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- "How dare you!? I am Antoine! I am the king of cuisine!"
- —Antoine Thomas, upon Chuck's criticism
Antoine Thomas, also known as Chef Antoine, is a psychopath appearing in Dead Rising 2 during the mission Tastes Like Chicken. He reappears in Dead Rising 2: Off the Record with the same role.
He is the owner of Antoine's, a cookware store in Royal Flush Plaza, and calls himself "The King of Cuisine". He was going to be interviewed by a reporter from a famous food magazine, but the zombie outbreak in Fortune City destroys his chance at fame. Unfortunately for Chuck and other sane survivors, he is still under the delusion that the reviewer is on his way, and is using anything that the outbreak can provide to create the perfect dish.
Tastes Like Chicken
Edit
Chuck encounters Thomas while searching for a survivor named Cinda Smith in the Cucina Donnacci restaurant in the Food Court. Antoine mistakes Chuck for the magazine reporter, and offers him a meal made from "ingredients" nobody has dared to imagine. His preparation for his meals reveals that he has taken Cinda hostage, and hints that he plans to kill her and serve her as another dish made from human flesh. Antoine goes on claiming that Chuck's readers will love his newest dish, leading to Chuck asking who he meant. Antoine quickly realizes that Chuck isn't the reviewer and Chuck insults Antoine by saying "Who the hell would want to eat THIS?!", referring to the meal he was preparing, possibly after realizing his cooking contained human meat. Antoine, having been enraged, picks up a chef knife and proclaims that he will make Chuck into one of his dishes and attacks.
After he is defeated, he attempts to back away while supporting himself on the counter, but his hand slips, plunging his arm and later his head into the boiling hot grease of the fryer, resulting in him screaming in pain and his death. Once Antoine is killed, Chuck is given the opportunity to unlock the freezer and rescue the captive barkeep inside.
Battle StyleEdit
See Tastes Like Chicken.
Sandbox ModeEdit
Antoine is one of the crazed survivors Frank can fight in Sandbox Mode. He appears in his restaurant acting like he does in story mode. Once defeated he will drop his weapon and $25,000.
TriviaEdit
- If Antoine is killed by a survivor in Chuck's party, he will show up as Located, instead of Dead.
- Antoine doesn't seem to be affected by the outbreak, this could be because he was busy making his "dish" and hadn't realized, or simply is in denial.
- His voice actor is the same one who voices Earl Flaherty.
- Antoine bears some similarities to Larry Chiang from Dead Rising, both of them being crazed food preparers with a taste for human flesh. They both also run away to heal up by eating, and they both use food as weapons (Larry tosses meat, while Antoine forces an apple down Chuck's throat).
- The song that plays while fighting him is Own Little World by Celldweller.
- This is fitting as Antoine is essentially living in his “own little world” with his delusions of being a great chef and meeting the reviewer.
- When Antoine is killed, a glitch will occasionally occur, causing him to fall through the floor. However, this does not effect his death scene or the game.
- Antoine is the only psychopath in Dead Rising 2 that can heal. He does so by eating from pans of unknown food that he has in various places throughout the restaurant. Chuck either cannot or will not use the food in question, but there's a table full of pasta and wine that he can use. In Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, however, Chuck, as a psychopath also has the ability to heal himself by drinking Whiskey.
- He has another store in the Royal Flush Plaza called Antoine's. There is also an ad outside the Royal Flush Plaza showing his store and a picture of a young Antoine.
- He is likely a reference to the famous restaurant "Antoine's" located in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- His name may also be a reference to Marie-Antoine Carême, due to his mention of being the "king of cuisine." Carême was known as the "king of chefs, and the chef of kings". He might also be a reference to the famous Chef Boyardee, both of them being bulky and having a passion for food and cooking.
- Fans have commented on him being "brutally difficult", he has apparently been "toned down a little bit" for Dead Rising 2: Off the Record.
- When defeated in Off The Record Frank sarcastically remarks "Ok that does NOT smell like chicken" referencing the mission.
- The psychopaths gravitated towards American stereotypes. The trick was to figure out how to take those characters and figure out how they would snap in an outbreak and what they would become....So if you look at the chef in Dead Rising 2, celebrity chefs are a big thing right now and a big part of what you see on TV, so that was an obvious stereotype to go after and then figuring out how this guy has snapped. So the idea of the food critic who was supposed to come and meet him, but the food critic probably became a zombie three days ago and now the chef is capturing survivors and cooking them and serving them. So that’s sort of the process – latching onto key stereotypes and figuring out, what’s the snap."[1]
- Dead Rising 2: Off the Record Creative Director Jason Leigh stated: "Some of the bosses that were too difficult in the eyes of fans – the chef was one example we made sure we tuned those and balanced them a little bit more."[2]
- Oddly enough, Antoine wields a frying pan in combat, even though he picks up a kitchen knife in his pre-fight cutscene.
- Antoine makes near constant food and restaurant related jokes during the fight. He however only laughs at the one he makes before attacking Chuck/Frank: "Sit down, relax. Antoine will make you DINNER!"
- He bears resemblence to Cheff Boyardee.
- A death similar to Antoine's was used on the Spike TV show, "1000 ways to Die".
- Antoine is also similar to Seymour Redding. As they both psychopaths who trie to run from the protagonists, only to kill themselves after.
GalleryEdit
- Further information: Antoine Thomas/Gallery
- Further information: Tastes Like Chicken/Gallery
ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Ryan King, Dead Rising 2: Off The Record Interview, Now Gamer, (June 17, 2011). Interview with Capcom Executive Producer Jason Leigh.
- ↑ Lee Bradley, [ http://www.xbox360achievements.org/news/news-9517-Dead-Rising-2--Off-the-Record-Interview---Capcom-Vancouver-s-Jason-Leigh-Goes-On-the-Record.html Dead Rising 2: Off the Record Interview - Capcom Vancouver's Jason Leigh Goes On the Record.], Xbox360 acchievements. (September 07, 2011)
