Coyote (The Robot)

Above right: The head of Coyote 1.0 in its antigrav unit, as rendered by Barry Faller.

Middle left: Coyote 2.0, as rendered by David Manley.

Middle right: Coyote 3.0.

Lower center: Coyote 4.0. (Picture courtesy of Agamemnon.)

Gender: Male Programming

First Appearance: "Leader Of The Pack"

Other Appearances: "Upgrade," "Grief," "Cloud Fathers"

Coyote is the name shared by a series of highly advanced robots created by David Xanatos to fight the Manhattan clan. To date, four Coyotes have been constructed, each more powerful, durable, and lethal.

The first Coyote, Coyote 1.0, was designed to be a perfect physical and mental duplicate of David Xanatos himself. He appeared to be Xanatos in a robot battlesuit. He also wore a helmet that distorted his voice to make it unrecognizable. His first actions were to break the Pack out of prison with Dingo's help- except for Fox, who decided to remain behind and prevented Hyena from killing a prison guard. Hyena felt an almost immediate attraction to Coyote. When Coyote got the Pack to his  airship underwater off the coast of Riker's Island, Wolf immediately challenged his right to lead the Pack. Coyote easily defeated him. He then revealed his "true identity-" David Xanatos. Jackal and Hyena wanted immediate revenge on the "rich man" who got them put in prison, but "Xanatos" instead offered them a chance for revenge on the gargoyles. They readily accepted.

Coyote led the Pack in defeating Lexington, Brooklyn, and Bronx, who were investigating Pack Media Studios in the hopes of finding the Pack. He then set a trap for the other gargoyles on an abandoned oil tanker, the Otoshiana Maru. Despite this, the gargoyles managed to defeat the Pack. During the battle, Bronx revealed Coyote's true nature, by tearing off a piece of the synthetic skin on the android's face. Hyena became even more attracted to Coyote when she realized he was a robot. Lexington proceeded to destroy Coyote's body with a laser blast through his torso. The head was knocked off, and it rocketed itself back to Xanatos.

Xanatos repaired Coyote's head and attached it to an anti-gravity unit, giving it mobility. He sent Coyote to meet the Pack, who had just been badly defeated in a robbery attempt by the gargoyles. Coyote offered them a chance to "upgrade" themselves, so as to become a match for the gargoyles- courtesy of "the hard-working men and women of Xanatos Enterprises." The Pack accepted.

A month later, Coyote lured the gargoyles into another trap with news that the Pack was hiding out in an abandoned building. The four of the clan who investigated- Goliath, Hudson, Bronx, and Elisa- were ambushed by the "upgraded" Pack at a constuction site across the street from their supposed "hideout." Goliath split from the rest to take out Coyote, whom he saw floating by. While he tried to find Coyote, Hyena defeated Elisa, Jackal defeated Bronx, and Wolf defeated Hudson. They had an agreement- whoever took out the biggest gargoyle would lead the Pack. Wolf claimed leadership, since he'd beaten Hudson. However, on an upper level of the site, Coyote ambushed Goliath in his new body- Coyote 2.0. This new, stronger body easily defeated Goliath, and, despite protests from Wolf and Jackal (who was disgusted by his sister's attraction to Coyote), Coyote became the leader of the new Pack.

Coyote came up with a plan to release Bronx just before sunrise and follow him to the gargoyles' home. Once there (and after the sun rose), and they could smash them in their stone sleep. The plan was foiled by the Trio. Brooklyn lured Wolf and Jackal away, while Broadway and Lexington released the four prisoners. They managed to defeat the "upgraded" Pack, and all six of them managed to destroy Coyote 2.0, head and all.

Xanatos had Coyote reconstructed again, as Coyote 3.0. He then sent him to supervise Wolf, Jackal, and Hyena in Egypt as they assisted the Emir in "securing immortality" for Xanatos. In reality, the Emir planned to force Anubis, god of the dead, to resurrect his son, whom he felt was unfairly taken from the living world in a pointless car accident. Hyena liked Coyote's new design, but Coyote demonstrated his utter disinterest in her affections. Goliath, Elisa, Angela and Bronx, who were on the Avalon world tour, stumbled onto the Pack (and the Emir)'s operations at the Sphinx. They were captured, but began interfering with the Emir's attempt to become the avatar, or vessel, for Anubis's power. The Emir ordered the Pack to execute the travelers, but they escaped- just in time to see that Jackal had interrupted the flow of Anubis's spirit to the Emir and had himself become Anubis's avatar. His first act was to accelerate Coyote's rate of decay and turn him into a pile of rusted parts. Hyena was not happy with her brother over this.

After the events in Egypt, the members of the Pack went their separate ways. Xanatos still had uses for Coyote, however. He constructed a Coyote 4.0, integrating the melted metal of the Cauldron of Life into his design. The mystically enhanced iron in the Cauldron made Coyote 4.0 perfect for his next mission- to capture and contain Coyote the Trickster, a Child of Oberon. This Coyote was the most powerful yet. Xanatos brought him to Arizona, where he began plans to pave over a soil carving of the Kachina Coyote for a construction project. The purpose of this was to lure the Kachina Coyote into the open, so that Coyote 4.0 could capture him. Xanatos would then force the fay to grant his wishes. When he began to seriously threaten the carving rather than simply pretend, the Kachina Coyote retaliated by wrecking their bulldozers.

At that point, Beth Maza, who was going to nearby Flagstaff University, became concerned over Xanatos's presence. She called her father Peter to come and help her investigate. At the same time, Goliath, Elisa, Angela, and Bronx, who were still on their world tour, arrived in Arizona. Xanatos had had Peter and Beth arrested for the vandalism at the construction site, when they unknowingly trespassed there. When they returned to Beth's dorm room, they found Elisa waiting, and explained the situation. When the three gargoyles awoke from their stone sleep, Goliath and Angela investigated Xanatos's construction site- and were captured by Coyote.

They were used as bait for the Mazas and the Kachina Coyote- Xanatos threatened to dump a trough of acid on both Goliath and Angela, and one of the soil carvings. When the Mazas and Bronx rescued the two gargoyles, the Kachina Coyote watched to ensure their safety- and Coyote 4.0 tried to capture him. The fay escaped with the robot in hot pursuit. Eventually, Coyote 4.0 caught the trickster, and was confronted by Goliath and Angela. During the following battle, Coyote 4.0 was tricked into releasing his Trickster namesake by Peter Maza. The robot was then destroyed by the Kachina Coyote, who tricked him into collapsing Xanatos' construction site on himself.

In Greg Weisman's Master Plan, more Coyote models would have been created. Coyote 5.0 would have teamed up with Coldsteel, and this would have somehow changed him. Coyote 6.0 would have gathered the Ultra-Pack, another improved version of the Pack, and Coyote 7.0 would have led it. By 2198, Coyote would have reached the pinnacle of his upgrades as Coyote-X. By this time, he would have an extensive network of operatives, and he planned to eventually conquer the Earth- however, when the Space-Spawn invade, Coyote-X's goal expands into nothing less than universal domination.

Coyote 1.0 had sufficient speed, agility, and strength to make him a match for Goliath. His left arm concealed a particle beam laser weapon, and the right arm had a concealed sense-distortion beam weapon. The sense-distortion beam affected the senses of its victim, throwing off their sense of balance and distorting their perceptions of reality. His forearms also concealed spikes that could dig into stone walls and allow climbing, and a gas sprayer that could release corrosive or knockout gas. His hands could also generate electricity.

Coyote 2.0 had none of the weapons of its predecessor, but he was more durable and his strength exceeded Goliath's. He also had a reinforced protective chamber in his torso that he could retract his vulnerable head into, and small jet engines in his feet that provided limited flight capability.

Coyote 3.0 had some of the features of his predecessors. He had powerful particle beam weapons concealed in the palms of his claw-like hands, and could also generate electricity from those claws. He could also fire his hands as a grappling hook and use them to ensnare his foes. He had full flight capability provided by small jet engines on his back, right below his shoulders. He could also take more damage (while continuing to function) than his predecessors.

Coyote 4.0 was the most advanced Coyote model. Standing about 12-14 feet tall, he was heavily armored and heavily armed. This Coyote was stronger than his predecessors, and could take even more damage than they could. His elongated head had two laser weapons each on the left and right sides. His right arm had the sense-distortion beam of Version 1.0, but amplified to affect multiple targets and incapacitate them more quickly. The left arm had a powerful double-barrelled particle beam cannon. He had full flight capability, and could fly at incredible speed with incredible maneuverability. In addition, the melted-down iron of the Cauldron of Life was incorporated in his construction, making him able to grasp, hold, and possibly harm Children of Oberon. His torso was primarily an iron containment vessel specifically designed to imprison the Kachina Coyote.

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