Shadow the Hedgehog went to Claire’s and inspired a new meme trend

Shadow is the solitary, brooding villain of the Sonic the Hedgehog Series. The poor man was created in a laboratory and is trying to find his place in this world. Perhaps some new accessories could help. This idea charmed a lot of fans after a meme of Shadow entering a Claire’s went viral — inspiring a trend where fans draw Sonic characters doing some big-box store shopping of their own.

It works like this: The idea is to draw Sonic characters entering chain stores and then place them over photos of actual locations. This trend started in 2008. digital artist Amasc0metThey tweeted the photo on April 29. The meme was first tweeted on April 29.

“Nothing specific inspired the art, I simply just wanted to draw him going to Claire’s,” Amasc0met said to Polygon via Twitter. “It was a self indulgent silly little thing.” After it took off, they redrew the meme with Shadow exiting wearing a rainbow plastic bracelet along with a heart shaped shades. He did not get his ears perked. Maybe next time.

This meme inspired many spinoffs. Here’s Sonic running (not walking!) Hot Topic is the clothing shop.

He is now emerging from the shop. It looks like he’s changed into some Vans, got some striped fingerless gloves MoreHe used his regular gloves and applied thick eyeliner. He’d make every scene kid jealous.

Rouge the Bat is seen here pondering Kay Jewelers’ jewelry, and then stealing some of it in a hurry.

Knuckles shares his secret to his finesse: Bath & Body Works.

Dr. Starline takes a little “me time” and shops at the Sanrio store. They’re a competitor, but that’s fine!

Tails is so precious with his Build-A-Bear Sonic and Knuckles stuffed Sonic. In case you weren’t aware, these are real stuffed animal animals at the moment.

Cream the Rabbit looks adorable in her Justice outfit.

Blaze, the cat goes to Blaze Pizza with Silver. It’s a date!

There are too many to describe each individually, so here’s a running list of some of the other cute ones we found on Twitter.

This concept was a hit online and gave fans the opportunity to create some adorable fan art. It’s possible that Sonic is just top of mind since the newSonic the Hedgehog II The movie was made. Amasc0met told Polygon they didn’t expect so many people to hop on the trend. “I still don’t quite understand how or why. I never in my wildest dreams could’ve predicted the outcome but I’m glad it happened lol.”