Is eggman evil or goofy in your eyes?!?

[Meta77]

To some it would seem eggman is meant to be a funny villain but is able to build large robots but always fails. And on the other hand some see him as a evil crazy ruler. 

In games like colors he is a more a kid friendly villain and never seems to much a real threat while sonic has fun teasing him. In others such as adventure 2 he threatens to destroy parts of the world if they do not submit to him and blowing up a occupied prison island.

 

So which do you prefer or see him as yourself?

[Wraith]

In the classics, he has comical expressions and sometimes silly robot designs and plans, but he poses a threat to the player and the world regardless. He's both.

[Salamander]

I'd agree with both, or perhaps somewhere in-between - or perhaps each modifying the other, goofiness shaving the razor edges off the evil, evil putting spikes on top of the goofiness.  If you wrote him just one way or the other, it wouldn't be adequate.

Eggman should be somebody who is just as possible to underestimate as to overestimate.

[Diogenes]

Well he's both, to some extent. The real question is what's the right balance. Honestly, I lean towards him being more goofy than anything; he's a fat cartoon mad scientist with ladybug robots, that doesn't really speak to him being super intimidating.

[Meta77]

2 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Well he's both, to some extent. The real question is what's the right balance. Honestly, I lean towards him being more goofy than anything; he's a fat cartoon mad scientist with ladybug robots, that doesn't really speak to him being super intimidating.

Well I mean in brotherhood he shoots sonic out the sky. Most the time he's trying to kill him where many villains try to just harm. Plus not all ladybugs lol egg dragoon was a dragoon

[Diogenes]

3 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

Well I mean in brotherhood he shoots sonic out the sky. Most the time he's trying to kill him where many villains try to just harm.

Aside from the kiddiest of kids stuff, what villains aren't trying to kill the hero?

3 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

Plus not all ladybugs lol egg dragoon was a dragoon

Yeah, but you don't get to ignore his robot ladybug army just because he makes some tougher looking machines too.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I mean it doesn't have to be specific to one certain area. My ideal Eggman is like Aku from Samurai Jack, he can legitimately be evil, threatening and creepy, and then fly right into over the top comedy and hammy. Archie Eggman pulls off that balance relatively well, at least Ian Flynn Eggman.

[Meta77]

16 minutes ago, Diogenes said:

Aside from the kiddiest of kids stuff, what villains aren't trying to kill the hero?

Yeah, but you don't get to ignore his robot ladybug army just because he makes some tougher looking machines too.

It not THAT many lady bugs lol

[Mr Loopone]

Eggman is a bit of both while with some incarnations of the characters, he is either slightly more comedic (e.g. AoSTH Robotnik) or just plain evil (e.g. SatAM Robotnik, StC Robotnik). He goes from building amusement parks and having insect themed robots to blowing up parts of the moon with robots/monsters that look more threatening.

For me though, he is more towards the goofy side but can still cause problems when pushed to shove. As in that he jokes around, builds his dream place (Eggmanland) and does little schemes to annoy Sonic but when he loses and fed up of losing since it is hurting his ego, he does something whether it is destruction, kidnapping one of Sonic's friends or even try to attack Sonic himself. Plus with a comedic side, you also get to have the chemistry between him and Sonic that would be harder to achieve if he was just an evil villain. Like with SatAM Robotnik and Sonic don't have much chemistry together between villain and hero. The clash of egos as well as Eggman's own helps with the character. Current Eggman (as in Unleashed but more so Colors onwards) and AoSTH Robotnik did this quite well in my eyes, the latter even did a terrorist attack despite most of the time builds robots or plans silly schemes involving chilidogs.

[Monkey Destruction Switch]

To me, Eggman is someone with rather goofy, manchild-esque mannerisms and a pretty immature outlook on life, but also very dangerous due to the fact that, while he doesn't go out of his way to hurt people or do evil things and certainly isn't sadistic, he's egotistical mechanical genius and mastermind who wants to take over the world and also doesn't really have any solid moral compunctions of any kind that I can see. He doesn't go out of his way to cause suffering, but he doesn't mind causing it in pursuit of his (very evil and dangerous) goal. That's how I see it, anyway. That's kind of what I love best about his character, honestly. I don't like villains trying too hard to be oh-so-evil, I find it bland if anything, but I also don't like villains that try too hard to be sympathetic, and Eggman is neither, while having humorous and goofy charm on top of all that.

[Tara]

I feel like SA1 had a very good portrayal of Eggman.  The goofiness in him comes more from the circumstances surrounding him than his personality.  Take for example, he's a genius with an IQ of 300 who can build an army of machines, and yet none but one of his brilliant inventions could even identify the frog they needed to capture.  Despite this, Eggman takes himself extremely seriously (but isn't quite Arkham Knight's Scarecrow), and when the climatic moments do come, he becomes very serious, almost to the point of seeming bipolar.  He's not above humor, but doesn't consider himself extremely silly.  I'd compare him to Knuckles, basically.  I want Knuckles to take himself seriously and to have a somewhat serious presence, but I do still want him to have a few quirks and situational moments that put him in humorous situations.

Of course, though, I do love Mike Pollock's Eggman just for how goofy he is, and I still think even at his most evil, the series should mainain a very lighthearted tone.  I just want the characters to not be so overtly self-aware of this and feel as though they're a part of their own universe instead of lampshading the ridiculousness of it constantly.

[Bowbowis]

As those before me have said the two aspects of Eggman are inextricably linked. The doctor's childishness fuels his villainy, and his villainy drives the plot and gives weight to his actions. Eggman cannot effectively fulfill his role as the antagonist if he's missing either one. The real question is: what's the right balance between the two? Personally, I think Sonic Adventure 2 nailed it.

Eggman is a man-child, a bombastic narcissist who loves making big speeches and being the center of attention. He paints his robots in bright colors, he plasters his face on everything, and he announces his acts of terror against a background spamming the slogan "I am genius, I am great, I am brilliant, I am smart, I am wise, I am an emperor" in multiple languages. However, in a sense Eggman's childish tendencies, particularly his egocentrism, are what motivate is villainy to begin with. Every kid thinks that they ought to be the center of the universe, with little regard for others, Eggman is just acting out on that belief.

Make no mistake though, man-child or not Eggman is still a villain, and a dangerous one at that. He is deadly serious about his desire to conquer the world and, to that end, he is ruthless, pragmatic, and above all persistent. With his immense IQ Eggman creates armies to help him achieve military conquest, he knows how to get his opponents to play into his hands, he has contingency plans upon contingency plans, and he's excellent at adapting to unexpected situations and turning them to his advantage. Beyond that, Eggman is capable of kicking a lot of ass on the front lines with his Eggwalker and other manned contraptions.

These traits, coupled with his utter disregard for human life (he doesn't want you to die, he just doesn't care if you do), make Eggman an exceptionally dangerous villain, who is willing to commit unspeakable atrocities in the name of his childish power fantasies. His clownish demeanor may be amusing, but make no mistake, he ain't joking; you underestimate Dr. Eggman at your own peril.

[SBR2]

He blew up the planet and ate a Five Dollar Footlong in the same game so yeah both.

[Meta77]

4 hours ago, Bowbowis said:

As those before me have said the two aspects of Eggman are inextricably linked. The doctor's childishness fuels his villainy, and his villainy drives the plot and gives weight to his actions. Eggman cannot effectively fulfill his role as the antagonist if he's missing either one. The real question is: what's the right balance between the two? Personally, I think Sonic Adventure 2 nailed it.

Eggman is a man-child, a bombastic narcissist who loves making big speeches and being the center of attention. He paints his robots in bright colors, he plasters his face on everything, and he announces his acts of terror against a background spamming the slogan "I am genius, I am great, I am brilliant, I am smart, I am wise, I am an emperor" in multiple languages. However, in a sense Eggman's childish tendencies, particularly his egocentrism, are what motivate is villainy to begin with. Every kid thinks that they ought to be the center of the universe, with little regard for others, Eggman is just acting out on that belief.

Make no mistake though, man-child or not Eggman is still a villain, and a dangerous one at that. He is deadly serious about his desire to conquer the world and, to that end, he is ruthless, pragmatic, and above all persistent. With his immense IQ Eggman creates armies to help him achieve military conquest, he knows how to get his opponents to play into his hands, he has contingency plans upon contingency plans, and he's excellent at adapting to unexpected situations and turning them to his advantage. Beyond that, Eggman is capable of kicking a lot of ass on the front lines with his Eggwalker and other manned contraptions.

These traits, coupled with his utter disregard for human life (he doesn't want you to die, he just doesn't care if you do), make Eggman an exceptionally dangerous villain, who is willing to commit unspeakable atrocities in the name of his childish power fantasies. His clownish demeanor may be amusing, but make no mistake, he ain't joking; you underestimate Dr. Eggman at your own peril.

I almost felt you were trying to quote the eggman song haha

[Detective Kaito]

On 3/30/2017 at 6:51 PM, Ryannumber1gamer said:

I mean it doesn't have to be specific to one certain area. My ideal Eggman is like Aku from Samurai Jack, he can legitimately be evil, threatening and creepy, and then fly right into over the top comedy and hammy. Archie Eggman pulls off that balance relatively well, at least Ian Flynn Eggman.

Ian Flynn writes the characters better than any other Sonic writer tbh. I don't understand why he doesn't just work on the games.

[Salamander]

It wouldn't make much of a difference if he didn't have a meaningful amount of input into the development process, which he more than likely wouldn't; I'm assuming Ian Flynn doesn't speak Japanese, in which case every single communication between him and Sonic Team would have a significant translation delay.  Like Pontac and Graff, he would in all probability only be able to write around a premise, level order, and bosses given to him by Sonic Team, and while I think he'd be a better fit for the series than Pontaff, it would be difficult for him to write a narrative of any consequence.  There are rumblings that he might be working on the Forces localisation, though.

[Soniman]

14 hours ago, Detective Kaito said:

Ian Flynn writes the characters better than any other Sonic writer tbh. I don't understand why he doesn't just work on the games.

Ian Flynn's Eggman is what I'd consider the perfect balance of charm, comedy, threat level and competence honestly. Though I also adore Boom Eggman even if he's as threatening as a wet napkin. 

[CrownSlayers Shadow]

Would like it even more if Ian Flynn's Eggman could ensure his Egg Bosses loyalty more through charisma than just threatening them. (that's not saying take away his threats to lock his minions cybernetics tho)