The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 120

The 25 Recap - 5th Era

How appropriate to end out this year with this wrap up. 

The 5th era includes…. 

• Sonic the Hedgehog 101-125

This era felt like it was everything at once and yet nothing at all. We returned to the short and silly sand alone stories of old, but still had serious arcs and continuity mixed in. Half the book felt like it was still the Knuckles series and we had left overs from the previous eras sprinkled through out. The tone veered wildly from over the top parody to dark “edgy” tragedy, often within the very same issue. All in all this era was the very definition of “a mixed bag.” 

Major events of the era are…. 

• Antoine is reunited with his dad - StH 102
• Elias runs away from home - StH 102 
• Eggman kills his brother Colin - StH 105
• Snively is robotized - StH 105
• The Overlanders are finally rescued by Sonic and Company - StH 105
• Station Square agrees to provide a home to the Overlanders - StH 106
• Chaos Knuckles brings everyone back from the dark dimension - StH 106
• First appearance of “Jani-Ca” - StH 106
• Ducly’s abusive boyfriend dies - StH 107
• Chaos Knuckles teams up with Dimitri and tries to bring peace to the two Echidna groups - StH 107 
• Hope Kintobor becomes a resident of Knothole - StH 108
• Rotor frees his family - StH 109
• Robotropolis is destroyed and the Source of All along with it - StH 110
• Sally gives up the Sword of Acorns, the last link to the Source of All - StH 111
• Scourge escapes into prison, but gets beaten by Antoine - StH 112
• Mammoth Mogul returns - StH 113
• Mammoth Mogul holds Dimitri hostage to get to Knuckles - StH 114
• Introduction of Tommy Turtle - StH 117 
• Eggman and Snively are permanently deroboticized by the Bem - StH 118
• Geoffrey and Hershey become a couple - StH 118
• Knuckles seemingly dies - StH 118 
• Bunnie meets her arch-nemesis Jack Rabbit - StH 119
• Elias is found, married to Meg and with a child on the way - StH 121
• Knuckles is finds he’s not dead but in an alternate reality crated by the chaos emeralds and he meets the echidna  “god” Aurora - StH 121
• Mina becomes a singer - StH 121
• Vector and Julie-Su “bury the hatchet” - StH 122
• Love triangle comes to an end and Sally and Sonic become a couple again - StH 123
• All of the Robians, save Jules, are derobotized - StH 123
• Shadow returns - StH 124
• The Xorda attack and Mobius is revealed to be Earth - StH 124
• Knuckles “comes back to life” but loses his powers - StH 125
• Sonic “dies” to save the world but finds himself lost in space instead - StH 125  

Favorite thing about the era: The character interaction

There was a lot of attempt to bring characters together that you normally would not see. Some of it was wasted potential, like the Bunnie, Tails, and Ducly team up, Bunnie vs Rouge, or any of Sonic’s interactions with his “love interests”.  

Some of it was poorly executed like Sonic’s and Tails’s conversion about girls, Jules’s emotional journey when confronted with being a robot forever, or Twan realizing he doesn’t need to be hero for his father to love him.

But when they got it right, it was very much appreciated. Nicole and Rotor just hanging out and chatting about code, Mina and Sally talking out their issues together, Rob befriending Armand, Lupe helping Chuck to forgive himself, and Vector and Julie-Su finally letting bygones be bygones. These are the highlights of the era. 

Least favorite thing about the era: It’s boring. 

Outside of the few good moments I mentioned and a few really awful instants of writing/art, most of the era is forgettable. I just finished reading through the whole thing and I still struggled to remembered what “major events” even did happen. I had pull out the wiki to make that list on top. 

A lot of it just feels inconsequential even if it isn’t. “The Last Robian” is such a non-story even though it changes the complete course of the comic, Rouge’s true introduction to the series barely has any plot or characterization, and all of the Green Knuckles arc just blends together after while. 

I’ve debated this several times before, but I would rather read/watch something that is flawed yet interesting over something that’s competently made but boring. This not even competent and it’s still dull. That’s why I consider this era to be the worst era of the entire comic.  Yes, you could make the argument that the upcoming eras are objectively worse in terms of writing, but they’re at least memorable in their awfulness. And good things did manage to come out of those terrible stories, but the with exception of like five issues, most of what’s covered in this era is ignored forever afterward. There’s nothing to be gleaned here and I won’t becoming back to any of it outside of a marathon like this. 

Favorite Antoine Story: “Mistaken Identity Crisis!” StH 112 by Benny Lee (a.k.a. Karl Bollers apparently) 

Like with 3rd era for Bunnie, this is the only story in the 5th era to give Antoine any focus. It therefore kind of wins by default. But make no mistake this is an important story, one that will have major repercussions for years to come. If only the ending was little stronger. *sigh* 

Favorite Bunnie Story: “Dust Bunnie” StH 119 by Karl Bollers

Bunnie got a lot more to do this era than her significant other did. In fact she possibly got more screen time than any other FF outside of Sonic himself. Unfortunately very little of it furthered her character, except for this story. In her third and final solo adventure Bunnie sets up future events that will come to haunt her later. 

   

Favorite Buntwan Story or Moment: Antoine reunites with his father, “Family Dysfunction” StH 102 by Karl Bollers

A bit of a cheat, I know, but there are no further developments for Bunnie and Antoine’s relationship this era. They’re just together, often in the background holding hands, looking cute together and what not, but that’s it. There’s no growth as a couple. In fact they are rarely even paired together on missions during this era, which is odd but refreshing. 

However, Armand regaining his free will and reuniting with his son is a major 

development in Antoine’s life and an important event that will effect his relationship with Bunnie later on down the line. So I thought it fair to include it here. 

Favorite Single Story:“I’ll Shoot the Sheriff” StH 111 by Karl Bollers 

This is by far and away the best story in this entire era, no contest. It takes the greatest strength this era has to offer, unique character driven fluff pieces, and then allows the story to just simply be that.

Far too often stories in this era that had this potential would either be rushed or have action beats shoehorned in. If you want to tell a story about Ducly overcoming abuse, do so, don’t shove GUN in there just for the explosions. If you want to explore Jules’s life as the only robian left, then do so, don’t waste time narrating Sonic’s conflict instead. 

Basically “I’ll Shoot the Sheriff” is a simple piece of character development that’s given the room it needs to breath without having to accommodate extraneous plot points while at it. 

Favorite Story Arc: Sonic Adventure 2.5 StH 124-125 by Karl Bollers (He’s not credited for it but I’d bet money that Ken Penders wrote all of the Knuckles scenes) 

Epic, tense, with real stakes and lasting consequences, this story feels like it has everything that this era was missing as a whole. There’s also something very satisfying in seeing everyone both on panel and behind the scenes coming together to accomplish something grand; hero and villain alike.    

It’s also one of the few story arcs this era that doesn’t feel like leftovers from another one.

Favorite Artist: J. Axer 

Despite some of the atrocious art in this era, there were actually quite a few contenders for this category. Jim Valentino, an artist who’s Sonic work has been sketchy in the past, improved greatly this era. Unfortunately he only got to shine in the shitty Guardians of the Galaxy parody. I quite liked Dawn Best’s art but she was regulated to Knuckles’s stories and rarely got the chance to draw our main heroes out side of the stupid GotG parody as well. In the end J. Axer won out because I think he draws the best Antoine. 

Few people seem to get Twan’s muzzle right. Axer’s one of the few to find a nice compromise between the SatAM upturned nose and the more compressed and stander Sega muzzle.   

And so we end this shitpost of a year with the shittiest era of all, but much like 2016 itself behind all the bad we managed to find glimmers of good. I wish all of my followers and loyal readers a wonderful New Year and I pray that 2017 will be better for us all.    

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“Omega” Sonic Adventure 2.5 Part II - Sonic the Hedgehog #125

Rotor creates a device to communicate with Xorda and Sally tries to reason with them. But they’re dicks, so they decide to blow up the planet anyways. 

Or rather they use a weapon to create a black hole to swallow Mobius, and then promptly fuck off to parts unknown. 

Everyone on the planet therefore joins forces to stop this doomsday device. Literally everyone. From Eggman, to GUN, to the Freedom Fighters, to even the Guardians of the Brother Hood and the Dark Legion. And of course, due to page length, most of these characters are mere cameos who don’t really accomplish much, but it’s a nice send off that really makes the events feel like an epic end. 

In a lot of ways this story feels like a more tightly paced version of Endgame. Like this was meant to be the last hurrah of the series. Even right down to using multiple artists for the final issue. 

And this page is awesome despite being drawn by one of my least favorite artists on the book. Like everyone brought their A game here. 

But what does Bunnie and Antoine do specifically in this issue? Not much. They fight along side everyone else but that’s about it. In fact the only freedom fighter to have any plot significance is Rotor, which, given how short changed he was in past event arcs, I am perfectly fine with. There’s also some development with Tails being a something of leader that everyone rallies behind during the finale battle which is nice. 

Most of the important action however centers around the “main” characters of the comic, Knuckles, Sally, Sonic, and Eggman.

• Eggman cuts a deal with King Max to “help” fight against the alien threat, but it’s of course a double cross. 
• Sally, along with Nicole, trips Eggman’s trap.
• Knuckles “returns from the dead” and in doing so stops one of the weapon’s attacks, buying time for Sonic to stop it. Which consequently results in Knuckles loosing all of his chaos powers.      
• And Sonic reverses the weapon’s black hole effect saving the planet from destruction but seamingly dying in the process. 

Like how Antoine is a pallbearer here, but I don’t understand why Bunnie and Rotor are off to side like that. 

Only it’s quickly revealed at the end that Sonic’s not dead, just trapped in outer space. 

I’ll probably won’t cover much of the lost in space arc, so there what’s important to take away from this story, in regards to Bunnie and Antoine, are the after effects of “losing” Sonic both in their personal lives and on a world wide scale. 

I also love that’s it’s Bunnie who winds up being Sally’s shoulder to cry on. Just a simple visual reminder that yes they are best friends. I also love Twan’s awkward “I don’t know what I should be doing” look. This is the way I feel at every funeral I’ve attended. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I really don’t how to respond.  

Anyways, that concludes this era of the comic. It was shorter than most but also more tedious  than most, so I guess that evens things out a bit. Be sure to tune in next time for the quarterly wrap up. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 118

“Alpha” Sonic Adventure 2.5 Part I - Sonic the Hedgehog #124 

First, I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas weekend and welcome back to the retrospective. Second, I hope to finish up this era before New Years Eve. Only two more issues and the era wrap up to go, so without further a due lets get on it. 

Today’s issue doesn’t really feature Bunnie and Antoine but it does include important developments that impact the entire comic; as is the case with event arcs. 

This particular arc is meant to be a sequel to Sonic Adventure 2, but considering we didn’t get a full adaption of SA2 the first half is more exposition and a recap of the game. 

Which brings into question just how much of the game happened in the comic. Because Knuckles, Tails, and Amy Rose were all occupied elsewhere when these events happened. 

Anyways, they bring back Shadow the Hedgehog a near year before Sonic Heroes did and to be honest they do a better job of it then the actual games.   

No stupid clone business dragged out over the course of several years, no “Gerald Robotnik was good all along” retcon, no guns and cussing in order to look “edgy”. Though there are still aliens. 

The Bem we’ve already met, but this “new threat” Shadow speaks of are the Xorda. They’re more or less the archie equivalent of the Black Doom, but only more threatening (IMHO) and without the connection to Shadow. 

The Xorda officially reveal Mobius’s origins as Earth. It’s an idea that’s been hinted at ever since the beginning of the comic. From reverences here and there to earth culture such as songs being quoted, the fact that they celebrate Christmas, every time Sonic visits another world it’s either called Mobius or Earth, to seeing bits and pieces of surviving Earth artifacts like the novel 2001: Space Odyssey and a broken down Statue of Liberty.    

It’s an interesting idea, one that makes a lot of sense and helps to explain some of the pop culture humor of the earlier comic. But it’s unfortunately never explored in full. After this story arc it’s more or less ignored. And I get it, this is an action adventure comic for children, deep mussings on the evolution of culture isn’t something that can often be integrated naturally into such stories. But it’s frustrating to see such a large development be slowly introduced for years only to be completely dropped after it’s final reveal.    

So I guess it’s up to us fans to write fan-fiction on it. So here are some of my fan theories  on the subject. 

In addition to new religions revolving around the Ancient Walkers, Aurora, and other powerful beings that can absorb chaos emeralds springing up. Ancient remnants of Earth’s previous religions have survived and various aspects have merged and coalesced into one major religion. 

For example major holidays centering around monolithic religion are still in practice, such as Christmas, and Antoine has been known to say “mon Dieu” from time which means “my God” which suggests that the belief in a monolithic god exists with in this world, but how they perceive that god and their traditions have transformed and intermingled with that of other non-Abrahamic faiths. 

What if the visual representations and religious texts of different gods that have survived around the world has informed the belief that there is one god that continually reappears on Mobius through out history taking on various forms and names. And which form you worship will be dependent upon your geographical location. Monkey Khan may see god as a large blue overlander called Buddha, Antoine sees a bearded overlander called Jesus, Bunnie worships a giant fish called Christ, while the people who live in what was once North Africa view him as a mobian jackal or eagle, and so on and so forth. But all agree that they are one and the same and that “God” will reappear again in a new form with a new name when needed. Though no one knows when that will be. 

There’s also the fact that the humans of Station Square have better maintained the traditions of old and have more complete and separate texts of the various regions and cultures without combining them all into one. Meaning you’re more likely to find still practicing Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindu, ect. ect. there than on the surface even though traditions from those various cultures have survived there but without their original context.   

I’ve also come up with a theory to explain a lot of the fourth wall breaking in the early issues. Blogs! 

Back in the early years of the war there was a primitive form of underground internet used by refugees and Freedom Fighters. It was meant to be a form of incryptic code that Robotnik couldn’t hack in order to communicate and send messages. But the public got a hold of it and started using it for useless shit like posting what they ate for dinner or fandom debates over Kriby’s lost novels ect. ect. And the FFs, being kids and teenagers at the time, made use of it to post abut their hobbies and make vlogs. 

And that’s all I got. Do any of you have some fan theories you’d like to share about Old Mobius? 

The rest of the comic winds up Green Knuckles arc, finally, and oh, Sonic and Sally got engaged in this story,  though that’s a plot point that won’t go anywhere.   

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“The Last Robian” - Sonic the Hedgehog #123

Today’s story is very important to the on going plot of the comic and directly effects both Bunnie and Antoine. Even if they themselves don’t receive much focus during the story itself. 

All of the robians across the entire planet disappear overnight with no explanation or clues as how or where.  

Then over the course of several weeks they are returned one by one, completely cured. 

All of them save Jules, that is. 

And the rest of the comic just focuses on Sonic’s family readjusting to the changes.

In theory and in regards to the continuing arc, this story is a really good idea. The concept of robotization had been thoroughly explored by this point. They’ve done the mindless slave bit, used it as a metaphor for xenophobia, took on the Zombie horde approach, explored the strengths and weaknesses behind being a robot, and had the primary villain use it as his main weapon for over 120 issues. There’s little else where you could have taken the concept and getting rid of it for good would force the comic into a new and hopefully fresh direction. What’s not so good is the presentation of that idea. 

First, the story is told mainly through third person narration. This is a writing technique that is usually frowned upon in visual mediums like comics and film because it breaks the rule of “show don’t tell”. If you’re going to have narration in a comic its usually best to use first person narration in order to show a character’s inter dialogue and its still best to keep it to a minimal even then. Having the story be 80% narration is clunky and distracting. 

The second problem is that the comic tries to keep the Robian’s newfound cure and their benefactors a mystery. Even though we met the people responsible just back in issue 118. The Bem, an alien race, showed both the audience and Sonic himself that they had the power to robotize and derobotize at whim, and permanently deroboizted Eggman and Snively. They will also reappear in the next issue so there’s no mystery or tension to be had. Not only that but the writers have Sonic stupidly try to blame Eggman instead.

Yeah, what benefit would Eggman have to undoing his years of hard work? Why would Sonic just forget the aliens who have robotization powers? What was the point of keeping all the cured robians in the dark? Why would the alien wipe their memories but not Sonic’s, Tails’s, Snively’s and Eggman’s? And why did the aliens ignore all the other cyborgs on the planet like Bunnie, Monkey Khan, and the Dark Legion? The later reveal of who done it just manages to raise further questions then it answers. 

The last problem, one that is not unique unto this particular story, is that every thing is condensed down too much. You easily could have had enough plot to fill at least two full issues, and the writers tried to cram it all down into less than half of one. 

Just imagine how much more emotionally powerful and memorable this story would have been as a two prater. The first half could focus on Sonic and the rest of the Freedom Fighters as the desperately try to locate their missing parents. Building up the tension and mystery while providing room for character development. Instead of just shoving character’s like Antoine and Mina into the background. 

Then the second half could be devoted fully to Jules’s perspective as everyone readjusts to their new lives and he’s left behind. We could have a had a scene of Jules and Bunnie bonding as they are now the only two people in town who aren’t “normal” anymore. We could have had Jules and Chuck heaving a heart to heart and reaffirming that Chuck no longer needs to feel guilty or responsible for fixing what happened. We could have had Bernie confirming her love and letting Jules know she’s with him no matter what. We could have a hint of dark foreshadowing as it slowly dawns upon Jules that he’ll now eventually out live everyone he knows.   

But nope we got to focus on Sonic and his feelings cause he’s the star, even though his emotional investment isn’t any greater than anyone else involved and his dad is the only one with any conflict in the second half of the story.  

Originally posted by yourreactiongifs

The rest of the issue features the second half of “Heat Held Hostage” where Sonic “chooses” Sally ending the stupid triangle once and for all. There’s also a clip show of the Knuckles series thus far. 

Be sure to tune in next time as we start in on the arc that’ll end out this era. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 116

“Heart Held Hostage” Part I - Sonic the Hedgehog #122 

At long last we are finally coming to the end of the bullshit love triangle. 

Mina has captured Sonic’s attention with her singing talent. They perform a duet, with him on the guitar and everybody gathers around to listen. Sally of course catches this totally innocent and not the least bit romantic performance and starts to pout about it. 

Bunnie, with her hair now cut again, (seriously girl how fast does your hair grow?), tries to comfort her. 

Despite their lack of interaction in the past few eras, Bunnie is still meant to be Sally’s BFF. It’s nice that she’s the one to realize when something is wrong with Sally, even though Sally herself has failed to communicate her feelings to literally anyone.        

Unfortunately before they can have any serious heart to heart, the plot kicks in. 

Ooooh, that’s gotta hurt. 

This is perhaps the greatest frustration I have with this era. The comic provides plenty of opportunities for character driven moments, but because of the compressed story telling these are either rushed or ignored outright. There’s no shortage of fluff pieces where we could glean a bit of actual character development from but nope! We gotta make room for useless forgettable stuff like giant catkillers that are defeated in two pages, unnecessary cat fights that take up half the story, Green Knuckles and Penders’s boring mythology, or flashbacks and AUs that have fuck all to do with the current story and are merely leftovers from from previous eras.       

Originally posted by gameraboy

Anyways, Sally gets kidnapped but Sonic manages to capture one of Nack’s goons. The FF try to integrate him and we get this cute little scene with Bunnie. 

Huh, I never would have considered Bunnie to be a “Grammar Cop” before, but I guess years of having to correct Antoine’s English may have become habit forming. 

Well since Bunnie’s too much of a lady to off someone without being trapped in a cage fighting for her life first, Max comes in to finish the job. 

Behold! The one and only time where Max is competent! When using his goons to beat people up for him.  

Originally posted by lets-talk-sugar

Max learns where the kidnappers took Sally and asks the Freedom Fighters to save her, but Sonic’s done raced a head without them in his desperation; ending part one. 

Other stories in this issue include the still continuing Green Knuckles arc, where we learn about echidna afterlife, meet the echidna “god”, and find out Locke did indeed microwave the baby. 

There’s also a story where Julie-Su and Vector reminisce together about the currently deceased Knuckles and in their shared grief come to a mutual understanding and put aside their personal feud with each other. I swear it’s the only worth while thing to come out of the mess that is the Green Knuckles arc.  

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Miscellaneous Scenes - Sonic the Hedgehog 120 & 121 

There wasn’t enough material in any of these issues to justify a full review, but there was still some interesting scenes and some important events happening that I felt needed to be addressed. So I’m coalescing them all into one review. 

---

The first story we will be covering is “She’s Gotta Have Him” from issue 120. 

Mina decides she wants to become a freedom fighter in order to catch Sonic’s eye and spend more time with him. 

So if the Mobius Years Later arcs are to believed, than this is Tails’s first real interaction with his future wife. And as we’ve previously established, Antoine first taught Tails how to fly and he is now passing those lessons on. Meaning Twan could be the person who inadvertently brought them together, maybe? 

I don’t know for sure or anything because we never see how these two wind up together, and I don’t particularly care about their relationship one way or the other, but I thought it was a neat theory anyways.  

Look Ant, I know you have lots of experience in training new recruits, probably more so than any other freedom fighter, but wouldn’t teaching her swordplay be more effective if you gave her an actual sword to practice with? 

At the end of it all Mina decides that freedom fighting isn’t for her and she takes up singing instead. 

---

The second story is also from issue 120 called “The Royal Signet”. It’s a pure fluff piece involving Sally and all of the maternal figures in her life. While out spending quality time with her mom, she mentions Antoine. 

So we all know Twan has stopped crushing on Sally by this point, so why would she think that he would say such a cheesy pick-up line? Well I have a fan theory that Antoine still flirts with Sally, but in an over exaggerated way as an in-joke between the two of them. He comes up with the cheesiest, over-the-top, dumbest pick up lines he can think of and Sally joins in until they’re both giggling in a heap on the floor.

Guys I want this to be true. I need this! Please, just let me have this. Sally and Twan are my BroOTP and there’s not nearly enough interaction between them. Not any that’s just the two of them hanging out and being friends, anyways.   

---

The last story, “The Prince & The Revolution”, features Geoffrey and Hershey finding Prince Elias again. Turns out he’s settled down in a little village, married, and has a baby on the way. 

*snicker* Man, I really miss Elias. 

Anyways, his wife here, Meg, and his yet-to-be-born step daughter are both characters who will be of great importance to Ant’s story in the future. So take note of them now cause I won’t be talking about them much until then. 

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“Dust Bunnie” - Sonic the Hedgehog #119

Before we get into the main story proper let’s go over the important stuff we skipped over in between issues. 

• The introduction of Tommy Turtle
• The first appearance of  the Bem, an alien race who can robotize and de-robotize at will. They permanently de-robotized Eggman and Snively. 
• Geoffrey and Hersey become an official couple
• Green Knuckles dies

Now on to the main event. 

Bunnie is traveling to Sandblast City to answer a distress signal when she is ambushed. 

And I see she’s grown her hair back out and ditched the purple jacket since last we saw her. Shame really, I quite liked that combo; oh well.  

She wakes up in a cell where she comes face to face with Jack Rabbit. 

Jack is more or less Bunnie’s arch-nemesis, meaning he’s the villain that effects her personal life intentionally. Robotnik or Patch are the ones who’ve arguably made or will make the most impact on her life, but those instances are byproducts of their plans/goals. Jack goes out his way to attack her or her family personally. 

Only, unlike Patch vs Antoine or Robotnik vs Sonic, there’s no emotional driven rivalry between them. Jack just sees Bunnie as a means to an end. He’s after either her friend Sonic or later her uncle, those are the people he truly wants to defeat, meaning that he’s only Bunnie’s nemesis by proxy. 

That can be a double edged sword from a story telling perspective. On the one hand it helps to make Jack a more unique character. He’s constantly seeking revenge against one person only to wind up battling someone else in the process all the time. What other villain can you name that’s always out to get the main hero only to fight the sidekick all the time instead? But it’s also narratively speaking, a weaker conflict. There’s less emotional investment when only half of the people fighting have actual personal stakes. 

Anyways, Jack managed to captured the rogue Robians from when last we saw him and proceeds sic them on Bunnie. 

This is actually really horrific when you stop to think about it. Unlike the badniks she usually fights, robians are actual people, ones who are brainwashed and forced to harm others. And unlike zombies, which is what the robians are an analogy for, they are alive and can be potentially cured. Bunnie is essentially being forced to murder people, people who are ill, in order to just survive. All because of a sadistic person with a grudge who refuses to see those as different from him as “human”. 

There’s also the unfortunate implication that Sally had the means to cure even more robians but didn’t because she was afraid of “predestination”, leaving many in a living hell all because they didn’t conveniently live near Knothole. Sometimes writers just don’t think things all the way through; it happens.   

Another thing the writers didn’t think through, is Bunnie leaving both robian and mobian alike in danger when she finally escapes. 

Man, Bunnie is vindictive. Sonic at least felt a little guilty after doing this back in issue 63. He even had nightmares about it later, but Bunnie’s like, “Ha, ha, fuck you suckers! Tough luck to any of the innocent people who just so happen to live here and never mind if another robian dies in the ensuing fight.” Guys, I honestly think this adventure may have broke her; just a little bit. 

I believe this is the last of the Bunnie solo adventures in the pre-reboot comic, and of the three so far this is also easily the best one. It keeps the focus on the hero rather than the villains, gives her agency, and works to challenge her both mentally and physically instead of merely showing off how cool her powers are are. 

Other stories this issue are, Sonic and Tails face off against a giant Caterkiller and Rotor and Nicole have a cute heart to heart. I know everyone is all about the Salcole but honestly Nicole’s relationship with Rotor is one of my favorite friendships in the comic. I wish it received more focus. 

So that’s it for this installment, be sure to join us again next time on the Antoine and Bunnie retrospective. 

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“Bat Fight” Rogue Rouge II - Sonic the Hedgehog #116

We left off last time with Bunnie and Sonic splinting up. Sonic went to defeat Eggman and Bunnie went looking for a missing Rouge. 

Rouge and Bunnie have never met before, so I don’t blame her for being cautious, but what follows is just stupid.  

No trying to assess the situation, no trying to sneak away, no trying to blend in with the “enemy”, no sweet talking or trying to con her way out; just straight to fisticuffs. I thought Rouge was suppose to be smarter than this?   

Not that Bunnie’s much better. 

She comes back a swinging, instead of trying to explain or figure out what’s going on. If the person you’re trying to rescue starts attacking you, you would think you would try to figure out whats wrong with them, not beat them up.  

Originally posted by gameraboy

This precedes for four pages straight. The entirety of the story is devoted to this catfight, and yet the audience can’t give a damn because it doesn’t work as intended. 

Look I understand that wanting  to see two heroes fight is a thing among fans, and the subject of many a superhero crossover. I also understand that there a a fair few people who find two women fighting a turn on, but this fails at being either of those things. 

The reason why people would want to see two heroes fight is because they want to showcase what makes each hero unique and awesome. This fight doesn’t take into account either of Bunnie’s or Rouge’s fighting styles, individual skills, or personalities. Rouge is a spy and a thief, her attacks are more indirect and involve agility and quick footedness. Bunnie is has super strength and lasers. In a one on one like this Rouge would get creamed. 

There’s a reason why you’ll never see Catwoman vs Supergirl or Black Widow vs Captain Marvel. (Or a Batman vs Superman fight where Bats doesn’t cheat. Yes, I went there.) It’s just too uneven a fight and would be over with way too quickly. That’s how this fight should play out, but nope, Rouge is suddenly on par with Bunnie in terms of  strength for no real reason. I can only accept this as cannon if I pretend that Bunnie is deliberately holding herself back cause she knows Rouge is being an idiot here.  

Oh and this makes things even worse because this is Rouge’s introduction to the comic proper. If you had never played Sonic Adventure 2 before reading this, the character comes off as really unlikable and boring.The writers make no effort in giving her any sort of personality here.

But the comic also fails at being fan-service as well. There’s some nice art work, but that’s not enough to make for a good catfight. 

Here’s an example of a good catfight within a children’s story. 

This is Angewomon and Ladydevimon from Digimon. In the show they are soldiers on opposite sides of a war. It makes logical sense for them to fight. And neither stops until one of them wins. Also said fight doesn’t intrude upon the main story.  This is a fun prelude right before the last major battle of the season. The whole thing probably doesn’t take more than 10 mins of screen time if even that. 

Unlike today’s story which is born out of a dumb misunderstanding, takes up the entire story, and is easily resolved when a third party (Sonic) steps in so neither girl can be the “loser” of the fight. 

Though for the record Bunnie totally won. ;)

The last story this issue is yet another entry into the long ass Green Knuckles arc. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 112

“Operation: Off Switch!” Rogue Rouge I - Sonic the Hedgehog #116 

Something that I’ve notice going into the firth era, Bollers seems to have dropped the story arcs almost completely. Outside of the lingering “Source of All” arc that wrapped up a few issues ago, the left over Super Sonic Specials, and the Knuckles backstories, all of the stories thus far have been short one shots. Certainly not the long epics the comic had been focusing on in the past. Weather or not this is a bad thing will be dependent upon your personal tastes and your opinion of Karl Bollers’s plotting. For right now though, today’s issue is the closest we’ve come to a story arc in quite sometime; even though both parts are within the same issue.

The first part features Bunnie and Sonic teaming up on a mission.

The President of Station Square has called them in to track down Eggman; who, being a robot, has downloaded his consciousness into a new body and relocated his headquarters to Megaopolis after Robopolis got blown up. Also Rouge has gone missing while she was gaining intel on him. 

This issue is really Rouge’s introduction. She appeared on a single panel back in issue 98 during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, but she didn’t really do or say anything. It was nothing but a cameo really. However, we’ll discuss Rouge more in depth in the next part when she truly shows up. 

What I would like to discuss right now though is Bunnie’s new redesign.   

I’ve notice Bunnie sporting her old haircut for a few issues now, while hanging out in the background. However in this issue they’ve given her a jacket to go with it. I actually really, really like this design. It gets right everything that the old “daisy dukes” design got wrong. The dark purple jacket fits in with the tetradic color scheme she sports. It’s distinctive without being over powering and it brings a balance to her now more lithe proportions. Also I’ve always been a sucker for short haired Bunnie. 

We also start to get a our first real evidence to Mobius’s origins in this story. 

We’ve seen hints of it before, mainly in one off jokes and references, but here its confirmed that Mobius is an alternate dystopian future Earth. More on that later. 

For now the story pulls the same shit as issue 95. It makes no use out of this unique team up. They split up before they even get started good. 

“I’ll find ‘er”? When did Bunnie adopt a cockney accent instead? 

But unlike #95, Sonic does actually get to accomplish something and defeat Eggman. 

As for Bunnie though, we’ll have to wait until the next part to find out what she gets up to. See ya then.