The 50th Page: A Milestone Appears

 SonicGear hits a milestone!
The 50th page of something! Aaand, its pretty easy to guess what it was going to be which is Modern Clothing USA. It's the most find-able, most sent-in, and for companies easiest to make thing so it just gets turned out at a great rate of speed. It's a good thing most of it is pretty nice too, and rarely is it all that expensive so its something all fans can enjoy because everyone wears clothes and likes things of a generally pretty fair cost.

When Gear started, did anyone think a single category page would go up to 50?
Certainly not. There's even old holdovers like "pins and keychains" where really it should have been 2 different pages from the start but there 'would never be that many things', so it wasn't. More categories keep popping up to further divide things like 'accessories', because the original category just kept getting too many pages and being more specific is always better.

Did anyone think Sonic would end?
Back in the day, absolutely. Because everything ended. In the 90s and 00s things weren't 'coming back' like everything seems to now. Like they weren't reviving things (or ill fated attempts to do so) and stuff had a finite life of media/items, and then a fandom which would fade into the background after a time until it was rendered 'obscure' and only a few people knew about it any more. Companies weren't nostalgia-farming or attempting it, so it was very common for franchises to fade away and require a 'museum like' archiving of their stuff to keep knowledge of that item around. 
So, it was fully expected that Sonic would be the same.
He'd have some games, some stuff, some shows/comics and then that would be it as Sega chose something else new and moved on. Of course, it is wonderful that it never happened that way--and will not. I honestly don't think that Sonic will ever end. Even if something really stupid happens and his popularity drops the fans will hold a torch and some 'revival' type event/whatever will bring him back up in the future. But, I also don't think something really stupid will happen either, there's enough smart people around doing good enough decisions and he's pretty ingrained everywhere merch-wise to keep everyone going.

What are things that DID end?
Of course they're hard to name, and hard to find, but there are still smaller fandoms hanging out for them, fanning away as all good fandoms do. SWAT-Kats, Street-Sharks, COPS (who fight crimes in future times), the Biker Mice from Mars (I still regret not buying a cookie-cutter set of that franchise just for the sheer strangeness value of it. SO STRANGE.) all of those had toys, shows, comics, games and whatever and were also never revived. They do have small fandoms on the internet, but they are an example of things that came and went--at least in the US. Other countries probably have country-specific things that did this as well.  
What ended and returned?
Rainbow Brite, Strawberryshortcake, Care Bears, She-ra, to a degree he-man but he kind of hung around the peripheral for a time. Of course, there's more than that too, and when it returned not everyone was  fan, but that's also something that's always going to happen it seems. 

And, because Sonic will never end, neither will SonicGear. 

So how about next week's update?
There may be a make-up update in between to make up for the skipped one in June. But, there will be a lot of clothes/pajamas.

Re-stating the warning:
Get your Fearless Year of Shadow stuff now before they take it away and it won't re-release. It'll be more collectible than normal once its gone. 

A good re-release
Espio the 5 inch figure. Great to see JP letting this one out again, 1 release of him certainly wasn't enough/not everyone who wanted him got him and scalpers were starting to scalp. It's too bad he doesn't come with a ninja accessory this time though. (Still the star post which has been with several other characters) This wave will likely do well as its first for Classic Amy at this size, and people still need Espio so that's 2 of the 4 at least that will do well.

Sonic Shoes: So Many Shoes, Even

 Why are there so many shoes?
I have no idea.

This is TWO whole updates now (extra-style updates) with literally nothing but shoes on them. Shoe companies are apparently just going wild over Sonic in 2025. Are they somehow just now figuring out that he is popular or something? Could have used this enthusiasm years ago of course. It's fine that it's here now but it seems weird this is like 20+ shoes. 

Annoying:
So limited sizes! Yeah, limited to toddlers who don't even care. And some of the toddler stuff is expeeennsive...for no good reason. Toddlers barely even wear shoes at all, and then they grow out of things at a super fast rate so its pointless to spend big dollars on their shoes. Also, some of these sizes and the child is too young to even know what Sonic is or have ever picked up a video game even so there's still not that much of a point in them. 
What's worst is when the shoe is actually fairly cool or stylish and anyone could like it but then it only goes on the tiniest of feet. That solo Shadow pair isn't even bad looking in any way nor 'kiddie', but yet here comes the toddler only tag. 

There's (should be) room for everyone with shoes- Anyone with any age/foot size should be able to have a Sonic shoe that they like. Sure, make the wacky kiddie shoes for little kids with goofy gimmicks or overdone busy arts or whatever, but other people would like to have shoes as well I'm sure.

Shoes in the UK
This week the accessories UK pages were redone a bit, to have the shoes removed and replaced onto the separate category page. There were actually way more of them than I had thought, so the page is already full with just 3 new pairs and then all of the old footwear stuff pulled from the general accessories. This did help sort their pages some, and get things more in order, so it was a nice enough update to have to do.

Next Week:
More from Hot Topic is def. on the way because they're still really leaning onto Sonic stuff, which is nice. Crossworlds may also cause more merchandise to appear, but that remains to be seen because sometimes racing games get nothing but a few cars.

Crossworlds Speculation:
This has the possibility to be either really good for fans of obscure Sonic things or really bad. Because now that they've made it clear its not JUST a Sonic game, they're trying to act like fortnight and shove in stuff like spongebob, Miku singer, and Joker Persona--with more cram-in characters yet to come, I'm sure. Any of the others can, of course create copyright chaos or turn out to be a spotlight hog that hogs the spotlight away from the hedgehog. 
Hopefully everything ends up just fine, and all franchises are fun in it and it plays well and gets along great, but you can kind of see the "EVERYTHING IN EVERY GAME MASH ALL THIS IS FORTNIGHT" kind of seeping a little bit. Paying to add characters later (a-la-mobile games) may also be a temptation. 
Is it going to have a plot like the other racing games / Dodon Pa / etc?
Who knows if it'll have a story mode but hopefully that limits it to actual Sonic if it does. 

Opinion Zone:
Everything does not have to be in everything else. "Wow I want spongebob to fight darth vader in a gokart with Bluey driving it and and Mickey Mouse is there and and and......" you are literally 6 years old. Stupid/wrong/depowered versions of characters appearing in other games and acting inappropriately just doesn't seem that cool and makes the whole game feel fake and pandering. I guess things smelling like that wierd Ready Player One movie where every franchise was in the VR land to grub money and nothing had continuity and they were just shaking famous faces on the screen like a puppet show "look its BLORBO from GAMES" and then just like doing that over and over and saying that that was entertainment because LOOK at BLORBO he is here don't you remember him, wow nostalgia. And then doing that instead of having plot/gameplay/or whatever else the goal had been.

SonicGear Is Back- No More 404

 What happened to SonicGear?

Well it was 404 for like 4 days or something. Removing unneeded extra web software off of an account resulted in it going wrong and then the whole site vanished for a while. It's back now, and here to stay. It'll update normally again too--nothing's really changed it just went away due to an error. The week's regular update should occur tomorrow (weds) and then go back onto schedule from there. This is actually the first time something like this has ever happened. (Thankfully)

This update is from 05 07 25

Tariff Terrors: What Happens to the Merch?

 By now, probably everyone has heard of and been worried about 'the tariffs'.
It's a serious problem for like...literally everybody it seems like? However, merchandise collectors (and producers) require special concern. So, sad as it is, a Sonic Merch blog has to sit here and talk about tariffs rather than having fun announcing new stuff. There may be a glimmer of hope among the madness though, so read onward for the quick summary of frights.

What is a Tariff?
It is a special tax applied to an item that is not made inside the country it is to be sold in.
When an item arrives in the destination/to-be-sold-at country, a fee is charged & collected by the country. It is then kept by the government which spends it as it sees fit, as it does with all money it gets.
Why is a Tariff?
A tariff is applied to an item to encourage the country buying to be also the country making the item
It is also applied to get money for the government and to break up competition and undercutting

Normally tariffs aren't something anyone considers.
When they are used responsibly, competition continues, prices are pretty normal across the board for countries and everyone is generally ok. Even with tariffs applied, it is still cheaper to get certain things from certain countries such as Computer Chips of Certain Complexity because some countries already have huge expensive factories set up to make them, while others don't. Also, when regarding the USA, items that many people want such as coffee, literally cannot grow inside the geographic area. It MUST be bought from outside the country, and no amount of discouragement nor tariff-ing can cause a plant to do something different. It's the same with certain trees, and minerals and such that only appear in the soil of other countries. They must be imported because of the geographic locations. 

How about that Sonic stuff then?
Well as you probably can guess most of it is 'made in china'. And then, of course, most of the photos sent to Gear are for stuff that's sold in the USA or co-sold elsewhere too...because the site is in English (most likely) but the whole world does use Gear (which is great) So, understandably, when some very very rotten leadership comes up and ruins the relation with 105% tariffs on China...the outlook for actually getting any more merch over here is extremely grim. Everyone, every factory knows that no one will pay double or triple the price for toys/etc. 
Sonic stuff is...well, let's face it, a luxury good. It's not food, it's not gas or housing. It's a luxury and if this badness keeps up the shelves of everywhere are going to be empty. But also if it keeps up, no one will have any money to buy anything with anyway because it turns out the whole globe is connected with stuff that everyone else needs and a lot of the jobs were kind of dependent on lots of other places/items/jobs/services. 

On hold:
Literally nothing like this has ever happened before because generally the entire (most of) government is not insane. But now apparently it IS insane, and no one has yet stepped up to say "putting every single person except like 8 guys in the usa out of a job is a very bad idea". Like, why are grownups like this? I hate it that someone is allowed to ruin everything like this.
So, with tariffs set at over 100% and usa officials being racist at China to further egg them onto hating trade, the outlook seems grim. However, it is this absurdity, this wild madness that is the glimmer of hope because it creates a catastrophe rather than some slow decline into "all stores are closed and all shelves are bare but it took 5 years to do it and now everybody's homeless". Catastrophes are BAD all at once, and loud and more likely to be stopped than slow declines.

So, anyone in toys like Jakks Pacific or etc. have put their stuff on hold.
Basically don't send it over (or the tariff will hit it and it'll become un-sell-able) but don't cancel everything and close up shop. Sell whatever's here now normally and wait for something to give. It's only a few days in to the tariff terrorizing so far, and because this has never happened in history nobody knows what will happen or how to behave. Companies big and small are attempting to weather the storm.

China is the biggest Sonic stuff producer, but the USA was also its biggest Sonic stuff buyer. So while items like the TapiMovi Tapi Tienda Argentina Sonic coloring paints set was made in China and sold in Argentina, that will continue normally because Argentina has no beef with China. However, losing the USA for some companies that make their stuff in China may end them. Hopefully however this madness gets stopped before there's too much damage for everyone.

I wish we had a hero, I wish we had Sonic. I want everyone to be ok.
I want to have fun again. 

Hot Topic...Heats Up With More Merchandise

 The title of this update is more about what's to come next...
Apparently Sonic stuff is doing like...really super well at Hot Topic and so they've rolled out pages and pages of new stuff for 2025. Naturally, all that's got to go on Gear so it's going to 'hog' up a couple of updates worth of stuff at least before it's all on there. Trying to get the site to go more timely is one of the goals. Posting about things like...a year after they came out when it's not available any more isn't exactly helpful, or the role that the site should have. So, part of that is putting the catching up on hold to try and get the new up while it's relevant. 

For this week, there was still some good stuff like the:
Bath Bomb- yeah it's only 'a branded package' (the round thingy isn't Sonic-ish at all) but its rare to be able to get something fun for a buck that makes the bath turn blue and fizzy and smells good. (I guess unless you didn't want to smell like food hmm)

Sumi-E: A good example
These were touted as a big thing, but it turns out there's apparently quite a few more of them that the artist did. These will appear on the site as they are found. These are also a GOOD example of "an artist gets a Sonic license or is hired to make Sonic things". They're not 100% on model, but they ARE the Sumi E style which was the whole goal. They're original art done by the person, and put for sale. They designed each piece from start to finish, it was approved and now people can like it or not.

Britto: A not so good example
REALLY curious if this guy tried to draw the Sonic characters to do the art collab but then flopped so hard at it he had to take over stock art and put the 'zany patterns' and mis-colorings all over it to make the expensive series of goods that's appearing on Gear now. (Keychains, figures, posters) The world of art can be frustrating as to 'what is good' and 'what is not'. If a kid uses the 'paint bucket' tool in photoshop to click on Knuckles stock art and turn him purple and then draws polka dots on him, that is bad and not art. But if this famous guy does it...........art?
The difference seems to be that the dude is famous. But is that what art is about? I kind of don't think so, and so the issue confuses me.

Item of the week:
More like anti item of the week! Waa. Those stupid DUCKS! WHY are the damn things SO GOOD! The Tubbz Duckies plush ducks are way way better than they have any right to be. It's like you CANT get a good looking Sonic doll these days that looks as good as the stupid duck one, let alone the Eggman duck. (Eggman one is amazing) Nobody has ever treated the character pattern as well as Tubbz (in the us--Japan has had some real winners) recently like AT ALL. We get chibi off model things, plastic heads, low quality fabric, carnival prizes, 'wacky fabrics' stupid squishmallows, those 'emoji nonsense', and the flat headed whatever things Jakks is making now. It's like every company will do EVERY thing EXCEPT make an on-model character plush.
And then send in the duckssssss and some how the duck people know how to get things right but now its a damnable duck! Can they PLEASE get hired to make a regular character plush that is not a duck?

Movie Shoes-
There wasn't really anything movie about these was there? Except for maybe the focus on making the shoes look hairy with that suede stuff. It was interesting how much stuff Reebok made for it though.

Next week:
It's gonna be Hot Topic, but don't think it's just tees. They're really ranging across a lot of categories as well. It'll be a bigger than usual update too, to try and foist more stuff onto the site to get it all up there to move back onto getting into the missed stuff.

Coming Later:
The new Sonic Racing game will probably see NKOK bringing back more of their same stuff, but curious to see if we get other companies getting in on merch or characters we haven't seen in a while getting stuff. (Babylons, Sage who never got much stuff, etc) Hopefully Jakks Pacific will do something with it so we can see like Jet again and maybe Storm and Wave too or this gets them to do more car variety or so. It's good stuff, we'll see!

Party City Closing: Buy Sonic Supplies Now

 2025 begins and hopefully it'll be another great year for Sonic! (And fans)
Last year's "The Year of Shadow" went really well, there was plenty of merchandise for him, Sonic Shadow Generations game did really well, and popularity for all things Sonic continued in fine form around the world. From expensive pre-order bonuses in Japan (gee whiz 250 dollars worth of stuff), to all sorts of wacky and wild new things in the USA, 2024 was a very fine year for fans and merchandise. Sadly, the SonicGear site didn't really keep up with it all despite efforts. (Well, more effort did need to be applied but...)

However, 2025 also starts off with some bad news for shoppers in the USA Party City the party supply super store is closing all stores very quickly in 2025. They'll all be erased by February of this year. It's significant for Sonic though, because it was an easy and reasonably priced enough place to grab OFFICIAL Sonic party supplies without the pollution of a billion fake trash like on Amazon. Party City policed their stuff and only sold the real thing so you wouldn't have disappointed kids with ugly or nasty fake characters or unsafe materials like you do online.

Party supplies themselves are often a cool collectible because like a Sonic plastic cup doesn't have to be for a party you can just buy it for a dollar and use it for fun daily use. Posters, balloons and other stuff can decorate rooms as well as party areas. The supplies were also a constant on shelves, this stuff would be easily available for all fans for years at a time. Designs would refresh and then be re-added to shelves and then documented on Gear. Inexpensive, fun, long lasting and easy to get is a real winning combination--which is why this store going out of business is so sad to see.

So: If you see this post and want Sonic party supplies, get over there and grab while you can.

Why is it going away?
Of course all retail magazines and etc have something to speculate (the non-consumer side) but it seems from the outside that they got price-beat too often by online stuff like Amazon. Parties are rarely last-minute items, so ordering online and waiting for shipping to save dollars (rather than cents) was probably a big factor vs them. They had tried to diversify, like selling candy, and giving stores a makeover but it didn't work. There's also that mysterious "Debt Load" stuff that they 'couldnt pay off', which seems to be 'evil banker secret code' for what Bane Capital did to Toys R Us in order to ruin them, put it out of business and then eat all the land that the stores were on. Looking up what happened to TRU in the USA (not Canada) is actually quite a rabbit hole to go down.
Did something similar happen to Party City?
With 'debt load' being mentioned, it could well be, but they were also hit with going against Amazon's prices and free shipping, last-minute balloons buying couldn't sustain big footprints like that, and the general reason of inflation keeping people from...well doing as much fun stuff like decorating for parties it seems. 

A new years resolution this year is to get the updates going better.
The stuff seems to never end (a very good thing) but posting it all seems to just go further behind and it's rather frustrating to do the updates. Things also get in the way of them (like new internet installation that didn't go as well as planned) which results in more pile up of stuff. Hopefully 2025 is the year of the steadier update and catching up on things like the email where possible.