The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 180

“In Service to the King” Parts I & II - Sonic the Hedgehog #219 & #220

So while these issues don’t feature our two leads, I can’t really skip over them as this story is far too important to upcoming character developments for the both of them. 

Here lately Geoffrey St. John has been the center of some controversy within the Archie Sonic fandom. I’m not here to talk about that, but it’s nothing new concerning this particular character.  

Geoffrey has always straddled the line between jerky-hero and shady antagonist. Swinging between being a rival and a comrade in arms. However, unlike say Knuckles or even Shadow, Geoffrey would never really cement a friendship with any of the main cast. Nor would he warm to fans of the book. He has his supporters, but how much of that is due to Flynn’s take on the character is up in the air. 

For you see this is the story where Geoffrey becomes a full blown villain. 

No-Longer-”King” Max has completely lost his marbles and orders Geoffrey and Sonic to help him regain the throne. Geoffrey suggests getting a chaos emerald from the special zone to humor the former monarch and to keep a powerful MacGuffin handy.   

With Sonic’s help they do succeed in obtaining the the stone, only for Geoffrey to seal it and shoot Sonic in the back while at it. He then delivers the jewel to Ixis Naugus, calling him “master” and restoring his powers. 

I’ve seen both praise and criticism for this plot twist, and I can see it both ways. I mostly enjoy the concept but there are a few lapses in logic and presentation that somewhat undermine it. But I’ll get into that more as we discuss the upcoming story arcs dealing with the fall out. 

In the mean time enjoy these Antoine and Bunnie cameos. 

Antoine is not happy when he hears of his rival’s latest shenanigans. He’s probably telling everyone “I told you so!”right now. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 179

“Thicker than Water” Part Two - Sonic the  Hedgehog #218

I had a hard time reviewing this one. I think I talked about everything I wanted to talk about in the first part already. From here on I’m just summarizing. 

We pick back up where we left off last issue. Sonic and Bunnie fighting. But because Ian is actually smart and respects the characters, there’s no long drawn out melodrama. 

They’re already discussing the problem while throwing punches and they come up with a solution together fairly quickly. 

An awesome solution that plays up their characters and team dynamic. Sonic and Bunnie is a really under used and under appreciated team. 

Unfortunately both the Sandblasters and Uncle Bo cotton on to what really going on and move into fight. 

Just more evidence that Bo disproves of Antoine. A plot point that’ll sadly go no where but can be useful to all ya’ll fanfic writers out there. 

Bunnie and Sonic then team up to fight the Sandblasters. 

And did I mention how awesome a team they are? 

Or how great a villain the Sandblasters make? 

I love this dynamic where the “heroes” are the real villains and the “bad guys” are the ones who are noble. It’s a great dichotomy that really shakes up the book.  Also Jack is just the right amount of nasty and petty to be a great rival, not a big bad, but a personal thorn in the heroes sides.

Well I say Uncle Bo isn’t one of the abusive parents in the book, and he isn’t, but he isn’t above verbal insults when angry either. As I said he’s complex. He’s not evil but neither is he a paragon of virtue. 

Take special note of how he uses Bunnie’s married name as an insult. He’s not just expressing his disapproval of the D’Coolette’s and the Acorns here.  He’s actively belittling the person who Bunnie has chosen to be.

Bunnie has struggled her whole life with accepting herself. She’s ashamed of her past. She feels awkward in her own “skin”. She’s afraid of becoming the living weapon that Robotnik originally designed her to be.  ect. That name she choose to share is attached to the one person who has helped her the most in combating these insecurities.

 And there in lies the core of the Antoine/Bunnie/Uncle Bo conflict. It’s not just political. It’s Bunnie having to choose between the man who accepts her, loves her, and supports her for who she truly is and the man who raised her, who loves her like a daughter, but can’t move past the fact that she has a mind and identity of her own now and isn’t simply his “little girl” anymore. 

And it’s true. Bunnie still hasn’t “chosen” a side yet. Sadly she’ll never will due to the reboot. But it’s a fascinating conflict that adds a lot of depth to her character. And just to show that, while flawed, he isn’t Max levels of dickery, Bo calls her by her new last name when saying good bye as a way of apology. Acknowledging who she is now while still not fully supporting her decision.  

And speaking of Max, the story ends on this bit of foreshadowing. 

Looks like we’ve now got to deal with Antoine’s rival coming back. Goody. 

PS. Do you think Bunnie ever told anyone about how her parents died? I would think she’d at least tell her husband but who knows. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 178

“Thicker than Water” Part One - Sonic the  Hedgehog #217

Finished KH3 and now I’m back with one of the best Bunnie stories ever written.

The story opens up with Sonic and Bunnie throwing down. 

This is of course a bit of opening action to get the readers intrigued as we flashback to the events that led to this moment.

Turns out the Sandblast Freedom Fighters sent out a call for help and, due to their past run-ins with them, Bunnie and Sonic were chosen to go. Though Bunnie’s not happy about it, as well she should be. 

If you recall back in issue 119, Bunnie was captured by Jack Rabbit, the leader of the Sandblasters, and forced to fight a bunch of Robians to the death. The events there and in this issue pretty much makes Jack the closest thing to a arch-rival she has in the pre-reboot.

Soon Buunie and Sonic are separated when the Sandblasters “mistakenly” attacks them. 

This leads to Bunnie being “captured” by the local Dark Egg Legion chapter. And Sonic agrees to help the Sandblasters fight them in order to get her back. 

Meanwhile back with Bunnie we meet …..

Uncle Beauregard! 

Her uncle was first mentioned way back during the Mecha Sonic arc. It was at first just an off-color joke about the American Civil War, which Flynn has decided to turn into a bit of mythos for the comic. 

So according to the The Complete Sonic Comic Encyclopedia, The Southern Baronies were a colony of the Kingdom of Acorn and most there-in resented the rule of the monarchy. There’s no details about how the Acorns treated the Baronies but given that Bo calls them “the oppressors” and the fact that King Max is a Grade-A-Jackass, one can assume that they wren’t always treated fairly.

Also according to Flynn, Bunnie first ran away from home when Bo told her about how her parents died. Fighting for the Overlanders against the Acorns during the Great War. This actually revels a lot about Bunnie as a character.

First her tendency to just run away from her problems is yet again reinforced.

Second it explains why she was living by herself back in issue 3.

And last off it kind of explains her reason for dreaming to be Sally’s hairdresser specifically and why she’s so loyal to the Acorns despite being raised otherwise. She’s ashamed of her family’s past and wants to at least distance herself from it.

Which is why not having her and Antoine present during the Prower’s uprising was such a missed opportunity. Does she fully agree with her husband on the Acorn’s rule or is she able to see the other side’s point of view given where she grew up?

Also while the dynamic between The Baron and Antoine could be potentially interesting, both caring for the same woman but being on opposite sides of a conflict,  I’m more interested in where Bunnie stands. We don’t ever really her thoughts on the matter. She dismisses the argument here and we never get back to it, which is a shame. 

Regardless though, Beauregard proves to be one of the most interesting and complex parental figures with in the comic. He’s not abusive nor manipulative, like Max, Locke, or Rosemary. Neither is he the wise heroic father figure like Jules, Armand, and Wynmacher. He’s flawed. He’s fighting on “the wrong side”. He has his prejudices and his fair share of mistakes. But he’s also kind, caring, considerate, and is at least tryingto do what is right by those he protects. 

I would have love to see where this character progressed as the comic went along but sadly the reboot and Penders stole him from us. 

Originally posted by tellsatanyoulovehim

Anyways Bunnie agrees to help out her uncle and this leads back into the fight we saw at the beginning of the story. 

Which naturally ends in a cliffhanger.

The back up story introduces Vanilla and Cream though, so they’re now officially in the comic.