All About... Sonic the Hedgehog (New magazine from Egmont)

[andy]

Remember when we found out Egmont had licensed Sonic again? (sonicthecomic.proboards.com/thread/11949/sega-signed-new-deal-egmont) Well, here is the first fruit of that labour, a magazine called "All about... Sonic the Hedgehog". Apparently this is issue 73 in the All About... series and as you can see, it promises tips &cheats, awesome games and cool comics. All that and Dr Eggman tells all! All for the princely sum of £3.99. Are you excited yet?


So without further ado, let's find out All About... Sonic the Hedgehog


After I've played with this neat disc shooter


And stuck these all over my house. There are 100 stickers on this A4 sheet.


Flying discs summarily lost behind furniture, we look at the magazine itself, 36 pages long


Introduction page. Eggman's so excited he's cracked up.


Sonic tells us about his new game


And Tails gives us some tips on how to play it


Most of the mag is taken up with various puzzles and a snakes and ladders game


But look comics! A couple of five page strips promoting Sonic Colours and Unleashed, reprinted from the Archie series.


The complete history of Sonic on one page. Includes some early concept art. Note the appearance of Sonic's human girlfriend Madonna, bottom right.


As promised, Eggman tells all. It seems teaming up with Sonic has gotten him all confused. He might have laughed at a crying child but also gave the child a tissue. And it seems the Deadly Six are referring to him as Dr Eggpants! Oh dear. Lamest bad guy ever? I might have to agree.


Here's a quiz to find out which Sonic character you are. I'm Knuckles.


There's an A2 poster of Sonic and the gang (and Eggman)


With the Deadly Six on the flipside.


And finally, fool your friends with this Sonic mask. There's an uncoloured version on the other side so you can make up your own OC.

Well, that's it. No mention of any forthcoming Sonic products or StC. I guess we'll just have to wait to see what other Sonic stuff Egmont put out. I'm sure by that point I'll have cracked all the puzzles.

[L. T. Dangerous]

Dec 5, 2013 12:43:08 GMT andy said:

There's an uncoloured version on the other side so you can make up your own OC.

[Alex]

Dec 5, 2013 12:43:08 GMT andy said:

But look comics! A couple of five page strips promoting Sonic Colours and Unleashed, reprinted from the Archie series.

We don't want Archie reprints, Egmont. Stop being silly.

[Beeth]

Decent looking kids' magazine.

[ShayMay]

Dec 6, 2013 0:56:57 GMT Beeth said:

Decent looking kids

tut

[Fools in Miru]

I knew they'd do something for children who are just beginning. But what for the longtime fans? Seeing Big a few times was nice, but what about some STC reprints or something? TMNT gets such lavish things rather often, why not Sonic?

[Devo DrakeFox]

Dec 6, 2013 4:37:15 GMT Fools in Miru said:

I knew they'd do something for children who are just beginning. But what for the longtime fans?

They don't care about us, they think we should have grown up by now. Harumph! NEVER!

[ShayMay]

I think I've briefly touched upon this on here recently, actually.

Basically, the difference between TMNT and Sonic is that TMNT usually goes into things with a general idea of what it's doing, what it hopes to accomplish, and at least a vague idea of who's watching it. Sonic, on the other hand, spent all of the '90s amassing (at least, there are probably more that I've missed) eight different continuities. Often these would be running alongside one another.
Then 1998 came along and Sonic Adventure basically booted everything besides the games' continuity (that was only ever really canon in Japan) out the window. I don't think this was an intentional decision so much as the developers genuinely not being aware that the other continuities exist.
The problem with bringing Sonic back under one controlled roof is that at that point, there were huge fractures in the fandom as everyone had their own preferred continuity. Meanwhile, the Turtles had three continuities to choose from when they did that big crossover event (I forget the name, sorry). So basically it was lose/lose for a good long while there, until they managed to get everything under control. Now there's the games' continuity, and the Archie continuity, which has been changing more and more to resemble the games. To reprint STC at this point would be muddying the carpet all over again, and undoing a lot of their hard work. It'd be a nice bone to throw the fans, but honestly, we're a minority and I can understand why we wouldn't be worth it.

[andy]

I don't think continuity is the biggest problem here. The Turtles have several: 3 cartoons, the movies, comics from Mirage, Archie, Dreamwave, IDW, that one live action show where there was a female turtle. Although, to be fair, most have stuck fairly closely to the original formula unless Michael Bay goes ahead with the alien turtles concept for the new film.

The problem seems to lie with Sega, who are no longer the company that created those classic games. They seem to have a pretty belligerent attitude to western audiences and western licensors. I'd suggest they sell Sonic though the obvious buyer would be Nintendo who are also a bit sniffy about licensing, though at least they'd make some decent games.

Sega don't care about you, Egmont don't care about you. They just want your money (though they're not too sure on how to get it).

[Beeth]

Dec 6, 2013 3:06:09 GMT ShayMay said:

Dec 6, 2013 0:56:57 GMT Beeth said:

Decent looking kids

tut

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how a Daily Mail works.

[mikescrase]

TMNT crossover event? Are you talking about Turtles Forever? 'cause I loves that movie, I do, I do.

Also that one with the female turtle was called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. It was terrible.

[The Shad]

Dec 7, 2013 20:37:15 GMT mikescrase said:

TMNT crossover event? Are you talking about Turtles Forever? 'cause I loves that movie, I do, I do.

Also that one with the female turtle was called Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. It was terrible.

[censored]ing sweet suits and vas, though. God, those suits were gorgeous. The aesthetic in general was great.

[mikescrase]

I don't know if I was just spoiled by the first movie, but... no... you're wrong. So very, very wrong.

[Badly-Drawn Manchild]

Yeah, compared to the suit work and animatronics in the first movie, Next Mutation doesn't hold a candle.

Yeah, Turtles Forever was awesome, and I always thought an imaginary crossover event between the different Sonic canons would work along similar lines.

Anyway, on-topic; pretty basic tat to promote Lost World to its target audience; nothing more, nothing less. Kinda silly that Egmont should reprint the Archie comic though; it's like they're trying to forget STC ever existed.

[L. T. Dangerous]

Tbf there's really no proof reprinting STC in a kids' magazine would make any difference.

[Badly-Drawn Manchild]

Dec 8, 2013 11:49:34 GMT L. T. Dangerous said:

Tbf there's really no proof reprinting STC in a kids' magazine would make any difference.

That's true. Still, would have been nice as a shout-out to any older fans who happen to buy this thing and might make for a fun read for kids anyway if they chose the right sort of one-shot.

[Beeth]

They didn't make it or even obliquely intend any of it for older fans. A cursory glance is enough to tell you that this was made for children to read. As in, explicitly for that demographic.

[Badly-Drawn Manchild]

Dec 8, 2013 14:54:21 GMT Beeth said:

They didn't make it or even obliquely intend any of it for older fans. A cursory glance is enough to tell you that this was made for children to read. As in, explicitly for that demographic.

I highly doubt they intended the new My Little Pony to be enjoyed by middle-aged men either, but look how things turned out. I'm increasingly finding that authorial intent doesn't mean squat these days.

[ShayMay]

No, I think what Beeth means is that this... IS for children. Not Sonic, at all, but the magazine. It's filled with childish puzzles and pretend interviews and little plastic things that even the most hardcore Sonic fans would get very little out of, I'd wager.

It would be nice to see STC get some acknowledgement from Sega but even if it did in here I probably wouldn't buy it. XD

[The Shad]

Dec 7, 2013 23:44:41 GMT mikescrase said:

I don't know if I was just spoiled by the first movie, but... no... you're wrong. So very, very wrong.

Dec 8, 2013 9:57:38 GMT Badly-Drawn Manchild said:

Yeah, compared to the suit work and animatronics in the first movie, Next Mutation doesn't hold a candle.

Of course anything compared to Henson is going to look bad, especially with a movie budget, but in terms of general suit stuff on tv they're really good.