The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 110

“Mistaken Identity Crisis” - Sonic the Hedgehog #112 

Isn’t this cover glorious? 

So today’s story is yet another part in the Zone Wars arc, but even more importantly it’s a major event in Antoine’s on going story. One that will come to haunt him for the rest of his life. 

While spending quality time with his dad. A portal opens up, scaring him. 

Zonic the Zone Cop falls through the portal injured. Sonic happens by and rushes him to the hospital. Prompting Armand to complement his bravery, all while poor Antoine feels ashamed for relapsing into his old habit.   

Now this may seem like a step backwards for the sake of narrative convenience. After all Antoine has proven himself very brave and had shed his cowardly reputation in the eyes of the public and his peers long ago. However, I like this relapse. Old habits die hard and Twan’s greatest strength as a character is that he fights despite being scared. There’ll always be that part of him he’ll have to overcome and he will always overcome it because he’s awesome like that.   

But there’s more to this though, Twan has a lot of self esteem issues. He’ll focus on his past mistakes while ignore all of his accomplishments. Getting a little skittish when an unnatural phenomenon suddenly appears in the sky pales in comparison to taking on Robotnik and robots on a regular basis. But he’ll look upon that fact of his life as unremarkable because it’s become such normal occurrence for him. 

Anyways, Armand, being the super nice person that he is, decides to give Sonic this compliment in person. 

Well I wouldn’t call it “dissing” per say. I mean it’s perfectly possible to give someone a compliment without thinking less of another person. It’s not like their a finite commodity. But good on you for taking the time to be attentive of your friend’s feelings. It’s always nice to see Sonic’s and Twan’s relationship grow. 

Not a hero?!

Originally posted by say-when-swan

Ok, I’ll buy the fact that Twan would be oblivious to his own heroics due to his low self-esteem, but Sonic should know better. I mean lets list off all of Antoine’s heroic deeds up to this point and time in the comics, shall we? 

1. Saved Bunnie from a swatbot while on reconnaissance by himself.
2. He willingly volunteered to help rescue Sally when she was captured by Robotnik and then held said dictator at bay with a gun until they were all safely away.   
3. He saved Sonic’s life when their air balloon was shot down. 
4. He single-handedly took on and defeated Robotnik and his entire army with nothing but a hot air balloon. 
5. Gathered together a group of trainees and lead them to victory against a brainwashed Sonic.
6. He bravely volunteered to go behind enemy lines alone to retrieve a magic ring that was lost.
7. Prevented Geoffrey from murdering Sonic. 
8. He again went behind enemy lines alone to reconnaissance the area and wound up saving the rest of the Freedom Fighters while at it.
9. He was the first person to investigate and discover Drago’s treachery. 
10. Helped rescue the Downunda Freedom Fighters. 
11. With Bunnie’s help he infiltrated Robotnik’s headquarters and blew up his doomsday weapon.   
12. Helped took down a rogue combot.
13. Helped Sonic defeat a bunch of Eggbots.
14. He helped rescue people from drowning in Station Square when Prefect Chaos attacked, only to get a broken leg for his troubles. 

And these are just the more notable examples. This isn’t counting all of numerous times he’s fraught along side the FFs on random missions, the random people he’s undoubtedly saved off panel, nor all the times he has rescued his fellow freedom fighters with his piloting skills. 

Not a hero my ass! Sonic could have mentioned any one of these feats to Ant and is dad, many of which he was a personal witness to. But nooooo, he’s gotta come up with a convoluted and stupid plan to trick Armand into thinking his son is hero instead. Even though he already is a hero and I’m sure Armand is already proud of him regardless. 

What is the plan? Well Sonic is going to disguise himself and pretend he’s a villain and let Antoine pretend to kick his ass. But of course if you know anything about this trope you’ll know it won’t work out that way. 

So Antoine takes his dad for a walk so they can meet up with “Sonic” and along the way Twan slips back into another of his old habits. 

Ahhh, the bragging. We haven’t seen him do this in a while. And once again, there’s plenty of real stories, ones where he did actually defeat Robotnik, but nope that’s not epic enough for Ant’s distorted view on what constitutes as heroic. However, given all of the true events where he’s achieved great deeds, what happens next shouldn’t be all that surprising. 

Also, there’s been two Robotniks, and one didn’t have that “robotize by touch” super power so there’s an easy and obvious way out of this lie for ya Twan. 

Turns out Scourge broke out of his inter-dimensional prison, which is why Zonic was here earlier. Only now, cause of their dumb plan, Antoine believes it’s the real Sonic pretending to be his evil counterpart.

Scrouge tries to pick a fight, only for Antoine to thoroughly trounce his ass with a single blow! 

Originally posted by wrestlingisbest

Originally posted by aazhk

Originally posted by moviesandquotes

Guys I know everyone uses this scene to laugh at Scourge, which fair enough, Scourge is a loser by design, but honestly Antoine is not a person you should underestimate. The man’s got hidden skills and a well of personal fortitude that often surprises even his closest friends and family, let alone the countless enemies he leaves in the dust to rust.  Antoine. Is. Bad. Ass! And after today few will every doubt his strength again, certainly not Scrouge who will cross his path again in the future. 

Unfortunately the awesomeness of this moment is slightly ruined by the abrupt comedic ending. 

What? No heart warming scene between father and son? No revelation that Armand loves him no matter what? No Antoine recognizing that he really is a hero? *Sigh*  C'est la vie, I suppose. We’ll get a nice father/son heart to heart soon enough. 

The second story stars Uncle Chuck, as Lupe helps him to forgive himself over the creation of the robotizer. It’s sweet. 

There’s also a whole bunch of data files too, and I must say Antoine is suspiciously absent from the friends list on most of them. *grrr*

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 109

“I’ll Shoot the Sheriff” - Sonic the Hedgehog #111

Today’s story is more about Armand than Antoine or Bunnie, but since he’s such an important person to Twan’s development I thought it prudent to cover it anyways.  

Rob O’ the Hedge has brought Amy back to Knothole, there he runs into a fully restored Armand. 

Not trusting his former arch nemesis, he decides to stay and spy on him; in what is a series of both cute and funny gags. 

Awww..Ant and his dad like to go fishing together. 

You know this just might be ironically the era where Antoine is at his happiest, despite being arguably one of the worst eras of the comic. He’s reunited with his dad, he’s earned his place is a respected soldier, he’s in a steady relationship with Bunnie, and he’s made up with Sonic and they are now good friends. The only down side is that this era is so fucking forgettable and boring overall.    

Hmmm… looks like we’ve discovered where Tawn gets his skittish nature from.

Eventually Armand gets fed up with this harassment. 

So they hang out and become total bros. 

I’m honestly trying not to post the whole story, but it’s just so freakin’ cute! It’s pure fluff and has no bearing on the greater story, but this is easily the best thing I’ve read within the fifth era so far. 

Also Armand is the best dad. Oh sure, Jules and Wyn come close. They are both upstanding guys who love and support their kids. But Armand is everybody’s father. 

Here is Rob, a grown man, married and with a child of his own, getting bonding time with a father figure. A father figure who doesn’t judge or begrudge previous ill treatment. A father figure who somehow manages to make time for everyone. 

Oh and here is the delicious irony of it all. It is heavily hinted at through out the comic that Rob is the rightful king of Snottingham. That his family was dethroned by Robotnik when he was young. Meaning that there is a very good chance that Armand had a hand in killing Rob’s real father. Only, as proven in the first panel, Armand doesn’t even remember doing it and wasn’t a willing participant. 

Does Rob remember? Is that why he’s so unwilling to trust Armand? Is this a redemption arc? Guys, he’s making up for lost time and learning how to be a dad now that he has his own kid to take care of, by the very man that originally stole that chance from him to begin with. 

This story is so good you guys! 

Eventually Rob needs to return home to his wife and child and they part ways as friends. 

The end. But we’re not done yet. I want to touch base on the issues we skipped over. 

• Rotor finally frees his family from Robotnik’s/Eggman’s mind control. In what is the long overdue conclusion to his story arc. Starting way back in the second era, this arc took twice as long to resolve than even Ant being reunite with his dad did. As much as I complain that Twan and Bunnie don’t receive enough focus, Rotor is the FF that truly gets the short end of the stick when it comes writing. Well next to Dulcy that is. 
• We got yet another update on the triangle and shock of all shocks it wasn’t completely asinine for once. Mina and Sally actually sit down and talk things out. Mina realizes that simply chasing after Sonic is futile and Sally learns that the kiss was completely innocent on Sonic’s part. My only complaint is that Sally failed to mention to Mina that she and Sonic have been dating for awhile. More on that later. 
• Turns out Lara-Su is actually Jani-Ca. Lara-Su’s counterpart from the Dark Mobius dimension/timeline. Also Knuckles is still green. 
• Station Square nukes Robopolis ruining it for all time. Of course Eggman and Snively survives but the Source of All is destroyed. Well mostly; it survives through the Sword of Acorns and the Crown of Acorns. (I guess that’s why Max is such a nutcase) The Sword keeps trying to possess Sally, though. Which leads into today’s other stories. 

Uma’s children try to steal the Sword of Acorns, but Sally gives it to them freely cause she want’s nothing to do with the accursed thing now that she’s healed everybody that needs it. Thus ending the Source of All arc for good. It’ll try to rear it’s ugly head from time to time, long after its relevant, but it never succeeds.          

Also these “children” are already as big as Sonic and Sally when they were shown as still eggs just a few weeks ago. Just further evidence for my theory that Mobians don’t have 9 month pregnancies like humans do. 

They are all orphans as well. Their mom died, and there is strong evidence that Kudos was their father, and he’s dead too. So…our heroes are effectively letting orphaned babies guard one of the most powerful Mcguffins in the world, one that has proven itself capable of corrupting people, and not even bothering  to offer them a home or shelter or anything in the way of assistance. 

Originally posted by 667darkavenue

The second story continues the love triangle, even though it should have been over with as soon as Sally and Mina had their talk. Sonic goes on this long ramble to Tails about how he does want a girlfriend, even though he’s been dating Sally for nearly a year now. And I don’t mean to say he’s planning on breaking up with her, no he and Tails legit act like he’s never had a girlfriend before.  Even Sally has seemingly forgotten they were a couple. What the fuck writers? Why bother making them an official pairing for years and then suddenly pretend like that was never the case? Is it just to force your dumb triangle on us? And there was never any on screen break up despite all of Sally’s previous moping. Also Sonic suddenly seems to be interested in Mina even though that never was the case before. It goes no where. 

Bollers, no one will give a fuck about a love triangle if the conflict doesn’t steam organically from the characters and their previous development. You can’t just ignore previously establish relationships nor suddenly pretend like one of characters are into another character without establishing a connection first. And no, a forced kiss that isn’t reciprocated doesn’t count as a connection.  

And make no mistake viewers, Bollers is the one to be fully blamed for this mess. Penders was too busy off fucking around with Green Knuckles to fool with Mina. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 108

“…A Girl Named Hope” - Sonic the Hedgehog #108

This a is a pure fluff piece. Snively’s sister, Hope, writes a letter to the royal family asking if she could stay in Knothole instead of moving to Station Square with the other Overlanders. It exists to flesh out Hope’s background and establish her as a reoccurring character now that the main arc involving her is over with.

 Only there’s not much to Hope as a character so there’ not much of a story here to tell. Hope exists to be your generic cute child character. What makes her interesting is her relationships to other more established character’s like Snively and Shadow and the development she brings to them.On her own she’s kind of bland, but not intrusive so I personally don’t mind her.

However, the reason why I’m including this story today is twofold. 

First, this is ridiculously cute.

And second….

TAILS AND ANTOINE WORKING ON THE TORNADO TOGETHER!!! If this does not confirm my theory that Ant taught Tails how to fly a plane, I don’t know what does. They’re both pilots and they both maintain their airships together! Gah!  Next time you go back to read StH 235 I hope you remember this scene and cry your fucking eyes out! 

Other stories in this issue are the latest installment of the Green Knuckles arc and a story involving the original Robotnik returning life due to Green Knuckles’s time shenanigans and teaming up with Eggman. It’s filler, and while not necessarily bad, if feels like it’d be more at home in the early years then here in the dark ages. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 107

The “Crouching Hedgehog Hidden Dragon” Crouching Hedgehog Hidden Dragon II - Sonic the Hedgehog #107

So last we left off the Freedom Fighters agree to help Station Square get rid of a dragon that’s been terrorizing them in exchange with help for the Overlander refugees. Only for some reason not all of the FFs are going. Instead we get Sonic, Tails, and Bunnie on their own. Which I’m cool with; this is a team we don’t get to see often. 

Shame they don’t do anything with them though. For you see, the writers have to shore horn GUN into this instead. 

No one likes G.U.N.

No one. 

GUN are assholes to everybody, even their own Team Dark, in what is quickly becoming a comic filled with nothing but jerks. 

Don’t believe me? Meet the dragon, Zan. 

Zan has a legitimate complaint against Station Square’s authorities. Cause GUN are bunch of dicks who want to destroy his home and use it as a military weapons testing site. Unfortunately, Zan is also an abusive unreasonable bastard who loses any and all sympathy from the viewer and therefore any interest in the on going conflict. 

The comic is trying to do too much here. It’s having to establish, GUN, Zan, their conflict with each other, while also reintroducing Dulcy and her relationship and conflict with Zan. Either one of these conflicts could have sufficed for the arc on it’s own, but together they cheapen the emotional drama. 

It’s hard to care for Dulcy’s plight because we never see the other side of their relationship. The side that would trick her into staying with him. So she comes across not as a victim but as an idiot. Meanwhile it’s hard to give a damn about GUN and Zan’s bullshit cause we never hear their reasoning. They’re just generic angry douches threatening to kill one another. There’s nothing interesting in that. 

But there is one redeeming feature to this mess and that’s Bunnie. 

Bunnie is perhaps one of the best people right now to talk to Dulcy about this. For starters, she and Antoine have, by far, the healthiest relationship in the entire comic. While she may not understand what Dulcy is going though personally, she does understand what makes for a good relationship and what doesn’t. She also has, through her relationship with Antoine, experience in positive enforcement to combat insecurities. She knows that Dulcy needs to hear that she’s beautiful and such, cause without self esteem it’s hard to leave the things that hold us down; weather that be abusive spouses, personal jackass behavior, or negative body images.

Unfortunately there is no satisfying pay-off for all of this, cause Zan dies.  

I want to say “unceremoniously dies”, but that’s not true. The comic does take the time to reflect upon his death and attempts to make all of this seam sad, but I just can’t bring myself to care. 

Zan’s too unsympathetic a character and while it might be sad for Ducly right now, we all know she’s better off without him anyways. So no, this isn’t bittersweet at all.  

It is however an infuriating ending. This is the fourth abusive relationship to be shown in the comic. Of those four, only two have been confirmed as abuse by the comic itself and only one has had the victim willingly leave their abuser for good. What I’m saying is that this is becoming an annoying habit in the comic, and the writers don’t seem to understand that emotional abuse is just as every bit as bad as physical. 

Originally posted by maths-and-books

Originally posted by nitratediva

The second issue is more timey-wimey adventures with Green Knuckles and his daughter Lara-Su. 

Originally posted by leda74

However before I sign off I’d like to wish all of my American readers a Happy Thanksgiving and the rest of you a wonderful weekend. I’ll see you all after the holidays. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 106

“Dragon’s Lair” Crouching Hedgehog Hidden Dragon I - Sonic the Hedgehog #106 

Last issue, which we didn’t cover, featured Eggman murdering Snively’s dad, robotizing Snively himself, and Sonic and Sally freeing the rest of the Overlanders along with Snively’s sister, Hope. Today the Freedom Fighters are on their way to Station Square (The Hidden City of the Ancients) to ask the humans to take the Overlanders in. On their way way there, this happens.    

So I understand what Bollers is trying to do here. He’s trying to have the FFs act more like a team by giving everybody something to do. Antoine’s the group’s pilot so what’s better than having him show off his skills and save everyone from crashing? The problem is the way it’s presented though. 

For starters the layout is bland and confusing. Add in the vague, generic  dialogue and it’s hard for the readers to understand what’s going on. There’s no real reason given on screen for Antoine to have such trouble flying. And yes I know Ant says he’s just as a confused as to what happened, but the audience should at least be given a hint. Otherwise it just looks like Twan’s purposefully dicking around to annoy his friends.  

Also that call back to the love triangle is misplaced and ruins the pacing of the scene. Like why do we need two close calls with the plane acting up back to back? 

So every one arrives in one piece and the president agrees to take in the refugees if the Freedom Fighters help them get rid of a dragon who’s attacking the city.    

The second story picks back up the Green Knuckles arc and we’re introduced to everyone’s “favorite” mary sue….. Lara-Su. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 105

“Enter: Robolactus” Freedom Fighters of the Galaxy II - Sonic the Hedgehog #104 

Today’s review will be a short one. Mainly cause neither Twan-Du nor Bunni, get much of anything to do. In fact none of the heroes accomplish anything useful this issue.

First Silver Snively kicks everbody’s asses. 

Sonic, now called Sonik for some reason, defeats him but only cause he didn’t get anything to do last issue. He also takes up the leader role for no other reason than virtue of being the main character. 

I see Bunni has a cute nickname for 27; anybody else ready to ship them too?

But then Robolactus shows up to eat Saleta’s planet. (not to be confused with StH 38′s Robotnicus; even though they are both essentially the same character)    

One’s mildly less stupid than the other, cause one is a make-believe character created by an 8 year old and the other is meant to be cannon.  

Robolactus beats up everybody, including Sonik, an the day is saved by Silver Snively, for no apparent reason, suddenly growing to Robolactus size and talking him into eating the Shark’s planet instead. 

Originally posted by reviewreactions

Let me count the ways how stupid this is. 

1. Silver Snively has no motivation for his heel-face turn, and it’s never hinted at through out the comic. Just three pages before this he was gleefully monologueing to thin air about how all of the Galaxy FFs were going to die. So why would he care to stop Robolactus now?  
2. All of the Galaxy FFs are useless this issue. There’s a difference between making your big bad a threat and completely steamrolling your own heroes. They serve no purpose if the day is saved by someone else without their input. 
3. HawkHawk is a dumb name and he is even extra pointless here than the rest of the FFs. He accomplishes nothing, is unlikable and doesn’t get along with the other team members, and he’s not a descendant nor a AU version of any of the Archie cast. So what was the point of including him? 
4.  And don’t give me, “to parody *insert name of Marvel/DC character here* “ The parody was already screwed with they decided to rehash an older issue and combine the Fantastic Four mythos with their tribute to Guardians of the Galaxy. Not to mention that just about any other previously established character could have fulfilled this role.    
5. The heroes willfully cheer on the big bad to murder an entire planet. But hey it’s ok cause all Sharks are assholes, am I right? Never mind that there are surely innocents, such as children and other wildlife on that planet that will die too. 
6. This won’t stop Robolactus. After he’s done with that planet he’ll be back again or off to destroy someone else. 

Anything else? umm…Twan-Du is in charge of flying the spaceship and managing the teleports. He’s the Archie Sonic version of Scotty, I guess.  

The second story this issue is the second part to the Downunda FFs solo story.