The Sonic the Hedgehog Continuity Thread of Love and Timelines

His mom got pregnant in space, they came to Earth to have him, and later they went back to Ark to raise him there.

 

I don’t think that particular word choice is that big of a problem - there are lots of ways to interpret the line that don’t conflict with the journal. The Towers brought Abe to the ARK in the same way they brought him into the world. Or Maria was too young to learn about the birds and the bees when she was told Abe’s background and no one got around to correcting her. Incidentally, what does the Japanese version of that text box read?

Likewise, I know it was previously mentioned that the journal depicts Shadow awakening without his gloves and shoes, which contradicts the flashbacks seen in both Shadow 05 and Shadow Gens in which he has his usual adornments prior to waking. In this case, I’d argue the photographic evidence in the journal represents the canonical events. The in-game flashbacks were contextualized as memories of Tower and Shadow, and thus potentially unreliable (especially since Shadow’s memories aren’t historically all that trustworthy to begin with, especially for an event he wasn’t even conscious for).

 

I'll have to play through the game in Japanese to get it and get it translated, unless Windii's working on it and posts it as we discuss this like the Robotnik conversation from Shadow the Hedgehog?

Maria's only talking about how Shadow's real family, them, want him to be happy, the strict teacher and Shadow enjoying Maria's Chao ecology report, and Maria visiting Spagonia with family when she was healthier after saying the ARK's food just doesn't compare to Earths, and asking Shadow if he has a favourite food as she's only really seen him with coffee.

 

I was wondering, how exactly did Black Doom survive events of „Shadow The Hedgehog”? Was it the larvae living on ARK, growing up and becoming another Black Doom? Did he transfer his mind to it, when he Was dying in Devil Doom form? Was he somehow reborn, because of Time Eater? I guess not, because we clearly see him standing in the ARK before Time Eater attack.

so many questions…

 

I can't find specific instances off hand, but Ian has said a few times on the Bumblecast that it was his intent that the larva seen in Dark Beginnings was still around and Black Doom grew out of it.

 

Come to think of it, is it possible there were other survivors of the Black Arms? Shadow destroyed the Black Comet, but with their numbers spread across the planet one would think there would be lots of remaining troops at least some of whom could have escaped detection. Unless Black Doom recalled all forces to the comet upon release of the nerve gas - but that seems strategically unsound when he and the larvae are apparently immune to the gas anyway.

 

Not only that, but if Black Arms conquered countless worlds, and the race is a hive mind, there should be… multiple Black Dooms on other worlds? Or do they just conquer a world, devour it (like Galactus) and move on somewhere else? Or must a larvae be in somewhat close proximity to the current Black Doom, so it can grow into the leader?

To me, Black Arms are somewhat like Bees - we have a queen (Black Doom), workers etc. The main difference being, that Doom hive mind abilities allow him to be reborn with all of his memories.

If he indeed, grew up from the larvae on ARK, maybe it was some kind of royal larvae. It makes sense, because Shadow was created from „his” DNA. Kinda weird that GUN didn’t dispose of it after the raid.

 

Perhaps in the chaos of the raid, the larva escaped and hid out in a remote section of the ARK. It is kinda funny to consider that by warping the station back into orbit in SA2, Shadow unintentionally ensured Black Doom could come back after he killed him. It does beg the question of what was happening to said larva during "The Promised Time", did BD just ignore it so it could be used as a backup plan?

Something else that's confused me about Doom in this game, how exactly is he conjuring Radical Highway? It's clear he's able to do this without the need for White Space, is it just a hallucinogenic/telepathic illusion he's projecting into Shadow's mind or is it some real construct?

 

I miss the two timelines theory.

Currently my biggest discomfort is everyone in Forces not remembering Mania (which was previously a non-issue).

 

I mean, Sonic Forces' entire story is a mess, let alone them not referencing another game. I'd like Robotnik to remember that if he needs a source of power for the Phantom Ruby, which came up several times, he can use the Master Emerald, a source of infinite power, that he saw Knuckles leave alone on Angel Island. Amongst the massive mess that is the Phantom Ruby storyline.

I'm just assuming they didn't reference it because it's one of many adventures, and it's not special since they don't realise the Phantom Ruby of that game is related to the Phantom Ruby of this game in some form.

Not to mention the inverse is also an issue, since Encore Mode makes it even more confusing: the Phantom Ruby got shattered, then... was intact again to take Classic Sonic back?