Sega Magazine Highlight: Sonic Merchandise Showcase

One of the best articles (at least for this blog) that I found in my new collection of the official UK Sega magazine was this two page article about Sonic Merchandise from Issue #5 (from May 1994). It shows off tons of the Sonic toys, clothes, stationary, books and even food from the era, most of it I either had (and in many cases still own) or at least remember, with many things I forgot all about but this article sent memories flooding back! Best part is they even tell you where to buy them and how much they were!

In particular interest (for me anyway) is the food items, as for obvious reasons next to no one would have thought to keep any of the packaging for that. I was a Sonic collector even back then, but I wasn't that sad! I do remember sticking the crisp packets into scrapbooks though. Who remembers the Daily Milk Easter Egg? The Chocolate rolls? How about the MEGA MILK, which sounds a bit too close to Chemical Planet Zone's purple water of death "Mega Mack"?

One thing I defiantly don't remember is the official Birthday cake from Sainsburys. For one of my birthday's I had a basic chocolate cake that had Sonic Pogs decorated on it. My mum knew exactly what stuff from this she bought me back then, including some of those daft looking trainers! Also lol, they don't know who Sally Acorn is.

BONUS! Found a news snippet in issue 8 featuring another Sonic food stuff I forgot all about...toffee biscuits! How exciting!

This Sonic collection is AMAZING.

Sonic Collectibles is rapidly becoming one of the best websites to check out for videos and updates about Sonic bits and bobs, updating far more often than we get to and with videos of individual pieces of rare merch popping up on the youtube account semi regularly as of late.

The owner of the site and channel Pete has just recently uploaded a 20th Anniversary video showing of his entire collection (I assume) that is all set up in a room full of glass boxes that honestly makes the one at Summer of Sonic look a bit feeble in comparison because they are just so cram,med full of ultra rare and exciting stuff!

I've been watching the Youtube account for some time and figured Pete's collection must be rather large but I could have never expected this! Almost anything you can think of is here: one of those 10th Anniversary wine glasses, the Super Sonic plush, loads of the Australian Sega World stuff, and many things that are one (or two) of a kind like an original SATAM group shot cel painting, a commissioned painting of Sonic by Milton Knight, and a statue that was owned by Tom Kalinske, CEO of Sega of America during the 90s!

Of everything on show here I think one of the main things I truly envy and adore is the Japanese classic Eggman statues and smaller toy he owns (see from about 10:55 in the video). Those are simply outstanding.

Early 90's Japanese Sonic Puzzle

This rather nice ebay purchase from Japan showed up this weekend. It was one of those "heck, why not" moments as I've wanted to get some stuff to hang up on my wall, and the puzzle was already built and framed, though the frame doesn't have glass in it but it is sealed up like so much stuff bought from Japan tends to be so that was a bonus. A couple more photos after the jump.

Stuff things into Sonic's Stomach and Carry Him About!

During my Birthday in late November and Christmas I was given a lot of Sonic gifts, many brought back from America. Of course being known for collecting just about anything with Sonic on it (within reason) does help in that case. One of my Xmas presents this time around was this rather large Sonic plush back-pack. Apparently these cost a small fortune in Sega's Gameworks park in Las Vegas (around $70!) but this one was found for a much less insulting $25 at a Fye's store. More photos after the jump.

Sonic Colours Pre-Order Figure...with Wisps!

If you are reading this blog, own a Wii and have not played Sonic Colours yet, why are you reading this blog? Go grab this game because it's actually rather good. Not even just rather good but rather brilliant. I know, I was shocked too. I haven't enjoyed a Sonic game this much from beginning to end since probably Sonic & Knuckles, and somehow even the writing and voice acting is light years ahead of "Watch out you're going to crash ahh!" of the Dreamcast days. Blimey.

As many may recall there was a pre-order bonus for this game in America was that now infamous Sonic hat (so much so that there was a whole ice rink of Sonic mad hatters tripping about for the games' launch), but elsewhere in the world we got this figure (above) instead. In Australia and possible some other countries the game came in a special edition box of the game with the figure, but here in the UK it was given in a little bag stapled together by some cardboard and was only available from the catalog store Argos. More after the bump..

SOS '10: The Merchindise in the Glass Box!

Just like last year there was a 'No Merch Zone' present, which consists of a large glass cabinet of Sonic related treasures. There was some of the same stuff from last year but mostly completely new stuff, so here's a bunch of photos. Apologies the photos are not quite so good this time but you'll get the idea. Check them out after the jump..

Sonic Watches: Time To Be Cool!

Direct from the parents comes another Sonic item found in the dark recesses of my old bedroom. Last time I showcased a box full of goodies, this time I only have a watch to share, but what a cool watch it is!

Sonic and the most uncomfortable bike ever (and other hot wheels toys)

Title almost sounds like the next Wii exclusive Sonic game.

Man, I have truck loads of sonic junk that is stored in the loft that I have never got around to posting about, best at least have a go at showing some of it.

So let's start off with this one off oddity of a toy. Hot Wheels did this set of 'Crash & Smash' toys and amongst the Sewer Sharks and whatever other franchises represented was this Sonic figure on a motorbike. More after the jump..

Forklift Number 5 of 1000

It's here! The major award has arrived: the 'Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing' Ryo Hazuki forklift statue. The short version of how I came about the figure: I entered a Sega contest a few months back and last week I won the figure. The figure was limited run of 1,000 was was only available via the online contest with a handful making it over to Europe and distributed via Sega Europe's Free Stuff Friday giveaway. Now enough chatter, let's take a look at the figure!

This Crazy Taxi is Huuuuge!

Apologizes for being so lax in posting lately in general for that matter, especially to Barry who has been keeping this blog alive all on his own for quite a while! I have quite the backlog of things to snap photos of and write dribble about! For example, this rather beefy Sega toy I picked up about a month ago..

 
More after the jump!

The Sonic Chess set and other bits and bobs

So we finally have some photos of the Gaya Entertainment range of classic Sonic stuff as seen over at the German website Spin Dash (thank Barry for finding these). Nice to finally see a classic Amy and Robotnik show up somewhere in all this stuff!

Squeeze toys for crushing in your hand over the many disappointments and frustrations that come in hand with being a Sonic fan!

Those 'Sega Gals' Return

Oh the humanity!

Waaaaay back before I read or wrote for this blog, Gagaman wrote about some awesome Sega Gals capsule toys. Since finding and reading that post, I knew I had to get me some Sega gals! So, after a few months of occasionally checking ebay, I found the first series of six for a cool $24. As Gagaman already covered Ulala and Arle, I'll share the other four famous gals.

First up is one of my favorites from the first series of gals, Sarah Bryant of Virtua Fighter fame, specifically Virtua Fighter 4. I'm not an expert on action figures, but the paintjob is very nice. The gloss used for her body suit makes for a great feux leather.

"Better run home to Mama now."

JSRF Gets Larger Than Life

The world of Jet Set Radio merchandise is a small one. Even the most avid collector could only fill a single shelf with what Sega has to offer. Thankfully a company thought outside the shelf by applying the JSRF license to large-format repositionable wall graphics!


LTL Prints, the company responsible, was founded in late 2008 by by entrepreneurs Kendall Schoenrock and Carsten Petzold. Taken from their own "about" page: "We set out to create a platform for creative expression that would bring larger-than-life repositionable wall graphics to empty walls everywhere," according to LTLprints founder Kendall Schoenrock. "And we are working with the worlds' premier artists, designers, and brands to literally CREATE a new medium."


VP of Marketing John Doffing was nice enough to get me in touch with Kendall and Carsten, and I was surprised to find out that both LTL Prints and myself are located within in the same city (Philadelphia)! What more, I was a short ten minute subway ride from their HQ! So taking an extended lunch break, I headed on over to LTL Prints. Once there, I was greeted by Kendall and Carsten and was able to have a look about. The printer they use is enormous, think "the grand piano of printers", while the walls of their office was covered in a variety of images available on their online catalog.

Sonic race track revisions, or just better paint jobs?

Just over a year ago I posted probably way too much text and too many photos of the 'Super Sonic Racing System' set and it's broken Sonic and tails slot cars. Well Debenhams were having a 75% off sale and still had some sets left over so I picked one up for a measly £4.50 to replace my broken set. Seems the pain jobs on the cars of this set are much better than my previous set. Either it's a luck of the draw how good the set you get is or they sacked however gave Sonic bags under his eyes and the colours all sloppy and not quite matching the artwork.

Have a look for yourself (new one on left, old on right):

There are some other subtle differences too, like the pole holding the two back wheels are longer and the characters seem to be more up right (espcially the Tails of which the old is practically facing the floor) but that's just me going into autistic levels of comparison. I haven't tried the set to see how many minutes it will actually work, but to be honest I probably won't bother. Now if the track had a loop and rings likethe original concept art that;d be a different story...

New Classic Sonic 2" figures

Just spotted these on play.com, with a pre-order date of the 20th of this month. Classic styled and just 2 inches tall (still bigger than the Sonic & Knuckles set I have) , they cost £4 each at the moment though I should imagine a box set of all three will show up at some point too. Wouldn't it be nice if they made a whole collection of these with Robotnik, Amy, Metal Sonic etc? For now though we just have the usual Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. Still, they look nice enough, decent Christmas gifts at least.

They also have the RC Racers and Track set that I showed you before up on the site for under a tenner. I wouldn't really recommended the track set unless you really must have the little figures that come with it: I got my set for much cheaper as it was faulty, the track is nothing special. The RC Racers however are quite nice.

Oh, and the 12" statue? Good luck getting that now, it's price is shooting upwards!

Sonic's Mystery Box

This past weekend my parents came to visit, and along with a fun-filled weekend came all of my Sega games, accessories and consoles that I had left at their house. After quietly sneaking six boxes past my girlfriend, I came to the last box. Inside was an odd assortment of items from my Sonic collection. My parents craftily snuck in a bit of things that I didn't ask to be brought. Rather than being a little brat, I thanked them for this random selection of Sonic items and now I'd like to share Sonic's mystery box with all of you!

More Juvi-nile Delinquents

As promised on the back of the SDCC Metal Sonic Juvi figure, the Juvi figures of Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and the Werehog have hit stores!

Photo lovingly ripped from ebay

Like Metal Sonic, the first series are Toyr R Us exclusives. Unlike Metal Sonic, they can be found in stores and have yet to hit the online shop. Each figure goes for a reasonable $9.99 each. My take: I think they look alright, but I don't think I'll be buying them. The face sculpts look a bit too extreme and "Sonic X"-ish. I also don't like that they all look like they spotted a penny on the floor. You'll notice Sonic has a "shine" on the top of his head, like a light blue paint roller ran across his forehead. Besides the wonky look to their faces, the paint/print job itself is lovely and they look to be just as quality a product as the Metal Sonic.

The prototypes clearly had more of a neck and were looking upwards.

Internet rumors speculate that Series 2 will contain Amy, Silver, and Metal Sonic. I'd take this with a grain of salt, as Metal Sonic has already been released. Unless a variaton is made, or the exclusiveness of the SDCC figure is to be dissolved, I suspect we'll be seeing Tails and Blaze rounding out the four. I'll admit, when I read "Silver" I got excited for the Sonic 2 boss, only to realize they were talking about the Sonic '06 Silver the Hedgehog. C'est la vie!

In other news: Metal Sonic has returned to the Toys R Us online store! Get him while you can!

10 Inch Metal Sonic... ACTIVATE!

10 Inch Metal Sonic has arrived! And as quickly as he arrived, he is now sold out from the Toys R Us online store. It's no wonder that this figure went so fast, just look at him! A near perfect figure of a Sonic fan favorite who has been sorely underrepresented in the merchandising world. Figures may still be available in stores, though they are going fast. One's best bet to obtain one would be to call local Toys R Us stores or search eBay, though avid Sonic fans should avoid auctions going for more than $40.

"shh... When Sonis turns around he is going to freak the hell out." 

Magical Flying Turbo hat Adventure: The More you Know!

Image from Segagagadomain

I'm sure you've all heard of the original Japanese version of the Mega Drive game Decap Attack, known over there under the crazy name of 'Magical Flying Turbo Hat Adventure', but it seems there was more to this than just a game.

10 Inches of Pure Metal

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Toys R Us...
Metal Sonic RETURNS!

Checking up on the Toys R Us website for Metal Sonic has become a weekly routine for me. As usual, I entered the site this morning expecting nothing. But I was struck by THIS:


He's not for pre-order either, he's for sale right now! No Sonic fan should pass this figure up for the low, low price of $16.99. Heck, it gets even better! The Exclusive San Diego Comic-Con 2009 Metal Sonic the Hedgehog has been discounted to the odd price of $10.48, about $5 off the original price.

The 10 inch Metal Sonic is available both in stores and online. As I live minutes away from a Toys R Us, I'm holding off until the store opens to call them and (hopefully) reserve a figure. If all goes well, I could have a review this very evening. If not, then I'll have this shiny little faker in my clutches as early as next week.

I found this package shot on ebay. The figure looks much nicer in a 3/4 view.


Update: Metal appears to be very popular, as he is sold out at five of the closest stores. Thankfully he is on his way from ToysRUs.com. Holy crap! He weighs 2 pounds??