Sonic the Hedgehog has had a rather strange introduction to the world of the LEGO® brick. The blue blur first appeared in LEGO form in 2016 as part of the LEGO Dimensions toys-to-life game. As well as appearing in the game, a Sonic Level Pack expansion set was released, which introduced the Sonic minifigure. It would be a further 6 years before Sonic returned, this time thanks to LEGO Ideas. After a fan design achieved 10,000 votes, it was chosen to become a LEGO set. This recreated part of the iconic Green Hill Zone level and featured a brick-built Dr Robotik and some of his Badnik minions. That set sparked a full-blown wave of sets with the brand-new Sonic the Hedgehog theme. I’ll be taking a look at all five of the new Sonic the Hedgehog sets, the first of which is Sonic’s Speed Sphere Challenge.
Product Details
Set Name: Sonic’s Speed Sphere Challenge | Set Number: 76990 | Pieces: 292 | Theme: Sonic the Hedgehog
RRP: £24.99/$34.99/29.99€ | Number of Bags: Bags x 2 | Instructions: Paper booklet + Builder App | Characters: Sonic the Hedgehog, Flicky + Moto Bug Badnik
Availability: LEGO Stores, LEGO Online & General Retail from August 1st
When the LEGO Design Team turn a popular franchise into a LEGO set, they like to ape elements of the subject matter in some way. For LEGO Mario, it was adding digital elements with an interactive character and the ability to build levels. The recent PAC-MAN set featured a function to recreate PAC-MAN’s movement around a maze. Sonic is famed for his speed, which is not easy to translate into a collection of plastic bricks. So a brand new play function has been created to offer a semblance of Sonic’s immense speed.
In order to recreate Sonic’s speedy movement, the key play feature of the set is the new Speed Sphere elements. It’s similar in appearance to the LEGO Pods released a number of years ago. The Speed Sphere comprises of two transparent shells which are connected by two Technic pins. There’s a gap in each half of the shell with enough room for the Sonic minifigure to stand. It’s a pretty loose fit, but once each half is connected together, the minifigure stays in place. The Speed Sphere can then be launched by placing it inside the launcher. Then slamming down on the handle causes the launcher to propel the sphere. It works really well and Speed Sphere can shoot off with some force.
Other parts of the set are not really based on specific Sonic games or moments. Instead, the other buildable elements of the set are inspired by Sonic’s world, although they have strong Green Hill vibes. Along with the Speed Sphere Launcher, the set includes an archway, a ramp, which has previously been used in the LEGO City Stuntz sets and a chill-out zone. For a character who loves to run, Sonic is doing a lot of lounging around in all the LEGO Somic sets. His relaxing area includes a lough chair, an umbrella-covered table and a DJ deck. There are a number of 2×2 bricks dotted about these sections which can easily be dislodged if hit by a wayward hedgehog.
There isn’t a single sticker in the set, instead, any extra details are all printed. There are a handful of printed elements including the handle of the Launcher, the Badnik bot’s face, the screen of the item box and the vinyl records on the DJ Deck. Plus Sonic and one of the little animal figures.
Sonic has appeared in minifigure form twice previous to this set. The latest version blends elements of both previous versions of the character. So although the overall appearance of the character is achieved with the same elements as past versions, the print detail is slightly different. So the head is similar to the Dimensions version of Sonic and the legs match those from the recent LEGO Ideas set. The brick-built Moto Bug Badnik is a completely different design from the same character featured in the Ideas set. I’d say I prefer this version of the character. Plus the redesign now includes space for one of the animal critters to be placed. For those who have played the Sonic games, one of the key missions was to rescue trapped animals from Dr Robotnik’s vast army of mechanical minions. The set includes one animal in the form of Flicky. These animal characters are similar to those in the LEGO Friends sets and although I’m not a big fan of the Friends version of animals, the cartoon-like critters work perfectly in the Sonic sets.
Overall
I have a fondness for Sonic, although my current gaming platform of choice is PlayStation and I love the character-driven adventures created by Nintendo, the first console I purchased myself was a SEGA. So I’ve spent hours zooming around Sonic’s lush worlds. This set does a great job of capturing the magic of the original Sonic games, both in terms of appearance and gameplay. Launching Sonic in the Speed Sphere works extremely well and is a genuinely unique way of capturing both the LEGO and Sonic gaming experiences. The other aspects of the set enhance the play experience although offer a slightly random collection of builds, in particular, the DJ Decks, but they do have a couple of cool printed elements. One thing I’m not a fan of is the tree, it tweaks the design from the Ideas set and it just looks very wonky. The NEXO shield version from the Ideas set is slightly better, although it’s a difficult design to recreate.
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This set was provided to BricksFanz.com by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that 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.
