How do you think Eggman should be written?

[Eggman Fan]

Eggman has been handled differently cross the years, but this ain't about that. This is about you. How do you think Eggman should handled?

I want him to be mostly goofy, but when he gets serious my man is scary. Like in idw, but the serious Eggman is even more terrifying. He is Sonic's greatest enemy, so he should remind us of that every once in a while.

[qstrew]

That one funny guy with no good expression, well, at least in sonic 1

 

[Scar]

Somewhere between Eggman in SA1 and 2, and Unleashed.

Those games had elements of what I want Eggman to be in terms of threateningness and humour. Combine it into one, and you've got it. Eggman has always been decent since Unleashed though, thanks largely through Mike Pollock's wonderful interpretation of the character.

[batson]

I honestly prefer the mostly serious Eggman of the two Adventure games over the more comedic Eggman of later games, although I do recognize that considering how the characters' design was always very comedic one can suspect that it is in fact these later portrayals of Eggman that represents the characters' original intention better. Maybe the more serious SA1 and SA2 version was always a departure from Eggmans origin. But regardless, I like that serious version. I feel that Eggman was pretty consistent over those two games. In both of those games, Eggmans means business and is aboslutely ruthless, but not in an overtly emotional way. He's rarely shouting and jumping up and down. He seems mostly collected and calculating even if he does have occasional bursts of visible anger. He's also portrayed as 100% competent in everything from planning his crimes to manipulating other characters. The only significant difference in portrayal between SA1 and SA2 is that in SA1 he comes of as a complete and utter sociopath with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever (we all remember his attempt to nuke an entire city only out of spite, possibly at the expense of even his own life), rather similar to his old SatAM counterpart. In SA2 meanwhile we get a few moments of Eggman showing humanity. But I don't consider this an inconsistent portrayal between the games, as one can easily merely interpret it as Eggman simply never having any specific reason to display and humanity in the first game. Another interesting moment in SA2 regarding Eggmans mentality is when he says to Shadow "If anything happens to me I'm counting on you to finish the job". I'm not sure how we are actually intended to interpret this line, but to me it always sounded like Eggman wanted Shadow to cary on Eggmans plan for world domination even if Eggman himself should perish, which is in that case very interesting from a psychological point of view. Does Eggmans quest for world domination stem from something more complex than him merely wanting to experience the pleasure of being absolute ruler? Could it be that if Shadow conquers the world in the name of Eggman, and by Eggmans plan, then in Eggmans own mind he has accomplished his goals even if he himself is not alive to enjoy the results? I'm not sure, but its interesting to think about.

All in all, I see Eggman from SA1 and 2 as a great villain, both a ruthless monster and a man with hidden depth, and for sure also certain comedic traits but ones that never overshadow his serious traits. Also I've always been completely honest about how I prefer Bristow over Pollock (one time Pollock actually responded to a post I made comparing the two in Bristows favor. Awkward. ).

[Duelistic Nature]

A fun question to ask.

To first answer the question: Jim Carey's portrayal in both sonic movies is almost as close as I'd like him. A loner who despises incompetence and throws a fit about it if it's really eg(g)regious. Therefore explains his reliance on his own competence and machines who do what he tells them to do and why he is so incredibly self-congratulatory. Organic life just gets in the way and that's where his ruthlessness, callousness, manipulative behavior, and means-justify-the-ends-attitude, come in.

He will conquer the world and universe if he's not interfered with and he's fun when he's mad thanks to the earlier portrayal by Bristow and Pollock.

 

Carey takes the goofiness in a more extreme direction with his expressive (and very impressive) way of motion and facial expressions, but it does sell the deranged/ unhinged scientist well, but a bit too risky towards the goofy side where competence starts to lack a bit.

I'm a huge fan of SA2's portrayal of dr. Eggman. For reasons that most people here already know. Ruthless, manipulative, power-hungry, but absolutely competent in what he sets out to do. Holding Amy at gunpoint, blowing up an entire military island, half the moon, outfoxing the fox even though he had prior knowledge meaning he is shown to be manipulative which also shows in the classics with him duping Knuckles into going after Sonic. He exploits character traits, ambitions people have to further his own goals. But also a man of having respect for those who are a thorn in his side for so long "farewell sonic, my admirable adversary" and being shocked when he was the one played for a fool by his already deceased grandfather showing actual emotion and being hurt by the man he looked up to.

I also love how IDW portraits Eggman, but it's less of a competent side of him. He plans out everything to work, but is shown to not have contingency plans which I feel is quite unlike Eggman. As if he's become a bit lazy which is a real shame. His plans are ruthless but after implementation and met with setbacks further "bugfixes" are left on a slow burner and only picked up whenever he feels like it. Eggman feels like he's drawn by motivation, once the goal is met/ appears to be met without much help from himself he goes off to do his own thing. Bit of a shame... but they have to make dr. Starline have a reason to be in Eggman's good graces else Robotnik just kicks the duck out.

 

[babsiwuff]

On 7/2/2022 at 2:54 PM, Sonic Fan 3,183 said:

Eggman has been handled differently cross the years, but this ain't about that. This is about you. How do you think Eggman should handled?

I want him to be mostly goofy, but when he gets serious my man is scary. Like in idw, but the serious Eggman is even more terrifying. He is Sonic's greatest enemy, so he should remind us of that every once in a while.

I agree.  Eggman should be an incompetent dolt, but with substance.  The IDW series shows that depth beautifully, but so do the movies.  Robotnik is quirky and weird in the films, but it's still obvious how deadly he is.

The really serious take on him in SatAM was creepy and well done, but it didn't seem quite right.  

[Mangoaxe5]

My favorite versions of Robotnik are the more serious ones such as Satam/Sonic Adventure 1&2/Archie(original universe).

I loved the way that Ian wrote him near the end of the original Archie Sonic timeline before the reset.

 

[GeAr-DX]

Sonic X and Adventure 2 leave a good idea of how Eggman should be written. Dangerous, serious at times, goofy at others, a direct man but yet with more layers.