i feel like if knuckles ever needed to take a quick break from guarding the master emerald he'd pick shadow to take his place. rock understander solidarity.
There's definitely a strong trauma link there 100%. But autistic people tend to be more prone to trauma in the first place so I kinda had both of those going through my mind while I was going through the scenes. Thanks for pointing it out!
As an Autistic with intense trauma over familial death I second Enolp. While definitely possible for allistics to have that kind of response -- *anyone* can hate eye contact, or loud sounds, or fixate heavily on interests, or be bad at communicating with allistics, even if allistic, for example -- PTSD overlaps heeaavily with a lot of autistic symptoms, and has a horribly compounding effect. It *might* not be an autistic thing, but if combined with every other symptom presented it seems like a minuscule chance that they would all be unrelated. Of course in SA2 it almost certainly wasn't on purpose, but back then what we call 'autistic behavior' was more considered 'loner tropes' and they 100% used loner tropes for Shadow on purpose.
I don't think there's a single autistic person alive today without trauma. We live in a society that is incredibly traumatic for us, by its very design.
@@enolp This tells me there's unclear causal relationship between autism and trauma then. As in what you consider symptoms of autism could result from complex trauma. With epigenetic factors in mind as well, this trauma wouldn't have needed to happen to you personally either, if you inherit the trauma from your parents.
The emeralds are necessary to reactivate the eclipse cannon. What I noticed mostly is how bad his eye contact is. Even Shiro Maekawa, the man who gave this personality to Shadow, jokes a bit about this.
When shadow comments 'I guess hes just a normal hedgehog after all' I dont think that's low empathy. Shadows whole character is based around empathy. I think after seeing Sonic's tenacity and skill, he begins to think rather highly of him. (At the end, he even says he thinks sonic might be the true ultimate life form.) So I think it was more dismay and a moment of doubt, (maybe even sorrow?) than a cold observation.
Can we just talk about how damn loud the music in the game is while characters are talking? Like who thought playing the music at full blast while people are talking was a good idea?
this is actually a porting issue! the dreamcast had a built in audio compressor in its hardware that kicked in to limit volume, but the ports left the audio files as they were so they just get blasted LOL
To be fair, can you blame him? he was created and raised by one, if you think about it. That is to say, i think Ivo inherited his ma scientist energy. Gerald was simply more a man of the people for the greater good or whatever, kinda, mostly for Maria in action but still. I wouldn't be surprised if Shadow ever experimented with the scientific method in an approach to something new, out of curiosity. other than Gerald there WERE other scientists on the Ark as well. he's gotta be a total nerd under all that angst. edit: OMG,,,, consider, robotniks are autistic.... area autistic scientist with who knows how many doctorates makes an alien creature who is so autistic but doesn't notice he thinks that's normal developmental behavior. inherited it from his old man LMAO.
Some of those moments I’m unsure of whether they can be counted, (hard ware limitations were existent) however I do find that I do do a lot of this (as an autistic person). As much as him being autistic probably isn’t canon, I do see it. Definitely got the vibes.
Yeah, some of it was definitely me just being extra in my fixation to picking apart everything about him. I thought I'd keep it in anyway, since I thought it was fun to point out all the little details, regardless if they were actually intentional or bordering on uncontrollable or not. I hope you enjoyed the video despite those spots!
I mean, autism in media somentimes is represented as a metaphor and not really the creature being autistic. Just look at Peridot from Steven Universe for example
2:58 I like current Amy, but as a kid I hated her for doing stuff like this… In middle school I had a “”friend”” who would insist upon running up and hugging me from behind, no matter how many times I asked her not to
@@christianschoff2490You wish you had a friend who would... disrespect your boundaries...? Your reply is kind of ignoring the context of the comment, no?
@hyalophora I had no friends at all. None. And all of the ones I have now, all live in other states. So yes, I wish I had a friend who would do that. It would have been a nice change of pace from getting beaten up every day.
shadow looking over his shoulder while talking to maria about what earth is like reminds me of how i do that every now and then just to make sure noone's quietly appeared in the room without me noticing lol
3:00 THE WAY HE TURNED AROUND SO SLOWLY IS KILLING ME OMG😭 Jokes aside tho after watching Sonic 3 I've been hyperfixating so badly on Shadow and just the sonic universe in general, and I forgot where I was going with this but basically I really enjoyed this video so so much, if you make another one I will 100% be watching it bc my gosh I never knew how much I needed autistic Shadow😭😭 I love him sm he's so silly
Ngl some of the hate comments here really show how dickish some people can be about these headcanons. People will see an autistic headcanon and immediately interpret it as an attack on their favorite character.
@@enolp While I'm not sure I 100% agree on the Shadow thing, a similar character I've always headcanoned as autistic is Jotaro Kujo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Not only do I believe interpreting him that way makes a lot of sense given how he acts, but it makes him much more relatable to me. Of course I couldn't possibly admit that in the Jojo community without being jumped for it. I'm anticipating the day we can share these headcanons in all kinds of fandoms without getting ableist backlash for it.
People read autism into everything these days. More upset people never thought about how shadow's memories being possibly fabricated harms his character!
i will say i recommend looking at more accurate translations of the japanese script. not because you're wrong but because looking at translations closer to the original intent makes for an even stronger argument that he is autism personified
@enolp the scenes that i recall being changed the most are his meeting with sonic on Prison Island, any scenes with Maria, his confrontation of Rouge & Amy's speech. my good friend 'windii gaylord' has actually uploaded subbed videos translating the story of sa2 among other things!
The gap moe of Shadow being edgy as hell and driven by trauma, but also very autistic is enough to make me side with this headcanon. Those traits seem like they shouldn't mix, and that ends up selling the idea for me.
In the Shadow the Hedgehog game, in the opening scene he says "I don't have time for these humans." I know he says that because he's not a human, but as an autistic person myself who's felt out of place a lot in life, feeling like an insect among humans, that was an extremely relatable thing he said.
5:55 MARIA Anyhow; I bet that a lot of what reads as autistic for Shadow in SA2 is accidental outside of the things that intersect between 'autism' and 'loner trope' because really the general population knew nothing about autism at the time, but I like to think that since then official creators have picked up on it and included it on purpose. I mean, look at movie Shadow; that kid's hitting soooo many boxes, and I seeeriously doubt with how much they've talked about being careful with Shadow's tone and delivery that *nobody* on the audio/acting team noticed how very autistic his speech is. The perk to this not being 'official' is that, of course, the capitalism side of things would sanitize him way tf down and we wouldn't get the honestly pretty spot-on rep for specifically folks with autism combined with grief-based PTSD and how it plays with those of us that react with anger, which I greatly appreciate; I say, totally *"not"* being a late-diagnosed Autistic Adult who went through intense personal tragedy and then realized 'Oh,, I like,, *Understand* Shadow the Hedgehog now'. Sometimes angry grieving autistic young-adults *should* get to ride cool bikes, be intensely angry, and fight The Man, actually; as a treat; and Shadow 2005 is a lot less strange in that context.
"Maria" *BOOOOM* I agree that it definitely doesn't seem intentional, at least for the time period of this game and Shadow 2005. I'm happy that you've got Shadow for some amount of comfort in what you've faced. YOU GET THAT AWESOME MOTORCYCLE ❤️✨
2:23 Now hold on a second, being autistic doesn't automatically mean low empathy. You can still be a bleeding heart for people and aninals and even feel what they feel twice as intensely as everyone else. It DOES mean that you may struggle with WHY they feel as they do. ALSO PLEASE THE THING WITH THE ADHD FRIEND IS SO TRUE
Oh for sure, some autistics have low empathy, some have high empathy, some fall in the middle (I think I'm in the middle but it's honestly hard to tell sometimes). I think he kinda gives low empathy vibes and he comes across autistic to me, but nah, 100% not a one-size-fits-all in that category. So I definitely agree with you, I didn't mean to imply otherwise
@@enolp I think the empathy thing comes with the attention and interest we have. Maria suffers or a plant/animal which is our special interest? HYPER empathy! A random person suffering ? Nah none of my business.
@@enolp I'm kinda in the "high empathy but had to swallow it so much I come off as having low empathy unless (1) I know exactly how to care for someone I actually care about or (2) I care about them much more than I can care for them" zone
I'm fairly certain his English VA gave him a Transatlantic accent-- a learned accent that you'll hear in very old movies. It combines American and English pronunciation and was supposed to be the most sophisticated sounding way of speaking English. Also, the VA had background in theater as well so there's that
SHADOW IS SO AUTISTIC.. I'm gonna yap so much rq. ALSO I ALMOST WENT "No he pronounced research how everyone does" then i ermembered im autistic. THE CORRECTING PEOPLE ON HIS AIR SHOES. He wants people to call things the right name so bad. Rarely showing visible emotion. He either has his hands balled up or in this weird splayed out way thats almost EXACTLY how i hold my hands when they get anything sticky on them. repeatedly shown to struggle with social situations can i just put down every single one of his idle animations. All of them are VERY stimming coded. his SA2B idle he's literally swaying himself a lil while doing the self-hug/cross arms. His messing with his quills. and his little look around before crossing his arms in several... the way he seems to almost nervously switch through poses in sxsg- probably not intentional but I RELATE TO IT SO ITS GOING HERE. him kinda jumping around in his seat in tsr.. also his idle voiceline in sa2 "The last chaos emerald will be within my rreach soon" Everyone say it with me. MONOTROPISM! i have more but i forgot them i got too focused on his idles
As an autistic woman; I approve of this. I guess his lack of empathy and fixation on Maria could do with trauma. Not to mention he refused to be close to anyone as he doesn't want them to die like she did.
Shadow's story being a story of seeking to understand both others and himself is super analogous to autism. "Maria... this is what you wanted, right?" shows this quite well. He struggles to understand her affection for humanity, her inherent empathy for everyone on Earth, but he does know she cares about it. He protects the Earth because it's something she cared about, even if he can't relate to the reason. They're excellent foils as Maria has so much love and empathy and Shadow struggles so much to understand it, but they grow close nonetheless. Feeling like you're different and you have no place to belong is so relatable as an autistic person. I hope Shadow finds the place he belongs someday.
I think that's more badass-ery and "aura farming" than autism, like, this new guy stays calm and collected when the entire goddamn island will explode, knowing full well he can easily leave, as TFS Vegeta once said, "OH MY GOD! HE'S SO... GOD! DAMN! COOL!"
Not sure I agree with you tbh... while he does exhibit some autistic traits, a lot of them could easily stem from the isolation and trauma he got from his time on the ARK. Upbringing has an effect too. And Shadow didn't get a lot of socialization as a "child." (Don't misinderstand me here. I don't have a problem with the idea of Shadow being autistic. I'm autistic myself, and it's always cool to see a well-written autistic or autistic coded character. I just don't personally think that's what's going on with Shadow.)
I loved this video and it honestly gave me a much better idea of what monotropism means LOL 💙 Shadow and Maria are my favorite characters precisely bc I have chronic illnesses like Maria’s and (possibly) autism, so I relate to both of them a lot and I find it really touching that Shadow’s story revolves so much around disabled injustice. It’s too bad so many people have a knee jerk reaction to autistic/disabled HCs and will nitpick rather than exploring the narrative possibilities of Shadow and Maria being so close bc of shared disabled experiences. Ty for the video and don’t mind the haters 💙💙
This means so much to me,, thank you for making it His character is so much easier to relate to and understand when I see him as autistic my girlypop…..
Well, like others say, it may not be canon, but I can kinda see it. The 'Normal reaction to the island blowing up' part is a bit unfair, though. Sonic is more surprised because he had no idea he's running around on a ticking time bomb. Shadow knew, he just lost track of time
Realistically, given that he was very intentionally made, it is highly unlikely that he would be autistic, simply not very socialized. Fun theorizing, though!
He's nonchalant and I feel like his actions are just supposed to add on to that idea that he doesn't care for anything other than fulfilling his promise to Maria, but who knows maybe he is autistic, I just personally have never considered that he was but there are signs 👍
2:40 It really is. Being on the spectrum myself, I cannot for the life of me stand still for long periods of time. I’ve learned from years of choir experience that I have to occasionally step and sway back and forth to keep the blood in my legs moving, otherwise they get fatigued really quick.
Bro same, I am constantly swaying while I sing in choir. Even though my head doesn't sway super noticeably I'm constantly shifting on my legs with my hips. Part of it is for blood flow and stuff, the other part is for just a lil stim because I love singing sm
The weird animation in SA2 (not even Shadow, but everyone in the game) can be chalked up to its age and hardware. SA2 came out in 2001 on the Dreamcast, a console that's somewhere between 5th (N64, PS1) and 6th (GC, PS2, Xbox) gen consoles in terms of hardware capabilities. The game came out in an era where 3D graphics were new to both artists and game designers, so it's likely Sonic Team weren't as experienced with the animation software, or wanted to save on space (since reducing keyframes can drastically reduce an animation's exported/compiled size, but can result in some incredibly clunky animations if done poorly.)
Probably. The fanon Silver definitely seems autistic to me haha, though I don't have much experience with canon Silver at this point in time, aside from a little bit of Archie which is its own separate canon. Maybe I'll explore that a bit in the future
Fair, I figured a lot of it would require rewinding and/or pausing but I do understand it can be kinda annoying as a viewer. I'll try to keep them up longer if I follow through to Shadow 2005
This is a cool little video, if you don't mind me voicing a slight critisism: The text zooms by so fast that I could rarely read it in the first attempt and had to go back. While that's good for more watchtime, I'd prefer not to jump back all the time. Maybe until the next shadow-video, thank you and much success
Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. The timing was intended for humor but I do understand that it can get pretty annoying to not be able to read it the first time
I do find it interesting that I've seen this theory a lot lately, because I feel like Shadow is much more of a BPD type than anything. Not that the theory that he's autistic is wrong of course, and I could just be projecting myself because I'm pretty sure I have trauma-borne BPD.
*Ahem* Sonic Unleashed and how locked at direct eye contact with each other that Sonic and Chip were throughout a whole separate scene with Eggman. And also, Japan does not know how looking at people into the eyes exactly work for all the reasons that Americans do it. Japanese people talk without eye contact and with SEGA branching out into America and Europe more it meant the awkwardness of direct eye contact in Japan was bled into their works. All those scenes are motion captured by Japanese actors back then and translation was just becoming the center of 3D Sonic games at the time. Sonic 06 and Unleashed showed exactly what was in Sonic Adventure 2. The same motion capturing with Japanese actors and the translation process that comes with it. But nowadays, it is 3D animation doing a lot of the work and Japanese-English translation as the main focus.
Ok as a late audhd diagnosed person I feel kind of butthurt on the low empathy considered as a symptom of autism... mostly because in my life I've been EXCEEDINGLY empathetic (to the point of going against my own interests at times)
That's understandable. I would like to note that while some autistic people like you have high empathy, others have low empathy, and either one can be a trait of autism. Just because someone's autistic doesn't mean they have low empathy, but low empathy can still point to someone being autistic, if that makes sense I'm still trying to understand it myself though, sometimes I physically feel other people's emotions and other times someone's loved one dies or something and I can't control the fact that my internal response is "that's sad, I guess" Regardless, I feel like that's one of the problems of having such a large encompassing umbrella term, it can get confusing and lead a lot of us into forgetting the other types of autism, especially with the harm of stereotypes. Sorry, that was a lot but I hope it helps
Sorry I don't have the brain juices right now to answer with an equally articulated discourse, I appreciate your efforts and the thoughtfulness in writing your answer
I 100% see Shadow as autistic, but I disagree on the scene with Amy’s hug. He jumps the same way anyone would at a surprise hug like that; heck, Silver (also autistic if you ask me) has a much more exaggerated reaction in 06. Sonic jumps and runs away, too. But Shadow waits for her to pull away first, then smiles at her just a bit afterward and tries to step after her. He didn’t mind the hug after the first second or two; this poor boy *needed* a hug. This scene was his first big humanizing moment and feeds into the finale, a.k.a. only the sweetest, gentlest voice in the room could get through to him. (Sorry, huge Amy fan here, lol.)
This is excellent. I've always related to Shadow, being autistic myself and while i don't have PTSD, I have been "diagnosed" as having moderately high trauma. He's always been my favorite character and while he's not canonically autistic, I just relate to this edgy hedgehog more than most other fictional characters. I really hope that you can show off what you got from Shadow 2005. I doubt Heroes has a lot to it unfortunately and I'm not sure if 06 and onward could even make a full video. But seeing what you got from Shadow 05 would be interesting.
Shiro Maekawa confirmed that in some of the rouge scenes, Shadow is just staring at her cleavage, to excuse his not looking Rouge in the eye. I have no clue what this says for his autism.
also also Shadow goes British at around 1:55. His first 'ARK' is in his usual accent, but '...ARK contained' is British before he goes back to his usual accent. I don't know what this means but I think it's cool
As autistic person myself, this video kinda starts to feel like mocking. Not to say, it was meant to, I truly believe it was not. I just can't manage myself to get to think otherwise when I'm not sure weather to laugh, or not I'm just writing this, in case someone did felt the same way
I feel caught between a rock and a hard place with this one On the one hand, I plead innocent, I did not mean that On the other hand, if the ultimate life form is *anything;* autistic, allistic, ADHD, BPD, neurotypical, etc, that has implications for everything else If the ultimate life form is neurotypical, that seems to look down on neurodivergence. If the ultimate life form is neurodivergent, that seems to look down on neurotypicals. Both have value of their own right. Like, if the ultimate life form was Latinx, does that say anything about whites, blacks, and Asians? I sincerely hope it wouldn't say much, y'know?
Contextualizing Shadow’s interest in the chaos emeralds as a special interest makes “Where’s that DAMN fourth chaos emerald” extra funny to me
YES
I think he and Knuckles would enjoy collecting cool rocks together
Oh my goodness I want to see that now, especially as a person who myself likes rocks
New fanart idea dropped
Full blown members of the local Gem and Mineral Society
i feel like if knuckles ever needed to take a quick break from guarding the master emerald he'd pick shadow to take his place. rock understander solidarity.
THE ULTIMATE AUTISM FORM
nah dawg thats me 💀
Was not expecting the original dialogue to be just as unhinged as the fan dub
Technically this is a translation, not the original dialogue
@@alteredishere its still official dialogue though and they sound insane LMAOO
while I 100% agree with this I think that his emotional investment with Maria and her wish is trauma related and not a sign of autism
Yeah lol
There's definitely a strong trauma link there 100%. But autistic people tend to be more prone to trauma in the first place so I kinda had both of those going through my mind while I was going through the scenes. Thanks for pointing it out!
As an Autistic with intense trauma over familial death I second Enolp.
While definitely possible for allistics to have that kind of response -- *anyone* can hate eye contact, or loud sounds, or fixate heavily on interests, or be bad at communicating with allistics, even if allistic, for example -- PTSD overlaps heeaavily with a lot of autistic symptoms, and has a horribly compounding effect. It *might* not be an autistic thing, but if combined with every other symptom presented it seems like a minuscule chance that they would all be unrelated.
Of course in SA2 it almost certainly wasn't on purpose, but back then what we call 'autistic behavior' was more considered 'loner tropes' and they 100% used loner tropes for Shadow on purpose.
I don't think there's a single autistic person alive today without trauma. We live in a society that is incredibly traumatic for us, by its very design.
@@enolp
This tells me there's unclear causal relationship between autism and trauma then. As in what you consider symptoms of autism could result from complex trauma. With epigenetic factors in mind as well, this trauma wouldn't have needed to happen to you personally either, if you inherit the trauma from your parents.
The emeralds are necessary to reactivate the eclipse cannon.
What I noticed mostly is how bad his eye contact is.
Even Shiro Maekawa, the man who gave this personality to Shadow, jokes a bit about this.
Fr
the whole time I was just thinking of his fandub lines
Same
PFFFT mood
MOOD THO
Imagine it, warm liquids
Maria... >BOOM
When shadow comments 'I guess hes just a normal hedgehog after all'
I dont think that's low empathy. Shadows whole character is based around empathy. I think after seeing Sonic's tenacity and skill, he begins to think rather highly of him. (At the end, he even says he thinks sonic might be the true ultimate life form.) So I think it was more dismay and a moment of doubt, (maybe even sorrow?) than a cold observation.
That makes sense actually, thank you
So basically ALL Shadow’s moments. BECAUSE HES 100% AUTISTIC I AGGREE WITH YOU
Eggman so smart he learned shadow was not sonic by himself
Haha right?
@@enolp yes
I forgot how bonkers the audio mixing is in Adventure 2
REAL
I like to imagine the budget didn’t cover a proper audio engineer lol
especially the Gamecube Port
Can we just talk about how damn loud the music in the game is while characters are talking? Like who thought playing the music at full blast while people are talking was a good idea?
Right?
It's actually a bug in the port to newer consoles. The DreamCast version has better mixing.
this is actually a porting issue! the dreamcast had a built in audio compressor in its hardware that kicked in to limit volume, but the ports left the audio files as they were so they just get blasted LOL
2:30 my favorite part in SA2. I love seeing Shadow so lively and passionate. Although he is literally talking like a mad scientist.
To be fair, can you blame him? he was created and raised by one, if you think about it. That is to say, i think Ivo inherited his ma scientist energy. Gerald was simply more a man of the people for the greater good or whatever, kinda, mostly for Maria in action but still. I wouldn't be surprised if Shadow ever experimented with the scientific method in an approach to something new, out of curiosity. other than Gerald there WERE other scientists on the Ark as well. he's gotta be a total nerd under all that angst.
edit: OMG,,,, consider, robotniks are autistic.... area autistic scientist with who knows how many doctorates makes an alien creature who is so autistic but doesn't notice he thinks that's normal developmental behavior. inherited it from his old man LMAO.
_I wonder who he got it from_
@@spartanwar1185*you're so right omg*
he's literally mirroring gerald
Some of those moments I’m unsure of whether they can be counted, (hard ware limitations were existent) however I do find that I do do a lot of this (as an autistic person). As much as him being autistic probably isn’t canon, I do see it. Definitely got the vibes.
Yeah, some of it was definitely me just being extra in my fixation to picking apart everything about him. I thought I'd keep it in anyway, since I thought it was fun to point out all the little details, regardless if they were actually intentional or bordering on uncontrollable or not. I hope you enjoyed the video despite those spots!
I mean, autism in media somentimes is represented as a metaphor and not really the creature being autistic. Just look at Peridot from Steven Universe for example
I love Peridot for that reason
canonically autistic or not i dont think he's neurotypical
@@champagnesupernova1839HE'S THE ULTIMATE NEURO FORM 🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥
2:58 I like current Amy, but as a kid I hated her for doing stuff like this…
In middle school I had a “”friend”” who would insist upon running up and hugging me from behind, no matter how many times I asked her not to
I wish I'd had a friend like that.
@@christianschoff2490You wish you had a friend who would... disrespect your boundaries...? Your reply is kind of ignoring the context of the comment, no?
@hyalophora I had no friends at all. None. And all of the ones I have now, all live in other states. So yes, I wish I had a friend who would do that. It would have been a nice change of pace from getting beaten up every day.
shadow looking over his shoulder while talking to maria about what earth is like reminds me of how i do that every now and then just to make sure noone's quietly appeared in the room without me noticing lol
Oh my heavens I do that too
Especially if I have my noise canceling headphones on
I swear every Sonic character is neurodivergent like wtf
Its what makes them unique/ interesting
that’s how the fanbase is able to relate to them
@@seniordiscountvibes7168 perhaps I'm secretly a Sonic character...
Yea, kinda makes me wonder if the script writers making these characters are neurodivergent in some way.
@@feiradragon7915 omg that'd be so cool
3:00 THE WAY HE TURNED AROUND SO SLOWLY IS KILLING ME OMG😭 Jokes aside tho after watching Sonic 3 I've been hyperfixating so badly on Shadow and just the sonic universe in general, and I forgot where I was going with this but basically I really enjoyed this video so so much, if you make another one I will 100% be watching it bc my gosh I never knew how much I needed autistic Shadow😭😭 I love him sm he's so silly
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!!
As a neurodivergent kid I can relate with shadow also he’s my favorite character too
based, as another young person who is likely neurodivergent and relates with shadow
@jojounicorn4610Does aspergers syndrome count
Whoever did the soundmixing on these cutscenes needed their ears checked bad😭😭😭😭😭
SA2 sound editors were cooking NOTHING
REAL HAHA
actually,that's an error from the pc version,in the original and in the gamecube release the soundmixing was fine
@@thisisapictureofmydog.isnt9208they were cooking air 😭🙏
@@Madude-s6jI played it on the PS4 and the sound mixing was still dogshit
Ngl some of the hate comments here really show how dickish some people can be about these headcanons. People will see an autistic headcanon and immediately interpret it as an attack on their favorite character.
What I think is funniest about that is that to me, interpreting Shadow's traits as autistic adds depth and interest to an already compelling character
@@enolp While I'm not sure I 100% agree on the Shadow thing, a similar character I've always headcanoned as autistic is Jotaro Kujo from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Not only do I believe interpreting him that way makes a lot of sense given how he acts, but it makes him much more relatable to me. Of course I couldn't possibly admit that in the Jojo community without being jumped for it. I'm anticipating the day we can share these headcanons in all kinds of fandoms without getting ableist backlash for it.
People read autism into everything these days. More upset people never thought about how shadow's memories being possibly fabricated harms his character!
I don't see any hate comments
i will say i recommend looking at more accurate translations of the japanese script.
not because you're wrong but because looking at translations closer to the original intent makes for an even stronger argument that he is autism personified
Interesting, any particular moments come to mind for me to consider?
@enolp the scenes that i recall being changed the most are his meeting with sonic on Prison Island, any scenes with Maria, his confrontation of Rouge & Amy's speech. my good friend 'windii gaylord' has actually uploaded subbed videos translating the story of sa2 among other things!
the japanese version also showcases his different way of speaking more as well!
The gap moe of Shadow being edgy as hell and driven by trauma, but also very autistic is enough to make me side with this headcanon. Those traits seem like they shouldn't mix, and that ends up selling the idea for me.
He's just too cute :'^)
In the Shadow the Hedgehog game, in the opening scene he says "I don't have time for these humans." I know he says that because he's not a human, but as an autistic person myself who's felt out of place a lot in life, feeling like an insect among humans, that was an extremely relatable thing he said.
5:55 MARIA
Anyhow; I bet that a lot of what reads as autistic for Shadow in SA2 is accidental outside of the things that intersect between 'autism' and 'loner trope' because really the general population knew nothing about autism at the time, but I like to think that since then official creators have picked up on it and included it on purpose. I mean, look at movie Shadow; that kid's hitting soooo many boxes, and I seeeriously doubt with how much they've talked about being careful with Shadow's tone and delivery that *nobody* on the audio/acting team noticed how very autistic his speech is.
The perk to this not being 'official' is that, of course, the capitalism side of things would sanitize him way tf down and we wouldn't get the honestly pretty spot-on rep for specifically folks with autism combined with grief-based PTSD and how it plays with those of us that react with anger, which I greatly appreciate; I say, totally *"not"* being a late-diagnosed Autistic Adult who went through intense personal tragedy and then realized 'Oh,, I like,, *Understand* Shadow the Hedgehog now'.
Sometimes angry grieving autistic young-adults *should* get to ride cool bikes, be intensely angry, and fight The Man, actually; as a treat; and Shadow 2005 is a lot less strange in that context.
"Maria" *BOOOOM*
I agree that it definitely doesn't seem intentional, at least for the time period of this game and Shadow 2005. I'm happy that you've got Shadow for some amount of comfort in what you've faced. YOU GET THAT AWESOME MOTORCYCLE ❤️✨
You know I love how the ultimate lifeform, created to be perfect, has autism. He’s like me fr
4:23 Shadow: "I think it's a waste of time"
autistic shadow is probably my favorite headcanon for him ❤ (yes I'm also autistic yes I do love to project onto my faves)
he's so cool yay
2:23 Now hold on a second, being autistic doesn't automatically mean low empathy. You can still be a bleeding heart for people and aninals and even feel what they feel twice as intensely as everyone else. It DOES mean that you may struggle with WHY they feel as they do.
ALSO PLEASE THE THING WITH THE ADHD FRIEND IS SO TRUE
Oh for sure, some autistics have low empathy, some have high empathy, some fall in the middle (I think I'm in the middle but it's honestly hard to tell sometimes). I think he kinda gives low empathy vibes and he comes across autistic to me, but nah, 100% not a one-size-fits-all in that category. So I definitely agree with you, I didn't mean to imply otherwise
being autistic doesnt mean low empathy but low empathy can be a sign of autism. i feel that was pretty clearly the intention of the OP here
@@enolp I think the empathy thing comes with the attention and interest we have.
Maria suffers or a plant/animal which is our special interest? HYPER empathy! A random person suffering ? Nah none of my business.
@@enolp I'm kinda in the "high empathy but had to swallow it so much I come off as having low empathy unless (1) I know exactly how to care for someone I actually care about or (2) I care about them much more than I can care for them" zone
Please make a part 2
I have this headcanon too and i was crazy behind something about that
ur soooooo right. he makes autism look so cool… shadows my current hyperfixation i needed 2 see this. cool video.
I've watched so much of the snapcube dub seeing the actual scenes feels wrong anyways yesss hes just like me frrrrrrrrrr
Makes sense, ppl say sonic has ADHD, so shadow having autism goes full circle 💙🖤❤️🩹
ADHD autism solidarity ftw
Most epic rap battles in history, adhd vs autism
as someone who kins both and has AUDHD this makes sense
@Shadows_emerald both of them at the same time is a wild combo like super power
@ super??? LIKE SUPER SONIC?? (Sorry my special interest is sonic)
1:55 Shadow is British confirmed. 😂
I'm fairly certain his English VA gave him a Transatlantic accent-- a learned accent that you'll hear in very old movies. It combines American and English pronunciation and was supposed to be the most sophisticated sounding way of speaking English. Also, the VA had background in theater as well so there's that
3:00 *cue rock sliding sound effect*
PFFFFFT-
Now that would be a good edit
SHADOW IS SO AUTISTIC.. I'm gonna yap so much rq. ALSO I ALMOST WENT "No he pronounced research how everyone does" then i ermembered im autistic.
THE CORRECTING PEOPLE ON HIS AIR SHOES. He wants people to call things the right name so bad.
Rarely showing visible emotion.
He either has his hands balled up or in this weird splayed out way thats almost EXACTLY how i hold my hands when they get anything sticky on them.
repeatedly shown to struggle with social situations
can i just put down every single one of his idle animations. All of them are VERY stimming coded. his SA2B idle he's literally swaying himself a lil while doing the self-hug/cross arms. His messing with his quills. and his little look around before crossing his arms in several... the way he seems to almost nervously switch through poses in sxsg- probably not intentional but I RELATE TO IT SO ITS GOING HERE. him kinda jumping around in his seat in tsr.. also his idle voiceline in sa2 "The last chaos emerald will be within my rreach soon" Everyone say it with me. MONOTROPISM!
i have more but i forgot them i got too focused on his idles
As an autistic person that had a head canon that shadow was also autistic im so happy i wasent the only person that was thinking that
bro's definitely BPD and/or PTSD aswell
As an autistic woman; I approve of this. I guess his lack of empathy and fixation on Maria could do with trauma. Not to mention he refused to be close to anyone as he doesn't want them to die like she did.
Shadow's story being a story of seeking to understand both others and himself is super analogous to autism.
"Maria... this is what you wanted, right?" shows this quite well. He struggles to understand her affection for humanity, her inherent empathy for everyone on Earth, but he does know she cares about it. He protects the Earth because it's something she cared about, even if he can't relate to the reason. They're excellent foils as Maria has so much love and empathy and Shadow struggles so much to understand it, but they grow close nonetheless.
Feeling like you're different and you have no place to belong is so relatable as an autistic person. I hope Shadow finds the place he belongs someday.
I think that's more badass-ery and "aura farming" than autism, like, this new guy stays calm and collected when the entire goddamn island will explode, knowing full well he can easily leave, as TFS Vegeta once said, "OH MY GOD! HE'S SO... GOD! DAMN! COOL!"
Probably, but I can dream
Not sure I agree with you tbh... while he does exhibit some autistic traits, a lot of them could easily stem from the isolation and trauma he got from his time on the ARK. Upbringing has an effect too. And Shadow didn't get a lot of socialization as a "child."
(Don't misinderstand me here. I don't have a problem with the idea of Shadow being autistic. I'm autistic myself, and it's always cool to see a well-written autistic or autistic coded character. I just don't personally think that's what's going on with Shadow.)
That's fair
I agree with you.
6:34 Welcome to Funland Sonic!
Also, welcome to the F@cked Eggman's Wife club.
I loved this video and it honestly gave me a much better idea of what monotropism means LOL 💙 Shadow and Maria are my favorite characters precisely bc I have chronic illnesses like Maria’s and (possibly) autism, so I relate to both of them a lot and I find it really touching that Shadow’s story revolves so much around disabled injustice. It’s too bad so many people have a knee jerk reaction to autistic/disabled HCs and will nitpick rather than exploring the narrative possibilities of Shadow and Maria being so close bc of shared disabled experiences. Ty for the video and don’t mind the haters 💙💙
Thank you!! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! We definitely could do with better disability acceptance 💙
This means so much to me,, thank you for making it
His character is so much easier to relate to and understand when I see him as autistic
my girlypop…..
Well, like others say, it may not be canon, but I can kinda see it. The 'Normal reaction to the island blowing up' part is a bit unfair, though.
Sonic is more surprised because he had no idea he's running around on a ticking time bomb. Shadow knew, he just lost track of time
Realistically, given that he was very intentionally made, it is highly unlikely that he would be autistic, simply not very socialized. Fun theorizing, though!
As someone who’s autistic……and does shadows pose as a comfort thing……this is so true 😭 come on Sega just confirm it already!-
shadow: ah yes, so in this case, a game of *basque* ball
sonic: *shadow i know you know how to say it.*
HAHAHAH YES THANK YOU FELLOW ROTTMNT FAN
I don't know if I see it, I liked reading your comments though. this was a fun video :D
hope you have a good day
He's nonchalant and I feel like his actions are just supposed to add on to that idea that he doesn't care for anything other than fulfilling his promise to Maria, but who knows maybe he is autistic, I just personally have never considered that he was but there are signs 👍
I think it's his relatively blunted affect and flat tone that sells it for me. He speaks so deliberately that I can't help but make the connection.
2:40 It really is. Being on the spectrum myself, I cannot for the life of me stand still for long periods of time. I’ve learned from years of choir experience that I have to occasionally step and sway back and forth to keep the blood in my legs moving, otherwise they get fatigued really quick.
Bro same, I am constantly swaying while I sing in choir. Even though my head doesn't sway super noticeably I'm constantly shifting on my legs with my hips. Part of it is for blood flow and stuff, the other part is for just a lil stim because I love singing sm
SA2 really put into perspective my own view of my autism AND adhd,, they're both just like me fr
The weird animation in SA2 (not even Shadow, but everyone in the game) can be chalked up to its age and hardware. SA2 came out in 2001 on the Dreamcast, a console that's somewhere between 5th (N64, PS1) and 6th (GC, PS2, Xbox) gen consoles in terms of hardware capabilities. The game came out in an era where 3D graphics were new to both artists and game designers, so it's likely Sonic Team weren't as experienced with the animation software, or wanted to save on space (since reducing keyframes can drastically reduce an animation's exported/compiled size, but can result in some incredibly clunky animations if done poorly.)
Shadow is basically my spirit animal
I kept thinking about the snapcube fandub the whole video 😭
Game shadow is 1000 percent neurodivergent but Archie comics Shadow is *100000000000* percent neurodivergent and I wont be convinced otherwise
I'm gonna have to take another look at Archie Shadow now
Mm... I still think Silver the more autistic one, but there's something here.
Probably. The fanon Silver definitely seems autistic to me haha, though I don't have much experience with canon Silver at this point in time, aside from a little bit of Archie which is its own separate canon. Maybe I'll explore that a bit in the future
@@enolp check IDW. Silver strikes me as neurodivergent of some kind for sure.
Honestly? I'm sold. Never thought of it before but this is my headcanon now as well. Congratulations.
This is a fun read on the character! Not sure it's my takeaway from his behavior but your enthusiasm is contagious!
this game is absolutely amazing even though i am kinda suck-average at it
Me relating to literally every little thing:
Yeah I'm definitely autistic
2:58 relate to this one sm
"I haven't even touched all the scenes i gather from Shadow 05-"
So, you're saying theres gonna be a sequel? Because...
Please 😂
2:20 OMG THE WAY HIS EAR MOVES- I CAN'T HOLD THIS CUTENESS AHHH >///
I have autism as well, and this video just showed me how bad I got it. No biggie, though. Thanks for the information!
Can u keep the text on the screen for more than 3 picoseconds please i cant read that fast
Fair, I figured a lot of it would require rewinding and/or pausing but I do understand it can be kinda annoying as a viewer. I'll try to keep them up longer if I follow through to Shadow 2005
This is a cool little video, if you don't mind me voicing a slight critisism: The text zooms by so fast that I could rarely read it in the first attempt and had to go back.
While that's good for more watchtime, I'd prefer not to jump back all the time.
Maybe until the next shadow-video, thank you and much success
Thank you, I'll keep that in mind. The timing was intended for humor but I do understand that it can get pretty annoying to not be able to read it the first time
So Bassically all shadow appearences in SA2
I LOVE THIS OMG
I do find it interesting that I've seen this theory a lot lately, because I feel like Shadow is much more of a BPD type than anything. Not that the theory that he's autistic is wrong of course, and I could just be projecting myself because I'm pretty sure I have trauma-borne BPD.
Interestinggggg
I'm actually really curious, if you're willing I would love elaboration, I don't know a whole lot about the BPD experience
I love that this video was made this month but it looks like it was recorded in late 2000s :)
I promise you... revenge! guac.
This is why i have autism and liking shadow.
*Ahem* Sonic Unleashed and how locked at direct eye contact with each other that Sonic and Chip were throughout a whole separate scene with Eggman. And also, Japan does not know how looking at people into the eyes exactly work for all the reasons that Americans do it.
Japanese people talk without eye contact and with SEGA branching out into America and Europe more it meant the awkwardness of direct eye contact in Japan was bled into their works. All those scenes are motion captured by Japanese actors back then and translation was just becoming the center of 3D Sonic games at the time. Sonic 06 and Unleashed showed exactly what was in Sonic Adventure 2. The same motion capturing with Japanese actors and the translation process that comes with it.
But nowadays, it is 3D animation doing a lot of the work and Japanese-English translation as the main focus.
Interesting, I admittedly don't know a whole lot about Japanese culture so I wasn't aware of how eye contact is treated in Japan
3:00 OH MY GOD REAAAAALLL
I knew there was something in that turn that just resonated with me
That’s the strongest autism evidence for sure
Shadow sometimes has autistic vibes, but nah he's not. Great vid though!
Disagreed
I think he very well could be. Considering he was artificially created.
@@TheONLYFeli0 why would Gerald make an autistic hedgehog?
That's a fair point honestly, my mom has some autistic traits but isn't autistic
Ok as a late audhd diagnosed person I feel kind of butthurt on the low empathy considered as a symptom of autism... mostly because in my life I've been EXCEEDINGLY empathetic (to the point of going against my own interests at times)
That's understandable. I would like to note that while some autistic people like you have high empathy, others have low empathy, and either one can be a trait of autism. Just because someone's autistic doesn't mean they have low empathy, but low empathy can still point to someone being autistic, if that makes sense
I'm still trying to understand it myself though, sometimes I physically feel other people's emotions and other times someone's loved one dies or something and I can't control the fact that my internal response is "that's sad, I guess"
Regardless, I feel like that's one of the problems of having such a large encompassing umbrella term, it can get confusing and lead a lot of us into forgetting the other types of autism, especially with the harm of stereotypes.
Sorry, that was a lot but I hope it helps
@@enolp it's fine! :3
Sorry I don't have the brain juices right now to answer with an equally articulated discourse, I appreciate your efforts and the thoughtfulness in writing your answer
Will you make a sonic 06 version of this (I headcanon both silver and shadow to be on the spectrum)
Game is like 25 years old and it still looks and sounds better than current games. I miss when games were made with passion.
not the audio mixing though LMAO
I cannot keep up with the text boxes long enough to read more than two words. Otherwise pretty cool.
Shadow is literally me 😭😭
I 100% see Shadow as autistic, but I disagree on the scene with Amy’s hug. He jumps the same way anyone would at a surprise hug like that; heck, Silver (also autistic if you ask me) has a much more exaggerated reaction in 06. Sonic jumps and runs away, too.
But Shadow waits for her to pull away first, then smiles at her just a bit afterward and tries to step after her.
He didn’t mind the hug after the first second or two; this poor boy *needed* a hug. This scene was his first big humanizing moment and feeds into the finale, a.k.a. only the sweetest, gentlest voice in the room could get through to him.
(Sorry, huge Amy fan here, lol.)
Honestly, you right
This is excellent. I've always related to Shadow, being autistic myself and while i don't have PTSD, I have been "diagnosed" as having moderately high trauma. He's always been my favorite character and while he's not canonically autistic, I just relate to this edgy hedgehog more than most other fictional characters.
I really hope that you can show off what you got from Shadow 2005. I doubt Heroes has a lot to it unfortunately and I'm not sure if 06 and onward could even make a full video. But seeing what you got from Shadow 05 would be interesting.
ive always wondered why i love this character so much but now i know 🥹🥹
Shiro Maekawa confirmed that in some of the rouge scenes, Shadow is just staring at her cleavage, to excuse his not looking Rouge in the eye. I have no clue what this says for his autism.
Oh gosh
Damn his rivalry with Sonic is the ultimate adh-
6:40 oh you brought it up lol
also also Shadow goes British at around 1:55. His first 'ARK' is in his usual accent, but '...ARK contained' is British before he goes back to his usual accent. I don't know what this means but I think it's cool
Wait is he British?? I thought that pronunciation was kinda funny to be coming out of nowhere like that but wasn't quite sure what to make of it
@@enolp I'm not sure but it kinda sounds like what I imagine a British person might sound like!
@@bobbob1876 Im british and i kinda sound like that
its a transatlantic accent!
6:41 man how the heck can you die hard?? Do you like become a rock or something?? I need to know
RIGHT?? THAT LINE CONFUSES ME SO MUCH
@ thank pizza I’m not the only one confused by this
@enolp i think its an expression, although ive never heard it used outside of this game
As autistic person myself, this video kinda starts to feel like mocking. Not to say, it was meant to, I truly believe it was not. I just can't manage myself to get to think otherwise when I'm not sure weather to laugh, or not
I'm just writing this, in case someone did felt the same way
I'm Autistic and I do all these things yet it never occurred to me that Shadow did them. XD
I am the ultimate autistic
He's so me fr
I feel seen by shadows character it’s another reason I like him so so much I find him utterly relatable
SAME
If *the ultimate life form* has autism, that has some implications.
I feel caught between a rock and a hard place with this one
On the one hand, I plead innocent, I did not mean that
On the other hand, if the ultimate life form is *anything;* autistic, allistic, ADHD, BPD, neurotypical, etc, that has implications for everything else
If the ultimate life form is neurotypical, that seems to look down on neurodivergence. If the ultimate life form is neurodivergent, that seems to look down on neurotypicals. Both have value of their own right. Like, if the ultimate life form was Latinx, does that say anything about whites, blacks, and Asians? I sincerely hope it wouldn't say much, y'know?
Shadow smiles when Amy hugs him on Prison Island though.
Also, wow that music does not fit in the cutscene where he confronts Rouge.
Wait when is that? I can't remember
@enolp
3:00
It's a little hard to see because of how crusty the Dreamcast version is, but you can easily see on SA2 Battle that he smiles here.
@enolp I'm talking about the music at 6:20
HOLY CRAP I FOUND A CLIP OF THAT AND YOURE RIGHT
THAT WAS SO DISARMING HAHAHA
Also fax on that music bit
he just like me fr
He really *is* just like me fr
bold of you to asume he isn't