Unlucky Knuckles

"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
 * Bee Bot
 * Crab Bot
 * Motobug
 * Cubot
 * Dr. Eggman
 * Fastidious Beaver
 * Lady Goat
 * Mayor Fink
 * Mega
 * Mike the Ox
 * Old Monkey
 * Orbot
 * Team Sonic
 * Amy Rose
 * Knuckles the Echidna
 * Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Sticks the Badger
 * Walrus Child
 * Walrus Male
 * Wild Cat

Plot

 * For the transcript of this episode, see Unlucky Knuckles/Transcript.

On the beach, Sonic and Knuckles are playing a game of Gopher Ball against each other under Tails' supervision. With Knuckles losing to Sonic in a coin flip, Sonic is allowed to go first and gets a hole-in-one. However, Knuckles keeps missing his shots and quickly gets sloppy. 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.

Later at Amy's House, Knuckles is moping and fuming about his losing streak to Sonic during this week in front of Amy and Sticks. While Amy is drawn into talking about it with Knuckles, Sticks suspects 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. 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 into a beehive. Despite his injuries, Knuckles visits Sonic at his shack for some trash-talking, but Sonic is just worried about Knuckle's well-being.

At Dr. Eggman's lair, Dr. Eggman is practicing his reflexes in a game of laser tag with Orbot, Cubot and his other robots, where Eggman wins due to an improbable shot. Orbot chalks it up to a shift in the luck balance of the universe, which gives Eggman the idea of using his current lucky streak to launch an invasion at Bygone Island which cannot be foiled by Team Sonic. Meanwhile, Knuckles resumes purging his bad luck by walking in the middle of a meteor shower, trying to get hit. Sonic, Tails and Amy are getting worried, and Sonic is convinced to talk sense into Knuckles, but they only end up arguing over what contributed to Sonic's victories. Tails and Amy try seeking out Sticks for help, but she is confident Knuckles will turn his luck around before he is killed. Back at the meteor shower, Sonic convinces Knuckles to stop his self-injuries by having a Gopher Ball rematch with him, which is spoiled by Eggman passing by in his Eggmobile and ruining Knuckles' shot.

In the Village, Eggman, Orbot and Cubot's invasion is going well, when 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 does not necessarily air in their production order.

Censorship

 * 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.

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.