Weston Super Sonic, the South West’s Sonic Convention is only a week away on the 17th, and in the past few months, a plethora of details have been revealed about guests and what kinds of things Sonic fans can do at the event.

Attendance: Can I still get tickets? Can I pay ‘On the Door’?

The answer to both of these questions is unfortunately not. The convention completely sold out of both premium and free tickets towards the end of last year, and as a result cannot accept any further registrations to attend. There are also no on the door tickets, so it may be worth saving yourself a journey if you haven’t already gotten tickets. Thankfully, the awesome peeps at The Sonic Show will be live streaming directly from the convention space so you can see all the action as it takes place.

I’ve got tickets! Where do I go?

Weston Super Sonic is taking place on the Grand Pier in Weston Super-Mare. Full details on how to get there can be found here.

Who is coming in the way of special guests?

The convention has a wealth special guests attending. Here’s our brief, but comprehensive list of guests that we’ll have joining us:

Richard Elson: StC Artist

Nigel Kitching: StC Writer & Artist

Carl Flint: StC Artist

Ferran Rodríguez: StC Artist

Deborah Tate: StC Editor

Mike Pollock (via Skype): Series’ Dr. Eggman VA

Duncan Gutteridge: Classic Sonic/SEGA Illustrator

Radio SEGA: Internet SEGA Radio Station/Official Event DJs

The Sonic Show: Sonic the Hedgehog Podcast/Youtube Channel

VGM Awesome: Internet VGM Radio Station

Louisalulu Arts: Independent Artist

Sam Webster: Independent Artist

Sci-Fi Collectibles: Collectible vendor/retailer

You can find more in-depth bios at WSS’s website.

What events have been announced?

A few events have been announced already:

Speed Run Contest : Complete Sonic Adventure 2’s City Escape stage in the fastest time to win!

Gaming Tournament: Only one will come out the victor in this gaming knockout tournament! Bring your best skills!

Art Contest: Flex those pencils (though not too far, because they’d break otherwise) and demonstrate your artistic talents to the folk at the convention!

Cosplay Contest: Don your best Sonic gear, and show us your great costume making skills!

Mike Pollock Live Skype Q&A: Series VA and voice of Dr. Eggman Mike Pollock joins the convention live over skype in this Q&A segment, where he will be answering fan’s submitted questions!

Sonic Off 2.0: The age-old rivalry between VGM Awesome and The Sonic Show rears its ugly head. In this two part quiz, will VGM Awesome take home the elusive Sonic Off Trophy once more? Or will The Sonic Show win the day after last time’s humiliation..?

‘Where’s Sonic?’ Contest: Where’s Sonic Hiding? Pick a zone, and win a SEGA Prize Europe Shadow the Hedgehog Plush! All funds raised from this contest (£1 per entry) will go towards the Burnham on Sea Rainbows Group.

What about other prizes..?

Winners of the various contests will each take home one of these awesome engraved Chaos Emerald trophies. There are 4 trophies up for grabs for the Speed Run winner, the Tournament winner, the Cosplay winner and finally the Art Winner.

What other events will there be?

Lucky you asked… Next week, WSS will be revealing the complete line up of events scheduled to take place via their Facebook page in a series of announcements leading up to the event. We’ll be covering the announcements as they come!

One more thing…

Those of you on social media may have noticed this coming from First 4 Figures’ Twitter/Facebook feeds. Whatever could it mean? You’ll have to wait and see what we have planned in regards to that

With all that said, Rurifuu and I look forward to seeing all our attendees on the pier this coming Saturday!

Twenty years ago, many veteran fans amongst the community will probably remember racing to their local newsagents in order to grab the first issue of Sonic the Comic for the paltry price of 95 pence, and thumbing excitedly through the first pages of Sonic and SEGA-themed strips. In the many years that followed, fans saw the publication of 223 issues, 9 poster magazines and several special one-offs across nearly a decade of production.

The comic was renowned for its well-pitched storylines that appealed to both the younger and older audiences, for expanding the Sonic universe beyond the canon of the game and introducing several original characters; some of whom suffered a grisly demise (poor old Johnny Lightfoot!). For the majority of issues, the comic was presented by Megadroid, a robot reminiscent of a SEGA Megadrive (and later a SEGA Saturn), who took to naming the readers “Boomers” (and the writers “Humes” – short for “Humans”). As well as the Sonic-themed strips, the comic included a whole host of stories from SEGA titles such as Golden Axe, Decap Attack and Streets of Rage, as well as features and reviews on games, as well as fan art and mail; many fan-works featured were created by many of those who have remained fans to this day! Indeed, the publication garnered many fans, and some of you reading this today will probably owe STC as your introduction to the world of Sonic the Hedgehog.

Continue reading 20 Years of Sonic the Comic