|| My Ship Opinions! || (Multifandom)

Shadouge

Alright, we're back to the Sonic ships!

This was a request for Shadow x Rouge, and oh boy, imma talk for a bit XD

I absolutely love them.

As much as I ship them, I feel like their ship is starting to be handled a little worse or different. I know they're homies, but friends can become lovers. I actually like those dynamics a lot.

Let's start with what I love about them before I rant about how they're being handled nowadays.

I love how they know they can rely on one another. They're literally partners in crime, and I feel like Rouge is one of the only people who kind of understands Shadow because of how much she's around him. We see in the IDW comics several times that she's the one trying to talk him into/out of things, and she does get through to him in some cases (in others, he was stubborn, and he regretted it later *cough* metal virus—)

Speaking of the Metal Virus, did you guys see the pain on Rouge's face when she discovered that Shadow became a victim? She was there when it happened, but when there was no more sign of him, there's one panel of her turning her head away, looking like she's keeping herself from either crying or something like that.

On Shadow's end, you guys know he doesn't trust many people. His relationship with Rouge and Omega is very special, and they as a team are just 😤👌🏻 love them

Also, their 👏🏻 dynamic 👏🏻 in 👏🏻 06 👏🏻 is 👏🏻 the best 👏🏻

Like dude, juST LOOK AT THEM—

Shadow catching Rouge in his arms as she was falling from the sky? MMMM 😤🙏🏻💕

The "know that I will always remain by your side" line? AAAAAA 😭😭💞💞

Like legit that just shows how much they trust each other. If the world chose to fight against Shadow, Rouge would remain by him. And when she told him to remember that, he looked back and said he willlllll ;^; 💗

I just love them a lot. There were some games that did them justice and made them perfect, but there are others that... well, mishandled their friendship.

Here's where we get to the bad shit

You guys know how Shadow's character was just plunged down the drain and he's now this edgy dude who doesn't care for anyone? Along with that change was the dynamic between him and Rouge. And my god I'm so upset.

I'm mostly referring to IDW for this one. Rouge still cares for him, as I mentioned with the Metal Virus part. But Shadow? Shadow's just been a jerk to everyone. He's been so out of character. He's not even like this in the recent poorly written games. Like the first part before the Metal Virus was spot on, but anything after that first arc? Gone. All of this development he ever had down the drain.

At this point in IDW, they use Rouge as someone who interprets and tells the other characters what Shadow's edgy actions really mean. It shows that she still understands him very well, and she's even proud of him when he said that he has to repay Sonic in thanks for what he's done to save the world from the virus, but... other than that? Her character is wasted on that shit. And Shadow's just not himself anymore. I don't want him to go over all that development again.

He had SA2, Heroes, and 06. Heck, as shitty as ShTH was, even that gave him some closure to his development. But no, SEGA felt the need to scrap everything and make him an edgy knock off.

Oh, I'm sorry, this is supposed to be about Shadouge, not the characters individually. But you do have to understand those changes to understand the analysis of the ship here.

I just wish they didn't make Shadow such a jerk, especially in IDW. Probably one of the only people he's remotely nice to is Rouge, but it's still so off.

There is something else that pisses me off a bit, and that's Rouge's handling of the information she got about Shadow in Heroes.

In Heroes, Rouge finds a hall full of capsules with Shadow Androids inside, and she chooses not to tell Shadow. I don't know Heroes too well, but I assume it's because she didn't want to worry him when they had a mission on their hands. Besides, he's already an amnesiac here, and having to deal with an existential crisis of whether he himself is an Android or not is, well... you know.

I do get why she didn't tell him, and why he'd be mad at her for not telling him. It's a classic case of "I didn't want to worry you" miscommunication. I do wish Rouge was more honest to him about that, but I mean, they did seem to get past that considering how much they trusted each other in 06.

I do see why people don't ship them or prefer other ships over them. I still do love them very much as a couple, I just wish they were handled a little better. Most of you can probably agree that the writing in the games has been shit recently, so maybe you see where I'm coming from.

I will always ship Shadouge based on SA2, Heroes, and 06. That's for sure. That was the peak of Shadow's development, and it was also the best showcase of them as not only partners, but very close friends.

I do love me some friends to lovers in particular cases, like this one 👀

But yeah! Over all, love them very much. It's one of my main ships in this fandom :D

I do agree that there are some flaws, but let's be real, several realistic relationships do. There is a ton of potential with these two as a couple, and I'm all for it 😂

That's all I have to say, really! I can't think of anything else 😅 They're just best friend goals, and they would slay👏🏻 as a couple XD

See ya guys!! Feel free to comment down more ships for me to talk about in the future :D

(ALSO SORRY FOR UPDATING SUPER SLOW DKDNNG school JUST started and writing these does take a bit of time bc of thought organization and stuff 😂 thanks for your patience!!💗)

(Posted 8/16/21)