User blog comment:Godisme/The Lost Agent/@comment-1906999-20101027180416

It looks like the new arc is about the substitute badge, if not other Substitutes themselves. I think you're wrong on one thing in your blog though; I don't think he stole Ichigo's badge, I think that guys had his own badge. If you look at the string on it, Ichigo's has a braided cloth-like string, while the one shown has a chain. Reviewing the chapter again, Ichi's badge didn't even have the string on it, so i really doubt that the new guy stole it. Even without that, I got the feeling like it was his own badge.

If my assumption above is correct, then I feel like this could be remarkably similar to the Visoreds. I went back and reviewed the manga when Ukitake gave Ichigo the badge, and Ukitake said that they have given several badges out over the centuries to other Substitutes. If it turns out that the new guy is an old substitute, there is going to be a ton of people saying this is just redoing Ichigo and the Visoreds like I'm doing now.

I expected this to be a set-up chapter, and I was right. Nothing that great in itself, but I have high hopes of things to come. I'm off to find everything about the badge that's been mentioned in the manga so I have half of an idea of what to expect!