Patch is the most prominent of the Dalmatian puppies born to Pongo and Perdita in the 101 Dalmatians franchise. He is a young, scrappy puppy who was named for the large, black patch over his right eye.
Patch is one of the original 15 puppies. He feels lonely and left out often at times with his family, thinking that he's just one of the famous 101 Dalmatians, and longs for a chance to become separate and leave the shadow of his brothers and sisters. He is a good pup, very adventurous, bold, and strong-minded.
Today, Patch is commonly used alongside Cruella De Vil as an icon to represent their respective films in merchandise and crossover material.
Personality
Like his siblings, he is responsible and cute, often fantasizing about mauling the villain Dirty Dawson from the Thunderbolttelevision series. He looks up to his father as his role model, especially after he is rescued by them. When attacked by Jasper and Horace, Patch was the only one of the puppies to attempt to fight back. He also holds a small rivalry with Lucky. He and Lucky are very similar in personality; however, there are a few differences. Lucky is confident and arrogant, as opposed to Patch, who is insecure and humble. Lucky is apparently considered the favorite of the pups; this could be part of their rivalry.
Despite his sibling rivalry with Lucky, Patch is close to him, as shown when he tries to defend him after Horace forces Lucky to sit down.
Patch is first seen in the film watching television with his brothers and sisters. Patch seems to be addicted to the TV show Thunderbolt and interacts with it. After Patch and the puppies are put to sleep they are kidnapped by Jasper and Horace, henchmen to Cruella De Vil who seeks their skin to create coats. Patch's parents journey to save their puppies and Patch escapes with the rests. When needing to get past Cruella, Patch and his brother Lucky get into an argument and push each other in a fireplace and are covered in soot. This gives his father the idea to disguise themselves. Eventually, they returned and Patch is safe at home with his family.
Patch is not an official character in the movie (though he appeared on some tie-in merchandise). However, a puppy resembling him can be seen at times, and he was included on the original VHS cover to the film.
Patch as he appeared in 101 Dalmatians: The Series.
Patch also appeared as a secondary character in the TV series. Patch was redesigned to match his appearance in the original book: his appearance here resembles that of Rolly's, larger and somewhat muscular, and has a deeper voice. For unknown reasons, he wears a rope tied around his neck as opposed to a red collar. For the series, his personality was given to Lucky. In the series, Patch was loyal to his family and friends with all the puppies. In early production, he was going to be a main character, as well as his sister, Penny; however, Disney didn't want too many main characters, and so Patch became an extra character while Penny was dropped. Patch was also going to be more responsible and protective over Cadpig; however, that was dropped as well.
Patch in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure.
Patch is also the main character in the 2003 sequel 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure. Patch feels unimportant being that he is said to be just another one of the 99 puppies. After being left behind when his family moves, Patch runs away and meets his hero Thunderbolt. They spend time acting like heroes around London but when Cruella De Vil returns and captures his 98 siblings, Thunderbolt and himself, he learns Thunderbolt is just a television star and all the powers and villains on his show were fake. Patch uses his wits and boldness to save his family and defeat Cruella De Vil with the help of Thunderbolt. Cruella is finally caught by police and arrested while Patch reunites with his family and is given the attention he awaited.
Patch appears among the other Dalmatian puppies as Puppy #5. Separated from his parents following the destruction of their world, Patch and the puppies were scattered across worlds, but an in-game mission lets Sora find and return the puppies to Pongo and Perdita. Once he is rescued with his two siblings, Patch can be found back at the Dalmatians' House in the Second District of Traverse Town, standing in front of Pongo and Perdita, barking and jumping occasionally.
In the 1961 animation, his collar doesn't have a tag hanging from it, but in Patch's London Adventure, it is shown to have one. However, this is somewhat justified because the farm tag was attached to it in the sequel.
Patch is one of the few offspring of an original films main character to be the protagonist in a sequel he shares this with others.
Patch has two different colored ears: one black and one white. In the original film, his white ear was on the left, and his black ear was on the right. In one scene, he had two black ears like his father and one of his brothers. In the sequel, his two different colored ears have changed. His black ear was on the left, and his white ear was on the right. Patch was the only Dalmatian pup with a black ear.
His appearance in the TV series undergoes a drastic change; he appears to be fatter and more muscular, as well as having a deeper-pitched voice. Additionally, his red collar is replaced with a rope tied around his neck. He keeps his signature black patch on his right eye, though. This is similar to how he appears in the books.
He is the only Dalmatian with black markings at birth (Dalmatians are notably born pure white).
Patch had no trouble barking in the first film, but as shown in the sequel, he has a squeaky bark.
Patch is shown to be a hardcore Thunderbolt fan, knowing all 72 episodes by heart.
At the post-credits of the sequel, Patch is shown to be the new sidekick of Thunderbolt's show.
According to Disney animators, Patch has 32 spots.
