Summer of Sonic SUCCESS!

We did it!

We are all still recovering from the biggest Summer of Sonic we have EVER hosted, and we sincerely hope that you all very much enjoyed your time at the event! Once again, we want to extend a massive thank you to all who have backed the project; we have been stunned by the generosity and enthusiasm of you all, and we definitely feel it’s thanks to your backing we were able to put together our most professional event to date.

Summer of Sonic in the Media

The event has garnered much interest, and has since featured as a BBC Newsbeat article including an interview with Svend, and a Vice Magazine article. We even made it into this month’s Sonic-themed edition of Retro Gamer! Our tech-wizards are still busy sorting through the hours upon hours of footage taken during the day, and we hope to eventually present to you some amazing videos so you can relive the event to your heart’s content.

In the meantime, you can check out the entire Jam with Jun set on the Sonic Show’s channel!

Backer Rewards

Rewards have been marked to “sent” on all tiers with the exception of the SONIC CHAOS. Please can you all mark your rewards as received!

SONIC CHAOS backers: we will start sending out your rewards from next month – stay tuned for a survey heading your way very soon!

Once again, the Summer of Sonic team would like to thank you all for your support!

Stay Sonic!

Adam, Svend & the Summer of Sonic Team

Guest Announcement #8: Tyson Hesse

Hey all!

There are only 4 weeks until Summer of Sonic 2016 – we hope you are all getting a little bit excited…we certainly are!

To kick-start our update today, we have a brand new guest announcement!

Tyson Hesse

We are ecstatic to be able to announce that Archie comic artist Tyson Hesse will be in attendance at Summer of Sonic 2016! Tyson’s work on the Archie series extends across the main comic series to the Boom and Universe spin-offs, and is currently involved in the Sonic Mega Drive comic series. Tyson gained notoriety through his web comic Boxer Hockey, and has since worked on such comic titles as the Amazing World of Gumball, Bravest Warriors and the Archie’s Megaman titles.

We look forward to hosting Tyson at Summer of Sonic 2016!

Summer of Sonic 2016 Art Contest

We know you folks are awesome artists, so once again the art contest will be returning to the Summer of Sonic! We invite all of our guests to submit art they draw on the day to our competition, with the chance to win some awesome prizes! Our art corner will be suitably stocked with pens and paper, but feel free to bring your own stationary if you wish. We will have two competition age brackets – 15 & under, and 16 & over. To enter, your art piece must be drawn from scratch at the convention and not prepared in advance. More information will be available on the day, including the submission deadline.

Summer of Sonic Hub Login

We have had about 60% of our invitation holders log on to the Summer of Sonic hub. If you have not yet done this, please check your emails (and your spam) for your invitation and log in as soon as possible. We cannot issue your Summer of Sonic ticket unless you have logged into the hub. If you have not already, please add our email address to prevent the all further correspondence, including tickets, being sent to your spam.

More exciting updates coming very soon!

Adam & Svend

Summer of Sonic Hub LIVE! & Guest Announcement #7

Hey all!

Lots of updates and announcements to make today, so lets get started!

Summer of Sonic Hub

You should have all by now received an email inviting you to set up your account on the Summer of Sonic hub (if you haven’t, check your spam folder just in case!). The hub resource provides the same function as the Kickstarter survey, with several advantages.

You can get to the hub by following this link: https://hub.summerofsonic.com/

The hub is your one-stop place to go for all the information you need about Summer of Sonic – including accommodation, schedules of the day (which will update once we have it finalised), and a confirmation of your rewards.

You can also request your T-shirt sizes if you opted for them as rewards, as well as set the main name that will appear on your ticket, which will be added there later this month! If you backed for the SONIC CHAOS rewards tier, you can also update your delivery address for your T-Shirts.

Please note that tickets will be distributed through the hub, so if you’re coming to the event you should set up your account following the instructions in our welcome email.

If anything appears incorrect in your rewards, or there’s anything you’d like to know that isn’t covered in the FAQs, please contact us via support@summerofsonic.com.

Guest Update

We are sad to announce the withdrawal of James Wallis from our Summer of Sonic line-up. Unfortunately James will be unable to attend the event due to unforeseen circumstances. We apologise for any disappointment caused by this.

We do however have two more UK guests to announce today!

Richard Burton

Continuing our ever-expanding line up of Sonic the Comic Special Guests, we are delighted to announce the attendance of Richard Burton at this year’s event. Richard is a Comic book writer and editor, and has the claim to fame of being crucial in the creation of Sonic the Comic, as well as the inaugural editor and the creator of Megadroid. Richard’s long-lasting career in the British comics industry includes co-founding the Eagle Awards, a stint as Tharg in 2000AD, and being immortalised as BURT the editorial droid! We welcome Richard to his first Summer of Sonic!

Deborah Tate

Completing our Sonic the Comic headliners for 2016 is STC Editor Deborah Tate! Deborah has the accolade of being the longest running editor of Sonic the Comic for in excess of 100 issues, and was the driving force behind many of the story arcs that graced the issues. Deborah has been praised for her direction of Amy Rose’s character in Sonic the Comic, as well as her positive attitude towards engaging the STC fanbase. We are pleased to have another Sonic the Comic legend in attendance at this year’s Summer of Sonic!

Animation Submissions

Thank you to those who have submitted animations for Summer of Sonic 2016. We are in the final processes of making the decision of which we would like to use during the day as either showcases or cycled animations during the day, and we will get back to all of you very soon!

Backer T-Shirt Design

We have finalised our T-shirt design, and here it is in all of it’s glory!

T-shirts (and 25th Anniversary coins) will be available to collect at the event from the rewards desk in the lobby of the venue.

Summer of Sonic Ticket Waiting List

We have had several enquiries about remaining tickets for Summer of Sonic 2016. After discussing the situation with the venue, we are able to offer a small amount of additional tickets for this year’s event to those who missed out on the Kickstarter. We are prioritising those who have already been in touch in order to fulfill their requests, and the rest will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Please email support@summerofsonic.com with your request for more information.

Summer of Sonic 2016 Live Stream!

If you can’t get to Summer of Sonic but want to join in the festivities, then have no fear!

The guys at The Sonic Show and RadioSEGA are returning once more to bring you live coverage of Summer of Sonic 2016 from the comfort of your own home. We’ll have full coverage of every main stage event, great music and views of the venue, as well as a team of hosts to keep you entertained throughout! Join the event in the chat room to send your messages and chat to others watching on the live stream.

Join us on the day at YouTube Live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQsxJk8X3yQ (or on the Summer of Sonic site and app), or audio-only at RadioSEGA: https://www.radiosega.net/listen/

Phew! And we STILL aren’t done with all of our announcements, not by a long shot! Stay tuned for more very exciting updates soon.

Adam & Svend

Guest Announcement #6: Duncan Gutteridge & James Wallis

Hey all!

Our team are hard at work preparing the process of arranging your tickets for Summer of Sonic, and we will be informing you on all the juicy details very soon. Again, thank you for your patience!

Today we have our next guest announcements!

Duncan Gutteridge

We are pleased to welcome illustrator Duncan Gutteridge to Summer of Sonic 2016! Duncan is best known for his illustration work in the 90’s, which have become some of the most recognised images from the early days of the blue blur after being widely used on calendars, books and a whole swathe of merchandise. Duncan’s portfolio also includes artwork for Echo the Dolphin and Streets of Rage.

James Wallis

We also wish to welcome James Wallis to the Summer of Sonic roster! Older fans will remember James’ work on Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure Game books Metal City Mayhem and The Zone Rangers, along with two of the Sonic storybooks published by Virgin books under the pseudonym Martin Adams. James also has an extensive background in writing, publishing and designing games, both traditional and digital.

Stay tuned for more soon!

Guest Announcement #5: Ferran Rodriguez

Hey all!

A quick update for the bank holiday weekend. Thank you all for your patience between updates – we are busy doing all of the boring parts of the organisation at the moment, such as booking flights and hotels for our guests, paying invoices and arranging hire of equipment.

We will be letting you all know next month what you need to do to generate your tickets and select like T-shirt sizes – we know a lot of you are itching to get your tickets sorted, but we promise we will give you plenty of time to do so…stay tuned!

We continue our Sonic the Comic theme with our next guest announcement!

Ferran Rodriguez

We are pleased to welcome Ferran back to Summer of Sonic, who will once again be joining us from sunny Catalonia! Ferran’s contributions to STC stretch all of the way back to the very early days of the first issues, with his trademark style featuring in many strips, posters and comic covers. Like our other STC artists, Ferran is a veteran of illustration, have worked on producing a number of works for franchises including Disney and Angry Birds.

Calling All Animators!

Summer of Sonic has prided itself on being a platform to showcase the talents of the community…and this year is no different! In the past we have had fantastic shorts from the likes of BoozermaN, Frobman and Sonic Paradox, and this year we would love to play more examples of fan creativity.

If you have an animated short you would like to see showcased at Summer of Sonic, get in touch with us via support@summerofsonic.com.

See you in June for more guest and event announcements!

Adam & Svend

Guest Announcement #4: Richard Elson & Nigel Dobbyn

Hey all!

First off, thank you all for checking your payment details in advance of the deadline – this ended up being a little earlier than we thought, but we have not had much by way of attrition in dropped pledges – many thanks! We are expecting to receive the funds from Kickstarter any day now, which means we can begin to pay for the hire of all of the tech we need, along with arranging flights and accommodation for our guests.

If your payment was dropped but you are still wanting to come to Summer of Sonic 2016, please get in touch with us by Friday, 20th of May.

Today we have two more guests to announce, with a Sonic the Comic theme!
Nigel Dobbyn

We welcome back Sonic the Comic artist Nigel Dobbyn, who once again joins the Summer of Sonic roster! Nigel is probably best known for illustrating some of the most memorable STC stories, including many of the Knuckles the Echidna story arcs. Nigel has an extensive portfolio of work outside of Sonic the Comic, including 2000AD and the Beano, and has been involved with Sonic the Comic Online – the fan-run continuation of the Sonic the Comic story.
Richard Elson

We are pleased to be able to announce the first appearance of Sonic the Comic artist Richard Elson at Summer of Sonic 2016! Richard’s art style is one of the most synonymous with Sonic the Comic, having illustrated from issue #7 all the way through to the comic’s conclusion. His career extends out into both the Marvel and 2000AD universes, as well as many other franchises such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Toxic Crusaders to name a few.
Event details to come!

We have received a lot of messages asking about the Summer of Sonic 2016 start and closing times. We have not yet confirmed the running order of the day, but we hope to bring you more details very soon!

Stay tuned!

Svend & Adam

Summer of Sonic 2016: The Next Steps

Hey all!

We have continued to be extremely busy even after the end of our fundraising campaign, which ended having raised 158% of our initial target! What’s more, Summer of Sonic is now completely sold out – amazing! We are still having to pinch ourselves at the success of the campaign, and would like to again thank everyone who has contributed to the cause.

What happens next?

We are now only 3 months from Summer of Sonic 2016. Over the coming weeks, we will be updating our Kickstarter, website and social media with a swathe of details, to keep you up-to-date on:

Guest announcements: We still have a lot of guest announcements to make in the near future, including familiar faces to Summer of Sonic as well as some first time guests too! As we’ve smashed our targets throughout this campaign, we have found that we will also be able to accommodate additional guests we initially thought we would not be able to finance; we are currently talking to a number of these guests about their availability to attend Summer of Sonic 2016
Event announcements: We will confirm the details of the day shortly, including opening and closing times, as well as more about the venue. We will also be announcing all of the on stage and off stage events that will be talking place at Summer of Sonic, including performances, competitions and much, much more!
Vendor and merchandise announcements: We have updates for all those who have pledged for the T-shirt and coin rewards with some finalised images of what these will look like in the flesh. Additionally, we will also keep you all up to date vendors who will be selling Sonic the Hedgehog merchandise on the day

What you need to do next!

Now that the campaign is finished, there are two last things we need from all of you:

Make sure your pledge payment has gone through: Many of you will have already been charged for your pledges, but please do check that your payment has gone through fine – the last day this will be collected is Monday 16th of May, 2016, so if you have not been charged by Friday 13th, please get in touch and we can follow this up to make sure your payment is taken and your rewards are secured
Complete the survey when you receive it: We aim to send out a survey in June, in which we will request details such as your email delivery address for your Summer of Sonic 2016 invitations, request the names you wish to place on your invites, and to request other details such as your preferred T-shirt sizes – we will update when we have sent these out!

In the meantime, if you have any questions or queries, please consult our Q&A section on the Kickstarter page – if you can’t find the answer there, please feel free to get in touch via Kickstarter messages.

More updates coming soon!

Adam & Svend

The Final Countdown!

Hi everyone!

We’re nearly at the end of this rollercoaster Kickstarter journey! It’s hard to believe how far we have all come in the space of a few weeks – not only has the Sonic the Hedgehog community come together to help us hit our target, but together we have managed to absolutely smash it!

Your support has been phenomenal, and the entire Summer of Sonic team is truly humbled and honoured that you have helped us accomplish our task. With only a few hours left to go on the Kickstarter campaign, it’s a good time to do one final pass and pledge if you are still interested in supporting the Summer of Sonic 2016.

We would also strongly recommend you check the Campaign details again, as well as the FAQ – as we mentioned before, 100% of the money pledged here will be spent making Summer of Sonic 2016 the best show we can possibly make it. This is why tickets to this event are not being sold, but are instead rewards for certain pledge amounts. We will not be selling tickets to the Summer of Sonic, so your only chance to get an invitation is via this Kickstarter.

Even though we’re nearing the end of this crowdfunding campaign, the excitement is only just beginning! We have already announced a number of guests, but there’s still plenty of things we haven’t shared yet, and will do over the coming weeks. You’ll love what we have planned, trust us.

After the Kickstarter ends, you can continue to follow our journey at the official Summer of Sonic website – http://www.summerofsonic.com. We will also keep you up to date here as well, as best we can.

It’s been a pleasure doing this with you – let’s see how far we can push this campaign in these last couple of hours!

Thanks
Adam & Svend

STRETCH GOAL #3 – One more goal!

Hey all!

We are rapidly racing towards the end of the funding period of the Kickstarter campaign, and we are delighted to have reached the £30k mark; this means our project is more than 150% funded! WAY past cool!

We have been VERY busy since our last update, and we are pleased to say we have a whole host of Special Guests lined up for announcement for Summer of Sonic 2016 – most of which will be first time guests at the event!

We do however have even more grand ideas in the pipeline!

Our last stretch goal is £32k.

We are already very close to this final target! If we can reach this final amount, we have a special mystery announcement that we have lined up for the end of the campaign – lets make one last push to our final goal!

Last Few Invitations!

We are now down to our last few invitations for Summer of Sonic 2016, as you might have noticed from our shifting of reward numbers around! If you are still thinking about Summer of Sonic we suggest you pledge very soon, as they may not last to the end of the campaign! If you need a specific amount of invitations, but there is no availability for the number you want, please drop us a message – we can easily move invitations from one tier to another in order to allow as many fans to come to the event as possible. This excludes tiers that include VIP packages and 25th anniversary coins unfortunately, which are now all gone.

Thank you all once again for your incredible support of Summer of Sonic – we are getting very excited about what we have lined up for the day, and we hope you all are too!

Adam & Svend