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!

New Sega t shirts from Meatbun are magical.

Meatbun have some crazy talent designing their gaming related tees, and I get the feeling they may have a bit of a Sega fan streak in them judging by how 3 out 4 of their latest designs are Sega inspired. Many are quite surprising mash ups too!

First up, Passing Breeze. This looks like it could have come directly out of a mid to late 80s Japanese indie fan magazine, right down to the manga like toning. A gorgeous illustration that nails the vibe of the classic Outrun.

The other two designs after the jump!

Modern Sonic F4F Statue Revealed

Via their Facebook page, First4Figures have revealed the first in their modern line of Sonic statues: Sonic the Hedgehog. Like the photo says, pre-orders start May 15th, 2012 and there will be a very limited number of statues available. I have to say, when I heard of a modern line I was iffy, but this statue looks great! While I won't be getting it, the F4F statues are too rich for my blood, I do love looking at photos of them.

Video game adaptations return in Sonic Super Special Magazine #3

Here at SEGA Memories we usually don't cover the Archie Sonic comics, except for special occasions and collection posts. Main reason is, I don't follow the series anymore and neither does Gagaman. However I did want to highlight the latest issue of the Sonic Super Special Magazine. Taking its title from the 48 page specials of the '90's, Sonic Super Special Magazines collect old materials and usually adds in a few new bits via short comics and articles. The magazines consist of harder covers, but inside is a softer newspaper-like paper. So despite the larger than comic book size, they are pretty light. The previous issue of the magazine collected the Archie adaptation of Sonic Adventure from the late '90's, which was quite a bizarre story arc at the time. Imagine the SatAM universe suddenly having to incorporate humans, Station Square, Chaos and massively contradictory Knuckles backstory. Suffice to say, it was a mess, but it was a fun mess. In this third issue, Archie decided to do a little marketing tie-in with the soon to be released Sonic 4 Episode 2. Since I'm a sucker for game adaptations and marketing tie-ins, I picked this issue up.

Sonic the Nendoroid!

The Nendoroid range is a series of small, super deformed action figures made by Good Smile Company that have mostly been based on anime franchises. Sega has been associated with this range a bit thanks to their connection with the Hasume Miku phenomenon (the recent 3DS game Project Mirai is even somewhat based on how the Nendoroid toys look), and there was a Sakura Wars pair in the range. This company rarely does non-human characters, with exceptions being that of Mickey and Minnie Mouse as well as some baseball mascots, and now Sonic the Hedgehog! See more photos and details after the jump!

E3 2000 Power Stone 2 Shirt From the Dreamcast Glory Years

Ah, SEGA memories...

SEGA's third party years have been great, don't get me wrong, but I still miss the wonderful years of the Dreamcast. Between '99 and 2000, before 2001's January death announcement, being a Dreamcast fan was great. Tons of great games coming out, and tons of great games to look forward to. I remember following E3 in 2000, and being so hyped for the games being shown off. Shenmue was obviously the most epic game shown, but I was also intrigued by Capcom's Dreamcast launch game sequel Power Stone 2. Today's piece of merch from yesteryear isn't a SEGA item, but it IS very much associated with SEGA's past. After the break, let's take a look at a Power Stone 2 shirt from E3 2000!

The Game Gear TV Tuner: It's last day.

Today is the day the digital TV switchover happens in my area of the UK. This means all analog TV signal is being switched off for good. Because of this, all Sega Game Gear TV Tuners will not be able to tune in anything here anymore, deeming them as nothing but a static noise emulator for your Game Gear.

When I recorded this video this morning, I was expecting the thing to not pick up anything as my actual TV has lost all analog channels, yet it still managed to pick up ITV. Yes, that is about as good as a reception as you would get with this device anyway.

Still, sad to see one of Sega's old innovations (as daft looking as it was) come to an end, sort of like seeing the online servers of Dreamcast games go down, but not really.

Also Woody Pop is one of the best games on the Game Gear, haters get out.

The French Edition of The History of Sonic Book Goes to Print

Remember this thing? Back in December it was thought we'd be seeing it in January. Then it was pushed to February, then March. Well now, thanks to an email from publisher Pix'n Love, the book has been confirmed to be approved by SEGA and has now gone to print. The printing process will take four weeks. This all applies to the FRENCH version of the book, though it should be assumed that since an English version has been confirmed, that SEGA's approval covers both languages. The only question is: has the English version also gone to print? Pix'n Love's English site has yet to announce the book, so unfortunately at the moment there is no new news on the English version, but it's good to hear that the French version should be out by late April.

The Jazwares Facebook Page Gives Me a Nod

This was a nice surprise! Jazwares came across a photo of one of my shelves and featured it on their Facebook page. They didn't know whose it was, so I claimed credit in the comments box. Nice to see my display getting a little recognition. What made me laugh were those who claimed to have more figures than me - it's not a competition, guys! And I don't doubt that there are those out there who collect every figure. And there were those who pointed out that I didn't have modern Amy Rose - she's not a favorite of mine, nor is it easy to find her figure without getting it bundled with other figures I already have. Anyway, if anybody from Jazwares is seeing this, thanks for the shout out!