LEGO Ideas Sonic Mania Green Hill Zone to be next fan-designed set [News]
LEGO has announced that the next Ideas set will be SEGA’s legendary speedster, Sonic the Hedgehog. Selected from 26 Ideas projects that hit the 10,000-vote threshold last May, the concept design for Sonic was submitted by Viv Grannell. Viv has been interested in the world of Sonic for almost her entire life and thinks it is a perfect fit for the LEGO system. Her design was inspired by the Green Hill Zone level from SEGA’s 2017 Sonic Mania. There’s no word yet on when the set will be released or how much it will cost, but it often takes a year or more for an Ideas project to go from approval to final design, so we’ll have to wait to see the official design.
This is not the first time the fast hedgehog will get the LEGO treatment. Sonic was released as a LEGO character in the 71244-1 Dimensions level pack in 2016. The picture below is Viv’s original design submitted to LEGO Ideas, and therefore should be considered the concept art for the official LEGO set rather than an indication of precisely what the final set will look like.
The official press release follows:
LEGO IDEAS® ANNOUNCES A SUPERSONIC FAN DESIGN CREATION:
SONIC MANIA
GREEN HILL ZONE
4th February 2021: LEGO Ideas® today announced they will be bringing SEGA’s® legendary speedster, Sonic the Hedgehog, to brick form, thanks to a concept design submitted by 24 year-old, UK based, LEGO® superfan Viv Grannell. Viv, also a passionate Sonic fan, created her design as a submission to the LEGO Ideas® platform, a LEGO initiative that takes new ideas that have been imagined and voted for by fans and turns them into reality.
Viv’s design was inspired by SEGA’s critically acclaimed 2017 platformer experience Sonic Mania, and features iconic characters and environments from the game’s Green Hill Zone level. Once the design was completed, it achieved the prerequisite 10,000 votes from LEGO fans worldwide – before being greenlit to go into production by the LEGO Group.
Talking about the winning idea, Viv Grannell said; “I’ve been invested in the world of Sonic for almost my entire life, and it’s such a perfect fit for the LEGO system that I spent about a year rallying support for it to happen. Having 10,000 people back my design was overwhelming enough, even with friends and family behind me, but having it be selected for further development was the most exciting secret I have ever had to keep!”
The Sonic Mania Green Hill Zone LEGO Ideas® design will now go into the product development phase, in partnership with SEGA® and once finalised will be available worldwide. Talking about the collaboration, Jason Rice, Director of Brand Licensing, SEGA® Europe Ltd, said; “At SEGA, we’ve always encouraged fans to take part in the legacy of the Sonic franchise through their own creations and it’s wonderful to see the tradition continued through the LEGO Ideas® program. We’re thrilled to partner with Viv and the LEGO Group, and hope to inspire fans to continue creating their own unique Sonic the Hedgehog experiences for generations to come.”
The Sonic Mania Green Hill Zone LEGO Ideas® design is the ultimate embodiment of Sonic the Hedgehog’s past and future as the franchise celebrates its 30th anniversary this June. Featuring a wide variety of elements inspired by Classic Sonic, the set will provide LEGO collectors and Sonic fans alike a truly supersonic LEGO experience.
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