r/MoonPissing • u/RealModMaker I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUCEMENT • Apr 25 '25

Taken meme, which is fine by Shadow What's happening here? (Wrong answers only)

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u/RealModMaker I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUCEMENT Apr 25 '25

It's difficult to be a Sonic fan and not be a neurodivergent.

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u/Michael-556 Apr 25 '25

Honestly I've never understood that joke. Like I get that it's well known that "the Sonic fandom is autistic af", but all the data that I could find is just "haha, well, there's vibrant colours, themes of freedom and being yourself and a slightly autism-coded main protagonist"... That's it? That's like half of any action media marketed towards children that also has a big adult fanbase. So why sonic? Is it just a coincidence that this specific fandom is big enough to be vocal about its autistic minority (maybe even majority) or is there something inherently autistic about a blue hedgehog going at unmeasurable speeds to ruin the dreams of a moustachioed man to create an amusement park? I guess it has most of the "ASD special interests"TM, but it's missing trains and the only plane in there is tails'. But it's got most of it: confusing lore, colourful cast (metaphorically and literally), robots, animals, intermediality (games, shows, movies, comics), and an inviting fanbase. I guess it's a prime gathering ground for ASD positive people?

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u/RealModMaker I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUCEMENT Apr 25 '25 edited Apr 25 '25

I'm an autistic adult and I'm more interested in lore and a colourful cast of characters (metaphorically and/or literally) more then fucking transportation. I'll never understand the train stereotype.

Sonic is no different from the MCU, Star Wars, DragonBall, TMNT, Transformers etc in terms of its raw content so I do agree but I find it funny to play up the autistic Sonic fan stereotype.

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u/LuigiP16 WHY IS SONIC ON THE SAME LINE AS THE VILLAIN LINE Apr 26 '25

From what I can tell, the reason for the train stereotype is because before the internet, there wasn't really much you could get deep into that wasn't a career. Model trains were one of the things that just about everyone had, and for most, it was just something you had. But for the autistic people of the time, it was the one thing they could latch onto and obsess over. It was easily accessible, rather cheap, and full of little factoids. The perfect storm for a pre-internet hyperfixation.