This Is Absolutely Beautiful

Stone being just as competent as Robotnik is so important to me. He took over the Mean Bean by himself, he's a badass on a motorcycle, he singlehandedly rescued Robotnik in the aftermath of sonic 2, he took down a bunch of badniks in a few seconds. Stone could easily be his own boss and do his own thing, or demand that Robotnik treat him more as an equal rather than a subordinate but he doesn't. He's completely fine with being a henchman and even takes pride in it. I think it just emphasizes how much he loves Robotnik. He doesn't need to stay with him because its the closest he'll get to power, he's skilled enough on his own to do villain stuff if he wanted, he needs to stay because he loves him and Robotnik needs him. this is all stuff we already knew but i think it'd be less powerful if Stone was the typical dumb henchman stereotype. he is just as deserving of power as Robotnik is but he chooses to take a step back, to let him have the spotlight, to let him feel safer in a position of power, to just help Robotnik achieve his goals and his dreams. im never getting over these two am i?

No one mourns the wicked

No, one mourns the wicked

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finally, after a gruelling one month, sonic 3 released in the philippines. i have Finally watched it, and even if it’s been only a day, i have a Lot to say about stobotnik— not necessarily from the movie, i feel like we discussed that enough, but moreso what i hope to see for stobotnik in future movies.

for the past weeks before i watched sonic 3, i read up on people desperately wanting villain!stone for sonic 4. this seems to win the popular vote on what should happen with stone next movie, and as someone who wanted stone to go batshit as well, i definitely liked reading all the different ideas for it. BUT, and this is a big but, i do think there needs to be more considerations when it comes to stone if we do want to see him as such.

for starters, a popular take is that stone should cope with grief Badly, which makes him vindictive of the main team. while i think this is funny and has a lot of merit for fanwork, i do think this risks repeating the themes of sonic 3. particularly, the entire movie IS about grief and how to cope with such, about shying away from revenge as a foolproof way of responding to grief. not to say that stone wouldn’t cope well, but i do think, narratively and thematically, it would be smarter to move away from a movie plot that literally has been done.

i genuinely wouldn’t want the movie to end with another “i shouldn’t do things out of revenge!” since we literally Saw that. moreover, i think we need to give more merit to stone and robotnik’s relationship that stone would understand the nuance and meaning to robotnik’s final sacrifice. of course that is a tall order, especially considering the sudden grief, but i think we forget also how dedicated stone is to robotnik. he WOULD respect and do what he thinks robotnik was trying to impart in the last scenes. not to mention as well, stone has no reason to target the main team in particular when he explicitly mentions in the movie that this plan was dangerous because of gerald, NOT sonic.

but. i DO think there could be a way we can have villain!stone in the next movie, because i do think he could play a narratively antagonistic role. i’ve been arguing that the next movie’s central theme could potentially be related to identity, especially since we got metal sonic and amy being introduced. if stone assumes a villainous role (and possibly created or activated metal sonic), i think he should be doing it not because of grief, but rather he wants to assume the legacy the doctor left behind. because, well, who is he if not robotnik’s henchman?

if he gets “revenge” or attacks sonic again, i don’t think it should be out of revenge. there should be something logical to it, possibly some conflict i can’t foresee, but it should have something to do with stone going, “well i think the doctor would do this, so i’m gonna try my best emulating such”. i know it sounds very similar to the “think about maria” plotline, but my take is that stone, again, isn’t doing this for vengeance, but moreso objectively tries picking up what robotnik left behind. (which, he would. of course he knows what the doctor would want.)

this especially can distinguish itself from sonic 3 IF the end of his arc would tie into identity, about stone figuring out what he himself would want independent of robotnik. this also ties in well with metal sonic and amy’s presence in sonic 4, because on one hand, we have metal sonic, which is self-explanatorily a “better” version of sonic. not only does sonic have to examine his own identity, but imagine if metal was made in service of either stone or GUN, and gains sentience and wants to be their own person. isn't that just a neat parallel to stone? then, on the other, we have amy, who is written originally to be whatever the opposite to a bechdel test is. of course, amy’s developed to be so much more, but i think it would be interesting for them to tackle it explicitly in the movies, whether it is through amy undergoing her own conflict or amy being the person who helps the others realize what it means to be their own person.

all to say, villain!stone shouldn’t be a grief allegory but an identity one. the line is very thin, but i think it’s okay as long as the underlying question is “who am i without robotnik?” and not “what should i do to avenge his death?”.

(also, had the idea that if stone build or helped build metal sonic, imagine if he also tried making a robot!robotnik haha as if haha)

another consideration i had is that, if stone only plays an antagonistic role, meaning he isn’t an active villain but merely an opposing force against the team next movie, i think it should come from some sort of misunderstanding. this definitely has to include GUN in some way, because i feel like rockwell was underutilized, and the weapon in the sky thing was definitely not addressed. perhaps stone’s evil plan ISN’T to hurt the main team but rather abolish GUN, but GUN employs and tricks the main team to think stone is doing something villainous against them.

if this is the case, i do think another central theme to consider is the entire megamind nature vs nurture debacle, what does it mean to be a good or bad person? one way i can see them going about this is the team questioning why stone is so down bad for robotnik, only to reveal that robotnik’s more nuanced that he is, which only stone understands because he identifies himself in robotnik (thanks lee majdoub). this also ties in well with metal sonic defying his original purpose, but i am not quite sure how amy ties into it but it’s not impossible to connect her to this plotline anyway. shadow could potentially have a role in this too, of what it means to do good after all he did wrong.

also hoping this movie ends with an anti-military moral. like everything is nuanced except the military <3 the military is what caused both gerald and robotnik to go batshit so.

and oh god stobotnik, okay i’ve gone so far talking about stone without talking about stobotnik, but i have two suggestions, especially considering jim carrey’s possible return: he is dead (with emotional considerations), or he is alive (with domestic considerations). hold on let me explain.

i will. absolutely hate it if robotnik turns out to be alive if and only if it’s shown at the beginning of sonic 4, and he assumes the role of main villain again. we've had ENOUGH, we already got to finish the entire 360 for his arc and what a shame it would be if he returns with the importance of his sacrifice to be taken away. yes, i hate that robotnik died as a person who loved him, but also his death is is really good story and writing-wise.

i think. i think if he comes back to life, it needs to be done 1.) at the end of sonic 4, and 2.) to conclude the stobotnik storyline once and for all. considering the suggestions i previously made, if robotnik were alive, i think it would be a more powerful punch if stone meets robotnik AFTER his own character arcs, and they come back as two wholes. after, i don’t think we shouldn’t see stobotnik again for future installations, but considering there would be 6-10 sonic movies i think it’s important to at least lay off making stobotnik the main villains or at least side antagonists for a while. i think they could have little cameos at least, possibly helping the characters or trying their best to acclimate to domestic life. you choose!

but if robotnik were permanently dead, i do think his appearance in a future film would be a flashback or memory, of stone remembering a time where he and robotnik were doing something that made stone realize how much robotnik loved him. something more intimate, something with the expected goofiness but with underlying tenderness. perhaps he left a final video message, perhaps there’s a scene which is very steven universe rose’s scabbard-esque (if you know you know).

also, this isn’t even considering the possibility of a into the sonicverse or time travel type scenario where there is a possibility of bringing robotnik back from other dimensions, because that in on itself is such a big plot possibility with a lot of implications for other characters that i won’t entertain it for now in this post. but it is definitely possible!

i’ve also considered the possibility that… maybe stone and robotnik wouldn’t appear in the next movie too! which. i’m not against if they bring it up in the fifth movie instead, because i delusionally believe silver and blaze will get introduced and that opens a whole can of worms for what other stobotnik possibilities could exist. 

but anyways those are my main thoughts, feel free to add on if you’d like to. i just needed to rebut all the “stone should be a senseless villain against sonic and team next movie” ideas. but you’re free to explore that anyway in fanwork lol, i think it’s fun.

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the purpose of friends is to have people who unconditionally hate your shitty exes & relatives. like maybe YOU have a complex relationship with your father but i sure don't. i'm outside his house with a gun. he's not the unforgivable asshole who raised me he's just an unforgivable asshole

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