Why Shadow Was (Kind Of) Disappointing In Sonic Prime

So, what are your thoughts on Shadow’s Character in the show? Do you agree with me? Disagree? Leave a comment letting me know your thoughts and I’ll do my best to read and respond to as many as I can!

Track List (In order of appearance):
Sea Gate – Sonic Heroes
Seaside Hill – Sonic Heroes
All Hail Shadow (Instrumental) – Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)
For True Story – Circuit Freq RMX (Instrumental) – Sonic Generations
Crisis City (Modern) – Sonic Generations
This Machine (Instrumental) – Sonic Heroes
Cool Edge (Night) – Sonic Unleashed
Extras – Sonic The Hedgehog (2006)
I Am All Of Me (Crush 40) (Instrumental) – Shadow The Hedgehog

and also when shadow was in hole and when sonic came he was able to come out of it that makes no sence

I already disliked how little screen time shadow got and his lack of impact on the plot considering the trailer, but this video me realize so many things. Awesome review! I still do love the show of course

I never watched the show, but I’m shocked he doesn’t even acknowledge Amy or Rouge? Especially since he’s close to them and he does show kindness and softness to Amy, he even smiles when she hugs and shows affection to him in old game. I do remember in the spin and dash comic that she had a little bit of an interest in it. And in the Olympics ice skating, he only shows interest and smiles if you pair him with Amy. I always felt like they had some connection, so I’m a bit shocked to see him not even care? Since he did show a soft spot for Amy and was vulnerable with her in the old game.

Idk its more so about sonic and nine so i don’t mind the lack of shadow in sonic prime

I had no idea this was supposed to be canon. And right after Sonic Advance 3 feels especially jarring. My guess is to keep Shadow an edge lord, until the Shadow The Hedgehog began

To be brutally honest, I think SEGA is afraid Shadow is going to become more popular than Sonic and so that's why he has to be shown less, do less, BE less.

We get it the only iteration of Shadow you like is from Sonic Adventure 2 24 years ago

imo I think sonic prime was written as a kids show that Teenagers and young adults ended up watching bc its a fandom mostly adored by them. If they had written it FOR teens and young adults I think it couldve been better, it was still pretty good though, atleast the narrative was. but omfg istg if was legit just watching the show for Shadow at some moments 😭

Sega has a problem (this happen in both games and shows), they've created a character with enough potential to be the main character but they try to make him the sidekick. This means that Shadow is always being underutilized and nerfed.

The biggest disappointment for me was that he didn't spare Rouge even a single glance. It felt like he wasn't part even of his world. What was he doing for starters? Looking for a Chaos Emerald in rocks? Why? Where did he go afterwards? He was there and then he wasn't. He fought Sonic for... what exactly? Because he heard an explosion and Sonic was running around?

I'd have prefered a little less screen time of the Chaos Council and more of Shadow. He could have been great to the plot if only they worked a bit more to develop it (not just Shadow's part but the whole script).

Shadow was the least disappointing thing in the show

“Smashing hordes of sonic isn’t the worst thing in the world” - Shadow

Who else here after Sonic 3 movie?

This Shadow is best Shadow. Other than Keanu Shadow.

The voice actor for shadow on this show is literally perfect

This was a great Shadow. Not perfect, but great.

My biggest problem with Shadow is that he feels like someone who says he cares about his and Sonic's world, but the show doesn't explain why he is so desperate to save his world and why he is so angry with Sonic. If Shadow had attachments to Rouge or anyone other than Sonic, it would have made more sense. We don't see him attached to others or even mention caring about his world. Even a mention of Maria and his promise would have sufficed, but I don't believe we saw that.

My theory is that shadow can trust Rouge to handle things herself

It's funny, you mentioned at one point how writers must have looked at Shadow the Hedgehog the game and said that must be how Shadow is all the time...except they must only have seen a handful of cutscenes considering the lyrics of All Hail Shadow outright state that he's over all that AGAIN and that's the final boss track if I remember right, then there's No Turning Back, the credits song which again is outright about Shadow being over it...can't even blame Shadow the game really for his odd portrayals since because that (unnecessarily) resolved his trauma again

Let’s just do what we did when Kung Fu Panda 4 four came out and pretend it never existed and was never canon

Canon is just a marketing term at this point, the creatives on Prime were not making this show to fit into the main Sonic timeline, they were making a stand alone Sonic show.

Now that I think about it, Metal Sonic would've been great in Sonic Prime as an ally to Sonic for once. Plus, he wouldn't be there for marketing, and he and Rusty Rose could actually grow used to each other throughout the show, making Metal Sonic actually care about others, not just himself for the first time. Wait this is a video about Shadow... OH MY GO-

I don't think Ian thought about it too deeply when he said Prime is canon & takes place after Advance 3. It just so happens that the show isn't too out of the box for what we're used to in canon, so Ian must've thought eh, might as well canonize it (especially since, as he said, it technically wipes itself out). An alternative example is Sonic Boom, which is written way too much like a spin-off series, and it just isn't possible to place it in the main, lore-based timeline of the games.

The third movie would like to have a word with you. 😐

I think he keeps on saying your friends is cause he knows that it will get thru to sonic more than anything plus he is clearly a disappointed father

Before watching, I felt like Shadow in this show was an amalgamation of what I liked about him in the Adventure continuity (SA2, Heroes, 06) and what i didn't like about his edgier interpretations.

"third and final" was the end not setting up season 4

Nah shadow just kept jinxing it cause he kept talking shit about nine😂


Edit: I’m just playing

this is the reason why i disliked sonic prime sm!

It's true that most of the time Shadow showed up in Prime just to stop Sonic from doing something stupid because they literally dropped Sonic IQ down in this show. And then most of the time lock him out of the main plot because he would just problem solve everything too quickly. Kind of upset because i really like Prime Shadow whenever he's on screen and I wished they would do more with him

Something I disliked about Shadow’s portrayal in Prime is the extreme lack of chaos abilities, there’s no chaos snap, no chaos spear, none of the techniques from sonic battle, all he can do without a chaos emerald, and him not using them I can only speculate is down to one of 2 reasons, either 1) the writers didn’t know he could use those abilities or 2) they did know and intentionally nerfed him because with them he’d be to powerful.

December 2024, Prime has still to have any relevance in Sonic games

The only disappointment I had with Shadow in Prime is that we didn't get nearly enough of him.

Could anyone explain me what cannon is? And I also heard something like fannon...

Please do a video on Sonic Prime’s character in another video cause I find him really annoying

Shoot even shadow the hedgehog had a good portrayl of shadow if you listen to the characters dialouge he sees sonic as annoying but still carries a sense of respect, while not overly concerned with Knuckles, espio and the others by the dialogue at the end of the heroes missions and Story summaries between each stage he is much more approachable to the characters.

I’ve recently watched sonic prime and I totally agree with the “using shadow js for views” like, the roles he played were actually very important, BUT THEY DIDN’T GAVE HIM PROPRER SCREENTIME!! Like, I get that they can’t only make the show abt shadow, BUT AT LEAST SHOW HIM DOING WHAT HIS ROLE ASKS FOR!! And yes, when he apeared he was a total badass, ngl, BUT I KEPT SAYING OUT LOUD “and, while this happens, shadow is doing…?” Like he was kept literally blocked from the whole cast many times js for the plot and cuz they didn’t know what to do with him, but like think: “if u swapped shadow with any other character in the scenes that he apeared, would the other characters act the same?” And if yes, Shadow’s not doing “shadow’s role”, he’s doing “a role for the plot”. If his actions on the show don’t reflect his personality and backstory, the character wasn’t totally well written, and yes he had his moments, but still it needed more of his backstory affecting his personality and actions.
Still I’m hiperfixated on the show anyways so I still like it either of that, but it needed some ajustments (EDIT: Also in sonic’s personality too, but It’s a different case)

Sega really ruined Shadow's character big time.
From ultimate lifeform to ultimate bum.

Calmer? More reasonable? My guy he immediately beat the crap out of Sonic 😂

They hyped Shadow up before the show came out and his screen time is abysmal, the one character that’s (slightly) decently written is the one that gets the least amount of screen time

I definitely agree that Sonic Prime should have been a separate canon, either that, or the entire show should just be rewritten to accommodate for so many wrongs.

team dark has returned

Way better than boom

Sega is also trying to claim that Sonic Speed Simulator is canon😭😭 legit it feels like they just want an excuse to not add Mephiles into that game