Certainly, lots of things here on SonicGear are made in China.... However, this is a page of items made FOR China! There are so many people who live there, that it just has to have a fan base for Sonic as well. The way to tell Chinese things apart, is usually by looking at the text. While Japan uses some similar word items (a kanji) China only uses kanji-like word items. These look complicated & are easy to spot in most cases. Also, keep in mind a lot of bootlegs come from China too...but REAL manufacturers aren't afraid to use copyrights, trademark-symbols, and say who the licenseor is. With a little bit of looking you can probably spot even more items. This page will have a mix of older & new items.

Sonic Gear Main * China Sonic Items 2 *

Owned & photos by AskLiliumLily

This is a big beach-size towel for Sonic X. Notice how complicated the Sonic X title looks when it's written in Chinese. The "X" is the same but that whole rest of it is the title. The towel has rings, stars, & colored dots. The tag has the license info, & likely price barcode. To the right, you can see the size of the towel as it hangs from 2 hangers above a collection of Sonic stuff.

Remember the "No Speed Limited" Sonic Adventure 1 type towel from Japan? China got them too, but smaller, and in your choice of 3 different colors: Red, Yellow or Blue. They're about 21 inches long each, so about hand-towel size. Sonic says "No Speed Limited" which is sort of "engrish". You can see the copyright info (its in white) at the top right of the towel, which is from 2002. Owned & photos by AskLiliumLily

Here are 2 towels for Sonic X. They both have the same graphic, but the 'yellow' one is actually more of a beige color. Little Sonic heads decorate the top & bottom. They're about 21 inches long.

The tag has the copyright info. Owned & photos by AskLiliumLily

Here are 2 pairs of Sonic X socks. The first is new with the tag on it (see the little logo) as well as a small sticker. The blue theme is nice, with thumbs-up Sonic. The second pair (same pose as the above towel) has been worn...and washed...and so the blue dye on the threads for Sonic has faded to a strange color! Some dyes fade more easily than others, so keep in mind while washing & wearing.

These are "Sonic Project" items (you'll recognize that from quite a few other X items) licensed by "MM" which stands for "Mighty Media" who also did some of the towels. These are adult sizes, between 5 - 9 , so anyone can use them.

Here are 2 Sonic school supplies. At left is a soft-sides insulated lunch bag, & at right is a rolling backpack. They both have a Sonic X theme, & seem to be good quality plastic/canvas. The 3 lines on the side are for name/ personalization in case it gets lost.

The art used for the rolling pack is rather cute, as Sonic looks somewhat confused. It's a rare shot of him from the show. Notice the logo in Chinese...quite complicated/distinct from the JP one. Lots of things seem to be made in China, but these were made FOR China, so they're interesting to see. Photos & owned by AskLiliumLily.

Here are 2 old Sonic plushes from the company "News Power". This company is in China, but then also (Seems to) have only sold their stuff there as well. These are older 90s era plushes from when it wasn't recognized how Sonic's spikes went, so everyone was just doing the 3 rows of felt strips right in the middle. (Like Caltoy & etc in the USA too) It apparently came in 2 sizes big, and medium (inset). The dolls DO have the right amount of fingers, the one in the photo is missing his string (you can see the hole/missing bit in the original) and they both have shoe buckles. (America classic ones skipped those) So, while the head is overly round & the spikes are wrong, this plush is more a product of it's era. Photos discovered by Pichu97

Here are 2 more (different) News Power plushes. These are supposed to have appeared around the time of Sonic Adventure 1. However, as you can see, they weren't updated to reflect the look, as the eyes are all black without the added color. (Sonic's body is actually normal sized, it's at a bad angle in the photo making it look tiny/wrong) The Tails is better, with glossy shoe fabric, obvious glove/sock bands & ok proportions. These may have even been advertised as "SA1 Dolls" but without the eye detail they miss the mark. It's hard to clear up much regarding these, as they were a within-China release for fans there. Photos discovered by Pichu97

News Power seems to be the 'kelly toy' of China: they make a batch of dolls, but they're not really good at it at all. These 2 are older classic era plushes. The first is 'stick up suction cups' (seen there on his hands) but his spikes are all just some flat jagged felts that don't look good. The other is their small size stick up, but with the suction cup on a string loop on his head. It looks worse, with wrong size eyes, tiny ears & a poorly shaped head. Discovered by Pichu97/Charlie

News Power did make a Knuckles, though he doesn't seem as common. He's classic, but the body shape isn't that great, it's more square with a thick waist. The fists are a little small, but the head shape & face seem ok. Notice his feet though: the fabric is cracked/flaking. It was made from that "leathery feel" light-weigh fabric that has some plastic-ish coating. Clearly, they didn't use a high quality version of the stuff and it's gone bad over the years. *It's not like the flaking effect is isolated to 'cheap dolls' only, setting something in the sun, wetting the fabric or other poor in-home conditions can cause it to degrade so it's important to take good care of your dolls---but keep in mind that sometimes they can go bad no-matter what care you take. Photo by Pichu97/Charlie

This is News Power's largest Sonic doll. As you can see, he's no giant, but it is a pretty good size. What's not good though, is their poor treatment of his spikes. This should have been well past the 'flat strips of cheap felt sewed along a center line' era...but it's not. The buckles are also tending toward the tops of his shoes rather than the sides. (The buckles fabric is also just pilly because this is old) His hands are well defined & big, and the face/expression is ok...the look is just knocked down by the flimsy flat flap ears & bad construction for the spikes. Photo by Pichu97/Charlie

After News Power's largest doll comes their smallest Sonic. This small doll seems to suffer some of the common 'small' problems that come with reducing a pattern. It's got a bit of 'big body', where he looks fat, the shoes are somewhat distorted & the details are messy. His legs are too short by a good margin and their old fashion/cheap way of doing the spikes doesn't help him much. You can tell how small it is though, due to the size of that head hang loop (the white string) there on his face. Remember though that News Power is basically trying to be the 'kelly toy' of China back in the 90s when these were made. Photo by Pichu97/Charlie

This messenger bag is by News Power. They don't just make dolls, and this is proof. It was made for Sonic Adventure 1, in China. It has the modern logo sideways down the side & a large graphic of 'wierd walkin' Sonic' on the flap. You can clearly see the copyrights there at the bottom under his hand. The photo is a bit washed out, but you can tell the bag is black & the design was printed on with good vivid color. It probably has a shoulder strap folded behind it somewhere made of the same matieral. Photo discovered by Pichu97/Charlie

Here is a better look at the mid size "suction cups Sonic" from News Power. Notice that this 'suction cups' gimmick plush is different from others because it has the cups on the undersides of the shoes and the backs of the hands. So, unlike most, he faces INWARD from the window, instead of 'looking out the window' when

you stick him up to the glass or mirror. Because he is old, they didn't have a good grasp of exactly what his spikes were, so like some of the early USA plushes, they're 3 sort of wrinkly strips of felt all in 1 line along the back of the head. However, the rest of his details are pretty decent like properly done/placed ears, buckles for his shoes & fairly ok classic type proportions. This is uncommon in the USA/Europe because it was made for China, in China. Photos & Owned by Pichu97/Charlie

News Power is....improving? At some point in the past, they re-did their plush pattern for Classic Sonic. And, unlike other companies they really did make real strides in improving him. The eyes are properly sized/right way, the shoes are large enough, hands are fine/normal & the face has better shaping. The nose is still a bit too large & they never did bother attaching the socks or glove cuffs (too bad...but Caltoy never did this either, so it's a common but official error) The strangest error is that the arm fabric doesn't match the rest. This would actually increase costs rather than reducing them, because it adds another fabric that they'd have to buy for literally no reason....it only serves to make him LESS good/accurate. So, this mistake is mysterious to see. However, any improvement is always a positive thing for fans in the distribution area. Photo & owned by Pichu97/Charlie

News Power created a pattern based on those 'big shoe' Sonic dolls that had really massive but fat feet. They tried this right at/before Sonic Adventure, and tried to brand him as such, even though that would have required green eyes. (notice he is a darker blue like SA, not lighter like classic)

Above: Plasti-coated fabric can crackle and flake off with age or light exposure.

Like the 'big shoe' dolls, they also used a type of plasticoat fabric to make the shoes shiny/fancy looking....however because the material wasn't 100% quality at the start, it didn't age well. The crackling you see at the top occurs whether the doll is stored properly or not. Sometimes conditions can trigger it early but it depends on the quality of the fabric the company chose most of all. At left, you can see a fan fix for the problem. The coating was scraped off & red fabric paint was used to re-color the now all-white shoes. Since it wasn't 'puffy paint', but rather a matte non-plastic based paint, the doll shouldn't have the same problem to re-occur in the future. Photos & fan-fix by Pichu97/Charlie

This is the full turn-around for News Powers' smallest Sonic plush. He isn't great...but he's not super awful, considering his early release time. This seems likely that he was from the time when no company really 'got' the layout of Sonic's spikes so they used odd solutions like

flat clustered felts, strips, and odd amounts of spikes. This one seems a bit messier than usual, though. All the fabric no-matter the color has the same 'carnival prize' type texture. He has proportions fairly typical of the time, but his face is a little long horizontally? It leaves the 'non-display side' a little odd looking, especially with the back of head-only type of spikes. Small dolls like this generally have a hang-loop, and this one is no exception. Photos & fan-fix by Pichu97/Charlie

Onward to China Items Page 2