Eggmen

[Dr. Mechano]

I think character comparisons are great. Recently, the topic comparing versions of Tails sparked my interest to create a similar topic comparing Eggman across continuities.

To begin, each iteration of the doctor will be given a thorough look under the same qualifications- Their origins, the extent of their villainy, the extent of (if applicable) their heroism as well, and of course, a personality analysis. I invite you to share your thoughts on any or all of the doctors yourself, whether you agree, disagree, or fall somewhere in between on your stance regarding my evaluations.

So without further ado, I begin my thesis on Eggman across continuities- Eggmen.

Games: Sega of Japan

Name Analysis: The name Ivo was only ever used in the English manual of Sonic the Hedgehog. Japan has never used it, yet they've never denied it either, so when the SoA storyline was adapted(With most elements of it discarded), we do know that Robotnik is Eggman's true last name. Because of this, it seems safe to assume that "Ivo" is also still true, even if not directly referenced as such. Worth noting is that prior to SA2, "Eggman" was treated as his actual name rather than an alias in the Japanese series.

Origin and History: Until Sonic Adventure 2, we knew next to nothing about Eggman's past. He was simply the silly mad scientist in a flying machine with wacky weaponized attachments. He had no past or backstory as far as we knew.

Even the story SA2 does give us is incredibly vague at best. We're given a small nod to Eggman's childhood, where Eggman reminisces about his admiration for his hero and grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. He "wanted to be a great scientist like him", based on his own words, which is interesting, since Gerald was- for most of his life- a philanthropist who wanted to better the world with science.

We never do find out what develops from the idealistic child to the madman in Sonic 1, although the Japanese manual for the game indicates that it isn't Sonic's and Eggman's first meeting. Sonic calls Eggman out, wondering what he's up to "this time." The story makes mention that Sonic never took Eggman seriously prior to this, but that Eggman for once managed to get Sonic's attention with his new scheme. Just what clashes the two had prior to their first game is anyone's guess.

Evil Points: Perhaps Eggman's most iconic misdeed is using animals as living batteries to power his robots. How much this hurts the critters, if it does at all, is unknown, but it's generally not a good thing. Still, in recent times, he seems to have stopped doing this. However, his threats to humanity are far more pronounced than his mistreatment of the local wildlife...

Make no mistake, Eggman is a terrorist of debatable sanity. As goofy as he comes across, the man is very dangerous, and has demonstrated a willingness to destroy populated cities, islands, and (We're led to assume through his attempted firing of the Eclipse Cannon, along with his threats to the President) perhaps even entire countries. Oh, right, and on two separate occasions he split the entire planet into pieces, to say nothing of the time he destroyed the moon.

On an individual level, Eggman's also willing to kill opponents in battle, even those he has respect and admiration for. While he professes this much for Sonic("My admirable adversary"), Tails(Various praise for his genius in Sonic Chronicles), Shadow("Destroying that guard robot was spectacular!"), and others, he's still more than willing to obliterate them with his latest combat mech should they stand in his way. For Eggman, it's nothing personal- considering he shows blatant respect for his enemies- and merely a means to victory, although this in and of itself could be considered an example of his evilness, since he's willing to kill people he actually likes on some level.

Good Points: First, we can see that Eggman actually values his minions. As early as Sonic Adventure, Eggman praises Gamma for his succesful retrieval of Froggy, and offers thanks to SA-55 for dinner in Sonic Unleashed. On that note, we see in the Eggmanland hub that even Eggman's grunts are fully self-aware, showing that the doctor intentionally gives each of his machines a sentient personality, rather than lead an army of mindless grunts with no opinions. This, I think, says something about Eggman- Which is that he values his robots as people, and not merely tools. And while he reacted harshly to the failure of the other E-series, one must remember that all he did was send them to various locations after kicking them off his ship- If anything, this shows that Eggman doesn't scrap his failed robots, and that rather, he "fires" them, which is a lot less unreasonable.

It's somewhat paradoxical, but the same Eggman who willingly attacks cities and countries en masse seems far more restrained when dealing with individuals. Professor Pickle is kept in relative comfort and even served tea and sandwiches(Tails even acknowledges that Eggman isn't cruel enough to starve his hostages), and his offer to release Tails and Amy in exchange for the real Emerald in SA2 seemed entirely genuine. What does this mean for Eggman? That an individual's life is important but the lives of thousands are a mere statistic? Whatever the case, Eggman is far more considerate toward individuals.

Eggman's conscience has shown itself in other instances as well- In what he believed to be his last moments in Shadow the Hedgehog, Eggman willingly confesses everything to his former ally, telling him the truth about his origin story. This apologetic gesture didn't benefit him in any way, and to me shows some moral sensibility to even care enough to make such a confession.

As I mentioned under his evil points, Eggman seems oddly at ease around his foes- In most appearances, he playfully speaks to them in an almost friendly manner, even if he's willing to defeat them at all costs. While it's certainly bad that he would so thoughtlessly take the lives of people he feels some fondness for, it can also be considered a good quality that he can appreciate his enemies' good points, and that he doesn't (usually) personally begrudge them in any way.

He's helped save the world quite a few times and, by use of the scanner built into his glasses, even helped save the life of his nemesis. While certainly these acts of heroism can be questioned for their ulterior motives("Save the world so I can conquer it later"), Eggman is honorable during his truces, and to date is the only villain in the series who has been willing to fight for the greater good.

Personality: The Eggman of the games is a really difficult character to analyze, because his personality shifts from game to game so much. By far, I would call this Eggman the least consistent of them all.

At his most serious, Eggman comes across as extremely calm, collected, and calculating. Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic 2K6 are prime examples of this portrayal, with the doctor displaying an all-business, no-nonsense attitude which was completely devoid of anything resembling humor.

At the other end of the spectrum, Eggman can usually be found attacking the heroes with comically cartoonish weaponry(Mallets, checkered wrecking balls, highly impractical mobilized slot machines...), prancing around in disguises(Sonic Shuffle), and stealing the show with his overtly witty, joke-laced dialog (Chronicles stands as one of the best examples of this one).

While Eggman has been presented at both far ends of the spectrum, he's usually somewhere in the middle, with a balance of oddball comedy and serious focus at the same time.

Eggman's "childishness" is indeed a major part of his personality. I believe Eggman can best be described as a big overgrown child with a typically childish understanding of morality- It's not that Eggman is willing to kill because he's cruel or that he enjoys death, but simply that he doesn't care what happens as long as he gets what he wants. Sonic Chronicles in particular seems to suggest that Eggman has a hard time understanding morality, thinking not of good or evil, but rather of whatever's most convenient for his ambitions. While Eggman does have sudden strokes of conscience and do genuinely good things at times, his motives are usually egocentric.

As for just what motivates him to conquer the planet, we don't really know. But based on dialog ("Now is the time to end this long drawn out battle, and mark my place in history as the ultimate genius!") and his tendancy to erect huge monuments in his own image, I can safely theorize that Eggman's prime motive is fame. He wants to be praised and adored by the world, and to go down in history as the greatest scientific genius that ever lived. It's not about the power or control so much as it is about feeding his own ego. And ultimately, that's the very "essence" of who Eggman is.

Name Analysis: Nothing too confusing here, despite his confusing origin story. "Eggman Nega" is his name(Or possibly an alias), and that's that.

Origin and History: Eggman Nega seems to have two origin stories! Yet according to the word of the developers, the Nega in Rush and the Nega in Rivals are indeed the same character. So let me posit a theory after I sum up the two apparently-contradictory origins.

In the Sonic Rush series, Eggman Nega claims to originally hail from Blaze's world. While Nega is never directly called Eggman's dimensional counterpart or any similar term, this is the most logical assumption that players make. All we really know aside from this is that he and Blaze have fought before.

In the Sonic Rivals series, Eggman Nega hails from 200 years in the future, and is a descendant of Dr. Eggman. He claims that Eggman's failure to conquer the world was too shameful for him to bear, and that he hoped to return to Eggman's time to change history. We also know that he and Silver know each other.

Alright. There's one way this could possibly be resolved- This is only a theory, and only mine at that, so don't take anything as solid fact, okay? But I theorize that Nega is Eggman's descendant as he claims, and that he travelled to Blaze's world where he donned the identity of Eggman's dimensional counterpart to earn his trust, assisting him in taking over the world. This makes enough sense because Nega wishes Eggman did succeed in conquest, potentially changing his own future in so doing. By acting as an alternate version of himself, Nega could help Eggman do what he failed to otherwise do in the normal time flow. After both Rush attempts failed, Nega captured Eggman and disguised himself as his ancestor, hoping to conquer the world with his camera in Sonic Rivals as Eggman. By Rivals 2, he seems to have given up on conquest and openly attempts to summon a beast to destroy the world altogether- But Nega's snapping will be elaborated on later. In any event, by this theory, Nega's conflicting origin stories can be brought together to make some semblance of sense.

Evil Points: Nega openly wishes for a world of fear and chaos, by his own wording. While the original Dr. Eggman's evil deeds appear more as a side effect of his selfishness and egocentrism, Eggman Nega is actually evil for evil's sake alone.

To date, in three of the four appearances he's made thus far, Eggman Nega has tried to destroy the world. In Rush Adventure and Rivals, it was after being pushed to the edge and snapping in frustration, thouh in Rivals 2 his scheme was to awaken the Ifirit and bring doom to the planet from the very beginning, showing Nega simply doesn't care for his own survival as long as he can bring about complete destruction.

Good Points: None known, though Nega certainly has some apparent good points, such as a pleasant personality and agreeable demeanor. Don't be fooled, though- This is a facade for the raving psychopath within.

Personality: Externally, Eggman Nega comes across as a classy gentleman of fine heritage and culture. Suave, elegant, and ever so dapper, he exudes regal nobility and eerily pleasant mannerisms that mask his twisted, dark soul.

Behind his almost constantly-smiling facade lies a psychotic desire for destruction. He doesn't care about attaining power or control; Eggman Nega's ultimate goal is leave as much panic and ruin in his wake as possible, even if he has to go down with the world to see it happen.

He can be seen as Eggman's opposite. Where Eggman wants to build, Nega wants to destroy. Where Eggman strives to establish an empire, Nega strives for anarchy. If Eggman is order to its logical extreme, Nega is the same for chaos.

Name Analysis: Shahryar, so named after the character from One Thousand and One Nights, simple as that.

Origin and History: Sonic and the Secret Rings doesn't go into his origins, and because of that, we're not really sure how much his history reflects the Shahryar of the original story. Whether this iteration of the character systematically married and killed many wives in a maddening rage against all women, a theme which seems a bit brutal for a Sonic game, is unknown. All we're told is that he's "the main character of the story", which is true enough.

Evil Points: Vague. If he is an accurate representation of Shahryar, then this version of Eggman did the aforementioned marry-and-murder thing a bunch, which makes him a pretty bad guy. Still, the game entirely ignores this aspect of the original Shahryar's character, so we never know if it's part of him or not.

Good Points: As far as the game goes, Shahryar is presented as a good guy. Despite his many annoyances with Sonic, he directs him on his path to stop Erazor, and- given Shahra's respect for him- seems to be a good ruler.

Personality: Shahryar is rather irritable, and quick to anger. He seems to also lack the charismatic respect that Eggman has, freely expressing disdain and criticism for Sonic even after saving his life, calling him a "spiky blue thing" and criticizing him for his rudeness.

Shahryar lacks Eggman's wildly illogical bravery too, deciding to run away and hide from Erazor rather than boldly challenge the villain.

Sadly, as we don't see much of the character, his personality is hard to determine beyond this.

Games: Sega of America

Name Analysis: Presented plainly in the SoA manual to Sonic 1, he's "Dr. Ivo Robotnik." The SoA writer's bible and promotional comic both say that this is not his original name, however, and that he was renamed such after transforming from Dr. Ovi Kintobor.

Origin and History: This is never brought up in the games or manuals, but the promotional comic and writer's bible state that this Robotnik began as the kindly Dr. Ovi Kintobor, who met "Sonny" the Hedgehog and became his friend. After a freak accident, Kintobor mutated into an evil version of himself, Ivo Robotnik. From that day on, he's been on a quest to conquer the world.

Evil Points: Like SoJ's Eggman, SoA's Robotnik plops animals into robots and uses them as organic batteries.

The SoA writer's bible also contends that Robotnik has absolutely no redeeming qualities, and that he's pure evil in every sense of the word...

Good Points: See above. The writers wanted to make it very clear that he has none. Although his past identity as Ovi Kintobor can certainly be considered a good point in and of itself.

Personality: Kind of flat, honestly. We just know that this Robotnik is very evil and very angry. The promotional comic and writer's bible are the only glimpse we get of their personalities, and they merely had them yell angrily about their declarations for conquest.

As Kintobor, this Robotnik was a bit more fleshed out, presented as a well-meaning but somewhat absentminded inventor.

Cartoon: Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

Name Analysis: Robotnik's first name, Ivo, is mentioned in two episodes, "Zoobotnik" by Sonic, and "Lifestyles of the Sick and Twisted" by himself.

Origin and History: Ivo was raised in Chaos City by his mother(known only as "Mama Robotnik"), where he was deliberately taught by her to be as evil and rotten as feasibly possible. His mother, because of intentionally raising him to be immoral, is responsible for Ivo's affinity for rottenness, as she would always angrily punish him for any perceived acts of goodness. Despite this, however, Ivo had a sentimental spot for his stuffed bear, which he affectionately referred to as Fuzzy Wuzzy.

Later, in high school, Ivo developed a crush on his classmate Lucinda, but his romantic advances were rejected by her, as she favored his rival Lucas. After attacking him with a robotic snake, Robotnik was expelled from his highschool and began his villainous career.

Sometime later, he earned his doctorate despite this expulsion (He has proof!) and would later throw Lucas into his dungeon, eventually starting his world domination schemes.

Evil Points: Robotnik, thanks to his mother's influence, is quite literally evil for evil's sake. He loves rottenness, and sees it as something great to aspire to.

Specifically, he's sneaky, greedy, and sort of petty. He'll put others in danger without a second thought, even if they work for him.

And come on, the guy stole Christmas! How low can you go, man?!

Good Points: Robotnik shares a sort of comradery with his minions, and in the rare instances when they do a job well done, he does give them praise (Along with the occasional prrrrromotion!).

Robotnik has fallen in love more than once as well- And I suppose being able to feel love for another person is a good quality, isn't it?

Personality: AoStH Robotnik is a bombastic mixture of egotism and self pity. To quote Milton Knight, "[Robotnik] is very excited about the fact that he exists. He's jealous of the hedgehog. Why should Sonic get the praise? Give it to Robotnik!"

This really is a defining element of his character. While he longs for power and, of course, committing rottenness, Robotnik holds a deeply personal grudge against Sonic and simply wants to prove his superiority to the longstanding thorn in his side. Indeed, many of Robotnik's plots have been in retatliation to Sonic's fame (Sonic's Song, Sonic's face being pictured on the money, Sonic getting a party, etc.), displaying Ivo's petty jealously of the adoration Sonic has.

But in the end, there are no subtleties with Robotnik- He's a man of emotional extremes. He's either giddily ecstatic or frantically furious, with very little room for a happy-medium(Although his contemplative "plotting" mood is the closest he comes to this).

This Robotnik is rather pitiable in the end- A troubled child whose only source of guidance repeatedly told him to be evil, whose first love flatly rejected him, and who ultimately feels dangerously inferior to his foe, resulting in his constant envy of the hedgehog.

Cartoon: Sonic the Hedgehog

Name Analysis: This Robotnik was previously known as "Julian." Note that, unlike the similar Archie canon, the name "Kintobor" is never used in the cartoon. Similarly, when he renames himself "Dr. Robotnik", the name "Ivo" is never used either.

Origin and History: The earliest parts of SatAM Robotnik's origin story are not actually mentioned in the show itself. However, writer Ben Hurst would later say that the mad doctor and his nephew were space explorers who betrayed their crew and ended up landing on Mobius. Again, it's never brought up in the show itself, and whether it would have been brought to light in the never-made third season is anyone's guess.

We know that sometime during his stint on Mobius, Julian worked with one sorceror Naugus, before discarding him into a dimensional warp.

After this, he befriended King Acorn and became his advisor. All of this, however, was merely a means to overthrowing the monarch and conquering the planet. After tossing the king into the dimensional warp he plopped Nagus into, and using the roboticizor to enslave most of the populance(And accidentally roboticizing his own arm), the newly-christened Robotnik went on to rule Mobius with a quite-literal iron fist.

Evil Points: Julian is naturally treacherous. Whether it's his own crew, Naugus, King Acorn, or anyone else, this guy will stab anyone he works with in the metaphorical back.

His motives aren't exactly great either- The series makes it quite clear that Robotnik wants Mobius to be completely mechanized, and completely devoid of organic life, sans (presumably) himself. He can be seen happily thriving on the smell of pollution and the grungy sights of decaying metal. It boils down to a very similar concept to AoStH Robotnik, in that he appears to want to make Mobius worse just for the sake of making it worse, although here it's played for drama rather than for laughs.

Good Points: The kindest thing I can say about Julian is that he seems to genuinely love his pet bird, Cluck. He can be seen in several episodes showing what appears to be very honest concern over the robotic poultry's well-being, which indicates a very slight soft side.

Perhaps, one could argue, Julian has shown more mercy to former partners than he has to random victims, however... While being isolated in a dimensional warp isn't good, it's arguably better than being roboticized.

Personality: SatAM's Robotnik is all about control. When he's in control of the situation, he's incredibly happy, even going so far as to say his heart is warmed by his complete domination over all.

But the slightest challenge to his supreme and unquestioned control can often be enough to send him into a rage. Whether it's a genuinely serious security breach or something so petty as Sonic calling him a "chump" through his security bots, Robotnik is easily swayed from his sinister contentment to uncontrollable rage, which he often takes out on Snively.

This Robotnik is sadistic. He genuinely enjoys watching others suffer, and enjoys toying around with his victims, whether it's giving them false hope that he'll release them if they cooperate, or even building a giant pinball game with Sonic's life as the prize, Robotnik finds entertainment in the evil he causes.

As overtly evil Robotniks go, Julian takes great pride in his "cold, metallic heart", and desires nothing more than to destroy and enslave everything in his wake.

Cartoon: Sonic Underground

Name Analysis: Simply "Dr. Robotnik." There's no mention of a first name or any alternate past names.

Origin and History: All we really know is that "the evil Dr. Robotnik used his technology to turn [the] world into a place of terror." Through some means the show never bothered to elaborate on, Robotnik conquered Mobius. His apparent status as the planet's only human is never explained either.

Evil Points: Robotnik roboticizes most of his subjects, which is certainly not a good thing.

Additionally, as with SatAM's Robotnik, SU's Robotnik let Mobius decay into a barren wasteland, although in his case it appears more as a result of apathy and negligence rather than intentional pollution for pollution's sake.

Some of his schemes have been pretty messed up too, such as giving Sonic a robotic baby- programmed to behave like a real child, which the hedgehogs consequently become attached to- that turns out to be a bomb. Just... wow.

Good Points: Like AoStH Robotnik, SU's Robotnik has a sort of companionship with his hired hands, Sleet and Dingo. We can see him joking around with them and even gambling with them over Sonic's whereabouts at times. Underground's Robotnik is a mean guy, but the fact that he can understand and even take part in friendship is certainly a good quality.

He's a bit more leniant than his SatAM counterpart, only roboticizing some citizens, leaving the vastly wealthy as they were, to fund his endeavors.

Personality: Robotnik is an enigma. On the one hand, he's clearly serious about ruling Mobius under his dictatorship and maintaining control at all costs, yet at the same time Robotnik is rather lighthearted and fun-loving.

He shows no qualms with roboticizing his subjects, and when it comes to Sonic and the gang, he unambiguously hates them. But that's not to say he's never felt fondness of some kind for anyone- As I mentioned, Robotnik is actually sort of friendly to his two hired bounty hunters, which hints at the slightest bit of depth.

This Robotnik is something of a showboater as well, and likes to make a big show of his rule, such as dressing up as a judge(Complete with a white powdered wig and robe) when handing down court decisions, or begrudgingly allowing the oh-so-dreaded music at his fancy parties on rare occasions.

He's self-conscious, worried about his public approval, despite being their unquestioned ruler. He even frets over his appearance at times, and worries about television adding ten pounds to his figure.

Robotnik is rarely given much introspection in this series, so just what motivates him to do what he does is anyone's guess in the end...

Name Analysis: Simply "Dr. Robotnik." Just like his alternate self.

Origin and History: Like his villainous counterpart, this Robotnik is inexplicably the only known human on Mobius. All we know about him is that he and his smiling Swatbots have been fighting the tyranical rule of Sonic, Manic, and Sonia with hopes of freeing Mobius.

Evil Points: None known.

Good Points: He's a full-on hero in this incarnation, for starters.

Robotnik fights for freedom, and employs nonlethal detaining technology to pursue his foes. In this way, Robotnik can be considered a heroic pacifist who valiently fights, but without ever hurting anyone.

As the hero of Mobius, Robotnik has a lot of responsibility, and is regarded highly for his selflessness and determination.

Personality: This Robotnik is a bit quick to jump to conclusions, and perhaps a bit slow on the uptake as well. His capture of the hedgehogs, and then inability to connect the proverbial dots after seeing their evil counterparts until they proved their moral stance by playing him a song, seems to show a lack of trust.

Nevertheless, his heart's in the right place, feels genuine compassion for the poor and downtrodden as evidenced by his monologue about the state of Mobius in the episode "Six is a Crowd."

He also enjoys music and dancing.

Anime: Sonic the Hedgehog

Name Analysis: Simply "Dr. Eggman." Aside from ADV's English dub, there's no mention of the "Robotnik" name in the original Sonic the Hedgehog OVA.

Origin and History: His history is alluded to in Tails's dialog, which suggests that Eggman has- on previous occasions- attempted to take over South Island by kidnapping the President's daughter, Sara.

Aside from this, all we know is that Eggman has long lived in his city of Eggmanland, located in the Planet Freedom's inner dimension, the Land of Darkness.

Evil Points: Aside from standard kidnapping, conquering, and willingness to kill his enemies, OVA Eggman crosses into truly maddening territory with his latest scheme, which is simply to destroy the Land of the Sky and everyone in it, leaving only himself and Sara as the planet's survivors, left to repopulate the abandonned world with Eggman's own lineage.

Good Points: While his evil deeds are motivated by this, it can also be considered a good point that OVA Eggman is capable of feeling romantic love for another person, Sara. And he's actually pretty nice to her- From playing videogames with her to letting her fly his mech, Black Eggman, to buying her a wedding dress, Eggman's one-sided crush on the girl is kind of sweet in a way... if you can get past the wanting to destroy the world to be with her, at least.

Personality: What motivates Eggman? Like his Sega of Japan counterpart, OVA Eggman declares that he wants to go down in history and get the recognition he deserves as a genius. This is... contradicted by his plans to destroy the Land of the Sky, effectively getting rid of anyone he'd go down in history for, although his descendants(Who he plans to have with Sara) could be considered this.

That aside, Eggman's other big motivator is his romantic infatuation with Sara, and his desire to spend the rest of his life with her.

As far as his behavior, Eggman is very... bouncy. He's incredibly hyperactive and energetic, and is brimming with an overabundance of optimistic confidence.

Anime: Sonic X

Name Analysis: In Sonic X, we do know that Dr. Robotnik is Eggman's real name, as it is in the game series. However, the name "Ivo" is never brought up in Sonic X.

Origin and History: Sonic X Eggman's history is something of an unresolved plothole. As in the games, we know that Eggman looked up to and admired his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, and wanted to be a great scientist like him.

...Which is problematic, because in the Sonic X anime, Eggman hails from an unnamed planet, and Gerald hails from Earth. Eggman is unfamiliar with Earth when he arrives in his adulthood, which indicates that he's either never been there or that he simply does not remember being there before. The latter is probably true, since during the Sonic Adventure 2 adaptation, Eggman remarks "This is the world I was born!"

...Which is also problematic. If we assume Eggman was born on Earth, how did he arrive on Sonic's planet? Why doesn't he remember Earth if it's his planet of origin? These issues are never resolved, leaving a huge hole in Eggman's origin.

Evil Points: Sega of Japan's, albeit toned down. Eggman is willing to cause wanton destruction and chaos, although he tends to be more reserved about it than his game counterpart, and his most vile actions tend to only incur after being pushed to his limit.

Good Points: Eggman flat-out says it. Harming hostages is beneath him. He considers it a vile practice that only scum would employ, and as a classy gentleman mad scientist, he refuses to let harm come to his captives.

Eggman also shows a sentimental side to other characters- When Chris is in freakout mode over having to say goodbye to Sonic, Eggman shares a tender moment with the boy, counseling and advising him on the matter, attempting to make him come to grips with accepting the unavoidable. He would later help Chris return home as well.

Perhaps more than any previous versions of the character, this Eggman really has a friendship with his robots. In fact, Decoe, Bocoe, and Bokkun are more like Eggman's surrogate family than his minions. He treats them like people rather than objects, and the four of them really share a mutual companionship that develops as the series progresses. Eggman struggling to cook Bokkun breakfast when Decoe and Bocoe temporarily quit is such a cute example of this, as well as the team's reconciliation. In the end, they need Eggman, and Eggman needs them. And I think this Eggman's strong bonds of friendship are a definite good quality.

Eggman's heroism is nothing to sneeze at either. Aside from the same examples shared by his game counterpart, he's also gone above and beyond during the Metarax saga, disguising the Egg Crimson as the Blue Typhoon and willingly taking on the brunt of an assault to let Sonic and his friends escape undetected. This resulted in Eggman becoming fairly injured, including a broken arm(Which healed by the next episode)- Truly a heroic sacrifice. Even his robots question whether he's going soft.

Personality: X Eggman, moreso than even his game counterpart, loves to make a scene. He's a very flashy, bombastic character who thrives on fame and showmanship.

This is evident in even the earliest episodes, as Eggman takes over an elementary school art class and eggs the children on to draw him in all his splendor. He's just so unpredictable like that- One moment he'll be sending armies of robots to hostilely take over the town, and the next he'll be playing a friendly game of baseball(In full uniform no less) with his enemies.

Perhaps this overabundant love for fame and attention reached its logical extreme in episodes 40 and 41, where after attempting to brainwash the populace into admiring him, Eggman revealed his true intentions were to take over the anime itself, turning it into Dr. Eggman X.

X Eggman's wackiness is somewhat grounded, of course. He's shown to be calm and introspective at times, as he offers sage advise to Chris, and even philosophically debates the Metarax on sheer principle alone.

Eggman's sinister nature is often a front to mask his warm, sensitive side within. As Vector remarked, "He could use an acting coach" in regards to his overdone pretending to be an irredeemable bad guy. Still, he tries to keep up an evil appearance, and won't ever admit to being sweet underneath his sour exterior.

(Continued in next post... Could someone make a quick reply so I can make said post? Because if I try to double-post, it says it has to merge the two posts, and then I'll have too many images.)

Edited July 1, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Flyboy Fox]

Wow. Go for it.

[Dr. Mechano]

Comic: Sonic the Hedgehog

Name Analysis: Formerly Julian Kintobor. He renamed himself Ivo Robotnik, taking his first name from the "House of Ivo", which he was part of. Robotnik, obviously, is an inversion of his former last name, Kintobor. ...And coincidentally the last name of his maternal grandfather, Gerald Robotnik.

Origin and History: Julian's childhood is a giant blank spot, unless I'm missing something. However, we do know that after much mistreatment of his own people, he was ostricized from his community and became a fugitive. Escaping into King Acorn's domain, he found shelter, where he became a warlord to the king.

Like his SatAM counterpart, Julian betrayed the king, banished him to another zone, and proceded to roboticize the populace. After aging a bit, Sonic and the freedom fighters would rise to challenge him throughout the comic's run, leading to his apparent destruction in issue 50. He briefly returned in issue 108, before being permanently defeated after his molecular structure collapsed.

Evil Points: I'll make an abridged list, which I'm sure will still be quite lengthy.

Roboticizing the populace, betrayal of nearly everyone he's ever worked with, casually scrapping/allowing the scrapping of his subordinates, the odd murder here and there... Julian is a bad guy.

Good Points: It's less pronounced than in SatAM, but early on, he still cares for his pet Cluck.

Personality: Julian, in this incarnation, is much more lighthearted than the SatAM persona he was based on.

He's more prone to making jokes, puns, and getting sidetracked by minor details (Such as, among other things, not appearing in the storyline as much as he'd like in one issue). He's also somewhat more fun-loving, as he can be seen swimming, playing golf, and other leisurely activities in the comic's run.

Despite this, though, he's still cold and uncaring regarding others, and is- like his SatAM counterpart- a character who ruins, pollutes, and commits evil for, by his own admission, evil's sake alone.

Cold, calculating, and always planning ahead, Julian's as treacherous as they come. Betrayal's the name of the game when this Robotnik teams up with anyone, so beware!

Name Analysis: As this Robotnik's history was mostly the same as Robotnik Prime's, he was at one time known as Julian Kintobor, before renaming himself Dr. Robotnik. The "Robo Robotnik" and "Robotnik Mk. II" titles respectively come from his robotic bodies, and of course, "Dr. Eggman" was his chosen alias with his new body, resembling his game counterpart.

Origin and History: Not wanting to repeat Julian's own story, Eggman's backstory was largely the same until he defeated Sonic and company, as well his self-roboticization. He would eventually defeat his version of Sonic completely, but ultimately travel to the Prime universe, which he also sought to conquer. After switching th a new body and dubbing himself "Dr. Eggman", he began his campaign to fully take over the planet. Later, after a test devised by aliens, he was returned to his organic form- Sort of. His body resembled the latest robotic frame he was in, and thus his new organic appearance was that of his "Eggman" shell, rather than the Julian appearance he once had.

Evil Points: Same as Robotnik Prime's, plus an added genocide or two. Despite his cheery personality, Archie Eggman is arguably the most evil incarnation of the doctor yet.

Good Points: Well, he did try to make a surrogate "family" for himself in the form of M and ADAM. ...He ended up destroying them both, but the guy tried.

Personality: If the Eggman of the games is affably evil- a genuinely decent person who simply commits evil actions as a means to his goals- then the Eggman of Archie is evilly affable. The man is devoid of any readily-apparent redeeming qualities, yet is over-the-top, bombastic, and very humorous.

This is in sharp contrast to Robotnik Prime, who although was amusing, was more of a focused, "angry" villain. Eggman- in what is perhaps a nod to his game persona- is more giddy and childlike, prancing around merrily and joking around as he kills, maims, and conquers. It's all very much a game to Eggman, the sharp contrast between his personality and actions makes him all the more fascinating.

Really, this version of Eggman sort of reminds me of the Joker- A witty, well-spoken, humorous character who comes packed with one-liners and an overall pleasant disposition sharply contrasted with an utter lack of a conscience. Indeed, Eggman commits attrocities, but he has fun committing them.

The recent developments of the comic have shown Eggman's sanity on a sharp decline, ultimately culminating in the poor man snapping entirely. What personality development awaits is anyone's guess.

Name Analysis: Also known as "Anti-Robotnik."

Origin and History: We know little of Kintobor's past, only that he offers medical treatment from his clinic to those who need help. He's long stood against the evil efforts of Anti-Sonic/Scourge before his comic debut.

Originally, he resembled Robotnik Prime in appearance. His appearance shift to the thinner and more game-based design has no in-universe explanation.

Evil Points: None known.

Good Points: Kintobor is a hero in every sense of the word. Although he himself does not actively challenge Scourge and other villains, he protects others from harm, and equipped Buns with a suit filled with nonlethal weaponry. He valiently does whatever he can to help, and is a good, honest person.

Personality: Kintobor is a meek, shy, and somewhat unconfident fellow.

Kintobor is overly apologetic and concerned with the well-being of others, and dislikes even having to use nonlethal force, as fighting greatly displeases him. He's an extreme pacifist, and hopes for peace and harmony someday.

While never mentioned in the comic itself, writer Ian Flynn commented in a question-and-answer session that Kintobor enjoys gardening and poetry, and that these were his hobbies during the period known as "the great peace" prior to Scourge's rise to power.

Name Analysis: We simply know him as Mayor Kintobor. His first name is unknown.

Origin and History: We don't know much about him- Only that he's been battling the mutated giant monster versions of the freedom fighters utilizing his mechas to keep up the peace. After Sonic assists him in defending his home, he creates a robotic Sonic to assist him from then on.

Evil Points: None known.

Good Points: Mayor Kintobor is a hard-working and diligent leader who devotes his life to protecting his people. He's quite a heroic genius, but he never lets his heroism get to his head, and like Dr. Kintobor, is a meek, overly-apologetic sort.

Personality: Poor Mayor Kintobor.

During his only meeting with Sonic, the hedgehog openly expressed a dislike toward the man, simply for looking like his nemesis Dr. Eggman. All Mayor Kintobor could do was apologize for his alternate self's actions- The man is so overly-apologetic that he feels guilty for the deeds of people who aren't even him.

If Dr. Kintobor is meek, Mayor Kintobor is a doormat. He always seems kind of gloomy and down- At least Dr. Kintobor would express happiness when the occasion was right. It seems, then, that Mayor Kintobor is a bit less upbeat on the whole, and feels overwhelmingly burdened by his responsibilities to do the right thing at all costs, no matter what.

Name Analysis: Despite clearly being a cameo appearance of Sonic OVA's Dr. Eggman, he is only ever referred to as "Dr. Robotnik" in this appearance.

Origin and History: Despite being a nod to the OVA, his origin appears to be different as well. Like the OVA version, this Robotnik lives on Planet Freedom, though his hostage is referred to as "Princess Sara", whereas in the OVA, Sara was not a princess, but the daughter of the President of South Island.

Evil Points: He wants to conquer the world. That's bad, right? And kidnapping too!

Good Points: He's in love with Sara! Aww.

Personality: This version of Robotnik appears for all of three panels, so it's hard to analyze him. However, from what we see of him, he's a lot like his OVA counterpart. He's seen as a constantly-grinning, bubbly maniac who openly expresses his desire to marry Sara and live the rest of his life happily with her. We really don't know much else about him.

Name Analysis: As this is Archie's version of the Sonic Underground Robotnik, his name can only be confirmed to be "Dr. Robotnik", with no given first name.

Origin and History: As with the cartoon, Robotnik's origin is largely unknown, other than the fact that he took over Mobius and kept the aristocrats as they were to fund him.

Evil Points: Same as the Underground cartoon. He roboticizes the poor and rules the world with a corrupt iron fist. But he's darker than his cartoon counterpart, and even went on a rampage through one of his cities, crushing everything and everyone in his path, in an attempt to quite literally crush the rebellion as he searched for Sonic and his siblings.

Good Points: Whether or not he has the same friendship with his bounty hunters that his cartoon counterpart had remains to be seen- Here, he's far more abrassive and meanspirited, so it's hard to tell.

Personality: He's far more twisted than his cartoon counterpart, and much less goofy as a whole. The Underground Robotnik of Archie didn't get much screentime, so again, there isn't very much to analyze.

Name Analysis: Her full title is Queen Ivanna Robotina.

Origin and History: Hailing from the Luna Zone, Robotina is the nemesis of Sally Moon, and hopes to turn the world's inhabitants into her monster minions via "Monsterization."

Evil Points: She turns people into monsters, and is a generally bad person.

Good Points: None known.

Personality: Robotina has a flair for the dramatic, and is quick to anger. This proves to be her downfall, as she becomes very distracted when delivering an angry rant, letting her guard down to be attacked.

Given her appearance is brief, this is all we know about her.

Comic: Sonic the Comic

Name Analysis: Originally Ovi Kintobor, the kindly scientist renamed himself Ivo Robotnik after his mutation.

Origin and History: A kindly human scientist named Ovi Kintobor who travelled to Mobius, an animal-populated world. There, he befriended Sonic the Hedgehog, and after a terrible accident with the Chaos Emeralds, became the mutated evil version of himself, Ivo Robotnik.

Since this day, Robotnik has gone on to spread his reign of evil across Mobius, and has made some changes along the way, as well as a second change of appearance(Leading to a design based on his AoStH look).

Evil Points: While the Eggman of the games uses animals to power his robots, Fleetway Robotnik uses the humanized animals for the same purpose, and it just comes across as a lot more cruel to use sentient beings as batteries.

Ever the opposite of his past self, Robotnik strives for evil and chaos. He has no remorse and genuinely enjoys being a bad person.

It's worth mentioning that he also tried to destroy the entire world.

Good Points: At best, we can say he has a slight soft side, since he enjoys reading "True Teen Romance."

His past identity as Dr. Kintobor can obviously be considered a sympathetic side, but it sadly has been all but completely taken over by his new evil personality.

Personality Fleetway Robotnik is absolutely stark-raving mad, and that was before his mental breakdown.

Despite the occasional joking nod to a soft side, Fleetway Robotnik is a bitter, angry, begrudging take on the character whose emotional range is usually anywhere between "angry" and "really angry." Even when his minions get him a Christmas present, he shows his appreciation by scrapping them. In the end, Fleetway Robotnik- the opposite of the good-natured Kintobor- only rarely expresses any sort of positive emotion. He responds to affection with anger, to love with hatred, and to a helping hand with an attacking fist.

Comic: Sonic X

Name Analysis: We know that Dr. Robotnik is Eggman's real name, though as in the anime, "Ivo" is never mentioned in this canon portrayal.

Origin and History: The comic makes a handwave to the confusing origin story of the anime, when Decoe suggests that Professor Gerald sent Eggman(as a child) to Sonic's world. This isn't confirmed to be how he got there, however.

Evil Points: About the same as the anime, at least for the first few issues. One notable evil deed was using human beings to power his Badniks in an early plot, which compared to his later exploits, was uncharacteristically cruel.

Good Points: X Comic Eggman picked the wrong career as a villain, because he's really more good than he is villainous...

As with the anime, Eggman and his minions are more like old chums than master and minions. They hang out and goof off all the time, and there's a real sense of bonding between the characters.

Early on, we see that Eggman keeps a little Chao garden in his base, and enjoys frolicking around and playing with his little pets. Even though he influences them to be evil, becoming Dark Chao, he seems to genuinely enjoy raising them.

Of course, the biggest example of Eggman's inner good side comes during his stint as the heroic sensation El Gran Gordo. Pitted against Andes the Ginormous, Eggman is beaten and ready to tap out before he sees that one Chris Thorndyke is heartbroken and moved to tears by his apparent loss- This gives the man something to fight for: The hopes and dreams of one little boy. His confidence restored, Gordo wins the match in what I consider to be Eggman's crowning moment of awesome. Even though Eggman hangs up his cape and returns to villainy, he remarks that it's fun to escape his life of mad science and be a hero every now and then...

Eggman also falls in love with Ella, which is rather sweet. Although the comic's early cancellation prevented this subplot from going anywhere...

When Eggman and Sonic switch bodies, what does Eggman do? He actually tries to save the day and be a good guy, rather than use his newfound powes to cause trouble. It seems Eggman genuinely wants to be the hero of the story, but for some strange reason he is too proud to simply reform as himself, having to become a masked hero in Gordo, or to use someone else's body in the case of Sonic. Interesting, indeed.

A great example of his unabashed heroism was in issue 38, when Eggman openly attempts to save Station Square from the giant Vector, simply because he wants to be praised and adored as a hero to the people. Selfish it may be, but he was genuinely comitting good for good's sake.

If any Eggman could believably reform for good, it's the Eggman of the Sonic X comic series. He walks the line between hero and villain, and leans far more to the former.

Personality: Eggman just wants to be loved. Everything he does, whether it's good or bad, ultimately comes down to that.

He wants approval from the people, from his minions, from his enemies, and from himself. He craves public recognition, and dreams of being a hero to the masses.

His evil exterior is largely a facade- He takes pride in an image of supervillainy, as it brings him fame... of sorts. But deep down he's, like his anime counterpart, a good, kind man who'll do the right thing when it really matters.

This Eggman is by far the wackiest version ever- He's always donning crazy disguises and acting a variety of strange parts, and the man absolutely steals the show every time he appears. Despite Sonic's top billing, Eggman was clearly the star of Sonic X, and fumbled his way into our hearts with his zany antics in each issue.

Short: Sonic the Hedgehog - Man of the Year

Name Analysis: Actually, his name is never mentioned in the short itself, but he's obviously Dr. Eggman.

Origin and History: None known. He lives on an island base off the coast of a big city, where (presumably) Sonic lives.

Evil Points: Petty and jealous, Eggman is willing to drag Sonic's reputation through the mud to boost his own self-esteem.

Good Points: None known.

Personality: As a silent character, Eggman's personality is portrayed through his zany actions. We can tell right from the start that Eggman is incredibly jealous of Sonic's fame, and wants to ruin his image in a bout of envious rage.

He seems to be rather fun-loving too though, as he merrily bounces around disguised as his nemesis, trashing the city in an extremely jovial fashion. For such a short appearance, this Eggman was definitely one colorful character.

Final Thoughts

Each iteration of Eggman is quite different, yet they all hold some things in common. Still, I'd like to give my own preferences and thoughts on the concept of Eggman as a whole, in addition to my thoughts on each individual take on the character.

I won't lie- My favorite versions of Eggman are the ones who have humanity and depth to them. I like an Eggman with a good side, and also, I like an Eggman who manages to be funny and entertaining as well. I find it rather difficult to maintain an interest in the completely-irredeemable Robotniks, although I do make exceptions to this, such as Archie Eggman, who I find to be an absolutely captivating character despite his immorality (He's just funny enough!).

That said, I couldn't order this whole list if I tried, but I will list my top five favorites.

5. AoStH Dr. Robotnik

4. Archie Dr. Eggman

3. Sega of Japan Dr. Eggman

2. Sonic X Anime Dr. Eggman

1. Sonic X Comic Dr. Eggman

While the five of these vary a lot in terms of their moral standing, I find they're very bombastic and showy, and display traits I really like to see in Eggman's portrayals.

The Eggman of the Sonic X comic will always be special to me, and my favorite of all his appearances, for essentially being what I always wanted the Eggman of the games to be. He's Dr. Eggman with a very open and unambiguous good side to him. And I love that.

Still, what are your thoughts on the Eggmen? Care to share? I hope this topic fosters some good discussion on Eggman and his many incarnations.

[Flyboy Fox]

I actually thoroughly enjoyed reading through all of that, E.G.G. Despite the fact that I don't have a particular care for any incarnation of our dear doctor, I did find those write-ups fascinating and I actually learned a fair bit about most of those incarnations that I hadn't been aware of previously (for example, the names used by each of them, which has always been a confusion factor for me).

If I had to choose a 'favourite' Robotnik/Eggman out of all of them, it would be AoStH Robotnik, as he is absolutely hilarious and has never actually succeeded in seriously hurting anyone (I may be wrong, but most of his schemes at least seem to end without too much disaster). Plus PINGAS. Come on.

Now, as for challanging anything you wrote, most of it is simply factual and I can't argue. I think you did a steller job at cataloguing each Eggman's 'good' and 'bad' traits, putting into perspective how very very different they all are.

My only niggle is the same one as always. To quote you: "a genuinely decent person who simply commits evil actions as a means to his goals" - in reference to Game Eggman. As always, no matter how many 'good' traits he may have in there, I simply cannot see him as a 'decent person'. To me, that sentence is an oxymoron... a man who commits evil acts as a means to his personal goals cannot be a 'decent person'. He may not be an 'evil' person (although I'd argue that he is, but I'm willing to concede that he could be interpretted as not), but I cannot see him as a 'decent' one.

Sonic X's Comic's Eggman... well, there is more of a compelling argument for him being at core a 'decent' person. Many more things work in his favour - particularly the El Gran Gordo stint. But Game Eggman... he's done far too many heartless things with such apathy that despite his occasional stints of heroism or morality I really can't accept that his moral compass is anything but borked.

[Dr. Mechano]

I actually thoroughly enjoyed reading through all of that, E.G.G. Despite the fact that I don't have a particular care for any incarnation of our dear doctor, I did find those write-ups fascinating and I actually learned a fair bit about most of those incarnations that I hadn't been aware of previously (for example, the names used by each of them, which has always been a confusion factor for me).

If I had to choose a 'favourite' Robotnik/Eggman out of all of them, it would be AoStH Robotnik, as he is absolutely hilarious and has never actually succeeded in seriously hurting anyone (I may be wrong, but most of his schemes at least seem to end without too much disaster). Plus PINGAS. Come on.

Now, as for challanging anything you wrote, most of it is simply factual and I can't argue. I think you did a steller job at cataloguing each Eggman's 'good' and 'bad' traits, putting into perspective how very very different they all are.

My only niggle is the same one as always. To quote you: "a genuinely decent person who simply commits evil actions as a means to his goals" - in reference to Game Eggman. As always, no matter how many 'good' traits he may have in there, I simply cannot see him as a 'decent person'. To me, that sentence is an oxymoron... a man who commits evil acts as a means to his personal goals cannot be a 'decent person'. He may not be an 'evil' person (although I'd argue that he is, but I'm willing to concede that he could be interpretted as not), but I cannot see him as a 'decent' one.

Sonic X's Comic's Eggman... well, there is more of a compelling argument for him being at core a 'decent' person. Many more things work in his favour - particularly the El Gran Gordo stint. But Game Eggman... he's done far too many heartless things with such apathy that despite his occasional stints of heroism or morality I really can't accept that his moral compass is anything but borked.

Ah, I completely understand what you're saying. And I actually mostly agree. By "decent" I am not calling SoJ Eggman "good."

I think of "decent" as... falling somewhere between good and evil, I guess. He's a bad guy, but he has "decent" qualities such as moral restraint and chivalrous respect, in addition to his heroic deeds. I would argue that the Eggman of Sonic X, anime and comic, are the only "good" ones(Heroic alternate dimensional counterparts aside), and that SoJ Eggman- while possessing good qualities- isn't quite there yet.

Er, I hope that made sense.

Edited July 1, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Flyboy Fox]

I see. That makes more sense. I think it was the qualifying "genuinely" before the term "decent" that made it sound like you were saying he was actually a rather good fellow, the sort you take home to meet the parents. Whereas I suppose you're saying, rather, that his intentions aren't evil for evil's sake, and therefore while he doesn't qualify as good, he doesn't really qualify as evil either, as his actions are a means to an end, rather than simply for the wicked fun of it. Is that a better interpretation than my original? ^^;

Also, incidentally, when I was looking up 'decent' in my dictionary to make sure that I understood the word correctly (1. following accepted moral standards, 2. of an acceptable quality, 3. informal kind or generous), I wonder if it was just coincidence that the word at the header of the page happened to be 'debonair'? I think we can at least agree he's that?

[Auther]

If I had to choose an Eggman to be my favorite it would have to be the SoJ Eggman. While I do like the X comic Eggman he's a little too close to being a hero to me, and the game Eggman is the right balance of good guy and bad guy for a villain for me.

[Dr. Mechano]

I see. That makes more sense. I think it was the qualifying "genuinely" before the term "decent" that made it sound like you were saying he was actually a rather good fellow, the sort you take home to meet the parents. Whereas I suppose you're saying, rather, that his intentions aren't evil for evil's sake, and therefore while he doesn't qualify as good, he doesn't really qualify as evil either, as his actions are a means to an end, rather than simply for the wicked fun of it. Is that a better interpretation than my original? ^^;

I think so, yeah. His motives are childish and selfish rather than overtly evil, and he has qualities about him that can definitely be considered positive and even good. But he's still rather casual about killing those who get in his way, which is why- unlike both versions of Sonic X- I can't really call him "good" as a whole despite his positive qualities.

Also, incidentally, when I was looking up 'decent' in my dictionary to make sure that I understood the word correctly (1. following accepted moral standards, 2. of an acceptable quality, 3. informal kind or generous), I wonder if it was just coincidence that the word at the header of the page happened to be 'debonair'? I think we can at least agree he's that?

Oh, most definitely. ...Well, sometimes. Like I said, poor SoJ Eggman has a kind of inconsistent personality- He can be slick and suave in one game, and a goony clown in the next one. The writers make... very little attempt at consistency with Eggman in the games.

Edited July 1, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Leon K Fox]

My personal favourite Robotnick/Eggman incarnations have to be AoSTH and SatAM's.

AoSTH because he was so fucking funny, seriously, he truly was XD His voice was perfect for the kind of character he was in that show and he was just a classic goof of a villain.

SatAM because he was far more formidable a villain, and one that ought to be taken more seriously if he were your foe, the performance Jim Cummings gave as this character was terrifying (can you beleive this is the same guy who voiced characters like Winnie the Pooh and Tigger? ) and his characterisation fitted him perfectly.

He is the one incarnation of Robotnick that I wouldn't dare call "Eggman" to his face even if none of his inventions were around for him to use as weapons.

I still have yet to read the Archie comics though so that Eggman didn't get bought into the equation here, for the record.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Leon K Fox

[Morphed Chaos]

Very good analysis, helped me quite a bit on deciding on what Robotnik I would use for a script to a game I was thinking of making. (And it may become mainstream if I can get a job at Nintendo or Sega )

Looks like I was right in thinking of using Sonic X Comic/Anime Eggman, he just has the most depth to him that I could use. Not to mention he doesn't mind being 'good', and might even enjoy it for a time.

I dunno if there is any criticism I can give, good or bad. This is basically the best analysis of Eggman I've ever seen. Good work, very nice work.

[azoo]

Great job, E.G.G.! =D This is a fantastic analysis on the doctor!

My personal favorite is really the serious and calm SoJ Eggman (aka SA2/Nextgen Eggman). However, I did grow up with the SoA & Fleetway Robotnik as well, though that's more of what I'm used to than what I like. =P

[Dr. Mechano]

From a design standpoint, I find one convention very, very interesting indeed.

Blue pince-nez glasses versus black hole eyes(Usually with red pupils). Let's see what we've got.

Glasses

Sega of Japan Eggman (Confirmed to have normal eyes underneath his glasses in Sonic Advance and Sonic 2K6)

Dr. Eggman Nega

King Shahryar

Sonic OVA Dr. Eggman (Confirmed to have normal eyes underneath glasses)

Sonic X Anime Dr. Eggman

Sonic X Comic Dr. Eggman

Archie's OVA Robotnik

Mayor Kintobor

Man of the Year Short Dr. Eggman

Black Hole Eyes

Sega of America Robotnik

AoStH Robotnik

SatAM Robotnik

Underground Robotnik

Underground Robotnik (Alternate heroic self)

Archie Robotnik Prime

Archie's Underground Robotnik

Ivanna Robotina

Fleetway Robotnik (However, his previous identity as Kintobor has the familiar blue glases)

Both

Archie Dr. Eggman

Dr. Ivo Kintobor? (He has these in his first appearance, and later is seen wearing glasses. We assume, then, that underneath his eyes are still like this.)

There are some interesting correlations with these designs. Usually the glasses-wearers are more bombastic, funloving, and (to varying degrees) somewhat more prone to express positive traits, while the black-hole eye versions lean more to being bitter, angry, and much more irredeemably evil.

Exceptions to this "rule" are the psychotically evil Eggman Nega(Who wears pointy shades instead of pince-nez), as well as the usually-harmless AoStH Robotnik. Both of these behave more like representatives of the other "side", so to speak. The heroic Underground alternate is an outlier due to being so vastly different.

As for the two versions who have both of these, they're appropriately at two opposite extremes- Who I would consider the most evil Robotnik(Archie Eggman) and the most good Robotnik (Dr. Ivo Kintobor). It's interesting that the two of them have both traits of the design conventions.

Edited July 1, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Mick]

Eggman is the ultimate villain and antagonist. He is a true evil genius who wants to be dictator of the world. There's no other villain that is better than him. He would win a fight with Bowser for the undisputed villain title.

My favorite Eggman is Dr. Ivo Robotnik from AoSTH. A lot of great moments with the AoSTH Robotnik (besides "pingas", everyone knows that kicks arse). The funniest moment was when he inserts the stupid chip into that helmet thingie he made in the Grounder The Genius episode. That one is just great. Oh and the voice of Robotnik ruled. The late Long John Baldry delivered such an awesome voice for the evil dude, I think he's the best.

There's another great Robotnik moment. I like the one where he turns back into baby and he tries to catch Sonic in a daycare center. He does many Wile E. Coyote-like schemes to catch Sonic and he fails. It's great! I just noticed that Robotnik does a lot of those kind of schemes like the coyote throughout the entire AoSTH series.

I happen to like Eggman in Sonic Unleashed. His voice actor is extremely perfect. The 2nd best voice actor for Eggman. He sounds so into it. He would make Long John Baldry proud.

[DarkOverord]

Question, you mentioned Kintorbor (Fleetway) A few times, but not detailed him, specially seen as you detailed Ovi Kintobor (Archie) who looks very similar. Will you, are are you going to consider the AI "copy" of him completely separate?

Also, seen as Sonic was produced in America for the most part, how would this effect how you've written your first post. And Sonic Team USA were the ones who merged Eggman and Robotnik into one name "Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik" ;3

[Dr. Mechano]

Also, seen as Sonic was produced in America for the most part, how would this effect how you've written your first post. And Sonic Team USA were the ones who merged Eggman and Robotnik into one name "Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik" ;3

Yet in the end, the Japanese storyline won out, becoming the dominant story that the modern games adhere to.

Because of this, I find it more appropriate to say SoJ Eggman was retconned to have SoA elements(Such as the name Robotnik) than to say the same for SoA Robotnik, who- with his deformed appearance and contradictory origin story- can't be reconciled to be the same person as the modern Eggman of the games, who would more appropriately be SoJ Eggman.

Ah, as for Kintobor's AI copy, I suppose I overlooked him.

Edited July 1, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[DarkOverord]

Ah, as for Kintobor's AI copy, I suppose I overlooked him.

You don't have to do him. I was just curious whether or not he "counted"

Yet in the end, the Japanese storyline won out, becoming the dominant story that the modern games adhere to.

Because of this, I find it more appropriate to say SoJ Eggman was retconned to have SoA elements(Such as the name Robotnik) than to say the same for SoA Robotnik, who- with his deformed appearance and contradictory origin story- can't be reconciled to be the same person as the modern Eggman of the games, who would more appropriately be SoJ Eggman.

Hmm. I suppose so.

[BlueFox]

I enjoy both the light hearted Eggman of Sonic X (Anime) where he ahs now come to a point of where he wants to be a leader and also test his powers, and the super evil Sonic the Comic, Robotnik who just wants total destruction of everything.

Overall through every form that he is dictated, he is an amazing rival to Sonic and is always unpredictable.

[batson]

This analysis of Eggman is far to great to just be posted once in a forum-thread. You should probably copy-paste it to some permanent place on your website, Gordo.

I really wish someone with enough knowledge of the various versions of other Sonic characters could make similar topics about them, that would be great.

EDIT: Oh and about my favorite Eggman, i guess i like the game version the best. Eh, he just seems like a good balance between dangerous villain and likable character. I just wish he would put animals inside robots a bit more often these days. Without that trademark, he's villain-persona is pretty much just a balloon-shaped Dr.Wily.

Edited July 2, 2009 by batson

[Frozen Nitrogen]

Good Points: First, we can see that Eggman actually values his minions. As early as Sonic Adventure, Eggman praises Gamma for his succesful retrieval of Froggy, and offers thanks to SA-55 for dinner in Sonic Unleashed. On that note, we see in the Eggmanland hub that even Eggman's grunts are fully self-aware, showing that the doctor intentionally gives each of his machines a sentient personality, rather than lead an army of mindless grunts with no opinions. This, I think, says something about Eggman- Which is that he values his robots as people, and not merely tools. And while he reacted harshly to the failure of the other E-series, one must remember that all he did was send them to various locations after kicking them off his ship- If anything, this shows that Eggman doesn't scrap his failed robots, and that rather, he "fires" them, which is a lot less unreasonable.

Because I love to warp Eggman's "good" points into bad...

The fact that Eggman's grunts are fully self-aware is if anything more horrible than the alternative. Here is a man who creates consciousness when all he actually needs is mechanical obedience - a man who prefers to be slavemaster over thinking beings to simple use of thoughtless tools. That's messed up, man. MESSED UP.

Segues nicely into your final conclusion that core desire is egocentric fame, though. He could rule over a wasteland of emotionless machines, but instead he makes artificial life with (presumably) he capacity to adore / fear him. God complex, much?

As for the firing of robots... this isn't necessarily humanitarianism (robomanitarianism?) either. As implied by the sad-looking SWATbot Sonic & co. find in Chronicles, their "purpose" is something Eggman's robots value really quite highly. To forget said purpose makes the bot in Central City depressed (at least according to Amy, though Sonic can tell her to stfu); so imagine what being FIRED would do. To know that they've failed their Creator and Master, and being forced to walk the earth in shame and uselessness FOREVERMORE.

[Flyboy Fox]

Because I love to warp Eggman's "good" points into bad...

The fact that Eggman's grunts are fully self-aware is if anything more horrible than the alternative. Here is a man who creates consciousness when all he actually needs is mechanical obedience - a man who prefers to be slavemaster over thinking beings to simple use of thoughtless tools. That's messed up, man. MESSED UP.

Segues nicely into your final conclusion that core desire is egocentric fame, though. He could rule over a wasteland of emotionless machines, but instead he makes artificial life with (presumably) he capacity to adore / fear him. God complex, much?

As for the firing of robots... this isn't necessarily humanitarianism (robomanitarianism?) either. As implied by the sad-looking SWATbot Sonic & co. find in Chronicles, their "purpose" is something Eggman's robots value really quite highly. To forget said purpose makes the bot in Central City depressed (at least according to Amy, though Sonic can tell her to stfu); so imagine what being FIRED would do. To know that they've failed their Creator and Master, and being forced to walk the earth in shame and uselessness FOREVERMORE.

This is a VERY good alternate explanation, and one that I could much more easily accept. I belive that 99.9% of what Game Eggman does is selfish and self-gratifying and not a sign of a 'better' side to his personality. Even the seemingly 'good' things are still almost always self-serving. Giving sentience to his robots is kinda like creating pre-roboticized people - conscious but programmed to obey and be loyal. Enslaving actual people would be too risky and difficult, I assume, but I could easily see him lording over an army of sentient robots to give him the illusion of being loved and appreciated.

Fascinating how two completely different interpretations can come out of something like that.

[Blazey Firekitty]

My personal interpretation of game Eggman is that while he's an adult physically, he's a child mentally. In other words, he doesn't comprehend- except on rare occasions- the pain that he might cause people, because in his mind, it's all just a game. In my mind, hee know he's being selfish, but doesn't think he's being truly mean, and thus it takes something like Gerald Robotnik's madness and treachery to snap Ivo out of the whimsical dreamworld he lives in.

[Frozen Nitrogen]

My personal interpretation of game Eggman is that while he's an adult physically, he's a child mentally. In other words, he doesn't comprehend- except on rare occasions- the pain that he might cause people, because in his mind, it's all just a game. In my mind, hee know he's being selfish, but doesn't think he's being truly mean, and thus it takes something like Gerald Robotnik's madness and treachery to snap Ivo out of the whimsical dreamworld he lives in.

As I frequently maintain, Ivo ain't snapping out of anything there.

where they find out about Gerald's insane plot to kill everyone (protip: jump to 5.50). Robotnik Junior is absolutely loving it, speaking about his grandfather in a kind of gleeful "Oh, snap, grampa!" tone. In no way does he seem to be thinking "OH MY GOD MY IDOL WAS REALLY EVIL THIS CALLS MY WHOLE PERCEPTION OF REALITY INTO QUESTION!!"

Indeed, only seconds before that bit, Rouge implies that the whole reason Ivo Robotnik released Shadow in the first place might have been just 'cos he wanted to "Fill the world with destruction" simply for the sake of destruction. He may well have happily let the ARK fall if not for the unfortunate fact that he himself was riding it.

Edited July 2, 2009 by Frozen Nitrogen

[Dr. Mechano]

As I frequently maintain, Ivo ain't snapping out of anything there.

where they find out about Gerald's insane plot to kill everyone (protip: jump to 5.50). Robotnik Junior is absolutely loving it, speaking about his grandfather in a kind of gleeful "Oh, snap, grampa!" tone. In no way does he seem to be thinking "OH MY GOD MY IDOL WAS REALLY EVIL THIS CALLS MY WHOLE PERCEPTION OF REALITY INTO QUESTION!!"

Yet later he does exactly that. With his guard down, and after it's all over, he contemplatively and sadly asks if his hero "really meant to destroy us?"

And even before that, he was surprised that his grandfather would build such a thing as the Eclipse Cannon.

Furthermore, in Shadow the Hedgehog, Eggman is surprised again, shouting "He betrayed his colleagues for research?! For Black Doom?!"

Eggman's apparent fondness for Gerald("That maaaaaad scientist!") isn't to say he approves of destroying the world, when you consider he's expressed disapproval of Gerald's darker side on other occasions.

Another point- On sentient robots.

While I can see what you're getting at, what do you make of Eggman's kindness toward said robots? Argue if you want that he just wants slaves, but you don't say "I'm proud of you!", "I knew you'd be of use to me!", and "Thank you!" to a slave. You say those things to valued team members. Eggman feels compelled to express gratitude for a job well done- To give his sentient robots some affirmation that they're earning their keep.

It's one thing to simply make a sentient machine. It's another altogether to treat it with the respect you'd give a human being.

Edited July 2, 2009 by El Gran Gordo

[Frozen Nitrogen]

Another point- On sentient robots.

While I can see what you're getting at, what do you make of Eggman's kindness toward said robots? Argue if you want that he just wants slaves, but you don't say "I'm proud of you!", "I knew you'd be of use to me!", and "Thank you!" to a slave. You say those things to valued team members. Eggman feels compelled to express gratitude for a job well done- To give his sentient robots some affirmation that they're earning their keep.

It's one thing to simply make a sentient machine. It's another altogether to treat it with the respect you'd give a human being.

From Eggman's point of view, praising his machines might well count as SELF-congratulations.

[Dr. Mechano]

From Eggman's point of view, praising his machines might well count as SELF-congratulations.

I think a scene from Unleashed is a good example.

When SA-55 is questioning Eggman's carelessness in letting the Emeralds fall to Earth, Eggman stammers and quickly makes up an alternate explanation, that he did it for the fun, the challenge!

Why would he do this? He's clearly trying to win the approval of his own robot, rather than take the cliched "If I want your opinion, I'll program it into you!" approach one might expect. The fact that Eggman cares about getting his minion to approve of him, of his own free will, seems to indicate that he sees them as valued people.

Edited July 2, 2009 by El Gran Gordo