Japan Sonic the Hedgehog Pins Patches & Buttons 2

Japanese Sonic the Hedgehog pins, patches and buttons. There has been a great, and mostly quite cute, selection of little metal and enamel pins and embroidered patches for clothing. Sometimes the pins were produced individually, but mostly they came in collections or sets, sometimes boxed. The patches are highly collectible. There are special clear plastic "Patch Organizers" which have many pockets and can be placed on your wall for display.

Sonic Gear Main Page * Japan Pins Patches 1 * Japan Pins Patches 3 *

Here is a pair of pins that were sold/given away together. They are uncommon enamel & metal pins. Sonic is shown with a soccer football, and Japanese styled classic Tails is standing in front of a flag. But which country has that flag? Is it Ethiopia? (color looks a bit off, is it red/yellow/green or orange/yellow/green?) It could be that the pin faded or yellowed over time. This was apparently released with Sonic Spinball in Japan. It could have been a bonus or pre-order item. It was clearly shown in a commercial.

Ethiopia is a country in Africa that has a lot of problems for a long time. It is highly unlikely that they made any sort of pin due to the struggle of the country.So why would Japan make an Ethiopia flag pin for itself? This makes the mystery even more strange. Ethiopia flag data by: Encas

You can see the pins being advertised at about 2:58 in this commercial video compilation: Japanese Sonic Game Ads, at youtube. Commercial info by: AskLiliumLily

This is the ONLY known classic metal Super Sonic pin. It's a silvertone metal & enamel pin. It uses one of the few classic arts of actual Super Sonic, & as you can see here was actually (interestingly enough) made by Sony Products, but produced for Sega. Note the "Segasonic" header on its plastic card. In 2013, someone tried to sell it on ebay for 541 dollars, but FAILED when they wanted even MORE money for it than was offered! It's an outrageously pricey pin.

This super cute sitting Tails pin is QUITE uncommon. The pose itself is extremely seldom used, despite how fun it is. The rare pose & cute art combine to make this a sought-after pin. Its' an enamel covered overlay on goldtone metal. The goldtone itself is also not nearly as common as silvertone, which helps make it unusual. It would look great 'perched' on the edge of a pocket, as Tails is waving hello. If you can even find this, expect high prices.

Metal Soccer Football Red Big Pin Button

Here is a metal pin button that's fairly large. It's likely over or about 2 inches across & made of a thin sheet of metal curved at the edge so it's not sharp. It looks like it's been stained red/black with metal-compatible ink to create the design. It's designed like a soccer football with red & black pentagon pattern. In the central black pannel is the "Just the eyes & nose" Sonic design that was really popular for a while on merchandise in Japan. Here, the pin is still new in its package. This could have been a give-away or a UFO type prize because the package is plain/not really for display looking. @JapanAnimePosters on Instagram

This pin pack needs more information.
This is a simple carded package of 3 of the same gold-tone round metal pin. It has a star-ring edge & Sonic's face on the front. The confusing part is why the package is labeled "Segasonic & NiGHTS" NiGHTS came out quite "late" in terms of when the 'segasonic' branding was dropped. Then, what do the pins actually have to do with NiGHTS? Aside from the packaging, there seems to be no relation? And why 3 of the same pin? The back looks like it has info, but it's all in Japanese. Write in for credit if you know any details. discovered by @JapanAnimePosters on Instagram.

Pins? Probably.
Here are some silver-tone (likely steel or aluminum) flat metal items with raised details. These are from Wonder Fest in Japan in 2017. These are likely booth prizes of some sort, or some kind of convention exclusive. Texture & raised surfaces are used here to show the details of the design. There are 2 emblems from either an anime or a video game (wing knight skull, unicorn face with hair) and also SA1's "Circle Sonic" where he was walking with his hands in odd/twisted positions that you don't commonly see. What are these actually, and how were they obtained? Photo discovered by Taaron.

Here is a set of 3 pin badges for Sonic Heroes. It's called the "Team Sonic Can Badge Set". (Why 'can'?) Each pin has the Japanese Heroes logo on it & a CG of the character. There's a Tails, Sonic & Knuckles one.
These were a limited-quantity bonus item for the game, part of a bonus called the "Heroes Pack" which also has 3 bags (also seen on SonicGear) which use the sihlouettes of these poses for their design. Because they're limited, they're also uncommon. Photo & owned by: Jalen Castillo

Here is a set of Event Pin Buttons.
These are from Sega FES in 2018. FES is a video games type convention / company event where there are booths to try games, panels, news announcements, new products announcements and more. And, of course, there is also 'event swag' which includes give-aways like pin-buttons often are.
These are from the 2018 year of it, which has Sonic in a running pose. FES seems to use the same 'splat/star' shape & bright colors every year, but changes Sonic's pose each time. The middle button is probably a constant, as that blobby thing may be FES mascot? What's it supposed to be? Sonic dressed as a waiter implies it's a food, but a monocle/hat wearing...what? A crepe? Why is it beige? Why would a tech show choose that blob? Blob or not, this is a nice set of pins to see. Photo & owned by Carlo

There once was a Japanese Sonic merchandise site.
It is now defunct, and has been gone for years, however...sometimes photos from it will turn up from time to time. When they do appear, Gear tends to get them, as a way to preserve what the person did. This is one of those pictures, and it's all the larger the photo is.
At the top, you can see 4 pin buttons that are probably a set. The smaller one below it may be enamel, or badge-button style. (you can't really tell) The bottom 2 items...well there's no much a way to know what those are either, but they probably have nothing to do with the pins.

The Sega logo/co-branded one might be a post card or possibly a flyer to an event. The yellow background could be a large sticker or a notebook. Photo by HikariSite

These are pin buttons from the Sega Online 2019 Summer campaign. It was where you would send them 500 yen, and a prize from the prize-pool would be sent to you in the mail. The pool consisted of these 8 pins, 6 keychains, 2 bags with ribbon handles & post card sets.
They are all made from the same water-colors textured art that had characters doing summer themed things. The art is broken down/separated for the items, and here, the pins use whole chaos, or character portraits.

The complete art scene can be seen here on Gear larger (so you can inspect it) at Sonic Cards Japan.

Here are 6 classic pin buttons that could only be aquired at Tokyo Joypolis.
They are all the same size & round. Were they a set, or individual to get? That's unknown. But here you can see a Sonic portrait green on magenta that's...poorly contrasting. Sonic line art with an arrow that says something, but you can't read it because the photo is too small. A plain 'sega' logo button, another Sonic line art portrait with "Segasonic the hedgehog" written under it, a less-common forward punch/leap Sonic in a concentric circles background,

and a more traditional shaded art with "Segasonic the Hedgehog" around the border. It's likely these were all get-able at the same time, and are thus all early works.

What a cheerful looking metal and enamel pin.
This pin is a chipper looking forward-facing Sonic face over the Sega logo. It is most fortunately mint on the card which helps to date it, as it uses the very old Segasonic branding there at the top. And that's what makes it unusual.
Remember: back in that era nobody else could figure out what Sonic looked like facing completely forward, but this pin does an actually amazing job of it. It's almost like modern Sonic where he looks completely cool/normal faced this way unlike the absolute mountains of 'bizzarre triangle head' you had coming out of the UK and others. With the way the eyes are positioned and the smile, he looks very cute, genuine and cheerful.
This is a great pin with quite excellent art from the 1990s. A fun find!

Here is a nice individual shot of the "Motocross Sonic" metal enamel pin.
This is an uncommon Japanese pin from some point in the mid 1990s. It's uncommon enough that the photo you'll generally find with it in there is of a whole slew of pins on a pinboard where it's hard to see. This factory photo gives it the nice spotlight it needs. It's a modified stock art (as was the usual for themes at this time) of 'looking back' cartoony-style Sonic (tall eyes, tall pupils, narrow upper eye-divider) in a green motocross jacket, no pants, and no visible gloves. He has his bike in 'front' of him, (so the back of this pin' and the hands are meant to be positioned hidden/holding onto it. The bike is red with orange handle bars. This quite-different pose and the added bike makes it a pin of good/unusual composition. Certainly, there's not going to be a similar pin. Nice to see!

Thunderbox is a Japanese fashion clothing brand.
It seems in 2019 at some point, they did a collab with classic Sonic. This produced several shirts, shorts and a few hats. (All of which can be seen on Gear Accessories and Gear Clothing) however, they also did 2 little metal and enamel pins. Here, you can see them mint on their card/factory photo. The game boxes show you about how big they are.
You could get running stock Sonic where he's in profile, or the neoclassic art of fleeing Eggman where he is running with arms out dramatically. Notice that the Eggman pin is a good bit larger than the Sonic one, maybe they were going for a bit of scale? Either way, it's a good move. Both pins are quality and look nice, every detail is present & the colors are nice and bright. These are a good addition to their Sonic collab line.

Here is a metal and enamel pin that shows Sonic skiing.
However, it isn't the usual fare. First of all, he has his ski poles, which suggests it is cross-country ski, instead of the normal sport/flip/trick/downhill or whatever that they usually depict him doing. His shoes have also been changed to big red and somewhat detailed ski boots. The skiis are bright green (perhaps not the best choice with the red boots, but) & the poles are just metal. This pin style has the 'sunken enamel', where the lines for the art are raised, and the enamel is in the shallow areas.
It also has a bit of an error, where the belly dot isn't a 'dot', it kind of just goes up to the face. Old pins like this (especially early ones) could have a single mistake in the art as this one does & still be official. It likely happened when a stock art was changed to form the ski art.

Here are 5 'emoji style' cute/chibi type character pin buttons.
These are 'mini button pins', where they're smaller than normal but the same round shape with rounded edges. Each pin has one character and a square/tile background with the color of that character. You can get Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy & Shadow. Each is shown sitting, faced forward. ST & K all are smiling with their eyes (in this case...pupils..) shut while Amy looks cheerful & Shadow looks a bit bored with his frown.
It's a cute little set to put on small-size buttons, so the art goes with the theme of things contributing to the cuteness. These are likely to be a late 2019 item.

Here are 6 pin badges from Tokyo Joypolis. They are fairly large round pin buttons, each themed for a different character. They have their name around the border & color matched dots for the background. What's interesting about them is that they use some new art & have a bit of a 'sketchy' style. Amy is standing and drifting up hearts, Shadow is pointing, Eggman is in his Egg-o-Matic but has 1 hand out, Tails is flying & gesturing, Sonic is sitting? Ish? & Knuckles is sleeping next to the master emerald. Shadow's pose is most like other arts, but Sonic's is difficult to tell what he is doing. Certainly, this is a different looking set to collect.

For Sega's 60th Anniversary, they produced these 7 small round pixel pins. They are pin-button type, with plain white backgrounds and 1 sprite per pin. You can get running Sonic with blur/feet, running Sonic, running Tails, Flying Tails, Gliding Knuckles, running Knuckles, and running Eggman. Notice how Eggman is the only one facing left for some reason. The copyright is at the bottom of each & the "60 Sega" Anniversary logo is always behind the character. Anything made specifically

for this anniversary that occurs in 2020 will have this logo with the large number & small word in the Sega font. Do note that the nature of the font's numbers-set makes it look kind of like the word 'go' instead of 60.