There was close to one thousand people attending Summer of Sonic this year. With a fanbase as huge as Sonic's you're going to get your bad eggs and sadly the whole lot often gets painted with the same brush, but when being amongst the awesome people that gathered together for this event the stereotype of Sonic fans being furrie sexual weridos just faded away. You couldn't meet a more friendly, talented and fun to hang out with lot. You can call them nerdy and eccentric all you like but they're having fun and doing no one any harm so there.
Case in point: the few fans that are so dedicated they came cosplaying as their favorite characters. There was a LOT more people dressed in their custom made outfits this year than previously, and there was a lot variety to the characters represented. Let's start with the first one that stood out and i had to grab a shot of pretty much minutes within entering the Pavilion..
Big the cat! She has a fishing rod, a froggy puppet and did an excellent impression of the pointless but lovable character! More after the jump!
Here we have a Maria (one of two!), a Shadow (one of...many!) Blaze (complete with a big old ring) and...I actually don't think taht girl in the red is cosplaying..
This lass came as Knuckles complete with matching red hair and dreadlocks! The Master Emerald, she wants it.
My mate Euan came once again as Robotnik, but this time he took it one step further...and shaved his poor hair off! He still had it when I last saw him a few weeks ago! Now that's dedication! I must say he also does an excellent impression of Robotnik, his voice is just spot on.
Ulala! No, I'm not flirting with her, it's actually a Ulala cosplayer! Who said Summer of Sonic had to just have Sonic characters? Especially when said cosplayer does such an amazing job of it! A guy last year was cosplaying as Purge, a bad guy from the same game and no one (myself included, until I got home when I trigged where I'd seen that hair before). said guy was hear again this year but as another misc' sega character..
Sketch Turner from Comix Zone! Sadly I didn't get a proper photo of him so here's one from the cosplay contest (he is 2nd from the right) which I'll talk about at the end of the article. Not sure why he has green hair, but he even has his pet rat! Not a real rat, of course, he would stink of piss.
From left to right he have that girl from Secret Rings, a Rouge (not the same one who won last year, she was here in the same costume but didn't enter the contest again), the genius addition of Charmy Bee (somehow making the character not seem annoying!), oddly enough the only Sonic cosplayer at the show (with green goggl...er, eyes) and finally it's ...oh it's her again. Stop gate crashing the cosplay photos!
Charmy Bee again because she was awesome and even did some sort of sing song on the stage which was unexpected. Also Blaze again, there was another girl as her though I didn't get a photo of her I don't think.
But the most ridiculous, ambitious and almost kind of frightening cosplay goes to..
..this Sally Acorn. I mean christ, just look at this costume! You will be happy to know that it wasn't a creepy furrie bloke inside it but rather a bubbly girl who seemed pretty normal to me. Major kudos for effort alone me thinks, plus this was the first time someone has come dressed as a SATAM character apparently. Now we need the Bunnie Rabbot, Snivley and Uncle Chuck me thinks! But don't worry, if you really don't like sally Acorn..
..she was later beheaded.
So onto the contest. Because there was so many cosplayers this year they were lined up onto the stage in rows of 6 and whichever two out of those got the most cheers went through to the final five who were Big the Cat, Charmy Bee, Ulala, Rouge, Euan's Robotnik and Sally Acorn. Charmy got third, Big got a very close second and Euan won first!
Last year he was in 2nd, so i guess the addition of shaving his hair, along with a brilliant speech or two about creating a Summer of Eggman, helped him this time. Sadly the prises weren't so hot this time around: Euan won a trophy but none of the runners up got anything unlike last year. For example in 2nd Euan got a bunch of goodies including an Outrun T-shirt which I'm still rather envious about.
As a bonus here's two over awesome people I encountered while there:
This badass has pimped his wheelchair with Sega logos all over it! Rock on, dude.
There was lots of custom made T-shirt wearers about, and here's a highlight. Only avid ASOTH viewers will get it, and the front has a great Robotnik quote and picture from the same cartoon on it. Another highlight was a blue shirt simply with the words "strange, isn't it?" written on it, quoting the Sonic the Movie anime of all things!
Big surprise huh? Why did they make him first? Oh well.
3. The 5" Werehog is the first Sonic Toy made by Jazwers. Its a good start for them. WARNING PERSONAL STORY ALERT: On Black Friday, I got in the huge line at Toys R Us. I got in there and I got one. In the car I opened him and tried to put him in a cool pose. His legs broke off. And I was all like D:<. So I super glued them back on. That's why I don't use him much in stop motion on my youtube (may196611).
4. Getting happy meals pays off in the long run. This is the very first Eggman toy. He's a wind up toy. I don't know if he's the first Sonic wind up but yeah. I got this dude at a flea market. I got cool Sonic stuff at the flea market. Comment if you want to see the stuff. 
5. Chris. Seriously. If you make a Sonic X exclusive character make it Cosmo or Bokkun. Bokkun is better than this guy. But this is the first cartoon exclusive toy ever made. And he is the least articulated action figure with only 3 points, head and arms. 
I forgot to cover them in my very first post so here is line 2. Lets do Metal Sonic first. Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic looks good for his classic style. His sculpt is decent. His legs are a little chubby. The got all the color right to. Remember that these guys joints don't move so don't force their parts.
Amy looks EXCELLENT for her classic look. I think this is the first classic Amy figure.They got her sculpt right. Her tutu is in proportion to here body. She has a nice smile added. The only thing I have to complain about is... well nothing. I think this is the best figure in the line!
