It's time for prototypes & mock ups! All the things on this page are Sonic items which are NOT yet released, or are items which were NEVER released. If something doesn't ever get produced, it'll stay here forever, for you to see and read about it. Also included on the page are 'mock ups' which are not real items. They're an illustration created by a company to show what a final item would look like. Sometimes they're Photoshops, others are combination of art and photos. A mock up never becomes real itself...but the item it illustrates is often made.
When any item on this page DOES get made, (and SonicGear gets some kind of retail confirmation/fan photo) it will leave this page and move away onto the page it belongs on.
(EX: a keychain appears here, gets produced, a fan buys it and mails SonicGear--that key chain will then leave this page and show up on the Key Chains page)
Anything that does/is getting made should have release date info near it if it is available, along with the company which should be producing it--to help you find it!
Sonic Prototypes 6 * Sonic Prototypes 7 * Sonic Prototypes 8 * Sonic Prototypes 9 * Sonic Prototypes 10 *
Sonic Prototypes 11 * Sonic Prototypes 12 * Sonic Prototypes 14 * SatAm Sonic Show Proto Page *
This is an actual Jazwares Shadow bendy figure prototype. It seems unlikely at first though because of how relativly un-quality it is. The head shape is somewhat off, the shoes are super blocky, the paint apps aren't great (BUT that's part of a prototype) and they've got that "A white oval thing is his mouth" happening that Toy Island was so fond of---yet was always wrong and always looked bad. So, it's odd to see it here. The inset (bottom right) DOES show that he is marked for Jazwares, and it's a real item they were planning to make.
It's not particularly surprising that they didn't end up making him though, because he's just lack-luster, and Jazwares was active in the times when people were expecting better. Photo by: Luigi The Crab
It's fine that this is a prototype, because it could still use some work. The ears shouldn't be flopping down/looking wilted like that. The head is a tad big, and clearly (because you can't see them) the tails part...of TAILS are too small.
Notice that his shoes are made of some kind of shiny fabric? If it's that 'plasti-leather', and it makes it onto the final doll, fans will have to beware of cracking/crackling of it later on. That type of fabric always seems to not age very well up over 5 years or so. The hands are also a tad small here. It'll be interesting to see how this stacks up to the doll they'll eventually release. Photo by Luigi The Crab
It's a bit of a toss-up though because these are...fairly terrible and actually quite bootleg looking, but they are Jakks Pacific's prototype plush dolls. Very fortunately though, just proto!
The only actual good doll here is the Amy Rose one because she's the only one that's somehow on-model. Tails is horrible with his mutant nose and just awful eyes. Sonic's face is messed up with small eye & 'big body', Knuckles suffers from worse 'big body' and look at those blank eyes! The fists are so tiny too...he's just nasty looking.
Eggman is ok, but the collar is clearly wrong and he seems somehow over-simplified? Super Sonic Stinks! Tiny eye, cruddy little spikes, and yeah he's classic but like, no eye shine dot? Guess not. Mighty is seen on a previous page here on Gear, but he's the same bad looking bib-belly-dot thing in this photo too.
(What's odd is that Amy is decent somehow yet nobody else is--how was that the only one paying attention?) Notice they used special crackle/shiny fabric for her skirt and shoe laces--that could be a cute thing to do for a doll.
It is great for companies to have a rough draft.
Prototypes let them do this, review & change/refine the look before it goes for sale. In this case, it seems it was a really good idea, as they're certainly not ready for primetime. Photo & owned by Luigi The Crab
With this, you can see the prototype (is on the right) and how it compares to the final release doll they actually got into stores. As you can see, they changed the fabric for the shoes (less shiny), they probably used a different (better) material for the bangs, and did something to fix the ears so they stand up better. These are all improvements (original shoe fabric is prone to deterioration)
It's an ok plush...but it's not super perfect, either. His nose is rather big, the ears are small and the head shape isn't quite...right? Or the eyes are still a bit off? You can see the prototype has taller and larger eyes, so those were improved too but there's still something that's not 100% Tails-like about this. It's not perfect, but it is also not terrible either. Photo & owned by Luigi The Crab
Here's another play set for the small line 2 inch figures, and it's the boss of Sonic 2. This whole thing doesn't exist at all, it's just a CG box mock up of what they want it to look like. You can see with the illustrations there that it'll come with some kind of launcher and a 'spinning Sonic' figure so you can launch him at the boss, which will cause some kind of action to happen on it. Maybe it has pop-apart pieces or a breakaway panel to create boss battling action.
If this is done well, it's a good idea! This boss hasn't been represented in toy form yet. Photo discovered by:
Here's what Jakks Pacific's modern 5 inch Eggman figure looks like before it is painted. You can see the various colors of plastic he is cast from. They will generally use the main color of whatever separate body part to cast the plastic so there will be the least amount of paint-apps required to finish it off. (Thus making it sturdier too) Curiously then, his head is done in white, because almost none of the head is white on the finished product.
This unpainted look also helps highlight the textured-on details, which is nice. It is always interesting to see a proto figure like this. Photo discovered by:
The photo was discovered at a trade show maybe 2 years ago or so, and then the coasters never seemed to come out / go for sale anywhere. You can see they're made of some kind of laminated/shiny top hard board substance. They're all to be classic style & the Tails at least, is neoclassic art. If there's him, Knuckles and an Emerald, you know there had to be a Sonic face one planned as well. These were likely to have been sold as a set of some kind. Why didn't they release it?
Well, they wouldn't do a good job against condensation, they're non-absorbant & have no rim...you'd just get a wet tile. The set (if it gets released) will appear on USA Home Goods & this entry will update.
Pez is planning to make Sonic dispensers in either late 2021 or 2022. The famous candy dispensing stick is famous for having various popular character heads on top that flip up to dispense rectangle candies in fruity flavors.
Here, pez gets a classic license and seems to be starting with Sonic, Tails and Knuckles. They plan to release the dispensers both as carded items and in bags (but why 2 types of packaging?) Each will likely come with candy.
Are all of these from Just Toys? (Unknown) Craftables, the blind boxed buildable figures are a JustToys thing, and they clearly get the modern license for Series 3, and use it to release 4 more figures.
Then, there's a "Bubblerz", which is one of those trendy 'bubble wrap' themed rubbery flat things where you can push the raised dots from one side to the other and back. This one is in the shape of a classic Sonic head.
Last is a "Squeeze Foam" classic Sonic head, that will apparently come in a squishable sort of display bag with hang top.
Either way, they release these 2 prototype boxes of what they'd like to see for Sonic Prime figures. There are action figures in a 6 pack set (so, one can assume individuals will also be released) and mini display figures as well. However, the resolution on their photo isn't good enough to be able to
The packaging looks ok, with 'shard like' bubble edges, and nice window/enclosing and die cut for the box. The figures seem like they'll be well enough protected.
The ad for them says it will have Keychains, Stampers, Plush, Figures & more for Summer 2023 release. (The figures, probably as the most complicated one were completed first) There are 8 regular action figures and 16 mini display figures planned. Hopefully these will get a better look soon.
The well respected Nendoroid company will make another figure! For the anniversary, they've chosen classic Tails. Their figures are always high quality, highly pose-able, and super well painted. They'll often come with a fun accessory too.
Here, you can see their mostly unpainted gray plastic prototype. They've added eye paint to give an idea of how they want the expression to be on the final figure. (Blank eyes on characters like these don't work very well to get 'an idea of how it should be'--so they had to do this) He'll come with the adjustable back stand (Their Sonic had it too) so he can do lots of poses where the figure wouldn't balance normally.
Notice the joints you can see, like ankle, hip, the individual tails (and the base would also be able to turn too) This is shaping up to be a great figure!
This is a great idea, and it makes the concept of 'crafting' the figures more fun, and further incentivizes completing the set. The scene is also well thought out, the poses DO go with each other, and the accessories (hammer, rings, speed effect, tree, etc) make sense and look cool.
Their problem remains: They're going to blind box all these again, AND, with them being 10 dollars per thing, you're looking at 50 bucks worth of figures MINIMUM (if you never bought a dupe or paid for shipping) for small size non-pose-able things like this, it starts looking pretty steep with an overview like that.
But what does that mean? Are they 3D foam figures that dangle from a keychain school bag clip? Are they clips themselves, like a 'chip clip' with a foam figure on the front? This prototype art piece/ad thing does not specify.
What it does specify though is that they're something like 8 to 10 dollars each AND blindbagged which is going to be super annoying because there's 11 of them, so thats 110 dollars to get a bunch of foam figures?? Who do they think is going to spend that? And then the things that people are really going to want are the chase ones?
This is the "Flying Heroes Sonic & Tails Launcher" toy. It seems to be by the same company that does the Goo Jit Zoo figures and also the stretchy Sonic figures. But, as this is not a stretchy toy, why do the figures look like clones of those toys? The arms for the Sonic are blue and way too thick. Why are the Tails arms so lumpy? Is the perspective bad and we're seeing the leg also there? Are they jointed really strangely? His shoes are also missing the stripe. Tails' tails are missing the white tips. With so many mistakes already, just on the toy, this thing looks VERY FAKE.
To cap it all off, the figures are classic, so's the tag, but then they use the modern logo on the pull-launcher and plaster it onto the tag too. That also smacks of fake-ness. Hopefully they don't mean to release what they're showing here, because while it's a cute idea for a toy, their execution on it is trash.