This Is Fucking Dark - Tumblr Posts
Prime's just a happy and awesome show until you realize what Sonic's goal entails and what the cost truly IS. What the real stakes and conflicts are in the show. Then you can't see the show as the same anymore when you know that it's really just a horribly bittersweet and very dark story waiting to be finished. Other Sonic shows and media had some sad moments, but they ultimately came with a hopeful tone and happy ending afterward. Hell, even SATam wasn't this depressing, sure it took place in a dystopian wasteland, but there was hope and they fought for freedom. Plus there were plenty of lighthearted and comedic moments, not to mention conflicts often ended with happy endings.
And the Sonic in SATam fought for the right thing no matter what, going by his own rules and doing things he WOULD naturally do BY HIS OWN CHOICE.
Sonic in Prime has to do things he would NEVER do otherwise, but he DOESN'T HAVE A CHOICE. He HAS to hurt his friends, and he HAS to leave others behind, he HAS to go against his own morals and erase, effectively killing, the variants of his friends and the entire Shattered Space to restore the world (if the theory that the variants are just pieces of the main cast is correct), HE is the one that HAS to, and the only one who CAN, squash their hope and everything they did (which is even worse because HE WAS THE ONE TO GIVE THEM HOPE IN THE FIRST PLACE), and worst of all; he HAS to reject NINE: a variant of his dear little brother, who wants nothing more than to be with him in a world where it's just the two of them together. Where Nine offers him a new HOME where BOTH of them can be happy forever.
And don't even get me started on Nine, good lord.
Every Sonic media gave Sonic a choice, and had him fight for the right thing, but is the theory that everything will be erased and the variants will "die" to become mere traits once more in order to restore the world and bring his friends back a thing he's willing to accept? Other Sonic media, EVEN Frontiers, gave Sonic a choice and showed that Sonic would always do the right thing, doing what he would do.
Not to mention what Sonic is going through here. He encounters versions of his friends that attack him, are indifferent to him, and don't recognize him. Friends he once hung out with and followed him everywhere. Friends he basically broke and lost along with the world he protected because of his own actions. And the end of the FIRST BATCH really sells in the emotional hell and suffering Sonic is going through beneath his bubbly and optimistic demeanor when his voice cracks while he states how he just wants to go home. We don't even get to see his face when he says this, which makes it WORSE.
Most Sonic media, while sad, has a hopeful tone and gives their characters a choice. But Prime is just…emotionally traumatizing and extremely dark through and through when you really look at it past the light-hearted moments, the slight comedy, the wacky gimmicks, and the bright, bouncy characters. Makes you realize that this isn't going to be for the light-hearted and emotionally sensitive as it continues.
The worst part? This is from the FIRST EIGHT EPISODES.