Bark the Polarbear

Bark the Polarbear, also known as Bark and Bark the Polar Bear, is an anthropomorphic yellow polar bear and a character in the videogame Sonic the Fighters.

In Sonic the Fighters, his incredible strength compensates for his slow speed. He specializes in throws and has the comical ability to flatten an opponent's head.

Archie Comics
Bark and Bean's first encounter with Sonic the Hedgehog was when Doctor Eggman hired them to attack Sonic on his birthday. The 2 criminals had apparently met up with Evil Sonic sometime earlier and the meeting was apparently not so good for Bark and Bean. So the two, thinking Sonic was the one who insulted them, accepted the job and attacked the newly-built Freedom HQ. But Bark was defeated when the Freedom Fighters completely surrounded him and Fiona Fox advised him to surrender, which he did. But when Croctobot attacked Freedom HQ, Bark and Bean used this as their chance to escape, although Fiona tried to stop them.

Bark and Bean were later hired by Dr. Eggman once more to investigate rumors of Rouge having the Master Emerald. Nack the Weasel was also hired, although he did never actually work with the duo. Now sporting Extreme Gear thanks to Bean's former membership in the Battle Bird Armada, Bark and Bean ran into Sonic and Antoine. Bark was defeated when Antoine sliced his Extreme Gear in half and caused him to crash. Bark was sent to Knothole Prison along with Bean, Nack, Mammoth Mogul, and Ixis Naugus.

Not long after, Eggman's Egg Fleet attacked Knothole Village and even captured Bark and his fellow prisoners. But Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Amy Rose rescued all of Eggman's prisoners, including Bark and the other criminals. But when everyone was sent to New Mobotropolis, Bark, Bean, and Nack took advantage of the opportunity and joined Mammoth Mogul. Fortunately, Nicole teleported all of the criminals to the new city's prison. While a prisoner there, Bark watched Sonic's fight with Tails.

Awhile later, Bark watched as Mammoth Mogul forced Sonic and Ash Mongoose to steal the Gray Chaos Emerald from Castle Acorn, or else he would have had Mina Mongoose, Mighty the Armadillo, and Tails (who were all under his control) kill themselves. When the two gave Mogul the emerald, he regained his Chaos-based powers and unexpectedly told Sonic that he would stop trying to take over Mobius... at least until Sonic had died of old age. But Mogul also warned Sonic that he would not live in peace before teleporting himself and the other prisoners (including Bark and Bean) out of the prison.

Bark and Bean would find themselves going back into conflict with Sonic and the Freedom Fighters not long after, however, as Mogul hired them along with Nack and the Destructix to steal Sonic's shoes, with or without Sonic's feet still in them. Outside of Freedom HQ, Bark and Bean ambushed Sonic and Sally Acorn. When Sonic commented on Sally hurting Bean by getting him to grab his own bomb, Bark took advantage of the distraction and punched Sonic into an area where the Destructix were waiting. The six then started fighting him while Bark and Bean watched, Bean cheering on the Destructix. But Sally told the two she would pay them double whatever Mogul was (as well as give them cupcakes, on the suggestion from Bean) to help Sonic. The duo accepted and started helping Sonic fight against their former allies. But Nack, who had been hiding in some nearby bushes, suddenly blasted Sonic with an energy rifle, knocking him out. The Destructix then chained him up and put him into a truck. Bark and Bean, having failed to protect Sonic, decided to go back to Mogul's side and went back to the Casino Night Zone with the Destructix while Nack stayed behind to finish off Sally. Bark, Bean, and the Destructix then waited to be paid by Mogul at the casino's new kitchen, the Bottom of the Barrel Bar 'n' Grill. However, Sally, Amy, and Geoffrey St. John all showed up and freed Sonic, who then took down Bark and Bean. Although the duo were not seen again afterwards, it is assumed they came to, were paid by Mogul, and left the casino.

Bark later appeared in Sonic Universe Issue 22-24, as part of Nack the Weasel's Team Hooligan, along with Bean the Dynamite. They were out to steal the Sol Emerald from Team Rose and Team Dark. When they took Cheese away from Cream (because Cheese had the Sol Emerald), Cream pounced at them, and Bark was the one who held Cream back from Nack. When Bark and Team Hooligan fled the scene when they realized Amy was with them, Blaze chased them and knocked everyone from the Marvelous Queen. While Bean and Nack were arguing, Bark picked up the Marvelous Queen and brought it back to Team Hooligan. Amy started to threaten them, but she didn't finish because Team Dark came back hoping for a rematch. While they were fighting, Bark and Team Hooligan escaped with the Sol Emerald. But they were chased by the Babylon Rogues' blimp. When the blimp dropped a missile, Bean was cheering while Bark covered his head. The missile hit them, and Bark went flying, dragging his face through the dirt. Nack took the Sol Emerald from Bark's hand, and told dared the Rogues to blast all of them, saying it would blow the gem to smithereens. When the Rogues took the Emerald, Bean and Jet had a reunion, while Nack told Bark to get his bike and his gun. When Nack got his gun, He started shooting at Jet, with Storm the Albatross blocking one of the shots with his board. Wave the Swallow was making circles around Bark, and told Jet to grab the Emerald. While the Rogue's were taunting Nack, Nack told Bark to drive his bike while Nack shot his gun. He made a shot, causing the gem to make an explosion of fire. When Team Hooligan made it to the scene, Nack mentioned the gem did not get scratched. Jet then said they'd pick it from the remains and told the auto-pilot to shoot all of them with a full bombardment. When the missiles came, Nack screamed, Bark held his hat across his chest, while Bean saved them by causing the missiles to explode before it got to them. When Bark and Team Hooligan were going to fight the Babylon Rogues, Team Rose and Team Dark came to the scene. All four teams then had a fight with each other, with Bark dodging an attack from Storm and trying to dodge a fire attack from Blaze the Cat. Bark then tried to get the Emerald from Shadow the Hedgehog, but was being blocked by Omega. Amy ended up catching it by standing on Omega's claws and Bark's hands and tossed it to Blaze. Bark then was being brought to one place, like the rest of Team Hooligan and Team Babylon, by Blaze. He then was caught in an explosion from one of Bean's bombs. He gave a mean look to Bean, who said he couldn't feel his hands, and carried Nack off with Bean by his side, leaving the scene. His latest appearance is Sonic Universe Issue 63 where he is seen on the chibi variant cover and in the comic itself.

Video Game Appearance
Bark the Polarbear's first appearance was in Sonic the Fighters. Bark is the third combatant in story mode and is in possession of the yellow Chaos Emerald and is fought in the Aurora Icefields. Bark is a very tough opponent and uses a variety of powerful punches and throws.

Bark appears as a toy in the intro of the Sega Saturn version of Fighting Vipers, although he is only visible from the waist down.

Bark appears as an unlockable character in Fighters Megamix, along with Bean The Dynamite.

Bark appears as a collectible toy in Shenmue and Shenmue 2 along with all the other Sonic the Fighters characters, sans Honey the Cat.

After a long hiatus, Bark makes a cameo appearance in Sonic Generations in City Escape. Bark appears on wanted posters alongside Bean the Dynamite dotted throughout the level.

In Sonic Mania, Bark, along with Fang the Sniper and Bean the Dynamite, can be seen on various wanted posters throughout the Mirage Saloon Zone. During the boss fight in Act 2, Heavy Magician shapeshifts into Bark, Fang and Bean in order to fight; in her Bark form, she can pound the ground and make parts of the ceiling fall on the player.

Trivia

 * His theme song is "Fairy of A.I.F", which was remixed for Sonic Gems Collection.
 * In Sonic the Fighters, Bark's fur in his character select picture is darker than usual.
 * He made cameo appearance on the cover of Sonic X #15, Merry Eggs-Mas. He is a doll in Decoe's hands.
 * In Fighters Mega Mix Bark, his alternate costume is a Santa Claus suit.
 * Like Bean and Honey, Bark is owned by Sega AM2 (since absorbed into Sega itself) and has never appeared in a Sonic game since. Most likely since a large chunk of Sonic games are produced by Sonic Team.
 * Some people have compared Bark to Silent Bob from Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, as neither of them speak, and both are larger than their skinny partners.
 * Bark has had quite a few cameos on numerous covers, mostly non-canon, though someone resembling him appeared in a flashback shown in StH issue #50, as a soldier during the Great War, along with someone resembling Bean. The canonicity of this is still debatable, given recent developments, and the fact that this scene was in Dr. Ivo Robotnik's dream.