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.

Devious plans...

So what exactly am I going to do with this blog, besides not update it? Hedgehogs Can’t Swim was originally planned as a daily blog, something I’m sure you can see has worked out extremely well.

Despite the fact that I’m a pretty big Sonic nerd and there’s tons of shit to write about concerning the series and it’s fandom, I’m not really sure there’s that much to actually talk about. I don’t want this blog to become just another news site. Instead, I had intended it to be a much more in-depth look into the peculiarities of the fandom at large. Explore the weirdness within your average “Sonic” fan.

But that shit is creepy and I’m lazy. So, there are a couple of things I plan on doing with this here blogspace.

First off, I’ve been collecting Archie Comic’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” series since issue seventeen
and have only missed two issues since then. (#25, because it’s hard to find, and #105, because I wasn’t caring at the time.) What I plan to do is sit down, reread each issue, and post reviews up here. This should be interesting for me for a few reasons. First off, this comic has formed the backbone of my fandom for the better part of seventeen years. I haven’t read many of these comics since I was a young child, so revisiting them should be worthwhile. Finally, it’ll be fun to see how this universe evolved.


Naturally, I also plan on rewatching “SatAM” in its entirety and reviewing each episode that comes along. That should be less interesting, since I rewatched the show when the DVD set came out a few years ago and rediscovered it. However, I do plan on revisiting the Sonic anime OVA, select episodes of “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog,” and even plan on stopping by “Sonic Underground” and “Sonic X” a few times because I’m a masochist.

Another feature that might show up, assuming I can pull myself away from Happy Wheels and other internet based distraction for five minutes, would be occasional news items and a reoccurring feature about weird fanart I found on DeviantArt. I might, God forbid, actually talk about some of the fan fiction authors I believe need exposure.

But whatever, there you go. Expect to see some of that stuff eventually.

In Memory: Ben Hurst

As I am sure you are all aware, Ben Hurst passed away several weeks ago. Mr. Hurst was the head writer on SatAM, developing much of the universe and its characters that we fans have come to love.

That would have been enough to endear him to the fanbase at large. However, Mr. Hurst was particularly active in the fan community. He could often be found at conventions and in internet chatrooms and message boards. He was always willing to talk to fans and answer their questions. He always seemed patient and thoughtful when talking to fans that can, let’s face it, be pretty overzealous at times.

His proposed plans for season three are well known and well discussed. There has probably been as much discussion about that nonexistent bit of television as there has been about the parts of the show that actually aired. Ben was even a part of a small but vocal part of the fanbase devoted to returning the show to air, for a while.

Ben also did his time on “Sonic Underground,” proving that not everything to come out of his word processor was gold. He also did work on some other classic Saturday morning cartoon shows, like “Tiny Toon Adventures,” “The Real Ghost Busters,” and, somewhat ironically, “The New Archies.”

His legacy is secure, but he’ll be missed anyway.