Doctor Eggman

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Dr. Eggman.

In the Sonic the Hedgehog series, Doctor Eggman (in modern-day and Japanese versions), or Doctor Ivo Robotnik (early United States and European, and modern-day versions), is the archnemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog. His character designer is Naoto Ohshima. He is one of the most infamous villans of videogame history.

The Eggman

Dr. Eggman, the grandson of Professor Gerald Robotnik, is an evil genius with an I.Q. of 300 and a very childish demeanor. He tries to take over the world by enslaving the population inside robots to serve his every whim. Of course, Sonic and his friends are always there to stop him.

He has built countless airships, such as the Egg Carrier, and a space station called the Death Egg. He has also built countless robots, a number of which resemble either him or his longtime rival, Sonic.

In most video games, the main villain is the final boss fought by the player. Eggman, in contrast, appears as the boss of every level in most of the Sonic games, in a different machine each time.

He was originally submitted to play the protagonist in the game that would eventually be called Sonic the Hedgehog. However, the blue hedgehog was won the in-house design contest and Dr. Robotnik had to settle for villain.

Egg robots

The doctor's Eggman-shaped robots have evolved throughout the series, first appearing in Sonic & Knuckles as the simple but numerous Egg-Bots or Egg-Robos. Soon after, Eggman followed up with more lethal incarnations that could think for themselves — the E-series. Notable E-Series robots include E-101 Beta, E-102 Gamma, E-103 Delta, E-104 Epsilon, E-105 Zeta, E-123 Omega and E-121 Phi.

Gamma was forced by Eggman to defeat his brother Beta, who was theoretically his superior. Eggman then stated he would use the loser for "spare parts". After an encounter with Amy Rose, and his accidental witnessing of Beta being taken apart and remade, he decided to free the animals imprisoned in all of Eggman's robots, including the ones inside the E-series. Beta was actively reengineered and modified in the meantime. Gamma, having destroyed all the other robots and freed the animals inside, went on to have a final showdown with Beta, going into battle with one thought in mind: he too has an animal imprisoned inside.

Omega, on the other hand, is a prototype robot which Eggman quickly dumped after he began work on the next line of robots, the E-2000. Infuriated by this, Omega joined Team Dark with Shadow the Hedgehog and Rouge the Bat in Sonic Heroes.

Phi is a grey robot that looks similar to Emerl (Sonic Battle). He looks very different to the other E-series robots because of this. There are 14 versions of him who all have different attacks (i.e. Phi #1 has Sonic's attacks while Phi #14 has Rouge's attacks). At the end of the game they are all destroyed by Emerl.

Death Egg

The Death Egg made its first appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, 1992), where it was a space station, which by the level select screen, can be seen as moon-shaped. It was the final level of the game, containing only the final two bosses. After Sonic defeated Dr. Robotnik, the Death Egg crash-landed onto the Floating Island.

The Death Egg was Doctor Robotnik/Eggman's space station in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles. It was moon-shaped, and built in the image of Eggman's face. (This idea was later recycled for the Space Colony ARK). In Sonic 3, Robotnik rebuilt the Death Egg and was about to launch it when Sonic arrived in the Launch Base Zone. Sonic quickly boarded the giant space station and defeated Dr. Robotnik, causing the space station's destruction. If Sonic & Knuckles is docked to Sonic 3, the event is changed; instead of being destroyed, the Death Egg fell out of the sky and landed in the volcano of Angel Island (otherwise known as the Floating Island) where Lava Reef Zone and Hidden Palace Zone were situated. In Sonic & Knuckles, it was a two-Act Zone playable by Sonic and/or Tails containing an Act 1 boss and three Act 2 bosses (including Tails' final boss).

In the arcade game Sonic Championship (Sonic the Fighters in Japan), Robotnik went to make the Death Egg 2, which once again was home to the 2 last bosses. It then blew up (before completion like the Death Star II from Star Wars) and was never heard of again.

Later on, in Sonic Battle, Robotnik rebuilt the Death Egg for use of his "Final Egg Blaster". It was supposedly destroyed after Emerl was defeated by Sonic.

The Death Egg is a tribute to the Death Star Space Station in the Star Wars series.

Sonic robots

Main article: Metal Sonic

Robotnik, aside from the huge mechas and robots he builds in his likeness, also seems to enjoy trying to make robot Sonic knock-offs to pit against his rival. His first attempt was Silver Sonic (Mecha Sonic in Japan). Silver Sonic was a dismal failure due to the fact that it was the total opposite of the original — slow, unwieldy, big, and stupid. It was later upgraded with a much sleeker and more aggressive design, and it was also faster and able to fly. This later version is often refered to as Mecha Sonic even by non-japanese fans because he was repainted blue. Sonic thought he had defeated it in the Sky Sanctuary of Angel Island, but it later reappeared and fought Knuckles. Mecha Sonic got hold of the Master Emerald and attacked Knuckles as Super Mecha Sonic, but, not being able to absorb the Emerald into its being, needed to constantly recharge his power. Knuckles soon managed to defeat it during these recharge lapses.

Eggman's most successful and persistent Sonic copy to date is Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic, after his first defeat at the hands of Sonic, went on to harass the Chaotix, where he was able to turn into a huge, red, Godzilla-sized version of himself via the Chaos Rings and wreak havoc for a while, until he was defeated once again. Since then, he's been seen around participating in any kind of racing or fighting Sonic joins in, in hopes of defeating him one day. In Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic impersonates Eggman in an attempt to copy the Sonic Heroes' DNA and finally put an end to their rivalry, once and for all.

The name game

In various continuities, Eggman has been known by several names. In the Japanese games, he has always been known simply as "Dr. Eggman". In early Sonic games released in America and Europe, however, he was known as Dr. Robotnik.

Fleetway's Sonic the Comic and other European continuities claimed that his full name was, in fact, "Dr. Ivo Robotnik", but that he had once been called "Dr. Ovi Kintobor" before an accident made him an evil mastermind. Similarly, the Archie comics and SatAM storylines had that his original name had been Kintobor (this time "Julian Kintobor") and that he had named himself Robotnik when he took control of Mobotropolis (though he had always been evil). In these early continuities, Sonic and his friends referred to Eggman by a number of unflattering nicknames, including "Ro-butt-nik", and sometimes just, "Butt-nik".

In Sonic Adventure, however, Sega began a process of weaning the American and European gaming communities onto the Japanese name, Dr. Eggman. Initially, both names were used, and he referred to himself as Robotnik while others called him Eggman. In later games, and also in the dub of Sonic X, the name Robotnik was dropped almost entirely, though it can still be found on some promotional material and in fan works.

General consensus now is that his real name is Robotnik and his nickname (which he calls himself sometimes) is Eggman. This is supported by the fact that in the Japanese version of Sonic X, his eyecatch profile card gives his name as: "ROBOTNIK (Dr. Eggman)" and also by the surname of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik.

In the Archie series, the original Dr. Robotnik (Julian Kintobor, see above) was destroyed. This Robotnik was never called Eggman. His replacement, a Robotnik from a parallel universe, has been known as Robotnik, Robotnik Mk II, Robo-Robotnik, and Eggman. Currently he goes by Robotnik but is sometimes called Eggman.

Contrasting stories

Five main continuities emerged in the first few years that the Sonic series existed - "SegaSonic" (as the video game canon is called by fans), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (AOSTH), Sonic the Comic (Fleetway), Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM), and Archie).

SegaSonic

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The Original Dr. Robotnik/Dr. Eggman

The "SegaSonic" continuity, as it is known by fans, was created by Sega of Japan for the original game, and is generally thought of as the "official" storyline. This is mainly because of the belief that, since Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese creation, the Japanese storyline should be the true one. The Sonic Anime used SegaSonic continuity, though it does not have an extensive backstory for Dr. Eggman, only that he is a mad scientist who wants to conquer Earth, and attempts to do so by enslaving the animal population in robots and trying to find the Chaos Emeralds to harness their power. This story was later developed into the current continuity used in most of the modern-day games, and the Sonic X anime series.

AoStH

Next came the AoStH continuity, shorthand for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, the first Sonic animated series, which had no history for Robotnik, merely presenting him as a villain who sought to rule Mobius. Notably, the design of Robotnik in this series was wildly different from his portrayal in the games.

Fleetway

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The Fleetway version of Robotnik

The Fleetway continuity originates with a short "official" storyline created by Sega of America for the original game, which was then expanded upon by the book, Stay Sonic, and even further by the enduring Sonic the Comic, as well as some other UK novels. As this extended continuity mainly featured in Sonic the Comic, is known as the Fleetway continuity, named after the comic's publisher. However, since, for a while, StC's storyline used aspects of SegaSonic storyline such as South Island, the differences between the two blur in places. In general, however, both are based on the game series.

Here, Doctor Robotnik (as he was consistently called, even when the Western video games switched to using the "Eggman" name) had a particularly different origin to anything from any other country. Originally, he was not Doctor Ivo Robotnik, but was Doctor Ovi Kintobor, a kindly scientist from Earth who embarked on a one-man science exploration of space, but wound up stranding himself on Mobius. The planet was a world of peace, and so he vowed to eradciate even the tiniest traces of negative energy from it. Using a machine he named the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (ROCC), formed of many purifying golden rings, he slowly gathered all the negative energy on Mobius. Requiring a container for chaotic energy, Kintobor discovered emeralds that served the job very well, locating six of them. It was then that a brown hedgehog named Sonic came tumbling into his lab.

Kintobor quickly became friends with Sonic, and helped him to advance his speed - while testing a new invention of Kintobor's termed "Power Sneakers," Sonic ran so fast that he broke the sound barrier, and the shockwaves fused his quills and tempered his body cobalt blue. Sonic used his new speed to help search for the seventh and final emerald, which was required to stabilise the energy transfer. Their efforts were in vain, but Kintobor eventually apparently discovered a way to complete the transfer without the seventh emerald. Before the process was initiated, the pair decided to have lunch, but going to the fridge, they found only one rotten egg. With it in his hand, muttering about it, Kintobor went back to the ROCC... and tripped on a cable, falling over and slamming his hand into the machine's control panel. The ROCC exploded, bathing Kintobor - and the egg - in chaos energy, and scattering the golden rings that comprised it across the planet. As the smoke cleared, Sonic made a terrifying discovery - the chaos energy had transformed Kintobor, along with the rotten egg he had been holding. Now, he was no longer Ovi Kintobor - now, he was Ivo Robotnik.

At the start of the Fleetway continuity, Dr. Robotnik looked and acted very similarly to the SegaSonic continuity. However, just under a year into the comic's life, it was decided to change his look to match that of his "AoStH" counterpart, (as the cartoon had recently begun airing at the time in the UK). In the comic, Robotnik, in his base inside the Special Zone, encased himself in a giant egg, and hatched as the new-look Robotnik, who proved to be more sinister and more of a dictator. Towards the end of the series, in a story arc based on the "Sonic Adventure" game, Robotnik's changed outfits to match the game character's appearance (though he didn't undergo any physical transformation).

Although his goals and actions where always evil, originally Robotnik's character was very tongue in cheek having silly characteristic (for example, replace in 'ex' with 'eggs' (eggs-actly)). However over time his character became darker and more sinister. After achieving near god hood at least twice and yet still being thwarted by Sonic, Robotnik fell into deep depression. His last act in the comic (before it was cancelled) would have resulted in the destruction of the planet. He had ceased to care about being it's ruler and simply wanted to 'end it all' and take the rest of Mobius with him.

It is worth mentioning that this 'evil dictator' had control of planet Mobius for several years. During which he spent some of his time in the Metropolis Zone within his Citidel. Through the comics run Robotnik did not just rely on his creations, but he also hired many bounty hunters and other 'hired hand' to do his work.

One of his best creations was the Emporor Metallix, a large red/gold Metallix (Metal Sonic) that would work on building an army of advanced Metallix's to fight against Sonic, although this Emporor did the job, he and his army turned on their master. This leads Robotnik to work on the Knuckles model Metallix.

The Emporor Metallix has two origins, first being the final Metal Sonic of the game Knuckles Chaotix (his mass produced Metallix's are introduced at the same time as the Chaotix Crew.) and second, (although this can not be confirmed) based on the Master Sentinal from the X-Men comics and cartoons.

Robotnik also created an advanced badnik called Commander Brutus to share command of his empire. Brutus had a copy of Robotnik's own brain patterns and eventualy built a hidden army and turned on Robotnik after turning Amy Rose and Johnny Lightfoot into Cyberniks, a more advanced version of the badnik (As Shortfuse the Cybernik).

From those points Robotnik learnt to never give command to anyone and made sure he controlled everything. This increased greed could have contributed to his eventual loss of his empire.

SatAM

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The SatAM version of Robotnik

The last continuity began with the SatAM cartoon, which is known as SatAM due to its original airing time (Saturday AM). Vastly different from the SegaSonic and Fleetway continuities, the only characters used from the original story are Sonic, Tails and Dr. Robotnik. Unlike his other incarnations, the SatAM Robotnik is by no means a mad scientist plotting world domination. In contrast, he is a malevolent dictator who has already conquered most of the planet Mobius. What we know of his history is revealed mostly in the second season, especially when Sonic and Sally travel back to the past. His name was Julian, and the earliest detail we know about him is that he was an assistant for Naugus, the wizard who discovered the limited dimension known as the Void. Julian betrayed Naugus and trapped him within the Void. Later, he headed up the Ministry of War in King Acorn's regime, and was instrumental in winning the Great War for the monarchy (the Great War is not explained any further than that). King Acorn allowed Julian to dismantle the military - from Acorn's perspective, this was presumably because the War's finale no longer necessitated it, while Julian's main motive was obviously to set up a coup. Additionally, he stole the plans for the Roboticizer from Sir Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. Robotnik's coup culminated in his banishment of Acorn to the Void, and his roboticization of most of the Mobian population.

Due to the role he plays in the series, this Robotnik was given a sinister design to distinguish him from the often comical appearance of his counterparts. While other versions of this character often go after Sonic themselves, this Robotnik directs his forces from a command chair while petting his robotic pet bird, Cluck (seen only in Season 1). SatAM Robotnik seems to have many things in common with the Baron Harkonnen from the book and movie series Dune, including the descriptions of his SWATbot hover units as well as his own personal ability to levitate (Seen in one episode of Season 1 and the last episodes of Season 2). Whether or not this is coincidence, the similarities often make this version of Robotnik an intimidating and fierce model of a dictator. The cartoon ended after two 13-episode seasons, but the characters continued to appear in the American comic book series produced by Archie Comics, which developed its own continuity.

Archie Comics

In this universe, Dr. Robotnik begins his existence as Julian Kintobor of the House of Ivo, the son of a human-like Overlander and a human from the city of Station Square. A student of the genius scientist, Dr. Nate Morgan, he conspired against his mentor and had him banished. Later, he himself is exiled from Overlander territory, and found himself welcomed by the Kingdom of Acorn. Swearing allegiance, he eliminates the Kingdom's existing Warlord, Kodos, and takes his position. After defeating the Overlanders in the great war, he (like his SatAM counterpart) used Charles' invention the roboticizer to his own ends. After sabotaging it to turn Sonic's father Jules into a drone, he conspired to have Sonic's mother, Bernie, roboticized, and Tails' father Amadeus followed. Soon after, he conquered the kingdom's capital city of Mobotropolis, transforming it into Robotropolis. He would continue to rule Mobius with an iron fist, with his loyal henchmen Crabmeat, and his wayward nephew, Snively. As time went on, Robotnik disseminated various regional governors to enforce his will across the planet called "Underbosses".

He found resistance in the form of rebel cells calling themselves "Freedom Fighters", particularly in the now grown Sonic the Hedgehog. He continually attempted to crush the resistance for 50 issues, until the 4-part Endgame storyline, where, in addition to trying to have Sally killed and Sonic framed for the murder, discovered the location of Knothole, held the Freedom Fighers at gunpoint, and planned to unleash a weapon called the "Ultimate Annihilator", a powerful weapon that could warp reality and wipe the Freedom Fighters from existence - unfortunately for him, Snively tampered with it, and after a final battle with Sonic, Julian Ivo Robotnik was supposedly killed.

But that would not be the end of Robotnik's legacy. A Robotnik from another universe appeared, calling himself "Robo-Robotnik." In his universe, in addition to transforming Sonic and his cohorts into nightmarish cyborgs, he roboticized himself, making himself more powerful. In addition to using a variation of SWATBots known as Shadow Bots (ironically, they were defeated by Robotnik Prime's forces), he sought a legendary weapon called the Giant Borg. He temporarily gained its power, until he was struck down by the force of thousands of multi-dimensional Sonics. The destruction of his weapon seemingly destroyed him, leaving him nothing more than a head - or so everyone thought.

Robo-Robotnik would live on, by transferring his consciousness to a space station in his dimension. After encountering the temporarily displaced original Robotnik, he decided to "get back in the game" as it were, and eliminated his version of Sonic along with his family. Feeling dissatisfied, he conspired to return to Sonic's dimension, and after a series of manipulations over several issues, he revealed himself after capturing all the Robians on Mobius. This plan to destroy Sonic failed, though he succeeded in conquering Robotropolis and controlling many of the Robians on Mobius (though he would later lose control over them). However, his body was destroyed, and he uploaded into a new form based on that of his current video-game based design, giving birth to Eggman.

The series continued, and after his body was destroyed numerous times, he found himself, Snively (who had by that point been roboticized), Sonic, and Tails captured by an alien race known as the BEM. Eggman and Snively were transformed back into humans (or Overlanders), and forced to battle for their lives against a roboticized Sonic and Tails in order to prove whether or not flesh was superior to metal. They were returned to Mobius without being changed back, and have remained so ever since.

After the Xorda, an alien-race that had attacked Mobius in the ancient past when it was still known as "Earth", attacked the planet again, Sonic was lost in space. This granted Eggman the opportunity to spread his power base, and conquered small portions of Mobius, thereby creating the "Eggman Empire." His robot legions are controlled by a sentient computer named ADAM, and he has a robotic "daughter" named Mecha (or "M" for short).

Though he comes from another dimension, Robo-Robotnik has taken the original Robotnik's place on Mobius Prime. Though he comes from a different dimension, he is very much Robotnik, and shares many of the original's experiences.

Robotnik's name is comprised of an anagram of his family's surname (Kintobor -> Robotnik). After conquering Mobius he adopted the sinister moniker of "Robotnik" to differentiate himself from his past. He has several relatives - Snively, his nephew, being one of them. There is also his brother, Colin (who was roboticized and then later destroyed), and Snively's half-sister, Hope Kintobor. Finally, from Station Square, there is his deceased grandfather and cousin, Gerald and Maria Robotnik - just as in the games. Hope greatly resembles Maria, and currently lives with the Freedom Fighters in the newly christened Kingdom of Knothole.

Sonic Underground

Like the Robotnik of SatAM, SU's Dr. Robotnik has already taken over most of Mobius. Like his counterpart, this Robotnik's greatest nemesis is Sonic the Hedgehog. However, he must also contend with Sonic's siblings, Sonia and Manic. Other than that, SU's Robotnik has a history much like that of SatAM's, including deposing the rightful ruler (SatAM's King Acorn, SU's Queen Aleena Hedgehog).

Modern day

Following Sonic Adventure, Eggman's role has gained an increasing focus on comic relief. Additionally, Eggman has often been betrayed by his own allies and has sometimes even aided Sonic once his plans have spiraled out of control. In this way, Eggman is rarely the final boss of the Sonic games.

• In Sonic Adventure (later released as Sonic Adventure DX Director's Cut), his ally throughout the game, Chaos, turns on him and destroys the Egg Carrier shortly before the final battle, in which Sonic defeats Chaos as Eggman flees.
• In Sonic Adventure 2 (later released as Sonic Adventure 2: Battle), Eggman aids Sonic in oder to save himself and the Earth from destruction by the Biolizard, the creation of his grandfather.
• In Sonic Heroes, he is captured by his own creation, Metal Sonic, who then disguises himself as Eggman in order to complete his own evil plan. Eggman offers little aid, but encourages the heroes to defeat Metal Sonic.
• In Sonic Battle, Eggman intends to use the robot Emerl for his own purposes, but Emerl joins Sonic instead. Eventually, however, Emerl becomes evil and is the final boss.
• In Sonic Advance 3, Eggman builds the robot Gemel out of Emerl's remains, but Gemel turns on Eggman, who teams up with Super Sonic to defeat Gemel.
• In the upcoming Shadow the Hedgehog, Eggman is a featured character but is either an ally or an enemy based upon the player's choice.

Sega has admitted to this trend, and has explianed that Eggman has actually become less evil and is now somewhat fond of Sonic, treating him as a rival rather than an enemy. This idea has often been expressed in Sonic X also.

Voice actors

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Dr. Eggman as seen on Sonic X.

Eggman has been the primary antagonist in all of Sonic's incarnations, and throughout all of them, a number of voice actors have played him:

• Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog - Long John Baldry (died 7/21/05)
• Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) - Jim Cummings
• Sonic Underground (US, France) - Gary Chalk
• Sonic the Hedgehog (Anime, Japan) - Edwin Neal
• Video Game series (Sonic Adventure onward) - Chikao Otsuka (Japan), Deem Bristow (US; died 1/15/05 [1]) Mike Pollock (US; 2005 onwards)
• Sonic X - Chikao Otsuka (Japan), Mike Pollock (US)

See also

• List of Dr. Eggman's Vehicles
• E-Series
• SWATbot
• Gerald Robotnik