I BOUGHT THE SONIC LEGO SET AND SO SHOULD YOU

It's been mentioned in this blog from time to time but, for those that don't know, I am something of a toy collector. I've slow downed a little bit, because of space and money and adult responsibilities. Yet I still buy a couple of figures every year. I've got a room in my basement full of NECA stuff and other things like that, as well as a bookshelf in my office packed with Marvel Legends and DC Universe Classics. 

About ten years ago, my little nephew got into Lego. I enjoyed the globally beloved building brick toy as a child but hadn't looked at them much since then. Yet the joy they brought my five-year-old nephew intrigued me and I had a lot of fun assembling sets with him. Around that time, Lego announced a new theme based on classic monster movie archetypes. Being a huge classic horror buff, I had to grab all of these. After that, I became Zack the Lego Maniac for a couple of years and these fucking brick toys took over my home for a while. I even got my mom into them and now her house is also filled with Lego. She might be more into them than I ever was.

 

As I have with toy-buying in general, I've slowed down a little bit with Lego... But just a little, because they still send me catalogs and I still pick up the sets and mini-figs that interest me. I still have the monster and various superhero sets together on a table in my basement. I call it the “Monster Village” and like to add to it from time to time. Because at a certain point a grown man collecting children's toys becomes indistinguishable between those old ladies who hoard those miniature Christmas villages. 

What does this have to do with Sonic? A while ago, there was a craze for video games you had to buy corresponding toys for, that would introduce new content into the game. They were essentially games you had to keep buying, which the companies must have loved. It turned out to be a pretty short-lived fad but, during that time, WB Interactive teamed up with Lego to launch the toy line/video game called Lego Dimensions. Among the properties roped into that massive crossover was Sonic. Being both a Lego freak and a Sonic nerd, I had to pick up the "Sonic" pack, even though I've never actually played the corresponding video game. How could I resist having a little Sonic mini-fig of my own?

I knew it was unlikely but had hoped Lego would do more Sonic-related sets after this. The Lego Dimensions levels featured Lego-ified versions of Sonic's friends and enemies, so the potential was there. But the toys-to-life fad dried up shortly after that and Lego Dimensions was discontinued, dashing all hope.

But I guess I'm not the only person at the center of the Sonic fan/Lego fan vin diagram. Not too long ago, an enterprising fan created a Sonic Mania Lego set and submitted it to Lego Ideals. That's the program through which fan submitted ideas can be produced as actual purchasable sets, if they acquired enough attention. And if Lego deems it worth the time and effort to work out a deal with the owners of the I.P. The "Sonic Mania" design went viral, earned the proper amount of signatures, and was soon approved. We were getting a proper Lego set to go with the little Dimensions pack.

Well, it's out now. I bought it, as a late Christmas present to myself, and put it together over the last two days. Probably to tie in with Sega's 30th anniversary plans, the set was completely redesigned to replicate the first level of the original "Sonic the Hedgehog" game. And I imagine this was also done to make the set cheaper to produce, to sell at a more reasonable cost, as the "Mania" design featured a giant Death Egg robot. I would've loved to put that together but I'm not sure how many other people would be willing to spend 200 dollars or whatever on that toy. 

Like all Ideas set, even the packaging for this is beautiful. It comes in a sturdy, suitcase style box with lots of lovely photographs of the set on it. The instruction manual is also really cute and detailed. The front of the booklet replicates the start screen for "Sonic 1," while the back features the end screen. There's an extremely condensed timeline of the "Sonic" franchise. As you progress through the instruction, a tiny Sonic mini figure is shown running along the bottom of the book. He even jumps back and loses rings when you put the two Badniks — a Crabmeat and MotoBug — included with the set together. It's really adorable and well done.

The set is separated into seven bags and this comes with a cute feature too. Each bag includes a little Chaos Emerald, that you can plug into Sonic's base as you assemble the rest of the package. Touches like that prove that a lot of love was built into this adult collectible, that real fans had a hand in making this a reality. 

As for the set proper, obviously it's ridiculously cool. A lot of features from the Green Hill Zone are rendered in building bricks in novel ways. That includes a massive loop to run through, a palm tree, the sun flowers, a checkpoint post, and a wooden bridge over a stream. Rings can be attached to clear plastic rods, which you attach to the back of the set, to give the illusion of rings floating throughout the "level." A similar trick is done with a floating platform, which can attach to two clear "window" pieces above the hoop. My favorite detail is a big red spring, which actually works thanks to a little lever you build into the foundation.

Seeing the Green Hill Zone recreated so faithfully in Lego bricks is a lot of fun. Turning old video games into Lego sets is a logical choice, since the bricks can easily replicate blocky pixels. The checkered pattern of the game zone is nicely represented here. Even if it means you're going to be spending a lot of time meticulously snapping small, light brown pieces to equally small but slightly darker brown pieces. They even include Sonic's life meter in the corner of the set, via a sticker. There's also a sticker containing a small bit of code that you adhere to the back. Nice touch.

The Sonic mini figure appears to be the same one from the Lego Dimensions set. Which isn't really a complaint because he's adorable. Similarity, the little Crabmeat and MotoBug you put together also look really good and cute. The MotoBug comes with two different stickers, showing a placid face and an angry face, that you can trade out. (There's also two monitors you put together, which has five power-up stickers you can swap.) I do wish the Badnik's trademark single wheel was a little better represented but I understand that the route they went instead — rounded pieces that easily connect to the set — was probably more practical. The Crabmeat also looks good, though he doesn't attach as easily to the rest of the build. 

If I've seen any criticism towards this set, it's been for the Eggman/Robotnik portion. While Sonic is a standard mini-fig, just with a unique head, Robotnik you actually assemble. This was probably the better choice, as Lego doesn't really make "fat" minifigs and Eggman should be bigger than Sonic anyway. There's a lot of neat tricks used to assemble the doctor, regular Lego pieces being repurposed to make the shape of his body. But he does look a little goofy, made out of blocky bricks like this. The Egg-Mobile looks beautiful as a Lego set though. Honestly, I would've purchased that as a stand-alone release, I like it so much. 

Another minor bit of criticism I'd offer was also, perhaps, unavoidable. The set is so determined to replicate the experience of playing the Genesis game that everything stretches out vertically. You essentially put together the different components and snap them next to each other. It does flatten the dynamism of Lego bricks as a medium a little bit, putting them together left-to-right like that. I'm not sure what other way there'd be to set this up though, so just ignore this paragraph.

As far as construction difficulty and time investment goes, I don't think the "Sonic" set is too bad. It's sturdier and less complicated than some other Ideas sets I've put together. I guess making it one long horizontal platform was beneficial in that regard. It took me maybe four or so hours to put the whole thing together, which isn't bad for a Lego set of this size. Keep in mind, dropping some of the pieces used to make Eggman's ass and crouching around on the floors looking for them, contributed to that chunk of time. That kind of shit always happens to me.

I hope this well enough to justify doing more Sonic-themed Lego sets. There's certainly a ton more they could do. I might have to see if I can customize mine a little by adding a wrecking ball to Robotnik's craft. And I still want to put that Death Egg robot together. Obviously, I'd love to have some other "Sonic" cast members in mini-figure form. Even my girlfriend pointed out that this set doesn't come with Tails or Knuckles. (I resisted the temptation to explain to her that, of course it doesn't. This is based off the first game, Tails and Knuckles hadn't been introduced yet. And that's why we're still together.) You can buy bootleg figures of other "Sonic" characters, some of which I might pick up, so the demand is obviously there. Lego and Sega just have to go for it. 

Any criticisms I have are truly just nitpicks. This is a great set, full of lovable tidbits for fans that is fairly easy to assemble and holds together nicely. If you're a fan of both "Sonic" and Lego... We'll, you definitely already own this. But if you're a "Sonic" dork who hasn't put a Lego set together in years, I'd still suggest you pick this thing up. It's fun to put together and fun to play with after that's all done. Ideas sets sometimes have short runs, depending on how well they sell, so you might want to be fast —  like someone else I could name — if you're looking to get it. 

Weird Sonic Stuff I Want for Christmas

As a franchise that has existed for over twenty years, “Sonic the Hedgehog” has produced a lot of  tie-in products. Considering Sonic was from the beginning, and continues to be, kind of a weird series, it's not surprising that some of these tie-in products are a little funky. A bit strange, ya know what I mean? My personal “Sonic” collection is pretty modest, as far as these things go. Aside from my nearly complete Archie Sonic collection, I have a handful of figures, some old plushes, and all my original Genesis games. But that's it. Nothing too special. 

If money and space were no object, I would absolutely own a bunch of weird “Sonic” shit. In the spirit of the Christmas season, to celebrate this most capitalistic of American traditions, I've decided to list eight strange bits of “Sonic” merchandise that I sure would like Santa Claus to bring me this year. 

8. Japanese Sonic Curry!

This is the most “basic bitch” of my picks tonight. Back in 2018, this officially licensed Japanese curry product went viral. Yes, it was basically an easily prepared meal of rice and bright blue curry, that the diner was encouraged to shape into the general outline of Sonic's head. While many found the bright blue color of the curry disturbing, those who actually ate the product described it as relatively tasty... Though with the unsightly side effect of staining your bowl movements bright blue. But that's a small price to pay for getting a chance to say you ate, digested, and shitted Sonic the Hedgehog. 

The Sonic curry doesn't seem to be readily available anymore but, if you do stumble across a package, it's probably safer to eat than a can of Franco-American Sonic pasta would be. 

7. Sonic Dance Power CDs!

In Europe, Sonic seems have experienced a similar life cycle to what he had here in America. That is to say: While the series has survived thanks to die-hard fans, the franchise has never reached the heights of its early-to-mid-nineties popularity. At the same time Sonic was arguably the most popular and beloved video game character, another pop culture trend was blazing its way through Europe: Electronic dance music! 

In 1995, some genius in the Netherlands had the idea to mash up these two fads. The result was the “Sonic Dance Power” series of CDs. The “Sonic” connection usually extended no further than the front of the CD cases. Sonic and friends would grace the covers, sometimes depicted as stock art and sometimes brought to life by slightly off-model original illustration. Musically, the songs had nothing to do with Sonic and were a random collection of then popular dance numbers. 

If you look at the songs, only a few names jump out as recognizable. Genuine star acts – Bobby Brown, Aaliyah, Coolio, the Backstreet Boys, Blackstreet, the Prodigy – stand alongside Eurodance one-hit-wonders – Corona, Rednex, Haddaway, Captain Jack, Scatman John, the Outhere Brothers – and a bunch of other acts I've never heard of. Scanning the track list, I even see techno remixes of familiar songs like “Colors of the Wind,” “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” “The X-Files” theme song and even “Hava Nagila!” 

As fascinating a collision of nineties pop culture debris as this is, an interest in Eurodance is not the main reason I'd like to own the Sonic Dance Power CDs. It's because some of these songs are notoriously vulgar. “Lick It" by 20 Fingers is an ode to oral sex. “I Wanna Be a Hippy” by Technohead expounds on the joys of marijuana use. “Useless Man” by Minty features a string of naughty words. Several tracks from a group calling themselves Tokyo Ghetto Pussy were featured. That is simply hilarious. And, considering volume eight was packaged with a demo for 'Sonic & Knuckles Collection,” we can assume this was all officially licensed by Sega. Boy, they were really asleep at the wheel at the time!

6. French Sonic figurines!

There have been a lot of “Sonic” figurines produced over the years. Usually, the line-up doesn't extend too far beyond Sonic and his most famous video game pals. If you find a toy of Big the Cat or some of the classic Badniks, that's a rare discovery. In 1997, the French company Feve produced a series of “Sonic” figures made of fine china. While Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and the “AoStH” version of Robotnik were present in this line, there were a few deeper cuts too. Such as a Flicky – which is brown, despite being named as a bluebird – a Burrobot, and obscure animal friend Ricky the Squirrel... Who is identified as Sally Acorn. While the paint applications are pretty spotty, I'd still love to own these rare items. They pop on eBay occasionally, at high prices. 

5. Sonic Bubble Bath Bottles!

You might be noticing a reoccurring theme with my wish list here... Around 1995, USA cosmetic company Avon released a trio of “Sonic” themed shampoo/conditioners for kids. Each bottle was topped with a soft plastic “finger puppet” toy. This included Sonic, Knuckles, and Sally. As any longtime Archie Sonic/SatAM fan knows, merchandise of Sally is extremely rare. I'm not sure how Avon went about selecting her, but I'm guessing they hoped to appeal to girls as much as boys with this product line. And Sally was more prominent in the franchise at the time than Amy Rose was. The finger puppet of Sally has slightly dead eyes and a weird mouth but still looks pretty good. 

People online are all too aware of the mixture of rarity and fan devotion around these characters, which is why a bottle of the Sally shampoo is currently selling on eBay for 750 dollars. Will some rich furry drop a hard-earned chunk of cash on a bit of rubber? Probably. (The Knuckles and Sonic ones are pretty cool looking too.)

4. Sonic the Fighter Plushes!

Like I said, if you're a “Sonic” collector who is devoted to just collecting likenesses of the blue hedgehog, Tails, or Knuckles, you could easily fill an entire room with the various toys and stuffed animals based on them. (And some people have done just that.) But, if you're like me and are equally interested in the more obscure cast members, you'll have a lot more trouble finding much merchandise for them... With a few exceptions. When “Sonic the Fighter” was released in Japan in 1997, plush toys of each of the game's characters were released. They were available exclusively through “UFO Catchers,” which were basically fancy claw machines. 

So, yes, plushies of Bark the Bear, Bean the Duck, Nack the Weasel, and Espio the Chameleon were produced. Which is pretty cool. They look adorable and I'd love to have one. I've never seen one go up for sale but I imagine they would sell for a lot. 

3. Restaurant displays!

It may not surprise you to read that it's just not obscure movies and blue hedgehogs that I'm obsessed with. Yes, I do have a soft spot for restaurant advertising ephemera. Especially with anything related to my nostalgia for childhood Happy Meals and similar things. I was obsessed with Happy Meal toys as a kid, collecting them with a hunger far more ravenous than I had for any cheeseburgers. Whenever visiting the lobby of the fast food palace, I always ran up to the Happy Meal toy display. These often placed the toys and figures in elaborate play sets, often resembling whatever show or movie the characters originated in.

For the “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” tie-in – obviously among my favorite of any Happy Meal prizes – McDonalds put together a beautiful display based on the first level of “Sonic 3.” There's a cliff, a beach, some vines, and a palm tree that even includes a hiding Monkey Boy Badnik. I can't tell you how much I would've loved to have owned a display like this as a kid, that I could've marched my Sonic toys around. My own personal Castle Greyskull for tiny Sega shenanigans. 

Also, when Denny's was selling a pair of plushes based on the “Underground” versions of Sonic and Knuckles, they also had a pretty neat lobby display. Not as cool as the McDonald's one, owing to it being a lot less toyetic, but still kind of neat. These items also occasionally get listed on eBay, with absurd price tags attached. 

2. Sonic Obama Backpack!

Being a widely recognized pop culture icon, lots of bootleg and knock-off Sonic merchandise has surfaced over the years. Some time late last decade, a mysterious image appeared online. It displayed a backpack printed with a picture of a badly mis-colored classic Sonic. A number 10 was on his belly. Above his head were the words “Harry Potter.” To his left, in big letters, was “OBAMA.” This image was so baffling that it couldn't help but immediately become a meme. Why would a bootlegger randomly mash up these three ingredients? If they were just attempting to throw together three popular things, why include Sonic, who was far past his peak popularity by the time Barack Hussein got elected? If you were going to pick Sonic, why go with the classic design for similar reasons? 

Nobody knows where the Obama-Harry-Potter-Sonic image originated from. Nobody has ever been able to procure an actual specimen of this notorious item, though replications can be easily found. The mystery of why the Sonic Obama backpack was made, or where it came from, is only further elevated by the question of if it even existing in the first place. Obviously, if someone was able to get their hands on an original one of these backpacks, it would be the proud centerpiece of any “Sonic” collection.

1. The Sega World Sydney Relics!

One of these days I'm going to have to talk in more detail about Sega World Sydney, a doomed in-door amusement park Sega owned and operated in Australia's most opera-house-adjacent city. Or, at least, I would talk about it if the theme park's Quixotic existence hadn't been well documented in several other places around the internet. For a hyper-nerdy breed of “Sonic” fan, Sega World Sydney is especially a point of fascination. Alongside the usual suspects, Princess Sally was one of the mascot characters of the park. If you're reading this, you probably already know that this twist of fate is what saved the character during Archie Comic's “Endgame” story arc from Ken Penders' cruel whims.

Sally's prominent placement in this destined-to-failed enterprise came with it a great deal of merchandise. For Archie Sonic fanatics, these items have become much desired Holy Grails. An incredibly ugly plush was produced of our favorite princess, with a hand puppet seemingly being made based off the same design. A collectible water bottle allowed hardcore fans the opportunity to drink liquids right out of Princess Sally's head. A bendy action figure is probably the coolest of these Sally relics. Her likeness also graced entrance cards, cardboard cups, and T-shirts. As you've probably guessed, this stuff has become highly sought after collector's items and goes for astronomical prices on eBay. 

Sega was so sure that Princess Sally could be the Minnie Mouse of their private Disney Land, they even produced a life-sized costume for park employees to roam around in. Which was also utilized in a live musical based on “Sonic” that was performed in the park, something I'm definitely going to write about for this blog some day. Most prominently of all was the  life-sized statues of Sonic and Sally that greeted every customer who visited the park. Three years ago, a fan discovered the remains of the statues – or one of the statues anyway – moldering in an Australian junk yard. There have been few updates since then. 

Anyway, those are eight “Sonic” related pieces of junks I'd like to own but probably never will. Thanks for reading! Moreover, thanks for sticking with Hedgehogs Can't Swim through this tumultuous year and the blog's recent lack of updates! I've currently got updates banked up through March, so I'm guaranteed to keep posting until at least then. In the meanwhile, Merry Christmas and happy holidays. If you are reading this, I'm glad you survived 2020. Let's keep going into the scary future together. 

Sonic Action Figures: They Exist.

If it isn’t glaringly obvious yet, I’m a huge fucking nerd. In addition to reading comic books, watching cartoons, and living with my mother, I also collect toys.

There have been lots and lots of Sonic action figures over the years, and I’ve never been particularly happy with any of them. Because I’m that kind of nerd.


ReSaurus' Sonic Adventure line are by-far the best Sonic figures ever released. They had great sculpts and wonderful paint and articulation. Sadly, this line was limited only to the first “Sonic Adventure” game, which meant that characters like Big the Cat got figures, but not classic Robotnik. Moreover, the second wave was extremely hard to find. Complete sets go for ridiculous amounts of money on eBay these days. The first series included Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails while series two was composed of a skiing Sonic (?), E102 Gamma, Big the Cat, and Amy Rose. Apparently, there were plans for ReSaurus to do "Sonic Adventure 2" toys, but the company folded before those could be released.


Toy Island also released a series of Sonic Adventure figures around the same time. While ReSaurus' stuff was targeted towards collectors, Toy Island’s line was obviously more targeted towards young kids. Their toys were less detailed and had a more “plastic” look to them. The sculpts were definitely more cartoonier and less game accurate. However, seemingly to make up for that, each figure was packaged with a butt load of accessories. Moreover, a Robotnik figure was actually created for this line. These toys were rereleased a few years ago with slightly improved sculpts but no accessories.



Joy Ride Toys, the toy subdivision of Game Pro Magazine (remember them? Me neither.) went on to release Shadow and Sonic figures around the time of “Sonic Adventure 2.” Though the arms and legs were simple bendy rubber instead of proper articulated plastic, these still managed to be well sculpted, beautifully painted toys.


Toy Island later went on to make a number of Sonic X figures. While this did get us some above average sculpts and a wider selection of characters, including Shadow, Rouge, Cream, and (shudders) Chris Thorndike, the sculpts were heavily posed and the figures themselves quite rubbery looking. Later on, a wave of gimmicky “Space Fighters” and “Metal Gear” figures were released for seemingly no reason. However, if you are looking for a Rouge figure, this would probably be your best bet.




Jazwares has had the Sonic license for the last few years. Their product has been tied to the latest game releases and has been mostly a disappointment. They have released six inch scale figures, as well as larger collectables, smaller 3 inch scale figures, and stylized “Vinyl” type toys. Jazware did release a large scale Metal Sonic figure that was pretty cool as well as a nicely sculpted Werehog six-inch figure. (Nice as it looked… It was still the Werehog. Come on.) Though their six and three inch line feature a decent selection of modern characters and some pretty decent sculpts, all the toys have extremely ugly articulation. While Jazwares has promised to release Espio, Vector, and a few other C-list character, they seem mostly committed to pumping out recolors of Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow and fucking Silver. Recently, a set of toys tied into the "Sega All-Star Racing" game have been released, because what the fandom is demanding are toys of Shadow on a fucking motorcycle. All sarcasm aside, If you're looking for a decent selection of Sonic characters with okay sculpts and in the same scale, Jazwares' 3-inch line is probably your best bet.

And now this brings to First 4 Figures, the only company to do Sonic collectibles that I can honestly say I’m not disappointed in. First 4 Figures is committed to releasing fantastic products devoted to the golden age of Sonic. So far, they’re released two twelve inch, highly detailed resin statues, one of classic Sonic, the other of Super Sonic. A varient of Super Sonic with a light-up base has also been released. Granted, these are higher-end collectables and will cost you some money. However, I feel both statues are worth every penny. These are beautifully created pieces of art.

And now First 4 Figures is expanding their line with a series of six 2-inch figurines, pictured above. These toys look phenomenal and are much more fairly priced then the large-scale statues. I will own them, yes I will.

While First 4 Figures has the hardcore fans covered, I suppose Jazware’s stuff is fine for more casual collector. Granted, my ideal vision of a Sonic figure lines, six inch scale figures with detailed beautiful sculpts that cover the entire history of Sonic, from the early video games, to SatAM, to Archie Comics, down to the latter-day game incarnations, will probably never happen. But a man can dream, can’t he? A man can dream and a nerd can bitch.