Sonic the Hedgehog Costume Characters in the USA

Sonic Gear Main Merch Menu * USA Costumes 1 *

At events, seeing costume characters is often part of the fun! Here, Sonic & friends costume characters / mascot suits are on display. This page is for more modern designs / modern events. The first page has classic type suits at older events. These mascot suits are large, carefully sculpted & often really neat to see. There aren't as many Sega related events in the USA, so costume sightings aren't as frequent (and don't seem to have the variety) that Japan does. But if there's a mascot you want to see, you might find it here!

These mascot suits appeared at E3 2009, which was held in Los Angeles Convention Center. They were there to promote Sonic & Mario at the Olympic Winter Games game for the Wii. Both the suits are of an unusually good quality. Sonic & Mario are both really proportional (though it appears something's gone a bit wrong with Mario's fingers) and Sonic actually looks pretty cool and not mutated. The surface isn't overly fuzzy, appearing more like a crush-velvet fabric, which creates an even enough tone that's not super shiny or inappropriate. If you want to see these in action a video should appear with this link: Mascot Suit Winter Games. The banners are also a good backdrop, full of action and excitement for the game. This is def. one of the better suits to appear in the USA! Photo & info by Surferbrg.

Well, someone had to do it. You knew it couldn't be long until a mascot suit of "Werehog" Sonic showed up from Sonic Unleahed on the Wii. Well, here it is, in all of it's somewhat black/white looking spectacle. Whether or not you agree with the concept, it seems here to stay. The suit is actually really decent (for such a thing) with well made big rubber monster hands, wierd arms, tufty fur and curling ears. It looks vaguely menacing...but the guy in the background was left in

on purpose, as he looks to be trying (and failing) at stifleing a laugh at it. The TV in the background has the game's logo, and the big pannel to the right is an actual background to the game being used as a back-drop. Photo by: Das Gamer, taken at: E3 2008

This is the mascot suit Sonic that Sega chose for the E3 2011 event. Here you can see it near their booth, near Sega people, and near the special Green Hill Zone themed 20th Anniversary cake. The cake is fun, complete with classic checkering

and loop. Stars and palms make nice decorations, and the waterfall is a good touch. But why does the Sonic figure on the cake look so strange? It seems a bit off-model. With Generations announcements and the 20th Anniversary, this 2011 E3 was a great event. Photos by PiplupFan77

To promote Sonic Riders...they did the closest thing they could find. They shoved a mascot suit onto this strange hover craft disk! It creates an effect that is absolutely nothing like the game. In fact, this would just look like a Sonic costume at some amusement place, if not for the "Sonic Riders" stickers applied to the sides. These hover-craft disks can be ridden around on smooth floors at some amusement areas. It must be difficult to ride one while also being a mascot. Still, this is interesting to see.

This is a promotional shot for the next Sonic All Stars Racing game "Transformed" (with just that extra word on the end of the title. It features vehicles that change into other types to help you race. The car has been given a makeover to help promote the game, with the logo on the hood, and nice blue color. The mascot suit here is standing with Dannica Patrick, a car racing person. Why? Her car will be play-able in the game due to some kind of cross promotion by Sega.

Here's the mascot Sonic that appeared at E3 2012, is it the same as the one above? Quite possibly. It looks good here, with proper big hands & well done head. (though a sleeve went a bit awry) The shoes are nice & shiny & the texture of the body looks good too. A great suit for the USA! (quite an improvement from older suits, certainly!) Photo discovered by SurferBRG

Remember that wierd hybrid wind powered / inflatable mascot suit / decorative item from Suits 1? Well, here's another...but better one. Much like a 'wind ornament' that you find advertising stores, where a fan powers an air filled item giving it a 3D shape...this costume does the same thing. It keeps its shape via air instead of foam or sculpting.

This means its cooler inside, lighter, & can bend all around. The body style/head style of Sonic looks classic, but the eyes are green. Is it official? You can see it at: The Costume Specialists , who also make suits for other companies. Photo discovered by SurferBRG

At E3 2012, something strange happened. A Sonic Mascot suit found the Alien Queen. She's either a statue, or also a suit. Still, it's kind of wierd to get these 2 very different characters in one shot, especially with the Sonic gesturing something toward the queen. Why is the queen there? The game Aliens: Colonial Marines was also being shown off at the convention, so it makes sense for the Alien to be at/near the Sega booth since they made both. Photo & info discovered by Goclone999

Here's an early US mascot suit that you might have seen in a few places. It was in the parade of Jingle All The Way the movie and in at least 1 Toys R Us ad. If it was in a TRU ad, it was probably also used at store openings too, so it would have been seen by many. But what do you notice about it...is that it's not very good. The head is listed as 'resin', so it would be heavy to use and large to store. The eyes are distorted, the black part isn't an oval, and the 'shine dot' is in the wrong place as well as being unevenly applied. The body portion is fat, and has a distortion on the right bottom area possibly from uneven sewing. It is an early suit, so you can see the back here subscribing to the 'the spikes are 2-d, like felt strips' because it was probably made before Sonic 2 showed the back of their heads. It seems highly likely that the suit is a 1-off, produced by a mascot company for Sega and then seen in a few scenes/ads before they had something else made that was more on model for the character.

What happens to old mascot suits? Sometimes (like with Disney) they get destroyed. Other times, they are warehoused, which was the case with this one until....In this case, it was actually sold to a Sonic collector! Photo & suit owned by SurferBRG