New Sonic toys revealed at New York Toy Fair 2013

The super Sonic fans over at The Sonic Stadium have come across a bevy of photos from the Jazwares booth at the 2013 New York Toy Fair. Jazwares, who has the license for Sonic toys, has a few new items planned for release this year. While nowhere near as big as the 20th anniversary line of toys, some of the new toys are pretty cool. Spotted in the photos are Sonic branded disc shooters, Sonic and Shadow masks, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed figures of Shadow and Sonic with their vehicles in jet form, mini-figures of various All-Stars Racing Transformed vehicles, a life-size ring that lights up when held, and plushes of Metal Sonic, Silver and Super Sonic. To see more images, check out the article over at The Sonic Stadium!

Buy Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at Gamestop, get a new car!

Those who follow SEGA news over at SEGAbits (plug plug) may have read about the marketing tie-in Hot Wheels and Danica Patrick had with SEGA. The team up has been a long and winding road, filled with complaining fans, happy fans, stupid moments and cool moments. Danica Patrick may have been an odd addition to Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed's roster, but I think most SEGA fans can agree that the car she raced at Texas Motor Speedway in November looked awesome. Okay, so that explains why Danica was in the game. Her SEGA connection was racing with SEGA as a sponsor in real life. But why in the world was she driving a Hot Wheels branded car in the game? Well, back in October 2012, SEGA revealed a Hot Wheels Danicar (a toy car designed by Danica Patrick back in 2011) with SEGA branding. The car was to be given out at select retailers to those who bought the game. Awesome! Free merch, and a reason for a Hot Wheels car being in the game. 

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!

Ever wanted to cuddle Seaman?

No? Me neither. You don't really cuddle fishes as such do you? Especially fish with miserable ugly human-like faces on them. Still, the Dreamcast game Seaman, in which you raised said creature and had chats with it via a microphone, was big enough of a hit in Japan for it to warrant merchandise including a surprisingly large collection of plush toys, one of which I have got my mitts on because....I don't know, really. Why not I guess?

More photos of this thing after the jump..

Sonic Tomy Gacha Capsules: Russian Roulette with Toys

I've seen these little Sonic toy capsules quite a bit over the past year. They're at Target, they're at Wal-Mart and they were at the local "$5 or Less" store. It was at the last location I finally caved and picked up three, in hopes that I wouldn't be screwed over with two werehogs and a Shadow. So just what are these things? Well, think of those 50 cent toy dispensers, mark the price up eight times and instead of your chance resting on what the bottom toy capsule is, your figure depends on which capsules you blindly grabbed. Each capsule contains one of six figures: Sonic, Super Sonic, Metal Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and the Werehog. Each figure must be built, and usually consist of three to five parts. I think most people think that there is a method to picking the best capsules, but really grabbing the first three or every second one that rolls out of the box will have equal chances of getting a good one.
After the break, lets see what I got! Did I get screwed over? Or did I snag three Metal Sonics, thus winning a jackpot (if you apply slot machine gameplay to the capsule toys).

The Elusive McDonalds Eggman Toy Appears Once Again!

Regulars to SEGA Memories should know about the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 McDonalds toys and how Japanese fans were treated to a very different looking Eggman toy. Gagaman covered it not too long ago. While Westerners received an Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog design of Robotnik, the Japanese received the original in-game Eggman design. Since 1993, the alternate Eggman toy occasionally appeared in books (as Gagaman mentions in the above link), the Sonic 10th Birthday Pack and online. Most recently, the McDonalds Eggman appeared in an online auction at rinkya.com. The auction also includes Sonic, and both toys are unopened. The only downside, the price is set at over $50 and that doesn't even include whatever shipping is. Still, it's great to see more images of this elusive toy! After the break, check out two more images of Eggman and Sonic.

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.

A response to Sonic Retro's 20th Anniversary Photos..

Sonic Retro posted photos both here and here of games laid out in a "20" and seeing as retro is all about the games and we're all about (mostly) the merchandise, here's my response to it with toys and statues! More angles of this on the photostream.

Tiny Tomy Sonic Duel Toys

What's this mysterious purple box that I found recently in a retro toy store for a few quid, and what does it contain? Find out after the jump!

McDonald's Collectibles book Sonic set insights

 

So I found a book lying in the loft about McDonald's Collectibles (this one to be specific) and found a couple pages in there about the Sonic set of toys made in 1994 to promote Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and there is a few interesting bits of info in it along with scans. Above is the American promo art for it and below is the British one.

Check after the jump for scans and info taken from the book about all the different international releases and the toy variants.

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..

10" Sonic and the Sonic PVC 6-pack!

 As 2010 comes to an end, so too does a great year for Sonic toys! This year we saw toymaker Jazwares make a huge step up in quality and number of new figures. Meanwhile, First 4 Figures covered the collectible side of things with an awesome Super Sonic statue and a great collection of PVC figures. Today I thought I'd highlight two recent acquisitions: Jazware's 10" Sonic and First 4 Figures PVC 6-pack!

Sonic OVERLOAD: 74 Happy Meal Toys

There are eBay auctions, and then there are Totally X-Treme eBay Auctionz! This one is the latter. Just look at that! I have no idea who would need that many Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Happy Meal toys, nor would I have any idea how one came across that many. The price is actually decent: between $20 and $40 depending on bidding or buy it now. Unless you plan to resell the toys to make a profit, or are some crazy conceptual artist who wants to make a sculpture out of these, I see no reason for one to place a bid. Still, they make for a great photo.

Note: despite there being 74 toys, it still is not a complete set. Tails is M.I.A.

Original auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/74-Vintage-SONIC-HEDGEHOG-1994-McDonalds-Lot-TOYS-NR-/380278726473?pt=Fast_Food_Cereal_Premiums&hash=item588a60df49

Toys"R"Us Shows Sonic & SEGA Some Love

I felt like a kid in some kind of store!

Just as things were looking grim for Sonic and SEGA at my local Toys"R"Us, a recent visit brought with it a surprising number of new items! Last month I checked in on the video game figures aisle only to find that Sonic had been relegated to a foot length of shelving, with the only toys available being Knuckles in an ATV and a dozen werehogs. But enough about the sad past, the Sonic and SEGA section is bumping! Let's check out what is new in the world of figures and take a closer look at what I bought!

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! :)

Classic Amy and co, all the way back from Vegas..

So my parents were in Las Vegas last month and visited the Gameworks arcade while there. Recently there was news that about half of these places were being shut down, but this is apparently not one of them, in fact they were building more stuff for it including a Sonic themed kids area. Alreday there was a Sega Shop full of Sonic goodies, they snapped a couple pics of the display (see above) Hit the jump for more...

Tiger's R-Zone, and the terrible Sega ports it brought.

Now we all remember how bad the Virtual Boy by Nintendo was right? It couldn't really be played in any practical manner, didn't have a lot of games and worse of all: made your eyes bleed after a couple minutes due to the horrific bright red on black graphics. Tiger Electronics, well known for their dodgy LCD handheld games (many of which were based on Sega games) during the same year of 1995 also had a crack at making horrid bright red games for a system they christened the R-Zone (and the later model the XPG). Horror continues after the jump.

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..

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!