was like they had just found out they're in the matrix) and said
"and uh. why is...he here?"
i went and introduced myself like we had never met before and said i was their son's boyfriend
:3
i've never seen two people look more angry before but they weren't gonna say anything because they had other family members over
the family members who had never met me before and therefore knew nothing about the fake relationship thing started asking me what faith i am. i said i was raised protestant, though i'm not very religious now, but that's something i want to change. i had never mentioned anything about being a protestant before and i had said several times that my family was greek orthodox but gaslight gatekeep girlboss
aaaand then the awkwardness began. those were probably the most awkward minutes of my life (we didn't stay for long because i thought the dad was gonna hit me [he probably was. i saw him clenching his fists several times]) and i don't think anyone has ever looked at me with such murderous intent as my bf's parents
I think I’ve worked out (part of the reason) why there’s been such a huge uptick in folks who don’t reblog things on here.
This post has like 14k notes right now, and the tags and comments and reblogs are FULL of people who didn’t know about fast-reblog, and – you guys have been slow-reblogging this whole time!?!??!?!?
In the interests of a) making your lives easier, and b) encouraging you to reblog posts, which is what keeps this site alive, here’s how you fast-reblog:
On mobile: press and hold the reblog button. Your blog icon will appear. If you have sideblogs, all of the different icons will appear. Drag to whichever blog you want to reblog to, and release. Job done.
On desktop: hold down the E key and click reblog. Job done.
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So fun fact that won't surprise anyone who knows me: I've done this. My job had a inclusivity survey that pissed me off (they included "transgender" and "cis gender" as possible responses for "what's your gender?", alongside "male" and "female"!) but I noticed they didn't put a length limit on the gender field if you selected "other". So...
They didn't accept binary files (which is fine, my gender isn't binary) so I had to base64 encode doom, but even though it froze chrome for nearly 8 hours, I was able to paste a full copy of the Doom install disks into the form.
as a side project while waiting on chrome to unfreeze, I developed a way to encode Doom into PNG files that could safely be posted on Twitter without them being corrupted into JPEGs, as Twitter loves to do.
Anyway, the thread is here, but really all you need is this one screenshot.
