Before you Shadow fangirls/fanboys start mauling me, I want to say that I DO like Shadow. I honestly do. At least, I DID when he first debuted in SA2. But then Sega turned him into an emo douche-bag. No, I'm trying to make a different point with this stamp.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has noticed lately that all the spotlight has been taken from Sonic, mascot fo Sega for over 15 years, and given to none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. Think about it. No one ever mentions Sonic anymore when they discuss the games -- they all say, "Oh, Shadow's badass!" or "Shadow did this, Shadow did that..." etc. Sonic hardly appeared in the new season of Sonic X, but Shadow did. Shadow has had his own game (and there are now rumors of a second, god help us all). My question is, what is this? The last time I checked, Sonic was the hero of the series. Not this black-and-red gun-toting look-alike.

I'm not denying that Shadow does more than any other character usually. That's exactly my point--he does, because Sega seems to think he's the only character badass enough to do stuff. Some of you true Sonic fans may remember that Sonic USED to be just as badass. He was clever and cocky and nothing beat him. But now all you see Sonic doing is skipping through the flowers and saying "SMILE! 8D" As I like to say, Sonic Team neutered him. He's not the awesome hero he used to be. He was merely shoved aside, because y'know, good ol' violent, angry, depressed, shooting, motorcycle-riding Shadow is with the times.

Get a clue, Sega. Sonic is your mascot, Sonic is the reason you were ever successful, and Sonic is the REAL hero. NOT SHADOW.

Sonic & (sadly) Shadow (c) Sega & Sonic Team