Up, Over and Gone! - AoStH Production Art

Hey SEGA fans! I thought I'd kick off my membership with the SEGA Memories team by sharing some of the most prized Sonic items of my SEGA collection: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog animation cells! Before I post a string of jpegs, let me share the memories associated with these babies.

It was 1995 in Minnesota, my dad was, and still is, an avid Donald Duck collector. Through connections with a Disney collectors club, he obtained invites to a meet and greet with the voices of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Wayne Allwine and Russi Taylor (also the voice of Ralph on The Simpsons). The event took place at an animation art gallery and it was a blast, Wayne and Russi shared stories of what life is like as Disney voice actors and we had the chance to look at hundreds of animation cells from TV and film. My eyes were drawn to The Simpsons cells, particularly a special edition Who Shot Mr. Burns? sericel (a cell not used in the show itself, but rather made in limited quantities for framing). While very awesome, these were also very expensive. My dad suggested I look in back at the lesser known shows. Instantly, Sonic the Hedgehog came to mind. They HAD to have it! SO I inquired and I was in luck, they had a good dozen cells available. They were, from what I remember, $50 each unframed. A very reasonable price! Unfortunately, I was twelve years old, and $50 is a fortune at that age. My dad, knowing my birthday was coming soon, asked what cells were my favorites and we returned to the party.

One month later my birthday had arrived, and so too did three oddly shaped presents. I opened them to reveal three of the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog cells that I had pointed out to my dad! While they weren't Sonic items that I could play with, but they hung on my bedroom wall with Hedgehog pride and were a great backdrop for my drawing desk. Let's take a look at them:


This first cell is my favorite of the bunch, a scene from "Robotnik's Rival" depicting the entire main cast of the show. Interesting to note: this particular frame never appeared in the show, as the characters are in poses from different moments of the scene. Take a look after the jump, the scene appears at 2:29.

Introducing Barry the Nomad!

We have a new writer for Sega Memories! I personally invited him over after enjoying his write ups on all Sega hand held related goings on over at his blog the Nomad Junkyard, especially his most recent post on the Comic Con exclusive Metal Sonic figure he picked up, not to mention the 'Lost in New York' and Jet Set radio artwork posts. With Barry on the team we now have an American perspective of Sega nostalgia-y type things to share!

They finally arrived! The Classic Sonic Vinyl Figures

To say these have been a pain in the arse to find for sale is an understatement. I ordered them from Forbidden Planet way back in march (along with the 12" statue, which is actually now in stock over at Play-Asia if you're willing to pay the shipping fees) and just today I finally got a set of the First4Figures Classic Sonic vinyl toys, and they do not disappoint.

Here they are in the packaging, which is luckily that kind that lets you place it back in the box if and when you please rather than some sodding blister pack that needs to be slaughtered to open up.

Here's the back of the box. It says 'Series 1' so hopefully one day we'll get more of these. I'd be all up for a set of Metal Sonic, Amy Rose and Robotnik myself. Considering how long it took these ones to fruition I doubt we'll see a series two, though. Please prove me wrong, First4Figures!



More often than not with figures the photo on the box looks a darn sight better than the figure you get in the box itself, but in this case that's not the case. They really do look just as good as they did in the early promo photos. The quality of these toys is up there with the Japanese Mario figures that have been floating about for the last few years, they're simply brilliant.

Sonic is the odd one of the bunch in that he's not in a standing pose, rather a mid run which makes sense as running is what he's known for. For the toy to stand upright the little black stand has littles in dents for the feet to sit inside which work nicely (unlike so many figure stands I've had before that are far too fiddly).

He hasn't got much of an expression going on so this is probably the figure with the least character of the three, but that's not saying much as it's still a whole lot better than 90% of previous Sonic toys. The pose looks great, especially from the side.

The Tails figure is, lets be honest here.. the best Tails shaped lump of plastic to ever be molded. Tails in particular has been a character that companies have rarely got right in toy form: normally he ends up with a smashed-in-the-face-with-a-shovel look. Just compare this new toy to this rather wonky Sonic Adventure one from 1999:

HURRRRRR. DURRRRR. HURRR DURRR.

DERP DERP DERP.

I really cannot fault this one, they've nailed it. My favorite of the three, which is also what I said about the Classic Sonic range plush toys that came out last year. Basing his design on the far cuter Japanese artwork was a very smart move. The proportions are just right, and he has such a joyous smile on his face. What's not to like.

The Knuckles figure is also excellently designed. Again the proportions are as close to the old Japanese artwork as you're going to get. The pose is nice and despite his fits covering up a lot of his chest they haven't forgotten his collar/birthmark//whatever that thing is supposed to be. Even his tail goes wonky at the end like it should. It's the simplicity yet attention to detail that makes these such a brilliant set.

If you can hunt these down I would defiantly recommended buying them. These are quite possible the nicest Sonic figures to have ever been produced, they really are that good. The bar has been raised by First4Figures for quality after years of mostly wonky Sonic merchandise and I hope their 12" Sonic statue is as high quality as these are, though unlike the statue these are a measly £10-15 each so they're also a bargain for how well designed they are (you'd never get a Mickey Mouse Vinyl toy for this kind of price, for example).

Michael Jackson 1958-2009 - His Contribution to Sega

Michael Jackson has just been confirmed to have passed away tonight in a hospital in L.A. at the young age of 50. No matter what you think of him as a person, he was an incredible talent and for those who were kids during the 80's and 90's: his music was a huge chunk of our childhood.

And as any Sega fan would know, Michael Jackson and Sega got along rather well, collaborating on many projects such as The Moonwalker arcade, Mega Drive and Master System games..

..not to mention his supposed involvement on the Sonic 3 soundtrack.. (click image for the video)

More after the jump..

Sonic is 18 today!

Yep, today 18 years ago Sonic was released on the Mega Drive. Just for one day let's forget about the iffy state the Sonic franchise is in right now and set our minds back to when the character first arrived on the scene. Dig out your Mega Drive if it isn't still set up and stick that cart in for a good session of rolling down hills, running around loops, bouncing around in a psychedelic world where fish transform into birds, and bopping robotic animals and egg shaped blokes on the head. If you don't still have a Mega Drive, you could always play it on your Saturn, PS2, Gamecube, X-Box, X-Box 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, iPhone..

(Just don't play the Game Boy Advance one.)

If you haven't seen it before, have a read of this article about a Sonic Birthday event I went to as a kid back in 1997.


While Sonic might not be having a big party this year (or at least one we know about), I'm sure he is most likely CUTTING THE CAKE as we speak.

Sonic the Comic Video Retrospective

There is a lot online to be read about the history of the American Archie published Sonic comic book series, but the British Sonic the Comic series that ran between 1992 and 2001 is rarely talked about outside of a small percentage of the gigantic Sonic fan base. Luckily Youtuber BlackDogBrew has gone out of his way to give us a massive video retrospective of the comic for those who have always been intriged about it. When I mean massive I mean massive, got a couple hours to spare? If not, the very first video gives you a nice summary of the comic's history, before it gets into the stories of each character. Either way I've embedded the entire playlist above.

Sega Fan Art Showcase: Space Harrier

You know what the world needs more love for? Space Harrier. Crusty old Nintendo games like Kid Icarus and Ice Climbers get piles of it, so why not crusty old Sega games?

Another work of genius by Persona of the Mecha Fetus Blog.

More after the jump!

MTV Sonic & Knuckles advert disguised as a programme.

Sega in the 90's was 'in' with the MTV generation thing, as seen in this episode of Rock the Rock in which a bunch of kids all with their own international stereotype compete for $25K (just about enough to afford a Sega Multi-Mega/CDX at the time) by playing Sonic & Knuckles located in Alcatraz of all places, though really it's just a 30 minute commercial. Still, it's vagley worth sitting through for the look at the development of the game about 10 minutes in at Sega Technical Institute. See if you can spot the Sonic Extreme concept art! I think I actually remember seeing T-shirts promoting this Sonic & Knuckles contest once. Most embassering moment for anyone involved? The bespeckled kid trying to chat up the female presenter. Oh dear.

Sonic & Knuckles, splashing in a puddle..

I sure do hold on to some pointless stuff. Pretty self explanatory: Wellington boots with the Sonic & Knuckles logo on them. Yep. They do exactly what they say on the tin, or rather...boot.

Now that I think about it I should have taken a photo of one of the boots with Sonic 3 sticking out of the top of it. Only then would these boots truly be complete. That or Sonic 1 so I could make a rubbish 'GET BLUE SPHERES' joke invovling heavy rain drops or something. Oh well.

The I Have a Dreamcast EP

Posting this both here and the Dreamcast Junkyard because it deserves to be heard!

The I Have a Dreamcast guys have released the EP as a free download! They had a live performance of the album, and some more DC playing goodness last night. There are 8 tracks in MP3 format in the download:

The Pianosaurus - Green Hill Drone
Bicycles & Gravel - A Song for the Dreamcast
Gemini Cricket - Dreamcast Vision
Grey Milk - Venice is Dying
Bicycles & Gravel - Curious Console
The South Will Rave Again - I Fell in Love Playing Marvel vs. Capcom
I Have Read Other Books Besides The Catcher in the Rye - To Beat, From Gum
Captain #1 - Bring Sega Back

Oh, I'm so making some Dreamcast videos with these songs in them. Amazing stuff.