The Mystery of the Purple Hedgehog

I recently had the nostalgic joy of rummaging through my childhood toybox and found some interesting things in there. One figure in particular caught my eye. A mysterious purple hedgehog. A half-Sonic, half-Mario bootleg of sorts. Who is he? Where did he come from? What's his name? All your (and my) questions will be answered!
In this video I talk about this purple miniature and discuss a few other cool finds too. Remember the Sonic McDonald's toys? How about the Sonic/Judge Dredd/Street Sharks cross-over toys?
I also shared this weird little purple hedgehog with my community here on KZbin and received some interesting guesses. At the tail-end of the episode I run through some "honourable mentions" and talk about some other infamous purple hedgehogs (because when else am I going to talk about Needlemouse and Coldsteel the Hedgehog?!)
Music used in this video :-
- "Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1" from Sonic & Knuckles
- "Game Select" from Super Mario All-Stars
- "Meteor Herd" from Sonic Adventure 2 (Instrumental version by @Sick Mike )
- "Launch Base Zone Act 1" from Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Consider giving the video a like if you enjoyed and subscribing for more video game, movie and internet history videos in the future.
Find me on Twitter: / thejohnnyvector

[@DirtiestDMusic]

I laughed out loud at "Nintega." I'm glad they went all-in on the lazy pop culture references.

[@ssg-eggunner]

Nintega almost sounds like a certain word

[@geothepoly]

Don't say nintega without the nte part 😳

[@yeoldeseawitch]

@@geothepoly eggman nintega

[@limbo1403]

They literally just smushed Nintendo and Sega together. How creative. (sarcasm intended)

[@mrdeadmemes]

@@geothepoly inga

[@TheLonelyGoomba]

I have this toy. Kinda blew my mind a little bit seeing it on KZbin after all this time. My immediate thought was that it was a "Crazy Bone". But then upon thinking about it...it wasn't. But I think it was around that time. Then I realized I actually have almost the entire collection of these alien things. Honestly if you care enough I could try to find them. Was quite nostalgic watching this eitherway.

[@sonicmaiden2871]

That's cool! I didn't know about this collection! Maybe you could showcase the ones you have on your channel?

[@TheLonelyGoomba]

@@sonicmaiden2871 there's not many tbh. This video basically showed them all

[@sonicmaiden2871]

@@TheLonelyGoomba oh! I understand! They look cool though! I never knew these were a thing honestly!

[@randomistough0]

hey, it's the lonely goomba! It's weird to see this many popular people knowing about these obscure toys. makes me realize how boring my childhood is, but at least my childhood was still great

[@sonicmaiden2871]

@@randomistough0 I'm sure that you had something obscure in your childhood as well! I didn't have these toys but I had the pc Reksio games distributed in Romania by Erc Press which are pretty obscure as well. And sadly the franchise is dead because they're so obscure.

[@LeSonkers]

as a pizza tower and sonic fan, i can confirm that the purple hedgehog is none other than Snick himself

[@stormythe69th]

NO WAY SNICK IS REALLY CANON!!11

[@bjjackson7895]

It’s him

[@Vox_is_epik42]

OMG SNICK OFFICIAL BEFORE PIZZA TOWER ANNOUNCE IN 1994 ?!????11?!?!1?

[@bhumigaming8914]

REL1!!1!1!1!1!!1!1

[@confectionie]

Snick is a actual canon character

[@GREATJOJOMAN]

this video unlocked a core memory, i remember those aliens when i was in school we used to trade them with eachother. thanks for the video mate :)

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, awesome!

[@dezookits]

So glad there were other Pizza Towerites that thought of "Him" at the sight of Cynic, makes me kinda want a figure line of Snick and his friends

[@royalcrow1668]

Snick's cousin?

[@HankMFWimbleton]

I want a Greaseball figure.

[@fishstickfailur3]

@@HankMFWimbleton imagine if he was an actual golf ball so you can play with him

[@HankMFWimbleton]

@@fishstickfailur3 peak merchandising in every way

[@steveluvscows2490]

Cynic... Snick... I can definitely see the resemblance.

[@adrianhassall6062]

I definitely remember owning a lot of these. Especially the crossing guard, the two-headed dinosaur, and the scuba diver.

[@speedmcfeed570]

I feel like if they made this figure today, Nintendo would have gave them a cease & Desist. Sega would probably laugh at this figure or probably wouldn’t give a hoot 🤣🤣🤣

[@Zulf85]

Sega would probably have their social media teams reference this figure in jokes for years to come

[@speedmcfeed570]

@@Zulf85 yeah 🤣🤣🤣 true

[@pistolpetereal]

Average Nintendo “”fan”” who is too stupid to understand copyright law

[@Spongyboi897]

@@Zulf85 And might reference him in a few comics and such lol

[@hilariousskullnamedcatzo647]

Nintendo wouldn't really sure them over a joke (I mean they partnered up with ROBOT CHICKEN, FREAKING ROBOT CHICKEN FOR A EVENT, AND FOR MULTIPLE ROBOT CHICKEN EPISODES)

[@Larry]

Cynic kinda looks like an angry purple Womble to me :D

[@TheRockruffWhoCries]

He looks like a Spy vs Spy character if you ask me

[@loszhor]

He reminds me of the "Jim Henson" face look. So Dark Crystal sonic! That would be awesome btw.

[@noaht2005]

Any excuse to learn more obscure Sonic lore. Can’t wait for the romhacks and fnf mod

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, I'd love to see some Cynic romhacks and mods

[@CRex]

If that figurine was released today Nintendo would probably send the company a cease and desist.

[@JohnnyVector]

Good old Nintendo

[@spingleboygle]

cease and desist

[@kenn_k]

Maaan!! No one talks about those motorcycle toys! I totally had Sonic, but I forgot those things even existed. Haven't thought of them in at least 20 years. Wild. I remember thinking it was super rad. Wish I kept all that stuff!

[@ShelbyAQD]

I remember first learning about Cynic on DeviantArt sometime in the early 2000's. Someone or other had posted a picture of one they'd found, asking if anyone knew what it was. Someone else had responded to the post saying it was part of an old toyline of "aliens attempting to blend in, but not actually understanding the pop-culture they were emulating."

[@JohnnyVector]

Good stuff. There's a couple of fun pieces of Cynic fanart out there.

[@tomsbrainhurtsalot]

It’s such a small part of the video but the toy selection at 01:02 was such a blast from the past. I had the tails figure (and maybe another one, of sonic) and haven’t seen it in more than 20 years at this point, but just seeing it there brought back a memory I didn’t know I had

[@Angelo_studios_]

It looks like a mix of 1. Spy vs. Spy 2. Sonic 3. Mario

[@PeanutzStuff]

Agreed

[@HeyKyleRedhere]

Yes but I think that it's Snicks lost father from pizza tower.

[@toastbight]

Cinic would be terrifying if he was alive, as if a hedgehog found a plunger, we would be screwed

[@gwr_autotank1529]

Never thought he would mention sonic.exe, needlemouse, coldsteel or fnf. Best timeline

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, it was the perfect excuse to talk about them

[@gwr_autotank1529]

@@JohnnyVector Gad Dam

[@gwr_autotank1529]

I say maybe you could do a video about the history of Sonic.exe himself

[@ToaArcan]

Huh. I actually recognise one of the P.E.T. Aliens: Miner Bird, the little eyeball with the bat wings, helmet, and pickaxe. He was in a large box of robot toys in the rainy break cupboard in our Year 4 (Age 8-9) classroom at school. We called him "Bat-Eye" and for some reason he ended up being the leader of the "good guy" robots even though he's weird as fuck, not a robot, and had nothing leadery about him. The weird thing is that I've spent most of my subsequent years wondering what the hell those toys were, and where they came from, and I'd all but written off "Bat-Eye" as being one piece of the puzzle I'd never have an answer for, even moreso than the others- They at least had a consistent theme and two faction logos (one was a large stag head, and the other was a stylised Z) that the whole line would presumably have, so any single instance of one of those logos could lead me to the rest, but Bat-Eye was entirely different to them and had no such marks. And yet... here he is. The only detail from that box of toys that I _do_ have an answer for. And it came from a video about a Sonic parody figure from the same line as him. Also apparently he's a _bird?_

[@mabelsan1133]

The mystery.... I love how he became the good guy. That's a good role for hin

[@adamtaurusragnathebloodedg8407]

When I think of P.E.T I think of Megaman Battle Network

[@TagirDogOfficial]

0:24 is the snick

[@TheMrCtoer]

My older brothers had those Hot Wheels toys, I used to play with the Sonic one a lot when I was a child, I think they might've had all of them but I would need to check the box where they are stored.

[@docdoggo]

no way it's snick

[@ScrewlooseStudios]

Before even watching this video I was all ready to say "I never forgot them, I even drew fan art of them years ago!" but then, right there at 6:50 are my pictures! Totally appreciate the credit. This was also the first time I had seen the word "Cynic" as a child so for a while I was pronouncing it "Psy-nic." And, as it happens, I still have the full set of Mario cracker blokes at 2:40; Looks like you and I travelled through similar childhood circles!

[@AMVpurgatory]

I sent you a message about this on DeviantArt only to realize you'd already seen the video. Now I just feel stupid XD

[@ScrewlooseStudios]

Well it's always a proud achievement when I've made my old friend Matt feel stupid!

[@death_ship1332]

SNICK It’s him | V

[@OreoBrawl]

he looks like an OK Ko character

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, I've only seen the Sonic episode of that show. Maybe I need to give it more of a watch

[@Silver_Sonic_23]

Where did you get your profile picture, Ultimate Oreo? I like how it looks.

[@timelordacaelus5959]

This kind of reminds me of a small handfull of werid knockoff Pokémon figures my parents once got me. It was a "Pikachu" a "Blastoise" and the charmander line, but weirdly recolored to where they were barely recognizable. My parents knew about Pokémon and just thought these were funny, as well as being a way to introduce my brother and I to the fact that people will ripoff just about anything.

[@KairuHakubi]

Shiny figures before there were Shinies haha

[@localdude2979]

that "tho mario is missing" joke was golden af, Purple Sonic Mario fusion looks badass, his design looks great imo

[@CopydragonOff]

2:57 Giant Sonic, peach-colored Tails, Round-nosed Eggman without glasses. The perfect trio.

[@foursidekm]

I think he has a really neat design actually

[@photusmug]

Cynic is Snicks uncle, here we goes the lore

[@JohnnyVector]

I like it and that's gonna be my headcanon too

[@KingHunter911]

​@@JohnnyVector So you know PT, right?

[@ChloricTheProtogen]

That strange figure you have is the famous "Snick" from Pizza Tower

[@squidiskool]

Protooooo

[@stickinthemudstudios]

IS THAT SNICK PIZZA TOWER?!?!?!?!?!?!

[@VOLATILEVOXELS]

I was surprised that people compared it to Snick! Pizza Tower is kind of a self-contained fan base, I hope that changes soon!

[@jellystone07]

Ehhhhhhh maybe it should stay contained, cause we don't wanna fanbase like undertale and fnf. I like most self contained fanbases like Parappa

[@KidPrarchord95]

Self-contained, but still pretty large!

[@fishstickfailur3]

good and bad news

[@SirLongFace]

Snick my beloved ❤

[@CesarSalad69]

Snick our beloved ❤

[@sirtalentless2548]

Snick our beloved ❤️ (also I love ur Gustavo pfp he’s underrated)

[@SirLongFace]

@@sirtalentless2548 thank you that is really nice

[@sirtalentless2548]

@@SirLongFace yw homie

[@HeyKyleRedhere]

Why purple sonic looks like it's Snicks father from pizza tower?

[@solgaleo3533]

Sort of reminds me of the Majin sonic. Coincidentally, I recently saw someone interpreting the sprite as having a moustache, making it look like it’s Sonic’s equivalent to Wario and Waluigi.

[@Gamester8000]

I still think Spike the Shrew is a nice name for it, but it's neat to know the origins for the figure! Also, favorite Purple Hedgehog... I don't know, but I think it'd be fun to draw! Maybe I'll draw and post it! ^^

[@laksananthanandarajah1477]

They took Mario and Sonic's iconic colors to make Cynic, Mario's red and Sonic's blue makes purple, kinda creative

[@darkzero_frfr]

I'm just very surprised that there's a Sonic-like toy that has the same name as one of my friends from discord, who's also a Sonic OC. This is just one heck of a coincidence.

[@KairuHakubi]

I'm sure a few people have thought of the gag of how similar the words sound.

[@CopydragonOff]

now i'm picturing Sonic walking up to Shadow while he was washing his motorcycle and saying "nice motorcycle, I remember when I rode one"

[@novelezra]

I've been playing Shenmue for the first time recently; since fixing my Dreamcast and I quickly became addicted (like a lot of people) to buying the capsule toys of Sega characters. Both the Tails and Bark figures are both incredible and the second I saw them I went online to try and find low-poly Sonic figures and I can't find any. Like what the hell? How has no one made these? I can't even find anyone on Etsy making any (I saw a Sonic one but it didn't look that great). We are in the age of cheap 3D printing and I have seen people even doing mini-scale 3D printed Sony Trinitron PVM's so the fact that no one has done the Shenmue ones is a tragedy. I need a Bark the polar bear figure in my life. Squares FF7 polygon figures are amazing and I need to get a full set one day. Could you imagine a set based on Sonic Adventure? With all the crazy faces? God that would rock. I can't believe they released a cereal box toy referencing Videodrome. I only watched that for the first time just a few years ago and even in my 30's it made me feel extremely uneasy. Long life the new flesh.

[@sonicmaiden2871]

You could just Google the Sonic the fighters 3D models and print them yourself. But I think that we might get some new Bark the polar bear pushes and figures eventually. Just look at Mighty, Ray and the silver Mecha Sonic. They barely had any merch but now we have a good amount on merch based on them. Bark the polar bear also appeared in Sonic mania so I think that's possible that we might get new merch based on him in the future. We also got a new Fang plushie made by ge entertainment recently after all.

[@novelezra]

@@sonicmaiden2871 I know there are 3D printing services. Maybe I should try that out! Thanks for the tip

[@sonicmaiden2871]

@@novelezra you're welcome! If you will save some money you could buy a 3d printer yourself as well. My brother has one and printed some Rayman 3d models. It depends if you just plan to print a couple or models or if you would like to print more. A 3D printing service is cheaper and it will give you a taste of how 3D printing is made.

[@niftyisnotshortestluciferis]

is that snick from pizza tower

[@awesomeocelot7475]

I wonder what Cynic’s home planet was before he got stranded on earth?

[@dalivincibey8817]

Morbius

[@johnrussell8086]

That was a blast from the past and a fun reminder. I had no idea what it was until I saw the aliens, then it all hit me. I also remember asking for the Sonic Crackers for the tree at Boots back in the 90s. Sadly the toys are gone.

[@SmokeTheHorsehog]

Kinda weird to see that this guy existed since the 90s, and yet a lot of people won't recognize or have heard of him until now.

[@Aldrnarii]

Holy shit 5:05 slapped me in the face with nostalgia so damn hard, I absolutely had quite a few of those! I remember eight of them

[@ArcboundX]

Ah shit, i used to have the Skull Rider thing, while my brother had the Street Shark on a motorcycle, the Skeleton was pretty great, since it would split on the torso when launched, and the upper ribcage would fly out, with its lungs hanging out. Some wild stuff.

[@umbrella3235]

Ayy, I've been waiting for this one.

[@ChaoSoda1]

snick from pizza tower

[@JaheimTunes]

🍕

[@Jeykit0]

I sure want that purple hedgehog and the weegee one.

[@Frankston88]

Holy cow I had that Sonic Crash & Smash toy, I'd completely forgotten it ever existed until now. Thanks for the nostalgia bomb!

[@pikachuwithabellypatch]

Here from the future, the "Snick" character didnt have any major appearance in Pizza Tower, quite sad really.

[@shortbreadhead]

omg I collected them and forgot until you showed the advert. I had like a flood of memories flash back to me all at once. That's insane, what's weirder is I didn't recognise the purple hedgehog but when the ad came on I remembered I had him. I'm so confused right now

[@HillTopTerebi]

lol I wanted those Sonic Christmas Crackers soooooo badly back in the day. I also have a Cynic (I loved P.E.T. Aliens!), a bunch of S&K Collectables and that weird motorbike Sonic! Got a couple of wind-up Sonic and Tails toys from that time too. Basically the classic 'Chattering Teeth' toy in a Sonic 'skin'.

[@JustAPrinnyDood]

Since the new character Surge the Tenrec from the IDW comic was based off of a popular Sonic 2 glitch, I'm expecting at this point Coldsteel will inspire a new character too.

[@danielvieira8978]

one thing theres another purple hedgedog (its a porcupine) its snick its him

[@nickydunleavy493]

This has blown my mind! Had seen this in so long

[@vivalosskeletos5432]

I kind of remember the packaging for P.E.T Aliens being a round spaceship with bubbles around the edge that held the characters but I'm nearly certain they also came in blind bags you had to drop into water. I could be thinking of something else??

[@glacierwolf2155]

Maybe this guy was the inspiration of Snick the Porcupine from Pizza Tower?

[@kaytea42]

nah

[@thepabloxo4620]

Maybe

[@HeyKyleRedhere]

Or maybe it was his father

[@-K_J-]

The Japanese word for hedgehog is harinezumi, which I think is in fact the words for needle and mouse out together. So I don't think that's *entirely* incorrect to assume he was called that even if it's not necessarily correct either. Like the way a lot of German animals are named: turtle is schildkröte, which is literally just "shield toad". It's just the world's components being read too literally.

[@steveluvscows2490]

Gotta love how the Tomy S&K toys are the first known reference of "Classic Sonic" long before Sonic Generations was a thing, and label Metal Sonic as just "Sonic".

[@theewigman4617]

Loved the video, great as always. I went through some of my childhood stuff found that I too had a lot of the sonic fast food toys. I also found my sonic the comic comics and also to my surprise a sonic segaworld of london token coin from the 90's.

[@channingbell7718]

I like is design it’s a lot less lazy than a lot of other sonic parodies

[@mr_potato_jr4284]

The amount of information in this video is amazing!

[@JohnnyVector]

Cheers!

[@vallasite_ogg]

SONIC THE LEANHOG!?

[@lukaTW08]

First I went to the video to find out who the hell that purple sonic pulling bootleg is, and I thought the video would only be about that but no, I loved how you also connected Snick and Neddlemouse, and although I already knew them, I love how you connect everything XD good video bro

[@Fleskhjerta]

Wait a moment... I have that toy lying around somewhere as well! I had a few of those P.E.T. Aliens when I was very young. Sadly some of them didn't survive a house fire we experienced, but pretty sure the purple hedgehog survived and is lying around in some box somewhere.

[@smbcollector]

I got this toy years ago and had to research its origins myself. When I saw the thumbnail I was hoping I could swoop in and save the day, but I guess you already knew the answer.

[@BellHopping]

Really good video! Actually surprised me to see you mention both snick AND needlemouse lol

[@TailsClock]

Oh my god! #3 Sportstar! I swear I had 2 of him. I don't remember any others, and I think I got him in a mixed bag of toys from a carboot sale from about 27 years ago. 'Monster wrestlers in my pocket' is not something I've ever heard of before, but I am sure I had several of those guys too! I had no idea this mystery was going to be so nostalgic.

[@alexbarbosa7046]

snick from pizza tower:

[@jessefinnegan1719]

Skull Rider sounds like a retool of a Ghost Rider toy when the license doesn't pan out.

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, yeah!

[@-my4skinwastakeninasickjew426]

Shame your Gex Jr video does not have more views. That thumbnail is very cool, I’m assuming you had it drawn up.

[@Rhyscele]

Nice video I had no idea this existed

[@JohnnyVector]

I'm happy to introduce you to him

[@davidburns740]

OMFG memory unlocked! I had that wheel of feet, the caterpillar on a skateboard and the fat ugly one with the cameras! Woah I had no idea i had these memories

[@danielcastillosyoutubechan2452]

2:40 THAT TOAD

[@srazysnake0221]

this is a very interesting and fun video! thank you!

[@amelialonelyfart8848]

This video is kinda surreal to me. My gf has been telling me to stop reading so much Judge Dredd stuff lately, so to read something else, I picked up an issue of the Fleetway Sonic comics and Cyberforce, albeit one of the more recent issues (yes, it's still going)

[@MeowMeow-kc6dr]

2:50 I have this exact same Bowser toy!!! I'm not a toy collector, I'm pretty sure I got it from my auntie with a bag full of toys when I was little, gonna say maybe 12 years ago or something like that. I'm sure I'll have it under my bed or something, it's really cool to see it in this video!

[@DeimosXVX]

I remember having this purple hedgehog as a kid as well as the other alien toys.

[@doublemonkey4833]

Never seen your channel before, was just scrolling my recommendeds, saw the thumbnail and was like "Holy crap, I have that!" XD I couldn't remember where he came from so it was cool to find out. Also I should have somewhere some more of the Pet Alien toys. Looking at 5:04 and 5:15 I should have Jerk, Sportstar, Headlock, the green scuba alien, and Cynic. I recognise the tourist looking one with all the cameras but I don't think I ever had him.

[@BurntRavi07]

Omg is that Snick from Pizza Tower :D

[@JohnnyVector]

Snick's uncle

[@TheGreatBLT]

I knew I recognised the Cynic toy when I saw the thumbnail! I had quite a few PET Aliens as a kid, takes me back...

[@ChaosSonic6683]

“Nothing personel kid!“

[@skully-the1st]

4:12 my eyes just burned from the image where it shows sonic and mario kissing

[@mightyfilm]

I had a feeling it would be some sort of Garbage Pail Kids/Wacky Packs type parody figure from the thumbnail. Only other thing I'd almost guess was some sort of video game magazine mascot tie in. As for the Happy Meal tie in, I had just about everyone BUT Sonic, but got just the Sonic figure from a cousin or neighbor or something. If anything, I wish I had access to the Robotnik, being the AOSTH version of the character. I can't remember if the US got those TOMY figures, but I don't remember seeing them. I'm sure AOSTH Robotnik goes for a fortune.

[@kaytea42]

being a pizza tower fan, i knew snick wouldve been mentioned in this vid just by the thumbnail lol

[@charmyzard]

2:34 SEGA: We have dystopian, grimdark Sonic at home. *Sonic Forces.*

[@alwaysabiggafish3305]

YO I have Sportstar! 5:20 I grew up with it in my toy box and had no idea what he was from. Thanks

[@JohnnyVector]

Haha, awesome

[@CrashHeadroom]

Ha, I remember this guy... used to have him somewhere. All I got left now is the xeno crossing guard and the OAP lizard wrestler lol

[@Drixenol86]

This weird amalgam of Sonic and Luigi is the weirdest toy I have ever seen.

[@beniciofnaf5766]

Purple hedhog I rember a porpine called snick But i guess im wrong

[@rayyannoor129]

I’m assuming the purple sonic is the original inspiration for snick.

[@boscovisionbottomtext2658]

Had this as a kid. When I saw the thumbnail I was hoping you wouldn't know what it is so I could swoop in

[@jeffreynolds8830]

thats clearly snick from pizza tower

[@theedwardian]

I remember a few kids that used to collect and trade those "pet aliens"

[@ImNotOnGoodKushAndAlcohol]

I have a vivid memory of the purple hedgehog...

[@digitalunity]

Oh boy, I haven't heard "Nothin' personnel, Kid" in ages

[@SisterRose]

Oh shit that weird Sportstar one just like, touched some long forgotten memory at the back of my brain. it's the only one i recognise though, wild.

[@HellCat86]

I don't think these started as a cereal giveaway, rather back in the 90s Kelloggs UK just had a habit of going in hard with toy brands. Like they did some promos with Monster In My Pocket that even included exclusive figures of their mascots. Completely different landscape now given all the rules that say foods can't use free toys to make children want to eat them.

[@Acidonia150reborn]

They was in Cereal First then resold for stores. Same with monsters in MY pocket series like Wrestlers ones. But with those the first 10 you could only get though cereal and all the sports star series was cereal only.

[@adrianbunda5495]

snick from pizza tower just called, he wants his hat back.

[@itsamejonarbuckle]

Aw man, I just realized that I actually owned one of those burger king Sonic figures of Knuckles, but lost it a couple years ago. I should really look for it.