LEGO® Sonic first raced onto the scene in TT Games’ toys-to-life game, LEGO Dimensions before being the subject of a 2022 LEGO Ideas set. LEGO fans loved Sonic so much that the LEGO Group joined forces with SEGA to release a series of playsets and BrickHeadz earlier this year. Sonic’s brick-built world is set to expand early next year as two more sets join the line-up and one of those upcoming sets features Knuckles and Rouge the Bat. Here’s an early look at set 77996: Knuckles’ Guardian Mech.
Product Details
Set Name: Knuckles’ Guardian Mech | Set Number: 76996 | Pieces: 276 | Theme: Sonic the Hedgehog
RRP: £29.99/$34.99/29.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 3 | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Characters: Knuckles the Echidna & Rouge the Bat
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail from January 1st, 2024
The blue blur encountered new companions as each new Sonic game was released. After Tails joined Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, he came face to face with a less friendly face in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and its add-on adventure Sonic and Knuckles. More recently, Knuckles featured in the second Sonic movie and will soon star in a Paramount+ series. Like Sonic, Knuckles is inspired by a real-world creature as many of the characters from Sonic’s extended world often are. This includes Rouge the Bat, who debuted in Sonic Adventures 2. The Dreamcast games helped to expand Sonic’s world and all these extra characters soon became fan favourites, making them a natural fit for Sonic’s latest LEGO adventures.
As we’ve seen with many LEGO sets, it’s often tricky to transplant some characters from their source material into a LEGO set. Especially as the main aim for many LEGO sets is to offer some form of play experience. The Sonic sets did a decent job of recreating Sonic’s speed and Eggman’s robotic forces. However, this particular set is a bit peculiar. It normally takes a few waves of sets before they descend into strange vehicles or other oddities. For Knuckles, LEGO debut, he’s piloting a mech. I cannot place ever seeing Knuckles use a mech. Despite this odd choice, I do like that it tries to ape the appearance of its pilot, with a mostly red body, spiked fists and even ‘spike’ plates on the back. As a mech, it’s great, it has plenty of posing options, although it does feel a little unfinished in places, such as the back and the 2×2 clip plates on the feet. But as a Sonic set, it doesn’t fair as well, purely because it makes little sense for the character.
In a similarly confusing manner, Rouge, a flying bat, has a glider. This matches the colours of Rouge. She doesn’t ride this, instead, she uses it as a tool to capture the large green Chaos Elemeld, so I suppose it makes a little more sense than the mech. The infamous gem uses the same elements previously used for the dresses of Disney Princesses.
Although the buildable aspects of the set may seem a little odd, but at least the minifigures will excite Sonic and minifigure fans alike. As with the previous Sonic character minifigures, both Knuckles and Rouge make use of unique moulds for the heads. To fully capture the look of them, they also add additional elements. For Knuckles, a pair of spiked fists are added which clip into the standard minifigure hands. Rouge also has a purple wing element, which slots over her neck. Both minifigures also make great use of dual-moulded legs, in particular, Knuckles’ funky green and yellow shoes. The unique heads and print detail do a great job of capturing the appearance of both characters.
For a game series that has been around for over 30 years, it’s garnered various spin-offs including TV shows, movies, manga and comics. I must say I haven’t kept on top of Sonic’s wider adventures but I cannot recall Knuckles ever piloting a mech. Robotic suits and gadgets are normally the realms of Dr Robonik. The oddness of the set doesn’t make it a bad set, it’s just confusing, but at least it features two more great minifigures. The new LEGO Sonic the Hedgehog sets will be released on January 1st, 2024. Other Sonic sets including five playsets and two BrickHeadz are available now.
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The LEGO Group provided this set for review purposes. The thoughts within this review are those of BricksFanz.com and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group or SEGA. Providing the set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
