Bunnie D'Coolette


 * For the version of this character before the Super Genesis Wave, see Bunnie D'Coolette (Pre-Super Genesis Wave).

Bunnie "Rabbot" D'Coolette, birth name Bunnie Rahbow, is a protagonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics. She is an anthropomorphic cyborg rabbit, the wife of Antoine D'Coolette and a member of the New Freedom Fighters. Originally she was a regular person, but when Dr. Eggman made his first attack on Mobotropolis, Bunnie suffered severe injuries and the only way to save her life was by having parts of her body replaced with cybernetics by Charles the Hedgehog. Since then, she has used her cybernetics to better serve the Freedom Fighters, and together with her friends, she has been fighting the evil forces of the Eggman Empire.

Appearance
Bunnie is a golden rabbit with pale yellow fur, a white muzzle, and vibrant emerald-green eyes. Her eyelids (as well as around the eyes themselves) are generally violet or pink and her right ear is often flopped, though this is not a constant feature. Her hair, starting off as a tuft of bangs on the back of her neck and forehead, grew from childhood into shoulder-length, and then down to her waist which she began tying back in a single ponytail.

Bunnie most pronounced feature are her cyborg limbs as a result of her roboticization, with her left arm and lower torso from the waist being cybernetic. Originally being more clunky and heavy in appearance, her robotic parts were replaced with sleeker, more modern versions.

As a child, Bunnie wore purple overalls, a white shirt, gloves, and bows at the tip of her ears. After her Roboticization, Bunnie began wearing a pink singlet instead and eventually discarded her bows after becoming a teenager.

Early life
Much of Bunnie's early life is unknown. As a child, she was found in the Royal Hills Zone by Rosie Woodchuck and Uncle Chuck, with no indication of where the young rabbit had come from. She was taken to Mobotropolis were she was raised under Rosie's care, until the city was taken over by Dr. Eggman. It was during this attack that Bunnie sustained some severe injuries. In order to save her life from these injuries, she was forced to have half of her body replaced with cybernetic limbs by Chuck.

Learning how to walk with her new robotic limbs was not only painful, but embarrassing (becoming more clumsy as a result), which would lead to her being picked on by other children, who purposely pronounced her last name as "Rab-BOT". Her spirits were lifted when Miles "Tails" Prower, another child under Rosie's care, reassured her that he did not care that she has robotic parts, and that he saw her as a big sister. The rest of her fellow Freedom Fighters expressed similar feelings, and treat her as no different, inspiring Bunnie to make the most of this, striving to live her life to the fullest. Her bravery inspired Antoine D'Coolette to become braver, though Bunnie reassured him that it was not him "being brave" that made him brave, but him overcoming his fears were the reason he was brave.

As time passed, it became apparent that Bunnie's limbs needed an upgrade. She accepted, even though it would greatly decrease the chances of her ever getting her old limbs back. But Antoine reassured her that it wouldn't affect her courageous heart and beautiful spirit. The two had become close before Antoine asked for her hand in marriage, which she happily accepted.

Genesis
In the alternate reality created by the first Genesis Wave, Bunnie found herself held captive in a Prison Egg with a group of Mobinis. Fearing the return of Snively, and trying to be strong for her fellow prisoners, she contemplated fearfully the state of her cousin Cream the Rabbit. As she wondered if help would arrive, a white light flooded the world, and Bunnie chose to take it as a good sign.

Countdown to Chaos

 * Note: From the readers point of view, this picks up from where Bunnie's original timeline ended.

Operating as a Freedom Fighter, Bunnie was sent on an undercover mission to the Metropolis Zone in order to obtain a shield generator, while under the guise of an Egg Army underling named Scarlett. During the mission, Sonic and Time, both of whom had received memories from a different timeline due to the effects of the Super Genesis Wave, arrived at the base. Knocking out the the foreman, she revealed herself to her friends, who were stunned to see her cybernetic parts. The trio-along with Nicole-then worked together in order to secure the generator and escape the city, though they had to deal with an unexpected earthquake.

Upon returning to the Sky Patrol, the Freedom Fighters' new base, Bunnie was reunited with her husband Antoine. Her memories of the previous timeline were then restored. She was happy to see her husband was out of the coma, but also sad that she had her robotic parts again, this time permanently. Overcome, she was left to deal with the revelations, comforted by a sympathetic Antoine.

Bunnie would later find herself in the position of providing comfort to a friend shaken by their restored memories, warning Sally Acorn beforehand and then taking charge of her as she attempted to get a handle on the revelations. Unfortunately, the friends had little time to recover, as the planet then broke apart beneath them.

Shattered World Crisis
Determined to help, the New Freedom Fighters traveled to Station Square and were split into Team Freedom and Team Fighters to help contain the crisis and provide aid to victims of the Shattered World Crisis. During the adventure, Bunnie and Antoine both struggled with conflicting memories, as they remembered visiting a flooded Station Square before-but also NOT doing so. Their efforts helped to prepare the way for the arrival of G.U.N. relief forces, but the Freedom Fighters were soon called away for a new assignment: rescuing the kidnapped Professor Charles the Hedgehog and his colleague Professor Dillon Pickle from an Bullet Train. Once again split into teams, the heroes searched the train for the professors; a frustrated Bunnie was about to start smashing her way into cars when Amy warned her of the volatile nature of some of their contents. Continuing their search together, the pair were alerted that the train was picking up speed at a dangerous rate. Bunnie soon became occupied dealing with Badnik forces aboard the train, but was later instructed to break off when the professors were rescued. The Freedom Fighters were then given a new task: restoring their planet's wholeness by finding the legendary Gaia Temples and collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds.

The Freedom Fighters soon learned that the planet's fragmented state was causing other problems, such as the nightly appearance of strange creatures that threatened all who they came across. Determined to complete their mission before things became worse, the Freedom Fighters were split into teams, with Bunnie remaining aboard the Sky Patrol with Big the Cat and Cream the Rabbit while their friends left on other missions. She would later greet Antoine upon his return with a Chaos Emerald, and jokingly questioned whether he was planning on upgrading her wedding ring with the jewel. The pair would later go on a relief mission to Harbor Heights, where they saved a pair of newlyweds and others from tragedy. Seeing Antoine in danger-from which he admittedly emerged unscathed-prompted Bunnie to approach her husband with her fears about losing him. However, as always, he comforted her and assured her that they would always be together. Along with their teammates they were later treated to a tour of the Sky Patrol, which was briefly interrupted by the attacking War Walrus. They also took part in a training simulation orchestrated by Nicole, which prompted Bunnie to think back on her life.

While Sonic was on leave from the team to deal with his Werehog transformation, the Freedom Fighters set out to recover another Chaos Emerald. Bunnie thus joined Sally and Antoine on Team Freedom, only for them to be ambushed by the E-100 Series robots E-108 Iota, E-109 Kappa, and E-110 Lambda. Outgunned and overmatched, the trio lost the Emerald and were in danger of being taken out when Team Fighters-Rotor, Tails, and Amy-came to their aid. Unfortunately, such a rescue had been anticipated, and a trap was sprung that ensnared both groups. Luckily, a small and unexpected reserve team led by Cream came to their aid, rescuing both groups and helping them back to the Sky Patrol. Battered and demoralized, they were bolstered by the return of Sonic, and soon faced their next objective: the Chaos Emerald Championship. Sonic shared what he knew of organizer Breezie the Hedgehog, one of a handful of unpleasant accounts of earlier adventures that he mocked; Antoine mused that he thought he would enjoy learning about more of them, prompting Bunnie to gently reprimand him despite her own amusement. Sally was forced to inform the others that only Sonic, Tails, and Amy had been accepted into the tournament despite her efforts to get them all on the roster. Undeterred, Bunnie joined her teammates in watching the competition, keeping an eye on the concerned Cream and garnering obvious amusement when the younger Rabbit expressed outrage at Honey the Cat's tactics during her bout with Tails.

Worlds Unite
Bunnie Rabbot, alongside the other Freedom Fighters, attempted to fight off M'egga Man when he invaded Mobotropolis, although it was a losing battle. After Sonic's World and Earth in the year 20XX merged into a Unified World, Bunnie, finding the Robot Masters Snake Man and Spark Man nearby, asked for orders to the Freedom Fighter leader Sally Acorn as to whether to engage them or fall back, only to learn that Sally was not sure what to do because the robots were also fighting against Sonic Man. Eventually, she, alongside fellow Freedom Fighter member Gemerl, were ordered to save the civilians of 200X when they were falling off a building due to damage it sustained from the worlds being merged. Having worked together, the Robot Masters and Freedom Fighters joined forces, their numbers bolstered as Mega Man and Sonic were returned to normal and the Maverick Hunters and Team Sticks arrived to join them. Together, the expanded group boarded the Sky Patrol in search of the villainous Sigma.

Sigma was eventually learned to be based on the Lost World, and the heroes proceeded there only to run into an army of Mechaniloids led by the Deadly Six. Bunnie and her friends fought bravely, but were then forced to contend with the villains' ability to take control of technology. Bunnie was barely able to keep herself from attacking her own friends due to their power over her robotic limbs, and Big the Cat had to restrain her to keep her from causing any harm. She was soon freed by the effects of the Egg-Wily Uppity Robot Scrambler Cannon, only to be forced to join her weary friends in battle with the Maverick army Sigma had created. She and Flash Man teamed up to save Bubble Man from Rainy Turtloid, but the overwhelming force proved too much for them to contain. Most of the Mavericks scattered to various worlds through the Genesis Portals, leaving a handful of their comrades behind to finish off Bunnie and her friends. Fortunately, help arrived in the form of Chun-Li and her fellow Street Fighters, who dispatched the Mavericks. The heroes then prepared to pursue their foes to the various worlds they had invaded.

Pairing up with Zero, Bunnie followed some Mavericks to the world of Ghosts 'n Goblins. There, she then explained to the irate and confused archdemon Astaroth the Mavericks' plot, resulting in the Mavericks being incinerated by the demon, and forcing the dark lord to call a true with the knight Sir Arthur (whom he had entered a duel with earlier) to deal with Sigma while sending Firebrand to aid him. She then returned to the unified world with the others and reunited with everyone to proceed to fight with Sigma and his Mavericks.

Personality
Bunnie has always been kind and friendly, and grew up with the expectation that she would marry a gentleman and settle down to a calm life as a hair stylist. That all changed during Dr. Eggman's takeover, when grievous injuries to Bunnie's body forced Uncle Chuck to partially Roboticize her. This change proved quite the struggle in Bunnie's life, but her fellow Freedom Fighters helped her to find a sense of normalcy by embracing her regardless of her cyborg nature. Bunnie thus developed into a fiery but good-natured individual with a firm desire to help save her world from evil and prevent the suffering of others. She is incredibly courageous and self-sacrificing, but not to the point of recklessness; her greatest fear is that something might befall her husband or their friends.

Powers and abilities
Though she initially struggled with her cyborg nature, Bunnie eventually embraced her new form and its abilities, which-among various upgrades-included the powers of flight and conversion of her left forearm into a laser weapon. She also gained a built-in computer in her arm that could form a wireless connection with Nicole. Bunnie also gained the ability to fire lasers directly from the palm of her hand, without having to transform her arm into a cannon. However, the power of her arm-laser seems to be limited to an extent, as seen by how she could create only a small hole in one of the Egg Train's roof hatches, instead of outright destroying it. Her mechanical limbs also grant her strength beyond that of a normal person.

Antoine D'Coolette
Antoine first noticed Bunnie in Knothole where he watched her ongoing struggles to function, which inspired him to do more. In his own words, Bunnie gave Antoine the answer to what would make him brave. The two joined the New Freedom Fighters together and over the years of fighting as team-mates, they became very close. Years later, Bunnie revealed to Antoine that he had inspired her with his own courage, and the comradery between the two blossomed into romance, and the two were eventually married ( STH 174#). Upon having his memories of the original timeline restored, Antoine's first thought was of his wife, and he went to great lengths to be with her at the time of her own memory restoration, knowing that she would need support.

Trivia

 * Bunnie's current design is a slight reworking of her planned redesign for the pre-Super Genesis Wave continuity, with the design of her robotic body parts (originally obtained through Legionization) being simplified.
 * The design of Bunnie's cybernetic limbs originally resembled the ones for her television series counterpart, though designed to match Patrick Spaziante's drawings of them.
 * A Q&A from Ian Flynn indicates that Bunnie likes making "good comfort food," and that she and Antoine have made it an unwritten rule not to get in the way of each other in the kitchen.