OK, let's put on our detective hats for this one...
The clues from Brian Ward via the Shout Factory website:
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Still working on XX, but hmmm... We may have just locked in XXI. And that one's a DOOZY!
Eh, XXI's a tad bit tricky. You'll understand why soon-ish. I wouldn't necessarily expected a shorter turnaround. But it should be a fun set.
Another Poster: "I can hear Jordan telling Brian he got the rights to TWO major titles and immediately bumped 2 to the next volume so that Volume 20 could be steller.." Brian: "that's actually precisely how the conversation between me and Jordan went. But we're not bumping them to the next volume. Maybe the one after that. Dunno. Haven't decided."
We didn't gun for an all-Joel set. It just turned out that way. The next set won't be an all-Mike set. Neither will XXII.
DO NOT expect an all-Mike box for XXI.
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Ok, so what can we take away from those clues?
1) They locked in all 4 episodes on 21 while still looking for an episode for 20. To me, that suggests that the episodes on 21 might form some logical set or grouping. Otherwise, why not shift one of those locked in episodes to 20?
2) It is both a DOOZY, a bit tricky, and a fun set. While "DOOZY" is in the mind of the speaker, my guess is that it has at least one episode that will be an "unlikely" release. "A tad-bit tricky" might suggest either a complicated rights process or possibly an agreement that certain episodes are released as a group (this plays into #1 above).
3) The bumped episodes from Volume 20 will not be put in Volume 21. These were likely two Mike episodes.
4) Brian said twice that Vol 21 would NOT be an all-Mike set. However, he did NOT say it would be a 2 Joel/2 Mike set. Nor, did he say that it would not be an all Joel set again.
OK, my gut reaction after seeing his first two quotes is: could they have possibly negotiated the rights to the Gamera episodes after all? Seems unlikely, I know. However, that would satisfy the doozy and tricky quotes. Maybe they only got a limited print agreement or something. Anyway, I realize that this is a crazy guess, but it was my first guess. It also seems unlikely that they would do two Joel sets in a row.
Any other theories on what could constitute a "tricky" and "doozy" of a set?
Don