Sonic Boom: A Brief Wrap-Up

So having been at the event since 3 PM this afternoon, I was about to get a short consensus about where people were coming from. I got the two TSSZ ticket winners who dressed up as Tikal and Metal Sonic from Portland, OR. Another group came in from Arizona. And as you saw, the few people I was able to get pictures of their costumes, the Charmy and Blaze cosplayers, were two of the three winners of the contest (out of 12-15 entries).

 

Once we got inside, we were given free stuff, that included a Sonic Hat (like the ones given from the Sonic Colors pre-order), two Sonic Generations buttons (one of Modern Sonic, one of Classic Sonic, pic later), a special Sonic 20th anniversary  shirt with classic and modern Sonic on it, and free chocolate cupcakes with blue icing.  A special photo booth was set up for attendees to take up to four pictures, send to e-mail and social media, and get a printed copy.

 

[….] I spotted Mr. Naka coming out from the VIP area. I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I followed him and the Sonic Team guys through the area a bit before I found the opportunity to approach him with the letter he sent me 11 years ago. It took him a moment to look over the letter with the tree before his face lit up, and the rest of the team members were excited too. Enough to warrant Mr Naka to take his OWN camera and wanted to get a picture with ME, letter in hand. All the members of Sonic Team shook my hand and said thank you to me. That was a great moment for me.

 

Aaron Webber went on stage to start the show events, which included introducing Crush 40 on stage. Just before, it was announced that the Sonic Generations demo was to make its way onto Xbox Arcade and PSN, before the music started. It started with Jun Senoue doing a piano piece from Sonic 4 (This was probably the Episode 2 music report that people got confused with. All I saw was Splash Hill so I think it was just Splash Hill music). Then Senoue did a guitar remix of Green Hill Zone for Sonic Generations. THEN Johnny Gioeli joined up on stage to cover His World, Sonic Heroes/What I’m Made Of, and Free (Sonic Free Riders). Then Alex from Cash Cash came on to do “Speak With Your Heart”, then went in to do the remix of “Escape from the City”, “Super Sonic Racing”, and Crush 40 joined in with him to do “Sonic Boom”. Then Crush 40 ended off with “Live and Learn” before moving on.  (Shayne also tells us “Open Your Heart” was played.)

 

This was then followed up by a live performance of Needlemouse: the Musical.  Then they had the costume contest. As I said before the winners were a Blaze, Charmy, and a Sonic cosplayer.

 

They were placing time attacks for the Classic Sonic Green Hill zone. The winner was at 54.5 secs (Beating out Aaron Webber, who had 57 secs).  Then we got to sing Happy Birthday to Sonic and the Sonic Team, complete with cake. Before we got to have our voices recorded, shouting “Happy Birthday Sonic” for Sonic Generations.  Soon, Dreadknux and T-Bird went on-stage, talking about Summer of Sonic a bit, how it started, and such.  Then an artist named Gregory, who had been working on a HUGE canvas picture all night, presented Sonic Team with an art pic titled “Sonic Graffiti.”

 

Once all that was over, the evnt was over, ending with everyone doing a shoutout of “SEGAAAA!”  Outside, I was about to grab a VERY quick interview with Aaron Webber. [….] Basically, he noted that he saw that people who were playing the Generations demo had ‘nothing but smiles’ on their faces. We don’t know if there will be another event next year, but Aaron said that they wanna hear people ask about another event on SEGA blogs and such. 

 

I have made it very clear to both Aaron Webber and Svend that I wanna get more involved in the Sonic community again, so I hope to be able to become a part of more events soon.  Overall…it’s been a GREAT, FANTASTIC night.