Jakks Pacific Sonic Small Line Action Figures

Jakks Pacific Small Line Sonic Action Figures 1

Jakks Pacific got the license in 2019, and continues here in 2020.
This page will have their 2020 articulated SMALL figures only. They have both modern and classic license, so any figure that falls in the "Small 2-inch Articulated Action Figures" category will be on this page if it was in 2020 or 2021. Bendy type figures will go onto a separate page. But if it's by Jakks Pacific and it's an action figure, check them out here.
UK NEWS: These & other JP figures CAN be at Smyth's Stores!

Sonic Figures HUB Page * Jakks Pacific Sonic Figures 1 * JP Action Figures 1 *Sonic Gear Main Merchandise Page *
Jakks Pacific Deluxe Figures * Jakks Pacific Bendy Figures * Bendy Figures 2 * Jakks Pacific Small Figures 2 *
JP Small Figures 3 * Jakks Pacific Playsets *

ANOTHER line of figures?
Jakks Pacific seems to be on a real figure spree in the summer/fall of 2020. Un-announced, here comes a 2 inch tiny figure line of simpler, less-costly, action figures. They seem a little smaller than the old Jazwares 2.whatever size line (2.5, 2.75 etc) and have less articulation. You can move the hip, shoulder & neck only, except for Knuckles who probably can't move his head much at all, as is the usual for him.
They look nice on a simple bubble card & good modern CG/photos for the packaging. The card style is not over the top & protects the figure well. It would look good displayed mint on card also, because you can see the sides of the figure/the bubble front is clear on the edges/wide enough & no gimmicks.
The first set has Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Metal Sonic & shockingly a Neutral Chao with 3 fun rings. Nice move! The chao is scaled to the other figures too, so it will look cute on display. Choosing unusual characters who don't often get figures is likely a great move for this tiny line.

The Sonic & Knuckles are good for their size. Sonic's body shape is ok, but slightly square. Knuckles' doesn't really have his correct body shape as it is more rectangular than a 'slightly tapered shape' that he actually has. But, look at the great fists & properly shaped head. He is leaned back a little in the package (see side view) probably to keep the face in an ok position for when people find this on shelves. Knuckles' mouth is a bit too red/almost looks like a lip/lips but it is such a minor thing. (Sonic's is a bit red also but it's waaaay under the face so it's always in shadowed/harder to notice)
The figures should be about 5 dollars each and are confrimed in TARGET (not online though) retail stores so far. If you see these anywhere else at retail, you can write in for credit.

Opinion Zone:
Great! Buy them all. You're not going to go wrong at 5 dollars per figure.
Jakks Pacific is putting their technology to use making head sculpts from the games so it's accurate.
No stupid gimmick packaging means the savings are passed along to you
The size is fine for a 'mini line' & reminiscent of Jazwares
Interesting choices with a bad-guy AND a Chao on the first wave

Here is a look at Line 2 of the Jazwares 2.5 inch line figures. With line 2 appearing in stores at late fall 2020, it is now confirmed that line 1 had a POOR RELEASE. Not all areas got line 1, and they jumped right to line 2 in Target stores (Which is where these are pictured) Line 2 has 'thumbs up Sonic' who is different from Line 1

who was pointing. The Knuckles is the same, except he may be more forward-posed in his box. You can get Eggman, but he is somehow super tiny? Instead of being to scale, he's actively smaller than all of the other characters. The likeness is fine, but it's just little. There is Shadow, and also Super Sonic, who is pointing.
They are well done for 5 dollar figures. They don't seem to suffer over-spray, or have a flimsy appearance. Jakks Pacific is doing a good job here with these--if you can actually get your hands on them for the original 5 dollar price point. Photo by Taaron

Jakks Spheres Classic Figures Sonic Knuckles Tails

Figures...in spheres!
Are they action? It's unknown, but they're new in Summer 2020 from Jakks Pacific. Each clear plastic ball has a classic figure inside. Here, you can see Sonic, Knuckles & Tails to the left & Sonic and RAY to the right. They are likely to be fixed-position figures, with the ball rolling around providing the 'action' part of action-figure.
What's notable here is that it is likely the very first merchandise of Ray the Flying Squirrel! He first appeared in the isometric and uncommon Sonic arcade game, along with Mighty. Then, he was unused until Sonic Mania.
They're not too large, with the ball in a cardboard case that serves as the hang tag for it so it can go on shelves.
Here, they're seen at Books A Million in the USA...but where else are they? BAM stores aren't that common to every state, so they have to have some better plan for releasing these. That they're not in Target (with the rest of JP stuff) may be an effect of the virus wrecking distribution. If they're found elsewhere, this entry will be updated. Photos by Taaron

Now, Metal Sonic is in the sphere!
Jakks Pacific keeps adding classic characters to these odd plastic spheres, so, Metal Sonic must have been next on their list as he is now at Books a Million stores too. Notice the word there below the logo "Booster". But why? What do these boost? They all have the word there. The figure looks ok, but the spheres make them hard to photograph properly in any light, and the BAM pricing makes them difficult to buy at nearly 10 dollars for a tiny item in a clear globe. Photos by Taaron

Gold Chao & Moto Bug Jakks Small Figures

Well, Jakks Pacific seems to just be...not really having exact lines or releases of figures in 2021. They're just seemingly letting out figures modern or classic willy-nilly and hoping they get into stores. Keep in mind most people NEVER got the chao out of line 1, because of the bad release.
Now, here is "Gold Chao" and Moto Bug, both on modern styled cards. Motobug is arguable whether it's modern or not, but really Eggman just kept remaking this badnick so, ok. The so called 'gold' doesn't look that gold though? It looks like a faded blue rather than the metallic gold of the special one in the Sonic Adventure game. Moto Bug looks good though. Hopefully fan photos can appear here as well with them out of the package. Photographed in a Target 2021 by Taaron

Here's the factory photo for the so-called 'gold chao' which is seen above in the fan photo in the store. And...it looks signifigantly more gold? The one in this photo looks like the one from the game, where you hatched it out of the special shiny metallic egg to get this color. The one above just kind of doesn't.
So which is it? Are all of them poorly, or is the gold paint not showing up in the fan photo? If you have bought this and have it loose, you can add a photo for credit here.
*This thing is difficult to find. It's supposed to be a winter 2021 item in Target, but they don't sell it online/at their website so if it isn't in your local store, you can't have it. It seems the distribution on the small figures wasn't as good as everyone was hoping, as some stores never got anything past the 2nd line while others report only ever being able to find the small Sonic figure, regardless of the line that was supposed to be out.

Here at right is the Gold chao but in a more natural lighting. It's somewhere between the 'meh' from Target shelf above, and the quite-gold factory photo at left above. It does look nicely like the game though (Dreamcast's limited graphics/it couldn't be chrome so this shiny-ness is fitting enough)
It also proves JP DOES have metallic paint they can use on their Sonic line so why don't they use it on their Metal Sonics?

More small line figures, releasing just at any time/no rhyme or reason or 'set' to collect from. In spring 2021, you can find classic Sonic with hand out/hand on hip, and modern Tails with both hands open as small size carded figures.
They're seen here in Target, but are they being sold anywhere else yet?
Keep in mind that this is the FIRST time Tails has been on a wave of small line figures, even though Eggman and even Super Sonic have already been out, at least once. This isn't a common move because Tails is certainly more popular (& desireable) than Eggman, but better late than never for him. Photo by Taaron

Silver the Hedgehog joins the Jakks Pacific small line of figures in fall 2021. This will have the 30th anniversary red sticker on there, and his wave is supposed to also have shrug Sonic, modern Knuckles, Shadow (again) and Super Sonic. He has the usual 5 points of articulation that the rest of the line does.

As is the usual for Jakks Pacific, the sculpt is good, and so is the paint. Because they seem to draw on game models, the head is going to look spot-on, and that's the case here. The hands are in an ok pose, and they do have all of his glove and shoe detail. You can see with the top-down photo that his bangs/spikes are also well done. Defenetely pick this one up at Target if you see it!

An interesting development is spotted by a fan...
Here is 3.5 inch line Silver again, but he is in 'bargain style' packaging. This type of package is usually called "seat" or "chair" and is generally used for plushes (as you can see a doll could 'sit' on this like a chair and be corded to it for display) This package leaves the figure open to the air/touch on the front, and uses wire ties and a clear backing to hold it to the package to prevent theft...mostly.
It is, of course, cheaper to do this sort of package than it is the bubble card seen above, and it is smaller in size/you can fit more of it per carton as well. Does this mean figures in this package will be appearing in more stores?
This package type is ideal for if you were going to open the figure for play or display, but it isn't as good for keeping damage away while it is in the toy aisle. The back of the package remains the same photo/description. Photo discovered by:
This type is a 2022 release