Summer of Sonic 2012 - Cosplay Contest

Sorry for the delay, here is some more video footage of Summer of Sonic 2012, this time of the cosplay contest! This time they did things differently: in previous years they had every single cosplayer go up on stage to be picked based on everyones cheering, which is kind of a hard thing to judge I would imagine, so this time they had a panel of judges give each cosplayer points throughout the day and the top 10 of those went up on the stage in the afternoon. This meant the contest on stage was a lot shorter than previous years.

The pair dressed as banjo and Kazooie are friends of mine who did it for a laugh, and despite being only very loosey related to anything Sonic (having been in the X-box 360 version of All-Stars Racing) still managed to get 4th place! As for the top winner, I'll give you a WILD guess (heh heh) but even if you don't like the character you got to admit that is a stunning costume. I asked the woman who wore it how long it took her to make, and she said about 4 or 5 months. Not surprised! I still don't get how the eyes seem to look forwards no matter what way the head turns, it's kinda spooky!

Summer of Sonic 2012 - Video Tour

The Summer of Sonic 2012 coverage here at Sega Memories begins here! In this first video you will see the queue outside the Brighton Centre early on, us walking into the venue, checking out the free goodie bag, watching some All-Stars Transformed gameplay, watching the event introduction on the screens and stage, and a tour of the 2nd floor, including what is in the merch booth this year! I have other videos coming soon, including the cosplay contest, the Jun Senoue jam session and I also have lots of photos to share, so stay tuned!

Summer of Sonic 2011 Documentary

Anthony Caulfield & Nicola Caulfield, the filmmakers who also put together the Birth of an Icon documentary were also working on this documentary for this years Summer of Sonic at the same time! Lots of interviews, including Svend, Kevin Eva, Nigel Kitching and Dobbyn, and many others. Cracking stuff.

Don't forget to check out all my previous coverage of Summer of Sonic 2011, 2010 and 2009 if you haven't already!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Videos Part 3!

Here's the last of the footage I took on the day. My camcorder batteries ran out so I couldn't get as much as i would have liked but still. here you will see us joining the signing queue for Yuji Naka and Takashi Iizuka, of which we got to watch Never Mind the Buzz Bombers while in it. There is also footage of Frobman Sonic Heroes animation (watch the whole thing here) which I took so he could have video of how well it went down. Finally there some footage of the second Q&A session with Naka, Iizuka and Senour followed by a bit of the birthday cheer that was recorded for Sonic Generations. Enjoy!

Just remember: Even Iizuka, director of Sonic Adventure, hates Big the Cats fishing game.

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Cosplay Contest

So here is (most) of the cosplay contest in a huge 22 minute video! I didn't get all of it because one of my camcorder batteries ran out half way through and at one point I thought I was recording and it turns out I wasn't, oops! Either way you can see most of the people that went up on stage to compete for the prize of the 20th Anniversary statue, including quite a few of my mates dressed up as Eggman Nega, Tails and Professor Pickle! The contest was on quite early in the day compared to previous years (about 2:30 in the afternoon) so i think a few cosplayers didn't make it in time to the contest, and there were many others that didn't go up on stage like Ulala and the SegaGaga guy. One more short video to go, coming soon!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Videos Part 1!

So here's the first of three videos of the day itself! Here you will see where we arrived at about 9:30 to join the huge queue! That was just the queue for those who had reserved, the other queue for those who had not was even longer and some people were waiting outside until well into the afternoon, eep!

As we walk in I check out the merchandise stands just as Naka, Iizuka and Senoue took the stage for a Q&A (the first of two they did on the day), plus I have a quick chat with the Sonic the Comic Online guys and some cosplayers. You'll also get to see some karaoke including Darren Indeed from Sega Shiro's friend Daryl singing quite possibly the most miscellaneous Sonic song they could have picked! Plus there was an awesome Sonic the Comic inspired animation, which you can see in it entirely on Youtube here.

The next video will be the cosplay competition!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Party the Night Before

There was a party about 10 minutes away from Camden Center from 6pm that me and Stacey headed to the evening before. It was £15 to get in and all food and drink was included (until the tab ran out anyway) including Sonic and Shadow themed shots! Didn't try the Shadow one but the Sonic one was extremely minty and lovely, had a few of those. I had a big bacon cheese burger and Stacey had a Japanese dish called a Gyoza which she almost squirted all over a guy sitting beside us..

 ..who just so happened to be Mike Pollock, AKA the current voice actor of Dr. Robotnik! He was playing it very low key, chatting to people who came along knowing who he was, but we had been sitting next to him for ages not realizing who he was!

Soon after a Wii with Gamecube games was set up on a the big projection screen, and everyone took turns playing versus modes in Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, Sonic 3, Sonic 2, Sonic the Fighters and Sonic R. I had a go three times and won two of them: My round in battle was luck I think, and I still remember the track layouts in Sonic R too well, but had no idea how to play Fighters well haha. The video above mainly shows random gameplay throughout the night with me (maybe a little tipsy) rambling, shouting and even singing to some of the tunes, oh boy

The guys from Sega Shiro were also there, check out their big post on the night too, where they have a video of me playing Sonic R amongst and lots of photos!

Summer of Sonic coverage continues next week!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Cosplayers!

The cosplayers really outdone them selfs at this years Summer of Sonic. There were lots of them and many were of amazing quality and there was a lot of variety in the characters they chose to dress as (no army of Shadow the Hedgehogs this time) including some really unusual ones! I suspect there was so many because they found out that the winner of the cosplay contest would take home of the those not-for-sale 20th Anniversary statues! Mind you, not all of them went up onto the stage, there was just so many! I will be posting a video of the cosplay contest eventually, though it was quite difficult to film this year.

I have dozens of photos I took on the day. I didn't get photos of everyone but to start off here was one of my favorites:

How are ya how are ya how are ya! It's only Wes Weasley from the Adventures of Sonic cartoon! How cool is that? More after the jump!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - The Glass box of Merchandise!

Now it wouldn't be Sega Memories coverage about Summer of Sonic without an in depth look at the 'rare merchandise' glass box that has been there every year, now would it? That is what we are all about after all! That and it also wouldn't be Summer of Sonic without me trying to steal said glass box, with the help of Ruben once again!

Hit the jump for photos galore of what was contained inside this year!

Summer of Sonic 2011 - Video of Swag & Signed Things!

Sega Memories' Summer of Sonic coverage starts here! Here's a video I put together today showing what I bought back from the event, as well as what I took with me to get scribbled on by famous Sonic type people! Next video will be of the party we went to the evening before!

SOS '10 Videos Part 4: Crush 40 Live

So here we are at the last of the four SOS 2010 videos I will be uploading. Here we have some of the best bits from Crush 40's live performance at the end of this years Summer of Sonic. I didn't film the whole thing because I knew many others would be and with better camera and steadier hands, and I was right: just search for crush 40 on Youtube and you can watch the entire thing from more angles than you could possibly ever need.

SOS '10 Videos Part 3: The Cosplay Contest

There was just so many cosplayers this year that it was hard to include all the footage of them walking onto the stage to be judged into one video! Thanks Youtube for increasing your time limit to 15 minutes! I did have to cut out all the bits where people had to cheer for their favorites, as well as the part with the top 5 being voted down to 3. Still, you get to see every single cosplayer (bar the winning Rouge from last year who was there but didn't enter the contest) that attended the event here.

If this event was evidence of anything it's that there are a LOT of fans of Shadow, as more people dressed up as him than anyone else. We need more Sonics next year guys! Tomorrow will be our last video: the Crush 40 live performance!

SOS '10 Videos Part 2: Never Mind the Buzzbombers Quiz

Four our second video here is some highlights of the 'Never Mind the Buzzbombers' Quiz, a Sonic themed take on the BBC music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks, in case you wasn't aware. Like that show there was an intros round where one of the team had to imitate a Sonic tune and the others had to guess, and there were also some quick fire question rounds. It's not in the video but the winning prize was a rather spiffing Mario & Sonic at the Winter Olympics snowboard!

The highlight for me had to be when when one of the questions was about a comic I drew for Sumo Digital at last years SOS. You will hear my girlfriend shouting out about it! We have two more videos coming up this week of the cosplay contest and of course Crush 40's live performance!

SOS '10 Videos Part 1: Summary and Intro show

As promised I have a few videos of this years Summer of Sonic to treat you with. Of course there is already possibly hundreds of videos of the event online, many of which are most likely a whole lot less wobbly and covered in the backs of peoples noggins, but you may get some kind of enjoyment out of it with any luck.

We journey from the queue outside into the Pavillion where we check out the goodie bag, have a look around at what there is to check out at the booths and the like, then about 20 minutes after arriving inside the introduction show begins, featuring some guy doing the caramelldansen dance thing, which is a bit odd.

I also put together that artwork at the start of the video, which you can see in full below (click it)!

The second video will be online tomorrow!

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..

SOS '10: The Cosplayers

There was close to one thousand people attending Summer of Sonic this year. With a fanbase as huge as Sonic's you're going to get your bad eggs and sadly the whole lot often gets painted with the same brush, but when being amongst the awesome people that gathered together for this event the stereotype of Sonic fans being furrie sexual weridos just faded away. You couldn't meet a more friendly, talented and fun to hang out with lot. You can call them nerdy and eccentric all you like but they're having fun and doing no one any harm so there.

Case in point: the few fans that are so dedicated they came cosplaying as their favorite characters. There was a LOT more people dressed in their custom made outfits this year than previously, and there was a lot variety to the characters represented. Let's start with the first one that stood out and i had to grab a shot of pretty much minutes within entering the Pavilion..

Big the cat! She has a fishing rod, a froggy puppet and did an excellent impression of the pointless but lovable character! More after the jump!

SOS '10: The Swag

Instead of making a couple huge articles like last year, I'm going to be posting a bunch of shorter articles about last Saturday's brilliant Summer of Sonic convention. Safe to say they really outdid themselves this year. To kick off, here's what I brought back from there. A bit silly that I'm starting my coverage with the last photo I took but never mind!

So a bulk of it is from the goodie bag that was given away to the first few hundred entrants with tickets (people without tickets couldn't even get in until an hour or two after it opened! Sucks to be them I guess :E). My girlfriend also got a ticket just before the registration ended because she wanted to tag along even though she's not that big into Sonic (she enjoyed it though, so that's a relief lol) and when we entered from the HUGE queue we got the last bag! However they did have hundreds more of the highlight of the bag; the Metal Sonic figure, to give away to people that entered (tickets or not I believe) right through till about 4pm. More after the jump..

Summer of Sonic is imminent!

Summer of Sonic kicks off in The Pavilion, Shepherd's Bush, London this Saturday and you can expect to see coverage of the event throughout next week (providing I get time as I'm currently rather busy for this and next week) including plenty of photos and videos. For those not in the know, here's some of the excellent stuff to expect:

 Free Metal Sonic Toy!

Last year the freebie as we got in the door was a neat little Sonic art book, but this year they have really outdone themselves. The first 750 entrees with a ticket will be getting this yet to be released mini Metal Sonic figure from First4Figures! This is one of the three new 3" toys they will be releasing later this year to sit along side the Sonic, Knuckles and Tails ones they made last year. There will also be a box set of all six in the near future if you have not picked up the others yet. The other two new figurines consist of Super Sonic and Amy Rose!

Sonic 4 and Sonic Colours (Wii and DS) Playable!

Yep, not one but all three of the currently known upcoming Sonic releases will be there to test out! This includes the much awaited (and debated) Sonic 4 and both the DS and Wii versions of Sonic Colours, the next in the main line 3D Sonic games. I'm personally looking forward to trying both out: Colours looks like it's taking everything that worked in Unleashed and ditching all the annoying stuff to give us a simple fun new Sonic with no werehogs, no medal collecting and no need to endlessly boost everywhere! The DS version appears so far to be essentially Sonic Rush 3. Sonic 4 is well, Sonic the Hedgehog Number 4.

All-Stars Racing Tournament!

All-Stars was playable in an early form last year at SOS and since then the game has been released (and was awesome btw) and this year you can see if you can be hailed the All-Stars racing champion! I bet most people will be playing Alex Kidd, Ryo, Shadow....bascilly anyone on bikes. We shall see!

Crush 40 Performing!

Jun Senoue and his band are one of the major players in Sonic's musical history, producing the soundtracks to a large portion of the franchises existence, and at SOS this year we will get to hear them live, ask them questions in an interview and even a instrumental jam session with Jun at tea time! For me at least this sure beats seeing that Bentley Jones guy performing, who I'm not a fan of by any means (I'm trying to be polite here lol).

Nigel Dobbyn returns!

One of the leading artists from the UK Sonic the Comic, Dobbyn was at SOS last year selling many of his original artwork. Unsurprisingly most if not all of it sold out, so this year he will be selling newly drawn prints like this little beauty here (above)! He will be there like last year for a chat and to get whatever you like signed. The guy is a mega talented artist so even if you never read the comic you should check him out!

That (in my opinion) the highlights for this year, and there is bound to be more surprises too so if you're going to be there I might see you there (just look for this git on the left, above) and if not look forward to checking out our coverage! :)

Summer of Sonic '09: Video of Introduction

Well a lot of the video footage I took was pretty pants but here's a bit of it showing what I filmed just as I entered the building, having a quick look about, and then it cuts to the introduction up on the stage, which continues into the second video. I just missed the very start of that animation in which a windows blue screen popped up (getting huge laughs as everyone presumed the computers set up to the telly's crashed) but then that tails Doll from Sonic R popped up all evil like. Otherwise very little is cut out.

Sega Nerds already has a great video of the Sumo Digital Q&A session as well as a interview they did with them, so I probably won't be uploading my filming of that, but I do also have the Q&A session with the S.T.C artists which i will be uploading soon.

Summer of Sonic '09: Neo Merch Zone photos galore!

Seeing as Sega memories is primarily a Sonic merchandise related blog (at least it's ended up that way), it only makes sense of provide a whole bunch of photos of the merchandise area of Summer of Sonic, so here we are!