The Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow the Hedgehog - Ch. 3

[MangaDex]

 

[HawkGoggles]

Yeah, the minute this decided to play with a shadow who was just ejected from the ark, this story became way more compelling and interesting than the one in the game even if that one is also nice.

 

[Mathias]

Out of his mind

That hedgehog is sufficiently crazy to make it happen.

 

[Arexty]

That Maria's senses are disjointed and Shadow has to slowly piece her back together is making this much more harrowing and interesting than the game source material.

 

[DPLBatoDex]

Many Thanks for the new chapter Azure Wind.

This, so far, has been very compelling for a video game tie-in.

 

[gr4p3z]

Yeah, the minute this decided to play with a shadow who was just ejected from the ark, this story became way more compelling and interesting than the one in the game even if that one is also nice.

I don’t even think the game story is anything insane but they’re just completely different lol in the game it was about a shadow who long took his future into his own hands and moved on who is now being tested in regards to his past again. Far different to a shadow who literally just experienced it here

 

[HawkGoggles]

I don’t even think the game story is anything insane but they’re just completely different lol in the game it was about a shadow who long took his future into his own hands and moved on who is now being tested in regards to his past again. Far different to a shadow who literally just experienced it here

Its that difference that I find compelling. The story in the game is nothing new; it is built up on things we've already seen before and that's what it was made to be. An introduction to Shadow the hedgehog. So seeing and actual new side of Shadow is interesting in and of itself. That being said I think this is one big mind trick by Black Doom and we're actually fallowing the same modern Shadow who's in the game.

 

[zekromfan1]

Its that difference that I find compelling. The story in the game is nothing new; it is built up on things we've already seen before and that's what it was made to be. An introduction to Shadow the hedgehog. So seeing and actual new side of Shadow is interesting in and of itself. That being said I think this is one big mind trick by Black Doom and we're actually fallowing the same modern Shadow who's in the game.

The story the game was telling was a conclusion to the story of Shadow’s own game. It was slightly retconned, but his decision in the end is what is built upon. His abandonment of his past, while originally portrayed as him being disgusted by the truth, choosing to forgo it altogether and moving on.

It’s now been retconned into Shadow forgoing all of it, not out of disgust or resentment, but instead because he can’t bring himself to face it. The pain of loss is something he just doesn’t want to deal with, so every time he begins to think about it, about her, he distracts himself and focuses solely on what’s right in front of him.

I understand why they did it, I still would have much rather they continued with what was already established. Something like what ‘06 did in Shadow’s campaign. I like what was done in Shadow Generations, they probably wanted to essentially reset what was done to Shadow over this past decade since Generations first released. While also laying the groundwork for what they plan to do in the future.

 

[zekromfan1]

So these “wishing orbs” were just the Doom Alters huh? I suppose it makes some sense, though in game there are more than 3, so I wonder how that might change things. Plus Maria is working differently here than everyone else in White Space, or maybe she’s working in reverse to how the others were before being saved by Sonic, granted that was the Time Eater’s doing. This is probably Black Doom’s handiwork.

Speaking of, that eye is 100% some sort of different looking Doom’s Eye. If things progress like they do in the Generations, Shadow is bound to run into Sonic eventually. Or maybe even Orbot & Cubot since Rail Canyon is next. Maybe Big might make an appearance, or even Omega, this is The Ark after all so he should be nearby.

Maria should also be at Sunset Heights, so I wonder how she got over here… also where is Gerald? He should be with her.

 

[Windii]

The story the game was telling was a conclusion to the story of Shadow’s own game. It was slightly retconned, but his decision in the end is what is built upon. His abandonment of his past, while originally portrayed as him being disgusted by the truth, choosing to forgo it altogether and moving on.

It’s now been retconned into Shadow forgoing all of it, not out of disgust or resentment, but instead because he can’t bring himself to face it. The pain of loss is something he just doesn’t want to deal with, so every time he begins to think about it, about her, he distracts himself and focuses solely on what’s right in front of him.

I understand why they did it, I still would have much rather they continued with what was already established. Something like what ‘06 did in Shadow’s campaign. I like what was done in Shadow Generations, they probably wanted to essentially reset what was done to Shadow over this past decade since Generations first released. While also laying the groundwork for what they plan to do in the future.

That's not a retcon, that's just how grief works.

 

[HawkGoggles]

The story the game was telling was a conclusion to the story of Shadow’s own game. It was slightly retconned, but his decision in the end is what is built upon. His abandonment of his past, while originally portrayed as him being disgusted by the truth, choosing to forgo it altogether and moving on.

It’s now been retconned into Shadow forgoing all of it, not out of disgust or resentment, but instead because he can’t bring himself to face it. The pain of loss is something he just doesn’t want to deal with, so every time he begins to think about it, about her, he distracts himself and focuses solely on what’s right in front of him.

I understand why they did it, I still would have much rather they continued with what was already established. Something like what ‘06 did in Shadow’s campaign. I like what was done in Shadow Generations, they probably wanted to essentially reset what was done to Shadow over this past decade since Generations first released. While also laying the groundwork for what they plan to do in the future.

Shadow at the start of Generations is the same Shadow at the end of it. Generations' story is pure character expression. My problem is that Shadow seems to only get the same kind of expression when the games focus on him. Trust issues and grief. Generations built up on lines and dialog and scenes from past works, and as a big nerd I've already seen them all and felt the feelings I needed to feel so they don't hit me as hard.

And as someone brought up, grief and realism are good reasons to redo a character's story in a natural way but for me as a viewer I don't want to see the same thing over and over again. Its nice that I can see shadow genuinely smile for the first time in ages but I also roll my eyes at the Sonic X call back. Because its not just a story I've seen before but expressed in a a way I've seen before as well.

I personally think Sonic Battle has the best execution of moving his character forward. Its the only game that lets Shadow be truly introspective on what he thinks about himself than worrying about the people around him. It helps that he doesn't have amnesia in that game and it actually tackles how he feels about the events in SA2 and his past.

 

[zekromfan1]

That's not a retcon, that's just how grief works.

No I mean, the reason why he abandoned his past was retconned. I say that because it was explicitly said in Shadow’s own game that he did it because he didn’t want anything more to do with what he saw as an “abominable past” it wasn’t because he couldn’t bring himself to face it. It’s the reason why it wasn’t brought up in ‘06 during his campaign, he discarded all of it and chose to live for himself.

Shadow Generations retconned the reason to being that he couldn’t bring himself to face his past due to how much it hurt him doing so. It’s a retcon because it’a retroactively changing the continuity, it’s not inherently bad. It was done because they had a story they wanted to tell, and to do so they needed to change something that not a lot of people really understood to begin with.

 

[zekromfan1]

Shadow at the start of Generations is the same Shadow at the end of it. Generations' story is pure character expression. My problem is that Shadow seems to only get the same kind of expression when the games focus on him. Trust issues and grief. Generations built up on lines and dialog and scenes from past works, and as a big nerd I've already seen them all and felt the feelings I needed to feel so they don't hit me as hard.

And as someone brought up, grief and realism are good reasons to redo a character's story in a natural way but for me as a viewer I don't want to see the same thing over and over again. Its nice that I can see shadow genuinely smile for the first time in ages but I also roll my eyes at the Sonic X call back. Because its not just a story I've seen before but expressed in a a way I've seen before as well.

I personally think Sonic Battle has the best execution of moving his character forward. Its the only game that lets Shadow be truly introspective on what he thinks about himself than worrying about the people around him. It helps that he doesn't have amnesia in that game and it actually tackles how he feels about the events in SA2 and his past.

I think the important point to bring up, is that Shadow after SA2 is a completely different character. Not a blank slate, but someone unconnected to those events.

It would be difficult to go into without using a lot of specific examples, and while I hate to do this, I would recommend checking out Pariah695’s YouTube video on Shadow Generations’s story since it gets across most of the points I would try to explain a lot better than words can.

I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with liking Battle’s portrayal of a post SA2 Shadow. The Shadow we have in Generations is however definitely a different person by the end of the story, it wasn’t so much that he got closure, it’s more so that now he’s willing to openly express his feelings. If even only in private, he isn’t blocking it out anymore. He’s facing it and accepting it, not running away from it like he was previously. If nothing else, I’m happy to see that SEGA is no longer being so strict on the type of character Shadow is. He isn’t being held back by 10 year old mandates anymore, I only hope the same treatment can be given across the board. Especially in regards to Sonic specifically, he hasn’t been himself since Black Knight and that was 15 years ago.

Only time will tell on that front though, it’s looking positive in any case so that’s something. It’s better than we’ve had for what feels like forever, it’s honestly nice not feeling as though the series is wandering aimlessly anymore. It really feels like there is a plan now.