It Will Heal

Fluff for my man Genji ❤️❤️❤️

Genji Fluff HCs

(This is post Blackwatch Genji, bc I've written fluff for that Genji twice man)

For someone so badass, he can also be kind of needy

Genji is kind of like a cat, where he'll just get extra close to you and when you run your hands through his hair, the whirring of the machinery in his body makes a purr sound

So, he's basically cybernetic cat ninja?

Very cuddly, though it will take some reassuring since he thinks his body isn't viable for affection since it is mostly made from carbon fiber.

He is very wrong, it's smooth and glossy and can heat up or cool down which let me tell you now anon is super nice.

Genji, while he won't admit it, is still a gamer at heart.

Gaming nights where he'll sit on the floor with you in his lap

He used to play competitively in arcades, but he found that with you he prefers to play games where you two works as a team or just enjoy each other's company

If you don't play games, he'd still like you to join him and watch as he plays a story-based game like Witcher 3 or Dragon age

He enjoys music A LOT

You took Lucio's suggestion and asked Genji to hook up his suit to change color to the beat of the music

He loves nothing more than to goof around doing silly dance moves with his RGB suit going off

We all know, no matter how much you love Genji, he can't dance for shit. His dance emote says it all.

If it's movie night? You know he cries his ass off at Titanic

He can't sing either, but he'll clear the feels out of the air by singing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On"

It's horribly out of tune, but also just utterly charming that Genji's even trying.

As a nighttime routine, he has to plug himself in to a massive industrial charger on his side of the bed forcing him to lay on his back. (Not without giving you goodnight hugs and kisses)

While Genji can't move, you however, still can.

You can lay on his chest or hold his hand, his body heating up the bed and if you fear the dark, he's a ninja nightlight to chase the shadows.

A/N: While I hate playing against him, he is cute to write.

Requests: CLOSED

Christmas with Cayde-6

- it’s your first Dawning together <3 - wearing very ugly but matching Christmas sweaters - also getting little ugly Christmas sweaters for Colonel and Sundance - snowball fights (╯°□°）╯︵ °o Ooミ＼(≧ﾛ≦＼) - “If you throw that snowball at me you’re declaring war, sweetheart” -  this boy got some good aim and his throws hurt, but he’ll make it up to you ;) - another guardian hitting your face with a snowball and Cayde being the protective boyfriend and beating them up in the parking lot (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง - kiss under the mistletoe bound on his beautiful, beautiful horn ( ͡°з ͡°) - playing in the snow together like little kids on missions - “You. Me. Snowman. Now.” ☃️ - “Let’s make snow angels!” - “Cayde, are you nine?” - “No, 126, I think.” - baking Dawning cookies for him and he’s so excited and happy about it <3333 - “All this… for me? I can’t believe you did this for me.” (／。＼) - baking more cookies and he’s always sneaking in to eat the dough ( ▀ ͜͞ʖ▀) - “CAYDE stop eating the dough or I’m gonna smack you with the spoon!” ò_ó - torturing Cayde with cheesy Christmas carols :)))))) - “I swear if I hear Last Christmas one more time I’m gonna blow something up.” - even more torturing him with Christmas songs :)))))))))) - “If I’ll hear one more Mariah Carey song I’ll kill anyone in the tower and then myself” T_T - Christmas shopping and Cayde absolutely haaaaates it :D - “I’m more than 100 years old. I don’t want to take a picture with Santa Claus.” - 5 minutes later: “Woah I can’t believe we met Santa!” 🎅🏼 - cuddled up in front of the tv watching Home Alone together - “Can we please watch something else? This is the 4th time we watched Home Alone today.” - Cayde running around yelling “IT’S TURBOTIME!” - Cayde hurting himself putting up decorations and getting tangled in lights - “Ho ho ho mother fuc-“ “Cayde, there are kids around” - decorating the christmas tree together 🎄 - him trying to put you on top of the tree because you’re his star ✨ *-* - Cayde putting out ramen instead of milk and cookies for Santa (what a cutie) - Cayde taking you back to the Cosmodrome, you two admiring the snow ❄️ - “Let’s go for a walk. I’m making sure you’re not freezing.” ;)) - he’s giving you his cloak and hugs you when you’re freezing (◕ ˬ ◕) - “You can suck my bells.” ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)  - “Cayde NO” ( ͡°⁄ ⁄ ͜⁄ ⁄ʖ⁄ ⁄ ͡°) - sex in the snow  *✧･ﾟ♡*( ͡˘̴ ͜ ʖ̫ ͡˘̴ )*♡･ﾟ✧*: - visiting Shiro-4 at the Iron Tempel - Cayde’s giving Shiro his burnt Dawning cookies made with love <3 awwwww - hot ramen shop dates to warm up 🍜 - buying each other Christmas gifts 🎁 - “Did you seriously get me a chicken for Christmas, Cayde?” 🐓 - going ice skating for the first time and Cayde clinging to you like his life depends on it ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ - “If I fall, we fall together. it looks less stupid, okay?” ._.” - Cayde getting drunk on eggnog and gluhwein - “How many glasses did you drink?” - “J-jusssst a f-f-eeew… Hey babe. L-listen. S-santa Claus is just a fat guy breaking in houses and leaving p-presents lol” - drunk Cayde singing Christmas carols and Last Christmas - dressing up in a sexy Santa costume for him - “Have you been a good boy this year?” - “Hell no. I’m #1 on the naughty list.”;) - a really cliché but wonderful winter wonderland Christmas proposal ♥

Optimus: Well, that’s. Just. Prime!

I’m going to make this post as an intro to Sonic characters for people who don’t know them. For fun.

And also because the new Sonic Movie series I just feel like there are a lot of potentially newer Sonic fans or people who blur the two and they’re really not the same character.

I mean, Movie!Sonic gets the goodwill and acceptance of fans, even though he’s not the game Sonic, because of how genuine and earnest the effort is. And it is genuine and earnest, but it’s also hit or miss. Plus like 1% of my friends know anything about Sonic, so I’m going to make this little post both to remind new Sonic fans of who the characters actually are, from the games, and also to introduce them to my friends. Because they’re all basically confused that I like Sonic.

Starting with the main four you see everywhere:

Sonic the Hedgehog

(I’m not going to go into like, Classic Sonic vs Modern Sonic or the different genres of games and gameplay or whatever. I’m just going to talk about the general characterizations of the character. If you want history, here, in a nutshell: SEGA made an old-timey pixel game to give them a mascot that could rival Super Mario Bros. and they did it in a smash-success with a much more brightly-colored and, at the time, much more sophisticated and cool character than Mario. And then in the 90s he got upgraded to the sleeker, less-cartoony anime character you see everywhere, but people got sad and missed his retro look, so now sometimes his Retro Self makes an appearance as it’s own character.) Sonic’s two superpowers in his natural state are that he can go fast and roll into an energized ball. But he never had lightning in his quills—he just has quills, and it’s implied that they’re sharp, so he can roll up really fast and make himself a spiky wrecking ball.

There are no canon explanations for why he can do the super-speed thing. It’s just his thing. It’s also not treated, in any game, like an amazing Chosen One ability; generally, the Bad Guys tend to go “you think your speed will save you?!” Or something like that. Nobody reacts like he’s got superpowers. Everyone reacts like this is a normal thing for a blue hedgehog to be able to do. Also, nobody is like “after” his “power.” People in general mostly treat Sonic like he’s a really athletic guy who happens to be cool, and the thing they’re most in awe of is generally his personality. Since this post is about characterizations, let’s talk about that personality.

The whole point of the Sonic Story, always, is “Keep Moving Forward.”

Sonic himself is the main propellor of that theme. He’s a teenager (loosely) and he’s heroic, and he’s cocky and committed to doing things “his own way.” He has theme songs about it. But all of those aspects of who he is are just the shiny package around the Main Point of him, as a character: “Keep Moving Forward.”

Sonic never gets angsty. Sonic will not get bogged down in grief. Sonic refuses to dwell on failure. (He also refuses to accept failure but that’s kind of adjacent.)

Even the game mechanics of him, as a character, are all centered around that theme. Sonic games aren’t about speed, as in, how fast you can go. They’re about momentum. When something stops you, you get up and try to build up speed and work through the level again. Literally. The character falls into spikes, loses all the rings (points, second chances) he was carrying? He gets up and dashes forward again. But here are some story examples:

In the most-beloved Sonic game of all time Sonic gets tricked into locking himself in an escape tube and getting launched into space in front of his grieving friends. He doesn’t panic or freak out. He puts on a cocky grin and says, “it’s up to you now!” And gets blasted away. But even then he doesn’t give up, he tries something that should-be-impossible just to see if he can, in his final moments. And it works.

Even in the worst game of all time Sonic makes a really close friend (yeah that’s what we’ll call it) and risks everything including his own life to save her over and over, and in the end they find out that to save the world they have to rewrite time and erase their moment of meeting. And Sonic goes, “Just smile, and do it,” basically.

In the anime a beloved little girl who had a love interest in the main cast and who’s story was the central plot of the second season sacrifices her life and has to leave Sonic and all his friends behind to do so. And while they all grieve and are devastated (and so’s the audience,) Sonic comforts them, but serenely goes, “It was really great having you around, Cosmo!” And blasts off to his next adventure.

In the same anime the audience-surrogate character, Chris, a little human boy who loves and befriends Sonic, has to leave him to go to his own dimension not once but twice, and the final time he’s blasting off in a trans-dimensional rocket and he it’s on a schedule so nobody even knows he’s leaving, let alone tell him goodbye, he’s crying, the other characters are reacting sadly in future-flash-forwards, but then Sonic just appears, speeding along to keep up with the rocket’s trajectory, and cheerfully goes, “I’ll be seeing ya, Chris!”

Not once but twice special friends of his that he’s dedicated to helping die in the video games, both times because he didn’t react quickly enough—which is his whole thing, speed—but after a moment of grief he gets up and figures out a new path to keep carrying on with the adventure.

He gets sickened at least four times I can think of off the top of my head—usually with a magical or digital or technological curse or malady of some kind. Every single time, the affliction usually has something to do with Sonic having the choice to either feel sorry for himself/focus on himself, or fix his eyes on the goal and keep moving forward. For example, he gets hit with the Cyberspace corruption because he keeps accessing a forbidden dimension to free his friends, even though he knows it’s killing him to do so. Or with the zombot plague, it literally can only be kept in remission if he keeps moving forward physically and refuses to slow down. 

All of this is not to say that Sonic doesn’t ever experience grief or rage. That happens all the time. But it’s usually just a brief reactionary moment, and it propels him to win a fight or keep going—and he never takes it too far and gets murderous or vengeful. (Once he almost did in the anime but he stopped, and that’s where the whole “Dark Sonic” you may see floating around comes from.)

But the point is, he’s a positive character, a very secure, very confident character. He knows exactly who he is. He knows exactly what he wants to do. He likes doing it with friends, but he literally will save the world by himself every time, for the rest of time, if for some reasons his friends won’t go with him. Often a staple of the character is that he will run off when everyone else is having a victory party, or he’ll disappear before the people he’s saved can thank him: because he’s just as happy chasing adventure on his own as he is with any friends. 

So Movie Sonic gets that wrong. 

Super Sonic, also, they get wrong. The whole point of Sonic being able to turn into Super Sonic is this Chaos Emerald thing—here, really quickly: the Chaos Emeralds are very powerful mystery items that, when they’re all together, have the power to create change, or “grant wishes,” based on what the heart of the user is feeling. If that sounds vague, it’s vague on purpose so they can do just about anything when the storytellers need them to. But suffice to say: they’re almost always used like batteries, sometimes batteries to empower “Transformations,” and if someone transforms with them into something evil, they turn grey and appear to lose their power. 

BUT SUPER SONIC can fix them. It’s just Sonic, nigh-invulnerable, glowing gold and able to fly—specifically because he’s such a positive guy. It’s literally his positivity that turns him into Super-Sonic. 

And in the movies, he turns into Super Sonic to grimly end a big fight, or to get revenge on Movie Shadow. When in actuality, he should be grinning and flashing around happily. “Super Sonic” is short for “Super Positive Sonic.”

So that’s Sonic. The main point of the character is that everybody else in the story is weighed down by:

failures

insecurities

the past

legacy, 

their heritage, 

and one or two of them are even slowed down by fears for the *future* as a change of pace. 

But Sonic is consistently associated with the confidence and cockiness that comes with “living in the moment” and “keep moving forward.”  

So the next three or four characters are very influenced by Sonic, for that reason. 

Miles “Tails” Prower

Tails is Sonic’s best friend and is treated like his little brother. He’s a technology whiz, and he has a huge brain. They’ve really been capitalizing on that in the most recent portrayals of Tails, especially in the movies: he’s the “gadget guy” and he speaks in technobabble. 

But the part of Tails that was really awesome, the part that actually had an arc, didn’t have much to do with his big brain, in the beginning. It had more to do with a) his young age and b) his mutated tails. 

Because focusing on those two things made him a great example of one of those Character-Focuses that Sonic does not get weighed down by: Failure. Or, more precisely I guess, Insecurity.

Because of his two tails and his young age, Tails meets Sonic and he thinks Sonic is the most amazing person in the world. He’s cool and confident and really capable. Sonic lets Tails follow him around, and from Sonic, Tails learns how to use his mutated tails and believe in himself. Because every time he falls or fails, Sonic sets the example of, “get back up and keep moving forward.”

Not that the technology-thing isn’t a big part of Tails, too. His name is a pun on “Miles Per Hour.” Which is a way to calculate speed. So as a character, Tails is always running calculations: he’s always trying to see if he measures up (to Sonic), see how to solve things, comparing himself to Sonic. So over and over the games sort of have him “come of age.” He’s usually separated from Sonic in some way, or Sonic appears to “die,” and Tails is left to save the day. Usually he does. 

But the main point is that, even in the games themselves, Tails is an example of how “Keep Moving Forward” is too hard for anybody to do if they don’t have friends. Actually, all three of Sonic’s main-friends are examples of that lesson. Tails, for example, can pick Sonic up after he falls into pits or low areas in the game levels, and carry him out so he can keep running. It’s like a metaphor. 

Generally, the appealing thing about Tails is that he’s always there for Sonic and he has total faith in Sonic—and Sonic returns that favor by having total faith in Tails.

Knuckles the Echidna

Knuckles is Sonic’s first “rival,” which turns out to be a recurring character-type in the franchise. But because he was the first, now he’s just one of Sonic’s best friends. (He also introduced “lore” to the Sonic games. Before Knuckles, they were sort of cartoons.)

Knuckles is can hit really hard, climb walls, dig, and glide (by catching air in his dreadlocks. So. If that doesn’t scream “Rad Red.”) 

Knuckles is a dupe in the movies, and he’s a dupe in the games. But that’s only one facet of his character. Remember how I said Tails is the Character-Focus of “Insecurity?” Knuckles has a Character Focus of “Heritage.” You can see that in the movies, too. They did an okay job with Knuckles. 

Basically, Knuckles is the last of an extinct race, and his job is to guard a really big magical Emerald called the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald can trump the Chaos Emeralds, and it sits in a big shrine on an island, and causes that island to float (it’s called “Angel Island.”)

Because every other echidna is wiped out, Knuckles doesn’t have anybody to ask for advice on the best way to do his job, or protect his home (he’s basically a crabby hermit.)

So he just does it his way.

But that’s the thing about Knuckles, and about Sonic rivals. They usually take one character trait of Sonic and then SPIN IT OUT OF CONTROL.

So, Sonic likes to do things “his own way,” right? Knuckles likes to do things his own way too—but like, on steroids. He won’t budge if he thinks the Master Emerald is in danger, and he prioritizes it over everything, everything else. If the world is in danger but the Master Emerald is ALSO in danger, Knuckles usually says “let the world burn, I have to save this Emerald.” Or his island. Whichever comes first. 

Sonic’s more “adaptable” than Knuckles, is what I’m saying.

While Sonic would never be saddled with a type of “guardianship” that forces him to stay in one place and never grow, Knuckles refuses to abandon his post, ultimately. You do see him grow a little bit: he does go on adventures with Sonic and Tails, so he’s not always chained to the Master Emerald and his island like a Guard Dog. But he still takes that same singleminded approach to every problem: for example, in the anime, when they think their little girl pal Cosmo might be a spy, Knuckles is like “okay then let’s take her out…”

… because he starts to see whatever his mission is as the new metaphorical “Master Emerald Which Must Be Protected At All Costs.”

Whereas Sonic would never do something like that. Sonic always believes in doing things his own way: but his “own way” would never hurt somebody who’s only-bad-by-accident. He’d find a way to stop the bad guys and save the naive person they’re using. Knuckles would just punch everything—innocent, misunderstood, doesn’t matter.

But I will say, the thing Sonic teaches Knuckles (because remember, it’s always Sonic teaching other characters) is that he can adapt. He can change his mind. The first thing Knuckles changes his mind about is Sonic himself. 

When they meet, Knuckles has been tricked by Eggman (main bad guy) into thinking Sonic is after his Master Emerald. Sonic turns out to be the hero, and Knuckles gets a little more open-minded from that point on. Now they’re friends.

One of the other prime examples of Knuckles learning to be more open-minded is his repeat-rival/lover: Rouge the Bat.

(Rouge is a super-spy-jewel-thief-treasure-hunter. She comes to steal the Master Emerald, and Knuckles throws hands, in his usual straightforward way, and doesn’t like Rouge. Except he does. And after saving her life, she gives him back what she’d stolen—and he apologizes to her for being too rough and from then on they have like a flirtatious maybe-friendship maybe-rivalry. So there’s another example of him changing his mind, opening it up, a little.)

Amy Rose

This is the Girl Character. She just showed up at the end of Sonic Movie 2. She has undergone the most change out of the Main Four over the years, because…well, because this is the West, and because ideas about what an acceptable Girl Character can be have changed.

For better or worse, Amy Rose is Sonic’s Love Interest. She’s introduced as a fangirl of Sonic’s who is rescued by him—because he’ll rescue anyone, not necessarily because he has any special interest in her—and then she follows him around.

Amy’s “powers” are that she can run fast (to keep up with Sonic) but she’s got a really big hammer. That’s it. (We don’t know where it came from or how she always has it with her or what it’s made of, it’s just a big hammer.)

Her deep backstory (which faded away in the early 2000s but is making a reappearance because it’s “trendy” to be a witch nowadays,) is that she had special tarot cards that told her Sonic was going to have a big impact on her life, or was her destiny, or something like that.

Bottom line: she steadfastly believes that Sonic is her One True Love. 

Sonic, initially, was portrayed as running away from her affection because he’s either not interested or he just doesn’t want to be tied down, and she’s clingy and possessive.

And initially, Amy was portrayed as chasing after him endlessly, no matter what. That was her character. But slowly, they’ve added in stuff and reshaped her so that she has her own fighting ability (big hammer) and is more about “loving all creatures in general” than “obsessively loving Sonic.”

The thing that I would say stays thematically similar about Amy, even from her damsel-in-distress-clingy days, is that she never gives up.

So her Character-Focus is “Insecurity” like Tails…but more intensely. More like “Self Focus.”

Amy’s whole sense of who she is comes from Sonic, and how close she is to him. But he literally won’t stay close to her, so she complains and gets mad and keeps trying. But her first big moment of “character development” comes from watching Sonic, who never focuses on himself—he always looks at what needs to be done for the day to be saved, and wastes no time feeling sorry for himself or wondering if he can do it. 

Amy starts realizing that she should stop focusing so much on herself and how people treat her, and focus on “helping others.” That happened late in the story, around the time Shadow the Hedgehog was introduced. But since then she’s slowly but surely become more (bland) about “helping others” than “helping herself,” so that’s been pretty consistent.

And of course, the Villain. 

Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik

Eggman is the villain, he’s only recently become more than one-dimensional, and he was intensely unlikeable (except ironically) until recently. But his whole thing is that, as a character, he’s Sonic—if Sonic were an opposite-day parody of himself. 

Instead of a cute/cool animal Eggman is a gross bloated human.

Instead of a fun-loving free spirit Eggman is a calculating mastermind usually encased in a fortress or battle-mech.

Instead of saving creatures Eggman imprisons them to power his robots. 

Instead of enjoying nature, by the way, Eggman wants to pave over everything and populate the world with robots.

Instead of living and letting-live Eggman wants everyone to obey his every command.

Instead of having friends he cares about and would do anything to save Eggman has manipulated and double crossed every non-machine relationship he ever has.

But paradoxically, some things about him and Sonic are similar. 

Sonic does things his own way and won’t let any circumstance or person change that—so does Eggman. (They have a theme song about this.)

Sonic stubbornly refuses to give up—so does Eggman.

Sonic chases every impulse—so does Eggman.

Sonic is cocky and won’t be intimidated by eldritch powers or unstoppable forces way over his head—same for Eggman.

Sonic is competitive and will sometimes do things just for the thrill or just to prove he can—so will Eggman.

Sonic picks himself up after failure and tries again, and can’t be kept down—so does Eggman.

Recently they’ve tried to make it Eggman’s “thing” that he’s kind of a lonely soul. That nobody has ever appreciated his genius, so he’s content to remake the world to be full of robots—but whenever he has the opportunity to feel kinship with mankind, he actually begrudgingly finds a way to welcome it. 

The movie did just recently start nodding at that character-theme. But this first happened in the early 2000s, when he started the adventure off chasing his grandfather’s legacy, and ended it by helping Sonic and the gang save the human race. He’s also helped end alien invasions, and in the anime, actively fights aliens, too. It’s culminated nowadays in Eggman creating a little Artificial Intelligence girl named SAGE who he winds up feeling affection for and wishing she could remain his “family,” (which isn’t really character growth, because he always wanted to invent a world of his own where non-organic life forms adored him, so.)

Now he’s getting likeable. His sheer tenaciousness and the fact that when the chips are down and non-mortal, evil entities threaten the world, he jumps in and draws the line out of stubborn “if I can’t have the world nobody else can” is weirdly likeable. 

Let’s talk about just one of the other characters you’ll hear about, so they’re definitely going to be in the movies at some point:

Shadow the Hedgehog

Shadow I’ve already made more than one post about. He’s bizarre, on the surface. If I try to explain to you that Shadow is not a cartoon hedgehog like Sonic—he’s a Frankenstein’s monster made of alien DNA invented to cure all disease and grant the human race immortality while inexplicably being shaped like a hedgehog and wearing rocket-skates and shooting lightning out of his hands and teleporting—

then you’re going to go “that’s so weird.”

And it is.

But they managed to make it feel totally acceptable and correct in every iteration.

In the movie, he’s not a science project brought to life by a mad scientist made from the DNA of an alien and a hedgehog. He’s just an alien, himself. So that’s…that’s somehow more believable.

In the games, however, Shadow the Hedgehog is Sonic’s thematic shadow. He was thought up as this dark, twisted version of Sonic himself.

The best way I can describe it, and the most succinct way, is:

Shadow the Hedgehog is Sonic the Hedgehog, if Sonic had, at a young age, saved a bunch of birds from Eggman’s robots only to have those birds turn around and peck Tails, his best friend, to death right in front of him, burn his home to the ground, and somehow lock Sonic away to stew on that traumatic event for 50 years afterward. He’s like an alternate-universe Sonic, where instead of positive and carefree, Sonic is negative and full of nothing but cares.

Shadow was created by Eggman’s grandfather. In the movie, Eggman’s grandfather is a psychotic old villain bent on revenge. But in the games he was a kindly old genius who just wanted to use his intellect to benefit the world, starting with his sick granddaughter, Maria. He made a ton of stuff, it all pops up in the games all the time, but the main two things he made were a) Shadow himself and b) a big space station that doubles as a giant laser cannon.

It’s a laser cannon because he was hired by the military to make weapons. He kept cheating them out of weapons and inventing like, healing pouches and living water-robots and stuff, instead, though. Shadow was supposed to be a weapon—a living weapon—but Eggman’s grandfather doubled his purpose and used him as a part of his research into curing his sick granddaughter Maria. 

Shadow came to life on the space station and spent an undetermined amount of time bonding with Maria, his only friend, and testing out his superpowers, and dreaming about the day they’d go to earth, the planet he was made to protect. Shadow’s superpowers are: teleportation, time-warping, and controlling Chaos Energy (he can shoot lightning out of his hands and turn into a living energy-bomb.) But then the military got scared of what he could do, even before he’d really done anything, and raided the space station. In all the confusion, they captured Eggman’s grandfather and chased Maria and Shadow into the escape-pod room. She knew they were after Shadow, so she made him promise to live his life protecting the people of Earth and giving them a chance to be happy (which is a very Sonic the Hedgehog wish to make) and then jettisoned him out of the space station. But not before one of the military soldiers got trigger-happy and shot her to death in front of Shadow’s eyes.

So. You know. The humans he was brought into existence to protect murdered the little girl best friend he was brought into existence to cure. And then her sacrifice almost didn’t matter because they captured him anyway and locked him away and he woke up looking for revenge. 

But then Sonic (and AMY people forget AMY) showed up and stopped Shadow, and reminded him of Maria’s real wishes, and his real purpose. So from that moment on, Shadow becomes this self-sacrificial character.

But remember, all Sonic Rivals (and Shadow is the Ultimate Rival of Sonic) take one character trait of Sonic’s and they blow it way out of proportion. So which one is Shadow’s? 

Shadow has a lot of the same character traits as Sonic. He is cocky, but with him it usually comes off as “I’m objectively the most powerful thing ever created.” He is competitive, but with him, again, it’s usually just to prove the previous statement. He is caring about his friends, but not demonstrably caring; it’s all hidden. He is a teenager, but because of everything about his existence, you can’t tell.

So what does that leave us with?

Shadow is basically Sonic’s “Never Give Up” mentality, on steroids. But like Knuckles with the “I Do Things My Own Way” extremity, Shadow usually takes his borrowed-Sonic-trait way too far. Sonic will never give up on reaching the goal, but he will change the goal if it means some good will come out of it. For example, in one of the video games based on King Arthur’s Knights (stop laughing, it’s the best one) Sonic has to reach a certain milestone within a time limit to be knighted and save the world. He doesn’t let villains, traps, or rivals get in his way—but as soon as a little girl is crying on the side of the road he willingly drops all chances of getting to the milestone in time and becoming a knight…and potentially even saving the world. Just because he’s not going to leave a little girl crying on the side of the road.

In another example, Sonic always jumps into smashing Eggman’s robots with both feet. But when Amy tells him one of Eggman’s strongest series of killer robots is actually “nice,” he shrugs and goes “whatever you say” and moves on immediately.

So Sonic will never give up on his goal—unless he finds out there might be a chance for somebody to do the right thing. Even if he doesn’t believe in that person, and he’d rather fight them and get it over with, if one of Sonic’s friends protests, Sonic is easygoing, shrugs his shoulders, and believes in his friend’s judgement. Because for Sonic, it’s not a personal vendetta. He’s too cool to make everything about himself.

But Shadow? It takes a lot to convince Shadow that when someone does something wrong, they shouldn’t immediately be neutralized. Even though he, himself, was wrong and had to learn to do the right thing once. His “Never Give Up” mentality is very “Mission: Complete.” Mostly because he was invented to save everyone, but the people he had a personal interest in saving all got tragically murdered a long time ago. So now he does everything out of a sense of grim duty, and gets very little pleasure out of it.

That’s kind of the beauty and tragedy of his character, and it’s why it’s so fun to watch him interact with Sonic. Because any time he has to team up with or duke it out with Sonic…you see that deep down, Shadow enjoys the competition. And it’s fun to see him just enjoy something. That’s what Sonic brings out in him.

The main thing Sonic brings to the table with a character like Shadow is that Shadow is entrenched in the Past. And Sonic is all about Keep Moving Forward. So Shadow takes that lesson more like “marching orders” than Sonic’s “race” mentality. But it’s still a cool dynamic.

Anyway. There are many more characters that are awesome. I particularly like the “Redeemed Robot” characters, and there’s this interdimensional Princess who’s awesome, too, and many people are going to be mad that I didn’t include Metal Sonic on this post.

But this is just the rough overview. If you’re not into Sonic, that’s fine. But just to set the record straight on one of my favorite franchises ever: it has a profound point, the main character is as likeable as say, iconic characters like Percy Jackson and Luke Skywalker, and the movies are nice because they’re a genuine labor of love, but not because they get Sonic exactly right.

That’s all.

Imagine Hazard being slightly jealous that Reader, who he's been flirting with for a while. Was ogling someone who was flexing and decided to flex real quick to get their attention back.

(I need to see this man flex look at hiimmm)

Show Off

A/N: Thank you anon for making me go insane in the middle of this and still manage to write him a bit flustered because I couldn’t help myself, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did :’]

Summary: a battle of peacocks what more is there to say?

The tavern buzzed with its usual noise: off-key singing from the corner, the clinking of mugs, and hearty laughter. You were perched at the bar beside Hazard, who had been in his usual form—leaning lazily on the counter, tossing out his sharp wit and charm as if it were currency.

It was easy to fall into his rhythm, though tonight your attention had slipped. Across the room, someone had started flexing, their biceps bulging as they posed for a small, admiring crowd. It wasn’t often you saw such blatant peacocking, and the display had caught your eye for a moment too long.

Hazard noticed. Of course, he did.

His golden eyes narrowed as he leaned forward, his voice dropping to a thick mutter. “Ach, really now? That’s what’s got yer attention? Some overgrown lump flexin’ like he’s auditionin’ for a bloody statue garden?”

You blinked and turned to him, caught off guard by the irritation in his tone. “What?”

He gave you a look, tilting his head toward the flexing stranger. “Cannae believe it. I’ve been sittin’ here spinnin’ gold fer ye, an’ yer too busy starin’ at that. Ye’d think I was invisible.”

A laugh bubbled out of you before you could stop it. “Wait—are you jealous?”

The word hit him like a thunderbolt. His smug grin faltered, his cheeks flushing a faint but unmistakable red. He straightened up immediately, crossing his arms over his chest. “Jealous? Me? Dinnae be ridiculous sweetheart.”

“Oh, you’re jealous” you teased, leaning closer to him with a sly grin. “You saw me looking at someone else, and now you’re sulking.”

“I am no’sulking!” he shot back, though the red creeping up to the tips of his ears betrayed him. He turned his head away, muttering something about “daft ideas” under his breath.

“Hazard” you said sweetly, drawing his attention back. “If you want my attention, all you have to do is ask.”

He stared at you, his mouth opening as if to fire back a retort—but no words came. Instead, he blinked, his flustered expression only deepening. “I don’t—ye cannae just—” He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his dark hair. “Yer impossible, ye ken that?”

“And yet here you are, proving my point more” you teased, leaning back with a satisfied smirk.

Hazard scowled, though there was no real heat behind it. “Fine, then” he said, his voice tinged with stubborn pride. “If ye think yon flexin’ fool’s impressive, I’ll remind ye why ye should keep yer eyes right where they belong.”

“Oh, this should be good” you replied, unable to suppress your grin.

He stood up, rolling his shoulders with exaggerated nonchalance as he shed his jacket, letting it fall onto the back of the chair. His shirt clung just right, emphasizing the lean strength of his frame as he stretched. When he reached up to run a hand through his hair, his muscles flexed just a little more than necessary.

“Ach, been a while since I’ve had tae bother showin’ off” he drawled, shooting you a sidelong glance. “Still reckon I’ve got more tae offer than yon poser.”

“Hazard” you said, barely holding back laughter. “Are you seriously flexing to prove a point?”

He froze for a fraction of a second, then turned to you with his trademark grin, though the flush on his face hadn’t faded. “What? Dinnae act like ye’re no’ impressed, lass. I’ve seen the way yer eyes wander when I stretch.”

You arched an eyebrow, lips twitching. “So you have been paying attention, huh? Almost like you were… jealous?”

His bravado cracked for just a moment, his golden eyes flicking away as he mumbled, “I wasnae jealous. Just—ye know—remindin’ ye where yer loyalty should lie.”

“Hazard” you said softly, leaning in close enough that your voice dropped to a near whisper. “You’re adorable when you’re flustered.”

That did it. His entire face went red as he took a half-step back, coughing into his fist to mask his embarrassment. “Aye, well… don’t get used tae it” he muttered, glaring at the floor.

You couldn’t help but laugh, the sound finally breaking the tension. “Alright, alright” you said, resting a hand on his arm. “I’ll stop teasing… for now.”

“Good” he replied gruffly, though he refused to meet your eyes.

For a moment, the two of you sat in silence, the noise of the tavern filling the space. Then Hazard glanced at you out of the corner of his eye, his grin slowly returning. “Adorable, am I? Sweetheart, ye’ve got no idea what ye’re in for.”

“Oh?” you replied, your own smile widening. “Care to prove it?”

His golden eyes gleamed as he stood straighter, his confidence slipping back into place like a second skin. “Aye” he said, offering you his hand. “Let’s take this outside. Ye’ll nae be lookin’ at anyone else after this.”

And just like that, Hazard was back in control—at least, as much as you were willing to let him be.

Mindwipe

The mysterious and mystical Decepticon

Art by me

Transformers © Takara Tomy/Hasbro

Megatron 2.0 (Galvatron): I am you! I am what you are, what you were and what you always will be! You can never escape from Unicron! No matter how many times that you try to redeem yourself, no matter how many friends you have. You will always be…a monster! 😈

Megatron: No…NOOOO!!!! AAagh!!! *breaks his evil reflection in the mirror, causing it to shatter* I’m not…I’m not! *sob* 😞

June Darby: Megatron? Are you okay? 😟

Megatron: *gasp!* June! You scared me. 😳

June Darby: Who were you talking to? 😕

Megatron: N-Nobody! Please, mind the glass. I don’t wanna get blamed if you got yourself hurt because of the mirror I just shattered. *embarrassed* 😬

June Darby: How can I help you? You know, if you ever need some helpful advice or some help, let me know and Ratchet and I will help you. 😧

Nerd Out

Hazard x Reader

A/N: I made this as a thank you to @hackeraxe for drawing my silly lil Hazard piercing headcannons, I hope y’all enjoyed it as much as I did 👹✨

Summary: You got too excited over a project you’re working on

Your room was a controlled mess—keyboards, cables, and half-finished projects littered every available surface. Your desk was no exception, a graveyard of empty energy drink cans and open coding notebooks. You were hunched over your laptop, headphones slung around your neck, mumbling to yourself about predictive algorithms while the hum of your tower PC filled the room.

Hazard’s unmistakable Scottish brogue cut through your concentration like a knife. "Yer wee lair’s somethin’ else, ye ken?"

You jumped, spinning around in your chair to find him leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, smirking like he owned the place.

"What are you doing here?" you asked, half-exasperated and half-mortified. You swore you’d told him not to come over unannounced.

"I knocked" he said with a shrug, pushing off the doorframe and stepping inside. "Ye just didn’t hear me o’er all that techno wizardry o’ yers." He gestured to the chaos surrounding you. "So… what’s got ye so absorbed ye forgot tae eat lunch, eh?"

You bristled but couldn’t help the sheepish grin tugging at your lips. "I was busy."

"Aye, I can see that, So…" Hazard reached for the nearest circuit board, turning it over in his hands like he had the faintest idea what he was looking at. "Whit’s all this then? Some kinda computer surgery?"

"Hardly" you said, snatching the board from him before he could accidentally fry it with static. “I’m upgrading this bad boy. Needed more RAM, and the GPU was about as outdated as your jokes."

His hand flew to his chest in mock offense. "Oof, right tae the heart! My jokes are timeless, I’ll hae ye know."

"Sure, tough guy" you teased, sliding the panel off the PC case.

Hazard sat by a nearby chair beside you, his sharp amber eyes scanning the array of components like he was trying to make sense of a foreign language. "Alright then, clever clogs, tell me this: whit’s RAM, and why d’ye need more of it? Sounds like somethin’ tae dae wi’ sheep."

You groaned but couldn’t help the grin tugging at your lips. "RAM stands for Random Access Memory. It’s like your computer’s short-term memory. When you’re gaming, it temporarily stores all the data the system needs to access quickly, like loading textures or keeping the game running smoothly. More RAM means it can handle more tasks without slowing down."

Hazard tilted his head, considering. "So it’s like when I try tae remember where I put ma keys. Short-term stuff, aye?"

"Exactly!" you said, a little impressed. "And then there’s the CPU—central processing unit. That’s the brain-brain. It processes everything, from running the game to your random web searches. A faster CPU means better performance overall."

He squinted at the open case. "Alright, so RAM’s short-term memory, CPU’s the brain. Whit’s this GPU thing ye mentioned earlier?"

"The GPU—graphics processing unit—is like an artist. It handles all the visuals, rendering textures, lighting, shadows, and everything else you see on the screen. A good GPU is crucial for gaming, especially if you want high frame rates and sharp graphics."

Hazard gave a low whistle. "So the GPU makes it bonnie, the RAM keeps it runnin’, and the CPU keeps it all from fallin’ apart. Bloody hell, I didnae ken gaming was this complicated."

You laughed, setting the upgraded GPU into place. "It’s not that complicated once you get the hang of it. And when you know what each part does, you can pick the right specs for what you need. Like, if you want to play on ultra settings at 120 frames per second, you’ll need a strong GPU and a good CPU."

"Ye’ve got a sparkle in yer eye when ye talk aboot this stuff, ye know that?" Hazard’s voice had softened, and when you glanced at him, he was leaning on your desk, watching you with an expression you couldn’t quite read.

"I—what?" you stammered, suddenly hyper-aware of how animated you’d gotten.

He tilted his head, a lopsided grin tugging at his lips. "I mean it. Ye light up like a Christmas tree. It’s... adorable."

Your face went hot, and you immediately turned back to your pc, pretending to be busy. "It’s not adorable. It’s just... something I’m passionate about."

"Aye, and it’s grand tae see." He crouched beside your chair, resting his chin on one hand as he peered at your work. "But ye’re bloody brilliant, ye know that?" he said, his brogue thick and warm.

You opened your mouth to protest, but he cut you off with a crooked grin. "Nae use denyin’ it. I’ve never seen someone so chuffed aboot pcs before, an’ it’s kinda... charmmin’, if I’m honest."

"I, uh..." You felt your face heat up as you fiddled with a stray wire. "I guess I am."

"Dinnae stop now" he said, his voice teasing but gentle. "I’m learnin’ loads here. Plus, I like seein’ ye all excited. It’s... kinda adorable, tae be honest."

Your face went nuclear. "Hazard!" You groaned, hiding your face in your hands.

You peeked at him through your fingers, his teasing grin making it impossible not to smile back.

"Fine" you muttered, turning back to your work. "But if you’re going to stay, you’re not allowed to touch anything."

Hazard laughed, settling himself on the floor next to you. "Deal. Now, keep goin’. Tell me more about this sheep thingy."

Still hiding your face in your hands, you couldn’t stop the smile creeping onto your lips. With a deep breath, you picked up where you left off, explaining the intricacies of the motherboard while Hazard listened intently, his eyes never leaving you.

And maybe—just maybe—you let yourself believe that he wasn’t just fascinated by the gaming specs. Maybe he was fascinated by you.

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𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖏𝖎 𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖒𝖆𝖉𝖆 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖈𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖓𝖘

pairing - genji shimada x gn!reader

synopsis - general relationship headcanons

warning - none

✎ He often has his human arm around you. Since he only takes off his mask very little, he can't kiss you, instead he holds you close to him.

✎ If you are part of Overwatch or Blackwatch, he trains you to be sure of your skills and that you do not get hurt.

✎ When he was still fully human, he loved that you trace the scars on his body. He fell more and more in love with you each time. Now you can only trace the ones on his arm but he's still happy when you do.

✎ Like I said above, he doesn't often take off his mask, but when he does it's only when he's with you and he always gently kisses your lips.

✎ Zenyatta loves you very much and he is happy that you make his student happy.

✎ Cuddling with him isn't the most comfortable thing but you always find a way to make yourself comfortable and above all the most important thing is that you spend time together.

✎ Kiss his whole face telling him he's handsome when he takes off his mask and he'll be the happiest man in the world. He may even drop a tear or two.

✎ You hardly ever argue, the only times is when you put yourself in danger and as he was afraid for you he got angry.

✎ You were in a relationship with him when he was human except that after his fight with Hanzo you also thought he was dead so you cried a lot after that. When he returned to his cyborg form with only one arm and his head remaining human you were quite happy and shocked.