Why is there a stigma against the Sonic community

[espio]

to be honest there’s 3 sides to the sonic fandom 

there’s the talented people who make amazing rom hacks/remakes/fan games etc , normal people who just like to talk about sonic and then there’s the pervs who draw sonic hentai and make sex dolls i mean someone straight up made a sally acorn sex doll (no hate to him) but like i guess that’s where the fandom gets it’s bad rep from

[Scritch the Cat]

On 12/14/2020 at 3:14 PM, espio said:

to be honest there’s 3 sides to the sonic fandom 

there’s the talented people who make amazing rom hacks/remakes/fan games etc , normal people who just like to talk about sonic and then there’s the pervs who draw sonic hentai and make sex dolls i mean someone straight up made a sally acorn sex doll (no hate to him) but like i guess that’s where the fandom gets it’s bad rep from

I often wonder, is Sonic necessarily fetish fuel for furries compared to many other brands?  I ask because it seems like the real reason it has that reputation is that it’s one of the few remaining anthro brands pitched partially at people with working sex drives.  Sure; the games are and always have been for everyone, but from the get-go Sonic himself was portrayed in a way that would be identifiable to teenagers; promoting a console pitched mainly at teenagers.  SEGA is also cognizant that many of its fans these days are nostalgic adults, or it wouldn’t be doing so many throwbacks.  You don’t see or hear of very much Rule 34 stuff based on Peppa Pig, The Wonder Pets, or Paw Patrol, I’m assuming, simply because those are pitched exclusively at prepubescent audiences.

Beyond that, I think a big part of the issue is that this series’ online presence, both in SEGA’s own official posts and those from fans—and naturally there’s crossover between the two—has eclipsed its games in publicity.  For better or worse, due to the different aspects of fandom you described.

[batson]

I still believe that there is a good chance that if the Sonic games themselves had remained acclaimed and massively popular, such as for instance the Mario or Zelda games,, the Stigma against the series fans wouldn't exist, even despite the porn and assorted weird behaviour. Zelda fans draw porn and engage in strange behavious too, but there is no stimga to being a Zelda fan because everyone can agree that it's a great series. Being a Zelda fan makes sense to people, while being a Sonic fan doesn't, as the series itself is nowadays pretty much considered a laughing stock.

[RadicalLaRuby]

For one thing, this fanbase is fractured as hell. There's constant mindless bickering that makes it seem as though they are inconsistent with their desires on what they want from Sega. Meanwhile Sega continues to fumble with the series in the craziest ways imaginable and keep splitting the fanbase.

 

The overall fanbase tends to be louder than most (some great and some absolutely horrid ways) that easily attracts the attention of outsiders. But this is why it's hard sometimes to say "Sonic fanbase" as a whole cause then you gotta ask "which one?". It's like Sega makes as many Sonic fanbases as they make timelines.

[Rabbitearsblog]

I can say that this is a thing for any fanbase really (especially the Star Wars fanbase, who are split between the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the Disney era films).  However, the Sonic fandom is arguably worse off because of how fractured the fanbase is.  This series has went through so many changes and different directions that it's really hard to please anyone.  Like for example:

• Should the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise be dark and edgy or light-hearted and humorous?
• Should the franchise go back to the Genesis era of gameplay or continue with the 3D era?
• Classic Sonic or Modern Sonic?
• Should Shadow the Hedgehog be edgy and moody, with no characterization beyond that or should he be an introspective character with depths?
• Should Sonic use the Boost ability in the games or they should just throw that ability out?
• Is Tails better off as a really nice kid or should he be snarky?
• Is Sonic Colors one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog games or is it one of the worst?
• Archie Sonic Comics or IDW Sonic Comics?

The list goes on and on and it always seems like no one can really decide on what direction this franchise should go.  Also, the Sonic fanbase tends to be very vocal about what they want to see in the franchise.  While it's not bad talking about what you want to see in a franchise, sometimes the fanbase goes a little too overboard with their displeasure with certain elements of the franchise and that can put off a lot of people from outside the franchise.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

On 12/28/2020 at 11:08 AM, Rabbitearsblog said:

I can say that this is a thing for any fanbase really (especially the Star Wars fanbase, who are split between the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the Disney era films).  However, the Sonic fandom is arguably worse off because of how fractured the fanbase is.  This series has went through so many changes and different directions that it's really hard to please anyone.  Like for example:

• Should the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise be dark and edgy or light-hearted and humorous?
• Should the franchise go back to the Genesis era of gameplay or continue with the 3D era?
• Classic Sonic or Modern Sonic?
• Should Shadow the Hedgehog be edgy and moody, with no characterization beyond that or should he be an introspective character with depths?
• Should Sonic use the Boost ability in the games or they should just throw that ability out?
• Is Tails better off as a really nice kid or should he be snarky?
• Is Sonic Colors one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog games or is it one of the worst?
• Archie Sonic Comics or IDW Sonic Comics?

The list goes on and on and it always seems like no one can really decide on what direction this franchise should go.  Also, the Sonic fanbase tends to be very vocal about what they want to see in the franchise.  While it's not bad talking about what you want to see in a franchise, sometimes the fanbase goes a little too overboard with their displeasure with certain elements of the franchise and that can put off a lot of people from outside the franchise.

Fanbases seem to increasingly become toxic. You mentioned Star Wars, fans nearly destroyed my SW fandom. 

[Rabbitearsblog]

37 minutes ago, Shadow Chaos Control said:

Fanbases seem to increasingly become toxic. You mentioned Star Wars, fans nearly destroyed my SW fandom. 

I agree that the Star Wars franchise had gotten pretty broken up ever since the prequel trilogy and the Disney era films were created.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

4 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I agree that the Star Wars franchise had gotten pretty broken up ever since the prequel trilogy and the Disney era films were created.

Do you think the Sonic fanbase will be easier to unite than the SW fanbase? 

I wish we could accept though we are one Sonic fanbase, we are many parts, some of us like retro/classic, others Adventure era, and so on; can we not each be content with our niches and favorites? 

[Scritch the Cat]

1 hour ago, Shadow Chaos Control said:

Do you think the Sonic fanbase will be easier to unite than the SW fanbase? 

I wish we could accept though we are one Sonic fanbase, we are many parts, some of us like retro/classic, others Adventure era, and so on; can we not each be content with our niches and favorites? 

If those niches would just all be active and healthy in terms of new content, we could.  The Mario series manages to keep almost all segments of its fandom engaged because new games keep getting made for almost all of them.  That’s quite important because the main platformers are an experimental lot.  They frequently are trying new things.  But there’s always going to be more Mario Kart games, New Super Mario Bros games, Mario and Luigi RPG games, and Paper Mario games, until further notice.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

13 minutes ago, Scritch the Cat said:

If those niches would just all be active and healthy in terms of new content, we could.  The Mario series manages to keep almost all segments of its fandom engaged because new games keep getting made for almost all of them.  That’s quite important because the main platformers are an experimental lot.  They frequently are trying new things.  But there’s always going to be more Mario Kart games, New Super Mario Bros games, Mario and Luigi RPG games, and Paper Mario games, until further notice.

Valid points, Nintendo is good to their fans even if they claim otherwise. Why do you think SEGA hasn’t beem able to accomplish Nintendo’s success of keeping all niches active and healthy? 

[Scritch the Cat]

18 hours ago, Shadow Chaos Control said:

Valid points, Nintendo is good to their fans even if they claim otherwise.* Why do you think SEGA hasn’t beem able to accomplish Nintendo’s success of keeping all niches active and healthy? 

Exiting the hardware business probably has something to do with it; even if distantly.  A key reason SEGA obviously doesn’t care as much about making Sonic games anymore, in general, is that while Sonic is still their mascot, his games no longer have to be killer apps.  They had the impetus to make Sonic games great when they could only be played on exclusive SEGA hardware, because back then hardware was what SEGA was staking most profits on.  They even succeeded at being the killer app so much that at peak success, both Sonic 1 and 2 were bundled free with the Genesis.  

Nintendo still works hard on its first party titles because Nintendo still makes hardware and they’re likewise needed to sell it.  While Nintendo had SEGA mostly beat in terms of overall hardware technology in the 16-bit era (barring Genesis add-ons that few people bought), that was really the last era Nintendo would have a clear technological lead in the race.  Now they expect people to buy Nintendo consoles mainly because of first-party content.  Hence it’s not just important for Mario games—and those of other series—to be good; they also should offer a lot of said games.

*If you’re talking about the debacles regarding fangame developers, well, there’s little doubt that SEGA is a lot more liberal towards them.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want fan content creators to form a united front that mass-boycotted any company that harassed any one of them, until it was clear to every such company that they’d lose more money by persecuting fangames than they would from letting fangames exist as possible free competition.  However, the realist in me also sees some manner of self-interest in SEGA’s liberalism regarding Sonic fangames; that is, they want fans to carry the load of keeping Sonic’s reputation up, sometimes just keeping his reputation existent.  Letting that culture thrive and occasionally working rather closely with it has been good for Sonic, I think, but often SEGA isn’t doing much itself...and part of that is that SEGA just doesn’t care that much anymore.

Think of it like, say, Tom Sawyer having to paint the fence white, and managing to convince a bunch of peers to do it instead just by talking it up like it’s a privilege rather than a chore.  Most people aren’t useful idiots on that level, but let’s say Tom was instead assigned to paint murals on walls that were otherwise cracked, peeling eyesores, and Tom wasn’t a very good painter.  So he finds people who are, and makes them a deal; they can paint some of the murals for him, so long as they’re still the Sawyers’ walls and Tom is still the one getting paid to do the murals on them.  And while this arrangement sounds fine, it gets a bit more sinister when you factor in stuff like Rise of Lyric; last we checked, SEGA is still the sort of company willing to botch whole games if it thinks it’s reputation can survive.  That these are most infamously Sonic games shows again how much less important Sonic now is to SEGA overall.

[SBR2]

10 hours ago, Rabbitearsblog said:

I agree that the Star Wars franchise had gotten pretty broken up ever since the prequel trilogy and the Disney era films were created.

Hell going off what I've heard there was fan outrage as far back as Vader being revealed to be Luke's father. Fandoms sound great on paper, interacting with people you share an interest with SOUNDS fun, but then there's the bickering and yelling and "You're not a real fan because XYZ" and honestly it's what keeps me from trying to even communicate with many fandoms period.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

15 hours ago, Scritch the Cat said:

Exiting the hardware business probably has something to do with it; even if distantly.  A key reason SEGA obviously doesn’t care as much about making Sonic games anymore, in general, is that while Sonic is still their mascot, his games no longer have to be killer apps.  They had the impetus to make Sonic games great when they could only be played on exclusive SEGA hardware, because back then hardware was what SEGA was staking most profits on.  They even succeeded at being the killer app so much that at peak success, both Sonic 1 and 2 were bundled free with the Genesis.  

Nintendo still works hard on its first party titles because they’re likewise needed to sell them.  While Nintendo had SEGA mostly beat in terms of overall hardware technology in the 16-bit era (barring Genesis add-one that few people bought), this was really the last time Nintendo would have a clear technological lead in the race.  Now they expect people to buy Nintendo consoles mainly because of first-party content.  Hence it’s not just important for Mario games—and those of other series—to be good; they also should offer a lot of said games.

*If you’re talking about the debacles regarding fangame developers, well, there’s little doubt that SEGA is a lot more liberal towards them.  I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want fan content creators to form a united front that mass-boycotted any company that harassed any one of them, until it was clear to every such company that they’d lose more money by persecuting fangames than they would from letting fangames exist as possible free competition.  However, the realist in me also sees some manner of self-interest in SEGA’s liberalism regarding Sonic fangames; that is, they want fans to carry the load of keeping Sonic’s reputation up, sometimes just keeping his reputation existent.  Letting that culture thrive and occasionally working rather closely with it has been good for Sonic, I think, but often SEGA isn’t doing much itself...and part of that is that SEGA just doesn’t care that much anymore.

Think of it like, say, Tom Sawyer having to paint the fence white, and managing to convince a bunch of peers to do it instead just by talking it up like it’s a privilege rather than a chore.  Most people aren’t useful idiots on that level, but let’s say Tom was instead assigned to paint murals on walls that were otherwise cracked, peeling eyesores, and Tom wasn’t a very good painter.  So he finds people who are, and makes them a deal; they can paint some of the murals for him, so long as they’re still the Sawyers’ walls and Tom is still the one getting paid to do the murals on them.  And while this arrangement sounds fine, it gets a bit more sinister when you factor in stuff like Rise of Lyric; last we checked, SEGA is still the sort of company willing to botch whole games if it thinks it’s reputation can survive.  That these are most infamously Sonic games shows again how much less important Sonic now is to SEGA overall.

I think you are on to something. When SEGA had their own hardware we got great games like Sonic (Genesis) to Sonic Adventure 2. The only exception was Sonic CD which was on PC as well as SEGA Saturn. Then we fast forward fo Sega no longer making hardware and you get Sonic ‘06, which arguably is the most hated Sonic game (and not for story or characters). 

I think SEGA is at a precipice. The Sonic Movie did well, and if they can make some great games they could  make a comeback, but Its a Hail Mary pass. This is SEGA’s last chance to be a challenger to Nintendo, they need to remember the competition they once fostered. SEGA needs to prove the days of Sonic Genesis to Sonic Adventure 2 is not the end of the golden age. 

[Scritch the Cat]

2 hours ago, Shadow Chaos Control said:

I think you are on to something. When SEGA had their own hardware we got great games like Sonic (Genesis) to Sonic Adventure 2. The only exception was Sonic CD which was on PC as well as SEGA Saturn. Then we fast forward fo Sega no longer making hardware and you get Sonic ‘06, which arguably is the most hated Sonic game (and not for story or characters). 

I think SEGA is at a precipice. The Sonic Movie did well, and if they can make some great games they could  make a comeback, but Its a Hail Mary pass. This is SEGA’s last chance to be a challenger to Nintendo, they need to remember the competition they once fostered. SEGA needs to prove the days of Sonic Genesis to Sonic Adventure 2 is not the end of the golden age. 

SEGA’s ability to be a challenger to Nintendo died when they exited the hardware business, if not before.  Furthermore, I feel there’s no NEED for SEGA to be a challenger to Nintendo; it certainly isn’t needed for Sonic.  SEGA was already becoming seen as a has-been even before the Dreamcast era, Sonic was still the symbol of that has-been trying to succeed just by being cool, and we might well have seen the end of both...but in an ironic twist, when SEGA decided to try rereleasing Sonic games on Gamecube, they turned out to be such huge hits with Nintendo fans that it felt like a big series renaissance.  One that bombed pretty soon after, of course, and Nintendo hardware would even have a big part in Sonic’s two most infamously broken games ever, but I’d still say a sizable percentage of Sonic fans started the series with SA2B and that frames their expectations of what this series should do.

Also on that note, being the best platformer around isn’t a business imperative now because platformers are no longer the typical genre for determining how cutting edge a game is.  Not even Mario games are really concerned with offering groundbreaking graphics and cutscenes.  Rather, they’re a genre many people play because they’re nostalgic.   Many of those might well play a Sonic game not because it’s better than a Mario game, but simply because they finished the Mario game.

That doesn’t mean Sonic’s reputation won’t suffer because his new game isn’t on par with the genre’s benchmark, but managing to stick around at all has to count for something, and so I don’t really agree that there’s a time limit for Sonic to reach a certain high level or be doomed to extinction forever.  Sonic simply managing not to be widely despised and being owned by a company whose profits elsewhere let it bail Sonic out if necessary, means it’ll keep getting more chances to get good.  Whether it actually does is another matter. But if it’s in a meaningful competition with anything, that’s it’s past self.

[Shadow Chaos Control]

23 minutes ago, Scritch the Cat said:

SEGA’s ability to be a challenger to Nintendo died when they exited the hardware business, if not before.  Furthermore, I feel there’s no NEED for SEGA to be a challenger to Nintendo; it certainly isn’t needed for Sonic.  SEGA was already becoming seen as a has-been even before the Dreamcast era, Sonic was still the symbol of that has-been trying to succeed just by being cool, and we might well have seen the end of both...but in an ironic twist, when SEGA decided to try rereleasing Sonic games on Gamecube, they turned out to be such huge hits with Nintendo fans that it felt like a big series renaissance.  One that bombed pretty soon after, of course, and Nintendo hardware would even have a big part in Sonic’s two most infamously broken games ever, but I’d still say a sizable percentage of Sonic fans started the series with SA2B and that frames their expectations of what this series should do.

Also on that note, being the best platformer around isn’t a business imperative now because platformers are no longer the typical genre for determining how cutting edge a game is.  Not even Mario games are really concerned with offering groundbreaking graphics and cutscenes.  Rather, they’re a genre many people play because they’re nostalgic.   Many of those might well play a Sonic game not because it’s better than a Mario game, but simply because they finished the Mario game.

That doesn’t mean Sonic’s reputation won’t suffer because his new game isn’t on par with the genre’s benchmark, but managing to stick around at all has to count for something, and so I don’t really agree that there’s a time limit for Sonic to reach a certain high level or be doomed to extinction forever.  Sonic simply managing not to be widely despised and being owned by a company whose profits elsewhere let it bail Sonic out if necessary, means it’ll keep getting more chances to get good.  Whether it actually does is another matter. But if it’s in a meaningful competition with anything, that’s it’s past self.

The reason I said SEGA needs to be Nintendo’s challenger is that without the impetus of extreme competition, without the mascot wars, we get mediocrity. When SEGA sought to eclipse Mario with Sonic, the franchise had its best stories and gameplay (I include SA2B because its just SA2 Dreamcast with more content in Multiplayer and Chao Garden). 

I agree things have changed, but Nintendo survived because The Switch was a success, otherwise they were going to join SEGA in abandoning hardware to only creating games, and we all know the product would suffer. For SEGA there is no going back, the lines have solidified into PlayStation fan, Nintendo fan, and Xbox fan. Few people can own more than one console, so if SEGA returned to hardware it would be all but impossible to get people to commit to their new system, even Sonic fans. 

SEGA might thrive best leasing Sonic and Friends to companies who can make good games. But SEGA would likely expect a major precentage of the royalties and sales. 

[Scritch the Cat]

54 minutes ago, Shadow Chaos Control said:

The reason I said SEGA needs to be Nintendo’s challenger is that without the impetus of extreme competition, without the mascot wars, we get mediocrity. When SEGA sought to eclipse Mario with Sonic, the franchise had its best stories and gameplay (I include SA2B because its just SA2 Dreamcast with more content in Multiplayer and Chao Garden). 

I agree things have changed, but Nintendo survived because The Switch was a success, otherwise they were going to join SEGA in abandoning hardware to only creating games, and we all know the product would suffer. For SEGA there is no going back, the lines have solidified into PlayStation fan, Nintendo fan, and Xbox fan. Few people can own more than one console, so if SEGA returned to hardware it would be all but impossible to get people to commit to their new system, even Sonic fans. 

SEGA might thrive best leasing Sonic and Friends to companies who can make good games. But SEGA would likely expect a major precentage of the royalties and sales. 

I’d still call that a reasonably good deal.  Of course, there’s an issue of how much SEGA siphons off, but done well, the game might still make enough money that the percentage kept would be greater than the total money made elsewhere.

Moreover, though, if SEGA is going to stay liberal towards fangames, this might be a decent next step.  Not sure if they’ll strike gold again the way they did with taxman, but if SEGA is going to be so nonchalant towards its mascot then maybe that doesn’t even matter.  They’ll get Sonic consistently noticed if they let more people have a go at it.

And you know, in that way maybe they CAN return to something like the time of peak popularity.  Sonic had a lot of questionable adaptations and business deals even back when it’s games were most lauded.

[Piko]

Most people view Sonic as a kids franchise so according to them, that makes a good chunk of the fandom weirdos by default. But due to the likes of Chris-chan and SammyClassicSonicFan going viral, they also assume that you have to have something wrong up there to like Sonic.

Of course, you also have a small but vocal minority sharing their...uh...drawings with the world. Ever heard of rule 34? Stuff like that exists in every fandom imaginable, but for some reason Sonic “drawings” get the most attention.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the Sonic fandom; very few fandoms can even hold a candle to the level of loyalty and passion we have. There are so many talented people creating fan art, covers, fan games and much more. But because of the reasons above, it’s easier for outsiders to write us off as autistic perverts.

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Piko said:

autistic

I wish people would stop using that as an insult. (Not saying you did, but it's true a lot of Sonic-haters and others do.)

Even if the entire Sonic fanbase was autistic... so? Doesn't make them worse than any allistic people.

[SonicFanForLife]

All the profanity in the Sonic community doesn't help either.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, SonicFan2832 said:

All the profanity in the Sonic community doesn't help either.

Tbh that's everywhere now sadly.

[Scritch the Cat]

10 hours ago, Angyu said:

Tbh that's everywhere now sadly.

I can’t say I recall a lot of Sonic fans being particularly foul-mouthed.  Weird, sure, but not foul-mouthed and in fact, not really rude in general. Sonic fans just seem to see the world a bit differently.  Bringing us to...

On 1/16/2021 at 10:54 AM, Angyu said:

I wish people would stop using that as an insult. (Not saying you did, but it's true a lot of Sonic-haters and others do.)

Even if the entire Sonic fanbase was autistic... so? Doesn't make them worse than any allistic people.

I despise autism-bashing and I’m really not sure where that reputation arose, though it’s interesting in retrospect how Sonic was one of the first game characters to start stimming if made to stand still.  It seems weird to assume that the whole fanbase got its reputation from Chris-Chan, but maybe a lot of people just don’t know much about psychology and autism is just their go-to word for any mental functions they find “weird”.  After all, that’s not too far off from how “gay” and “queer” became associated with homosexuality so much that their use became primarily to describe it.

[Sapphirine Wind]

Honestly, what the heck did CWC do wrong other than post a comic that people decided was cringe and bad?

Like, I can vaguely recall one thing that she did that wasn't good, but not worth the hatefollowing, and it definitely came after it.

[Scritch the Cat]

On 1/17/2021 at 9:29 PM, Sapphirine Wind said:

Honestly, what the heck did CWC do wrong other than post a comic that people decided was cringe and bad?

Like, I can vaguely recall one thing that she did that wasn't good, but not worth the hatefollowing, and it definitely came after it.

Acted entitled to romance, did publicity stunts to help himself get a girlfriend, and when a college employee ordered him to stop, made a big part of his comics about killing her.  Sonichu would likely not be considered too remarkable among bad Sonic fanart had it been only that, but it clued people into Chris’s borderline sexual predation and that made it hard to ignore.  It’s a while since I’ve read or watched anything about the subject, but I believe Chris did make the jump to stalking and pestering some specific women, so the trail remained hot for investigators.

What made Chris’s Sonic fandom such a big part of this is people learned he won a contest when younger that earned him a whole lot of Sonic stuff.  It probably isn’t fair to assume that this spoiled him into an obsession that would turn him into the most infamous hikkikomouri, but it was easy to assume so many did.  For what it’s worth, it’s not like that contest prize was the only or worst thing spoiling Chris; his parents had, too.

And all of that negative attention was even before Chris, who by then might have been going by Christine (after attempting to personally perform own gender reassignment surgery), vandalized a GameStop sign of blue-armed Boom Sonic and assaulted an employee when she intervened.

Lots of people can’t draw.  Chris is a contemptible thug who, if anything, deserves a diagnosis more severe than high-functioning autism.

[Sapphirine Wind]

13 minutes ago, Scritch the Cat said:

Acted entitled to romance, did publicity stunts to help himself get a girlfriend, and when a college employee ordered him to stop, made a big part of his comics about killing her.  Sonichu would likely not be considered too remarkable among bad Sonic fanart has it been only that, but it clued people into Chris’s borderline sexual predation and that made it hard to ignore.

And that was even before Chris, who by then might have been going by Christine (after attempting to personally perform own gender reassignment surgery), vandalized a GameStop sign of blue-armed Boom Sonic and assaulted an employee when she intervened.

Lots of people can’t draw.  Chris is a contemptible thug who, if anything, deserves a diagnosis more severe than high-functioning autism.

And now I can see why there's not a lot of goodwill towards Christine.

How the heck did I forget the blue-arms Sonic thing? Most of this is news to me; the making a comic about killing someone? Public Romance stunts? She needs professional help for everyone's sake and her own before its way too late.

[Scritch the Cat]

30 minutes ago, Sapphirine Wind said:

And now I can see why there's not a lot of goodwill towards Christine.

How the heck did I forget the blue-arms Sonic thing? Most of this is news to me; the making a comic about killing someone? Public Romance stunts? She needs professional help for everyone's sake and her own before its way too late.

I could almost sympathize with Chandler’s loneliness because I’ve been in that position.  Modern romance norms are written for neurotypicals who normally meet a lot of people, both sexes, so getting to the point of asking them out is easIre.  I understand why autistic people demand an alternative means of finding and meeting their significant others.  CWC, though, went about it the wrong way and has made us all look bad as a result.