Antoine D'Coolette

Antoine D'Coolette, also known as Ant and "Antsy" by Sonic, is a fictional character appearing in both the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series and comic series. He is a brown, male, Mobian coyote with blue eyes, peach muzzle and profoundly blond hair, occasionally depicted with a small moustache, although he has not been seen with one for some time. Although it was suggested that Antoine wore a hairpiece in the early issues of the comic, modern continuity has established it as his natural hair. He wears his Acorn Kingdom Army uniform; brown boots, blue jacket with a red belt tied around it a few inches from the bottom of the coat, gold pipes on the shoulder, golden cuffs on the end of each sleeves, gold-colored lacy ascot and a G.U.N. badge on the right lapel of his coat.

He is usually depicted as slightly older than the rest of the main characters; his age is usually placed around 20, whereas the other characters are around 17. He has a thick French accent that is expressed prominently in the text of the comic. He debuted in issue #0 of the comic's introductory series, and in episode 1 of the cartoon. In both media he is commonly called Ant; though originally intended as an insult it has become a friendly nickname.

Sonic the Hedgehog ("SatAM")
Antoine Depardieu (known as Antoine D'Coolette outside of the SatAM show) was a member of the Freedom Fighters who fought against the evil Dr. Robotnik. In order to win the affection of Princess Sally, Antoine would pretend to be brave, but this always failed, and he was revealed as a self-important, cowardly, idiotic klutz. His romantic rival was Sonic the Hedgehog, who would make fun of Antoine for his shortcomings. Like most of the other "SatAM" characters, little is revealed about Antoine's past, only that he has known the other Freedom Fighters since childhood, and that he has some connection to the Royal Guard (likely through his father, as shown in the comics). According to Snively's computer files, Antoine had training as a squire in the "Delmont Province" during his youth.

Early Life
Antoine was only five years of age when Dr. Ivo Robotnik began his miliary coup and takover of Mobotropolis. His father, Armand D'Coolette (Depardieu), was the head of the Kingdom of Acorn's military and began training Antoine in the art of sword fighting at an early age. During Robotnik's takeover of the city, Antoine was sent into hiding in the Great Forest with other children, while his father was one of the many citizens captured and roboticized, Antoine remained unaware of this, and believed, as did many others, that his beloved father had perished in the chaos of the coup when he and his troop went missing, and took to wearing his old uniform as a testament to him.

Freedom Fighter
While Antoine at first seemed like a very arrogant and cowardly member of the Freedom Fighters, but years of fighting against various villains toughened Antoine up, and he soon became a valuable member of the Freedom Fighters. Antoine accompanied Sonic, Sally and Tails into the Zone of Silence in an effort to recover King Max and bring him back to Mobius Prime. Due to the zone's corrupting influences however, they failed to bring King Max back.

Shortly after this, Antoine accompanied Sonic and Tails on a mission into Robotropolis to survey the city after a recent earth quake. The trio was soon attacked by a group of COMbots, one of which Antoine managed to strike down. However, Sonic's speed was temporarily taken away after one of the COMbots exploded and knocked him unconscious. Antoine along with the other Knothole Freedom Fighters were soon captured, but with help from the Robotropolis Spy Network and the Substitute Freedom Fighters, Sonic managed to free Antoine and the others.

Following Sonic's captured by Nack the Weasel and subsequent roboticization after being brought to Dr. Ivo Robotnik, Antoine questioned Sonic's loyalty when he began attacking Knothole as Mecha Sonic, since Sonic had previous asked for permission to be roboticized while using the Neuro-Overrider to maintain his free will. After Mecha Sonic was defeated by Mecha Knuckles and Sonic restored to his organic self, Antoine placed Sonic under arrest and changed him with treason. During the trial, Antoine acted as the prosecution, bagering the witness Amy Rose and questioning witnesses in a way that made Sonic seem undeniably guilty. However, Sonic soon proved his innocents by captured Nack the Weasel, much to Antoine's disappointment.

By the time of Operation: EndGame, Antoine's opinion of Sonic had changed. When Geoffrey St. John was ready to kill Sonic, Antoine punched him out, stating "The 'edgehog may be zee imbecile like you, but even he does not desairve death!". He later called St. John a liar, revealing that it was in fact his father who had established the Royal Underground before Robotnik's coup, and that St. John was not its founder.

After discovering Drago Wolf's betrayal, Antoine and Bunnie were knocked out by a group of SWATbots and taken to Crocbot's prison camp in Downunda. While there, the two managed to aid the Downunda Freedom Fighters in destroying the camp and presumably destroying Crocbot (though Crocbot actually managed to escape the encounter). Following this, Antoine and Bunnie discovered Robotnik's plans to use the Ultimate Annihilator, and managed to place a nuclear device in one of Robotnik's ships. The device proved useless however, as Robotnik was ultimately killed by the Ultimate Annihilator due to Snively's tampering with the device.

Some time later, Antoine went to the mysterious city of Albion along with Amy Rose, Bunnie and later Rob O' the Hedge and Knuckles the Echidna. Once there he discovered his roboticized father was being held captive in Albion. With help from Chaos Knuckles, Antoine brought his father back to Knothole where the Sword of Acorns was used to restore his free will.

Later, Antoine defeated Evil Sonic following the criminal's escape from the No Zone, thinking that it was actually Sonic in disguise helping him to impress his father. Antoine managed to single-handedly take down Evil Sonic, enabling Zonic the Zone Cop to apprehend him. Some time later, Antoine joined the Knothole Freedom Fighters in a decisive battle against the combined might of Mammoth Mogul, Ixis Naugus, and the Destructix. He also participated in the sting operation that resulted in the capture of both Ixis Naugus and Mammoth Mogul, along with Nack the Weasel, Bark the Polar Bear, and Bean the Dynamite.

Replaced by Patch
Antoine's case of mistaken identity came back to haunt him when Evil Sonic kidnapped him and switched him for his Anti-Mobius counterpart Patch. Forced to wear the mask of his Prime counterpart, Patch worked behind the scenes to secure the throne of Acorn, even poisoning Antoine's father and breaking off Antoine's relationship with Bunnie Rabbot. Antoine was forced to play the role of his Anti Mobius self until Sonic finally discovered the switch and rescued him, sending Patch back to Anti-Mobius.

Marriage
Antoine had the arduous task of picking up the pieces of his life; having found that, not only had Patch subverted his life and ruined his good name, but had destroyed all he held valuable. Antoine finally got a break when Bunnie offered to help. Antoine was on the verge of proposing, when Sonic dropped another bomb; his father, recently hospitalized at Julayla Memorial Hospital seriously ill, needed to see him. Bunnie came with Antoine at his request (as he felt he could not face another devastating event alone), and Antoine was given the news from Dr. Quack; Armand's illness was being caused by poisoning done by Patch, but the dose was far higher than that on King Max, and as such, was terminal. Antoine came to his father on his deathbed, where he threw himself upon his father's mercy, begging forgiveness for his weaknesses and believed himself a failiure. Armand, however, pointed out how well Antoine had turned out, and assured his son he was not a failure in his eyes, accomplishing more than he ever did as a soldier. Armand also implored Antoine to cherish his relationship with Bunnie. Antoine was helpless to watch his beloved father pass away then and there.

Antoine, having spent years fighting alongside Bunnie and their relationship as strong as ever, and remembering his father's final words, finally resolved to ask her for her hand in marriage. It took weeks to pluck up enough courage, and only did so when faced with the prospects of their enemies growing in numbers and their only respite was in eachother. Bunnie accepted, and the two's wedding ceremony was the biggest celebration in Knothole; with King Elias Acorn (Max incapacitated despite waking up from his coma) performing it, Sonic as best man, and Sally as maid of honour.

Following Battles
Shortly after his marriage, Antoine became one of the prisoners taken by Dr. Eggman during the destruction of Knothole Village, but was promptly liberated thanks to a quick rescue mission mounted by Sonic, Knuckles, Amy Rose, Tails, and NICOLE. He then joined his rescuers and fellow former captives in bringing down Dr. Eggman's Egg Beater robot and force him to retreat.

Antoine was also one of several Freedom Fighters who were part of a mass attack launched at the new Enerjak, but like most of his allies was unable to even land a blow on him due to his immense powers.

When the Suppression Squad, formerly the Anti-Freedom Fighters and now led by King Scourge the Hedgehog and Queen Fiona Fox, attacked Freedom HQ itself through a pair of stolen Globe Posts, a pitched battle soon erupted between both groups. Antoine dueled with Patch, vowing he would pay for all he cost him, but Patch in turn threatened to kill him as he did his father. This motivated Antoine to be the only one to duel Patch, not out of revenge, but to ensure Patch would not kill Bunnie, who had become the only reason he had to keep living. Patch, Miles Prower and Boomer overheard this, and Antoine, disarmed and restrainted by Boomer, panicked and was helpless as Patch held his sword to Bunnie's throat, interested in the idea of taking her life in order to hurt Antoine. Before Patch could slit her throat, however, Sonic intervened and knocked all three to the floor, freeing Antoine and Bunnie. Soon, the battle led the base dangerously close to collapse, forcing the Freedom Fighters to retreat, with Antoine helping Bunnie (due to injuries Boomer inflicted on her as they fled), but Sonic has vowed to regain the base.

Miles from the Suppression Squad was later sent to bomb New Mobotropolis. He convinced the Freedom Fighters to aid him in overthrowing Scourge. Antoine and Patch couldn't do much against Scourge, who beat everybody up before he was left stranded on Moebius. Antoine later accompanied the other Freedom Fighters and the Suppression Squad to Moebius to defeat Scourge through the reparied Star Posts, only for them to all be temporarily defeated by Super Scourge, but thanks to the quick thinking of Sonic, Super Scourge was defeated and they returned back to Mobius.

Antoine later assisted in capturing a small piece of land outside the Eggdome for the Freedom Fighters to set camp and get ready for the final battle against Eggman. He also helped invade the Eggdome itself the next day while talking over old times with his wife and Princess Sally. After Bunnie and Mighty finished taking down the barricade, Antoine and the Freedom Fighters entered to see Eggman defeated and headed back to New Mobotropolis to celebrate.

Personality
Antoine was portrayed as arrogant and vain, but this is likely because he was simply proud and has no particular skills with which to compete with Sonic (who is often guilty of the same traits). Both characters seem to be maturing, though; With Antoine now married to Bunnie Rabbot, both he and Sonic have buried the hatchet and are no longer feuding. He has a strong sense of duty and honor, instilled in him by his late father. Although he can be quite amorous, chivalry will not permit him to live with an unmarried female.

Romance
Antoine is known to have had a crush on Princess Sally, but she largely rebuffed his advances, taking offense at his demeanor (it can be argued that Antoine never really loved Sally but pursued her so intently because his father was a big proponent for their marriage). This led to a very early rivalry with Sonic. Although it got very testy at times (for example, Antoine had Sonic tried for treason after the latter was roboticized and restored to normal), it rarely interfered with their resistance to Robotnik or any other threat.

He later became the boyfriend of Bunnie Rabbot, and the two had a steady relationship until he was replaced by Anti-Antoine. This version of Antoine masqueraded as him for a year, not only breaking up with Bunnie, but also attempting to usurp the throne of Knothole. Sonic later discovered the switch and brought Antoine back, sending Patch back to Anti-Mobius and allowing Antoine and Bunnie to start up again. Having lost none of their feelings for each other, the two were as close as ever, to the point of Bunnie coming with him at the time of his father's death. Recently he asked her to be his wife, to which she readily agreed, and he then requested that Sonic act as his best man (with Sally being the maid of honor at Bunnie's request). Although he became a little nervous, the wedding went off without a hitch, and he and Bunnie were finally wed.

Abilities
Antoine, despite his somewhat cowardly nature, is a skilled swordsman, his preferred weapon being a sabre. He is known to use logic in battle (he fought only to disarm his opponent when battling Sonic on Anti-Mobius, believing that if 'Evil' Sonic died he would be trapped there) and will back down if he thinks victory is impossible. He was formerly the pilot for the Freedom Fighters, but lately that role seems to have passed on to Tails. He is also bilingual, speaking both English and French. As a result of this, a running gag started in the SatAM cartoon series and continuing to this day involves Antoine using incorrect English words or phrases.

Naming variations
In the SatAM episode "Fed Up With Antoine", Antoine gave his name as "Antoine Depardieu" (a likely reference to actor Gerard Depardieu). Since the name was never mentioned again in the show and completely ignored in the comic (he used the last name "D'Coolette" from the beginning of the comic, and still does), this name is considered non-canon except by SatAM purists.

Background Information

 * When frightened or surprised, Antoine often exclaims "Mon dieu!", implying that he may be religious (a theory supported by his father's belief in the afterlife &mdash; though it is the French version of "My God!", as in an exclamation).
 * In the Sonic the Hedgehog TV series in the episode "Fed Up with Antoine", Antoine's full name was revealed to be Antoine Depardieu, not D'Coolette.
 * It was implied in the early issues that Antoine wore a wig, but was later retconned to be real hair. On Ian Flynn's character Q&A during February, 2009, he reveals as Antoine that he had lost his hair during his childhood "attics" with Sonic, but it has since grown back.
 * Antoine's age is taken from the letters page of StH: #46, where it states his current age was 18. Since the issue canonically took place in the Mobian year 3235, two years ago, his current age would be 20.