Analysis of Sonic and the Black Knight's Plot Part 1
Transcript
00:00Now for Sonic and the Black Knight.
00:03We started on one of the very few cutscenes with actual presentation to it.
00:08The wizard Merlina summons Sonic with a slightly altered variation of the Eraser Djinn's Arabic prayer.
00:15A prayer that's apparently loosely translated to summoning Satan. So it's pretty weird that they use that phrase in particular.
00:24How would Sonic be the equivalent of Satan in this universe?
00:29And why did Merlina know an Arabic chant when she's not Arabic?
00:34I guess it came from Arabia, but was passed down through generations after people left Arabia.
00:41How does she even know about Sonic when he lives outside of the book?
00:45In order for people to have learned about Sonic and wrote down info about him in her universe,
00:50people must have escaped the book and ventured around Sonic's world recently and then came back to the book to write about him.
00:58I guess wizards left the book and talked about their experiences to their family and Thanksgiving.
01:05After all, I can't believe that the people in her world would have been able to prophesize about a hedgehog that doesn't even exist in their universe.
01:13And yay, Sonic is eating a chili dog, making canon that's his favorite food, and he finishes it way too fast to be logical.
01:23The only problem with him eating chili dogs is that overusing it implies that he eats nothing else.
01:30But that can't be true or he wouldn't be able to stay alive.
01:36Sonic's supposed to be confident, but it's still annoying to hear such a smug line of his.
01:42And the villain just stands there for several seconds until Merlina uses her staff to whip herself and Sonic away in a tornado.
01:50Why didn't she do that and THEN summon Sonic?
01:54And the knights look like Sonic's friends because it's a parallel universe situation.
01:59I like that Knuckles briefly hesitates to try to kill somebody.
02:04And now I have to assume that Merlina isn't violent or she's just too stupid to realize how lethal teleportation power could be.
02:12Because she could have just warped something into King Arthur and telephragmed him to death.
02:17Not to mention all the other powers that you'd think wizards would have.
02:21I picture wizards as being practically omnipotent.
02:25But maybe that's not how wizards usually are.
02:28I just grew up on Wizards of Waverly Place.
02:32Sonic complains to Merlina that he could have stopped the king.
02:36Merlina gives him exposition.
02:39With how fast he is, shouldn't she have realized he could have just gone to get some rope and tied him up?
02:46In seconds?
02:47Sonic's had speed his entire life.
02:51So you'd think he would have immediately thought of that.
02:54Sonic points out the king seemed different in the stories.
02:58Merlina gives exposition.
03:00Why did the Lady of the Lake give Arthur that scabbard knowing it was evil?
03:06How did she not know it was going to make that happen?
03:10I guess even the Lady of the Lake is limited in her power.
03:14Which is why she can't just warp to the scabbard and uncurse it.
03:20And also, Merlina can't just warp to the scabbard and uncurse it.
03:25Sonic has a pretty insensitive remark here.
03:27This'll be cool! It'll be like Halloween all year long!
03:30Merlina has to summon a dragon.
03:33Yet it's the Ruler of the Lake already?
03:36You'd think the Ruler of the Lake would already be there.
03:38Maybe it was off going to the bathroom.
03:41You shall forever be the worst of knights. Slayer of kings.
03:46Guess I can't be the hero every time.
03:48I actually love that line of his.
03:51It gets such an establishing character moment.
03:54I'm just confused as to why he's suddenly okay with killing evil villains now.
03:58Why not Eggman then?
04:01It took a long time for me to figure it out.
04:04For the longest time, I always assumed he was opposed to killing.
04:07And that's why he didn't kill Eggman in the first game.
04:11The truth is, he actually kills his enemies all the time in the games.
04:15And even if it's usually something he has to do,
04:18it still says something about him that he doesn't even hesitate.
04:22The truth is, he'll kill if it's necessary.
04:24And not even care.
04:26But he doesn't like to do it.
04:28So the reason he lets Eggman run away from him and get into his Eggmobile in Sonic 1,
04:33it's because he doesn't want to feel bad about beating him up.
04:37Because he doesn't have to do that.
04:40And nobody thought back to this game
04:42when he started killing enemies like the Bio-Lizard and Black Arms with no problem.
04:47Because Eggman's the main villain of the series, so it makes sense meta-wise that he doesn't kill Eggman.
04:52And it makes sense meta-wise that he kills his villains in the games because it's a video game character.
04:58In video games, you're killing your enemies 24-7.
05:02And the story never dwells on it after he kills his enemies.
05:07It's really baffling to me that some people will look at this line
05:10and think he doesn't think of himself as a hero.
05:14The very fact that he says
05:15the hero every time
05:18means that most of the time he does know he's a hero because he's not delusional that he isn't a hero.
05:25The only reason it would make sense for someone to think they're not a hero despite doing heroic things
05:32is if they're a bad guy.
05:34Eggman's not a hero just because he helped save the world in SA2.
05:39Because usually he's evil.
05:41He only helped save the world for his own self-interest.
05:44It's not like Sonic thinks of himself that way.
05:48He'd have to be delusional to think he's not compassionate.
05:51If the line was saying that he never thinks of himself as a hero,
05:55he would just say that.
05:58It's amazing how certain fans can look at this line and get the exact opposite
06:02of what it's trying to tell you.
06:05It's saying that it's fine with being seen as the villain if he does the right thing.
06:10You think you'd ask Mileena,
06:12why can't I just run around him and tie him up with a rope?
06:16And then bring him to a jail cell?
06:19And then she should have been written to say,
06:21you have to kill him or I'm not gonna warp you home.
06:27I hate that the sword calls him a squire for no reason.
06:31He doesn't know anything about Sonic.
06:34You wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a teenage Mobian and an adult Mobian.
06:39So how does he know he's just a squire?
06:43He's so condescending of Sonic for no reason.
06:47Mileena worked perfectly fine as someone talking to Sonic.
06:52So why didn't you just stick with her?
06:55At least Sonic calls him out on it.
06:57It seems like a good thing at first,
07:00but it just drags out their interaction.
07:03I like the fact that he calls him out on it,
07:06but not the idea of Caliburn continuing to be rude to him right after he's called out on it.
07:11It really would have been a lot better if we didn't have Caliburn talk.
07:16Mileena's a wizard.
07:17I'm pretty sure she's capable of turning herself into a ring and staying with Sonic.
07:21I like her a lot more.
07:22She actually compliments Sonic.
07:25We never do see him go into a book to get here,
07:28which is something I like about this game.
07:31It's a lot less confusing.
07:33Sonic's accused of lacking proper fighting skills
07:36after he effortlessly beat the main villain in a fight at the start of the game.
07:42At least Sonic tells him off.
07:44But why does he think he's right?
07:46If he wasn't a sad excuse for a teacher,
07:49he'd be better at sword fighting by this point.
07:52It's so weird.
07:53Why would you have him make the main villain of the game retreat
07:57after a fight with him at the start of the game?
07:59It makes him look like the most incompetent villain ever.
08:03Granted, you fought Eggman in the classic games.
08:06The fact that he lost every time didn't make him the most incompetent villain ever.
08:11It was his mechas that weren't competent.
08:13And that could be explained as him underestimating Sonic.
08:17But this guy fights you basically the same way both times.
08:21You could assume he's holding back out of arrogance.
08:25But he's basically got no reason to
08:28when his face was summoned extremely fast.
08:31I hate that he's called Knave the Hedgehog.
08:34It's a pathetic attempt at humor.
08:36And wasn't he called the Squire before?
08:39Why Knave all of a sudden?
08:42I'm supposed to just assume it makes sense that being in a rock
08:47blunts the edge of a sword.
08:50You'd think it would have instantly become blunt if that was the logic.
08:54It has to be a magical spell.
08:57Sonic doesn't want to be called a gentleman.
09:00He acted like a gentleman to Chara.
09:03He talks informally.
09:05I don't think he would care for
09:07stuck-up rules about table manners.
09:11But he still acts like a gentleman to certain people.
09:14And the way Merlina complains just makes you look emo.
09:18I still feel sorry for her, though.
09:20She says she'll be recognized in town.
09:23Which is why she doesn't accompany Sonic.
09:26You'd think wizards would be able to shapeshift.
09:29I guess Soaring the Stone has really lame wizards.
09:33You'd think if she could summon a dragon, she'd be able to
09:37change her appearance.
09:39I guess she summoned it by teleporting it there.
09:42Sonic doesn't learn his lesson from Secret Rings.
09:46And not call him Tails.
09:49There's no reason Tails would be there.
09:52And he doesn't show any offense or any real reaction to being called Tails.
09:57Even though you'd think he'd find it insulting.
10:01Screw you, Caliburn.
10:03Caliburn's just mean-spirited to Sonic.
10:07Of course, Tails is surprised and delighted at the sword talking.
10:11But doesn't ask why.
10:13You'd think he'd be curious.
10:15I like that he's actually useful in this game.
10:18Having a character constantly insult Sonic isn't necessarily bad,
10:22but you have to have them insult him for an actual problem he has.
10:27The next boss fights with Shadow.
10:30His Shadow theme from SC2 plays.
10:33And I like that it never progresses past the good part.
10:37I like how Sonic jokes around here.
10:39Caliburn infuriates me.
10:42And Shadow calls him that afterwards.
10:45In either a moment of dry wit or obliviousness that you'd think he'd know better.
10:51The reason he's the first knight you fight is that he's pathetically easy.
10:55Despite the fact that he's hyped up to be the strongest of the knights.
10:59Shadow looks the way he does because of Black Doom DNA.
11:04Which gives him his Chaos Control.
11:07How does he not have Chaos Control?
11:10If he does, why doesn't he use it and win easily?
11:15I have to assume either he doesn't know he has Chaos Control,
11:19or he somehow thinks it's dishonorable to use it.
11:22He must have been made by a wizard version of Gerald.
11:26One of them looking like Blaze is just as confusing.
11:30Since Blaze is from another dimension.
11:33So it has to be that this version of Blaze stepped through a portal.
11:38Not knowing it would send her to another world and trap her there.
11:42And cause her to get raised to be a knight.
11:45Leaving her dimension without a princess.
11:48So there's multiple soul dimensions.
11:51The sword asks Sonic why he didn't kill Shadow.
11:55And Sonic says what's the big deal?
11:57Rather than angrily calling him out on being bloodthirsty for the sake of it.
12:02The fact that he kills King Arthur in this game is proof that he's okay with killing.
12:07So it really sucks that he isn't written to explain himself.
12:11I mean the fact that it might not be in character for him to explain himself doesn't matter.
12:16Because the fanbase clearly needs to explain to them.
12:20Cause IDW divided the fanbase by having Sonic say he'd never kill anyone.
12:26So he should have explained the obvious fact that he didn't kill Shadow because he didn't have to.
12:32He meets the Lady of the Lake and almost runs away from her because she looks like Amy.
12:37To be fair every time she met a character that looked like one of his friends.
12:41He acted just like his friend.
12:45So it makes perfect sense that he would assume the Lady of the Lake would act like Amy.
12:49Sonic puts his arm around her.
12:52And then the sword insults him for not being polite even though he is being polite by his standards.
12:58Amy shows guilt to giving King Arthur the scabbard.
13:01So good that was addressed.
13:04She has three tests for Sonic.
13:07Also they apparently pronounced the Lady of the Lake's name wrong.
13:11But I don't blame them because how the hell are you supposed to know how to pronounce a name spelled like that?
13:16A hideous imp girl who obviously has Amy's voice says wah.
13:20And I always hate when characters who are crying say that because nobody who cries says that.
13:25So it takes me out of the story.
13:27Especially since none of the characters ask why they talk like that.
13:32I don't know why the townspeople are ugly imps.
13:35Apparently they want them to feel like they belong to the woods.
13:40Wouldn't making them look like forest animals work better?
13:44Combine this with practically no humans in Sonic and the Secret Rings.
13:49I think the real reason is they wanted to appeal to fanboys who hated humans in Sonic.
13:55Caliburn, the wiser one in the right, insults Sonic for wanting to help her.
14:01He better get called out on this or admit he was wrong.
14:04Well guess what?
14:06He doesn't.
14:07Sonic says he plays by his own rules.
14:10That's a great line for his character.
14:13He should also explain that he has perfect confidence in his speed.
14:17So it doesn't even have to be about preferring to help a kid over doing whatever it takes to get home.
14:24Even if not making it to Amy in time traps him in this universe forever.
14:28Although Merlina could always warp him home regardless.
14:32So maybe that just didn't occur to him.
14:35Besides, Bakers can't be choosers.
14:38Even if he doesn't make it to her in time, what's she gonna do?
14:41Say, oh well, I guess King Arthur will never be defeated.
14:45There's no reason she couldn't just let him do the tasks again.
14:49You look just like this knucklehead I know.
14:51Sonic, you're a dick.
14:53He literally talks like a bully here.
14:55If Sonic wasn't trying to pick a fight with him, why did he insult him?
15:00What an idiot.