Fearless: Year of Shadow Blog Post

 In April...once the year's already been going for 4 months...Sega declares this, 2024 to be the "Year of Shadow". But what does that mean exactly? Why? They updated the site with a cool CG of him, some mystery explosion, added a logo, and then didn't tell you why it started in April. It has this to say about it

"In 2024, we’re bringing Shadow into the light with a new fan celebration campaign – Fearless: Year of Shadow. While we ran with our successful Fast. Friends. Forever. program last year, our new annual campaign this year celebrates what it means to be Fearless, and embracing your inner Shadow:

BREAK BARRIERS

BE UNAFRAID

BE AT YOUR BEST

AND DO IT ALL WITH A POWERFUL CONFIDENCE."

Is there anything particularly 'Shadowy' about this year, more-so than others? Sssorta? He'll appear in the Sonic X Shadow Generations, a remaster of Sonic Gens that adds unique areas for him to go (remember he's not Classic ever) and he'll appear in that 3rd annoying Sonic live action movie. The mobile games of the time Sonic Dash & Sonic Forces Mobile also get Shadow-centric promoting things but those change weekly just about so it's not like that's major news. There may of course be something else undisclosed yet, but those seem to be the biggest things so far....unless...

Merhandise!
Of course, this is a merch site and a merch blog so here we go! While he's an add on in the game, and 'appears in' the scrungy movie, in the merchandise that they're really ramping up, he's the star. This means the only thing Shadow fans have to fear in this 'fearless year' is their wallet as cascades of Shadow stuff are coming from all angles. 

Sega is making sure that all companies with a modern license are doing something with Shadow this year. The website has only the lego set on it, but there's enough stuff for a whole update with just him (This week's) plus more stuff will be flowing onto SonicGear on future updates because they're not stopping now with stuff for him. It'll probably continue all year long, and this is a great thing because his merch usually sells really well and is popular across the board with fans. Having him on 'solo stuff' is also a good move that they seem to be starting off with. 

Serious Shadow:
Hope this gets handled well or it turns to cringe quick. Notice how the characters have a role in promotion, themes and art. Sonic is cool, Tails is cute and fun, Knuckles is a tough guy, Amy is cheerful/colorful, and Shadow...he's the serious/dangerous one. Each character brings something to the table for design and what people want to see. So, some characters work well on 'wacky joke' merchandise like silly hats for toddlers to wear & etc while Shadow...doesn't. Hopefully they can keep him in his cool lane. (Ex. Batman isn't the cheerful hero of rainbows and flicky birds and he shouldn't be, because that's not his desired role.) 

Opinion Zone:
Good idea, let's see how it plays out. How about that slogan? I guess it mostly fits...I mean it's mostly ok advice for several situations (and terrible advice for others--you should be afraid of lightening bolts) It's at least mostly fitting for him because 'be at your best' is something people cannot do at all times but it is something that Shadow would expect himself to be at all times. He's also confident when he's wrong, so I guess that's a lesson in there too. (Notice in the games he's not always on the 'right side of history' as it were & so may clash with other characters as part of the plot) 

Add ons:
Further research provides that they'll add another Shadow Food to the Sonic Pop Up Cafes, and add some of his music to the Symphony Orchestra Sonic music tour that's going on over the world this year as well. 

What's Next?
Expect Gear to be keeping up with the Year of Shadow as each merchandise is added each week that keeps getting found. 
Next Week:
After having total themes for 3 weeks in a row (very rare and unusual to happen) it'll be back to more variety so no one feels left out