More Misinformation

So, it turns out, I was wrong...again...in the information I thought I was relaying from the Odyssey Scoop. Those five album covers I posted the other day are not final; they were created by a fan. I personally think they look wonderful, and AIO should consider using them as the final products. But they aren't official.

Anyway, here's some breaking news: The Blackgaard Chronicles is out today! And there's a special Official Video Podcast to celebrate. It features a "pop-upisode"--A Name, Not a Number, Part I. If you don't remember from the Album 50 videos, a Pop-upisode is an Odyssey episode put to a video with a whole bunch of behind-the-scenes information running throughout it. It should be very interesting.

The word from Jacob Isom (and I'm pretty sure I can trust this information, since he has his own copy) is that The Blackgaard Chronicles features the thirty AIO episodes pertaining to Dr. Blackgaard over 13 hours of audio entertainment on 10 CDs. And just like the Novacom Saga, there's a bonus disc, but in this case, it's a DVD featuring a 30-minute interview with Paul McCusker and Phil Lollar about the creation of Regis Blackgaard. But Jacob argues that the best feature of the new collection may be the brand-new illustrations of Jack Allen, Jason Whittaker, Dr. Blackgaard, Richard Maxwell, and Phillip Glossman!! This alone makes me very badly want to get the set for myself. I so hope this new artwork is released somewhere sometime soon.

One other thing: Just before the pop-upisode starts in the newest video podcast, we see Brock opening the Blackgaard Chronicles package, and behind him there's a dry-erase board that has written on it: "55 Episodes Sgt York The Labyrinth" Could these be the titles of the two three-parters we've heard talk of?! Only time will tell. :D

Thanks for reading! Be sure to tell me what you're thinking about all this new stuff in the comments!

P.S. Here's the back cover for The Blackgaard Chronicles, if you were wondering what episodes are included:

EDIT: There's more breaking news, now that I've watched the Pop-Upisode!!! If you watch the whole thing, almost exactly halfway through, you'll notice that the title of Album 55 has been released! It will be called The Deep End. I was totally not expecting to learn this so soon! Some other special things included within the video were original drafts of The Blackgaard Chronicles' artwork, and original drawings of Dr. Blackgaard. And for those of you who like the Imagination Station series, at the end of the video, you get a peek at the newest book's cover. Also, we get to see new illustrations of Jack Allen and Jason, in addition to the ones already released on Album 23's new cover! This all made the time it took to watch the Pop-Upisode very worth it!

...And So It All Keeps Coming Together...

I just got done listening to the episode, and I don't know about you, but I'm quite shocked! We just met the Stiletto, and already we know who he is. Of course, I already knew who he was, but I wasn't expecting him to be revealed so soon! And I especially don't understand how he can be involved with it while being a good guy. I know that the writers wouldn't have made him turn bad, so I assume that he's working with the Secret Service against the counterfeiting ring from the inside. The big question is how he is so well-known by Wally, Polehaus, and Tanner. How could he have become such a big-name gangster who is supposed to be dead in just the few years it's been since he left Odyssey? Now I really can't wait for next week's episode. This was the worst cliff-hanger of all!

Well, we finally found out why Penny's "Christianity" sounded so suspicious. Dr. Trask started out by saying that he would call their group "a group of like-minded people of faith who are seeking God together." Stop right there. "Seeking God?" If you are a true Christian, you have unlimited access to God and His blessings, so they shouldn't need to seek God. Romans 3:11--"there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." He says, however, that they seek God as one would seek a painter or composer by learning as much as they can about that person's work. "We're dedicated to finding the beauty of God in nature, art--within ourselves. And in doing that, we get to know him better. And through Him, we find His beauty inside of us. We can see our true potential--who He wants us to be." Now there isn't too too much wrong with that. We can see the glory and attributes of God in a small sense by looking at creation. But creation is fallen. The beauty of the image of God is marred by the curse. We do not have any natural goodness inside of ourselves. Romans 3:12b/Psalm 14:3b--"there is no one who does good, not even one." Furthermore, Dr. Trask describes the Bible as having "the poetry, the prose, the stories, the insights into our humanity. It is pure revelation." Now all that is right, but did he say that it is God's Word? It does give us insight into our humanity, but probably not in the way he's thinking. He also says, "I believe that God has created within us something unique and beautiful. But over time, that uniqueness and beauty gets covered up with the soot and constraints of life. Our vibrancy and color fades. Our little group wants to restore who we really are. There's a beauty inside of you Connie--a potential you haven't begun to explore." Yeesh! And Connie doesn't see through any of this! Jeremiah 17:9a--"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure." Psalm 51:5--"I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." I don't see anything there about "uniqueness and beauty" or "vibrancy and color." I sure hope Connie talks to Whit about this. She nearly fell into this trap twenty years ago. I hope she's learned by now.

I was so glad that Emily and Buck and Penny and Wooton weren't together in this episode. There was a small amount of talk about the subject between Penny and Connie, and now we know that Penny feels the same about Wooton as he feels about her. Big surprise. But we did hear from Buck. And I'm still not sure whether or not he knows exactly what he's caught up in. I think he knows that Mr. Skint is involved in something illegal, but I haven't seen any evidence that he knows it's a counterfeiting ring. When Jay confronted him about it at Whit's End though, he almost sounded like he was trying to make himself sound like he knew nothing about what Jay was talking about, but maybe he actually did know. I'm not sure. I guess Robby Bruce does do a pretty good job with his acting--even if he gives Buck what sounds to me like a fake accent. In any event, I certainly hope Eugene and Matthew can keep him from stealing back the AppleBerry.

Detective Polehaus is finally learning a lesson about trust, but now that he is getting more trusting, I don't think the actor is doing as good a job of playing him. He isn't sounding convincing as a tough detective who just got proven wrong. He's too okay with the fact that his whole "worldview" as he calls it was crushed. But aside from that, there was another thing that I noticed. When Whit told him about seeing Agent Tanner at the place to which he had tracked Monty's location, Polehaus told him, "Don't do anything until I get there!" and Whit answered, "No promises." I don't know what other episode that reminds me of, but I remember another situation very similar to this happening in the past where a detective or policeman or somebody told Whit to stay put, but Whit didn't, and the detective ended up being in on the plot against Whit. If any of you can tell me what episode I'm thinking of, please tell me in the comments! Anyway, according to that episode's reasoning, I'm really starting to think that Detective Polehaus might not be who we've thought he was. And maybe Agent Tanner is telling the truth for the most part.

So that brings us to Agent Tanner. I still don't know what to think about her. At first, when Whit approached her as she was entering the Stiletto's hideout, and she gave that explanation about why she was there and what she had to do with Monty, I was ready to believe her. But then when Jason seemed to give sketchy details about her, I wasn't sure anymore. He said that she had been a double-crosser, but to whom? He didn't trust her with his true identity, but that makes sense. Obviously Polehaus and Tanner are on different teams, but which one is on our side?! My guess is that we'll find out for sure next week since Polehaus is on his way to the Stiletto's hideout, and he's bound to run into Agent Tanner.

Well I think that's about all I have this week. I'm not going to throw out a bunch of questions, because I don't have time, and I don't think there are any more than I've already asked. Other than of course: What is Jason doing as the ringleader of a counterfeiting ring?!?!

Please comment!

P.S. Check out the news at AIO Wiki! It has the final cover for the new Kidsboro release, along with a really special video from Brock that shows us the covers for five new album repacks! Very exciting! Although I'm not sure whether I should trust some of those pictures that Brock showed. They don't look up to the normal quality of Gary Locke's work.