With Lego Sonic, Sega does what Nintendon’t once again

Earlier this week marked the launch of an exciting new collaboration between video games and one of the biggest toy companies in the world: Lego Sonic the Hedgehog. While Lego and video games have long shared a close association, this might just be one of the best crossovers yet.

In the years since I was a kid, Lego has realized the power, reach, and significance of video games. In fairness to the company, it was always pretty forward thinking – I have fond memories of several deeply experimental and delightfully weird Lego titles in the 90s. But perhaps the greatest and most exciting thing isn’t all those licensed Lego games – it’s seeing gaming cross over into the real-life toys.

This has happened more frequently of late; most prominently at first with Minecraft, but then with a Nintendo deal that led to the creation of Lego Super Mario. Where Mario goes, Sonic surely follows – but what’s exciting is just how different Sonic’s Lego offering is.