Back in February, LEGO Ideas approved Viv Grannell’s Sonic Mania Green Hill Zone set featuring classic Sonic, the imposing Eggman Robot boss, the Hard Boiled Heavies, and modular chunks of Green Hill’s iconic landscape, and while we don’t have a release timetable for the set yet, it turns out we missed some small details back when Bits N’ Bricks, an official LEGO games podcast, did an episode on the Sonic Mania set and the LEGO Ideas process in February 2021.
In an interview with LEGO Group designer Samuel Johnson, he notes that the Mania build is a bit simpler and geometric in structure than most Ideas sets, in line with the series itself. Johnson hopes that this relationship with SEGA does give way to more partnerships as it did with Ghostbusters and Minecraft. Although changes normally occur between the original Ideas pitch and the final released product, LEGO Group’s designers work with the original Ideas submitter (as well as license holders) to make sure it maintains the spirit that the designer originally pitched and was voted on. Later, the team interviews John Choon, SEGA’s Director of Marketing, who expressed interest in seeing other characters and worlds represented as Lego projects in the future.
While the podcast episode doesn’t reveal anything concrete about the set itself or any future plans, it does highlight the LEGO Ideas process and all of the parties that need to be involved to fully realize an Ideas set.
Source: The Chao Channel
Thanks to VisionaryofSUPER for the news tip!