#sugaryfriedhardware

god you have no idea how happy I am that you asked me this, thank you for enabling me

SO

WHY IS AMY’S STRENGTH 7/10 WHILE SHADOW’S IS ONLY 3/10

WELL, YOU SEE:

the screenshot that shows these stats are most likely from the mobile game, Sonic Forces: Speed Battle (I remember playing this a lot when it first came out and I recognize the skill categories). this is an online game where you can, at any time, pick a character from a large selection of Sonic characters that you can unlock and level up, and then race against other players. for this reason, the characters’ stats have to be balanced - resulting in silly shit like Shadow having the physical prowess of a wet noodle.

if their stats in the game adhered to story canon, it’s very likely that they would actually be pretty evenly matched in the ‘strength’ stat! they both canonically have super strength, and are occasionally shown to be slightly below Knuckles’ strength level (Knuckles is the designated Strong Boy in the series, so he’s a good measuring stick).

funnily enough, Amy and Shadow are actually some of the most inconsistently represented characters in the series when it comes to their abilities. this is because many of the games like to divide characters into one of three types; speed, flying or power. however, both of them simultaneously have super strength and super speed (and Shadow is sometimes shown as being able to hover with his rocket boots), resulting in Shadow often switching between all three types, while Amy is usually stuck with the ‘speed’ type even though she’s one of the physically toughest characters!

you can kind of think of the characters as RPG characters that put their levels into different things. Sonic put all of his levels in speed, and none in strength or magic or other powers. similarly, Knuckles put all his levels in strength. Amy doesn’t specialize in any one thing, so she’s above average in most categories (a fact that’s often forgotten in canon is that she knows magic too). Shadow, being an artificial super soldier, was born with more levels than the others and he’s got his speed maxed out, while also having above average in every other stat, so he also doesn’t technically specialize in any one thing, but has a level or two more in speed so he can match Sonic anyway.

so long story short, if the stats in the mobile game adhered to canon, Amy would have a 7/7/7 spread, while Shadow’s would be something like 10/10/7. but that wouldn’t make for balanced gameplay, so their stats were skewed in the name of making the game playable!

oh, worm? (sorry) I guess there’s a lot of story potential there, Steven finally collapsing under the weight of his own self appointed position of “Gem Kind’s problem solver” and just getting turned into this monster that consumes and destroys because it feeds and twists his inner desire for people to just leave him be and let him live which forces him to reexamine his actions and tendencies of putting the world on his shoulders.

OH ... LOTS OF THINGS, MAN

I think I need a little more time before I can like ... fully put my thoughts into words. what I do know is that these were excellent episodes that spun a perfect little ending to the series. it felt like a proper farewell, and I think that’s great. the show kind of coming full circle with all of Steven’s family helping him instead of vice versa was wonderful.

though I must admit, I’m also left with a lot of sadness. once you’ve kept up with a series for over half a decade and actively engaged with it and theorized and hoped for certain things, and potentially gotten attached to things that the writers didn’t intend to address after all, it’s inevitable that there’s going to be some amount of ... grief, or whatever, at seeing the series end and know that the things you were hoping for will now never happen.

the majority of you also didn’t want a moldy cheese for a president, but here we are

 ok so disclaimer, I don’t know jack or shit about animal crossing, aside from what I just saw in the new nintendo direct and like, 10 years of pop culture osmosis, so keep in mind that my opinions are completely superficial and the last 4 characters on the list I quickly found on a character list on the wiki lol

1. Tom Nook

cards on the table, I already had a weird affection for this dude years ago when I knew even less about animal crossing, bc Starbomb’s parody song The Book of Nook friggin slaps and I’ve listened to it tons over the years. now that I’m learning more about who he is and what he’s like in the games, my affections are increasing because he seems like a cool dude. 10/10 can and will be his friend even at great monetary cost

2. Merengue

I JUST FOUND HER AND I AUDIBLY GASPED??? SHE’S A RHINO AND SHE GOT A STRAWBERRY FOR A HORN. I absolutely adore her design, she’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!! I really hope she gets to be in new horizons, I want to meet her!!!! what an absolute cutie ... heart-eyes, motherfucker

3. Fauna

Fauna is soooo pretty, I love her color scheme and her little coat! also her vacant stare is peak character design frankly, I feel like the abyss is staring back at me when I look at her, it gives her a neat n unique vibe

4. Marina

an aquatic friend ... really love her eyes too. I love how the game makes the non-mammalian characters just as cute and lovely as the mammals, they deserve to be cute-ified too! Marina looks like a real sweetheart

5. Diana

coding is so interesting to me! I’ve been learning the absolute basics of coding video games over the last couple years and it’s so fun! for someone like me who doesn’t know much about computers, it genuinely feels like trying to learn magic spells

I think a lot of animals are really cool, but I have a very deep fondness for cats. I’m very sensitive and often feel misunderstood, and cats share both of these traits, so I empathize with them a whole lot. I wish I could protect all cats from people who don’t understand them