The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 145

“Union” - Sonic the Hedgehog 174

It’s finally here! The big day has arrived! The wedding to culminate the greatest romance ever! 

Only one question remains…..

What music do you think Bunnie walked down the aisle with? 

I wanna say, something traditional and classical sounding like Mendelssohn’s Marchor Tchaikovsky’s Love Theme, but this is a post apocalyptic earth where such music may not have survived. Could be Mina composed something special for them as a wedding present or traditional music in Mobius could sound more ancient and folkish? As long as it’s not bloody “Here Comes the Bride” cause, fuck Wagner. 

Anyways enough semantics let’s get to the story proper.

We actually open with Sonic and Tails getting ready for the festivities first, but we come to our heroes soon enough and we find Antoine with cold feet. Not because he has doubts about marring Bunnie or anything, he’s just worried about tripping or fainting or doing something else embarrassing during the ceremony. Fortunately the Chaotix are there to cheer him up.

Oh how I love it when Ant interacts with Chaotix. It’s always hilarious. 

Next we check in on Bunnie. 

All of this is so fucking perfect! Bunnie and Sally just hanging out and interacting as actual best friends, something we haven’t seen in ages it feels like. Call backs to Bunnie’s other life goals, awesome. Sally acknowledging Antoine as good catch even he personally wasn’t the right one for her. Bunnie’s spot on description of her and Ant’s relationship. Rosie!!! Antoine’s adoptive mother is rightfully front and center during the proceedings and for once not completely forgotten about.  

After we check in on a few others, have some more sonally teasing, and see some ominous hints towards the future; we come to the cemony itself and it’s as wonderful as you could imagine. 

Originally posted by spongebobpics

Oh yeah and Espio is off having a solo adventure that ties into the next issue but who cares! LOOK AT MY BABIES GETTING MARRIED!!! 

Originally posted by myvividreams

Also fun fact, but from this point on Ant and Bunnie are always shown with those wedding rings. Barring the occasional coloring error or art mistake, they’re officially incorporated into their designs now. 

Originally posted by xthismeanswar

It’s been a wild ride; 15 years, over a 174 issues, and 145 reviews. From not even knowing each other, to allies in a war, to friends, to lovers, through heart ache, troubling trials, and personal character growth. This is perhaps the most satisfying thing to read ever. A near pitch perfect story, plenty of time spent on the titular protagonists while also delving deeper into the world and letting the character justexist. All while still setting up plot points and throwing in just a little bit of action but not enough to distract. It’s the perfect pay-off for what is perhaps the longest running sub-plot in the series, and best of all? It’s only the beginning for whole new story lines, not the end of one.  

Next week we’ll look into what Espio discovered….

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 144

“Round Up” - Sonic the Hedgehog 173

This is it! The beginning of the most important Buntione story ever!

They get engage! 

Originally posted by etudiant-en-ph3

Originally posted by darthvronton

Originally posted by ay-yuruyusu

Of course we’ve expected Antoine would propose since issue 168, but it took awhile for him to work up the courage to do it and he wanted Sonic and Amy to be present and provide support which is sweet. 

However celebrations are short as this a action comic and we have to shoehorn some fighting in somewhere. 

The Master Emerald has been stolen supposedly and Sally offers to track it down for Knuckles as he’s currently occupied elsewhere. She sets up a sting operation with Bunnie, Ant and Sonic in tow. 

I have to commend Flynn for finally getting both Sonic and Sally to open up and talk about their issues. It’s just a shame that, A. it’s cut short and B. for such an important development in their relationship Bunnie and Ant sure take the back seat in this story. But still it’s a step in the right direction and more then we’ve seen in the last, what 3 eras, now? Geesh!

Anyways Team Hooligan, (that’s Nack, Bean, and Bark) show up and a decent fight ensues, though it’s more comedic then anything exciting or ground breaking. However I am amused that once again it’s Antoine to defeat Bark just like he did the Birthday Bash arc. 

I’m liking their little semi-rivalry. I would totally have loved it if this was some running gag that popped up in the background from time to time but sadly I think this is the last time they face off against one another. 

Some more big bads show up and some more comedy commences. The villains are easily disposed of while Rouge is revealed to be the real culprit; only not really.  

Oh this dumb. 

Originally posted by desingyouruniverse

Lets step aside for a moment and forget Rouge’s obvious lapse in logic here and talk about the real problem. Rouge is by far the most ill served Sega character in the pre-reboot Archie comic. From her lame introduction to her ill conceived moral ambiguity the Archie version of Rouge is nothing like her game counterpart. Gone is the compassion, the empathy, and the insight that made the character stand out from other Femme Fatale stereotypes. And the lowest point for the her is the misjudged Knuckles/Julie-Su/Rouge triangle. 

Yeah that’s right, not even Ian Flynn can escape from the forced love triangle bullshit that has plagued this comic since it’s creation. But make no mistake this particular romantic drama is all of his own creation.  

I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but the Rouge and Knuckles pairing does not work the same in the pre-reboot comics as it does in other Sonic media. For starters the events of SA2 didn’t happen for Knuckles. He was too busy being green at the time, remember, and the Master Emerald along with Angel Island was sucked into another dimension. So therefore he and Rouge don’t even meet officially until the Home arc. All she does there is offer him a lift. Hardly the stuff to build off a relationship with. The only hint we get that Juile-Su looks annoyed by it but that could easily because she didn’t want Knuckles fighting in the battle without his powers. 

Which leads into the second issue with the pairing. Kunckles has been in a committed relationship for years by this point. In the very next issue we see that he and Julie-Su  consider themselves to be in a common law marriage. That’s how serious they are. Not only does the Rouge’s out of nowhere attraction cause a forced love triangle. But she knows it. Rouge flat out states to Julie-Su that she doesn’t care about being a homewrecker. That she’ll willing try to break them up just for the challenge. The whole thing is tasteless and tacky and even more insulting when you realize that the game Rouge had a little something called class. 

Which leads into into the third problem. By changing Rouge’s base motivations and making her the unrequited love interest you undermine the very dynamic that made the Rouge/Knuckles pairing appealing in the first place. They’re suppose to both mutually like each other but unwilling to admit it due to pride. Half the fun is meant to be their unspoken sexual tension, like with Cheers or Leia and Han before they got together.  

Oh and did I mention that she made out with his dad once. (eww) 

My only guess as to why Flynn would ever think of adding this ship in the first place is either he’s personally a fan of the pairing and/or Sonic X was running at the time and the ship is pretty obvious there. However since Archie was also currently handling the Sonic X comic at this time fans could have just gone there to get their fix. Making the inclusion into the main continuity all the more pointless; dragging an already much maligned character down ever further. 

Thankfully Flynn wises up and realizes this ship isn’t working drops the whole thing after this issue. At least until reboot.     

     

But enough talking about other pairings lets back to the real reason we’re here. 

This is pretty big. Sally being the maid of honor was always a given, but Sonic as the best man really showcases how far his and Antoine’s friendship has come over the years. They’re brothers, along with Tails and Rotor, and it’s important to remember that from time to time.  

Next time; the wedding proper.

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 143

“Truth of the Heart” - Sonic the Hedgehog 172

Here’s the official solicitation for this issue…. “ Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we ramp up the romantic intrigue… but don’t worry, as always the stakes are high in the world of Sonic! As more of Fiona Fox’s mysterious past is revealed, Sonic must face shocking secrets that will leave him torn between his new girlfriend and the friends he has loved and fought for all these years. Not only that, but one of her revelations sets off a series of events that will lead to one of the most senses-shattering cliffhangers in years! Which of Sonic’s allies will be pushed to the brink? This is one issue you won’t want to miss!”

Well it is Valentines Day so I can’t think of a better day to get back to this review series. However I think the solicitation over sells the story a bit. Most of the important stuff actually happens next issue. Heck, Bunnie’s not even in the story despite being on the cover. 

So what does happen actually? 

Well Fiona does a face heel turn and dumps Sonic for Scourge. This is quite possibility the best thing to ever happen to the character. It makes her stand out from other Sonic characters as she’s a good guy turned villain, solely because she enjoys it! Though there’s also enough going on beneath the surface to suggest there’s more facets to her beyond just that.  

It’s also leads to one of Scourge’s best scenes. 

This scene is the reason why I like Scourge. He’s not solely an “Evil Sonic” who does bad thing’s just cause. He’s a Sonic who makes poor choices. He decided to go down the wrong path. This element of free will means that not only could the main Sonic go down an equally dark path if pressed, but that there could be redemption for Scourge as well. 

Now I have no delusions that the comic would ever go in this direction; even if it hadn’t ended. Mandates for one thing and pathetic Scourge receiving comeuppance is too much fun for another, but it’s an element that adds layers to the characters. 

Not just to Sonic either. If all of the anti-mobians have free will and aren’t just “born bad” then it calls into question how much of a product of their environment are they. Last review, Antoine mentioned he pitied them. I also discussed how he himself has clanged due to being trapped in that environment.  

So is Patch completely irredeemable? If so, then what happened to him to stomp all of the good out of him? Could a similar fate drive our Antoine over the edge? Or has he already faced that trial and over came it? 

Questions to think about but sadly stuff that’ll be only explored in fan-fiction. 

As for what Antoine contributes to this story, he just shows up at the end to set up the cliff-hanger for the next issue. 

And we’ll discuss that issue next time on the retrospective! 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 142

“Courage and Honor” - Sonic the Hedgehog #168 

Originally posted by yourreactiongifs

Yeah……. It’s been a while hasn’t it. Lots of things went down these past couple of months both for myself personally and the fandom. I finally got a day off to myself to finish this review but I can’t promise any solid schedule for posting, I’m sorry to say. 

You see these reviews take hours to type up. I have to think about what I’m going to write, write a first draft, read it, re-read it, and then re type it several times, track down, cut, edit, and paste pictures/visuals, and then constantly fix typos and spelling errors.  All while hoping no technical issues will make me lose my work. I need a good three to five hours by myself to focus and to mentally prepare myself to spend that much time on one task. 

And this particular review was quite daunting to me because of it’s importance. So strap yourselves in for a long ride.  

We open up with Antoine cleaning up the mess his evil double made. 

This actually is an important insight into Patch’s mind set. It wasn’t enough for him to gain power. It wasn’t enough to merely ruin Antoine’s relationships. He actually took the time to physically destroy anything that belonged to his double. From sentimental keepsakes to petty useless stuff like furniture. Why? Why dedicate so much effort and time into something so pointless? Even Scourge didn’t bother to trash Sonic’s things.  

Well I have a working theory, all of the evil doubles are jealous of their counterparts. It’s obvious in the case of Scourge, but even then it’s not hard to assume that life in anti-mobius is actually harder then in Sonic’s world. Meanwhile Patch is the only member of the suppression squad to see how his other half lives. Antoine has family, genuine friendships, a woman who loves him unconditionally, respect ect. ect. all things that Patch doesn’t have himself and probably never will. 

Perhaps, even more so then Scourge, Patch is the villain most motivated by petty revenge. He will to anything, I mean literally anything, to make Ant suffer. And will see this more sadistic side of him later in the series. 

Bunnie comes over to help clean up and she asks pretty much the same question as my self. Antoine gives this answer and a rare insight into the trauma he’s gone through. 

As I’ve stated else where, this is an Antoine who is harder, angrier, and more world weary then before. An Antoine with an edge to him. We’ll never know for sure what horrors he faced in Anti-Mobius but the consequences are clear. Gone is the gentle Twan who jumped at shadows. Gone is the pragmatic voice of reason, and mediator, who once told Sonic that fighting isn’t always the answer. This is an Antoine who would cut you in two without hesitation if he believed you to be a threat.   

And this scares Bunnie. She’s one of the few to glimpse this darker side of him. One of the few to notice and acknowledge the differences since he’s came back. For the most part Ant plays it cool and can slip back into his old self with ease. Only when Bunnie or someone else he cares about is in danger does his more aggressive nature show.   And most of his friends never seem to notice or comment on this change, chalking it up to “maturity” or “personal growth”. Only Bunnie seems to show concern, fearing his new found anger could lead him down a darker path. It’s a worry of hers that she’ll come express from time to time.     

But enough doom and gloom! Lets talk about something happy….Like engagement rings for example? 

Originally posted by allihavetodoissmile

Originally posted by lifeisabutterflynonetitscaptor

Welp, that lasted all of 2 seconds. Now back to our regularly scheduled angst fest. Better grab yourself some tissues.

  

Sonic’s come to inform Antoine that his dad has taken a turn for the worst and he and Bunnie rush to the hospital. 

Originally posted by toqaahmed

Even after all this time, after all of his accomplishments, after all of the battles he’s fought, both psychical and psychological, he still blames himself for his past “short comings”.  

Fortunately his father is here to finally set him straight.  

Originally posted by all-you-need-is-spn

Armand also gives his blessings and advise to the happy couple because he is best dad. 

There is no denying the perfection that is Buntawn. And the less said abut Scourge the better. 

And then if you’re not sitting a puddle of tears by now, the comic gives it’s final blow. 

Originally posted by theadventuresofparenthood

I told you would need tissues.

The passing of Armand is perhaps the most effecting death in the whole comic. Unlike most other deaths, Armand doesn’t get a heroic outing but instead has his final moments in bed sounded by those he loves. And unlike Juliana before him, the audience already knows him and his established relationships. There’s  something real and raw in this story and it shows. At the end we get a dedication to Jane Flynn, someone of importance to Ian Flynn no doubt, and you can tell the writer drew upon experience to show some genuine emotion.       

But most importantly this marks the final end for Antoine’s character development, coming to terms with his past. From now on Antoine will be a fairly static character but the weight of his experiences will hold more meaning in his future stories. 

So that’s it for this review and hopefully it won’t be a full month until the next one. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 141

“The Gathering” Order from Chaos I - Sonic the Hedgehog #168 

So this story follows up with the infected by nanites plot that was set up back in issue 159.  In fact this story resolves multiple dangling pot threads. So many in fact that few receive the focus they deserve. 

  

Take Bunnie and the rest of the infected mobians for instance. 

These are the only two pages we spend with her. We can tell she’s clearly upset but we get little to no reflection on how much this event has impacted her as we race to the next plot point. What’s worse is that none of the infected individuals interact at all during this story. What could have been an interesting character piece for some underused players takes a back seat to the ongoing plot instead. 

One thing I’ll always commend Ian Flynn for is that he doesn’t ignore what came before. He takes previous lore, characters, and developments and builds off them. So many other writers will pick up a series and then, desperate to make their mark, will completely throw everything out the window and “start fresh.” In what is meant to be a continuity heavy medium that can get rather annoying for the audience. 

Unfortunately though, in an effort to wrap up everything neatly before moving on to new stories, we some times get story arcs like this that feel like we’re just checking off a laundry list of to-do-stuff. Interesting ideas and potential character developments are skipped over in favor of exposition and action beats in order to cram everything in. 

Anyways ADAM has taken over Tommy Turtle’s body and captured Shadow, Tails, and Jules. We’ll return to this story later and it’s impact on the universe, but until then join just next time when we slow down for a bit and look at one of the few actual character pieces this era. 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 140

“Hedgehog Day” - Sonic the Hedgehog #167

So this story is an obvious parody of Groundhog Day and it’s also another birthday story. 

Wait! What? Why?!

We just had a birthday story seven issues ago. You can’t tell me that another year has passed since then. And if not, then where do we place this story in the timeline and how would that effect everybody’s ages? 

Well there’s three options. 

First, this is just a late celebration to make up for his last party being crashed by bad guys. The announcer on the radio even suggests as much in the opening scene. 

However the radio announcer doesn’t specify which attack it was and between the two b-day stories we’ve had a couple of weeks of various attacks. It makes little sense for everybody throw a second party so late afterwards especially when another attack could happen at any time. Besides Sonic had a blast at the first party and told Rotor and the others not worry about it. 

The second option is that this is a flash back to a previous birthday. We have one missing from the early years as I pointed out back in my review of #68. You could place this story right before Mecha Madness and the timeline and ages wouldn’t change. 

Unfortunately there’s some continuity nods that interfere with that placement. Primarily the mention of Mina, Sonic’s green eyes, and Sally’s long hair. Now I can ignore the new designs given the widely varied artwork in this series but Mina existing before issue 76 not so much. 

That leads us into the third option. This took place some time during the 100s before Sonic went into space. It makes the most sense. Mina is around and singing while Sonic and Sally started to sport their newer designs. Plus there’s an awful lot of stories that even with the time skip suggests more then just two years passed.    

Even the Archie Continuity on the Sonic Wiki places it between #120 and #121. Now I would personally move that up a bit to right after Heart Held Hostage. But the point still stands. Acknowledging that Sonic had a birthday before going into space that would place everyone a year ahead of there “official” ages. 

• Sonic - 18 (because of the time skip)
• Sally & Rotor - 19
• Bunnie -20
• Antoine - 21
• Tails & Amy - 13

Only Tails just said he was a eleven a few issues ago so maybe he’s younger then Amy? 

Originally posted by gameraboy

I don’t know but I’m sticking with option number three anyways. What do you guys think? 

The Antoine and Bunnie Retrospective - 139

“Giving and Receiving” & “Birthday Boys” Birthday Bash I & II - Sonic the Hedgehog #160 & #161  

We have a couple of notable issues today. This is the first story ever written by Ian Flynn and the first story to be drawn by fan favorite Tracy Yardley, but most importantly it’s another birthday episode. 

According to Rotor Sonic missed a birthday while traveling through space and it’s been two years since issue 68. This puts everyone at…

• Sonic - 17 (because of the time skip)
• Sally & Rotor - 18 
• Bunnie - 19 
• Antoine - 20 
• Tails & Amy - 12 

Though Tails did say he was eleven just a few issues ago so his birthday must come after Sonic’s. 

 However there is one story that we’ll cover in the near future that could possibly throw a monkey wrench into the works, but more on that later. 

In the meantime here are some highlights to take note of….

This is the first appearance of Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear. Bark is the silent strong man type and Bean is basically a G rated version of Deadpool. 

I fucking love Bean! But unfortunately his interaction with Bunnie and Antoine is practically nonexistent so we won’t see him often in this retrospective. 

Fiona is finally given a personality and a story purpose beyond just “the love interest”. As stupid and forced as the whole Sally/Sonic/Fiona/Tails love triangle is, at least Flynn manages to give the characters life and unique dynamics.     

Scourge gets a recolor and a permanent boost in power from the Master Emerald. 

And Antoine is the one to defeat Bark. 

That’s it for this retrospective, be sure to tune in next week!