Monday, May 23, 2016

Sonic Shoe Slippers: Possible Again?

Where has the blog been?
Fairly idle because there's not a whole lot that seems to be happening on the Sonic merchandise front that needs to be talked about/have extra features here at the blog. However, finally this week something happens:

Sonic Shoes Blues...
The fans have been disappointing for a long time with regards to one item especially. Do you remember WAY back in around the times of Sonic X or so, that 'some company' started showing around in the UK area somewhere "Sonic Shoe Slippers"?
Everyone went wild.
Since it's basically a big, fun, life-size plush replica of Sonic's real shoes that YOU can wear (or display!) Who wouldn't go wild for something like that? I, as a big fan of props and owning things from the show/game/movie/whatever was of course, super happy to see them.

That's when the disappointment set in.
Nobody actually ever found the shoe slippers anywhere. Prototypes got made, of course, factory photos done...may have appeared at a toyfair or something but that seemed to be it.
Slippers to appear?
Now, the buzz is starting up again but this time in the USA as a different factory photo appears of what looks like probably the same (or extremely similar) Sonic shoe slippers. They'll be marketed as 'classic', though his normal modern shoe is not far off (has a slight rise on the heel of the white rubber sole material) & they could easily be modified to appear more modern instead of having to build a shoe from scratch. Hopefully this item does come out & sees a very wide release! It's been years in demand by very many people.

Item of the (last) week:
Blaze the Cat GE Plush! GE's at it again with amazing quality & the fan photos prove she's the real deal with details front & back. A must-have for Blaze fans.

Sonic Boom Wii U Game didn't do very well:
It's been out long enough that there are statistics now to see that Sonic Boom on Wii U didn't do that well. Now, the Gear Blog doesn't generally go on about games but it's relevant because it likely controls for how long they will push Boom. Fire/Ice is still coming up but it is hand held and so not exactly the same level of influence. "Y-U-Mad?" Because as fans were told marketing on Sonic wouldn't just up and quit in favor of Boom, but then it did for Modern Sonic*.

Interesting video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAWAFe6HcUs
Did You Know Gaming tells you why Boom started out so glitchy (leap to inferior hardware/terrible schedule, makes devs quit etc) so Boom fans can be relieved that it's not actually Boom's fault that it didn't work out quite right/fun enough as a game. (Gotta hate those early redesigns though wow) And now, word spreads so quickly that if people buy & don't rave on day 1 others just never get it.

*When you listen to the video it has someone saying "theres only so much to do with a character w/toys & etc so we changed the style". Uh no??? Mario??? They're not redesigning him & all his friends with overhauls & he's had merch and toys since forever. BUT you can see where the sellers are coming from: 3 kinds of Sonic makes Sonic compete with Sonic so just shoulder one of them aside & replace it with Boom in hopes of success. But with not-so-fun games the design isn't associated with fun....except for in the show.
THEN
they proceed to do exactly what they said won't work! They release now "Shiny paint Boom figures" , they're exactly the same figures! "Oh we say it doesn't work making the same characters over and over so we are releasing the same characters over and over".

Do notice how there are 0 things on Gear listed as "modern Sonic" that were done for 2016. Last item or two appeared in Dec/Jan but were made in 2015. Added layer of annoyance: This EXcludes all the other characters you may love too it's not just 'bleen bleen no certain look for Sonic' it's also "no more Espio/Chaotix/Blaze/Silver/Chao/Shadow/etc.

Next week:
Probably more image bin clean up. Notice how a lot of the stuff these past weeks hasn't been genuinely new. It's either actual 90s classic stuff that hasn't showed up till now, or just older yet modern things. Not real sure why, but merch seems to be fairly quiet. It's spring/summer too, so that's a bit unusual. Hopefully things pick up soon.