On Shame in the Sonic Fandom
You know...when I first got into Sonic, back when I was barely old enough to read, I drew doodles of characters hanging out with Sonic. When I got back into it when I was roughly 12, I drew these characters again.
They were awful. Thereās absolutely no record that they exist anymore, but I still remember them clear as day. A horrible mishmash ofĀ āchildren of canonsā andĀ āOP Mary Suesā. I even still remember them now. Psycho the Hedgehog, Ā Blackjack the Echidna and Tobias the Fox
I quickly ditched them as I got older and left that phase of my childhood behind. I came up with other characters.Two were still hedgehogs, but I at least tried to vary their appearance and abilities. This was around when I was 16 or so. I was living with my parents, traveling all over the country, and essentially had no friends to speak of. There was FinitevusĀ āFinā the Hedgehog, a firebender, Pylon the Echidna, a cyborg refugee from Echidnaopolis, and Neron the Hedgehog, a chemist/alchemist who used various potions to fight Dr. Eggman.
I ditched them too, but I still like elements from them. Once I got together with the man who would become my husband next month we made our own OCs. Scrap the Grizzly, Pockets the Panda, and Scope the Owl, a group of Freedom fighters from the northern parts of the world who keep Eggman from claiming an area roughly equivalent to the Rocky Mountain area of the US. These are the OCs I like, and I continue to develop them from here.
Why am I telling you this? How could this possibly matter?
Because the entire argument haters have against Sonic Forces and itās character creator is that creating OCs of any kind is shameful. Something thatĀ āmatureā fans donāt do. That creating OCs and giving them unique powers and abilities is childish. That enjoying ANYTHING in this way, but especially Sonic, is wrong.
You know what? Iām gonna say this as clearly as possible, in order to leave no ambiguity.
I will not be shamed for my OCs, characters Iāve loved for years. Yes, the earlier ones were goofy and lame and cribbing WAY too much off of DBZ but you know what? I still like the name Blackjack. Maybe Iāll remake him as something new. I still like the character concepts in my second trio. And Iām not going to hide them from haters just because they think that we should. So fuck those haters and I wonāt let them control me.
So hereās to you, Fin, Pyros, and Neron. Iāll leave you behind but youāll never be forgotten.
And hereās to you, Scrap and Pockets. Iāll always use you as my primary Sonic OCs.
Iāll be making all these OCs I can in Sonic Forces, because fuck you, haters. Sonic OCs, and OCs in general, are FUN. And I wonāt hide just because you think otherwise.