a sonic 06 au

As for the rest of your question, the answer for that is a little bit complicated. I technically began thinking of beginning a Sonic 06 au in 2017. However, I didn't actually begin work on it until 2022. Back when I first began considering the possibility of making an AU, Sonic Forces had just come out. Its story dissatisfied me and so I became convinced that I needed to try to fix it. I made my vision very oc-focused and self indulgent. It was fun to work on, but eventually I realized I didn't care about Forces enough to dedicate so much energy towards it.

My hyperfixation for Sonic broke off around Summer 2018. I had been deep into it for about four years at that point, was feeling pretty jaded about the state of the franchise, and also finding joy in many other things at that time. I saw the Sonic Movie in 2020 and loved it, but it wasn't enough to start a hyperfixation back up. I'd say that around the big marketing push for Sonic Frontiers is when I started to really come back.