LEGO Ideas has announced it will bring SEGA’s legendary speedster “Sonic the Hedgehog” to brick form, thanks to a concept design submitted by 24-year-old U.K.-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 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.
“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,” says Grannell. “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 finalized will be available worldwide.
“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,” says Jason Rice, director, brand licensing, SEGA. “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.”