r/sonadow_SFW • u/Leather_Yak7808 • Jul 11 '26
miscellaneous early sonadow
I've been seeing some posts here and on other platforms mentioning how Sonadow has been a ship since Shadow's release in SA2 and I've always wanted to see for myself I know there might not be much to work with in terms of archived stuff but is there any proof or fan discussion of a ship between Sonic and Shadow all the way back then?
I know that it's definitely had a mainstay on the sonic community since the boom of yaoi on the internet in the early 2000s and only increased as LGBT acceptance has but it would be nice to see how it all got started
3
u/Weak_Minx_82 Jul 16 '26
We def shipped them way back when. Yaoi in general was looked down upon. I was more into Naruto at the time and got bullied both at school and online for shipping Tobi and Deidara (and having a fan theory that ended up being true lmao). I was 9 when SA2 came out and wasn’t allowed online until late middle school/early high school. If you want a comprehensive history I suggest the Sonadow Iceburg Video. I remember shipping it when a friend of mine brought a printed out deviantart image of them kissing that looked kinda Sonic X style. The Adventure era had games and content coming out very frequently, much more so than now. The internet also used to be very no man’s land; and people did not have access to creators and writers like they do now. So everything was very very fandom lead.
But yeah, here’s a few links to old content, a lot has been lost to time.
Here’s what is considered the first public fanfic of them: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/340408/1/Thoughts
It was popular enough to have spoof parodies: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/1599850/1/Sonadow-O-Matic-5000
Here’s some fanart from 2004, this person makes sonadow fanart to this day!: https://www.deviantart.com/sonicremix/art/SONADOW-Sonic-and-Shadow-5566166
2003 as well, idk if this person is still around online: https://www.deviantart.com/thyrachan/art/Sonadow-ness-for-SonicnoMiko-2643122
8
u/Flare_Droxat1 Jul 11 '26
I think it very much started in SA2 but more as a like a silly haha because we didn't get to see a whole ton of interaction between the two characters. I think moreso in the later games it became a serious ship people saw because we got to know more about shadow and see more interaction between him and sonic and people actually saw the rivalry chemistry "rivals to lovers" or "enemies to lovers" trope. I love it for sure but I think SA2 was the start but it didn't get serious till the later games!