Doctor Eggman
Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is a character created by the Japanese game designer Naoto Ohshima and the main antagonist of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. Eggman is a mad scientist who seeks to steal the mystical Chaos Emeralds, destroy his archenemy Sonic the Hedgehog, and conquer the world. Eggman and his "Badnik" brand of military robots serve as bosses and enemies in the Sonic platform games. His distinctive characteristics include his red-black-yellow clothing, baldness, pince-nez sunglasses, and large mustache.
Eggman made a cameo appearance in the 1991 TeraDrive game Puzzle Construction before his full debut in the Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog later that year. Ohshima designed Eggman as one of several pitches for a mascot character to compete with Nintendo's Mario. Although Sonic was selected, Sonic Team thought the Eggman design was excellent and retooled him as the antagonist. Sega of America renamed him Ivo Robotnik during Sonic Western localization; later games reconciled the different names by establishing "Robotnik" as his real name and "Eggman" as a derisive nickname that the character embraced.
Eggman has appeared in almost every Sonic game, sometimes as a player character. Sonic games characterize him as a maniacal roboticist who seeks to create his own empire. Despite his obsession with defeating Sonic, he secretly respects him, and the two are sometimes forced into alliances to overcome greater threats. Outside the Sonic platform games, Eggman starred in the puzzle game Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine. Chikao Ohtsuka and Kotaro Nakamura have voiced Eggman in Japan, while Mike Pollock has provided his English voice since 2003.
Eggman is one of the most famous video game characters and an established pop culture icon. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most iconic video game villains. His likeness has been featured in Sonic merchandise, and he has been adapted in comics, animated series, and the live-action Sonic film franchise produced by Paramount Pictures, in which he is portrayed by Jim Carrey.
Conception and creation
In 1990, Sega president Hayao Nakayama sought a flagship series to compete with Nintendo's Mario franchise, along with a character to serve as a company mascot. Several character designs were submitted as part of a contest. Among the designs was a human character, who is seen wearing pajamas and resembled U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, drawn by Naoto Ohshima.As development of the Sega Genesis game Sonic the Hedgehog progressed, however, programmer Yuji Naka and the rest of the Sonic Team thought the rejected design was excellent and deserved inclusion in the game. Since the character could not be the protagonist, the team retooled him into the game's main antagonist. In developing Eggman, the Sonic Team characterized him as Sonic's opposite. Eggman was designed to represent themes of "machinery" and "development" to play on the then-growing debate between developers and environmentalists and as a symbol for humanity, which views nature as "dirty" and roads and buildings as "clean". The character was also designed to be easy for children to draw.
Naming
The character was always named Doctor Eggman in Japan, but Dean Sitton of Sega of America changed his name to Doctor Ivo Robotnik when localizing Sonic the Hedgehog. In a 2016 interview with Game Informer, Takashi Iizuka revealed that Sega of America did this without consulting the development team:The English instruction manual for his debut game Sonic the Hedgehog described the character's full name as "Doctor Ivo Robotnik", while the Japanese version's instruction manual for the same game called him "Doctor Eggman". It was not until 1999's Sonic Adventure that the character was called both "Eggman" and "Robotnik" in the English version, with the following English releases primarily referring to him as "Eggman". Yuji Naka has explained that "Robotnik" is the character's true last name, while "Eggman" is a nickname alluding to his shape. Since then, multiple English-language sources have acknowledged Ivo Robotnik as his true name and Eggman as his nickname, with Sonic Frontiers establishing his acceptance of the name "Eggman" as a way to defy Sonic's mockery of him. He also makes acceptance of the name "Eggman" in Sonic Generations when Classic Tails refers to Classic Eggman as "Dr. Robotnik", to which Eggman responds "Nobody calls me that anymore". The name "Robotnik" is occasionally acknowledged for the character's family and on rare occasions for the character himself, however, the name "Eggman" is predominantly used by SEGA in all of forms of media for the character.
While no Japanese-language video game has directly referred to the character as Robotnik, less direct usages of the name have occurred, namely a brief appearance of the text "Robotnik Empire" in the background of a cutscene in Sonic Adventure 2 and the use of "" as the name of his company in Sonic Riders. Eggman's true name was given as "Robotnik". In 2022, the official web series TailsTube, in both English and Japanese audio, confirmed Eggman's true name is "Doctor Ivo Robotnik". In Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble, the level titled "Robotnik Winter Zone" retains its name across all regions, including Japan.
The name "Robotnik" has appeared in official Japanese media as the surname of two related characters, both featured in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic X: Eggman's cousin, Maria Robotnik and their grandfather, Gerald Robotnik.
Voice actors and portrayers
Several voice actors have portrayed Eggman in his game appearances. His first voice actor was Masaharu Satō, who portrayed him in a handful of arcade games such as SegaSonic the Hedgehog. In the Japanese game releases from 1998 to 2015, Eggman was voiced by Chikao Ōtsuka. Kotaro Nakamura assumed the role following Ōtsuka's death in January 2015, beginning with Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.In animation, he was voiced by Long John Baldry in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Jim Cummings in Sonic the Hedgehog, Edwin Neal in Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Garry Chalk in Sonic Underground, and Brian Drummond in Sonic Prime. Mitsuaki Kanuka voiced the character in the final season of Sonic Prime due to Nakamura's temporary break related to his poor health.
Deem Bristow was the first English-language actor to portray Eggman in a video game, debuting in Sonic Adventure for the Sega Dreamcast. He went on to voice him in further games in the series, with his last performance being in Sonic Advance 3 before his death in early 2005. Mike Pollock, who first voiced Eggman in the English dub of Sonic X, succeeded Bristow beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog and Sonic Rush in 2005. While it was announced that the rest of the cast would be replaced from Sonic Free Riders onward in 2010, Pollock retained his role, making him the longest-serving voice actor to portray the character in any language.
Jim Carrey was the first to portray Dr. Eggman in a live-action film, beginning with Sonic the Hedgehog in 2020. He reprised the role in the 2022 and 2024 sequels.
Characteristics
Eggman's original design portrayed the character as a bald, rotund human wearing pince-nez sunglasses, a red flight suit with a yellow collar, a bushy mustache, and black pants with two white buttons. This rotund design was influenced by Ohshima's hope that he would be easy for children to draw. Eggman was also based on people Ohshima considered "nerdy, socially awkward, a tinker-type with glasses, a mustache, and a fat belly." Until 1994, Sega of America depicted Eggman in promotional material and game artwork as gloveless and with black, iris-less eyes; whether or not this was a misinterpretation of the game's sprite-work or an intentional design choice to make him more menacing is unknown. Sonic Team's Yuji Uekawa redesigned Eggman and other series characters for Sonic Adventure in 1998. Eggman's updated design added goggles to his head and gave him a more detailed red lab coat. For the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, Eggman was further redesigned, being made slimmer and more realistic to better suit the game's updated environment.Eggman is described as a certifiable genius with an IQ of 300. His fondness for electrical and mechanical machines has also made him a renowned authority on robotics. Ultimately, his goal is to conquer the world and create his ultimate "utopia", the Eggman Empire. He selfishly never gives up on this matter and does not care for others' opinions, and considers those who would interrupt his plans a prime threat. His abominable laughter and maniacal declarations contrast with his self-professed softer side, describing himself as a romanticist, feminist, and gentleman. Although Sonic has always ruined his evil plans, Eggman begrudgingly holds a secret respect for his determination. Additionally, while he is normally enemies with Sonic and his friends, Eggman has worked alongside them to combat greater threats, such as the Space Colony ARK crashing into the Earth in Sonic Adventure 2, or against rival villains, such as the Marauders in Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, though after these threats have been neutralized, Eggman returns to being an enemy of Sonic.