Dr Eggman
From Sonic Earth
Doctor Ivo Robotnik (ロボトニック, Dokutā Robotonikku?), better known by his alias, Doctor Eggman (ドクター・エッグマン, Dokutā Egguman?) (see naming variations), is a video game character and main antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series. He is a human scientist with an IQ of 300 and is comically obese. He stands 185 cm (6 feet) tall and weighs in at 128 kg (282 lb). His character designer is Naoto Ōshima, and he has gone through several appearance changes.
Contents |
[edit] Concept and inspiration
Sega requested a game capable of selling over one million copies and a character to replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot. Several character designs were submitted by its AM8 research & development department, including an armadillo (who was later developed into Mighty the Armadillo), a dog, a spiky hedgehog (which would later become Sonic the Hedgehog), and a rabbit (intended to use its extendible ears to collect objects; these aspects were later incorporated into Ristar). Eggman was also one of the possible mascots, but lost to Sonic the Hedgehog.
Ivo, the character's first name, is reverse of Ovi, a prefix based on the Latin word for "eggs". Robotnik, the character's surname, is the generic Polish word for a worker. As such, it was used as a title by a number of leftist magazines throughout 19th and 20th centuries.
[edit] Actor portrayal
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. In the video games and Sonic X, Eggman's voice was provided by Chikao Ōtsuka; he was dubbed over in the English versions of the games by Deem Bristow from 1999 to 2004. 4Kids employee Mike Pollock took over Bristow's role after his death in 2005; the first game to star Pollock was the spin-off game Shadow the Hedgehog, in which all of the regular voice actors were replaced with 4Kids employees. The only other person to portray Eggman in a Japanese production is Junpei Takiguchi, who provided Eggman's voice for the direct-to-video film. This incarnation is voiced by Edwin Neal in the English dub.
Three different actors voiced Doctor Eggman in his American television incarnations (in which he is called Robotnik). In The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Robotnik is voiced by British blues singer Long John Baldry, who, coincidentially, died on the same year as Bristow. Robotnik is voiced by Jim Cummings in the Saturday morning Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon, and by Gary Chalk (who also voiced Grounder in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) in Sonic Underground. Eggman is dubbed over by Pollock in the English dub of Sonic X.
[edit] Naming variations
Due to a split storyline between the Japanese and American/European Sonic games, the character of Robotnik/Eggman has been known by several names in the various media and adaptations of the Sonic franchise.
In Japan, the character has always been known as "Doctor Eggman" since his introduction in the first Sonic the Hedgehog game. However, in early American and European game versions and other media he is known as "Doctor Ivo Robotnik." Although, despite this, both names slipped occasionally in the different regions.
In Sonic the Comic comics, the character was originally "Ovi Kintobor". But an explosive accident involving a rotten egg reversed his kindly personality, and also the letters of his name, so he became "Ivo Robotnik." The Sonic the Hedgehog tv show further expanded on the name variation by proclaiming the character's first name is "Julian," while the Sonic the Hedgehog comics proclaimed the character's full name is "Julian Kintobor of the House of Ivo," and his relatives have the family name "Kintobor."
Beginning with Sonic Adventure, Sega began a process of joining the American and European game stories to the Japanese version, including introducing the concept of calling the character "Doctor Eggman" in the American and European versions. Initially, both names were used in the English language version, as he referred to himself as "Robotnik" while others called him "Eggman." In the sequel, Sonic Adventure 2, although he refers himself as "Dr. Eggman", he does have the words "Robotnik Empire" mixed with "Eggman Empire" in one scene's background, while his grandfather and cousin have the family name "Robotnik." Although in later games, and in the English dub of Sonic X, the name Robotnik was dropped almost entirely but still pops up on occasion, such as most of the airboards in the game Sonic Riders credited as being built by "Robotnik Corp." And it is also featured on some promotional material and in the French Sonic X dub, and in the character's eyecatch profile card from the Japanese version of Sonic X his name is listed as: "ROBOTNIK (Dr. EGGMAN)". The latest usage of "Ivo Robotnik" was in a DVD-ROM flash comic that came with Sonic and the Secret Rings, referred to as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik.
[edit] Characteristics
[edit] Personality
Doctor Eggman is an evil genius whose goal is to take over the world and create his own nation, Eggmanland, ruled by the Eggman Empire. Originally this was by imprisoning the animal populations inside robots to serve his every whim, but now he has a tendency to build the biggest, strongest weapon he can think of, and threaten nations with it. His plans have always failed however, due to Sonic the Hedgehog. He has designed and built several large airships, such as the Egg Carrier and a space station called the Death Egg (a tribute to the Death Star). He has also designed and built countless robots, a number of which resemble either himself or his longtime rival, Sonic (and sometimes, Sonic's friends).
Despite his intelligence, Eggman is terribly immature, prone to emotional fits and breaking things when he loses. The Sonic Heroes instruction manual states that he is "A romanticist, a feminist, and a self-professed gentleman. Sadly, his charms are difficult to spot through the abominable laughter that accompanies his maniacal declarations of world domination". He also seems to be very egotistical; a vast number of his weapons and robots are built in his likeness, and his production logo is a crude depiction of his own face. Although Eggman generally tries to rule the world, he is quite willing to help save it from threats greater than himself, such as Black Doom or Solaris. However, Eggman is still a dangerous foe to both Sonic and his friends. It seems that he likes Chao, as he wants the Chaotix to save several of them in Sonic Heroes (though this could be because he wanted Metal Sonic to be unable to copy Chaos' data within them), and as he has a Chao Garden of his own in his Cryptic Castle base in Shadow the Hedgehog. In Sonic Adventure, he also has a teleport panel that leads to another Chao Garden on the Egg Carrier.
[edit] Appearance
In the 16-bit era, Eggman was very obese, but still seemed very athletic. This is seen in many of the games, as there is almost always a point where Sonic chases him, and Eggman seems to stay ahead just long enough to get to his next weapon or escape vehicle. He always wore a red shirt with black pants with two white buttons on his front, white gloves, and an unusually small yellow cape. He also wears dark blue pince nez glasses which hide his eyes. In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, Eggman's gray eyes can be seen behind his glasses for the first time. Although animated and comic versions have showcased him without goggles with red eyes, the video game counterpart's eyes have never been seen with the exception of Sonic Advance where his eyes are comically seen briefly after being struck. Despite his spherical body, he has incongruously thin legs. One of his most noticeable features is his large, fancy, multi-pointed mustache.
Starting with Sonic Adventure, Eggman became somewhat taller, and became more egg-shaped compared to the balloon shape he had before. His attire took on a different appearance as well, while still retaining a red-yellow-black theme. A pair of goggles can also be seen on his head. After Eggman's appearance in the new Sonic the Hedgehog game, his look has changed again (he bears a startling resemblance to Gerald Robotnik, his grandfather). In effect, he is much less obese (however, his stomach is still visible underneath his clothing), and looks more like an actual human would, but still wears his post-Adventure outfit with an additional "turtle-neck" collar, without the goggles atop his head that he has worn since Sonic Adventure, and still sports his massive trademark mustache. Also, the four golden slabs on his coat are now strange "bottle cap"-like objects. His eyes can bearly be seen under his glasses. Eggman returned to his Sonic Adventure appearance in Sonic Rivals and Sonic and the Secret Rings, including Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games.
[edit] Creations
The Eggmobile (known as the "Egg-O-Matic" in comics and cartoons) is a small hovering craft with a very distinct egg-like shape, a small circular lamp on the front, and can be fitted with a seemingly endless amount of gadgetry. It can notably be converted into a more mech-like walker configuration, which Eggman used almost constantly in Sonic Adventure 2.
Eggman's army consists fully of massproduced robotic drones whose appearance and armaments vary greatly from type to type. The helpless animals that inhabit the islands of Sonic's world are usually the first to fall victim to Eggman's schemes, as he will gather them in large droves to be transformed into his loyal worker drones. "Badniks" was a term used to describe these robot henchmen in early North American and European releases of the games, whereas they were just known as "Eggman's robots" in Japan and in the West since "Sonic Adventure."
The E-Series are a special part of Eggman's forces that have played a larger role in the games than the rest of the robots. The most notable ones are E-102 Gamma, who was playable in Sonic Adventure and whose design is reused often by Sonic Team, and E-123 Omega who first appeared as a playable character in Sonic Heroes, and has appeared several times since.
In Sonic Heroes, Eggman apparently scrapped the animal-powered "Badnik" designs and, in their place, started developing orange Eggman-resembling grunts simply called Egg Pawns. These had no animals inside and had rather poor intelligence. Eggman continued to use the Egg Pawn model in most subsequent games until the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, in which Eggman started using more serious, metal-colored humanoid robots armed with missiles and machine guns.
In several cartoon and comic iterations, Robotnik employs humanoid robot soldiers called SWATbots. They are typically armed with some sort of laser weapons, and will pursue Robotnik's enemies relentlessly, especially Sonic.
Eggman, aside from the huge mechas and robots he builds in his likeness, also engineers robot Sonic knock-offs to pit against his rival. Silver Sonic (known as Mecha Sonic in the Japanese manual) was his first attempt, and was featured as the penultimate boss of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (8-bit). Another robot appeared in Genesis Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as the second-to-final boss. In Sonic and Knuckles a much sleeker and more aggressive robot appeared, which could also use super transformation.
Eggman's most successful and persistent Sonic copy to date is Metal Sonic. He made his first appearance in Sonic CD to capture Amy Rose and race Sonic on the Stardust Speedway. Unlike the previous attempts, Metal Sonic was built for speed with a sleek form. Metal Sonic, after his first defeat at the hands of Sonic, went on to harass the Chaotix, where he was able to turn into an enormous, red version of himself via the Chaos Rings and wreak havoc for a while, until he was defeated once again. Afterwards, he was 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 Sonic's, Tails', Knuckles', Shadow's, and Chaos' DNA and finally put an end to his rivalry with Sonic, once and for all. Eggman has also built robot copies of other characters, such as Metal Knuckles, the Tails Doll, and the Shadow Androids. He has even created robots based on himself, called Eggrobos.
In Sonic Rush Adventure, Captain Whisker, Johnny, and all the other pirate robots were Eggman's creations, as he and Eggman Nega were plotting to use them to uncover the power of the stars under Southern Island.
[edit] Voice actors
- Deem Bristow (1999-2004; deceased)
- Mike Pollock (2005-present)
- Long John Baldry (AoStH; deceased)
- Jim Cummings (SATAM)
- Gary Chalk ( Undergrond)
- Mike Pollock (Sonic X)
- Edwin Neal (OVA)
