Hello!
So about me... where do I start!
I’m the Sonic obsessed girl behind Sonic The Hedgehog Collectibles, better known by my screen name MizukiiMoon in the Sonic community.
I’m 31 years of age and hail from the south of England, UK.
I identify as a ‘Kidult’ that’s basically a child trapped in an adult’s body, I never really ‘grew up’ along with everyone else. When everyone hit their teenage years and were suddenly into boy bands, makeup, alcohol and relationships, I was into Sonic the Hedgehog, awaiting the suspense of whether I was going to win that elusive Sonic the Fighters Super Sonic plush auction, that empty Sonic tomato ketchup bottle, or that rare piece of SEGAWorld Sydney memorabilia.
I’ve always been a bit of an introvert and a loner. I’ve never had any lasting friends, instead enjoying my own company. Mostly because I’ve always failed to fit into adult society due to my interests that are deemed childish. I’ve nothing in common with most adults. They started to ‘adult’ and start a family, and socialising would either involve a mature meet up over a Costa coffee, or a night out in a pub/ club with alcohol involved, this has never been me! My idea of fun has always been going on charity shop marathons searching for 80’s and 90’s treasures, going to car boot sales, hitting the arcades, watching the latest Disney movies at the cinema, going to cosplay conventions dressed in my Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay, or retro gaming on the SEGA Mega Drive/ Genesis. Over the years I have grown up to enjoy my own company!
I was home educated from Year 8 onwards of secondary school (I never went back) due to being severely bullied for my childish interests and being ‘different’
I suffer from anxiety and depression.
So about me... where do I start!
I’m the Sonic obsessed girl behind Sonic The Hedgehog Collectibles, better known by my screen name MizukiiMoon in the Sonic community.
I’m 31 years of age and hail from the south of England, UK.
I identify as a ‘Kidult’ that’s basically a child trapped in an adult’s body, I never really ‘grew up’ along with everyone else. When everyone hit their teenage years and were suddenly into boy bands, makeup, alcohol and relationships, I was into Sonic the Hedgehog, awaiting the suspense of whether I was going to win that elusive Sonic the Fighters Super Sonic plush auction, that empty Sonic tomato ketchup bottle, or that rare piece of SEGAWorld Sydney memorabilia.
I’ve always been a bit of an introvert and a loner. I’ve never had any lasting friends, instead enjoying my own company. Mostly because I’ve always failed to fit into adult society due to my interests that are deemed childish. I’ve nothing in common with most adults. They started to ‘adult’ and start a family, and socialising would either involve a mature meet up over a Costa coffee, or a night out in a pub/ club with alcohol involved, this has never been me! My idea of fun has always been going on charity shop marathons searching for 80’s and 90’s treasures, going to car boot sales, hitting the arcades, watching the latest Disney movies at the cinema, going to cosplay conventions dressed in my Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay, or retro gaming on the SEGA Mega Drive/ Genesis. Over the years I have grown up to enjoy my own company!
I was home educated from Year 8 onwards of secondary school (I never went back) due to being severely bullied for my childish interests and being ‘different’
I suffer from anxiety and depression.
So obviously, Sonic is my MAIN interest, and has been for the last 25 years. But, I will go more into this in the next section!
80’s/ 90’s Girls Toys
In 2019, I suddenly started missing my childhood toys. I have since discovered the adult vintage girls toy community and realised I’m not the only one! It’s now my full time collection and my bedroom is slowly transforming into a world of My Little Pony’s, Care Bears, Polly Pockets, Furby, and so much more!
Fashion
Fashion is another big interest of mine. I always like to be on trend, and could spend hours browsing clothes shops in my nearest city. Bershka, Urban Outfitters and H&M’s Divided are firm favourites of mine! My fashion style changes all the time. I’ve gone from pink/ frilly/ lacy girly clothes, to Instagram fashion blogger style, to street wear, grunge punk and geek tees… I’ve still not settled on a definite style! All I know is that I’m 31, and still dress like a teenager, and follow their fashion trends. I truly believe age is just a number, and there should be no cut off age limit to stop doing something you love.
Competitions
I have been a professional ‘comper’ since January 2016. Since then, I have won over 500 social media competitions and won thousands of pounds worth of prizes! It’s my biggest hobby, I spend over 6 hours a day/ night entering and enter roughly 300 competitions a week. By competitions, I mean the ‘Like & Share’ Facebook, ‘Follow & Retweet’ Twitter comps. My best prizes to date include:
£2,500 cash from magazines
A holiday to Prague and France (didn’t take them up due to poor health)
A London hotel stay/ London Eye/ West End Show package
A one of a kind limited edition Xbox One Final Fantasy console
A one of a kind limited edition Xbox Series X console
PS4
2 Nintendo Switches
iPhone 7
Apple Watch
Electric scooter
55” TV
2 kingsize beds
Washing machine
3 vacuums
Ed Sheeran signed skateboard
And hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers
It’s such an addictive, rewarding hobby, constantly waiting for that “congratulations” message to pop up. I highly recommend it to anyone!
90’s Nostalgia
I am literally one of the most nostalgic people you will ever meet. I live and breathe nostalgia. In my mind, I like to believe it’s still the 1990’s, because, every day I miss being that happy, carefree child I used to be, and just because everything about the 90’s was awesome! I spend a large chunk of every day, thinking about how things used to be, the “good old days” and I try and live my life through the 90’s. Some examples include:
Surrounding myself with 90’s Sonic the Hedgehog memorabilia
Collecting all my childhood 90’s toys
I love retro game consoles- the Mega Drive and SNES being my favourite
I enjoy listening to 90’s music
I love old technology, like those old box TV’s, old fashioned computers, tinny radios, etc.
I have this crazy weird fascination with those old derelict abandoned 70’s shopping centres and old shop signs, it reminds me of my childhood shopping trips into town
I enjoy visiting arcades, seeking out rare retro arcade machines still in operation
And last but not least, I love watching all my favourite 90’s childhood TV shows such as Zzzap!, Art Attack, Fun House, Come Outside, etc.
Arcades
I’m an arcade enthusiast. I absolutely love exploring seasides I’ve never been to and discovering new arcades. It fills me with excitement, searching out vintage arcade machines. Surprisingly some are still in operation to this day! I especially love vintage coin operated rides. It’s a big dream of mine to one day rent or own a big lockup to be able to collect some of my favourite arcade machines.
Some of my favourites include:
SEGASONIC Arcade
Sonic the Fighters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time
Street Fighter II
Outrun / Outrunners
Afterburner
Super Hang On
Space Harrier
My biggest regret in life was never visiting SEGAWorld London whilst it was still open. A big dream of mine would be to see a SEGA R360 still in action somewhere in the world!
Retro Games + The Music
Again, this is another interest where I don’t exactly ‘fit in’ with the norm. Whereas almost everyone I’ve ever met has been into every next gen console on the market, I’ve only ever loved my retro games! I’m a huge fan of the Mega Drive/ Genesis, SNES and PS1. I rarely venture out of these. I love platformers most of all. I do have a soft spot for the Nintendo Switch though, I must say! If I had the space and money, I would love to collect retro games.
And the music... what can I say! I absolutely LOVE retro game music, even possibly, more so than the games themselves. I rarely listen to anything else. I have retro music afternoons when I’m home alone, blasting out all my favourite retro game music on YouTube. The Mega Drive/Genesis sound chip is my favourite genre of music of all time. You’ll never catch me listening to any music from this era, I couldn’t even name one song that’s come out within the last year.
Several other things I love:
Dogs- especially Pugs, French bulldogs and British bulldogs
Food- I’m a massive foodie and basically look forward to eating all day, I’m also a total choc-o-holic
Photography- Let’s just say I’ve taken over 40,000 photos in 2 years on my phone! I take photos every day and can take upwards of 500 photos on a day out
Attending conventions- I love attending geek conventions and dressing in my Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay!
80’s/ 90’s Girls Toys
In 2019, I suddenly started missing my childhood toys. I have since discovered the adult vintage girls toy community and realised I’m not the only one! It’s now my full time collection and my bedroom is slowly transforming into a world of My Little Pony’s, Care Bears, Polly Pockets, Furby, and so much more!
Fashion
Fashion is another big interest of mine. I always like to be on trend, and could spend hours browsing clothes shops in my nearest city. Bershka, Urban Outfitters and H&M’s Divided are firm favourites of mine! My fashion style changes all the time. I’ve gone from pink/ frilly/ lacy girly clothes, to Instagram fashion blogger style, to street wear, grunge punk and geek tees… I’ve still not settled on a definite style! All I know is that I’m 31, and still dress like a teenager, and follow their fashion trends. I truly believe age is just a number, and there should be no cut off age limit to stop doing something you love.
Competitions
I have been a professional ‘comper’ since January 2016. Since then, I have won over 500 social media competitions and won thousands of pounds worth of prizes! It’s my biggest hobby, I spend over 6 hours a day/ night entering and enter roughly 300 competitions a week. By competitions, I mean the ‘Like & Share’ Facebook, ‘Follow & Retweet’ Twitter comps. My best prizes to date include:
£2,500 cash from magazines
A holiday to Prague and France (didn’t take them up due to poor health)
A London hotel stay/ London Eye/ West End Show package
A one of a kind limited edition Xbox One Final Fantasy console
A one of a kind limited edition Xbox Series X console
PS4
2 Nintendo Switches
iPhone 7
Apple Watch
Electric scooter
55” TV
2 kingsize beds
Washing machine
3 vacuums
Ed Sheeran signed skateboard
And hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers
It’s such an addictive, rewarding hobby, constantly waiting for that “congratulations” message to pop up. I highly recommend it to anyone!
90’s Nostalgia
I am literally one of the most nostalgic people you will ever meet. I live and breathe nostalgia. In my mind, I like to believe it’s still the 1990’s, because, every day I miss being that happy, carefree child I used to be, and just because everything about the 90’s was awesome! I spend a large chunk of every day, thinking about how things used to be, the “good old days” and I try and live my life through the 90’s. Some examples include:
Surrounding myself with 90’s Sonic the Hedgehog memorabilia
Collecting all my childhood 90’s toys
I love retro game consoles- the Mega Drive and SNES being my favourite
I enjoy listening to 90’s music
I love old technology, like those old box TV’s, old fashioned computers, tinny radios, etc.
I have this crazy weird fascination with those old derelict abandoned 70’s shopping centres and old shop signs, it reminds me of my childhood shopping trips into town
I enjoy visiting arcades, seeking out rare retro arcade machines still in operation
And last but not least, I love watching all my favourite 90’s childhood TV shows such as Zzzap!, Art Attack, Fun House, Come Outside, etc.
Arcades
I’m an arcade enthusiast. I absolutely love exploring seasides I’ve never been to and discovering new arcades. It fills me with excitement, searching out vintage arcade machines. Surprisingly some are still in operation to this day! I especially love vintage coin operated rides. It’s a big dream of mine to one day rent or own a big lockup to be able to collect some of my favourite arcade machines.
Some of my favourites include:
SEGASONIC Arcade
Sonic the Fighters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles In Time
Street Fighter II
Outrun / Outrunners
Afterburner
Super Hang On
Space Harrier
My biggest regret in life was never visiting SEGAWorld London whilst it was still open. A big dream of mine would be to see a SEGA R360 still in action somewhere in the world!
Retro Games + The Music
Again, this is another interest where I don’t exactly ‘fit in’ with the norm. Whereas almost everyone I’ve ever met has been into every next gen console on the market, I’ve only ever loved my retro games! I’m a huge fan of the Mega Drive/ Genesis, SNES and PS1. I rarely venture out of these. I love platformers most of all. I do have a soft spot for the Nintendo Switch though, I must say! If I had the space and money, I would love to collect retro games.
And the music... what can I say! I absolutely LOVE retro game music, even possibly, more so than the games themselves. I rarely listen to anything else. I have retro music afternoons when I’m home alone, blasting out all my favourite retro game music on YouTube. The Mega Drive/Genesis sound chip is my favourite genre of music of all time. You’ll never catch me listening to any music from this era, I couldn’t even name one song that’s come out within the last year.
Several other things I love:
Dogs- especially Pugs, French bulldogs and British bulldogs
Food- I’m a massive foodie and basically look forward to eating all day, I’m also a total choc-o-holic
Photography- Let’s just say I’ve taken over 40,000 photos in 2 years on my phone! I take photos every day and can take upwards of 500 photos on a day out
Attending conventions- I love attending geek conventions and dressing in my Sonic the Hedgehog cosplay!
Oh my gosh! Where do I start again.
The Beginning
Sonic has been a HUGE part of my life for the last 2 decades. Without Sonic, I wouldn't be the person I am today. He's basically been my best friend since I was 6 years old, helped me cope through every tragedy life's thrown at me and there's been plenty, yet Sonic has helped me through everything. Everything around me fell apart, everyone left me, but Sonic is the ONE THING that stayed with me. Helped bring happiness into my life during those dark days.
It was early 1998, or quite possibly late 1997 I cannot remember for sure, we had just moved into a new house. My Dad came home one Saturday afternoon with a SEGA Master System console and several games. Sadly, I only remember two of the games in question, and those were Alex Kidd In Miracle World, and Wonder Boy. I hated all the games, and really can't remember playing them much. I always remember what my Mum said to Dad "go out and get her a decent looking game!" and that's exactly what he did. Upon those instructions, he headed off into town that very same day, and brought home Sonic the Hedgehog on the Master System, and I LOVED IT.
Not long after, I remember my Dad saying to me I'm going to bring you home a better console with Sonic, and one day after work, he brought home a SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis 2, complete with Sonic 2, and I just remember being hooked on Sonic from that day forward. All the other Sonic games shortly made their way home with me (Ahh, such fond memories of visiting our local game store back in the 90's asking for the latest Sonic game, but the staff never quite got what I meant when I would visit every weekend saying I want Sonic 3... something! which I later learnt was Sonic 3D, heh), and I basically became completely Sonic obsessed. To the point of saying "I'm Waiiitiiing" complete with the foot tapping about 50 times a day, drawing Sonic nearly every day, watching Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog on VHS, buying Sonic the Comic every fortnight, to thinking Sonic was real and that if I smashed my TV screen I could go and live with Sonic.
Not long after, I remember my Dad saying to me I'm going to bring you home a better console with Sonic, and one day after work, he brought home a SEGA Mega Drive / Genesis 2, complete with Sonic 2, and I just remember being hooked on Sonic from that day forward. All the other Sonic games shortly made their way home with me (Ahh, such fond memories of visiting our local game store back in the 90's asking for the latest Sonic game, but the staff never quite got what I meant when I would visit every weekend saying I want Sonic 3... something! which I later learnt was Sonic 3D, heh), and I basically became completely Sonic obsessed. To the point of saying "I'm Waiiitiiing" complete with the foot tapping about 50 times a day, drawing Sonic nearly every day, watching Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog on VHS, buying Sonic the Comic every fortnight, to thinking Sonic was real and that if I smashed my TV screen I could go and live with Sonic.
How I Began Sonic Collecting
Believe it or not, I have been Sonic collecting ever since I was a kid. It started when I visited a car boot sale in 1998, I found a Matey Sonic bubble bath figure and I remember asking my parents "look it's Sonic, the video game character I like! can I have it?" And being a soft touch, from then onwards they bought me every Sonic item in sight, from the Sonic Mountain Quest Game, the complete Burger King Sonic figure set, an awesome Marks & Spencers blue Sonic t shirt ten sizes too big for me I wore as a nightdress, to a pair of boys second hand Sonic boxer pants from a charity shop, which blew away in the wind when we headed outside! I had Sonic everything.
Unfortunately, the life of my Mega Drive/Genesis was short lived, and in late 1998 upon turning it on one day, every game just, well, didn't work and went crazy glitched, and it was goodbye to Sonic for several years with the console's death! During a day out in a shopping mall in the Winter of that year, a demo of Spyro the Dragon was playing on a TV. It instantly caught my eye, Christmas was on the horizon and my parents kept trying to explain to me you can have a Playstation, or a SEGA Saturn. They explained that there were no Sonic games for the PS1, but the SEGA Saturn had terrible reviews, I sided with the Playstation on this occasion, and it was goodbye to Sonic.
Unfortunately, the life of my Mega Drive/Genesis was short lived, and in late 1998 upon turning it on one day, every game just, well, didn't work and went crazy glitched, and it was goodbye to Sonic for several years with the console's death! During a day out in a shopping mall in the Winter of that year, a demo of Spyro the Dragon was playing on a TV. It instantly caught my eye, Christmas was on the horizon and my parents kept trying to explain to me you can have a Playstation, or a SEGA Saturn. They explained that there were no Sonic games for the PS1, but the SEGA Saturn had terrible reviews, I sided with the Playstation on this occasion, and it was goodbye to Sonic.
From 1999 to 2002, my interest in Sonic faded. All my childhood Sonic stuff got sold at car boot sales, and I just wanted to forget about this "embarrassing" moment in my life.
The Return Of Sonic, And The Start Of My Sonic Collecting Journey
It was the Summer of 2002, and I was at a car boot sale (as per usual!). I saw The Lion King on the Mega Drive / Genesis, another childhood favourite and I suddenly missed this game. I stood there looking at the back of the box, the gameplay images, longing to play it again. I persuaded my parents to buy me it, with the intention of buying another Mega Drive to play it on. Not long after, I had saved some money and bought myself a second hand Mega Drive 2 console, and I fell back in love with this old gem. Of course, I wasn't going to be satisfied with just ONE game, no way! I needed some more. During yet another visit to a car boot sale, there was a stall selling video games. I rummaged through the Mega Drive box, and saw Sonic 1 and thought hey! I used to like Sonic, I'm going to get that. AND THAT WAS IT. I was hooked once again, all the other Sonic games in the series shortly followed, and the following year, 2003, I bought myself a GameCube with Sonic Mega Collection and Sonic Adventure DX, and this is when my love for the Sonic series truly returned.
I was so embarrassed, I was 11, just about to join secondary school and I was starting to become obsessed with something I was into as a child. We had dial up internet at the time, and it was expensive. Every night at 6pm just for an hour, I had internet access. And I would spend that 1 hour every night on Deco Franken looking up the latest Sonic X news and some nights, using that full 60 minutes downloading short French Sonic Underground clips to watch over and over (before the days of YouTube), then I would pop over to Sonic Land, and look at some Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog screenshots and fan fics, oh, and there was Shadow Of A Hedgehog, which had an AWESOME Sonic memorabilia page back in the day! and I would honestly put a beanbag by my door, equipped with a chair on top for added security. My parents couldn't know I was obsessed with Sonic again, not at any cost.
In January of 2004, just before my 12th Birthday and after keeping my returned obsession over Sonic a secret for 2 years, I finally told my parents. I kind of had to, because I just so hit on a kids TV channel called POP! and they showed Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog eps every day (how cool is that!), shortly followed by Sonic X on CITV. Sonic was my whole life all over again, just like when I was a kid, but there was one thing that fascinated me and I couldn't have- the memorabilia.
Throughout the whole of 2004 and most of 2005, I SO wanted to collect Sonic memorabilia again. The reason I couldn't? I was too embarrassed. I collected Sonic stuff as a kid, and being 12 at the time, it wasn't exactly "cool" to go back to collecting something I collected when I was 6. So I pushed it away. Each week I would go to car boot sales and see Sonic stuff everywhere and worse yet, my parents would buy it to sell on at car boot sales and toy fares, man, I was GUTTED! The only thing I was able to admit to wanting in March 2005, was a Sonic McDonald's toy, which I did get, and it made me so happy.
In September of 2005 after having no internet access since 2003, we got broadband for the first time, and a computer that finally worked. I discovered a forum called SonicAnime.net and there was this one topic, I think it was called something like "Show Your Sonic Collection 50K Warning" and it was full of people sharing some amazing Sonic collections, I was completely fascinated. Every evening/night, I would spend hours going through that forum topic, admiring other people's Sonic collections. And then I discovered eBay and there was so much I wanted.
Shortly after, before mentioning anything about wanting to start Sonic collecting, Mum surprised me with a Sonic Yearbook from 1992, and oh my gosh I loved it so much. And then in T.K.Maxx there was a Toy Island Sonic X figure which Mum asked if I wanted, and this time instead of shying away, I said yes! Finally the embarrassment was fading, I showed my parents the Sonic collection topic on SonicAnime.net, showed them other people's collections, and then a friend of my Mum's would order me Sonic stuff from Japan (I didn’t have an eBay account or PayPal at the time and I gave her the money)
It wasn't really until the Summer of 2006 when I made my own eBay account, that I collected Sonic full time, man I went crazy with collecting! Real crazy. My collection quickly grew, and I collected until around 2010. Pokemon then caught my eye and all the glorious cute plushies, so yet again, it was goodbye to Sonic collecting and my attention went fully on Pokemon. I ended up putting much of my Sonic collection into storage, and selling many not-so-rare items.
When my Dad passed away in 2016, I ended up in a very bad way, I had CBT therapy and whilst it was about as useful as a chocolate teapot I will always remember one piece of advice- "try and rekindle your interests" and that's exactly what I did. I woke up one morning, and my interest in Pokemon had completely disappeared, and my Sonic obsession returned, he helped me cope, I have spent 5 years selling off my very extensive Pokemon plush collection, and I started full time Sonic collecting, and this time my collection became bigger than ever!