Sonic Boom 2014 – Event Recap

I’m back from New York City and had the pleasure of attending SEGA’s annual Sonic Boom event on October 4th! Here’s a recap so everyone knows what they missed:

Upon entry, guests were given swag bags consisting of 2 24×36” posters based on the new Rise of Lyric and Shattered Crystal titles, as well as Sonic Boom tote bags like the ones handed out at this year’s E3 and PAX.

From there, you could buy Ted Poley’s CDs or prints and sketches from Archie artist Tracy Yardley! at the merchandise booth. Unfortunately, since Tracy was selling both the prints and sketching, it was hard to get in and get out; the line from the booth lasted until the end of the event.

In the center, you could get autographs from various musicians, voice actors and game designers who have made the Sonic franchise possible through their hard work. Unfortunately, they were only available for about thirty minutes each (except Mike Pollock, who was around for about an hour), and the line control wasn’t all there.

On the right side of the room, one could view display cases of upcoming Sonic Boom merchandise from TOMY (the same seen at E3) as well as play demo versions of both Sonic Boom titles.

And last but not least, in the far back was the stage, where Stephen Frost alternated between interviewing guests about the Sonic Boom brand and having Tomoya Ohtani and Jun Sunoue perform a variety of music ranging from the Deadly Six theme to Metal Harbor to Rooftop Run.

Besides Stephen Frost interviewing guests like Bob Rafei and Takashi Iizuka about the Sonic Boom project, a variety of skits were had on stage courtesy of co-host Mike Pollock. For example, Mike Pollock voiced Eggman saying some ridiculous lines in the skit “What Was Eggman Thinking?” including but not limited to Eggman bragging that he had finally managed to master twerking.

We were also treated to a live reading of four separate scenes by the entire cast of all six voice actors, and I highly encourage you to check them out on Youtube. Knuckles fans beware, Rad Red’s intelligence is shown once again to not be top notch in the Boom series. Scenes varied from the gang reading a copy of Amy’s play (which referenced the various main cast members under thinly-veiled pseudonyms, such as the strong Shoulders character) to Tails developing an invention that is supposed to translate any language, but instead conveys what a speaker really means… almost revealing Amy’s affections for Sonic in the process, to Amy and Eggman discovering they have a shared interest in a game and going to a convention themed around it, leading to Sonic and co. going to it as well so as to keep her safe.

The cosplay contest had a considerable amount of talent, and it was decided to let the crowd decide who would come out on top. While Mecha Sonic coming out first was unsurprising, a plainclothes cosplayer who was “Chris Thorndyke when he becomes older and a hipster” received third.

The show concluded with a performance by Ted Poley and Tony Harnell, singing both versions of It Doesn’t Matter as well as We Can, Escape from the City, and Sonic Boom.

I had a chance to meet many Sonic fans from all over the country and the world at this year’s event, and am definitely looking forward to the next. I hope many of you will join me!