Doctor Ivo Eggman Robotnik is the main antagonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise – he’s
the only character to have existed as long as the titular protagonist, and has appeared
in almost every single Sonic video game since his debut in the very first Sega Genesis title.
In both the narrative of the Sonic universe and in the development that went into it,
there’s a lot some fans may not know about the villain, and some facts that are down
right horrifying and absurd.
So today, we’re taking a closer look at those with our list of the top 10 scary Eggman
facts.
Some of these are unsettling, some are scary, while others will just make you very uncomfortable
with the round mustachioed villain.
So with that in mind, let’s get to it!
10 He Created the Zones There’s a lot to be learned about Robotnik
(and Sonic for that matter) from the original Sonic the Hedgehog bible.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, in media, a bible is the document that contains
all of the information about your story world, your characters, and essentially everything
you need to know about the show or game or what have you from a development and production
standpoint.
It’s like your guide, in a way.
Anywho, there’s a lot of details from the initial bible that shines a lot of light on
Robotnik, including the fact that he’s the one responsible for creating the zones in
the Sonic games.
After he became evil – more on that later – Robotnik not only turned all of Sonic’s
friends into evil robots (badniks), but as an extra precaution, he sent the Chaos Emeralds
into orbit, and cloaked them in sex separate Warps of Confusion – also known as secret
zones according to the bible – under the impression that Sonic wouldn’t be able to
gain access to them that way.
9 The Beatles Connection Eggman’s name derives from a Beatles reference
– the song I Am the Walrus.
This worked in two ways – for starters, the fact that Eggman represents a more negative
aspect of humanity, and the second being an obvious visual reference – I am the Eggman
is a line in the song, and Eggman himself actually looks like a walrus, when you take
a look at his mustache and the collar on his shirt from his original design.
He’s basically one giant Beatles reference, really.
8 His Two Names Speaking of Eggman’s name, let’s take
a look at the fact that he has two names – Doctor Eggman and Doctor Ivo Robotnik.
Eggman was the name that Sonic Team gave the antagonist originally, and many see as his
true name, despite robotnik being adopted as his name in later Sonic titles.
(That happened because Sega wanted to unify his name into one moving forward, starting
with first sonic Adventure game).
The divide initially happened when Sonic the Hedgehog, the first title, was localized by
Sega of America, who changed the character’s name without consulting Sonic Team in Japan.
According to Takashi Iizuka, I quote, “they just kind of went off and did it.
It became super popular and everyone in the West kind of learned about the character as
Robotnik.
That went on through the classic series in the Genesis Mega Drive era, but as far as
the developers are concerned….
We really didn’t want to have anyone in the universe with two names.
To us, he’s Eggman, but in the rest of the world, he’s called Robotnik.”
Guess that makes sense why they amalgamated the two names into Doctor Ivo Eggman Robotnik,
with Eggman being more of a nickname rather than one being on the character’s fictional
birth certificate, so to speak.
7 Exceeding Abilities Here’s another tidbit from that sonic bible
– Robotnik was once one of the most celebrated scientists in all of Mobius.
According to the document, I quote, “Robotnik holds ever advanced scientific credential
possible from all eleven universities on Mobius, as well as the Mobius Prize in Physics and
Biotechnology.
Now evil, he plans to further augment his mental capabilities by embedding a ceramic
neural network in his brain to carry out physics calculations in his sleep.”
Talk about commitment to his evil agenda.
6 His Diet Yet another tidbit from the bible – here’s
a little insight on the kinds of things Robotnik likes to mow down on.
As you may of guessed, he’s really, really into eggs.
I quote, “Robotnik has always adored, and still adores eggs – hard boiled, scrambled,
over easy, poached, or in an omelette.
Now, he especially enjoys them raw, with a dash of tabasco.
He eats with his hands, very slowly.
It is not a pretty sight.”
YOU’RE WELCOME – HOPE THAT’S BURNT INTO YOUR MIND EVERY TIME YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES.
Welcome to my personal hell.
5 Theodore Roosevelt When Eggman was initially created, his design
was VERY different than the Eggman we know today.
This is what he looked like – he wore pajamas, had a much calmer and happier disposition,
and looked a whole hell of a lot like the 26th president of the United States, Theodore
Roosevelt.
His design was altered in order to better suit the idea that he needed to be the opposite
of Sonic, to represent machinery and development versus Sonic’s representation of nature
and the natural world.
Eggman’s colours would be opposite of Sonic’s colours as well.
That, and he was designed to be simple so that children could draw him easily.
conception 4 Rotten Egg
Despite having his name change to Robotnik, Eggman’s association with eggs didn’t
end there.
In the Sonic the Hedgehog Bible, Eggman’s creation is blamed on none other than a rotten
egg.
Based on this, the scientist became his mad scientist self when his molecules got mixed
up with a rotten egg’s when a wave of radiation his lab.
In addition to this, early Sonic comics in the UK used to have the character constantly
speaking in egg-inspired puns, and, in the games, there’s even more reference.
In the Wing Fortress Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Eggman has an EGG logo that never appears
again, and his space station is named the Death Egg (which is an obvious reference to
Star Wars).
3 His Smell One of the other gems revealed in the Sonic
the Hedgehog bible is how Robotnik smells.
I sh*t you not.
This is a direct quote about the character and his physical characteristics found in
the bible: “once a trim, muscular hunk of a man, Robotnik is now round, with a decidedly
egg-shaped physique and a deceptively jolly face.
In fact, he resembles a Humpty-Dumpty gone mad, with spindly arms and legs stuck onto
an egg-shaped torso.
He is bespectacled, bald and nearly bulging out of his lab coat.
Plus, he smells like a rotten egg.”
There you have it friends.
The true Robotnik fact that you always wanted to know.
One can only wonder if this original interpretation of Robotnik is what has inspired the character
changes in the Sonic the Hedgehog feature film set to be released in 2020 – Jim Carrey
begins as a slim character, but we got a glimpse of him in his full Robotnik glory at the end
of the highly criticized initial trailer.
2 The Hero Perhaps one of the most frightening fact about
Doctor Robotnik is that he was almost the protagonist of the Sonic games.
Or rather, the franchise that would eventually become the Sonic franchise.
Prior to 1990, Sega had a mascot by the name of Alex Kidd, and the company in April of
that year decided it was time for a revamp, commissioning its research and development
department to create a new character to replace the stale mascot.
This was all in response to Nintendo’s boom of success with Mario.
An internal competition ensured.
Two characters created were in the running for this new mascot – one, being Sonic,
and the second being the egg inspired Robotnik.
While Sonic beat out Eggman, the team, which would later become known as Sonic Team, decided
to retain the design, making him into a villain for Sonic instead.
1 His True Origin We mentioned a little earlier than Robotnik
came to be thanks to his molecules getting mixed up with a rotten egg’s.
But there’s more to his initial history than that – according to the Sonic bible,
the true history of Robotnik differs from what we take as public knowledge of the character.
Prior to his accident, Robotnik was known as Doctor Ovi Kintobar, I quote, “a kind
man of scient with a svelte body and a finely-honed mind.”
For a total of 15 years, the doctor worked in an underground lab conducting experiments
that worked towards the betterment of life on Mobius.
Anywho, he created an invention which is described in the bible as ‘ultra-radical’ – the
Amazing Transforming Machine.
He learns that the chaos emeralds are unstable, and begins searching for a 7th emerald, the
grey emerald, that will contain the evil in the emeralds and neutralize it.
Then he planned on burying the emeralds deep within the froze core of Mobius where they
would be harmless forever.
Doctor Kintobar befriends Sonic, and boosts the blue blur’s speed for him on a supersonic
treadmill, giving him his iconic frictionless sneakers, and lets him watch all of his experiments.
But then, a wave of radiation hits the lab, which causes the Amazing Transforming Machine
to zap him and mixes his molecules with that rotten egg.
And, in the process, the evil inside the chaos emeralds get mixed up with his molecules,
turning him into his mad scientist self.