Sonic Destruction

Sonic Destruction is a series of videos done by the crew of Real-Time Fandub on the SnapCube channel. The project isn't actually a dub of any Sonic game, or any extant media at all: instead, it's a live reading of a script for a Sonic fanfilm/fanseries titled, indeed, Sonic Destruction. The catch is that the script was generated using AI Dungeon, with a little bit of manual prompting to keep its train of thought in line. Hilarity ensues thanks to the AI creating inane dialogue and absurd plot twists, which the dubbers try to keep up with as they maneuver through the increasingly nonsensical storyline.

You can watch the series here.

Tropes:

• Aborted Arc:
  • While Episode 1 starts with Eggman trying to conquer the world with robots, it quickly goes completely unfulfilled after Sonic and his friends realize they're susceptible to Paper-Thin Disguise, with him instead focusing on his Ultimate Lifeform.
  • Shadow suspects that Princess Elise is influencing Sonic's behavior somehow — potentially explaining why he's acting so weird — and Knuckles makes an off-hand comment that she's an evil fake created by Eggman. Neither of these plot points are ever fully addressed before Sonic dies and Elise is defeated, while Eggman makes no comment on what, if anything, he did to Elise after he gives up.
  • At the end of Episode 1, Shadow and Elise decide to leave to visit Earth. Episode 2 picks up immediately after the end of Episode 1, and quickly reveals that Shadow and Elise are still on whatever planet the series takes place on. Their intention to visit Earth has yet to be revisited.
• Acting in the Dark:invoked The only one who knows what's in the script ahead of time is Penny, and she's just as confused by the AI's output as everyone else.
• Ambiguous Situation: Even by the standards of the series, Shadow's B-plot in Episode 2 will make anyone wonder when or where it's happening. At first, it's implied that the entire sequence is a virtual recreation of a past event played by Silver through the Shadow the Hedgehog video game, but said B-plot is also intertwined with Sonic the Human's story, so it can't be a past event, and seems to be concurrent with the events inside City Hall. It's enough of a Mind Screw to send anyone trying to pay attention to the nonsense plot for a loop.
• The Antichrist: Gerald claims that Silver is an incarnation of Satan.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The examples Shadow provides of the type of mission the Chaotix have for him are surveillance, search and rescue, or investigating an odd noise.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Interruption: Just as the narration reads "Sonic snarls, showing his teeth", Ryan's mic picks up the sound of his dog barking in the background.
• Based on a True Story:
  • Before the dubbing starts, Holly comments that the weird thing is that everything actually happened.
  • In-Universe, Shadow the Hedgehog is apparently based upon a real government project. The government is deeply ashamed by it. invoked
• Bathtub Bonding: Downplayed. During Sonic and Shadow's conversation about Elise being evil, only Sonic is in the bathtub.
• Battle Amongst the Flames: The battle between the heroes and Elise's dragon happens in the middle of the burning city.
• Behind the Black: The AI keeps forgetting that it didn't establish certain characters being in a scene before they start talking, which leads to them appearing out of nowhere to speak. This is especially true with Knuckles, who seemingly teleports in so many times that the cast jokes that he's just out of frame constantly, waiting for his chance to jump out.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Knuckles' list of potential allies includes two addendums at the bottom that state how Espio and Big the Cat are pre-existing characters featured in Sonic comics and games.^note Chip and Ivor the Engine, despite also being pre-existing characters, do not get special mention.
• Canon Defilement: All over the place. The AI seems to start with a basic grasp of Sonic's characters and setting, but it quickly goes off the rails as it goes along. By the time episode 2 starts, almost nobody is remotely in-character with either their original or Real-Time Fandub personalities.
• Canon Foreigner:
  • Amongst all these Sonic mainstays and Elise is Mayor Jason King. There's also the Ultimate Lifeform, but that's at least based on the games.
  • Knuckles' list of 'people who can help' the protagonists starts off unusual but still within the Sonic games' universe, quickly ventures off into the comics, veers into obscure Welsh animated childrens' programmes, before making up four entirely new characters: Captain William Buckaneer, Sergeant "O", Professor Uma "Moebius" Fargod, and Lucas, the Flaming Centipede. None of these characters have thus far appeared.
  • Episode 2 introduces a new antagonist in Daedalus, a character created by the AI. He's responsible for the creation of the Book of Prophecies, Sonic's transformation into a human, and the death of Shadow.
• Campfire Character Exploration: Sonic reveals his personal failure of saving the planet from destruction to Amy and Tails (and Knuckles, who was inexplicably a part of the group) at a campfire.
• Crossover Punchline: Ivor the Engine is briefly mentioned on a list created by Knuckles of people who can help save the city.
• Destructive Savior: The entire gang is basically this as they insist that the city is saved despite the fact that almost everyone died.
• Disc-One Final Boss: The confrontations with the Ultimate Lifeform and Elise's city-destroying dragon occur at the end of Episode 1 of the series.
• Dumbass No More: In previous Real-Time Fandub projects, Knuckles was portrayed as The Stoner with some shades of outright cloudcuckoolander. The nature of the AI-generated script combined with a new VA means he's become far more lucid. He's practically an Only Sane Man, taking initiative to combat Eggman and mostly lacking any crazy moments.
• Establishing Series Moment: Early in episode 1, we get a glimpse into just how absurd the series can get. Three people, almost certainly Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, are standing in front of a billboard, and due to how it's written, it's hard to tell whether the billboard has a picture of the Earth with a giant hole in it with a caption saying "The End of the World?" or there's actually a giant hole in the Earth with the caption at the bottom of it. Whichever it is, all Sonic has to say about it is "Uh, you guys hear about this?" only for the conversation to quickly derail when Knuckles mentions the news. And then, Sonic is called "Sonc" by the narration.
• Foreshadowing: It may be entirely accidental, but very occasionally something will tie back into an event that happened previously.
  • At one point, Penny makes an offhand comment about how even though Elise doesn't kiss a hedgehog in the Episode 1 script, "she does in the next one." Sure enough, in Episode 2 she very briefly appears to go on a date with Shadow, kiss included.
  • During said date, Shadow makes an offhand comment about how his "user" can play the piano. Later, when Silver brings in the PS2 with Shadow the Hedgehog on it, he declares that he is actually Shadow the Hedgehog, and that he's playing Shadow's life through the game.
• Gaia's Lament: The script makes several references to the planet dying due to some unspecified failure of Sonic's.
• Government Conspiracy: Episode 2 reveals such an assortment of them that it's a bit convoluted to follow.
• I Just Like Saying the Word: The cast thinks that the AI likes using the word "large".
• Insane Troll Logic: Vector says that the only way that you can tell if the satellites are invisible is to "look for the guy in the tight suit and sunglasses walking around."
• Kill Sat: The story opens with Eggman's satellite firing a laser at the planet, which leaves a gigantic hole that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles check out later.
• Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Eggman calls Gerald Robotnik "dad" in their first scene together. Only a few lines later, Gerald repeatedly calls Eggman dad. Eggman doesn't respond to this, and their relation is never brought up for the rest of the episode.
• Mecha-Mooks: Eggman made an army of 1,008 robots before even checking to see if a single one works. Some are bipedal, some are robotic arms, some are large and tank-like, some are spider-like, and some are tiny.
• Mind Control: Shadow theorizes that Sonic's Destructive Savior tendencies are actually a result of manipulation by someone like Elise, even questioning if he remembers ever "actually" eating a chili dog. Later, Shadow fights against Elise after the latter insists Shadow killed her people, when Shadow's never even been to her city.
• Mind Screw: The whole thing, but especially once Episode 2 and everything to do with Daedalus starts up. There is a lot going on and no clear explanation to how it all connects. Particular highlights go to:
  • Eggman calling Gerald (actually his grandfather) his dad, then, without missing a beat, switching to Gerald referring to Eggman as his dad.
  • A second Shadow appearing out of nowhere.
  • Silver boots up a PlayStation 2 (in the form of a small, black cube) to reveal that the video game Shadow the Hedgehog exists within this universe.
  • Silver then immediately revealing that he has somehow been Shadow this whole time.
  • The relationship between Shadow, Silver and Daedalus, who are somehow all the same person despite the fact that we've seen Shadow and Silver separate from each other.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Episode 2 opens with the newly-human Sonic beating Jason King unconscious for seemingly no reason at all.
• Not Me This Time: There are multiple points in the script where it's very clear that Penny inserted her own jokes and/or was trying to wrangle with the AI to keep the story going. When the crew notices and asks her, she fesses up to it. However, there are a few instances where lines that are suspected to be Penny's doing were purely of the AI's creation, such as a couple comedically timed swears.
• Offscreen Teleportation: Knuckles is constantly showing up in scenes and interjecting. Most of the time, this is without ANY indication from the script directions that he entered the scene or was there to begin with, leading the cast to presume that he is simply teleporting around.
• Overly Long Gag: In Episode 2, when Silver is asked to elaborate on how he's Shadow, he goes on a long tangent about his backstory, in excruciating detail, with seemingly no relation to the question. Knuckles comments on the pointlessness of it several times.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: It's apparently obvious that Eggman is one of the masked men in City Hall. The cast then notes that this description apparently doesn't apply to the easily identifiable Tails and Knuckles.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: The good guys frequently talk about how they need to save the city while doing nothing to actually help. Eventually they start getting to work, though it's ambiguous how much they're actually doing since these actions are mostly offscreen. Eggman falsely claiming they've already saved the day indicates this trope is still in play.
• Precision F-Strike: While everyone in the cast swears frequently, they have to inject the cursing into their improvised lines or commentary; the actual script avoids profanity almost entirely. However, it does come up a couple times due to the AI trying to be comedic, which makes a big impact on the cast and they burst out laughing.
  Mayor Jason King: This is all your fault. You were supposed to save the city, not destroy it.
  Eggman: Don't you think I know that... you fuck?
  [everyone starts laughing]
• Random Events Plot: The very first episode involves the apparent end of the world, Eggman creating the Ultimate Life Form only to apparently switch sides off-screen, a completely abrupt appearance from a second Shadow the Hedgehog, The Reveal of the planet the characters are on not even being Earth, and Sonic being a human being at the end despite having apparently died. The second then introduces Daedalus, a mysterious entity connected to the plot in a number of increasingly confusing ways.
• Recursive Fiction: The Shadow the Hedgehog video game exists within the Sonic Destruction universe and was apparently developed by the government based on the exploits of Shadow himself. The final shot of Episode 2 reveals that Sonic Adventure 2 also exists In-Universe.
• Related Differently in the Adaptation: Like in the Adventure 2 fandub, Gerald Robotnik is Eggman's father... But he also at several points calls Eggman "Dad". It's unknown if he's just senile and Eggman is playing along, or if there's something else going on.
• Remember the New Guy?: Knuckles' list of potential allies includes a few that have never been seen before (nor do they actually get involved in the story), and the city's mayor Jason King appears suddenly and prominently in the first episode's second half.
• Saying Too Much: Shadow accidentally outs himself as Daedalus thusly:
  Shadow: So that's your plea, then? You're just going to shamelessly appeal to my sense of loss, for a time before I had my memories taken from me? Well, I have a plea of my own, a warning, to you and your little friends. Cross me, and I'll do worse than take your memories. [Beat; under his breath] ...shit.
• Shout-Out:
  • One of the potential allies that makes Knuckles's list is Ivor the Engine.
  • When Sonic the Human is described as wearing gothic clothes and having put in red hair dye, one of the actors proceeds to say "He saw some preps. He put up his middle finger at them"
• The Stoner: The cast explains away Elise's sudden villainy and red eyes as caused by her being really high.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: At one point in Episode 2, we cut to Shadow in Skygard saying to absolutely no one that he is, in fact, Shadow the Hedgehog. However, with the later reveal that he's actually Daedalus in disguise, along with Silver having just said that he's Shadow the Hedgehog, Shadow's claim enters this territory.
• Take That!:
  • Previous cast members Hayley and Blue were removed from the channel after invokedbeing outed as manipulative abusers. When the cast introduce themselves and say who they'll be playing, the actors taking over their roles claim they've always portrayed these characters.
  • Possibly unintentionally due to the randomized nature of AI Dungeon, but Gerald reveals at the end of Episode 2 that the Shadow the Hedgehog video game (which somehow exists in the story itself) was a government experiment that was seen as an embarrassing failure.
• Team Member in the Adaptation: Shadow is shown working with Team Chaotix, even though he has no affiliation with them in the games.
• Tomes of Prophecy and Fate: In the first episode's climax, Jason King, the mayor of the city, reveals he has a book that details a 7000-year prophecy, which includes Gerald causing destruction, and that Sonic showing up as a human means it's fulfilled. The second episode reveals that Daedalus not only wrote the prophecy, but also turned Sonic into a human, thus ensuring its fulfillment.
• Trauma-Induced Amnesia: After being resurrected as a human, Sonic can't remember anything that happened between his conversation with Shadow about Elise, and his waking up in Mayor King's office as a human. Knowing that Shadow went through the same thing, he asks for his assistance in getting his memories back, only to learn Shadow (actually Daedalus) was the one who erased them in the first place.
• Ultimate Life Form: Instead of Shadow or the Biolizard, Gerald Robotnik creates the generically named Ultimate Lifeform, who looks a lot like Sonic except he has a gem in his stomach and a lizard tail for a second head.
• The Unreveal: Episode 2 has no less than two instances of a build-up to important information going nowhere.
  • After Silver reveals that he's actually Shadow, Knuckles asks how that can be possible. Silver gives his backstory, which involves him being the prince of Soleanna, with Gerald as his father and the king, and the king and queen of another country dying in a meteorite crash when he was visiting. And before he can get to anything resembling a point, he just says that he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.
  • After Shadow tells Rouge about the Harbingers being a Dark Gaia-worshipping cult from the Middle Ages, Rouge asks for further elaboration. Shadow's reply? "I dunno, that's all it says."
• Wham Line: A couple.
  • Elise saying that the world they're on is not truly their home, and that they aren't even on Earth.
  • Sonic admitting that he could destroy the world when he confronts Eggman about his goal of world conquest.
  • Gerald pointing out Sonic's presence, not as a hedgehog, but a human being.
  • Shadow inadvertently revealing that he is Daedalus.
• You Are Better than You Think You Are: Eggman claims he's already lost. For some reason, his Arch-Enemy Sonic tries to support him and say he hasn't.