I Did Not Expect Funko to Unleash a Sonic Werehog Pop but Here We Are

As to be expected with an event like “Funkoween” (which celebrates us being halfway to one of the best days of the year), the series of Pops being announced are of the spooky scary variety. I already fangirled over the Jujutsu Kaisen reveal and have been watching the Funko Twitter for more updates. About an hour after the Jujutsu Kaisen post came one that I truly never saw coming.

Funkoween 2022: Pre-order POP! Games: Sonic the Werehog (Hot Topic Exclusive) for your collection today! https://t.co/Raby6Yltpu #Funkoween #Funko #FunkoPOP @HotTopic @sonic_hedgehog pic.twitter.com/j3PuCM6UBz

— Funko (@OriginalFunko) May 17, 2022

I mean … it does fit the theme of Funko’s event. That being said, with all of the Sonic hype going on about the movie, the upcoming animated series, the Origins collection, and whenever Sonic Frontiers is released, I expected anything BUT Werehog Sonic to be the next Funko we get. Like. I thought we’d get a Robotnik/Agent Stone double pack, a Wachowski family bundle, or, I dunno, Amy Rose or Rouge the Bat before this. When it comes to Sonic Funko we’ve only gotten variations of Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Robotnik, and Silver, so I wasn’t expecting the next new release to be this one.

That being said, I don’t hate this werehog Funko, I’m just surprised is all.

Where did the werehog even come from?

The year? 2008. The game? Sonic Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii. The opening cutscene takes us to what appears to be the tail end of a Sonic vs Eggman battle – they’re even fighting in space. I’m not sure why Sonic falls for Eggman’s “I’ll turn over a new leaf” speech (he never means it), but he gets himself caught in a trap that leads to Eggman forcing the Chaos Emeralds out of him. Eggman, using the power of the Emeralds, fires a powerful energy beam at the planet. This breaks the planet into seven pieces (cuz Sonic loves working in sevens). It also unleashes a powerful beast named Dark Gaia and, somehow, the side effects of the whole ordeal turn sonic into a werehog.

Here’s the thing. The cutscene? Gorgeous. The game itself? Fun… when you’re Sonic. When you’re the werehog, however, the gameplay shifts to a melee combat style instead of the high-speed action that’s typical of a Sonic game. It … wasn’t great to play through, and at the time I found myself wanting to get back to the daytime stages with Sonic. Overall, the whole werehog thing was certain a choice, but as far as this Funko Pop goes? I’m oddly charmed by it, actually, and I think I like it the best out of the Sonic Funko we’ve gotten so far.

Fans wish the Funko Pop were “flocked”

One thing several Twitter users mentioned is wanting this Funko to be “flocked.” This is basically when the Pop appears to be fuzzy, and honestly… yeah, something with “werehog” in the name should be a loveable fall of fuzz. This is also something that has been done with Sonic Pops before.

Missed opportunity? Or later release? I’m betting that it’s the latter and we get a flocked werehog in the future. For now, you can go and preorder your Sonic Werehog Funko over at Hot Topic.

(Image: Sega)

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