Some things just work together. Strawberries and cream. Tea and toast. LEGO and Sonic The Hedgehog. If like me you've spent more time with Sonic over the years than you have with your own family then you'll be as excited as I am about this brilliant new LEGO Ideas set.
It's called the LEGO Ideas Sonic the Hedgehog Green Hill Zone, and it's a faithful recreation of one of the most iconic video game levels of all time. It goes on sale on the 1st of January for what I think is an incredibly low price: just £59.99 ($69.99 in the US). It'll be available from the LEGO site.
I particularly love the fact that this set is a labour of love: it's the brainchild of 24-year-old UK LEGO superman Viv Grannell, who suggested the set on LEGO's Ideas platform and got the required 10,000 votes for LEGO to consider it for production – so if you've got any ideas for your own videogame-based LEGO sets, you know where to go. It's the same place we saw the superb LEGO PS5 and I'm working on my own Chuckie Egg proposal right now.
It's a really lovely set including lots of fun details. There are five minifigures - an updated version of Sonic, Crabmeat, Moto Bug, Dr. Eggman/Robotnik (depending on when and where you played) and the Phantom Ruby – as well as 10 boxes of golden-coloured Rings and a Technic lever to spring Sonic and friends into the air. There's even a display stand with all seven Chaos Emeralds in, meaning I'll have achieved something with this physical set that I never managed in the game…
The different elements of the set can be separated and combined in different ways if you prefer, and the item boxes have different fronts you can put on. Lego has even released images that show two sets combined into one double-length level, where you get to show off and mix up the elements even more. Considering the low price, I might find this hard to resist.
If you like your games and you like your LEGO, New Year's Day can't come quickly enough.
