USA Sonic the hedgehog places title card
USA Sonic Fan Events or Places 3
Sometimes Sonic Fan Events turn normal places into Sonic Places.
There are some good examples of both here, so if you couldn't make it to a cool event, or to see a Sonic place, check out the photos and descriptions here--reported by Sonic fans! (most of the time) This page is only for modern events or places. See page 1 for some older / classic ones! They're all fun & interesting.
Sonic Gear Main Page * Sonic Fan Events 2 * Sonic Fan Events 1 * Sonic Fan Events 4 * Sonic Fan Events 5 *
Sonic 4 Episode 2 Billboard Is this a place? Is it an event?
Who knows! But it's cool to see. This is likely to be the first Sonic billboard...ever. (In the world?) This is a real billboard which appeared in San Fransisco California at the Sonic 4 Episode 2 release. As is the usual with these giant signs, it's right beside a highway for
maximum exposure. It's got Tails flying Sonic around, along with the title & background from the game. This is such a huge piece of art! Hopefully this giant ad does the game lots of good, as they fixed the physics for the 2nd part. What a special and great advertisment to see...it's wonderful that Sega is promoting games again. Photo by SurferBRG
Sonic Boom Comic Con 2012 Swag Bag At San Diego Comic Con in 2012, they held a Sonic Boom fan event. As is traditional at big shows like CC, booths/vendors & etc can have "Swag Bags" which is either a free promotional item of some sort or a bag of mini give-away items. Sonic Boom had just that for the fans! As you can see here, it consisted Clear Chao & Comic Swag Bag 2012
Above photo by SurferBRG
of a Sonic logo event bag (upper right) a logo coaster (middle) the Sonic spikes plush type hat (that was also a pre order bonus for some games, and is available in stores online) and the Sonic face shirt which was the main item. Other bags contained an issue of Sonic Universe (at right) and a clear Chao Keychain instead of the coaster. You can see the keychain on top of the bag at the right. This is a cool gift set for the event! While the hat isn't exclusive, the other items seem to be, so they'll be collectible.
Chao Keychain Close up photo Sonic Boom Swag Round Coaster Sonic Boom Shirt Back Logo
Here are some great close-ups of the items from the 'swag bag'. At left is the cute happy neutral chao
keychain (seen on top of the bag above). It looks good & quality, with nice details for the front & back. The head has the boom logo. Next is a good view of the round coaster, printed on both sides. Each has clouds, but one side has the logo while the other shows Sonic in
the Allstars Racing Speed Star. The shirt (above) also has the logo in full color on the back. Really, these photos prove that good quality & thought went into producing the items / they're not 'cheap o give aways' but rather great collectibles. Above 3 items photo & owned by Jettravis
Sonic Lost World E3 Escalator Wrap Well, this has to be a first! A Sonic themed... escalator? Yes! Actually this is a form of advertising wrap, a sticky back plastic panel system that goes on glass. Here, at the venue for E3 2013, it's used to wrap each lane of the escalators. The bottom has the location where you can play Sonic Lost world demos & see more about the game.
The art has Sonic sliding in at the bottom, while the rest of the color is provided by the "Deadly 6" the new colorful bosses from the game. This is a great way to advertise, as everyone who has to use this escalator will see it & know where the booth is. You can read an article about this escalator at Sonic Stadium now. Photo by Gamekyo, added by SonicToast
Danica Patrick Sega Sonic Theme Car Sega has sponsored various motor sport racing over the years, so another sponsorship makes sense, especially if it's with "Sonic Sega All Stars Racing" in mind! Here's the Chevrolet Impala branded car they sponsored, painted Sonic blue. It was driven by Danica Patrick (who also appears in the car in the game) There's a big All Stars logo on the hood, Sega logo & the Sonic team Sonic face on the back too. Was the race a fan event? Not particularly, but the car doesn't really fit in anywhere else.
Sonic 06 Bus Wrap Advertisement This is both the concept art & actual photo of the finished product for a Sonic 06 themed bus. It's an advertising bus-wrap, that porus sticky stuff they can put to entirely change the look of a city bus. You can still see out the windows. It's pretty cool looking, not overly busy. The distinctive all-blue Sonic 06 logo takes up most of the side, while running forward new-better-cg Sonic is at one end. The top half of him appears on the front again, with the Sega logo. It was designed by Scott Allen. Was there only 1 bus? Where was its route? Nobody ever saw it / sent it in. Photo found by SonikkuForever
Cherry Coke Sonic Sega Demo Shuttle New game demos used to be done live "on tour". Here's an example of a cross promotion that Sega did with Cherry Coke. As part of trying to get everyone "Cherryfied" in 1993 , Coke teamed up with Sega to make this...van thing. It has a side that opens up so 3 people at one time could play Sonic game demos. You can see a speaker stand there with the event conductor. The van would give out free samples of Cherry Coke & explain about the latest Sonic game. You could see a list of cities where this tour would take place over the summer of 1993. (it would likely be malls or other hot spots where it's easy to get to anyway) It's interesting to see they did a 2 page ad for it.
Howard Johnson Hotels Sonic Promo Page You'll remember a HoJo promo item from Events1...well here's an ad to go with it. This full page as has a try at having Sonic 'race out of' a Sonic shaped cartoon hole in a hotel. Why? For the "Kids go HoJo" promotion. It was an effort to get kids to convince parents to stay at Howard Johnson hotels for vacation. If you did, you would get free Game Gear rentals that came with Sonic games to play. There were also "prize packs" with "comics & toys" of Sonic in them. You could also earn points toward coupons for money off of more Gamegear games with enough stays/nights/etc. The headline here is "Guess Who's Spending The Summer at Howard Johnson?" It was a creative idea for a promotion, but the items from it are not easy to come by. Scan by:
Jazwares ToyShow Wall Display This is likely a wall of a booth at a toy show or toy fair. Jazwares is displaying a good portion of their 2013 line figures. As you can see, they make it "store like" by having rows of pegs and then hanging 1 of each figure from the peg so people can inspect it. You can see here their Riders figures, & their modern Figures & Accessories along with some of the 5 inch scale ones. It's nice to be able to get a look inside a toy fair event like this. Photo discovered by Ultimate Hedgehog
CES 1994 Booth Sonic 3 Theme This is a photo from CES (that's Consumer Electronic Show) of 1994. Since Sonic 3 was Sega's star that year, their booth appears to be Sonic themed. There is a panel in the ceiling, loads of consoles & TVs to play Sonic 3 on & the stands/arcitecture of the booth all appear to be themed after Sonic 3-like elements. The entrance to their area also had a big Sonic fiberglass statue, which can be seen on Gear's Sonic Statues section.
Toys R Us Sonic Statue Toys R Us Tails Statue
These statues make this particular Toys R Us video game area into a bit of a "Sonic place". The statues (They're fiberglass) already appear over on "Sonic Statues", so this is meant to be an example of how they are actually used / used to be used. They're generally placed up high, to avoid vandalism or accidental breaking. Sometimes as a window-dressing, but here, they're on top of merchandise cases. Notice the merchandise too, that's a Samsung Galaxy item in there, these photos are modern (2014+) not old like the statues (1990s) The statues look ok from below, the Sonic is nice & classic (though his mouth is big) & the Tails is...still not the best, with enormous lower-face, black eye-edge-rings, & uncolored sock-bands. These guys are a sight to see, still in use after all these years! (and in great condition too!)
Office Wall at Sega Here is a hall wall in a Sega office some where. It's supposedly in the USA. A really big mural of SA1 Sonic has been painted all over the entire wall. However, it is so big, most of him is off the edges at the floor/ceiling, making it somewhat abstracted. There's a light up Sega logo sign near the door. The door is somewhat difficult to see due to the pattern on the wall. This is certainly a Sonic place!
Super Geek Box Sonic Themed Package
Super Geek Box is another one of those monthly subscritpion boxes where it 'surprises' you with a selection of stuff in the mail. This particular box for March 2016 had Sonic as a feature. (So it's a bit of an event?) You could get a keychain plush Sonic, Tails or Pikachu (The same ones at Party City), a fan made crossover poster print of Goku vs Superman (why? It doesn't fit into the theme) Pika Chews (candy) & either a regular or gold foil ink "Hoard of the Rings", which is a parody tee featuring a fat Sonic like creature holding up an onion ring from a pile. It's a bit of a 'mixed bag' (literally...) if you don't care about parody & the only official things aren't that well made. Discovered by Juuni
25th Anniversary Cake A cool cake!
This is the cake for "Sega Entertainment" which was made by "Celebrations Cakes". It is, of course, for the 25th Anniversary & is shown here with other items produced for use within the company like a full color printed balloon & a party cone hat.
The cake is the real star of the show, though, because the graphic isn't just some print-out, it's actually styled in cut & colored fondant icing. You can see the stars are layered in, his hand & ear are actually quite raised & the numbers are raised too. This is a lovely job on a real crisp, neat & accurate classic styled cake! Photo by Sega Entertainment
2016 Las Vegas Licensing Expo Sega Booth The 25th Anniversary Celebration was going strong at the 2016 LasVegas Licensing Expo where Sega put up a nice big Sonic booth. A Licensing Expo is where companies go to deal with licensees, advertisers, distributors, merchandisers & more. Their set-up here is very Sonic-centric, with the 25th logo on the big wall at the back (tiled, with GHZ background), mural on one side & character art on the other (right side)
They also appear to be showcasing (in literal show-cases!) old merchandise. You can see an old Genesis in there, some games, a Saturn, and oddly enough what looks pretty much exactly like the Caltoy Tails...but why? To show what NOT to do with a license? It was notoriously bad...The mannequin has on an older tee, the jean jacket & a pair of black Sonic shorts. Their big prsense there is encouraging for future merchandise!