Series: Sonic the Hedgehog
Company: Jakks Pacific
Year: August 2020-current
Size: +/- 6 cm / 2.5″
Main distribution: Europe / America
These are a 2.5″ line of action figures of Sonic the Hedgehog characters made by Jakks Pacific.
Jakks Pacific is an American toy company founded in 1995. They have had many licenses over the years, like Dragonball Z, Disney, Pokémon and Nintendo, and in 2019 started with Sonic the Hedgehog.
Many figures and playsets were made, but I’ll only list the 2.5″ line individual figures here. If I get others they’ll get their own post.
Wave 1
Release date: 26 August 2020
Wave 1 exists out of;
– Sonic
– Tails
– Knuckles
– Metal Sonic
– Chao + 3 rings
Wave 2
Release date: October 2020
Wave 2 exists out of;
– Sonic (thumbs up)
– Super Sonic
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1)
– Shadow
– Dr. Eggman
Wave 3
Release date: 12 December 2020
Wave 3 exists out of;
– Classic Sonic
– Tails
– Gold Chao
Gold Chao comes in a small blister pack which is mostly dark blue, with modern Sonic in the top left and a large ring, with the figure displayed in the center of.
Gold Chao is gold of colour, and has painted eyes, round pink wings and a round yellow dot on his head. He has 3 points of articulation; in his shoulders and neck. His shoulders can spin around as well as go up and down. On the bottom of his feet are holes, possibly to put him on a stand/base or play set. On the back of his head is the branding. In a protruding font it reads: © SEGA JAKKS CHINA. Below it is printed in white: 40691 0041NT01. I believe this gets added on the UK figures, as well as the UK CA CE sticker that gets slapped on the packaging.
– Moto Bug (Sonic Generations)
– Metal Sonic (re-release of Wave 1)
Wave 4
Release date: August 2021
Wave 4 exists out of;
– Sonic (shrug)
– Super Sonic (re-release of Wave 2)
– Shadow (re-release of Wave 2)
– Silver
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2)
Wave 5
Release date: October 2021
Wave 5 exists out of;
– Classic Sonic (with chili dog)
– Mighty
– Buzz Bomber (Sonic Lost World)
– Tails (re-release of Wave 1)
– Dr. Eggman (re-release of Wave 2)
Wave 6
Release date: January 2022
Wave 6 exists out of;
– Sonic (thumbs up) (re-release of Wave 2)
– Classic Tails
– Moto Bug (Sonic Generations) (re-release of Wave 3/Checkout Lane Wave 2)
– Classic Crabmeat (Sonic Lost World)
– Metal Sonic (re-release of Wave 1/3/Checkout Lane Wave 2)
Wave 7
Release date: February 2022
Wave 7 exists out of;
– Classic Super Sonic
– Classic Amy
– Super Shadow (re-release of Checkout Lane 3)
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 1/3/5)
– Silver (re-release of Wave 4/Checkout Lane Wave 2)
Wave 8
Release date: June 2022
Wave 8 exists out of;
– Classic Eggman
– Classic Knuckles
– Classic Sonic (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Tails (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Shadow (re-release of Wave 2/4/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 1/4)
Wave 9
Release date: September 2022
Wave 9 exists out of;
– Ray
– Classic Metal Sonic
– Classic Tails (re-release of Wave 6/Checkout Lane Wave 4)
Classic Tails comes in a small blister pack which is mostly light blue, with classic Sonic in the top left and a large ring, with the figure displayed in the center of. The back of the box reads: “Tails is an energetic fox and one of Sonic’s closest friends.”
Classic Tails is orange and white of colour, and has painted black eyes, gloves and boots. He has 6 points of articulation; in his neck, shoulders, hips and tails. His shoulders can spin around as well as go up and down, and his tails are on a ball joint. On the bottom of his feet are holes, possibly to put him on a stand/base or play set. On the bottom of his right foot is the branding. In a protruding font it reads: © SEGA JAKKS CHINA. Above it on his heel is printed in white: 41214 2062NT01. I believe this gets added on the UK figures.
– Mighty (re-release of Deluxe Wave 2/Checkout Lane Wave 4)
– Sonic (thumbs up) (re-release of Wave 2/6/Checkout Lane Wave 1)
Wave 10
Release date: October 2022
Wave 10 exists out of;
– Sonic (re-release of Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 4)
– Rouge
– Dark Chao + two Rings
Dark Chao comes in a small blister pack which is mostly dark blue, with modern Sonic in the top left and a large ring, with the figure displayed off center to the left, with 2 rings on the right. The back of the box reads: “They may look cute and cuddly, but behind those big grins lie mischievous little brains. Dark Chao have been known to throw bombs and cause trouble for those around him.”
Dark Chao is black of colour, and has painted eyes and a large grin, bat-like wings and a spiky pink dot on his head. He has a dark pink crescent on his chest and a dark pink airbrush look to his wings and paws. He has 2 points of articulation; in his shoulders. His shoulders can spin around as well as go up and down. On the bottom of his feet are holes, possibly to put him on a stand/base or play set. On his back is the branding. In a protruding font it reads: © SEGA JAKKS CHINA. Above it, on the back of his head it is printed in white: 41567 2232NT01. I believe this gets added on the UK figures.
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4/7/Deluxe Wave 2/Checkout Lane Wave 1/3/5)
– Shadow (re-release of Wave 2/4/8/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 4)
Apart from these lines a deluxe line was made, which added an item with the figure.
Deluxe Wave 1
Release date: September 2021
The Deluxe Wave 1 exists out of;
– Classic Sonic (re-release of Wave 3) + Super Ring
– Shadow (re-release of Wave 2/4) + Super Ring
– Tails (re-release of Wave 3) + Purple Chaos Emerald
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4) + Green Chaos Emerald
Deluxe Wave 2
Release date: August 2022
The Deluxe Wave 2 exists out of;
– Classic Sonic (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 2) + Super Ring (re-release of Deluxe Wave 1)
– Mighty (re-release of Checkout Lane Wave 4) + Ring
– Tails (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1) + Purple Chaos Emerald (re-release of Deluxe Wave 1)
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4/10/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 1/3/5) + Green Chaos Emerald (re-release of Deluxe Wave 1)
Another “checkout lane” packaging was made with re-releases of figures. I’ve never seen these hit the UK.
Checkout Lane Wave 1
Release date: September 2021
The Checkout Lane Wave 1 exists out of;
– Sonic (thumbs up) (re-release of Wave 2)
– Super Sonic (re-release of Wave 2/4)
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Shadow (re-release of Wave 2/4/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Chao (re-release of Wave 1)
Checkout Lane Wave 2
Release date: September 2021
The Checkout Lane Wave 2 exists out of;
– Classic Sonic (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Tails (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Silver (re-release of Wave 4)
– Metal Sonic (re-release of Wave 1/3)
– Moto Bug (re-release of Wave 3)
Checkout Lane Wave 3
Release date: December 2021
The Checkout Lane Wave 3 exists out of;
– Sonic (shrug) (re-release of Wave 4)
– Super Sonic (re-release of Wave 2/4/Checkout Lane Wave 1)
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 1)
– Super Shadow
– Gold Chao (re-release of Wave 3)
Checkout Lane Wave 4
Release date: December 2021
The Checkout Lane Wave 4 exists out of;
– Sonic (re-release of Wave 1)
– Classic Tails (re-release of Wave 6)
– Shadow (re-release of Wave 2/4/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 1)
– Mighty (re-release of Wave 5)
– Buzz Bomber (re-release of 5)
Checkout Lane Wave 5
Release date: December 2021
The Checkout Lane Wave 5 exists out of;
– Classic Sonic (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1)
– Tails (re-release of Wave 3/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 2)
– Knuckles (re-release of Wave 1/2/4/Deluxe Wave 1/Checkout Lane Wave 1/3)
– Dr. Eggman (re-release of Wave 2/5)
– Classic Crabmeat (re-release of Wave 6)
I didn’t really grew up with Sonic. We were very much a Nintendo house. However, my local video rental store had a SEGA setup with Sonic the Hedgehog I played a lot as we didn’t have it at home. Still, it wasn’t my type of game. I very much liked to explore, whereas Sonic is all about speed. I didn’t like the ring system, basically a heart no matter how many you had, and it was all about learning the optimal route. I eventually got the classic games on PS2 with the “Sega Mega Drive Collection” but never really played them that much. I watched the old Sonic cartoon from DIC and I enjoyed that, but never the other ones. I ended up liking Tails more than Sonic, his flying was nice in the game, and his nerdy cuteness in the cartoon appealed to me.
When the anime Sonic X came out, we watched it a lot. My brother got really into it. The animation was great, although I did miss Classic Sonic. We bought the Sonic Adventure 2 Battle game on the Gamecube. It loosely followed the same storyline. Tails lost some of his appeal to me, but Shadow was cool. We played that game a lot. But more importantly, we played Chao Garden a lot.
I have a vintage classic Tails plush because of my time in the rental store and love for classic Tails. And when I saw the classic Sonic and Tails figures from Tomy I bought them for nostalgia reasons too. But when Jakks started churning out these figures it really peaked my interest. Still, I decided I don’t have that much with Sonic so I withheld from buying them. Until they brought out the Chao’s.
The blue one my store got had some weird paint issues and creepy eyes due to it. So I didn’t buy it. I kinda regret that now as I never found another. But when I saw the gold Chao I bought it of course. And I finally found the dark Chao too. And I’ll probably replace my Tomy classics for these at some point too, as they seem a bit sturdier and more pose-able. I bought Tails as I couldn’t resist after all.
Sonic the Hedgehog is hard to keep up with, and I was never a huge fan. But as a geek I appreciate his place in game history, and his fleeting appearances in my childhood. These figures aren’t that expensive, so I might get some more to place here and there. We’ll see.
If you like Sonic the Hedgehog these figures are probably one of the most affordable and best ones out there. There’s many characters and sizes out now, and they re-release regularly.
If you’re not a Sonic fan, you’ll probably give these a miss.
Got any more details / information you think I should add? Or did I get something wrong? Do you own the same figures? Do you agree or disagree with my findings? Let me know in the comments below.