How Sonic Mania Was Turned Into a LEGO Set

February 10, 2021 0 By Brian Crecente

Sam Johnson’s first reaction when he saw that the LEGO Group may be designing a new set based on SEGA’s® beloved Sonic the Hedgehog^™ was elation, that was followed quickly by a sense of dread.

“The first game I had was Sonic the Hedgehog,” said Johnson, who is the design manager on the LEGO Ideas® line. “So immediately that kind of childhood connection kicks in and you have all these nostalgic feelings of, ‘I really hope this goes through and I really want to be a part of it if it does.’ And then I had this dread of, ‘Well, how are we going to make Sonic?”

Earlier this month, the LEGO Group announced it was in the process of creating a Sonic the Hedgehog set based on a concept designed by 24-year-old UK LEGO® superfan Viv Grannell. Her creation was submitted through the LEGO Ideas platform where it received 10,000 votes of support from LEGO fans.

The next step was the LEGO Group reviewing her project among the many others that make it past that initial hurdle to see if it should be put into production.

Johnson said he found Grannell’s build charming.

“It’s so much in the vein of the actual video game itself which has this kind of colorful charm to it,” he said. “And it’s not over complicated, which I really loved. Sonic has this real geometric design to it where the landscape is very stripey and you have these like square patterns on it. And it was visually all there, which I was really happy about.”

The submission, entitled Sonic Mania Green Hill Zone, is based on the 2017 SEGA game and the beloved Green Hill Zone level. It Also features Dr. Eggman and others from the world of Sonic.

Creator Grannell said she decided to build a Sonic set because the series is so important to her.

“It’s a vibrant, earnest world that’s not afraid to experiment, perhaps to dangerous degrees – but what is a life if not lived on the edge?” she said. “Coupled with the fact that SEGA’s not only tolerant but encouraging regarding all kinds of fan works I grew up experimenting with, and that’s got good synergy with the creative play of the LEGO system.”

She added that she also felt that the LEGO Dimensions Sonic offering just scraped the surface of what could be done with the gaming franchise in LEGO bricks.

Once the LEGO Group settled on Grannell’s design they had to seek permission from SEGA. Fortunately, SEGA had already heard about the project via social media and loved it.

“Viv had so many special touches and attention to detail for the set in her design: the iconic characters – Sonic and Dr. Eggman coming out there – really kind of bringing everything to life,” said John Choon, director of marketing at SEGA. “We thought when we first saw that it was just such a tribute to Sonic and it was just really so classically designed that it was a great collaboration and fit for what Sonic represents.”

Now that it is officially approved by both the LEGO Group and SEGA, the two are working together on deciding what the final design will look like. SEGA’s licensing team is working with the LEGO Group on concepts and different versions of the product.

LEGO Group’s Johnson said the two groups also try to ensure that the final product is something that fans of LEGO sets and Sonic the Hedgehog would want as well.

“We have eventually have to make some decisions on the look, the content and how we go about marketing the product and how it is released as well,” he said. “We also need to allocate designers to the project.”

Because the LEGO Ideas sets are one-off projects, Johnson said the team will often borrow people from other LEGO Group teams, specifically looking for people who are passionate about the particular project.

In this case, he’s assigned himself because he’s such a big fan of Sonic.

It’s not the first time Johnson was able to do the design work on a LEGO Ideas project based on a beloved property. He was also the lead designer on the LEGO Doctor Who set 21304 that was released in 2015. In that case Johnson relied on a bit of star-power to get the job: His uncle is Paul McGann, who portrayed the eighth Doctor.

No word yet on what exactly will be included in the final Sonic LEGO set, how much it will cost, or when it will come out.

This article originally ran on LEGO.com as a summary of episode one of the weekly Bits N’ Bricks podcast, which you can listen to here.