CUSTOM SONIC MAN MEGO FIGURE

Sonic Man fan extraordinaire kryptosmaster (again, an email handle, not a real name) sent me an email about a month ago about a project he was doing.  A custom Mego figure of our patriarch SONIC MAN!  What's a Mego figure?  It's a type of action figure that dominated the market in the mid-70's to the mid-80's.  The figures had rubber heads, highly moveable, plastic bodies and removable clothing.  Mego made figures of DC & Marvel superheroes (among many other licensed properties), so it just fits that there be a Mego of Charlotte's own superhero: SONIC MAN!  Well, kryptosmaster sent me some pics of the finished product and man...they are really amazing!  All I have to say is VIBROTAN!  Look at the detail in the vest, the SONFLEXACTOR (belt communicator), the cape...I HAVE TO HAVE ONE!  What do you think?  Check out the other pics below:

Here Sonic Man seems to be saying, "Hello!"

Sonic Man strikes an heroic pose

He seems pensive here...concentrating his sonic powers.

SONIC MAN FAN ART PART TWO

Now here is a really cool item.  Sharp-eyed Sonic-Fan LedyBetterLedy (again not a real name, just an email handle) sent me this along with a note about the below art from Schmooly Stan.  Seems the ol' Schmoolynator made it using a website.  LedyBetterLedy (hereafter LBL) went to the same website and made one representing the color scheme of the Sonic Man costume present in the famous Charlotte Christmas Parade video (a still from it is in a previous post).  He even said he used the information from our website to make it!  I think this looks VIBROTAN!  Seriously, I had no idea this variant coloring would look so good.  WCCB was employing a design genius who is still completely lost to history.  I also like how Sonic Man is stepping out of a haze of TV static, no doubt similar to the one many Charlotte kids saw him weave in and out of every afternoon after school.  Thanks to digital TV signals, you can't even see static on your TV anymore!  Anyway, big  TIVSERV to LBL!  Keep the emails coming, folks!

SONIC MAN FAN ART

 Finally got around to posting this awesome piece of art sent to me by "SchmoolyStan" (that's his email handle and he didn't want his real name used).  Here we see our patriarch SONIC MAN stepping out of some type of sonic cloud, direct from Utor, ready to play some awesome cartoons, do some Utorian martial arts moves and just blow your mind.  Great drawing, SS!  Thanks for the email and thanks for letting me use this on the site.

Sonic Man Unworthy for Inclusion in Wikipedia????

Have you, like me, ever wondered why you get almost NO HITS on Google, Bing, Yahoo or other search engines when you search for our beloved patriarch SONIC MAN?  Even searches with the keywords Charlotte, WCCB 18, Fabulous Funnies, Gotcha!, etc., return very few if any hits.  Are people just not interested in Sonic Man?  That can't be the case!  Since starting this blog a few weeks ago, I've already received several emails from people in Kenya wanting to send me money!  That's a sure sign of the international interest Sonic Man engenders.  Regardless, I am attempting to help address this particular situation with this blog.

Have you wondered why Sonic Man has no Wikipedia page?  The answer to that question is a whole different can of worms.  You see, Wikipedia -where every sniffle or eye-tick from Star Trek or Marvel or DC Comics has its own page-- has not only stiffed Sonic Man, it has done so because it considers him just not important enough to have his own entry.  It's true!

Check out this exchange: Someone calling themselves "HangingCurve" decided that a perfectly serviceable Sonic Man article was on a subject (i.e. Sonic Man) not "notable enough" for a "standalone" (sic) article.  This in spite of the fact that "HangingCurve" self-identifies as a "Charlottean."  I would have to call someone who was from Charlotte and who actively attempted to suppress information about Sonic Man a charlatan, NOT a Charlottean.  In fact, "HangingCurve" needs to have his/her official status as a citizen of Charlotte revoked for such an offense.  No more trips to Wolfman Pizza for you.  Harris Teeter will no longer accept your money.  Even the waitresses at Lupie's Cafe will punch you in the nose.  Just get out of town!

So, anyway, due to the actions of one person (and, according to the thread, after several attempts to get a "clear consensus") the Sonic Man page was deleted because of  "no sugnificant (sic) references."  Ridiculous and, as Sonic Man would say, "NOT PLAX!"  Sonic Man would also advise most of the above Wikipedia people to spend more time studying, because their spelling is atrocious. 

Sonic Man 1979 Christmas Parade Video Still

Here we see a still shot from the fore-mentioned (in my previous post on the promo-poster) video from YouTube featuring Sonic Man on one of the cars in the 1979 Charlotte Christmas parade.  Zapruder-like in its quality, it is somewhat alarming to see our hero riding in an open-top car, just like JFK.  Luckily, Sonic Man survived this encounter, no doubt partly because of the cute little elf driving the car.

This video is vitally important for Sonic Man historians.  Here, Sonic Man's outfit is markedly lighter than in the promotional poster.  It seems unlikely that this is the result of direct sunlight, as the clothing people are wearing on other floats & cars look very dark and drab.

The checked pattern on his vest is white, not the black that we see in the promotional poster.  This red/black vest pattern is also present in the "Sonic Vocabulary" promotional flyer (which I will upload later).  One wonders if WCCB decided to change the color to make it look less like Spider-man's outfit, which has a black web-pattern on a red background. This change certainly would make WCCB less likely to get a "cease and desist" order from the -at that point in time-- powerful Marvel Comics Group.  

Also of note is that the small mouth opening on the costume (seen in both the poster and the flyer) seems to be gone.  The mouth now seems covered, which would make it potentially nasty for someone to wear it after someone else wore it.

Finally, we get a back shot of the cape as Sonic Man rides out of the frame.  The cape was blue on the edges and red in the middle.  Maybe the cape was blue on the inside and red on the outside and Sonic Man just flipped it back so he could move his arms and this made the cape appear to be of two different colors on the back.  Interesting, nonetheless.

The fact that this piece of footage still exists is VIBROTAN!  In the above image, Sonic Man is giving his trademark horizontal karate chop salute to the crowd.

A big TIVSERV to clarkkent1367 for preserving this invaluable resource for Sonic Man historians everywhere.

"The Fabulous Funnies" TV Guide Listings: 1978-1979

These scans of a few very important TV Guides from 1978 & 1979.  In the Sonic Man "Sonic Vocabulary" promo flyer (will upload it this week), we learn something vitally important to Sonic Man historians: Sonic Man made his debut on "The Fabulous Funnies" on WCCB July 7, 1978.  This is verified by the scan below which shows that the day of Sonic Man's debut WCCB (channel 18) has listings as "To Be Announced" in the 2:30-5:30pm slot.

In the scan below, we see that the next week (specifically, Monday, July 10, 1978), this 2:305:30 slot is filled with various 30 minute kid's shows, such as "Spiderman" (the 1960's cartoon), etc.

Scanning through TV Guides from this time period reveals how the content of Sonic Man's show varied.  Below, we see that great shows like "Batman" (presumably the 1960's Filmation cartoon, not the Adam West live-action) and "Marvel Superheroes" (the wonderful 1960's cartoons) came into the lineup in 1979.  You would not get bored with re-runs if you watched "The Fabulous Funnies" everyday after you got home from school!

The Sonic Man Promotional Poster

It's a rare one and only handed out in the Charlotte metro area.  Here, we see our hero making with one of his Utorian martial arts moves.  We can also clearly see his famed Belt Communicator, through which he received messages from Utor, often while on-air (moms can be so clingy).  We can also see the colors of his costume, which are of a darker shade than the costume he wore in the famous 1979 Charlotte Christmas Parade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvsCfCYBwI).  We can also see the vibrant colors used in the background of the TV show set and clearly see that they are very inspired by Jack Kirby art.  Maybe the background was inspired by the "Marvel Super Heroes" episodes that were shown on the show beginning in 1979?  Who knows.

Nonetheless, this poster is LEMTOWX!

Welcome to Sonic Man Memories

Hello and welcome to Sonic Man Memories.  I was inspired to create this blog by my memories of that great TV hosting superheroic alien from the planet Utor... SONIC MAN!

Sonic Man was the host of a TV show on WCCB TV-18, a TV station based in Charlotte, NC.  The show ran from the late 70's until the early 80's.

I have some rare promotional material that I have collected and will post it here in the days to come. 

I will try to visit this blog periodically to check in and check email, so please feel free to drop me a line and let me know about any of your Sonic Man Memories.

As Sonic Man would say in Utorian: CLOMESURATE!