Sega has truly destroyed most of there major side characters, just to make Sonic look better.

I think the evolution of Shadow is a great example of the degradation of media literacy. Shadow was a complex character who was confident, knew himself, was aware of his limits and knew how to rely on his friends (especially in the Archie comics). However, that confidence in himself was quickly interpreted as "egotistical." His dark motif also quickly gave way to people just assuming he was edgy. Yes, he has a dark backstory and he uses guns, but that doesn't mean his entire being is that of an edgelord. Good video!

I miss when Shadow was actually a good, well written character and not just an annoying, generic marketing tool to sell toys.

You lost me at the beginning. Shadow fooled Eggman into thinking he only wanted world domination, when in reality Shadow wanted to destroy the world out of vengeance.

I love shadow ever since I was little (yes I played that shadow the hedgehog game) and I never understood personality. Years later I learned about his character and realise that now he’s not an anti villain, he’s someone who cares about people, I love his design-especially his eye shadow! (he might be responsible for me becoming a goth over the years) his personality, etc! I just love him! It’s just sad that they’re making him less of what is was over the years, hope that they’ll get his character right in up coming movie.

SA2 and 06 Shadow are my Shadow. Anyone who came after is NOT my Shadow.

I always thought he was similar to Cloud in that aspect, he wants to be more expressive once he could trust people again

To be fair, as much Sonic Forces sucks, Shadow isn't actually bad there. He has this serious no bulshit attitude, goes right to the business and hardly tries to throw insults around. He joins Sonic and Co without hesitation and stupid "as if i need your help" attitude And about jackal squad... He didn't attack them without a reason - they the researcher attacked first, so it was his obligation as Gun agent to stop them And one of his motivators in Shadow DLC is to find Omega, his friend, cuz said friend was in danger Still, far from perfect, but im desperate

I think shadow is a misunderstood character I hope that the Shadow's campaign story features a character arc where the reason why he has been acting edgy, jerk and a loner is because he is afraid to form emotional attachments because the last time he did that his best friend was killed and not to mention he is immortal and he doesn't want to feel the pain of losing someone close to him through the harsh realities life or the passage of time so he distances himself from everyone even though he can work together with everyone but he doesn't want to form any attachment to anyone just get the job done and dip so black doom discovers this and uses it to torture shadow by making him relive his pain and trauma again but while along the way he discovers that even though yes he is immortal and cant age and everything has its end but its important to have emotional attachments because the memories are what make it worth it but hey thats just my theory.

I think the real problem with the degradation of the Sonic characters is related to the adversion for any cohesive continuity. Shadow was the best character from SA2 to 06 because the writer (Shiro Maekawa I think) was really invested in him. When they soft-rebooted the series in 2010, Shadow basically disapeared and all the other characters just felt really off because the new staff was trying to appeal to those who hated the previous Sonic content. The reason why Sonic does look like it's getting back to normal since Frontiers is primary because of the movies. The cinematic universe is getting more and more confident with the Sonic content and they recognize what character's traits are cool and likable. We got a surprisingly enjoyable Stoic and noble Knuckles in this universe and if the trend goes on we can expect a Shadow that actually goes back to his SA2-06 roots.

I do agree that he is a dork (I find the meta-irony of his confidence in declaring that he's the coolest to be hilarious), he is far from naive. He tricked Eggman in SA2 to destroy the entire world.

I vibe with this so much. From SA2 to 06 literally shows Shadow growing into his own in the most cohesive character storyline SEGA has ever concocted. Sure- Heroes, Shadow05, and Battle get mixed up with his amnesia and how he deals with the aftermath of coming to some sort of conclusion of how he wants to proceed with his life but it all felt like a natural growth and progression of the character.

They probably won't really fix Shadow unless there is an overwhelming amount of backlash. 😅

Omg Shadow the Hedgehog being a dork is such an astute framing that gives him so much more depth.

Your icon being a dog is by far the best I’ve ever seen. Somehow the voice fits the dogs face???

Finally someone could see it, shadow was ok in sa2 and 06 (not his own game though) but after that he just because overused and overrated like he has no reason to be in boom and even in games that he is not in he goes to the Twitter takeovers( and what did you expect of the shadow skin in superstars). And forces portrayed him horribly(although I think eggmans killed his team in IDW) and in the metal virus IDW arc he was just kid who said he wouldn't get hurt because "he's invincible"(although he was made to cure diseases and from what I heard he is immune to them but maybe the metal virus is more of a parasite than a virus). Even during the times it makes sense to be there he is portrayed badly. Which is why I'm not excited for shadows campaign in the generations remake

Fun fact contrary to popular belief but a lot of these “sega mandates” people keep bringing up to explain why some characters suck now are greatly exaggerated. A lot of the writers don’t even follow them as is

5:31 I always want to mention whenever someone places Mania Plus after Forces is that, Encore mode makes more sense to take place after Mania mode. And Mania Adventures makes more sense to take place after Forces. Almost like it was intentionally done cause maybe at some point that’s how they would put Mania in both Modern and Classic timelines. Which doesn’t matter now, as the Classic timeline has remerged with the Modern timeline. A decision I don’t like as it causes even more confusion than a simple explanation of how Classic Sonic is now from another dimension could solve. It’s already bad enough putting Mania in the Modern timeline, but why doesn’t Sonic ever bring up being in Crisis City, Rooftop Run, fighting Perfect Chaos, Egg Dragoon, or even bring any advice on where Classic Sonic and Tails are. So the resistance can look for them. While also having the confusion of how Sonic doesn’t remember the Phantom Ruby in Forces. Right now we only have the ability to use headcannons to explain these questions. Which wouldn’t have existed if they just gave an explanation that after Eggman messed with the timeline, it created a new one all for Classic Sonic which became its own dimension. So not retconning the Classic Sonic games from the Modern timeline. Even though I don’t know if that ever really was the case as at least some version of those games’ events still would be canon. I think leaving Classic Sonic in another dimension would’ve worked fine if it was better handled and not completely abandoned.

"There was nothing like that before Shadow" The Chao Slaughtering from SA1 would like to have a word with you.

10:42 😂 I was not expecting that last one to be a Snapcube quote.

I haven’t watched the full video yet, but bro, he never got tricked by egg man he manipulated egg man so he could do what he promised to Maria then figured out what Maria actually promised also shadow is not naive in the slightest, which is probably because of his past trauma, causing him to have trust issues

At least we have bright spots like sonic prime's depiction of shadow

pontac & graffs writing did nigh irreparable damage to the cast lol

I agree with this analysis a lot, I totally hate what they did to Shadow's characterisation and I want the better version of him who was shown in SA2, Heroes, and 06 to be brought back to being cannon! There is hope from what's been revealed about the basic synopsis of his story in the Gens remake, and the upcoming Sonic 3 movie too from Paramount because they confirmed that they are taking a lot of inspiration from SA2 while developing that movie, that they were willing to make Knuckles be more like he originally was, and because the director (Jeff Fowler) has Shadow as his #1 favorite character from the Sonic franchise. So we have a big fan of Shadow directing those movies at Paramount. I very much hope that he doesn't stay being an unlikeable, exaggeratedly edgy, self-obsessed loner who can't be part of Team Dark anymore. That fix-up to his personality HAS TO HAPPEN SOON!

"Unlike you blue haired liberals" is totally canon HAHAHAHAHAHA

sonic 3 and shadow gens will fix him i hope

Shadow has always been my favorite Sonic's character, now that I am revisiting stuff about the franchise I get to understand from a more mature point of view his character arc, I can totally understand why he is my favorite and his line of "if the world chooses to become my enemy, I fight as I always have", is super empowering for me. I am sad of his flanderization nowadays, but I understand why it happened, and it also make me think, is there any character in children media that has lasted for more of a decade that hasn't been flanderized? Because I really want to study a case of that. But I suppose since they make him more" marketable" now I get to enjoy the bunch of shadow plushies I bought recently, I am just taking the bitter with the sweet I guess...

Shadow is my favorite character. I would describe him as cool and distant on the outside, but sweet and caring on the inside. He cares deeply about his friends, but he would never outright admit it. He is also the type of guy who sees what is needed to be done and does it. While Sonic would stop to save the villages, Shadow would head straight for the bad guy and defeat them first, before going back to help the villagers. Shadow is also not the type of guy who would ignore his friend's advice.

I feel like Sonic Generations may have been the culprit that lead to this direction. In the game its excusable, as he was designed to be a one off boss fight intended to be kind of stuck in that SA2 period. Since then, that standoffish attitude stuck as part of a brand. We'll see if they correct this mistake in Sonic Shadow Generations, and maybe they've taken notes based on fan feedback (and Flynn himself), since then. We'll have to wait and see, if SxSG doubles down on his current portrayal i guess the boy is done for for likability

Last Story of Shadow 05 gave us 06 Shadow and I dont understand back then why they had to erase that version of him which is why I have said my thoughts, we need 06 Shadow's characterization back and expanded on, he's been so awful and didn't do anything good, just make Shadow's image worse.

I'm honestly so tired of the constant Shadow hype in the Sonic fandom. Don't get me wrong, he was a great character in his early days and he deserves appreciation, but it feels too much now. They have to include Shadow in EVERYTHING because the fans think he needs to be in everything, and they praise him no matter how bad the characterization is. As long as he's not holding a gun, people will consider any form of media with Shadow to have "the best writing for Shadow has had in years!1!1" Which isn't warranted most of the time. Especially in Sonic Prime or the IDW Comics, which are my least favorite interpretations of Shadow. The best writing Shadow has had recently, at least for me, is the "Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog" fangame. It was all for laughs, but the characterization for everyone was mostly on point. I miss when Shadow was allowed to care about others and be humble.. he's basically a tsundere now, refusing to let Shadow and Sonic be allies even after gaining respect for one another!! Sorry for the long rant, the point is you're saying what I've had on my mind for years now and I'm glad someone is talking about it. Great analysis! First video of yours that I'm watching, gonna have to check out more of your stuff.

Completely refreshing to see someone who actually gets it!! I can't even say Shadow is my favorite without being called a damn SIMP these days!!

I love the picture of the video, it’s so funny.

Is your PNG Avatar your dog

If Sonic X Shadow Generations has Shadow deal with his past (again), I hope it is done well and doesn't make him come out as an edge lord with no substance. I also hope he reconnects with Rouge and Omega in the game or future games because I miss their chemistry in Team Dark. I wonder if Sonic X Shadow Generations will also be Shadow's "Sonic Frontiers" moment. If so, they can't afford to mess this up because Shadow has been going through the ups and down (but mostly downs) of the Meta Era that Sonic and Friends have been dealing with and needs either this or the upcoming movie to be appropriately characterized. At least, that's what I think.

Whilst I agree with almost everything, I have to point out that the line #6 “unlike you blue haired liberals…" is fan made, as in Shadow did not actually say that. Other than that, the skating commercial is just a corprate thing. I would'nt take that seriously, and the new Lego shit too. Thank you for making this video. People on twitter just keep pissing me off when talking about Shadow recently.

Listen I don't necessarily disagree with your view of the character, nor do I think he's been written well in recent years... but do you think autistic people are evil or something..? Nothing you've said about him in the "Dark Era" portion of the video is describing an autistic person. Being self-centered, egotistic, edgy, boastful, prideful and rash aren't traits of autism. I struggle to see the connection.

Wait how is he a girl boss?