Sonic the Hedgehog marks 30th birthday with an encyclo-speed-ia and other merch

Sonic the Hedgehog is celebrating his 30th birthday next year, with 2021 marking the milestone anniversary of his 1991 debut for the Sega Genesis. And Sega is talking about how we’ll celebrate Sonic’s dirty thirty. And while we haven’t heard about new games yet (that info is coming), Sega revealed a deluge of new Sonic merchandise for the blue blaze’s 30th birthday.

A list of merch may not seem exciting, but Sonic has been a merchandise machine since his early days. In 2020, it’s relatively easy to find physical goodies based on your favorite video game franchises. In the mid-’90s, that was a heck of a lot harder. But not so for Sonic! The hedgehog and his friends were readily available as plush (I slept with a Sonic doll during a large portion of my glorious childhood) and toys. Sonic has also been a mainstay in the comics world, originally through Archie and now with IDW Publishing.