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With both America and Japan having 25th anniversary themed parties, many people in the UK were asking ‘what about us?’ Well… Something might be happening. Continue reading Summer of Sonic 2016 Hinted?
Well… many suspected that there might be more to Mr Iizuka’s trip to the US than just the SXSW panel, and it seems you were right. The head of Sonic Team Takashi Iizuka is in Sega of America right now, and according to Gamasutra, he’s there overseeing development on new Sonic games. Continue reading Takashi Iizuka Is In The U.S. To Oversee New Sonic Games
So we all just found out that Ivo Gerscovich is the new head of the Sonic Brand for Sega of America and looking on his LinkedIn profile page there are a number of bullet point details as to what might be in store in the future for Sonic. Continue reading Sega’s Plans For Sonic Includes ‘Console Games & Theme Park Licensing’
Last year we brought you news that a Sonic Boom monopoly was on the way and that it had quite a hefty price tag. Several months later, Amazon are selling it for just over £32, and most others sites still have it at the £30 mark. Well… we’ve discovered a lovely little trick to get you it for a fraction of the cost. Continue reading How to get The Sonic Boom Monopoly for a Really Cheap Price
So Sonic 1 & Sonic 2 got released on the Apple TV recently, why not add the other remastered title? Sonic CD (the good/updated version) is to be released on the Apple TV platform in the next few days, March 31st to be exact.
Now can we please get Sonic 1 & 2 Taxman editions on console? That would be nice.
Now… the last time I wrote about a First4Figures statue in detail was back in 2013, and it wasn’t exactly a happy experience, my statue along with several others had a number of problems, mysterious black marks, badly manufactured joints to name but a few. This, combined with problems with a number of previous statues finally broke the camels back. So I cancelled all my outstanding orders for statues with them, since then I have not bought another F4F product, that rule was in place for me until I saw evidence that they were taking their quality control seriously.
And oh boy, how they have gone above my expectations. Continue reading TSS REVIEW: First4Figures Tornado Exclusive Edition Diorama
Sega has teamed up with UK retail outlet ‘funstock’ for a number of limited edition art prints. The prints will be based on a number of Sega franchises, not just Sonic. But since it’s Sonic’s 25th, there are a number of special limited edition 25th anniversary prints which are now up for pre-order. Continue reading Sega Releasing Limited Edition Art Prints
So this happened. The creator of Gravity Falls just posted a most interesting picture on twitter of what appears to be himself sat beside a giant classic Sonic statue at Sega of America. Continue reading Update: The Creator of Gravity Falls is at Sega? And Nobody Knows Why
So… following the panel at SXSW many are speculating that we’ll have to wait a number of months before we get more information regarding the 25th anniversary, specifically game information. However based on this information, we might be getting information a lot sooner than expected. Continue reading Sonic to Get Licensing “Salute” in May
So I watched the 25th anniversary panel at SXSW the other day and… I’m a bit conflicted, see I knew there wouldn’t be any games announced at it, it’s been said constantly, unless you were living under a rock or found out about the event a few moments before it was due to start, it was hard not to know, aside from it being officially confirmed that there would be no game announcements, so many other Sega/Sonic sites and commentators were saying it. Continue reading The Spin: The Power of Panels
Way back in 2013, Sega of Japan partnered with Sanrio to produce some Sonic x Hello Kitty themed merch, the line promised a range of products, however only a rather large and impressive plush toy was released. Continue reading The Sonic x Hello Kitty Deal Is Back On?
It’s the end of an era. It’s been there for 6 years but it seems that the Sonic Spinball ride at Alton Towers has had it’s last ride.
According to information posted Alton Towers’ ride times website, Sonic Spinball isn’t there, but Spinball Whizzer is. If you don’t know, Spinball Whizzer was the original name of the ride before it was re-themed to Sonic Spinball. Continue reading The Sonic Spinball Ride At Alton Towers Has Closed
Well, we’ve had toys and plushes… the next stop is clothing! It’s the turn of Pixel Sonic (as Sega is calling him these days) to get the 25th Anniversary treatment, this time in t-shirt form. According to a Facebook user these shirts are available at a Japanese store called Shimamura. Continue reading 25th Anniversary ‘Pixel Sonic’ Shirts Out Now In Japan
A few days ago we brought you news that there would be a very special panel at the SXSW 2016 convention.
Well since then, there’s been a number of developments, the first major detail is that the event will now be live-streamed via twitch. However the more interesting detail is that according to the SXSW website, there will be a ‘special reveal’ as part of the panel for the anniversary celebrations.
What will this special reveal be? Well we know for certain that it’s not going to be a game. However with Yuji Naka being present along with Iizuka, you can’t blame fans for speculating it might be something important.
More details as and when we get them.
Source: SXSW
You might remember how we brought you news regarding new Sonic licensing deals which were in the works, one of those was Toy Factory who were down to be making a range of Sonic plushes.
Well in their 2016 catalogue there is a picture of a Classic Sonic & Tails plush along with the words ‘coming soon.’
No pricing details or firm release date, the only clue as to where these plushes will be available is the ‘available for sale in Canada’ logo.
For those not keeping up to date with 25th clues… this makes another classic merchandise product for 2016.
What do you think of them, let us know in the comments.
Yesterday we brought you news that there would be a number of Sonic themed events this year including a history of Sonic panel at SXSW 2016.
Well, you might want to seriously consider heading along to that because the details as to who is going to be on the panel have just been announced and what a lineup!
Yes you read that right! Yuji Naka & Takashi Iizuka will be on the panel alongside two of the main voice actors!
Details of the event are as follows.
Date: Saturday March 19th
Venue: Austin Convention Centre
Website: SXSW.com
The description of the event is also interesting as it includes the following line…
Join us as we celebrate the past and look to the future!
Planing on going to this? Let us know in the comments!
Continuing with the Toy Fair news comes a tiny bit of information about a previously unannounced thing.
According to a sign at Tomy’s booth at the New York Toy Fair, there is a new Sonic Podcast in the words to be broadcast via Podcast One.
But even more interesting is that it looks like Sega/Tomy might be launching a new Sonic themed online store. This is strange because Sega did launch Sonic Merchandise several years ago which is still trading at this time.
No other details were given, but we’ll keep you upto date as and when more information comes in.
Picture Source: Idle Hands
You may recall how we brought you the news that Sonic’s 25th Anniversary would bring special events throughout the year. Well… we can now bring you details of those events including dates for some of them.
GDC is March 14-18th, SXSW is March 11-20th and Comic Con is July 21st.
The rest, anyone’s guess, but one of the interesting things is the Unboxing Events, have they just accidentally confirmed a collectors edition of a game with that one?
I for one am quite interested in the 25th Anniversary Party.
Picture Source: Idle Hands
Well it took a while, but pics from Tomy’s booth at the New York Toy Fair have finally leaked out and they contain some news which nobody was expecting.
Some of this information I do not believe is correct at all, however here it is because it’s the most official thing we’ve got.
First of all, the most unlikely bit of news, that being the two game launches in 2016, I doubt these will be the only ones, but yeah there it is.
However the other bit of news is that Boom Fire & Ice appears to have been delayed to the end of 2016! That’s… a lot later than many predicted, but thinking about it, it makes sense given the lack of information about it since it was first announced.
Those expecting an early 2016 release, looks like it’ll now be a Christmas release.
Source: Idle Hands
So the latest issue of Licensing Today Worldwide has a rather nice surprise on the cover, it’s Sonic! Inside the issue there is a two page interview with Jason Rice, Sega’s Director of Brand Licensing for EMEA.
Despite this, most of the information is already known, except for one really odd detail.
That being, the Sonic franchise is divided into two licensing programmes; Sonic Boom and Classic Sonic. Wait…. what about Modern Sonic? Well… that’s the thing, Modern Sonic is not mentioned at all anywhere in the article.
Stranger still is that when you look at the imagery used in the article, it’s just Classic and Boom, whilst Modern Sonic is present, it’s just in a group shot showing how Sonic’s design has changed over the years.
Now the article is for the 25th/2016 celebrations, so it’s likely that Sega are just putting the Modern Sonic license on hiatus for a while.
But this is really interesting, we’ve speculated for a while that the 25th anniversary would be a Classic focused affair, with several companies confirming they’re making Classic themed products, but it’s never been stated that the Modern Sonic license isn’t being issued for the 25th?
Given how Modern Sonic appears on the cover and Sega have been using him in their promotional material, odds are he’s not been axed or is now just classic Sonic, even if that’s how the article initially reads, but it’s beginning to look a lot like there won’t be any Modern Sonic merchandise produced for the 25th anniversary, unless the Classic Sonic License now includes Modern Sonic?
Source: LTW
It can’t be reasoned with, it can’t be bargained with, it doesn’t feel pity or remorse or fear, and it absolutely will not stop ever! Until yout wallet is dead!
GE have gone into overdrive in the last two years, and now another is on the way. Metal Sonic!
Standing at 8 inches tall it’ll soon be the turn of GE to make merch hunters raise their arms in the air and proclaim there can only be one Metal Sonic.
No release date yet. But expect it in the next few months.
Source: GE
Now depending where you sit when it comes to this kind of game, this news will actually not surprise you, or it may take you completely by surprise. Sega considers Sonic Runners a failure, in terms of how much money it’s making. This comes as a bit of a surprise as the game appeared to be profitable and doing rather well.
Now, in the past, I have been quite vocal regarding my stance on a certain ‘free’ to play mobile game staring Sonic, however, one thing which was hard to deny, is that Sonic Runners was being downloaded, it was being played and people were spending a lot of money on it.
Though at the same time, I’m not that surprised, the game has been heavily criticised for poor technical performance, an intrusive and invasive micro-transaction strategy and in some cases, randomly banning players for utterly no reason. Why would people want to give money to this?
However, another issue which is a little strange is that, according to the report, Sonic Runners on average was making 30 million yen per month, which is around £180,000, that sum is considered a failure? How much money went into developing the game for that sum to be considered a failure?
To put it into perspective, Sega considers games which make 50 million yen, or £300,000 per month to be successful.
Source: SegaSammy
The details regarding the mysterious SegaSonic Bros continue to leak out like an old dripping tap. Thanks to more information provided by and some fine detective work by the Sonic community, we now have a lot more details regarding the game and how it plays. Continue reading Even More SegaSonic Bros Details Revealed
If this is a hoax, well done. If not… Oh my! An unreleased, unknown Sonic game entitled ‘SegaSonic Bros’ has been found and a single photo shared online. Continue reading UPDATE: Unreleased Sonic Game SegaSonic Bros Found
Toy Fair season is still in full swing, with London done with, the party rolled into Nuremberg and with it came a lot of new toys and some very interesting 25th anniversary details thanks to our friends over at Spindash.de.
Let’s just go over what we know first, we know that Tomy are making a range of classic toys for Sonic’s 25th, we have seen the scans from their catalogues and we have actually seen the physical prototypes in the flesh.
However, Nuremberg provided one very surprising detail, that being Boom Sonic appears to be included in the 25th celebrations!
This photo shows the already known classic range and a Sonic Boom figure with an alternative 25th anniversary logo. Now stop right there, think about this for a moment.
This doesn’t automatically confirm Boom Sonic in the 25th celebrations, this is a prototype box, in the past Tomy has used other figures to represent designs which have yet to be finalised, this might not be a Boom Sonic figure, but a Modern Sonic instead, a line which Tomy has not touched for years.
There is strong evidence for this included in this article, look at the picture at the top of the article, see the classic designed plushies? The Sonic one at the moment has a temporary Sonic Boom tag, not the final one.
But one thing is very clear from this, we now know why there are so many logos, they seem to be used to represent different eras, so it’s likely the classic inspired one which we have seen so often is for the classic era, this one is likely to be used for either Boom or Modern Sonic.
The other very interesting detail which seems to be a reoccurring trend is the use of pixel imagery for the 25th.
Take a look at this photo of the large Classic Sonic Plush.
Now look back at the figures posted earlier, now compare it to this image.
Notice the use of pixels in both imagery, even in the recent tease posted on various Sonic social media outlets pixels are used again, and this follows on from one person at Sega dropping the line ‘pixel Sonic’
Now I can only speculate here, but if you cast your minds back to when Generations was announced, the original trailer included a lot of ‘white space’ in it, we then found out that was a key element of the game, is what we’re seeing here an indication of what might be found in the next major Sonic title?
Another new surprise was this 25th anniversary Comic Boom pack.
As mentioned in our original report on Toy Fair, the show also included some classic Sonic figures which we were very impressed with.
We really hope that the quality of those isn’t lost when they go into mass production since its very high.
Also included in the fair were a number of new Boom toys, we reported on them in our London Toy Fair report, however we can now show you more detailed photographs.
First up is a Metal Sonic plush, we really liked this one when we saw it, can’t wait until this gets released.
But the biggest surprise for us were these big head plushies, Orbot & Cubot especially, but the Metal Sonic one were by far the runaway stars with us, we’ll be getting these day one for sure.
And one final surprise, we think that this might be the first time that the new F4F Tornado statue has been shown in the flesh.
You can read and see more photos of the toys over at Spindash.de
Update: According to a post on the Sega forums by Ruby Eclipse, it is Sonic Boom Fire & Ice.
Original Story: According to the website for the AOD convention, Ken Pontac is going to be attending, and there is a rather curious section towards the end of his description.
His many admirers in the world of Sonic fandom will be ecstatic to learn that he’s written for an upcoming video game featuring their favourite blue hedgehog.
As some have pointed out, this could mean Sonic Boom Fire & Ice, however it’s rather odd they didn’t just name that or pick one of his previous works if it wasn’t a new or unknown title.
Thanks to Detective Paradox who brought this to our attention.
Source: AOD
GE Entertainment continues to make our wallets hurt, this time it’s Amy’s turn to get released.
No pricing details provided, because you can’t buy direct from them, have to rely on suppliers. Also oddly, no size measurements were provided this time. Not the first time Amy has had a modern plush, but this is certainly the most happy she’s looked.
As always, only Ebay & Amazon sellers will stock these.
Source: GE Entertainment
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
It’s that time of the year again, Toy Fair season is in full swing and with London Toy Fair just coming to a close this week, we here at TSS decided that we would actually go along and see what there was.
Continue reading Toy Fair 2016: New Sonic 25th Anniversary Toys Revealed!
Sega have revealed more details regarding Sonic’s 25th anniversary, it seems that their plans might be a lot bigger than anyone first predicted. In terms of licensing, Tomy is still the ‘master toy partner’ however this will be supported by over 100 additional partners worldwide!
We can now reveal some of those partners.
Out of curiosity we decided to take a look at each of those companies, one of which already has a bunch of new Sonic products listed, now I don’t believe these to be 25th anniversary merchandise since they were announced back in December 2015, however Vandor’s website lists them as being ‘new’ so I’m going to show you all them here just in case they turn out to be the goods. Also it gives you a good idea as to what to expect.
You can view the full range in more detail at Vandor’s website.
Source: Global License.
P.S. Check back later this week, TSS was at the London Toy Fair the other day, we have held actual 25th anniversary merch in our arms, you won’t want to miss it.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBIgXhiOpeQ
Here at The Number 1 Sonic Stadium Detective Agency, the finest minds have been combing through some of the most recent clues to try and decipher some of the recent clues and hints left by the Sonic social media outlets in order to try and figure out what Sega is upto.
Using state of the art computers and decryption techniques we’ve spent sheer minuets trying to crack and decipher Sega’s hints. Well Detective TSS & Detective SSMB have spent all night trying to break, when suddenly over coffee and doughnuts we finally cracked it, here are our results.
He’s at it again. Sonic’s Tumblr has posted even more cryptic hints! Attached to a seemingly innocent breakfast post, we at The Number 1 Sonic Stadium Detective Agency have uncovered startling new evidence toward an upcoming reveal. You can examine the new clue below:
And now, back to our original findings.
Yesterday, Sega posted to their Sonic Tumblr account, and it had some interesting tags.
Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone. So it seems that Sega will be announcing something in February, when could this be? I’d bet the farm around February 2nd, Groundhog Day, or Hedgehog Day as Sega calls it. Just under two weeks away.
Just under a week ago, the Sonic Tumblr account posted an image of a comic book which contained the following sequence of numbers in a single tag.
We ran this code through our super detective computer, and we made a discovery, the code is in fact 3 different sequences, all missing a number, all broken up the number 0. When we extract those sequences we see the following.
Let’s take a look at the first sequences, you’ll notice that in the first code, the number 4 is missing. Then in the second the number 1 is missing. Finally… we end with 16.
Put it together we get this.
4/1/16
Which is the US date for April 1st 2016. What does this mean? It means that on April 1st 2016, things will happen! What kind of things!?
About two months ago the Sonic Tumblr account posted this image along with the following tags. We have highlighted the important bits using our special ‘detective highlighters.’
Let’s extract those statements.
What could this mean? Well we have a theory, the details are hidden on the inside of the pumpkin, and what is on the side of a pumpkin… let’s take a look…
Seeds and… PULP! Pumpkin pulp! The next Sonic game will be…. A Pumpkin Juice sales simulator game!
In February there will be an announcement, almost certainly on ‘Hedgehog day’ which has become a traditional place for Sonic related announcements. And there will probably be something on April 1st, perhaps a Pumpkin juice simulator game, with Big the Cat. Because Big the Cat.
With Batman DLC! And an eye patch!
Until next time, Detective TSS & SSMB will keep investigating.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMxaaEqkHy8
This Saturday see’s the return of ‘Weston Super Sonic’, the South West’s first Sonic fan Convention here in the UK.
Brought to life by the creative minds of community members Claire ‘Rurifuu’ Cameron and Jono ‘JonoD’ Dixon, the event once again aims to bring the awesome community together in one place this Saturday (16th January 2016), and will see many descending on the quiet seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare once again for another fun filled gathering of friends and fans alike, not only to celebrate the Blue Blur, but to also celebrate to creativeness of the vastly diverse fanbase.
Following a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised over £1600 in donations, the event will be taking place on Weston-Super-Mare’s Grand Pier, home not only to the large event space, but also one of the largest and newest purpose built arcades in the country, which attendees will have full access to, which proved to be popular with last year’s attendees.
The event this year is packed out with activities and contests for fans to enjoy. Art fans can enjoy special panels and demonstrations from special industry veterans (such as a live airbrush demonstration from Duncan Gutteridge), or get involved with stage events such as ‘Ask Uncle Poxxy: Live!’
As you may have gathered from the above, a number of special guests will be joining the show. These range from great community names to respected industry artists. For example, iTunes’ number 1 downloaded Sonic the Hedgehog podcast ‘The Sonic Show’ will be in attendance, as well as popular Source Filmmaker animator SonicpoX. From the industry, there’s Sonic the Comic artist Ferran Rodríguez, as well as Duncan Gutteridge: Another classic Sonic the Hedgehog artist whose works have been seen on everything from calendars to neckties.
As well as special guests, there will also be a number of sellers including Science Fiction Collectables & for those after lots of Sonic merch, The Badnik Bazzar has all you need!
The whole day, as well as its events are also being broadcast live online, courtesy of The Sonic Show. This stream will allow those who may not have been lucky enough to secure a ticket a chance to watch and stay up to date with what’s going on.
The live stream link can be found at the following link,
Location: The Grand Pier – Weston Super-Mare
Date: January 16th 2016
Time: Doors open at 10:30am (GMT).
Tickets: This is a ticketed event, currently it says that tickets are sold out, please check their Facebook page to see if there’s any still available.
LiveStream Link: Right here.
Can I Get an Announcement Tease?: First4Figures might be revealing something not seen before.
UPDATE: Nintendo have confirmed via Facebook, that the Wii U version is still in development and will release later this year.
Original Story: Just announced via Nintendo of America’s twitter account, Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is due to be released on March 18th in North America.
Oddly, this is for the 3DS version of the game, no details were given regarding the Wii U version, as of yet no information regarding the EU release date has been given either.
Source: NOA Twitter.
Blink and you’ll miss it. If you read the article posted in ToyWorld Mag carefully, you’ll notice that Sega has finally confirmed that 2016 will get a Sonic game, or should that be ‘Games.’
Now you might think ‘they already did’ urm… actually, they didn’t, they’ve not yet confirmed it, this is the first time they’ve confirmed new ‘games’ for 2016, we’ve assumed that there would be one given all the teases, but it’s not yet actually been confirmed.
So far the only thing which we assume will come out this year is Sonic Boom: Fire & Ice, however that also doesn’t have an official release date, but this article states ‘new games’ suggesting there will be the sequel to Boom and at least one other mystery title.
Keep checking TSS for more news when we get it.
In the newest issue of ToyWorld Magazine, Sega have posted a new advert for Sonic’s 25th featuring Classic, Modern and Boom Sonic together along with another version of the 25th anniversary logo.
The advert is there to advertise licensing enquiries so don’t jump to conclusions just yet about this being Sonic Generations 2 or some other big clue as to a new game announcement, even though it’s very tempting.
However, in the same issue there are also a bunch of details about Sega’s 2016 plans including one or two details which we didn’t yet know, and one or two interesting choices of words which I know some people are going to go crazy at, you can decide for yourself if that’s the good or bad crazy.
Most of the information is already known, again Boom the TV show is doing very well with plans to expand into Russia, Spain and Turkey in the near future, as well as more partners joining the Sonic Boom toy/merchandise line.
However the more interesting part is that the ‘Classic Sonic’ is described as ‘Pixel Sonic’ and Archies Sonic is now ‘Comic Book Sonic.’ However I wouldn’t take those definitions too seriously since this is information for people who are not too familiar with the brand.
Bioworld, Archie Comics and First 4 Figures are all named as being brands who will be supporting the 25th anniversary, products include, toys, publishing, clothing and even ‘limited edition collectibles’ and Sega are looking to expand on this list.
Now for the VERY interesting part. The final part of the article states the following.
2016 will be a a celebration of Sonic’s 25th birthday throughout the year. New Style Guides and new collaborations across toy, gift apparel, branded events and bespoke retail events initiatives will be on offer throughout the year.
Did you spot it?
The first significant detail is that the whole year will be a celebration, not just the summer or when a game is due out, so at any time Sega could announce something.
What is a style guide? In this context, it means one of two things, the most likely thing, is that Sega are going to be ensuring that all Sonic merch for the 25th anniversary follows a set pattern, so all merchandise packaging looks similar, it helps customers identify the product and allows for a set standard.
You can see the 2014 style guide on TSS as it happens.
Now… and this is less likely, it may also mean that some characters have had some minor or major (major is unlikely) design changes, it might be very subtle, but noticeable.
The second thing is branded events, could this mean the return of Sonic Boom for the US and Summer of Sonic for the UK? Or even the day Sonic decided to go to Mercedes Benz World a few years ago.
We’ll keep you upto date with more news as we get it.
Source: ToyWorld Mag
So throughout the year our site monitors and keeps tracks of various statistics because numbers are fun. So with that in mind, let’s take a look at what were the top 15 news/articles of 2015 on TSS according to total views, I have discounted individual images or hub pages like the Home page.
Please keep in mind that due to the data loss earlier this year, some of the articles featured are no longer on the site meaning their positions might have been slightly altered had they remained online. Continue reading The Top 15 TSS Articles of 2015
![[UPDATE] SEGA: Something Coming up in February & Other Hints!](https://archive.sonicstadium.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/feburaryannouncement-529x200.png)
