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"Unlucky Knuckles" is the thirteenth episode in the Sonic Boom television series. It first aired on 14 January 2015 in France and on 14 February 2015 in the United States.
Synopsis
Knuckles feels that the only reason Sonic always bests him is that Sonic has better luck. So, Knuckles tries to run out his bad luck and reset the luck balance of the universe by constantly putting himself in harm's way.
Appearances
Characters:
- Badniks
- Cubot
- Dr. Eggman
- Fastidious Beaver
- Lady Goat
- Mayor Fink
- Mega
- Mike the Ox
- Old Monkey
- Orbot
- Stratford
- Team Sonic
- Walrus Male
- Wild Cat
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Misc.:
- Gopher Ball (first appearance)
Plot
On the beach near the peaks on Seaside Island, Sonic and Knuckles are playing a game of Gopher Ball against each other, with Tails acting as the official judge. To decide who goes first, the duo decides to flip a coin, which Knuckles has Tails do as he does not trust Sonic. As the coin is flipped, Knuckles calls head, only for it to be tails. Sonic is thus allowed to go first and gets a hole-in-one. When Knuckles attempts however, his ball is diverted from the hole by a falling leaf. Knuckles tries again, but his shot is blocked by some birds passing by (which Sonic noted is Gopher Ball 101). Knuckles keeps trying, but quickly gets sloppy with frustration. Sonic and Tails tease him by contributing his loss to his lack of skills, but Knuckles insists it is only bad luck, and snaps temperamentally after hitting the hole with his club after throwing a fit.
Later at Amy's House, Knuckles is moping around and fuming about his losing streak to Sonic this week in front of Amy and Sticks. Eventually, Amy is drawn into talking with Knuckles when she tries to tell him to stop killing her garden's grass with his stomping. Emotionally unstable, Knuckles keeps complaining about how lucky Sonic is, prompting Amy to talk to him about it, only for Knuckles to reject her. Hearing Knuckles' talk about about luck makes Sticks suspect there has been a shift in the luck balance of the universe and advises Knuckles to burn through his bad luck by bringing himself as much misfortune as possible as fast as he can. Though Amy is skeptical, Knuckles believes it and starts bringing harm to himself, such as dropping boulders on himself, jumping into canyons, and shooting himself out of a cannon and into a beehive. Through it all, Knuckles ignores the pain and talks about how he did not think about this before.
Back at his shack, Sonic is reading a book when a heavily-injured Knuckles appears for some trash-talking and to warn Sonic about his beat-down in their next Gopher Ball game. Sonic on the other hand, is worried that Knuckles is in no condition for anything. Knuckles, however, ignores Sonic and goes off gloating about having the luck balance of the universe tipped in his favor, only for a refrigerator to land on him.
At Dr. Eggman's lair, Dr. Eggman is practicing his reflexes in a game of laser tag with Orbot, Cubot and some Badniks using low-set Disintegrator Rays. After trying to cheat, Eggman falls and his raygun goes off and hits all of his opponents in one shot, winning Eggman the match. Orbot chalks it up to a shift in the luck balance of the universe, which gives Eggman an idea. Meanwhile, Knuckles resumes purging his bad luck by walking in the middle of a meteor shower in a large crater, trying to get hit. Watching the scene, Sonic, Tails and Amy are getting worried about Knuckles' survival, and Sonic is convinced by his friends to talk sense into Knuckles, but they only end up arguing over whether it is skills (Sonic) or luck (Knuckles) that contribute to Sonic's victories. Back at Eggman's lair, Eggman has decided that since the luck balance of the universe has shifted in his favor, he will use this opportunity to launch a full-force invasion of Seaside Island which cannot be foiled by Team Sonic.
Back on the island, Tails and Amy seeks out Sticks in her burrow to have her help them stop Knuckles' self-injuries. Despite speculating that terrible things could happen to Knuckles if he fails to shift the luck balance of the universe, Sticks is confident that he will succeed before he is killed. Back at the meteor shower, Sonic convinces Knuckles to stop by having a Gopher Ball rematch with him, which is spoiled by Eggman passing by in his Eggmobile and ruining Knuckles' shot.
In the Unnamed Village, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot's invasion is going well, during which Team Sonic shows up and corner Eggman. As Knuckles appears though, falling debris scatters Team Sonic, allowing Eggman to escape while bragging about his good luck. Sonic then criticizes Knuckles for being a jinx, and provokes him into joining Dr. Eggman; Amy attempts to call Knuckles back, but Sonic stops her, revealing that this is all a part of his plan. Back in the Village, Eggman brings forth the Mega to terrorize the Villagers when Knuckles arrives to join him. It is then the Mega destroys itself due to a malfunction triggered by Knuckles' bad luck, forcing Eggman and his lackeys to flee (though Eggman continues to take it all in stride). Knuckles is disheartened, but Sonic and Sticks arrive to convince him that he was on a secret mission, and by having his bad luck overpower Eggman's good luck, Knuckles saved the Village, thus ending his unlucky streak. As the team goes home, Knuckles wonders where his bad luck went, which turns out to have been passed onto Tails when debris falls on top of the fox.
Goofs
- Dr. Eggman refers to the Mega as a new robot and basically a prototype, despite it already having appeared in "Translate This".
- This is because this episode was produced before "Translate This", as the episodes do not necessarily air in their production order.
Regional differences
- The scene after the fridge lands on Knuckles cuts off the fridge door opening showing him inside of it in the UK. This is due to the fact that trapping oneself in fridge can cause one to suffocate.
- However, it remained uncensored on the DVD release.
Title in other languages
| Language | Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 倒霉的纳克鲁斯 | Unlucky Knuckles |
| Finnish | Epäonninen Knuckles | Unlucky Knuckles |
| French | Knuckles de la poise | Knuckles' Bad Luck |
| German | Pechvogel Knuckles | Unlucky Knuckles |
| Hungarian | Boxer balszerencséje | Knuckles' bad luck |
| Italian | Sfortuna universale | Universal misfortune |
| Japanese | ツイてないナックルズ | |
| Korean | 운 없는 날 | Unlucky Day |
| Polish | Pechowiec Knuckles | Unlucky Knuckles |
| Romanian | Knuckles ghinionistul | Knuckles the unlucky |
| Russian | Невезучий Наклз | Unlucky Knuckles |
| Spanish (Latin America) | Un Knuckles Sin Suerte | A Knuckles Without Luck |
| Turkish | Knuckles'ın Başarısızlığı | Knuckles' Failure |
| Ukrainian | Нещасливий Наклз | Unlucky Knuckles |
Trivia
- The circumstances surrounding the airing of this episode make a few references to the common superstitions about bad luck:
- This episode aired in the United States the day after Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th is recognized as the day of bad luck.
- This episode was aired as the thirteenth in the Sonic Boom television series which is considered a unlucky number.
- The book that Sonic reads at his shack is Sonic's Autobiography, a Toy that can be obtained in Sonic Boom: Shattered Crystal in Q-N-C's Toy Shop.
- Orbot and Cubot's Sonic and Tails masks from "Buster" are seen again in this episode.
- The cannon used by Knuckles to shoot himself out the mine is the same one he used in "Circus of Plunders".
- This episode marks the second time Knuckles joined Dr. Eggman, the first time being in Sonic Boom #1-#2 in the Sonic Boom comic series, although he was a covert agent the first time.
- This is the first episode where Cubot does not speak
- The plot of this episode was adapted for Sonic Boom 03 - Pas de chance, Knuckles !.
- This episode aired in Finland as the sixth episode in the series.
References
- ↑ Sonic Boom : Unlucky Knuckles. Zap2it.com. Retrieved on 24 January 2015.
- ↑ Cartoon Network - Schedule (2015/10/19). Retrieved on 8 March 2017.
