Exactly about them rumours, and I have seen SO MANY pictures of Shadow in Sonic Boom and some are poorly done, others look legit, so fans do tend to go crazy and interpret things the way THEY want it so much so that things can get a little confusing for the rest of us. Yeah I'm in the same boat as you, I see no reason for extra characters, especially when they have all the talent already - or have characters that already work - not these new hash-ups. They already made that mistake by making Big the cat and now Sega have pretty much deleted him from memory. Ugh! But yeah overall it does look VERY good. I reckon they are stalling for Christmas. It makes sense. And they want the money. The series itself and possibly the game may already be complete. By I could be wrong.
Anyway, it's a pleasure to talk to you as always. let's see what happens!