LEGO Sonic is so good it’s spawned incredible fan creations

It’s been months since another video game icon became his kind Lego Debuts with the release of LEGO set 21331 – Sonic the Hedgehogof green mountains.Sonic may only have one set Mario There are many, but it’s a hell of a lot.

Sonic actually made his Lego brick debut in a video game – appearing in Lego Dimension via a small expansion pack that unlocks a bit of an in-game tribute to Sonic. But now, he’s offering a set of actual LEGO bricks through Lego Ideas, a site where fans of the site can submit potential set designs for review by the LEGO bosses, the same service that gave LEGO hope (and then quickly killed) sets based on Zelda, Among Us and Metroid. Lego eventually fell in love with the idea of ​​the Sonic set, brought it to Sega, and got a full release.

After a limited release as an exclusive on the LEGO Official Store, the Sonic set is now available in a wider range of versions, as a TV commercial from my youth put it, “all the good toy stores”. Basically, you can buy it anywhere right now. Just in time for the release of the Sonic 2 movie.

LEGO Sonic and LEGO Mario are oddly similar, on opposite ends of the same LEGO creative spectrum. It’s all in the design of the sets themselves, which are both geared towards creativity but in very different ways.

I think I’d call LEGO Mario “guided creativity,” and LEGO has done a lot to help kids get into sets. Lego Mario provides a modular parts framework that can be used to build complex levels, which you can then use with the animatronic Mario figure and a paired smartphone app to save level layouts, record high scores, and more. It encourages creativity among children, but the parts and level elements are grouped together in a deliberately simple way. It only takes five minutes to build these sets; what makes LEGO Mario special is what you do after you make the set.

Lego Sonic is more about open, undirected creativity. You’ll get the main series based on the Green Hill Zone, which ends here if you want to have fun. This is a fun build with Sonic, several Badniks, Robotnik and many iconic level elements. You’ll get a Sonic’s little bracket to which you add one of the seven Chaos Emeralds at the end of each stage of the build. It’s smart, cute, and perfect for Sonic fans who don’t know LEGO.

But what if you knew your Lego? Oh boy, this set is smart. What it does is very similar to what LEGO’s modular building does in the “Creator Expert” series, which have been renamed “Lego for Adults” – they provide a framework from which you can build more.

You see, the Green Hill Zone set is actually made up of many smaller modules that are connected together to create a level layout. Like Mario, this means you can reorder them to create the ideal layout – but it also means you can get more creative. The set even has visible connection points at each end, clearly placed by LEGO designers to show the builder that the set is considered a starting point, not an end point for LEGO Sonic Adventures.

Lego fan Viv (aka toastergrrl) showcased this creativity in part – he designed the original Lego Sonic pitches, which ended up being the final set. Posted by Viv Alternative Instructions Therefore, those who own two copies of the series can build alternate parts of the Green Hill Zone design and then insert them into their overall build. It’s cool and sets the tone. Other fans followed suit.

If you visit the LEGO MOC (which is my own creation, by the way) database, you’ll find a burgeoning community of fans making alternate and even brand new LEGO Sonic builds.LEGO takes different iconic Badniks such as hum bomber or Burrowbot (better called for real people Roll the ball) and, most importantly, brand new areas.

I am intimidated by its build chemical plant area and Starlight District, I had to order parts to build them next to my Green Hill Zone.I think Spring Park is next, but I’m also weighing Aquarium Relic Area.

This kind of creativity is LEGO at its best, and for my money, I’m glad to see it manifested so thoroughly in a video game. Naturally, it also got people thinking about what else the official LEGO designers could have come up with given the time. Hopefully more official LEGO Sonic adventures are coming – but even if there isn’t, that set has already started some great fan designs.