As some of you know, between posting updates here on TSS and feeding my cat, I also do stuff for this little event called Summer of Sonic. You might have heard of it, we hire out a place and invite a bunch of people, sit back, talk about whats the best Eggman robot and have a jolly good time.

Well at this years event, we had a space for the charity Special Effect to show off the amazing work they do in order to make gaming accessible to everyone. As well as informing everyone as to who they are and what they do, they held a few fund raising events on the day such as an auction, and a raffle.

I was fortnate enough to help out Nick (Special Effect staff member) on the day. At around 3PM we retreated to the VIP’s room and started the task of counting up the donations. We were both blown away by how much Sonic fans had donated, would you like to know how much money was raised?

£1397.62

You guys are incredible!

But, the donations didn’t just come in the form of money, Special Effect also recieved a rather nice donation from Sonic the Hedgehog Merchandise, in the form of a very special book. It was a copy of the Collectors Edition of The History of Sonic the Hedgehog book. The english version.

Nick asked me what I thought of it and being under the paw of Merch Kitty, I told him what it was and gave him some insight into it. So Nick had an idea, and I thought it was brilliant. You see, the room we were in, also contained three other people…

• Takashi Iizuka: The Head of Sonic Team.
• Kazuyuki Hoshino: The Creator of Metal Sonic & Amy Rose.
• Jun Senoue: Composer & Crush 40 guitarist.

So we asked them all if they would sign the book, and they did. The book, is now up for auction. All the money raised will go to Special Effect and help make gaming more accessible to people with life changing disabilities.

The book alone is a great item to have, but to also have been signed by the head of Sonic Team, creator of Metal Sonic and a member of Crush 40, this is all sorts of awesome! Also included in the auction is a Special Effect sash which is also signed by this years Summer of Sonic guests.

Please dig deep for this one, it’s an absolute must have, but more importantly, it’s going to a very good cause.

A few details on the book.

• Language: English.
• Edition: Collectors Edition.
• Number: 589 out of 1,000

You can find the auction here. It ends in just over 9 days.

Nick/Special Effect would like to give thanks to: Sega, Sonic the Hedgehog Merchandise, everyone involved with Summer of Sonic and the attendees of Summer of Sonic for their amazing donations so far.

For more information on Special Effect and the work they do, please visit their website.

Click here for the auction.