I am unwell.
I'm currently on a 12 hour drive from my grandparent's house back home. I'm currently listening to the Kpop Demon Hunters soundtrack (Takedown by Huntr/x as i type this) but earlier i was listening to Free n thinking which sonic characters would match and at first i was thinking shadamy, but lwk i like metamy better (in general and just in the context of the song) and holy shit dude I just got hit with a realization that i have a type for favorite characters (hes jus like me fr...!!!!) idk why but like comparing Metal Sonic and Hunter from The Owl House there are more similarities than you'd expect...
|| Update: since I originally wrote this at 3am I lwk ran out of steam so now I am back 17 days later at 3am to complete my Metal Sonic Musings along with my Golden Guard Gammon (yes, I looked that word up).
Metal Sonic is a robotic duplicate of Sonic made by Eggman in a way that better suits his liking. While Sonic is organic, Metal is robotic. Sonic is loud and quippy, Metal Sonic is silent and serious. Sonic is as free as the wind, Metal Sonic is chained by Robotnik's programming and design. Sonic does what he thinks is right, no matter what anyone else thinks, while Metal Sonic must prove that he is better and that he is the REAL Sonic.
Hunter is also a clone, but he wasn't always aware of it like Metal Sonic. Hunter is a Grimwalker, an organic clone created by the emperor of the Boiling Isles, Emperor Belos. Belos was a human witch-hunter from the 1600's who crossed over to the demon realm after his older brother, Caleb, fell in love with a witch and went to go live with her. Sometime after entering the demon realm, Belos (actually named Phillip) confronted his brother with the intent to kill Caleb's girlfriend. Upon seeing her pregnant however, he was blinded by rage and ended up killing Caleb instead. This lead to Phillip discovering the recipe for how to make grimwalkers, in an attempt to make a clone of his brother who would actually be follow him and not rebel. In the pursuit of this perfect clone, it is implied that Belos/Phillip created over a hundred Grimwalkers, and that he killed each one, which also implies that every single grimwalker rebelled from his orders at some point.
Metal Sonic was created by Eggman specifically to rival Sonic. Metal Sonic can rival Sonic in his speed and agility. There have been many instances throughout the franchise in which Eggman sends out Metal sonic in an attempt to defeat Sonic once and for all, with the first attempt being in Metal's debut game, Sonic CD. Metal would make many more appearances thereafter, usually as Eggman's loyal(?) soldier.
Hunter was manipulated to obey Emperor Belos' orders as the Golden Guard, the emperor's right hand man. Starting in season 2 when we are introduced to Hunter/the Golden Guard, he acts as the head of the Emperor's coven, going after criminals with a powerful and menacing presence. He was trained with the other guards and weilds a staff with artificial magic, as he does not naturally produce magic on his own.
In Sonic Heroes, Sonic is challenged by Eggman to stop his plans of world domination within 3 days. However, it ends up being Metal Sonic impersonating Eggman behind the strings. Before the events of Sonic Heroes, Eggman upgraded Metal Sonic into Neo Metal Sonic, making him larger, more menacing, and giving him the ability to speak, among more upgrades. One of these upgrades appeared to be a more advanced ai, allowing Metal Sonic to think for himself. This leads to him going rogue and rebelling against Eggman, attempting to take over the world for himself.
Hunter was loyal to Belos, but throughout the course of season 2, upon spending more time with Luz and Flapjack, he begins to further question Belos' teachings. Of course, he already had his own doubts on just how dangerous wild magic could be, but Belos' manipulation into believing that wild magic is what had "killed their family" prevents him from pushing further on the matter. These seeds of doubt culminate in season 2, episode 16 of The Owl House, titled "Hollow Mind". In this episode, Luz and Hunter accidentally get in the middle of a spell to enter Belos' mind, and while he is in denial at first about Belos' origins, Hunter ends up learning the truth about his creation and all the grimwalkers that came before him.
After the events of Sonic Heroes, after Metal Sonic was defeated, Robotnik would restore Metal Sonic into his original form, and stripping him of making his own decisions to prevent another rebellion. After Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic acts exactly as he did before, as Dr. Eggman's loyal soldier, following his orders without question.
Unlike Metal Sonic, Hunter was brainwashed and manipulated
Genuinely though how brainwashed do you have to be to believe that ONE day off for the whole year, "sleeping in" until 6am, giving up your palismen (to be fed to Belos), and having to survive at the top of a mountain with no resources sound like a good thing? No wonder he had to capture the flyer derby team just to get recruits damn! Lwk the presentation about the Emperor's Coven back in Covention sounded a lot more appealing!! 😭🙏 dude was a little TOO sheltered...
Also 99% of this is probably headcanon and perhaps projection but I really like the idea of Metal Sonic resenting Eggman for giving him freedom and taking it away. I also like the idea which lwk has a lot more canon evidence behind it (IDW) that Metal Sonic also resents Sonic himself. Since Metal Sonic thinks that he himself, is the one true Sonic, the BETTER Sonic. I imagine he would a loose canon if his sentience was restored since he hates both Sonic AND Eggman... Lwk though I feel like if anyone could convice him to be his own person and stop trying to be the "real" Sonic it'd probably be Amy... idk she's js a pro at doing stuff like that (ex. convincing Shadow to not kill everyone on Earth and convincing Silver not to kill Sonic) [totally not metamy fan delusion... totallyy...]
In conclusion, Sonic OVA is one of my favorite interpretations of Metal Sonic out there, along with Miaogo's DeadCode AU :3 + Hunter Owl House is js like me fr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!