You may already know that one of our special guests is none other than Nigel Kitching, a writer and artist for the classic Sonic the Comic books that made all of the kids of 1993 happy as could be. Another STC artist, Nigel Dobbyn, can’t attend the event unfortunately but has sent us a plethora of original art prints from various issues that he contributed to. He was mostly credited for contributing art for the Knuckles comic strips, but also drew panels for Tails strips, Captain Plunder and various stories involving the Chaotix Crew. You can see an example of his breathtaking work to the left there.

Nigel Dobbyn’s showcase will be displayed in one (or both) of two places; by the Comics Zone as fans approach the desk to learn about the Archie and Fleetway series of books, or alongside other rare collectables inside the Merchandise Cabinet. The Merchandise Cabinet will be situated right next to the Comics Zone.

Nigel sends his best wishes to all those attending the Summer of Sonic event, and we’re honoured to share his original work with you.

At the Summer of Sonic convention there will be a whole ton of prizes that you can try your hand at winning - art contests, game competitions, high score challenges… not to mention a goody bag for many of the attending public that come into the hall. We were recently sent a bunch of extra goodies by Sonic-mad couple Alison and John, who can’t make the convention as it clashes with their hen/stag do’s and wedding celebrations.

The contributions are greatly appreciated guys, and congratulations on the wedding! While Alison steps into a ride at Alton Towers for the day, bridal veil and all, Svend and Rory will be thinking of obtuse ways to give away all these lovely donations during the Sonic Hour segment. In asking Rory for suggestions, we recieved a ‘dunno’, so we may literally end up giving them out! Included is a copy of the Guinness World Records: Gamers Edition 2008, plushies, keychains and a t-shirt.

Hey guys, we’ve visited the Dragon Hall a few times now and it looks just great. But we figure you might enjoy looking at the blank canvas we will be using on Saturday to create as best a Sonic convention as we can. So here are some photographs we took of the inside of the hall in Covent Garden.

To the right you can see the entrance to the Dragon Hall - click the image to enlarge it. Hopefully you won’t be seeing too much of this front door if you end up queuing outside, we’ll try to get things moving as quickly as possible. Even if you’re stuck outside for a while, our special guests, co-ordinators and even Sonic the Hedgehog may make an appearance to make your wait a little less boring. We may even get Kevin (AAUK) to do a dance for you.

The road immediately outside the Dragon Hall is quite narrow - only a car’s width wide - so naturally queues will have to be lined up by the pavement. Bicycle not included.

Not exactly a perfect 360-degree perspective, but here’s an idea of what the inside of the hall looks like, minus all the Sonic decorations and special guests. Click each image to expand them, as these thumbnails are cropped. Those basketball hoops can’t be removed from the hall, so our team are going to be a bit creative in moving them out of the way of attendees - or even covering them up. The stage and projector will be finding a home in the first image, by the windows, and the Art Corner will be placed in the second image above. The Sonic Chronicles pod plus Merchandise cabinet, Comics tables and Games Zone will be in the area displayed in the third picture, and there’s a little window there so you can see Svend slave away over a hot stove. The crow’s nest will be decorated with an awesome banner that AAUK has had made.

Bear in mind that the placement of all these sections aren’t final - we may have a headache in the morning actually putting the plan to practice, as always - but that’s our ideas for use of the hall. Thought it’d be cool to let you in on the thought processes going on around here. Richard Jacques joined us to see if the piano was in good nick a few weeks ago, and ended up giving impromptu renditions of Shenmue and OutRun. It was quite difficult asking questions about the hall when we wanted to run towards the piano and make a request.

Hope you’re as geared up as we are about Saturday - as mentioned earlier, pre-registration is go! So er, go.

As the Summer of Sonic website is very popular, we have constructed a list of Terms and Conditions that everyone intending to attend the event must read. These Terms and Conditions determine your entry into the Summer of Sonic convention, so if you do not read or do not agree to them we cannot allow you inside on the day. Click the link below to read the Terms and Conditions of Entry — we recommend you print the page off so you can read it at a later date or on the day as well.

http://www.summerofsonic.com/terms/

We are also beginning our pre-registration process for the event, as there are only five days to go now. Pre-registration is not required, it’s just something to speed up your entry into the hall on the day. Please note that this is not a method of attending the Summer of Sonic event - there is no more room and the site is closed to new registrants.

If you would like to pre-register, you need to send our staff an email from the address you used to register on the Summer of Sonic website. On this email, we will need you to send your Summer of Sonic username, full name, address, contact number and an agreement to the Terms and Conditions linked above. Send emails to summerofsonic@googlemail.com. If you do not feel comfortable sending private information over the Internet you can do it on the doors on Saturday; again, this is an optional process.