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.
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