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When did Dr. Robotnik turn into Dr. Eggman?


CackNBallz

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Just a little background story:

 

I have been a Nintendo fanboy ever since I was a kid. That is until the last year or so when the dark side tempted me with trophies.

 

I bought the Sonic 1 and 2 games for the Wii's virtual console but I lost interest with them because I didn't devote enough effort into beating the game and I was getting disenchanted with the Wii console and Nintendo in general.

 

When I was a kid, I remember my Genesis-owning friends talking about Sonic this and Robotnik that. My question is when did Dr. Robotnik turn into getting called Dr. Eggman?? I like "Robotnik" a lot better than "Eggman."

 

I have beaten Sonic the Hedgehog 4 PSN version and that was a lot of fun and pretty easy since I could pick and choose which zone and act I wanted to play instead of playing the whole game over again. The game is very fun and with trophies pushing to keep playing I am getting better at the game and have realized that I had missed a lot in my childhood! :think:

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Okay so it gets a bit tricky but heres the basic explanation.

 

In Japan he was always called Eggman, it's been that way ever since the start. (you can see this by how some of the zones still say "Eggman" in them.

 

In the US and Europe he was called Robotnik.

 

But... the US side of Sega was calling him Robotnik long before Japan started calling him Eggman.

 

It remained this way up until Sonic Adventure when the following dialogue occurs.

 

Sonic: Hey look! It's a giant talking egg

 

Robotnik: Silence! I am Doctor Robotnik!

 

Sonic: Whatever you say Eggman!

 

Whilst Robotnik calls himself Robotnik, everyone else calls him Eggman, call it a nick-name or insult.

 

However, in the game, theres still reference that his name is actual Eggman, (the password for the Egg Carriers chao gardens). Don't forget, the Japanese have been calling him Eggman since the start.

 

With me so far?

 

Well... after Sonic adventure, any trace of Robotnik was removed from the games, he's now known as Eggman and even calls himself Eggman.

 

However... he is the same guy.

 

The character design has changed, but the Robotnik is Eggman, and modern day Eggman is Robotnik.

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His real name is Ivo Robotnik. He looks like an Egg since the first day he was created. Since Sonic the Hedgehog his creations were always called Egg Something (Egg Walker, Egg Beetle, Death Egg, Egg Carrier) so... he looks like an Egg and everything he makes called an Egg. In Sonic Adventure, Sonic started to call him Eggman because of that, and he used to get mad when he is called like that and he replays 'I'm Dr Robotnik'. After Sonic Adventure he became The Eggman :D so to answer you question: Robotnik became Eggman in Sonic Adventure.

 

Eggman is my 2nd Favorite Character (BigBoss 1st) and I know almost everything about him.

Edited by duck360
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You said he stopped calling himself Robotknik after Sonic Adventure (well number 2 in particular, since the name Robotnik had more importance in this)....but didnt he called himself Robotnik too in *shake in fear of all the repressed memories* Sonic the Hedgehog '06??? They were trying "so much" to be serious, I have hard time remembering him calling himself Eggman (well I admit I try my best forgetting everything about this game, but still...)

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But let's not forget: in a comic book that came with the first Sonic 1, it was explained that, in first, Dr. Robotnik was a good doctor called "Ovi Kintobor", with a hedgehog as a puppie.

 

Then, something went very bad in his experiments, and then he was turned into the mastermind of evil, Dr. Robotnik, and started creating robots from the animals he captured. But, what makes things worse, also makes things better. Sonic, the lightspeeding hedgehog was also created, and swore to stop the evil schemes of Robotnik.

 

As far as I can remember, of course.

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You said he stopped calling himself Robotknik after Sonic Adventure (well number 2 in particular, since the name Robotnik had more importance in this)....but didnt he called himself Robotnik too in *shake in fear of all the repressed memories* Sonic the Hedgehog '06??? They were trying "so much" to be serious, I have hard time remembering him calling himself Eggman (well I admit I try my best forgetting everything about this game, but still...)

 

I can't honestly remember every single line in Sonic history.

 

I don't remember Robotnik being mentioned in Sonic 06, but if it was mentioned I doubt very much it was intentional, given how rushed that game was, especially when it came to story and dialogue (in one case, theres a line of dialogue and you can actually hear someone walk into the sound studio and say something like "One more time please" and the voice actor then says the line again!)

 

But the concensus seems to be, that at some point during Sonic Adventure 1, Western Robotnik officially had the name change to Eggman, whilst it started as a mocking nickname (well for the western market) he quickly takes it as his own name.

 

I think though, that the only time you'll hear the name Robotnik now is when Sega produce the classic merchandise that's been popular lately, and then it'll only be for the western market. There is a small chance that "Robotnik" might appear in the new game "Sonic Generations" but if he'll be called "Robotnik" that remains to be seen.

 

 

Side Note: Robotnik was a word that was first used during the publication of a Russian book named "Robotnik" literally translated it means worker... however... the significance of this book... it was about mechanicalising the modern workforce so they would be more efficient at their jobs... or... turning people into robots in order to make them work harder for longer.

 

And people think that Sega are lazy when making up names.

 

Dr. Robotnik was a good doctor called "Ovi Kintobor", with a hedgehog as a puppie.

 

Then, something went very bad in his experiments, and then he was turned into the mastermind of evil, Dr. Robotnik, and started creating robots from the animals he captured. But, what makes things worse, also makes things better. Sonic, the lightspeeding hedgehog was also created, and swore to stop the evil schemes of Robotnik

 

lol yeah, now it gets even more complicated... when dealing with the cartoons and Archie comics... that version of Robotnik is completely wrong.

 

However, the Fleetway comic book is slightly more accurate... but not for the reasons people think.

 

Shortly AFTER Sonic 1 came out (remember, Eggman is being used in Japan and robotnik is being used in the west) But BEFORE fleetways Sonic the comic came out and any other media. Sega of America comissioned a comic which is the good old Kintobor origin story... then they gave the comic to fleetway and told them to base their comic off that, which is why issue 1 is almost a word for word, picture for picture copy of it...

 

However... Japan also had it's version of an origins comic, and it came out at almost the same time as the America publication...

 

There lies the problem...

 

"Which is official? As both are official.

 

But whats quite awesome is that this Japanese comic has the following line

 

Badnik: **** Off Sonic!

 

Sonic: *Spin attacks the badnik* **** OFF YOURSELF!

 

Only... their version isn't censored... and yes it's official.

Edited by King_Ubu
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Well... after Sonic adventure, any trace of Robotnik was removed from the games, he's now known as Eggman and even calls himself Eggman.

 

However... he is the same guy.

 

The character design has changed, but the Robotnik is Eggman, and modern day Eggman is Robotnik.

 

Kind of philosophic I think:think:

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But let's not forget: in a comic book that came with the first Sonic 1, it was explained that, in first, Dr. Robotnik was a good doctor called "Ovi Kintobor", with a hedgehog as a puppie.

 

Then, something went very bad in his experiments, and then he was turned into the mastermind of evil, Dr. Robotnik, and started creating robots from the animals he captured. But, what makes things worse, also makes things better. Sonic, the lightspeeding hedgehog was also created, and swore to stop the evil schemes of Robotnik.

 

As far as I can remember, of course.

I can remember this quite clearly;

 

Ovi Kintobor met a BROWN hedgehog called Sonic. Sonic was fast, very fast, and Kintobor invented Super Sneakers that made him even faster. The result was that Sonic broke the sound barrier, blew up the testing machine, and magically turned into the cool-blue character we now know.

 

In an unrelated incident, Sonic and Kintobor decided to have lunch, finding only a single rotten egg in the fridge. Kintobor carried the egg to his lab, where he tripped on a cable and crashed into a computer terminal. Once again, weird explosions took place, and Ivo Robotnik was born.

 

I loved Sonic The Comic. I miss it so much!

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  • 1 month later...

As other people said, I'm pretty sure the whole Dr. Robotnik/Dr. Eggman thing is just a matter of what he was called in the US and in Japan. Kinda like how Princess Toadstool later became Princess Peach once Super Mario 64 came out.

 

Some other interesting little-known facts:

 

- Dr. Robotnik's original character design was based off of Theodore Roosevelt combined with an egg shape.

 

http://images.cheezburger.com/completestore/2010/2/5/129098592024245302.jpg

 

- The purple "water" in Sonic 2's Chemical Plant Zone is known as "Mega Mack." In the Fleetway Editions comics, it was a chemical designed by Robotnik and another scientist named Megatox (who later became consumed by it and turned into a monster) to poison Sonic. It also appears in the Scrap Brain Zone - Act 2 stage in Sonic 1, and in some of the "bad future" stages in Sonic CD.

 

Personally, I wasn't aware of the Fleetway comics... I always thought "Sonic comics" referred to the Archie ones that I grew up with. It's always difficult trying to figure out what's considered canon and what isn't... @_@

Edited by Tetsaru
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Actually he's not.

 

There has been no official confirmation or anything to suggest he is based on Theodore Roosevelt. Whilst there is a resemblence, it's just that, a resemblance. The wikipedia page for Sonic characters tends to be completely made up in most cases, you're much better off looking at Sonic Retro for Sonic based sources.

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  • 6 years later...

What a fascinating thread! I was stumbling along the Sonic 2 guide for some Chemical speed run advice and found this!

 

Personally speaking, I grew up quite removed from the disputes of Sega America and Sega Japan and their joint marketing of Sonic, it was till much later on in life was this whole thing revealed to me...

 

So growing up, I thought that the Sonic the Hedgehog show on early Saturday mornings was the official story... then the Archie comics starting to pop up everywhere, and the character designs resembled the show...

 

Back then, I had no idea the 'official' timeline would become such an issue, though should have suspected considering the Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive Sonic games always had different stories.

 

By the time I played Sonic Adventure, I was so confused about the world that Sonic occupied that I lost interest in those games until Sonic the Hedgehog 4 came out.

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