Flock me! It’s Sonic The Hedgehog

Oh I do like a good pun.  Sometimes even bad one will suffice.  Here I have a lovely little Sonic The Hedgehog by Jazwares.  This time though it is a special run one.  As part of Sonic’s 20th Anniversary this special flocked Sonic was made for the San Diego Comic con.  Wooo! Limited!  When I bought this guy, I thought I would have a real issue on my hands….

 

 

That issue was most likely to be, to open, or not to open.  I expected this to be the 6 inch Sonic toy, of which I already have, however it is actually a whopping 10 inches!!  Whoa! That explains the price a bit more actually…

 

The other reason why I had an issue was, if it was 6 inches, do I open as it’s flocked, but I already have a 6 inch one.  That was solved, as I don’t have a 10 inch Sonic.  The opening problem was also solved, sadly by bad sticky-tape…

 

So, what exactly does “flocked’ mean?  Well in toy terms, it means the toy has been given a form of ‘hair’ of some description.  The easiest ones for me to think of right now are Masters Of the Universe.  Skeletor’s ride, Panthor was a flocked kitty-kat back in the day.  The recent Classics run of Moss-man was also flocked.  So was the vintage Moss-Man.  It adds texture and makes them a bit different to many other toys with the flocking on.

 

 

This larger Sonic has ‘Over 12 points of articulation.’  Which is decidedly less than his smaller 6 inch counterpart.  I would assume that weight and sizing (more specifically strength of parts) became an issue with a toy of this size.  Although 10 inches isn’t that tall, with Sonic, his spikey head makes it quite large. Hence the positioning of his head in the box looking to the side.

 

 

I am pleased to say that I don’t feel the need to crank this baby out of his box at the moment.  It’s basically the same design as the three inch figures, just boosted up to 10.  Articulated ankles and wrists (left/right),  elbows, shoulders knees and hips (swivel and hinge) and a swivel joint on his neck and waist.  A hinge joint on his wrists as well are there too.  He has one hand in a fist and the other giving a thumbs up.  That could be very cool if you could make him look like he is flicking his nose!

 

 

It looks like mine has some slightly dodgy paint work on his tummy, but I think it’s just where some loose bits of his fur have gotten stuck to the paint as it dried.

 

His face looks pretty cool and his smirk is there, although very weak.  Some of the fur has come off and gotten onto his eyes.  See that’s the thing with these flocked toys, they’re awesome and cool, but I am scared the flocking will flock off somewhere…

 

Sorry…

 

Puns aside… That is why I want to leave him in his box. 

 

 

His box has a nice large viewing window.  Handy for me.

 

 

Oooh, what makes him special and his hand and foot.

 

Ok, now mine had bad taping on the top and one side of the box had been pushed in.

 

So I removed the tape, cleaned off the glue and put some nicer tape on.  After fondling his head for a bit though.

 

The effect the flocking has is quite something.  Not only is it a great colour, the texture feels like you would imagine Sonic’s fur to feel.  It isn’t long and flowy, it’s short and tough.  Very nice indeed and I am glad that the top was loose otherwise I might not have felt it. I am also glad I could re-seal it as well.

 

Finally, two shots that manage to show the flocking up quite well.   I have to say I am mighty impressed with this effect.  the flocking works a treat and reminds me of Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast. When you went into first person viewpoint, and made the camera look all the way down, you could look at the character model’s head.  If you looked close enough, there were texture details to them as well, which is the exact sort of feeling (that sounds a bit awkward) that I get from this toy. 

 

For a toy, I feel that the 10 inch size is a bit too large, but as a collectors item and coupled with the flocking it is actually pretty flocking cool!  I do believe that had I just got the normal 10 inch figure, I would be disappointed, but this one makes me feel that it was a worthy acquisition.  I am also quite contented at this size to leave him in his box as well.  Minty fresh!!  To be one day released in my Flocking awesome toy room…

 

Ok, that’s enough of the lame puns.