(Left) 1994 Album (Right) 2010 Album. Like you needed to be told that.
But is the album even any good? I've only just bought one and some stickers today but we'll have a quick look, and unfairly compare it to an almost complete 1994 Sonic sticker book after the jump.
Well inflation has certainly made a difference which is no surprise. The old album cost a mere 60p whereas the newer, smaller and thinner new album is £2. The packs of 5 stickers are 50p so it'd cost about £14 to fill up the album if you got no doubles (hahaha, like that would ever happen). Out of the 10 packs i bought I only got 4 doubles though and they do have an order service to buy specific stickers you're after so that's something.
To be fair this new album isn't made for cranky Sonic 90's fans like a lot of us here. If you're not a fan of modern Sonic and his 'shitty friends' this won't be you're cup of tea. The entire collection consists of artwork and renders of all the characters, who get a page or two dedicated to them each. Yes, even those Sonic Riders bird things get a page, and Big the Cat gets a whole page of stickers whereas metal Sonic has.... 1 sticker. Booo!
I'll never get my head around who thought it was a good idea to name a character 'Eggman Nega'
Every character has their own little bio, some with pointless info like their age height and weight, and some of the writing is enough to make me wanna hurl. "Amy adores Sonic but seems to be more in love with love itself"? "Deep down Eggman feels admiration and respect for Sonic"? Oh please. They do mention 'Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast' in one bit though.
I can't help but feel while kids will be happy collecting this and some fans are going nuts over the fact that some of the art and renders are brand new, they could of done a lot more with this when you compare it to the old book. Sure the old album is mostly full of Sonic 3 screenshots and it's probably mostly nostalgia speaking here, but it just has a more colourful and fun layout and there's a bit more variety. It's bigger, and has a fold out poster to fill with shiny stickers, and there was even some daft puzzle stuff at the back.
What I'm saying is along with the character art, why not some screenshots from some of the games, or animation frames from Night of the Werehog? Would of made it a bit more interesting in my opinion. Still, I'm just picking this apart, it's not a bad album by any means, and Sonic collectors will get a kick out of it. Hell, I'm probably gonna have a go at filling this album up just for the dumb pleasure of collecting stickers again for the first time in...16 years? Wow, that's crazy.
One last thing: at the back of the album there's an advert for all the Jazware Sonic toys from America launching in the UK via Tomy (who have grabbed the Sonic license for the first time again since back in the early 90s) sometime in June. The more you know!
Oh yeah and a new Sonic game was announced today. How about that?
I can't help but feel while kids will be happy collecting this and some fans are going nuts over the fact that some of the art and renders are brand new, they could of done a lot more with this when you compare it to the old book. Sure the old album is mostly full of Sonic 3 screenshots and it's probably mostly nostalgia speaking here, but it just has a more colourful and fun layout and there's a bit more variety. It's bigger, and has a fold out poster to fill with shiny stickers, and there was even some daft puzzle stuff at the back.
Look! Even a few pages dedicated to a AOSTH cartoon!
What I'm saying is along with the character art, why not some screenshots from some of the games, or animation frames from Night of the Werehog? Would of made it a bit more interesting in my opinion. Still, I'm just picking this apart, it's not a bad album by any means, and Sonic collectors will get a kick out of it. Hell, I'm probably gonna have a go at filling this album up just for the dumb pleasure of collecting stickers again for the first time in...16 years? Wow, that's crazy.
One last thing: at the back of the album there's an advert for all the Jazware Sonic toys from America launching in the UK via Tomy (who have grabbed the Sonic license for the first time again since back in the early 90s) sometime in June. The more you know!
Oh yeah and a new Sonic game was announced today. How about that?
4 comments:
Got one myself last week. Took me ages to find it though. Funny how they'll keep them behind the till to stop kids stealing them, yet iTunes cards and chocolate at my local WHSmiths are right next to the door.
Haven't bought any stickers for it. I doubt I will. Bit of an underwhelming album for £2. But then, maybe that's because I'm really cheap.
Anyway, great article as always.
Glad you covered the sticker album. The folks at Sonic Stadium are going nuts for it! Looks cool, despite the modern day leanings. I will say that the 3D renders are loads better than they were ten years ago.
Also, that AoStH page is pure awesome.
Seeing products like this makes me really wish SEGA would consider doing some sort of artbook. I'd love to get a couple packs of these... unfortunately I'm in the US and I doubt I'll find these this side any time soon.
I especially dug the older sticker collection; I've never seen any of that old artwork before!
Great stuff Gagaman(n), I don't suppose you'd mind posting a couple more pages from the old album, would you? I'd love to get a look at some more of those old illustrations from the 90s.
I'm still waiting for a massive "History of SONIC" coffee table book. Maybe we'll get something next year. But how cool would it be to get a nice hardcover containing nearly every piece of official art from all the games as well as historical bits, sketches and interviews?
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