Hi guys. I recently watched a video on the Sonic Statue that is located in the mountains of japan, and that lead me to articles about the Australian Sonic statue from Sega world that's been found and hoarded. All of the articles mention that the statue was probably a smaller one that was inside the building, and that the outside one was probably lost. I'm here to clarify. That statue that is in Sydney is definitely the one that was outside. The reason it looks smaller in the junkyard is because the base is missing, which made the entire thing look a lot taller. Along with the lower bodies and feet being broken off this is just making the statue smaller. Before Sega World Closed, the statue was located here (And you can make out the red base in this picture also, i put the location in a pink box) Here's a picture of it with me and my brother, around 1998. You can see the paddle boats in the background from the first picture. And here's the current state of it for comparison, I think you'll find the image I have and this image of the statue to match up with the paintwork and shape perfectly. As far as I can tell, the guy who owns the statue in the junkyard in Sydney is a real asshole, keeping it as a trophy and refusing to sell it to anyone. But he's got it outside and just letting it fall to pieces. Anyways, hope I gave some useful info. EDIT: Just to clarify, there is a bigger statue, but it's not this one. That one is a Tails, Knuckles and Sonic that was displayed around the backside near the road, under a ramp. I'll have to check if i have any photos of that one. ( https://i.imgur.com/BRivujx.jpg , https://i.imgur.com/faW0LZE.jpg )
If the above is true about the guy being an asshole, well it'd be a shame for him if someone cut through that flimsy looking fence and took it to look after it..
Honestly - I had a look at where the statue is located on his property and if such a rescue mission was possible. He's got guard dogs and the smaller fence seen is not the fence around the property. Aside from the fact that it's illegal to do, the statue is already pretty far gone and the risk may not be worth it.
This is peak Sonic fandom right here. The fact people here legitimately researched how pull off an Ocean 11's style rescue of an ancient Sonic statue on private property. That's enough internet for today. (But thank you for the update, these surprisingly trivial stories about lost Sega relics from a bygone era are still fascinating for whatever reason.)
I was thinking about Sega World Australia the other day, and specifically Sally Acorn being chosen as the female star of the venue. Looking back, this strikes me as an odd decision. As far as I can recall, Sally has only really starred in the SATAM cartoon, which ran for two seasons in 1993 and 1994, and in the Archie comic books. As a super fan living in Australia, I remember feverishly checking the TV schedule for SATAM every week, which if I remember correctly was also screened on Saturday mornings in Australia, but usually at a stupidly early time like 6am. I remember sneaking into the lounge room to watch it while trying not to wake up the rest of the house (back then, we only had one TV in the house and I'd yet to acquire one for my room). Half the time I would miss an episode because there would be some golf tournament or something that the regional TV station thought was more important. Unlike more popular shows like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and Pokemon, SATAM was never featured on more "prime time" kids morning shows like "Agro's Cartoon Connection" or "Cheez TV" or "The Big Breakfast." I believe more kids in Australia would have been exposed to The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog than SATAM, as it was shown on one of these compendium shows (I forget which one). It's hard to imagine Australia had much exposure to Sally though the cartoon. And as for the Archie comic, I do remember getting one random issue as a birthday present, but I always found it hard to find subsequent issues, as newsagents barely stocked any comics during the 90s as they didn't seem to be very popular in Australia during that era (at least based on my own experience). So by the time Sega World opened in Sydney in 1997, it would have been about two years since SATAM was last shown on Australian TV, hardly anyone would have watched it and hardly anyone was reading the Archie comics. Sonic CD was released in 1993 in Australia starring Amy Rose, and even though no-one could afford a Mega CD, I think there was perhaps at least some awareness of the "pink hedgehog" in Australia through display kiosks at department stores and video game magazines. Looking back , it is strange to think that in the same year Sega World Sydney opened, Sonic R was release on Saturn, with a very clear indication that Amy was to be "the" female character in the sonic franchise moving forward. (Side note: I remember a huge wall of Saturns in the Sega World store on the day I visited - that no-one was buying ) I visited Sega World Sydney when I was 15 in 1997 (I think, or I might have been 16 in 1998). I remember sitting through the live action stage show for kids, despite my inappropriate age. I honestly don't remember a thing about it, other than it starring Sonic, Tails, Sally and Robotnik. I can't even remember if they were people in costumes or puppets. I remember the stage area was quite small, so I think it might have been a puppet show, but there were also people walking around in Sonic, Tails and Sally costumes in the hallways.
