Okay so this came out of nowhere!
After asking for fan suggestions for the 25th anniversary statue and even asking fans to vote and shape the development of it, First4Figures might have just cancelled/scrapped the idea completely in favour of one created internally.
In a post made on the First4Figures collectors page, First4Figures said that following internet talks the statue design has been scrapped in favour of ‘a better idea.’
Have to say, on a personal level this is quite disappointing since ironically it was my idea which got the original green light, but also because the initial idea was received so well and unlike previous statues there was a lot of input from the fans on this one who helped shape and voted on design choices such as the colour, decorations, base and even suggestions for the exclusive version.
Now they haven’t said that there won’t be a 25th Anniversary statue, but that following talks today the one which has been in development and had input from fans since as far back as June/August 2015 will not be the one which gets released.
We’ll keep you up to date with more information as and when we get it.
Source: First4Figures Collectors Group
I kinda feel like I’ve done something wrong and it’s my fault as I kept posting my edit of that image. 🙁
Though to be fair, my current real-life situation is sending my feelings all over the place today.
Though you never know, the new design could turn out to be even more awesome.
If your edit is the one with the totem pole I really like that, actually fits in a lot more with the original idea I pitched them =)
Thanks! Yep, that’s the one! Like I say, it’s probably because of other things making my emotions go crazy, but right now I almost feel like I could cry over this, as ridiculous as that sounds.
We’ll see what they come up with, I guess. You never know what causes these changes. It’s possible that the idea that the community came up with would have been difficult to make, or maybe it wasn’t felt that it would work in all territories (is that a Megadrive or a Genesis in the picture, etc.). Maybe Sega simply wanted to mandate their own representation of the character or wanted it to match promotional material for an upcoming game, etc. Maybe they’ve come up with what they think is so representative of Sonic’s anniversary that they feel they just have to do it instead. This is the first I’m hearing about any of this, but I’m sorry for all the fans involved, and I hope the majority like whatever First4 comes up with instead.
Watch, it’s gonna be a Sonic Boom Statue, to not only commemorate the 25th Anniversary, but also to justify that Sonic Boom is gonna be a permanent series, marketed as “The Reboot it was meant to be!”
Aw. How sad. Well, I hope their final product is dandy at least.
They better live up to this, “better idea.”
Well that sucks. But if they are going with another idea created internally, it must be something to do with copyrights and not wanting to give Hogfather any credit or maybe their lawyers whispered something about any potential for lawsuits. That is how it is whenever companies are confronted with a potential financial boon that was given to them from creatives outside their control.
Sorry to hear that Hoggy, your idea was really looking good.
This seems wrong to me…
So they are throwing away the fans idea because internally they want to do their own idea/ideas instead…?
Kind of reminds me of Sonic Generations and how stages were decided internally instead of based on fan demand.
Even though I did like the stages picked, granted…
“Kind of reminds me of Sonic Generations and how stages were decided internally instead of based on fan demand.”
*clears throat*
WELL…
Oh you know what? Someone else explain.
16th June 2009, SEGA polled people on Facebook about their favourite Sonic levels.
“What’s your favourite Sonic level? Vote in the new poll on the boxes tab now and leave your feedback on the wall!”
The poll did come to a close, but the results were never posted, and what currently remains is the original post, and comments from people who apparently missed the poll, or didn’t understand how to actually vote.
That was the poll that decided the current version of Sonic Generations, replacing a poll that Sonic Team were going to do internally, and apparently rewriting most of the game.
So, uh, basically, you got it backwards… >_>
I say that the fans should work together to put Hog’s design out into real life. I thought that it was really shaping up to be something. Disappointed. I really liked the interchangeable console idea too! ☹
If anyone were to do this, do Jamie Bailey’s, I like his concept sketch better than the one F4F came up with.
Any chance that you can link me the concepts?
i agree any link that they said this?
🙁 Sega why you do dis? That statue was so cool.
But I noticed that when First 4 Figures mentions a division of opinion, it never exactly says which group is divided. While its easy to assume that it thinks the fans are divided given the context, I think the division might actually be at First 4 Figures. Different fans made different suggestions, and while fans may have been almost unanimously satisfied with the end result, there could be some internal conflict at F4F regarding which suggestions should be used and where they should be applied. Because there were “too many cooks in the kitchen” (i.e. too many people giving good suggestions), opinions at F4F were allowed to get polarized and cause disagreements even after the product was revealed, especially when more suggestions were requested. This is especially true regarding cost– which your average fan making a suggestion might not factor, but your average company that wants to continue sustaining itself will consider an extremely important factor. The fact alone that this statue was slated to have multiple interchangeable parts, all of which would be expected to have the high quality we associate with F4F, would drive the cost of production up. Plus there’s the old enemy of putting fan ideas into official media– copyright law. The potential for fans to sue or demand royalties for their design is always present unless the fans sign away the rights to their designs. No contract, as far as I know, exists to serve this function. As for why this was allowed to happen so quickly, well, if the statue never made it past the concept stage then F4F hasn’t invested anything tangible in it yet, allowing for it to decide that this is getting too convoluted or causing too much trouble with staff and change plans.
Don’t be mistaken, I’m not defending what happened here as good– if anything, I think this happened because F4F did not plan this statue well at all. I mean, c’mon, it should absolutely not be announcing the merch if some internal conflict is preventing the merch from getting past the concept stage– that’s just begging for disappointment. And asking for more suggestions from fans when disagreements over suggestions from fans were the source of your problem is amongst the least helpful thing you can do. I just think that its not as bizarre as some assume.
A better idea……
Lemme guess, MOAR BOOM SONIC!!!!
Feh…
well thats a shame they screw-up
You know I love you Hoggy, but I’m pleased with this news. The 3d render shown at Weston Super Sonic looked rather… not appealing.
I agree, the 3D render does look naff, but that’s because it’s so poorly done.
Just look at the level it’s been rendered to compared to the silver one. It’s night and day.
Also look at it in terms of quality. It’s really poor, Sonic, the tv and the console look like they’re floating above the base. Then there’s all the other errors that people have pointed out.
Sonic 4 was done “for the fans” and Iizuka had no passion towards the whole series, neither did the rest of SEGA it seems and it failed only for Iizuka to come out and say “I’d like to do what I want again” and next thing you know Colors came out and it was good.
This figure was done for the fans, and it was given the Sonic 4 treatment as well because “We wanna do what we want” came into the picture.
See the connection? If it’s for the fans/determined by the fans, there’s zero interest. If it is what those in charge want, THEN they care about it.
you know hoggy i agree they might be able to do it this year
No offense, Hogfather, and not denying anything but it seems awfully coincidental that the guy who’s mostly in charge of merch news on one of the biggest Sonic news sites gets his design picked… Out of goodness knows how many other ideas… Just seems kinda… strange and suspicious to me… Now I may be wrong but I’m just not entirely buying the fact it was yours… especially since I’ve never seen anything creative or artistic by you before either. By all means, though, prove me wrong, I very well could be.
I can say for sure that it was an idea he initially put forward when F4F reached out last year.
Oh very sorry Kitfox. Didn’t realise everybody had to run past you everything creative they’d ever done.
Who’s Kitfox? Sorry, never heard of them. Oh, wait, aren’t they an indie dev team? Didn’t realise they’d done anything to you.
Anyway, instead of getting all flustered, maybe inform me otherwise in as polite and mature a manner as my comment was? I mean, generally speaking, people who are that creative do post their creations online sometimes so you can’t really blame me for failing to believe you initially since I’ve never seen you do anything even remotely creative and I’ve seen far too many people online go all “That was totally my idea” as soon as a fan idea/design becomes popular.
However, thank you, JonoD, for actually informing me otherwise instead of resorting to childishly throwing sarcasm and insults around.
Why should I be polite to you when the fact you insinuate that somehow my position here influenced a decision made and then questioned my ability to create stuff based on the fact I don’t bother informing you of what I do in my spare time.
Generally… A polite demeanor to anybody rarely goes amiss.
Yeah, what JonoD said… I wasn’t even rude in any of my comments to you on this instance. I simply queried the credibility of your claim to have created this thing based on personal experience and the lack of other related things I’ve witnessed from you. I even admitted I may have been wrong which, as it turns out, I was and offered you a chance to prove me wrong which, instead of doing, you chose to verbally assault me like a child. That approach only serves to further my scepticism, I only started to lean further towards believing your claim after someone else informed me otherwise. That’s all you had to do.
i didnt think it looked that nice anyway, too much base and not enough to stare at.
perhaps something including sonic, tails, knuckles, amy, metal and eggman – similar to a poster i have on my wall
Well that’s disappointing. Better idea or no, I liked the idea of a practically fan-generated statue for the anniversary. Oh well. 😛
I liked the idea of fan-inspired ANYTHING by SEGA, even from the saltiest of fans. Making a fan idea a reality (even for a collectible model) would’ve been a small step in the right direction.
Cheap, SEGA, cheap.
I wasn’t a massive fan of the design to begin with so I’m not really complaining. I’m sure they will come up with something amazing.
I always pay attention to F4F’s statues…. but this idea was a big “no”. It just didn’t look interesting or “magnificent” enough. It just seemed gimmicky and bland. I’m really glad they’re re-thinking things. It needs to be beautiful.
Shoot. I was looking toward to getting this 🙁
I didn’t like this design at all, so good news! Yay. First Sonic product from f4f that I’ve not been interested in at all.
Honestly, I couldn’t even figure out what he was even doing in the render we were shown Although I get their render was just badly done anyway.
Also, I’d prefer something more like the Mario statue Club Nintendo did for a while which included the entire main cast in a small, highly detailed statue. Obviously bigger so it’s easier to see the details and everything but that would be better, maybe with classic Sonic, Eggman, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Metal (as yellowstar mentioned), a couple Badniks and Flickies and the Chaos emeralds or something (then have the chaos emeralds and Metals eyes glow in the special version).
To be honest, I didn’t like the original proposed design. It had a little too much empty space.