So Sonic Channel has been doing a monthly sort of "Alternate Universe" illustration series.

The month of April features Silver and Elise.

Surprised to see them acknowledge Elise after so long!! But also she looks very cute in this style

elise redemption arc let’s gooooo

honestly respect the hell out of how they’re not trying to scorched-earth all the parts of sonic’s flop eras

a lesser brand would have tried to ride the wave of Mania goodwill and just swept everything between 1995 and 2017 under the rug

There's something I find almost endearing about Sonic Team's willingness to acknowledge "yeah some of those games were a mess". As Dack said, a lesser brand would have tried to coast on that goodwill, but at this point the jank is arguably a part of the series' charm.

Just think, if we'd not had Shadow the Hedgehog (the game), maybe they might not have leaned in so hard on Shadow being such an edgelord that even in-universe he's known for being Like That. (I mean this affectionately. I am a Shadow fan 'cos The Edge buffer overflows into being silly, and Sonic Team knows this.)

What Shadow thinks of Infinite IIANIMATEDII

I love how Sonic Team handles their canon so much

happily poking fun at themselves, doing the "everything is canon" with Frontiers, where there are references to everything from Sonic Boom to 06

they're much more willing to hang onto strange pieces of writing than many franchises

It sounded like there was a point where the higher ups didn't want to hold onto everything, but I'm glad with Frontiers and (presumably) the comics doing well, they've leaned into "yeah ok, let's keep things and get them in order".

(Esp since they recently put out that position for a Sonic loremaster of sorts.)

also I have to say I'm glad they're not just dumping on the old writers when they do this

they're actually engaging with it, not just making fun of it all

/pointed look at "edgy" remakes/reboots

Oh, especially glad about that.

yeah, like, i forget who made the point that what makes the series unique is that every game introduce’s someone’s favorite character

and yeah, like, whenever a series self-aggrandizes by ripping on itself

especially when i feel more attacked than rewarded for sticking through those things, finding and enjoying the good stuff in there

i just...