Hope the first few days of 2008 are going well for you guys. I’ve been busy the last few days recreating skins for the SSMB. Last Friday I sneakily replaced the narrow Two Foxy skin with a new widescreen/liquid version, which even though it’s the same colour scheme, I really think is an improvement. Yesterday those who were advocates of the Knucklehead skin noticed that their favourite red skin had also been updated, stretchy-pants design and all. Today, I’ve finished a character skin of someone I started 12 months ago but never finished. At last, you can view the SSMB in the ‘Creamed’ skin design in all its light coloured glory. (Note: I know the buttons are still from the Knuckles skin — hopefully we’ll get that fixed soon). Let me know what your opinions are of these new skins; hopefully they’re making up for the loss of the Halloween and Christmas skins. I’m not stopping either; expect updated and new skins soon.
For some of you, the year’s going to get a little bit better – the SSMB and TSS staff have judged amongst the entries of the three competitions held over the last month and have come up with winners! Read on to find out who clinched the prizes![break]
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Christmas Card Contest:
For this contest, we asked you to grab your pens, pencils or computer writing tablets and design a new Christmas Card for the TSS crew. It was Violet94’s festive picture of Sonic in a Santa suit that won her first prize. Click here to see Violet94’s entry. Violet94 wins a promotional copy of Sonic Rivals 2 on PSP, plus an exclusive Sonic Rivals 2 T-Shirt.
The cute and funny style of Gabz Girl’s nativity picture earned her the second place prize. Eggman as the saviour of the world? WTF indeed! Click here to see Gabz Girl’s entry. Gabz Girl wins Issues #177 and #181 of Sonic Archie comics, Issue #25 of the Sonic X comic and a blue ‘Sonic Team’ themed Mario & Sonic T-Shirt.
Finally, the third prize goes to Christmas Band, for his uniquely colourful entry – it made us all think of candy canes and random chocolates you get at Christmas. Because I love chocolate coins, CB gets third place. Click here to see Christmas Band’s entry. Christmas Band wins a Sonic and the Secret Rings soundtrack sampler, plus a kid’s size Sonic X T-Shirt.
Honourable Mentions:
Alex Sly Cooper: there’s nothing better than getting Chaos Emeralds on Christmas Day. Just don’t let Eggman get them;
Sonaos: the fact that Black Doom was jingling away on the piano almost won her a prize;
Diogo: An awesome recreation of the nativity play using Sonic characters. Reminds us of Sonic and the Secret Rings, actually.
Supersaiyanneo: Cute picture of Sonic and the gang singing Christmas Carols. And, it’s a Christmas Carol as well (everyone knows of my well-documented hatred of ‘Carollers’ that don’t actually bother. Welcome to Essex).
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Photograph Contest:
Imagination was the name of the game here, as we asked everyone to take a photo relating to Sonic and Christmas. Supersaiyanneo was the clear first place winner here with his awesome use of Sonic plushies and set pieces to take a snap of a scene. We especially like Tails’ uncharacteristic apathy at Eggman nicking off with the toys. Click here to see Supersaiyanneo’s entry. Supersaiyanneo wins a Phantasy Star Universe soundtrack sampler, a choice of either a Sonic or Tails action figure, plus a yellow 15th Anniversary Sonic 1 sprite T-Shirt.
Stratoss-Phere earned second prize because the crappiness of his photo added a layer of intrigue to his entry. We can see Knuckles in a Christmas hat, but just what’s going on everywhere else? It’s like something you’d have in a nightmare on Christmas Eve. Click here to see Stratoss-Phere’s entry. Stratoss-Phere wins Sonic Rush Adventure for Nintendo DS, a blue ‘Sonic Team’ themed Mario & Sonic T-Shirt and either a Sonic or Tails action figure (whichever is left from Supersaiyanneo’s first pick).
Although we tend to think grabbing a load of plushies and lining them up is pretty lazy, we have to hand it to Sonaos for at least putting it into a decent Christmassy context. Decorating a tree with merchandise in place of baubles and tinsel earns you third place. Click here to see Sonaos’ entry. Sonaos wins SEGA Mega Drive Collection for PS2 and a red ‘Team Mario’ themed Mario & Sonic T-Shirt.
Honourable Mentions:
Narstyle: Just missed out, but we just love those massive Sonic and Tails things. I think Adam had a heart attack.
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Writing Contest:
NB: In checking out these entries, ignore any instances of the ‘Ó’ character – they weren’t typos in the entries but rather artifacts that appeared when converting the entries into txt format, which I couldn’t be arsed to fix.
There were four prizes to give away for this contest; potentially the easiest but in reality much harder to win because… well, we get sent a lot of crap. The mission was to simply write what Sonic and Christmas (together) means to you. Stratoss-Phere just clinched the top prize, with a very bizarre story featuring the TSS Staff. It was very difficult to read, very difficult to understand and involves a pointless and gratuitous use of the word ‘fuck’. Had this been any other entry we’d have pushed it off the face of the earth, but it just made us chuckle incessantly. Click here to read Stratoss-Phere’s entry. Stratoss-Phere wins an ultra-rare Mario & Sonic Olympic Shirt, a Mario & Sonic carrier bag to put it in and a Sonic 06 mug.
Elf Tamer came a very close second, with a story that includes a self-reflecting message within it. It’s a good vehicle to detail your fan-ness of Sonic and we loved reading it. Click here to read Elf Tamer’s entry. Elf Tamer wins a red ‘Team Mario’ and blue ‘Sonic Team’ themed Mario & Sonic T-Shirts plus a copy of Sonic Rush Adventure on Nintendo DS.
Third prize goes to Jelly, who spoke from the heart and told all about what being a Sonic fan means. It’s a more literal account of the ‘Sonic, Christmas and me’ statement we set for our members, and it’s well written. Click here to read Jelly’s entry. Jelly wins SEGA Classics Collection on PS2 and a blue ‘Sonic Team’ themed Mario & Sonic T-Shirt.
Finally, but perhaps not least, is the fourth prize winner, and that goes to Sonic_Fan due to its sheer absurdity. We certainly weren’t expecting a complete hatred of Mario fans, instigating a death of the Mario fanbase while TSS apparently dances from their sadness. I’d like to say we wouldn’t endorse that kind of actions really, but we would endorse this entry because it’s quite silly and made us laugh a lot. Click here to read Sonic_Fan’s entry. Sonic_Fan wins a Sonic and the Secret Rings T-Shirt and a Mario & Sonic branded pin and keychain.
Honourable Mentions:
Kadosho: Sonic is a Christmas gift in itself he says. We tend to agree.
Nintendogs: We liked that Sonic spindashed Santa right in the face.
Supersaiyanneo: Told us a cool account of what made him a Sonic fan, and what Christmas means to him with Sonic merchandise.
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Those who have won prizes, please PM me with your mailing address so we can get these to you as soon as possible! Supersaiyanneo also needs to tell me which out of a Sonic or Tails action figure he would prefer. Many thanks to Kevin from SEGA Europe, Adam (T-Bird) and Turbo for providing all of these prizes, and thanks to all that took part in the contests and the rest of the advent calendar.