Saudi Arabia Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog items from Saudi Arabia!
Not what you were expecting? This may not be one of the 'big 3' Sonic producing areas, (US EU JP) but Sonic is great all over the Earth. This is a rare country to find anything from (be it Sonic or non-Sonic related), making any items that much more rare and exclusive!

Push a flag button to see this page in your own language!

This is a VHS tape of the first 4 episodes of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (the weekday show). It has been dubbed into Arabic, and the title text has been changed into it too. It was made by Young Future, who also brought over several other animes. The back of the box is irrelevent, because they used it as space to advertise their other properties. The front is mostly cobbled art, complete with

incorrect Robotnick (they used SatAm) a stock Sonic from Sega and what looks like a little SHAW! art (Archie Comics) of Sonic being chased by a crab-meat at the top. With random 3 Sonics, mountains and badniks it's a bit confusing what's going on--but very interesting to see! The back has copyright info/no-copy warning in English & Arabic...so it looks like it could be a real tape. (bootleggers usually don't have 2 official logos/companies, and credit Sega etc. Photographed & owned by Aisha Osman.

SweeToon Sonic Foods Area

SweeToon is a branding / licensing company. They aquire character licenses, then brand various foods with them in order to help market to kids. They have more than just the Sonic/modern license, so you'll see other characters from them as well. The items they use would otherwise be generic (Mostly!), but they apply Sonic branding & images to the packaging to turn the items into Sonic Foods. Other items are fully Sonic themed with colors, shapes & markings on the foods themselves. The items start out marketed to Saudi Arabia (and likely will get into other places where people can read the Arabic writing to know what it is) though they are not all made there.

SweeToon Marshmallow Bread Stick Chocolate

Here are SweeToon's first 4 items.
At the top are their marshmallow selections. There are 'mini mallow packs' (in round and star shapes) a loose, unpackaged photo of their "Jam Marshmallows" & the Marshmallow Lollypops. The mini mallows are tiny tri-color cylenders in a Sonic character branded package. Each package has a different character so you could get Sonic Tails Knuckles or Shadow. The Lollipops ARE the character heads you see there. That's why they're a bit simple looking. You eat the heads. The basic head shape is a marshmallow that's covered in colored sugar and frosting to make the details.
In the middle is a portable snack-cup. It has bread sticks (crispy) and hazelnut spread with a divider in the middle. You dip the breadsticks to eat the spread. (There are several similar items like Dunkaroos & Nutella branded ones in the USA)
At the bottom are their different packages for the same item "Choco Drops". The drops are basically like M&Ms candy where a thin colored shell is over a white hard candy thin-substance & then chocolate in the middle. These come in a bag or in a paperboard tube. The drops (at right) have the spin design, the logo S or a star bumper on each one & come in cool colors.

Here are surprise eggs!
These are just called "Milk Chocolate Egg". They're like the famous "kinder egg", in that there's a small toy or some kind of item hidden in the chocolate shell. They come individually shrink wrapped, or in sets of 2 in a small paperboard box. The small text there says "Surprise inside" and "Sonic's Gifts!" The item at right is an unfolded displayer box for retailers to use to sell the eggs. Notice the little stripy flag there: These were made in Italy.
But are they SOLD in Italy too? It's known that Italy has plenty of Sonic fans. Where CANT these be sold? In the USA. That's because it is prohibited there to have a non-food item packaged with a food item. (So, the prize) Everyone somehow became convinced that kids would open the egg and eat whatever was inside regardless if it was wood, metal, plastic, an eraser, a pencil, a toy car, an action figure, a tiny paper book, or anything else...even if that item was itself, inside another package.

Two different ways to get milk chocolate! SweeToon produces a big bar with some kind of white filling, and longer thin chocolate bars in character packaging.

The small bars come in Sonic, Shadow, Tails or Knuckles CG character art packaging. The large size bar has a large CG Sonic face at one end & an illustration of milk pouring on the bar. But, what's that white filling? The packaging doesn't say what flavor it is. It is likely to be similar to Kinder's "milk filling" which is a thing in Europe but not the USA.

Sonic Cereal!
SweeToon gets there first with 2 different Sonic branded cereals. The cereal itself is generic though. You can get "Sugar Coated Corn Flakes" or "Chocolate Flavored Cereal". The flakes are just that...flakes...while the chocolate-like one is balls, likely similar to cocoa-puffs. The box back has a "place the art" game and a maze to help Sonic get to a red chaos emerald. The boxes both look quite nice with lots of attractive action & good CG. They're a nice effort!

Did you know?
Things labeled "Chocolaty" or "Chocolate Flavored" don't have enough actual chocolate, cacao or cocoa to have the real label 'chocolate'. It is likely entirely artificial. The USA will seldom use the word 'sugar' in the title of anything due to its association with things that aren't great for your health. Clearly, this has no such fear.

Sonic SweeTune Krispy Treat & Hazelnut Spread

Here you can see the Sonic "Rice Crispy Treat" squares box & the Sonic branded "Hazelnut & Cocoa Spread". The Crispy Treats are individually packaged in foil wrappers to preserve freshness. The ring there says "Made With Vanilla Marshmallow". The hazelnut spread is a simple jar full of spread with Sonic pictured jumping near a bread slice covered in the spread.

*Why does the spread jar look so similar to Nutella's jar? They could have packaged it in literally any shape/style of container sturdy enough to hold it, yet they chose Nutella's jar shape & lid style/color as well. In the USA such rice treats can't be called "Crispy" they must be "rice cereal" instead to avoid infringing the brand Rice Krispies Cereal. The foil packages inside are also Sonic branded.

Here are two kinds of marshmallows to try!
At left is the jam-mallow called "Marshmallow with Jam Filling". They're a pretty standard thing, a round white marshmallow full of either strawberry or blueberry jam. Here, they're individually packed & in a large Sonic theme bag. At right is a close up of the mini-mallows in the Tails package. It's in the 'spin' shape & the ring shows you a close-up of the various colored marshmallows loose inside. In the tiny swirl there it says they are halal. (Are all of the things Halal? This seems to be the only one to highlight it)

See the food in action!
Here is a commercial compilation that shows pretty much all of the foods by SweeToon in this area. You can see clips from Riders, some CG landscapes, Sonic touching hazelnut spread with his finger, marshmallow heads and much more.
BEWARE AUDIO
The audio is inconsistent sometimes it's loud, others quiet so use caution when playing the video. Listen & look for English words. Why do they do this?

Can you say "milk chocolate bar" in Arabic?
If you can't, how does the commercial expect the kids who are from there to know what that says in English? It's like the Japan ads where they're randomly labeling the products in English when it doesn't even use the same alphabet. Sure, the Sonic logo, everyone recognizes that because it's just that...a logo. Is anyone going to be out of luck saying "breadsticks" there? Video compiled by TheSonicShow