This week we’ve seen exciting new trailers for movies and TV shows like The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Ahsoka returned with another intrigue-filled episode. And we even saw My Little Pony Magic cards. But that’s not all that happened. From exciting Baldur’s Gate 3 announcements to DC zombies, and public domain debates, there have been quite a few exciting stories circulating.
Here are some of our favorite pop-culture news odds & ends that you don’t want to miss reading about.
This Week’s Odds & Ends in News:
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Reveals Release Date and 100+ Hours Worth of Content
- Baldur’s Gate 3 Voice Actors Will Play a D&D Game in Character
- DC Comics’ Fables Is and Then Is Not in the Public Domain
- Rogers: The Musical Album Is Now Streaming
- Pokémon Happy Meals Return to McDonald’s
- A Build-a-Bear Documentary Is Coming in October
- You Can Soon Back DCeased – A Zombicide Game on Kickstarter
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Reveals Release Date and 100+ Hours Worth of Content
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the sequel to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy VII Remake, finally revealed its release date. Fans eagerly anticipating this new Final Fantasy content can rejoice, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will release on February 29, 2024. That’s not so far away now! Alongside a release date, PlayStation revealed a trailer with a ton of new footage from the game. But it’s merely a tease of what’s to come. As GameSpot reports, Naoki Hamaguchi, the game’s director, reveals, “While the main storyline is bigger and more ambitious than the previous game’s narrative, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth also embraces the concept of ‘free exploration,’ with compelling stories, fun mini-games, powerful monsters and so much more to find throughout the world map… We hope you will explore this world in great detail, as nearly 100 hours of adventure awaits.”
Check out our review of the Final Fantasy VII Remake, here:
Baldur’s Gate 3 Voice Actors Will Play a D&D Game in Character
Loving the Dungeons & Dragons elements of Baldur’s Gate 3? Well, you’re in luck. The voice actors of Karlach, Gale Dekarios, Shadowheart, Wyll Ravengard, Astarion, and Lae’zel are all getting together to play a tabletop game of D&D.
This Friday at 7pm BST/2pm PDT join us and the cast of Baldurs Gate 3 for a very special live D&D adventure on Twitch! /highrollersdnd @larianstudios #dnd #baldursgate3 #ad pic.twitter.com/889AYParv7
— High Rollers (@HighRollersDnD) September 18, 2023
And they’ll play this special Dungeons & Dragons game as their Baldur’s Gate 3 characters. That’s what we call a full circle. The game will stream on HighRollersDnd’s Twitch channel on 9/22 at 7pm BST/2pm PDT.
Check out how you can add Baldur’s Gate 3 characters to your Dungeons & Dragons game, here:
DC Comics’ Fables Is and Then Is Not in the Public Domain
There was much excitement in the air when Bill Willingham announced that his comic series Fables was in the public domain. He noted on his blog, “As of now, 15 September 2023, the comic book property called Fables, including all related Fables spin-offs and characters, is now in the public domain. What was once wholly owned by Bill Willingham is now owned by everyone, for all time. It’s done, and as most experts will tell you, once done it cannot be undone. Take-backs are neither contemplated nor possible.”
However, in a statement shared with IGN, DC Comics has confirmed this is not the case from its perspective. It notes, “The Fables comic books and graphic novels published by DC, and the storylines, characters, and elements therein, are owned by DC and protected under the copyright laws of the United States and throughout the world in accordance with applicable law and are not in the public domain. DC reserves all rights and will take such action as DC deems necessary or appropriate to protect its intellectual property rights.”
We guess we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out.
Rogers: The Musical Album Is Now Streaming
Rogers: The Musical began life as a fun Easter egg on the Disney+ series Hawkeye. And then it actually came to life at Disneyland’s Hyperion Theater. Sadly, this fun MCU musical ended its Disneyland run on August 31. But now it’s available for all to enjoy. As we saw on Gizmodo, Rogers: The Musical is officially streaming on Spotify. You can check out each of its 12 tracks below.
Learn more about Disneyland’s version of Rogers: The Musical with our article, here:
Pokémon Meals Return to McDonald’s
‘Tis the season! Halloween season? Well, that’s true, but it’s also Pokémon season, at least at McDonald’s. While Pumpkin Spice returns to other fast food chains, it’s Pokémon that is making its grand homecoming at the golden arches. Pokémon Happy Meals will be available until October 16. These meals will come in a Pikachu-shaped Happy Meal box.
pika pika pic.twitter.com/89ckh6mkP2
— McDonald's (@McDonalds) September 18, 2023
They will also feature booster packs with four Pokémon cards randomly selected out of the available 15. GameSpot shares that these cards are from Scarlet and Violet TCG. At least one card, either Sprigatito, Fuecoco, Quaxly, Cetitan, Pikachu, or Klawf, will be holographic. Well, we have to say it. It’s time to catch ’em all.
For more Pokémon in real life, check out everything we know about Pokémon‘s upcoming live-action series, here:
A Build-a-Bear Documentary Is Coming in October
Eager for more fascinating documentaries about cultural artifacts that you have never bothered to question before?
Well, Unstuffed brings you just that. It’s a documentary that “tells the story of the famed Build-a-Bear workshop. Weaving together stories from when Maxine Clark first conceived the idea, the company’s struggles to stay afloat, and the endless happiness it has provided for children and adults alike.” For once, it doesn’t seem like there’s too much seedy underbelly involved. Just a little bit of niche storytelling.
Check out other upcoming toy-inspired movies, here:
You Can Soon Back DCeased – A Zombicide Game on Kickstarter
“Protect Earth from the Anti-Life Virus and its hosts in this epic DC Universe Zombicide game!” DCeased, DC Comics’ zombie event, will soon live on in game form, hopefully. CMON ” a studio and publisher of great tabletop games,” including Marvel Zombies, has created a Kickstarter page in order to bring the game to undead life.
The Kickstarter isn’t up quite yet, but save it today and be notified on launch. Its zombie Superman certainly looks promising!
If you love zombies, check out a video on which pop-cultural zombie virus is the most realistic, here:
