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While the UK area was big on many Sonic things, plushes wasn't really one of them, for some reason. Yes, plushes were produced there, but not in the amount that the USA or Japan did. Since it is somewhat close to the rest of Europe, you could sometimes find these in other countries of the area.
As you can see, the quality never really suffered with plushes (as it did in the USA sometimes) however, they never really knocked any socks off or got super creative or cute like Japan did. The UK is still continuing to occaisonally turn out Sonic plushes in the current time. |
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Sonic Gear Main
UK Merchandise |
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What is this strange line-up?
It is a show of the various sizes of new Sonic plushes that have been made in the UK near the fall of 2007. As you see here, they vary from big to tiny, with nearly every size in between!
This photo is from Sonic Team's "Sega Channel" area. (they cover news around the world--but only publish it to Japan)
Interestingly, the quality is just all-right. The noses are a bit snouty, and they look like they have fill/stuffing problems with the wiggly arms and bent up quills. They also lack filled ears, which leaves flappy cloth. The eyes seem well sized and placed, but it is curious to see plushes like this at current time (2007) when they've produced better models in earlier years. |
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Just how big is the 'big one' in the above photo?
It's THIS big!
Which is about 70cm or 2ft 3inches
With a real cell phone and measuring tape in the photo, you can see they've really made a fairly big one. There is a still-larger one at around 3 feet high, but it suffers the same design problems as these. How can you collect it? Try Ebay.co.uk, or possibly stores (?) in the UK somewhere.
Size specifics & UK locator info thanks to Link.
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This pair of plushes looks especially soft.
The Sonic is probably from 1992, making it one of the earliest plushes available to collect. Tails is likely from 1993. Both use a very soft looking fuzzy cloth for the body, and have small hands. Tails has stuffed 'dreadlocks' type of thing for his hair. The Sonic is about average (great for such an early piece) however Tails has a fattish face and rather large body, due to the makers trying to stuff every detail of him. Photo credit to OrangeUnicorn 1984. |
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It's retro-style in 2008 with these plushes from GAME.
With their old-skool looks and 'classic' type tags, these plushes are trying to be a blast from Sonic's past. With plain black eyes and big bodies, these look like something out of the 1990s on purpose. Sonic is decent once again, but his body is a bit 'fat' looking. The cloth looks to be a soft, nice quality, and they bothered to sculpt on his 'eyebrow ridge' area. The Tails is qiute close to being cute. The 'tall' pupils with double 'shine' spots make it just that little bit off model.
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The centered smily mouth and little nose are a great touch. In all, this is one of THE best Tails plushes produced outside of Japan. The tags are very classic, and say "Collect Them All" meaning that they'll release the Eggman and Knuckles at some point. Do you want these plushes for yourself? Good news in 2008 Winter, you can have them! The store GAME in the UK (Likely: England) is selling these, so if you're not there, it's time to contact a pen-pal.
The standing photo of their Sonic makes him not look quite so fat. However, it appears his nose is somewhat fuzzy. Standing photo by Rathe. |
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With these side and back views of the Sonic plush, you can really tell how his spikes go. In trying for the classic style they've got what looks like just 2 on one side, but the 3rd is visible from the middle (in trying to complete a profile with 3 on his head and one on his back) The tail here is clearly defined, unlike some other dolls, as well as all his spikes being stuffed, and not just felt pieces. Side and Back photos provided by: Mariobro27 |
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| GAME is a retail store (physical) in the UK which sells video game related merchandise like shirts, plushes etc. for several popular games, including Sonic. You have to go there in order to buy their items, or get a pen pal to do so for you. |
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Here's Knuckles in his box, so you can see that the box is the same for all the plushes, and has some nicely chosen oldskool stock art and checker patterns to go along with it. |
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| With these detailed photos, you can get a good look at the GAME Tails plush! Despite a bit of 'big body' this is still a really nice one. The classic look serves the plush well, and they've got all the details including glove and sock bands, the uneven white tips to his tails and a felt piece for his bangs. The clor is appropriate and he looks soft. This classic series really looks like something to be collected. All above GAME plush photos (in section) by Mariobro27 |
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Here's a little Shadow plush. This was done by the SONIC Project, which as you know, does some things in the USA as well. Unfortunately, this Shadow isn't their best wrok. The body is way way too small for it, the arms are actually longer than the legs, and the wrist cuff actually *fell off* once the doll was aquired. He's made of felt and jersey material, so it's not a touchable soft-quality. The botttoms of the shoes are clearly decals, but they aren't even as detailed as the UFO version above. This was aquired at an anime convention in London, but it's possible it could be aquired elsewhere.
Photo by: OrangeUnicorn1984 |
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This is a set of plushes that you could win out of an arcade in Bournemouth England in 2007-2008. The machine there is extra fun because you put in 2 Pounds, BUT you keep going until you win something! Who could resist getting the whole set, with a setup like that! |
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| These aren't very big, only 5-6 inches high each. The eyes are embroidered on, and the fabric is smooth (not fuzzy) You can see some felt details like Tails' hair, and glove cuffs. However...look at Shadow! He's missing the white spot on his chest. Are they all like that? Out of all the dolls, this one seems to be the worst likeness, with his uneven and small eyes, bent up ears and missing detail. However, they DID detail his shoes very nicely, and used decent material on all of them. Especially for a 'prize item' such as this, a good effort has been made. Produced by GOSH. Photos by: |
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