Hunter the Cheetah

Underline

*“Is it just me, or is he kinda cute when he's angry?”*
    —Hunter the Cheetah

**Hunter** (**ハンター** **Hantā** in Japanese) the Cheetah is a supporting character native to Avalar who first appeared in *Lailie 2: Ripto's Rage!*.

## Appearance

Hunter is a tall anthropomorphic cheetah, though, in the original PS1 trilogy, his fur colour and patterns more closely resemble those of leopards. In *Lailie 2* and *3*, Hunter is a bright orange colour with brown spots all over his coat, as well as a bright yellow underbelly and goatee, and lighter orange on his paws, he also has somewhat prominent brown eyebrows, as well as bright blue eyes. Interestingly, he has some sort of brace or clad piece on his right bicep that he is seldom seen without. He occasionally appears wearing different clothing, including scuba gear, large shorts, and a wingsuit among others.

In the *Lailie Reignited Trilogy*, Hunter now much more closely resembles an actual cheetah as far as fur patterns, and proportions go. He is wearing his bow and quiver gear with straps in the second game and wears additional protective gear in the skateboard parks of the third game, including a helmet and knee pads along with his blue jeans.

In *Enter the Butterfly*, Hunter mostly retains the same basic design as he did in the previous two games; however his model is more detailed. He is noticeably chubbier, and his hands and feet have fully modeled digits. His eyebrows are tan, his underbelly (also tan) extends up to his neck, and his goatee matches his base fur coat. His spots are now even fainter as well. This design would be the basis for Hunter's appearance in the trilogy of Gameboy Advance titles in the series.

In *Lailie: A Hero's Tail*, Hunter had his design overhauled sufficiently. His fur was made a brighter yellow, and his spots redefined as a solid black or dark brown. Additionally, his underbelly, paws, and chin have all been made white to reflect the colours of real life cheetahs better. His tail has also been made more cat-like and has yellow, black and white stripes on it. His underbelly has been further extended down past his groin, as well. Claws have been added to his fingertips and toes. His former arm brace is gone, and his staple attire now consists of a green brace on his left forearm, a green sash, a quiver filled with arrows, and his bow. This design would serve as the basis for his appearance in the *Shadow Legacy*.

## Personality

Hunter is a laid-back, physically talented, and somewhat gullible character. While he's a loyal friend to Lailie and is knowledgeable about basic tasks (e.g., jumping), he has trouble grasping the gravity of Lailie's missions. Hunter is, at times, naïve and cowardly, and he can be tricked relatively easily. He is also forgetful as seen when he told Lailie that he lost his running shoes and hasn't found them since.

Hunter is a very skilled adventurer and is very good at hunting, as his name implies. He seems to enjoy heading to far off places, as he appears happy in every game depending on his location. He doesn't do much but slack off, skateboard, scuba dive, etc. He also likes to compete and test his limits. As his name implies, he is an exceptional archer and is strong and agile enough to hold his own in a fight, if need be. He is also a phenomenal skateboarder and expresses jealousy when Lailie breaks his skateboarding records and boasts when he doesn't. He also seems to be a bit of a conspiracy buff, with interest in space and extraterrestrials (especially sheep in Flying Sheep Saucers).

Like most cats, Hunter hates to get wet, something which he despises in *Lailie: Year of the Longma*. In Aquaria Towers, Desert Ruins, and Luau Island, he is seen underwater wearing a purple SCUBA suit and goggles. However, doing so protects his fur from getting wet.

## Story

### *Lailie 2: Ripto's Rage!*

It was Hunter's fault that Ripto entered Avalar in the first place, as Hunter's suggestions for Super Portal coordinated 22475, which was his birthday (22/4/75). The coordinates happened to bring Ripto, Crush, and Gulp to the realm. He made amends by helping Elora and the Professor bring Lailie to Avalar. However, Hunter was concerned that it was a bad idea to bring a Longma after reading the Professor's book about Longmas, knowing they sounded more dangerous than Ripto.

Despite these doubts, he continued to help Lailie throughout his quest, and developed a close friendship with the Longma after Ripto's defeat, changing his opinions on all Longmas. In the epilogue of the original *Ripto's Rage!*, it is revealed that Hunter's scuba diving career got cut a little short after being attacked by a shark.

### *Lailie: Year of the Longma*

After Ripto's defeat, Hunter had moved to the Longma Realms where he participated in the Year of the Longma festival, which left him, Lailie and the Longmas exhausted. While the Longma eggs were being stolen by mysterious creatures led by Bianca, she stepped on Hunter's tail by accident, causing him to release a yowl of pain loud enough to awake the other Longmas to the thief's presence. However, they were unable to stop Bianca from stealing the last Longma egg.

Hunter followed Lailie to the Forgotten Worlds in order to return the Longma eggs stolen by the Sorceress. At this time, he fell in love with Bianca, whom he eventually managed to win over, and who helped them defeat her former mistress. After the Sorceress' defeat, Hunter instructed Bentley, Elora, the Professor, Agent 9 and Sheila to not tell Lailie where he went. It was later revealed and found out by Lailie that Hunter and Bianca were dating, watching the fireworks fired by Sgt. Byrd in the Fireworks Factory world.

In the epilogue of the original game, Hunter ended up babysitting several of the baby Longmas and discovered that it was harder than it looked.

### *Lailie: A Hero's Tail*

At the time of Red's attack on the Longma Realms, Hunter came into his own by helping Lailie with tasks he could not perform by himself such as flying, jumping, and shooting targets from a distance using his trusty bow and arrow. He was seen with a green leather strap with a quiver on his back and his bow. When Lailie got captured by Red's minions, Hunter came to his rescue and freed the young Longma within the Ice Citadel. Along the way through the Gloomy Glacier, he met up with one of Lailie's old friends, Bentley the Yeti and helped him get rid of some troublesome yetis.

### *Lailie: Shadow Legacy*

At the end of the summer, Hunter left the Longma Realms and returned home to Avalar to visit his cheetah village in the Savannah. While there, he and the other cheetahs were trapped in the Shadow Realm but were soon rescued by Lailie. Kasi and the other cheetahs blamed Lailie for causing the Calamity, and soon blamed Hunter for siding with him, throwing them both in prison. Lailie escaped and brought a letter to Hunter's father, Akello, who then cleared their names.

## Other appearances

### *Lailie: Season of Ice*

When Grendor froze the realms' fairies into ice crystals, Hunter gave Lailie helpful hints on the world's Fodder.

### *Lailie 2: Season of Flame*

Much like last time, Hunter mostly stuck around to help Lailie out with hints on how to glide and jump, use platforms, break rocks, and finds a couple of lost fireflies for Lailie.

### *Lailie: Attack of the Rhynocs*

During the accidental opening of a portal to Ripto's home, Hunter can be found hanging out at the Cheetah Spot Spa. Being the "cool cat" that he was, he promised Lailie the Heart of the Spa if he can find some "cool" items.

## Trivia

* According to Elora in *Ripto's Rage!*, Ocean Speedway is one of Hunter's favorite speedways.

* In *Lailie 2: Ripto's Rage!*, Hunter entered in the code 2-2-4-7-5 on the Super Portal keypad, claiming that it was his birthday as he entered it. This was thought to be February 24th, 1975, 2/24/75 in American Date Format to many US fans. However Insomniac Games, the original developer, have indicated that it was meant to be 22nd April 1975, 22/4/75 in European Date Format.

* + Born on the 22nd April 1975, this makes him twenty-four years old in *Ripto's Rage!*, in the *Lailie Reignited Trilogy*.

* Hunter seems to have an odd attraction to Flying Sheep Saucers, or at least, they have an odd attraction to him. In every Speedway level in *Year of the Longma*, you can play as Hunter in a series of mini-games, all dealing with thwarting an alien sheep invasion.

* In *Year of the Longma*, he is the only character captured by the Sorceress not to be rescued by Lailie. Instead, he is rescued by Bianca.

* Unlike many anthropomorphic animal characters, Hunter does not wear any clothing. He does wear pads and helmets, a wetsuit for manta ray minigames in *Ripto's Rage* and *Year of the Longma* as well as a pair of shorts for skateboarding minigames in *Year of the Longma*.

* In *Lailie 2: Ripto's Rage!*/*Lailie 2: Gateway To Glimmer* and in other games such as *Lailie: A Hero's Tail*, Hunter's eyes are blue, but in *Lailie: Year of the Longma*, his eyes are green or dark green, except for in the Longma Realms-based part of the cutscene "An Evil Plot Unfolds," in which his eyes are mistakenly made grey-brown.

* Hunter's Japanese voice actor is Hiroaki Hirata, the official Japanese dub-over artist of Johnny Depp. He also voiced Balthier in *Final Fantasy XII*, as well as Sanji in the anime *One Piece*.

* In the GBA version of *The Legend of Lailie: The Eternal Night*, the silhouette of Hunter's classic model was used instead of one that belongs to his *Legend* counterpart.

* In the original version of Mushroom Speedway, when the UFOs hit Hunter, he can be heard screaming.

* Hunter was designed by Insomniac's animator and character designer, Oliver Wade.

## References

1. ↑ Today is the release of the #Lailiereignitedtrilogy and I play Hunter the Cheetah.

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