This Sonic collection is AMAZING.

Sonic Collectibles is rapidly becoming one of the best websites to check out for videos and updates about Sonic bits and bobs, updating far more often than we get to and with videos of individual pieces of rare merch popping up on the youtube account semi regularly as of late.

The owner of the site and channel Pete has just recently uploaded a 20th Anniversary video showing of his entire collection (I assume) that is all set up in a room full of glass boxes that honestly makes the one at Summer of Sonic look a bit feeble in comparison because they are just so cram,med full of ultra rare and exciting stuff!

I've been watching the Youtube account for some time and figured Pete's collection must be rather large but I could have never expected this! Almost anything you can think of is here: one of those 10th Anniversary wine glasses, the Super Sonic plush, loads of the Australian Sega World stuff, and many things that are one (or two) of a kind like an original SATAM group shot cel painting, a commissioned painting of Sonic by Milton Knight, and a statue that was owned by Tom Kalinske, CEO of Sega of America during the 90s!

Of everything on show here I think one of the main things I truly envy and adore is the Japanese classic Eggman statues and smaller toy he owns (see from about 10:55 in the video). Those are simply outstanding.

Early 90's Japanese Sonic Puzzle

This rather nice ebay purchase from Japan showed up this weekend. It was one of those "heck, why not" moments as I've wanted to get some stuff to hang up on my wall, and the puzzle was already built and framed, though the frame doesn't have glass in it but it is sealed up like so much stuff bought from Japan tends to be so that was a bonus. A couple more photos after the jump.

It had no box so I don't know when exactly this was released but judging by the artwork I would say it was an early 1991 or 92 piece. The animals and Robotnik are just like those on the PAL box art for the first game except in colour, and the art of Sonic is not one I have seen that often. I'm not exactly sure what he is doing other than a rather awkward looking pose and they forgot to colour in his shoe buckle but it's about as retro as Sonic merchandise can get, really.

It wasn't particularly cheap but it didn't break the (Paypal) bank and it's defiantly a nice piece to have in my collection. The seller also had some other Japanese Sonic bits including a Yoyo and a Mug but those were far too expensive for my taste and not as neat as this. I have not seen pictures of this puzzle before anywhere like Sonic Gear so there you go. Exciting stuff!

Stuff things into Sonic's Stomach and Carry Him About!

During my Birthday in late November and Christmas I was given a lot of Sonic gifts, many brought back from America. Of course being known for collecting just about anything with Sonic on it (within reason) does help in that case. One of my Xmas presents this time around was this rather large Sonic plush back-pack. Apparently these cost a small fortune in Sega's Gameworks park in Las Vegas (around $70!) but this one was found for a much less insulting $25 at a Fye's store. More photos after the jump.

This is made by the same manufacturer who made those Classic Sonic plush dolls including the rather neat Amy Rose one that I posted about a while back, and this back pack is a lot like the Sonic from that set, only much bigger of course and with more details. Unlike the plush toy the hands are not stitched to it's body in a waggling finger pose; instead they are quite thick and a bit bendy so it can give you a big hug, if you're into that sort of thing.

Here's some size comparing with the plush toy and one of those 3" figures to give you a gist of how big it really is. Of course it needs to be this big if it's supposed to be a back pack, and his belly is also quite big so stuff can be stored into it. As Stacey put it, this Sonic needs to lay off the chilli dogs, though I've seen fatter Sonic plushies funnily enough.

"Find the Computer Room!"

But that's the thing; you just can't store much in this. The storage is only the stomach part so you'd be lucky to even get a small book in here let alone your whole school supplies or something. Everything else is stuffed with fluff like Winnie the Pooh so his arms can't be used as pencil cases etc. As far as actually carrying anything around in it goes it's pretty useless.

Then again this was purchased for me knowing that'll it'll be sitting on a shelf with the other Plush toys as it is. So if you're after a large Sonic plush that just so happened to have a zipper on his belly and doesn't look like a lanky abomination like this one then you can do worse. As for storing stuff to carry around in a classic Sonic themed thing, you would do much better with one of these messenger bags which you may only look a bit of a tit carrying around instead of a complete tit. One thing I did notice with that bag however is at Summer of Sonic everybody had one. Yep...

Sonic Colours Pre-Order Figure...with Wisps!

If you are reading this blog, own a Wii and have not played Sonic Colours yet, why are you reading this blog? Go grab this game because it's actually rather good. Not even just rather good but rather brilliant. I know, I was shocked too. I haven't enjoyed a Sonic game this much from beginning to end since probably Sonic & Knuckles, and somehow even the writing and voice acting is light years ahead of "Watch out you're going to crash ahh!" of the Dreamcast days. Blimey.

As many may recall there was a pre-order bonus for this game in America was that now infamous Sonic hat (so much so that there was a whole ice rink of Sonic mad hatters tripping about for the games' launch), but elsewhere in the world we got this figure (above) instead. In Australia and possible some other countries the game came in a special edition box of the game with the figure, but here in the UK it was given in a little bag stapled together by some cardboard and was only available from the catalog store Argos. More after the bump..

 
Argos have also been selling the figure separately for £15, and I presume because of this the figures were not in stock until a week after the game release. Still, I did get the figure in the end, and for what is technically a freebie with the game it's not too bad, though there have been better Sonic figures recently.

 It's very similar to many of the Jazware figures with articulation in a lot of the same places, but it has chunkier arms, huge hands, slightly odd looking pupils and no mouth.

 

The hands also have little holes in them. All this is so the figure can hold the Wisp toys that come with it. You get a orange (ROCKET!), Cyan (LAZER!) and white (erm...boost?) wisp so one of the toys has to be a loner from Sonics' grasp. I tend to just balance the Cyan wisp on Sonics' head, that seems to do the trick.

 Not much to say about the wisp toys: the characters are simple so there was no way they were going to mess these up. They look enough like them so they do their job. It kinda makes me wish there was a set of the rest of the wisps now mind, especially that cube one. Still, these are the first lumps of plastic based on these characters so who knows maybe we'll see more in the future.

And finally just for comparison here it is next to the Black Knight toy and the regular 3" Sonic (or rather the one that came with the All-Stars Racing car), as height wise it stands somewhere between them. he stands a lot better than the Black Knight toy and it's lanky legs despite having the weight of the wisps in it's hands.

So I'm not sure if I'd say it's worth the £15 asking price on its own but included with the game it's a nice addition to the over abundance of blue hedgehogs gathering dust on my shelves, especially when said game was such a pleasant surprise. They even found a way to make the underwater levels FUN. What is this witchcraft Sonic Team have been dabbling in?

SOS '10: The Merchindise in the Glass Box!

Just like last year there was a 'No Merch Zone' present, which consists of a large glass cabinet of Sonic related treasures. There was some of the same stuff from last year but mostly completely new stuff, so here's a bunch of photos. Apologies the photos are not quite so good this time but you'll get the idea. Check them out after the jump..

The whole top shelf was dedicated to First4Figures amazing range of classic-style Sonic figures and the two statues. This included all six of the 3" toys in and out of a box set. The Metal Sonic as you all know was given away on the day and the Amy Rose and Super Sonic are on sale soon! Speaking of Super Sonic..

..he wonderful upcoming Super Sonic statue was there! It was the limited edition one with the light-up sparks on his feet too, which even flicker as if he is rocketing about! 

The statue actually looks a lot taller than the Sonic one: this is because the base is taller and also because even though Super is the same scale as the other Sonic, he is on his tippy toes! You just KNOW I need one of these now!

The second shelf had that Metal Sonic comic con exclusive again,as well as that Sonic & Knuckles jacket again (I still bet it's one i got outbid on too!). They also had a plush toy of Bokkun from Sonic X which I haven't seen before, and oh look something I actually own: the 2nd Sonic Annual. I suspect they're not rare in slightest mind.

Now here's an oddity and I'm not really sure if it can be considered a collectable or not unless you consider artwork by a Internet celebrity collectable. These are sketches of Sonic drawn by 'That Guy with the Glassies' for a video he did about Sonic which I'll link to later.It even had a document confirming that is officialy by him...ok. There was also some pre-order bonus toy sword from Black Knight.

Finally they had a soundtrack album for SegaSonic the Arcade game of all things, and Knuckles Chaotix for the 32X which belive it or not is a stupidly hard to find and expensive game now a days, probably because no one bought a 32X back in the day. Now I actually own a 32X I would like to find a copy of that..

3rd shelf down and we have a Japanese copy of Sega Superstars on PS2 (for some reason, I didn't really look at it), the signed Sonic Heroes from last year, an issue of Mean Machines Sega featuring Sonic CD, that signed Secret Rings art again, and the two CoroCoro manga books, which look kind of hideous to be honest. 

Onto the third shelf down and it was filled with clothing and plush toys including that Sonic 2 patch I have memories of for both owning the big blue jacket with it on and also for winning one of them from Sonic the Comic for sending in drawings I did (that were not published in the comic like that other one that won me a watch). I also have that Rivals hat, which I got when someone at a bootsale had a whole job lot of Sonic promo goodies.

The plushes consisted of Chao's (inlcuing a NiGHTS one) and two of the imfamously rare Nack/Fang ones from when Sonic the Fighters was released. There was a guy last year carrying one of thee about in his bag, I wonder if it's his. t's so collectable that sadly there have been bootlegs of this toy on Ebay from time to time.

own the bottom shelf they had sketches and character art from Sonic X, and I think these are different to the ones they showed last year. Just above these is that Sonic 15th Anniversary statue, and the Sonic Adventure 2 Battle figures (I have the grey one they had in the middle and that statue yay). They also had some stuff related to the Shadow game in the other corner but to be honest the photo for those came out rubbish and none it it was all that interesting to me anyway.

So that's your lot for this year! As always, I attempted to steal it to no avail..

Sonic Watches: Time To Be Cool!

Direct from the parents comes another Sonic item found in the dark recesses of my old bedroom. Last time I showcased a box full of goodies, this time I only have a watch to share, but what a cool watch it is!


Still sealed in its package, this item dates back to 1994 and was manufactured by Innovative Time Corp. Like most kids watches of the day, the face features a fat hunk of plastic that flips open to reveal a simple digital face. The package itself features a rather wonky image of Sonic. Ignore the face and look at the body, since when did Sonic have such fatty forearms?

As seen above, the watch cover is a rather cool 3D representation of the classic Sonic pose, gotta love that checkerboard background.

Above Sonic is an absolutely insane Robotnik. Seriously, the guy is well beyond the realm of "I hate that Hedgehog".

Below is Tails, who also seems rather annoyed at our hero. Perhaps Sonic did something so heinous that both Robotnik AND Tails have reason to be displeased.

The back of the package, seen above, reveals that there are at least two more watches to be had. I know for a fact that I have the one on the left. The one on the right can be seen on the front of the package in a detail view. I've found an image of the watch on the left, courtesy of Sonic Gear. It also seems that Sonic Gear doesn't know too much about these watches. Guess I'll have to clue them in by sending a link to this post. Hi guys! Hope this helps!

Sonic and the most uncomfortable bike ever (and other hot wheels toys)

Title almost sounds like the next Wii exclusive Sonic game.

Man, I have truck loads of sonic junk that is stored in the loft that I have never got around to posting about, best at least have a go at showing some of it.

So let's start off with this one off oddity of a toy. Hot Wheels did this set of 'Crash & Smash' toys and amongst the Sewer Sharks and whatever other franchises represented was this Sonic figure on a motorbike. More after the jump..

For those interested in the back of the box and what the other toys were (probably nobody).

I have two of these toys, one boxed up all new because I'm sad like that and one not which is a little bit wreaked from *shock* being played as a toy when I was a kid. They were bought back when they were released sometime in...1995, I think? All I can remember is being surprised finding this in a shop as it was a little while after everyone had moved on from making Sonic toys. Time for some photos!

It's a rather angry attitude-y looking Sonic holding two rings (and the arms can rotate for some reason) and the motorbike has a seat that can spring up to launch the poor hedgehog flying as well as a road the bike clips to that you can pull it back and shoot forward. This thing chucks itself across the room bloody fast, so at it's definitely Sonic fast. In fact the only way I could show you how fast it is I took a quick video.








..and while we're at it here's another vid of Sonic being flung back into the loft box of doom (hitting the mug in there by the sounds of it) via the seat chucking button which just so happens to be the front wheel. Good times!







While we're having a good chuckle at the hogs' misery: just have a look at how the Sonic sits on the bike..

..via a rather nasty and deep looking butt plug. Ouch.

I've also got photos of a much more recent and non-Sonic related set of Hot Wheels cars, released around 2002 when Sega was making that at-first-very-promising-but-still-heart-breaking move to making games for every console out there. These are standard hot Wheels cars except for one obvious motif: they have sega games scribbled all over them!

To be exact the set of five features Shinobi (the PS2 game), Space Channel 5, Super Monkey Ball, The House of the Dead III and Jet Set Radio Future. Rather spiffy! I thought I had the Shinobi one but I seem to have mis placed it. These pop up on ebay from time to time and can be picked up quite cheap. The older Sonic toy however is a bit more elusive though.

EDIT: Found the Shinobi one, so here's a photo of it!

Forklift Number 5 of 1000

It's here! The major award has arrived: the 'Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing' Ryo Hazuki forklift statue. The short version of how I came about the figure: I entered a Sega contest a few months back and last week I won the figure. The figure was limited run of 1,000 was was only available via the online contest with a handful making it over to Europe and distributed via Sega Europe's Free Stuff Friday giveaway. Now enough chatter, let's take a look at the figure!



Ryo arrived in a simple cardboard box. Inside was the black box wrapped in bright green paper. Perhaps to reference the jade mine seen in the conclusion of 'Shenmue II'... or not.

The back of the box sports a huge Sega logo as well as the statue number out of 1,000. Oddly, the box did not give the individual statue a number. Instead, they left a black space for where the number should have been written and the same is true for other forklift statues I've seen. While I have no clue what number I had, I'm going to assume number 5 of 1,000 because it's the forklift's number and would probably boost the resale value.

It's important for me to note that the Ryo Hazuki forklift statue is just that: it's a statue. It is NOT an action figure so don't expect spinning wheels and a lift that rises up and down. While I was a little annoyed at first, I quickly found that a statue is much much better than a plastic action figure.


The statue is made of heavy duty vinyl, with the frame being made of metal. The lights are strung up with a tiny fake electrical cable and is fastened on with little bits of wire. The cage on top is the one piece made of plastic.

The paint job is not amazingly done, but it is much better than, say, a Jazwares 'SASASR' figure. The forklift itself has lots of wear and tear to is while Ryo looks like Ryo, for the most part.

You can see in the photo above that they gave Ryo a little swipe of white for his cheek bandage. Impressive! They even painted his zipper, belt, lips and eyes. It might look a little messy up close, but for the size you really don't notice it.

The ONE sin that the statue commits is the back. The tiger is nowhere to be seen. Instead, there is this odd eagle shape. I'd rather they just left it blank or had given the figure a pack-in sticker of the back of the jacket to stick on. Despite this goof, it is small in the grand scheme of things. With the statue up on the shelf facing outwards, one doesn't even see the back. And if an owner of one of these is reading this and still regrets the loss of the tiger, feel free to print out and tape the image below to Ryo's back:

Now that the messy part of the article is out of the way, let's have some fun with ol' Hazuki! I'll bet you're wondering if the forklift can carry Shenmue. Well guess what:

"Toss 'Shenmue II' on while you're at it!"

I also bet you'd like to know if the forklift is ideal for picking up chicks. Well of course it can:

"Hey baby, ever play 'Virtua Forklift'?"

Ah! The figure also came with this plastic circle which was meant for use as a base. one side is shiny black, while the other features the logos as well as another blank space for me to write in the number "zero" and scam a guy out of thousands claiming this to be a super special "zero edition" figure.

Please submit all "Ryo carrying _____ with the forklift" requests to the comments section.


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