There has been a lot of news over the past two months for me to get caught up on, after a longer than expected break, so I’m going to go ahead and get started.
I’m going to start off with the tons of news about Sonic Forces. Since Gamescom 2017, we have seen numerous new gameplay features, characters and levels. We have a release date, which is November 7th, less than a month away. In addition to that we have a new story trailer, a new DLC “Episode Shadow”, which allows Shadow to be played as in over ten Modern Sonic stages as well as three exclusive stages. Episode Shadow also acts as a prequel to Sonic Forces and explains some things in better detail like Shadow’s allegiance, more on the mysterious Infinite and the fate of Team Dark. This is also Shadow’s first playable appearance in a mainstream Sonic game since Sonic 2006. New levels that have recently been shown are Classic Casino Forest, the new Tag Team Stage, Space Port ( or Chemical Plant), and a new boss fight with Infinite. A new gameplay feature is introduced called “Rental Hero” which allows the player to swap between two custom heroes. It has been confirmed that both Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces stories are connected. Last thing I’ll add, a new mobile game has been soft-launched called Sonic Forces Speed Battle, a mobile racing game that combines gameplay elements from Sonic Rivals and Sonic Dash.
Sonic Boom is already five episodes away from finishing Season two. The second season already had Vector the Crocodile’s first appearance in Sonic Boom and now D-fekt the robot from Sonic Boom Fire & Ice. He will be making a return within the next five weeks in an episode titled “ Return to Beyond the Valley of Cubots”. Then there is also still Shadow the Hedgehog, Metal Sonic and maybe some other mystery returning characters for the 2-part season finale which airs on Saturday November 11th and Saturday November 18th at 6:00 PM on Boomerang. Now still no confirmation on a season 3, now that could change with Mipcom currently happening in France. Not much else as far as Sonic Boom news goes, except for confirmation that Rouge the Bat will never appear in the series.
There was a small amount of news for the Sonic the Hedgehog 2019 movie, that news was mostly the transition between distributors. This decision came after Sony put the film in turnaround and the film rights expired, so now everything is getting transferred to Paramount Pictures. Now the same team behind the film is still intact, now if it’ll meet the 2019 deadline or not is unknown.
The Sly Cooper series is now 15-years old as of September 23rd, and now the TV series is I’m assuming coming along pretty well. According to CEO of Blockade Entertainment, Brad Foxhoven, the show is in pre-production stages and that a teaser at events like Paris Games Week or PSX (Playstation Experience) would be too early for a teaser. The show however was screened in some sort of form at Mipcom/Mipjunior in France and became the 11th most screened animated show at the event. Still no word on Sly 5 or a video game based on the show, however we do know that Rainmaker is currently Not involved with the Sly Cooper movie at this point, but maybe later if the show does really well. Sanzaru Games announced a couple of months back, that they were developing a new Marvel VR game, so maybe Sly 5 or another Sly game will come after that. I personally want Sly 4’s ending to be resolved and Sly out of Ancient Egypt.
Netflix released the second season of Activision/Blizzard’s original series, Skylanders Academy. Skylanders Academy season two is not only a big improvement over season one, but also introduces a deeper story surrounding both Spyro and Kaos. There are also new and returning characters this season like Cynder, Sprocket, Malefor, Strycore, Ninjini and Dark Spyro. Crash Bandicoot did not make an appearance this season, neither are there plans to bring in Dr. Neo Cortex yet. Also there is a brand new intro, which I will leave the video below, no longer does the intro use a book with character drawings, instead they use character animations while going around the Skylands. There are thirteen episodes this season, unlike season one which had 12 episodes, including the 44-minute pilot episode. With season two improving with characters, locations, humor and story (also the major cliffhanger ending to the season, with numerous things unresolved), then I can’t wait to what season 3 will have in store. In other Skylanders Academy news, Activision/Blizzard has signed a new agreement with 41 Entertainment for global distribution of the show, which means home entertainment distribution (DVD/Blu-Ray), Non-linear TV (Pay TV and Free TV) and EST, however the show will still be exclusive to Netflix on the SVOD platform.
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales has released on DVD/Blu-Ray earlier in the month, now the DVD has a lack of special features and not even one deleted scene, while the Blu-Ray has all of the features. Now the film was funnier than On Stranger Tides, however I did Not like how Jack was portrayed in this one. Otherwise an alright movie, but I hope Pirates 6 fixes the mistakes and plot holes of Pirates 5.
The X Files returns for it’s eleventh season in 2018 (probably January). This season will mark the second revival of the series after the end of the ninth season in 2001 and the second movie in 2008, the first revival being the tenth season in 2015-16, which only had six episodes. There are only going to be ten episodes for this season, only two of those are mythology episodes, while the rest are (I’m guessing) the standard unexplained/supernatural episodes.
Maze Runner 3 releases in January, which is about 3-4 months away from release and the first trailer has arrived. The official plot synopsis “In the conclusion to the Maze Runner trilogy, Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.” The film was originally planned for release this year but was delayed.
Dreamworks released season five of both Dreamworks Dragons Race to the Edge and The Adventures of Puss in Boots in July-August this year. Both series are about to come to a close (series finale), with season five of both shows building up steam for their 6th seasons. Also both shows ended the 5th seasons with major cliffhangers, which both shows will resolve and finish anywhere between December 2017-February 2018. Now Dreamworks Dragons may or may not have anymore seasons taking place between the 2nd or 3rd movies, as for Puss in Boots it might lead right into Puss in Boots 2: Nine Lives and Forty thieves, hard to tell considering the shows timeline is difficult to pinpoint.
That’s pretty much all I got to share right now, but remember to check back regularly for more news and updates about Sonic and other media. Now as for the (New as of 2018) Youtube Channel BlueKnight V2.0, I will try to get more videos on there as soon as I can. Now the next episode of Sonic Boom titled “Don’t Make Me Angry” airs this Saturday at 6:00 PM on Boomerang. Sonic The Hedgehog: 26 years of a video game icon Part 5 will be posted shortly after the release of Sonic Forces.
New 2018 YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK8rkBGwt6BvaV3HkQ2cxdg
Sonic Stadium:
https://board.sonicstadium.org/profile/43022-blue-knightbluestreak/
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/Blueknightv2
Twitter:
Blueknight V2.0 
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