Sonic the Hedgehog Fan Events

USA Sonic the hedgehog places title card

USA Sonic Fan Events or Places 2

Sometimes Sonic Fan Events turn normal places into Sonic Places.
There are some good examples of both here, so if you couldn't make it to a cool event, or to see a Sonic place, check out the photos and descriptions here--reported by Sonic fans! (most of the time)

Here are 2 play areas from Sega's booth at E3. The one on the left is for the Ipad version of Sonic Sega All Stars Racing.

You can see the pads tethered to the consoles, and the screens above will show what the player is playing, to any audience. At right, you can see the Sonic Generations play testing area for the 3DS (it's there on the stand and the larger screen above (on pole) probably shows the footage. Notice the level graphics printed on the booth wall, and large Sonic banner in the background. The clear domes are likely a type of focus speaker. Photos by SEGA.

This is a shot of the front of the booth. E3 visitors are greeted by 3 big Sonic statues (a second classic statue is at ground level) It has a large Generations logo, and you can see a bit about how it's set up/get an idea of the layout. The booth had lots of great demo areas, and gave away various swag items including a shirt, a pair of Generations pins, and the "Sonic Spikes" cosplay hat which was also the USA pre order bonus for either version of Sonic Colors. All items given out except the hat appear to be exclusives to E3. Mascot Sonic suits also appeared. All items can be seen around the site in various categories. Photos by SEGA.

The curved exterior of the booth features a Sonic timeline of games. The main sellers are highlighted in color, with corresponding release year. In the grayed, tiled background are various other Sonic game covers. By following the booth edge, you can see a history of Sonic games, which is appropriate for the Generations intro theme of the E3 booth in 2011. Photos by SEGA.

The balcony / upper walkway area had a glass rail. The Sonic Boom event took advantage of that with these cool clings. You can see the "Sonic Boom" event's elusive logo, the 20th Anniversary logo & a Generations pannel. At the end of the event, fans got a hold of these.

Here is a nice black area they set up for taking photos. It has cool character cut outs on the background, so your picture can turn out extra cool. At right you can see a Sonic fan in a Sonic shirt & cap, and at left is someone cosplaying as Charmy Bee. Photos by SonicToast.

The Sonic Boom event provided blue iced cupcakes (apparently in chocolate & vanilla) to guests. Why is the light strange? It's event lighting, and not photo lighting. Plus, the cupcakes were not meant to be an attraction, merely an accessory. However, they are great and interesting to look at! Photo by SonicToast.

This is some sort of 'speed painting' done on-site at E3 during the event, and then presented to Sega as a gift. A speed painting is an appropriate thing for Sonic, and it was likely accomplished by a pro speed-paint artist. Photo by SonicToast.

Here's an additional crowd shot where you can see the Mascot Suit, presenters, movie screen

....and that the crowd is practically a sea of Sonic spikes hats worn by fans. Photo by SonicToast.

More reasons to take photos? Why not! This is a cardboard stand-up where Sonic's face is cut out. You can look through it to have your face on Sonic for a photo opp. Here, a fan puts it to use. Photo by SonicToast.

When fully stocked, this is what the Generations pins they gave away looked like. A stack of swag! You can see the pins up close on USA Pins / Keychains.

Look at this clever detail. They added realistic graphics of Sonic's gold rings to the ground in a sort of path. The path led (of course) to the Sonic Boom event room. (The guy on his phone is going to miss one!) Marketing ideas like this are fun and clever to see. Photo by SonicToast

Ring stickers on the ground made a path to Club Nokia.

Before entering, guests walked down a blue carpet where they got their pictures taken in front of a Hollywood-esc Sonic background.

Large pictures of Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Robotnik and Shadow hung on the walls inside the club.

Many XBOX 360 and PlayStation 3 stations were set up where guests could play Classic and Modern Green Hill Zone stages from Sonic Generations.

A Time Trial competition for Sonic Generations was held and hosted by Brad from The Sonic Stadium website.

Food and drinks were available to purchase. Drinks came with Classic Sonic and Modern Sonic coasters. Blue Cupcakes were free.

A digital photo station was there to allow guests to take four pictures which they can then email to themselves with Sonic borders.

Guests were able to tweet messages on their cell phones to the SEGA E3 Twitter account and their messages would appear on the large screen on stage.

A Photo station where guests could stick their face in place of either modern Sonic or classic Sonic.

Guests could be interviewed about their favorite Sonic memories and what they thought of Sonic Boom. The interviews were taped.

All photos & info in this area provided by:

SonicToast

The on stage events were:

Welcoming from Aaron Webber, introducing Takashi Iizuka and Hiroshi Miyamoto and announcing Crush 40.
Crush 40 and Alex Makhlouf from Cash Cash played Sonic themes from the past games.
Needlemouse the musical (Winner of the 19th Anniversary video contest) was performed live.
A costume contest.
A giant Green Hill Zone themed birthday cake was presented on stage along with many prominent contributors to the Sonic franchise such as Yuji Naka, Naoto Oshima and Sonic himself. Everyone sang happy birthday to Sonic. Sonic danced on stage.
A painting of modern and classic Sonic done on the spot was presented to SEGA as a gift.
The audience was recorded shouting "Happy Birthday Sonic!" which will be featured in Sonic Generations
Svend and Adam (Dreadknux and T-Bird) from the Sonic Stadium website announced Summer of Sonic and invited all to join them at the event in England.
Takashi Iizuka told fans to raise their expectations.

Official Swag List of items given away:

Sonic Hats (the same ones that came with "Sonic Colors")
20th Anniversary T-Shirt
Sonic Generations Pin sets
Modern and Classic Sonic drink coasters
Blue frosted cupcakes
Not official SWAG, but many fans stole the giant stickers off the balcony when the event was over.

These are scenes from the Sonic place / event Sega Pop Up Arcade. In a building not far from San Diego Comic Con 2011, Sega set up shop with Sonic ring decorations, window cling and plenty of consoles to play Sonic Generations on. Outside (seen at left) is a 'booth girl' type

drawing in fans and handing out cards of some kind which likely advertise the event. The black screen above was caused by an over-heated console due to the crowds of fans playing it all the time. Also on display were several glass enclosed metal boxes of Sonic merchandise, both new and old. You'll recognize a lot of it from around SonicGear. (Puzzle can, Caltoy Sonic, Time 2 B Cool watch, etc) But other things don't have an entry/are yet unknown! What can you spot?

All PopUp Arcade photos in this section by attendee RaeLogan

See the Jazwares Classic mini figures? This was likely their first appearance. What promotion for Sonic did Twizzlers have? What is that Flicky can-shaped item?

You can recognize the snuggy throw, lunch box, inflatable chair, fanny pack, and very old pasta can right away. There's also a framed Archie issue, bobble head, and some JW Racers. But what's that Amy & snowy tree item? The Sonic X skateboard is cool, but where was it ever sold? Merchandise displays are always entertaining to see what Sega has chosen.

How do you make a playground even more fun? Why...add a Sonic theme, naturally! Sega clearly had something cheritable to do with this particular playground. The fun things seen below at right (swings, slides, bridges, etc) are backed by a custom Sonic theme mural which you can see being painted by Sonic head cap wearing helpers.

Isn't it interesting how the curly hanging bars look sort of like yellow rings. When the ribbon was cut at the opening ceremony, you can see a mascot suit attending. This is in East Oakland California, & was completed in 1 day. Sega cooperated with Youth UpRising & KaBoom to give back to the community. What a great idea! You can read more & see more photos of this at Sega Blog. Photos by: Sega.

Macys New 2011 Sonic Parade Float Balloon

Get ready for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to be a fan event again!
Just look at this sneak preview photo of the Sonic balloon parade float--it looks great! As you remember (and can see on Gear) they had a classic balloon float but it fell into disuse after a while. This new one is excellent though (quite a feat to make some huge thing like that, which is not off-model) It looks like a big action figure, not an odd wrinkly balloon. So keep your eye on the parade this holiday season 2011 to be sure to see it! It is great to see Sonic is going to be going along the parade route again. You could hear SonicColors music playing if you listened carefully! Photo discovered by SonicHedgehog11

Here are some cool photos from the actual parade day! Look at the crowd watching Sonic go by on the right. The left photo shows his detail a little closer, along with how many strings it takes to keep him controlled. This is a great and on model balloon, that impressed everyone who saw it. Photos discovered by Surferbrg

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