I personally loved how they set up a reason as to why sonic would call Jim's robotnik eggman, establishing the weird names with "donut Lord" and "pretzel lady" earlier on in the movie
What's better is Carey's Robotnik just rolls with it. Most of his stuff is egg shaped anyway, so he just accepts the nickname, I don't think we ever see him rebuke it, get mad at Sonic, or angrily correct him once (at least not that I remember). If he returns for the third movie, think he will fully embrace the name like western game Eggman has?
I love both names, they both suit him in different ways. Robotnik is a name that was quite intimidating and showed his love for robots whilst Eggman is a name that shows his goofy side. Both of these characteristics are very true to his character which makes me think that's why Sega has kept both of them around.
I love that they recontextualize the nickname "Eggman" in the films to be Sonic making an observation about all the sleek white machines he sends out and still ties it into Sonic's personality in that films being a bit more driven by childlike wonder and a lack of context for human society. Much like his adoptive dad Tom is "Donut Lord" ruling over a bunch of little donuts he dressed up and gives speeches to in his boredom, Robotnik is "Eggman" because he commands a bunch of weird metallic eggs.
Robotnik is and always has been better as a "real" name for such a fictional and cartoony person, and "Eggman" works really well as a nickname. Moreso for some versions than others.
that’s exactly what was confirmed in sonic frontiers egg memos Robotnick embraced sonics insult name of Eggman and it became one of the most feared names in the sonic universe
@@hihosh1 It is because US release take place in different timeline then Japanese one. In US Sonic was inhabitant of Planet Mobius and was facing Dr. Ivo Robotnik. In Japan action always take place on Earth and his name was Eggman. But later both names were fused together. Though technically with later games and animated series (there is also Archie comic) it was established that Japanese timeline take place in the past and American one in the future. American Eggman is also different character who is most likely the same as Eggman Nega. If we fallow Archie his name is Julian "Dr. Robotnik" Kintobar.
It's funny how Jim Carrey predicted he would be playing Eggman in the live action movie...back in the 90's... for real, he did the cover song "I'm the walrus" and the line with him saying he was the Eggman came true.
I've always preferred Eggman but I've grown to like the idea of Robotnik being a real named ignored for a more mocking nickname. It's a nice parallel to Tails where they have their physical characteristics mocked but they take it as new nicknames to empower themselves. I do like his old design's red eyes a lot.
I think it's great that they've kept both of the names. But at the same time, it's kinda wild how they've seemed to completely ignore Tails' real name. I always thought it's be cool if some of the characters referred to him as "Miles" but no one does it. Even in the second movie, he introduces himself as "Tails" which seemed like a missed opportunity to tie the two names together. You could've had a situation where Miles had yet to introduce himself, and Sonic just gives him the nickname in the spur of the moment, especially since the two were running from Jim Carrey's Eggman and Knuckles at the time. And then after they get away, Tails officially introduces himself as Miles Prower, but then tells Sonic it's fine to keep calling him "Tails." I just think it's weird how they've kept both Robotnik and Eggman throughout the years, but have seemingly all but wiped Miles Prower out from Tails' character.
Maybe it's due to Tails already accepting the nickname by the time of most of his media and it not being mocking? Although, I vaguely remember one of the Jaleel White cartoons establish him being mocked by other kids and Sonic saying it was a cool nickname.
@@frog4307 he’s right in the story department And evident by sega approving one line he wrote and canonized one of the idw characters That character is TANGLE But gameplay could be tweaked
As a younger fan who played the Adventure games first, I always called him Robotnik, and sometimes Eggman. It just feels natural to switch between the too. I bring it down to using Eggman when he’s being an idiot and using Robotnik when he’s actually makes a big brain move against Sonic.
Well in SA1, he introduced himself as Dr. Robotnik, then sonic immediately calls him eggman. As an American who also played the adventure games first, i like to think that his actual name is Robotnik, while eggman is just sonic making fun of him as he does.
The name "Eggman" fits his character because he looks just like an egg as a joke, but "Robotnik" makes a lot of sense due to his passion of crafting robots and machine, hence the word "robot" in his name.
Eggman makes just as much sense because you know... all of his robots have the word "Egg" in them ? Narcisism ? One of Eggman's core personality features that doesn't make sense if you rename him Robotnik for no reason ?
Honestly, it feels right to have both names. With Robotnik being his real name while Eggman is more along the lines of a supervillain name. Also I've always liked his game designs than his TV show ones, it always felt like the TV show designs were made to be really ugly for the sake of being ugly. Like they didn't think they could make his game design threatening in any way... which I feel is wrong. Lets not forget that in Sonic 2 in the air ship level right before going to the Death Egg that the ship sported the name Eggman everywhere.
I mean, in those shows, Robotnik was either a unfeeling person or a goofball you're supposed to laugh at. Look at that head! Look at his body! And I think that's the reaction Eggman's Classic design was going for. It's just that the Japanese don't think that a character that looked like that would belong in a kids game.
i always saw Ivo Robotnik being his real/birth name, and Eggman was a nick name that Sonic started calling him, so over time he just owned it as a kind of brand name. i like both names and i can see it being interchangeable
I always thought the whole "I am The Walrus" reference was obvious in his original design. It seems clear that they made it a point to draw his collar of his little yellow cape to look like walrus tusks under his mustache, like the shot of him at 2:15, for example.
Having him be canonically called both names, and interchangeably as it is these days, is one of the most brilliant decisions Sega ever made. It's a fantastic decision that keeps the old fans happy and feeling validated while acknowledging the newer fans who know him by the more common name of this day and age. Granted, I do tend to call him Eggman more these days, but as a kid of the 90s who saw the original cartoons and read the Archie comics, I still call him Robotnik from time to time. Old habits die hard as they say. By the way, where'd you get the music for SatAM and AOSTH? I've been looking forever for clean, accurate versions of those themes forever, and could never find them. I could find recreations, but not the actual versions of the music you used in your video.
Similar to how they combined Peach's western and Eastern names by making her western localisation "toadstool" her last name and her original name her fist name.
@@zbazza6978z There's recreations, but the actual clean versions of the music also known as "In The Halls of the Mountain King" that the show used for Robotnik's theme in AOSTH, the music for the various chase sequences, nor the music that's better known for Scratch and Grounder. Best I could find were rips that attempt to edit out the voices, albeit poorly. As for SatAM, I can tell you that Robotnik actually had a different theme for season 2. Heck, the majority of music used in season 1 was dropped for season 2, but from what I could find, you would think that Season 2 used the same exact music as Season 1. I know for a fact that this is nowhere near the case, but a simple search doesn't seem to turn up anything of that. I mean, yeah, maybe Season 1's Robotnik theme and other tunes are better than Season 2's, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to listen to the Season 2 soundtrack. It's like, for Power Rangers fans, trying to find the other variation cues of Bulk and Skull's theme beyond the minute long piece out there, or the Piranhatron theme to give one example. (I know Turbo is not the most beloved season where the Piranhatrons are concerned, but given Ron Wasserman's music is fire, I find it strange that tune can't be found in clean complete form that isn't a rip directly from one episode. It's also strange that given how much old fans like me love Bulk and Skull's shenanigans, I can't find even rips of the variation cues of their theme.)
@@strikerevimus With some movies, you can't find the little scores they use for specific moments in a film in the OST and that frustrates me to no end. Hunting for some obscure piece of audio is gratifying.
I think my favorite acknowledgment of the two names is in one of egg logs in sonic Frontiers. Eggman excitedly talks of how he reclaimed the name Eggman but then shuns the name baldy mc nosehair.
One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention when you brought up the Kintobor backstory: At least in UK canon, it wasn't just the last name that was reversed . His full name prior to the accident that warped him and Sonic was "Ovi Kintobor". Ovi is latin for "relating to an egg", for adjectives and such. That makes it clearer that the "Ivo" first name for Robotnik was itself an egg reference, and thus the character was always, quite literally, an egg-man in this canon.
@@derrickdaniels3955 I haven't read the archie or fleetway comics. But it's definitely his original name in the UK children's novels. There was an entire book about his and Sonic's transformation and history, involving time travel, called "Sonic in the Fourth Dimension". I last reread it like 2 years ago, but even if I didn't, I remember it vividly from growing up. I'd love for Arctur the Dragonkin and the rest of the Mythos Creatures to be brought to game or comics lore.
@@wanderlustwarrior YES. Arctur was an awesome antagonist (I'm straight up avoiding calling him a villain) for that book. Honestly, I'd settle for Ian Flynn mentioning in the IDW comics that the Mythos were the ancestors of the Zeti or something, and there's a shrine on the Lost Hex paying homage to the "Ancestral Father Arctur."
I'm impressed you made a whole video about the origins of Eggman's names without mentioning the possible reference to the 80s/90s term "Egghead" which referred to "someone who is hilariously smart." That said, I always liked the idea of Eggman being an insult/nickname and Robotnik being the real name. It makes more sense as a proper name, since it connects better to real naming conventions.
As a Russian who grew up playing sonic, I don't quite remember what we called him, but becoming an adult, and having genuine or jokey debates with my friends regarding whether Robotnik's name actually comes from "Работник" ("Rabotnik") or not, especially considering that his first name is Ivo, similarly to a Russian/slavic name Иван ("Ivan"). Thanks for bringing that up, Nick, really took me back to both my childhood and the good times joking around with me lads and lassies as an adult:D
@@nightshadehelis9821 EVERYONE irrationally hated Dulcy. I even hated that I hated her because her voice actress Cree Summer is one of the greats of the field (up there with Jim Cummings and Kath Soucie). At least the Archie comics gave her _some_ introduction rather than just plopping her in like SatAM did, even if Kenders - who hated & undermined SatAM's showrunner Ben Hurst [RIP] - had no idea what to do with her.
@@Soufriere84 NO WAY! I had no idea that was her! LOL. She's a legend! She played Foxy Love in Drawn Together! I thought her voice sounded familiar. That is so crazy to me.
"Are you keeping up? Because I'm not done." I love how you underline the absolute ridiculousness of Archie Robotnik. SatAM Robotnik was my first experience, and he's definitely always going to have a soft space in my heart for him.
In all honesty, I think the name of either Robotnik and Eggman are like a scale of what kind of character you're going to get in the medium. Robotnik is the name you use when the character is going to be intimidating but can also be funny at times, while Eggman is the more silly and bombastic funny guy who's also a threat.
I knew some of this, but I think it's really cool how the current incarnation's real name is Ivo Robotnik and Dr. Eggman is an insulting nickname that he eventually embraced and made his own.
I thought that the name "Robotnik" was based off Robotnik's affinity for creating robots under the name of "Badniks". He just dubbed himself a "Robot-nik" to say that he was the "master" of all his created Badniks. He's been probably living too much alongside them that he believes he himself IS one in some form. Robotnik, to me is his "original name". His "Classic Sonic" name. After all, it's pretty well known as his full name's "Dr. Ivo Robotnik". Eggman is more of his "mockery-turned-villain name". And I guess he worked that into his machines in later media and games to prove Sonic's mockery wrong and finally get to rub it in that an "Eggman" with "egg robots" (Egg Pawns, etc..) beat a supersonic blue hedgehog. XD
The Eggman name slipped a few time to an western audience in games such as Sonic 2 and Sonic Drift for example. It's not an exclusive modern thing in the West. (This ignoring the re-releases of course)
Fun fact, Jim Cummings also voiced the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Robotnik in the unfinished pilot, so that whole trinity of evil robot doctors who hate Sonic and voiced by Jim Cummings is complete
Jim freaking Cummings!!! That is my ideal Sonic's nemesis. BTW, the Walrus and the Eggman were two lower tier characters from Alice in Wonderland stories, where I believe the Beatles got their original inspiration from those characters.
In regards to Eggman/Robotnik's love of carnivals and theme parks, the Imposter Syndrome arc of the IDW Sonic comics has a small scene where Eggman explains why he makes so many of them despite how impractical they are. Simply: he just likes theme parks. Personally I think it is more of a cheap way to establish a place as his as a projection of his ambitions of imperialism.
plus its a good way of easily setting up a memorable level while making it also robotnik's level, which of course means the theme park levels went from the middle of the game to more towards the end
Honestly The name “Eggman” goes well with the character bc while he is goofy he can honestly be a monster and has a serious presence and with that name you wouldn’t expect to act like that. So the name, “Eggman,” is honestly genius in my opinion
Like in the past, threatening to shoot Amy or rusting away Little Planet, or stealing the master emerald to destroy whichever planet Angel Island is on
@sk I mean?? The main theme of the original games is that this dude seemingly just hates the natural world and wants everything to either be roboticized or dead. Literally firebombs Angel Island in Sonic 3. CD shows how everything he touches eventually turns into a bigass nonsense factory. He's like the theoretical "paperclip machine" that maximizes efficiency by bulldozing cities away to build more paperclips. But unlike those he seems to enjoy hurting people. His motives are complete nonsense and I think it's fun that this dude's whole goal is seemingly just a nonsense apocalypse. I always liked how in one of the comics he was pretty much like "I love carnivals, I love hurting people, put 'em together and it's hilarious". Yeah, sometimes he "has a heart" if it's something other than him causing the damage. But he's mostly just jealous.
@sk i am an Eggman enjoyer, but come on. He split the earth in Unleashed (that's thousands dead at least), enslaved an alien race (colors) and unleashed a robot zombie (Zombot) virus in the IDW (canon btw) comics. He has blood on his hands. That's what makes him intimidating.
The fact you can make a 30 minute video on the name of Eggman and his different iterations, only to just scratch the surface of it just shows how deep this series roots go in terms of content. Not just the games, but literally every series spawned from Sonic comes with it's own lore and it's own timeline of how things happened. It's easy to say the series fell off and lost to Mario, but when the fans do this much to keep the ball rolling alongside the creators, you realize that the series never did die, just fell into bad hands here and there.
I always saw eggman as an insult, but instead of being offended robotnik went “lmao ok I’m eggman now” and kept the name just to piss sonic off. I actually have a little head cannon that sonic calls him stuff like “egghead” and “egg-stache” just to see what else will stick lol.
@@xxsegaxx Good, based Generations In the games he's Eggman, Robotnik was an invention of the western canon that is not relevant to the main continuity
Sega combining the names Eggman and Robotnik was one of my favorite things that they did in terms of names Well that and still acknowledging the name Cucky in games like Sonic Generations and the Sonic Dash mobile game
I actually liked that uncle chuck invented the robotociser Because whilst it takes away from robotniks genius, it makes him more cruel in the fact he took a concept designed to help people and perverted it
I always thought both were good names, but I will say I liked the idea that Eggman was sonic's way of getting under robotnik's skin with a nickname to make fun of him, fit's sonic's personality fairly well
24:32 I remember hearing somewhere that Sonic calls Carrey's Robotnik Eggman since he has given people food oriented nicknames before (Donut Lord, Pretzel Lady)
I am mis-remembering or wasn't Robotnik literally used in the Sonic Manual or in the game credits in the ending. Its why i always called him Dr Robotnik and Never adopted the Eggman name because the Sonic Adventure games were pretty bad imo.
I grew up with Robotnik and always preferred this name. The whole "eggman" thing always felt like Sonic trying to be edgy. Being said, sonic is for everyone and should always unite fans, not divide. I absolutely love how Dr. R's (or eggman's) voice has led to an almost half hour video that brings everyone together. Sonic will ALWAYS be special to me.
I also love the idea that Dr. Robotnik took the insulting nickname Sonic gave him and turned it into a badge of honor. It’s a cool bit for the character, as if he’s telling us “Yeah, I’m an egg shaped man? What of it? I’m still the genius villain here!”
FYI, VPN services as they're sold to the public don't... do a whole lot. Eggman would have a VPN to connect to his main network when he's out and about. That way he could access files from that home network without broadcasting them out all over the internet. What most VPN services do is sort of the reverse. You're connecting to one of the company's "home networks" just so you can get back to the internet again. That only does two things: It mostly stops your ISP from spying on you, and in theory, the websites you connect to won't know your real IP address. But... your real IP address hardly matters. There's a whole lot of ways to figure out who someone is (at least compared to everyone else if not absolutely) that don't involve your IP address at all. Browser fingerprint, any accounts you have online, etc. And while it can be useful if you really don't want your ISP watching you, you're just signaling that you trust the VPN provider to not spy on you, instead.
“Or if you’re just a normal person trying to keep their person information protected online.” My guy, there’s a chance that hacker, may just be, a furry.
John Lennon deliberately wrote "I am the Walrus" as nonsensical after he found out that beatles songs were being studied academically. Apparently after he wrote it he said "let them interpret that!"
Ironically it's funny that though both Mario and Sonic were rivals, their respective enemies also had a similar generational name recognition thing going on - many of the older fans still know them by King Koopa and Dr. Robotnik, which then became modern day Eggman and Bowser (similar story as well for Princess Toadstool and Peach)
In the original Sonic 1 Mega Drive instruction booklet in Japan, it stated his real name was Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but he was commonly referred to by his nickname Eggman. Yes, he was designed before Sonic with a deliberate egg-shaped body. His design was put on the sideline as they developed Sonic and they kept giving Sonic more and more speed and additude, so they made Sonic the main character and came back to Robotnik to be the villain since they already had a design for him done. His real name is Julius Kintobor, son of Ivo. He adopted the name Dr. Ivo Robotnik after overthrowing King Acorn and turning Mobotropolis into Robotropolis (SatAM and Archie comics canon). Fun side fact: Did you know that 'Sonic' is also a nickname? That's not his real name. It's Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog (again, Archie comic canon). Put that in your egg and scramble it!!
I'm glad you clarified all of this! I always thought "Egman" was Sonic's irreverent nickname for the Dr. and future baton holders of the franchise just took that nick name and made it his real name out of ignorance.
Fun fact. The Ivo of Ivo Robotnik isn't actually pronounced "I-vo" but rather *"E-vo"* as in evil, or Ovi backwards (which is a prefix for egg). It was confirmed as such in one of the questions of the second Sonic Twitter takeover, which was Sonic Boom themed. Although to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Sega rolled back on that and it was now pronunced like most people do.
re: 90s cartoon Robotnik designs. Sonic fans since the 00s have gravitated the the grim dark Saturday morning version of the show, but my recollection is that the afternoon syndicated Adventures was more well known and popular. It's the version my friends and I definitely watched. It's no surprise that version of Robotnik became the most popular American version to use in toys
21:18 - For reference, one of his best schemes ever (that didn’t involve hiding behind Shadow or Metal Sonic, who are each infinitely more threatening) was commercially selling tomato soup to the masses and letting Sonic’s friends wrongly assume the soup was a ploy. In actuality, the cans for the soup were the problem. While relatively feeble individually, they were let into everyone’s home thanks to how much of a hit his soup was and their sheer numbers were *this* close to doing Sonic and friends in. He couldn’t follow up on this plan because he gloated about how many more soup can robots he had backstocked in warehouses, leading to a total product recall that dumped them back at his doorstep before he could activate them. Also his one uncontested win over Sonic, to my memory, was beating him in a dance-off during a time stop that halted the New Years countdown.
Robotnik, as a name, should feel more evil, especially as that's his name in Sat AM where he is unquestionably evil. Instead, it has an almost dignified air to it: Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Eggman has the weird capacity to be silly in one breath and sinister in another. Joke about his body shape, sure, but then you see the hundreds of airships he's managed to build in secret.
Things don’t fully lineup, but it is confirmed that that is the same version of Robo-Robotnik, as both the character himself and the comic do reference back to issue 19 (I’m pretty sure that’s the Night of a Thousand Sonics)
Robotnik has been my favorite Sonic character for a long while. What I love the most about him, though, is just how consistent he has been across each alternate continuity in the franchise. His general temperament and ideology may vary, but he always has this great mixture of showmanship and thinly-veiled cruelty.
As someone who grew up in the Adventure era (my first Sonic game was SA1 on Dreamcast), I never understood the whole debate between whether he was called Robotnik or Eggman. SA1 clearly established that his real name is Robotnik and his nickname is Eggman. Edit: In other words, both are correct.
I’m so glad you made this video because it brings back memories of one of my favorite moments in the series. At 14:58 you can see Robotnik’a various credentials as a villain listed under megalomaniac, tyrant, dictator and most importantly *insurance salesman*. For is there a more hated presence than an insurance company?
Sonic Generations even had a moment explaining the name change. Classic Tails recognizes classic Eggman as Dr. Robotnik, only for Robotnik to tell everyone that "nobody calls [him] that anymore".
Because he indeed never was called that outside of the dubs and American stuff Since Generations is a game based on the Japanese continuity (Like Sonic 1, SA2 and all), Dr Robotnik isn't a thing Not hard to understand lol
I really look forward to the 3rd Sonic movie making a running joke about the characters learning about Gerald and Maria Robotnik and saying "Robotnik is his REAL last name!?"
Technically, Robo-Robotnik from #19 is an entirely different origin. In that book, he came from a dystopian future where the freedom fighters were half robiticized and Robotnik decided to FULLY roboticize himself. That Robotnik was destroyed at the end of the issue. The one that became Eggman was from one of the futures with King Sonic as he uploaded himself to an unfinished space station. Granted they're probably SUPPOSED to be the same person but by the time they brought him back, they probably thought people wouldn't notice.
That Snively bit made me realize it'd be cool to see you go through all of Robotnik's sidekicks across media. for such a consistent trope, it's so strange how MANY he's had. Scratch and Grounder, Snively, Sleet and Dingo, Grimer, Agent Stone, Starline, Omelette, Orbot and Cubot, among others I'm probably forgetting.
It would be very easy to give Eggman a decent cast of minions to bounce off of on a regular basis. Even with just a few you can land on basically the same dynamic that the high command of the Decepticons have: The big leader who comes up with all these outlandish schemes (Robotnik/Megatron), the duplicitous schemer with the nasally voice (Snively/Starscream, who actually shared a voice actor a decade apart), the loyal one that could do better but won't (Stone/Soundwave), and the sensible one that eventually decides that he's going to go rogue (Starline/Shockwave).
It'd be cool, but I highly doubt Sega of Japan even bothers to find them yet alone actually bringing them back. It's much easier to create new lackey in 10-15 minutes rather than reinventing what already exists. Besides, you forgot to mention Commander Brutus, Coconuts, Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun, Heavy and Bomb, Rough and Tumble, Egg Bosses and Hard-Boiled Heavies(hopefully A.D.A.M and E.V.E may have a chance to return in 20 years or so)
The ones you forgot are SA-55 from Sonic Unleashed (it’s been confirmed Orbot is a separate entity from him) along with Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun from Sonic X
18:23 Gosh dang IDK what everyone else thinks but I love Ian Flynn's Sonic comics so much. Especially here wherever you see Eggman showing the evil black-and-red eyeballs behind his glasses.
i mean, either way, he has the master plan... i live in the UK and always knew him as Dr. Robotnik, when Sonic Adventure released i was like "okay who is Eggman?" i like how the movie uses both as both are fitting really.
Julian Robotnik will always be my favorite. I love his threatening appearance and voice, and also love the fact that he’s only focused on Sonic because Sonic is the only thing standing in his way of destroying the last resistance fighters in his world.
Yes you're right about the Beatles song! The original Sonic Team (or at least some of them) were fans of the Beatles and so they used that line from the song as a kind of design philosophy for the character "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" and it's why he has the big moustache and also it inspired the costume, those two big yellow triangles on the shirt represent the walrus tusks :) I wish I could remember my source for this, if I find it I will link it!
I always loved how Robotnik was portrayed in Sat Am. Because of the fact he was a genuine threat and had a scary menace to him; and because of the environmentalist message that the show conveyed through the side effects of eggman getting his way never really being explored in anything else to my knowledge. He was an Evil Genius and a Tyrant who was beyond reasoning with, it really gave a reason of why Sonic and his Friends NEEDED to fight Eggman, who these days has practically no real presence and is treated as a joke destined for failure.
To add further: Giving Eggman a distinctly Slavic name in the West plus playing up the environmental themes that were already present really turns the early Sonic series into a sort of Cold War allegory, at least that's how I've always seen it. Well, S1 _was_ pre-USSR collapse. By that thinking, Robotnik is Stalin (great moustache) and/or Brezhnev - the former known for purges and the latter for global-scale environmental catastrophe. Sonic then is the Western free-spirit ideal.
Grew up w/Robotnic so I definitely prefer that name over Eggman but I've always liked the idea of Eggman being an insulting nickname for Robotnic so I love that that is kinda what ended up happening. Also, loved Jim Carrey's version of Robotnic...yeah it was pretty much just Carrey being himself but it was so reminiscent of the wacky energy of the 90s cartoon (not the Sat AM) version that my sister and I absolutely adored as kids.
Fun fact that you probably already knew, the Swatbots and some of Eggman's more cunning and evil persona from SatAM made a return in Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood. Say what you want about that game, but I personally think it was a great game and the plot and characters especially fascinated me.
Honestly, as a kid I always called him "Eggman" whenever I felt it was meant to be funny or insulting, and "Robotnik" whenever things were meant to be serious, and I kind of imagine that Sonic himself would do the same.
I always thought that Eggman was his joke name and Doctor Robotnik what's his true name I never knew there was a whole history between the names fighting
i've seen so many of those youtube poops and memes of the robotnik from the adventures of sonic the hedgehog that he lives rent free in my head, and it overall makes me perfer the character more than the newer versions and many many redesigns of the character
I had always assumed "Robotnik" was a combination of "beatnik" and "robot"; considering "Eggman" was likely taken from the Beatles, I had always figured they wanted a more lawyer-friendly name while keeping the mild 50s/60s American influence there. Also, speaking as an older zoomer, I grew up with "Eggman", though I was introduced to him as "Robotnik" via Mega Collection Plus. I did find it kind of weird that the older games described him as Robotnik when "Eggman" is clearly printed on the airship in Wing Fortress Zone, though this is before I knew he was always Eggman in Japan.
I like how the Sonic live-action movie puts both Dr. Robotnik and Eggman's name together. His name is still Ivo Robotnik but Sonic mockingly nicknamed him Eggman for his robot egg designs. That was a genius idea by the movie filmmakers.
Thinking about Gerald and Maria, I was very happy that his real name was fixed as ivo robotnik in the Japanese version and that Eggman was changed to a nickname. I love that it shows how he can act as a threat even with a funny nickname
@@conradojavier7547 Yes, but after Colors? Or rather, from around that time, I can guess from the remarks of the overseas version of Generations and the place where the name was fixed to Eggman due to the boom. It seems that even the family name has disappeared for a while In Mario and Sonic's Tokyo, Gerald's setting was disappearing from Shadow
@@ドラゴンリュー-f1x It's like Yakuza Rename to Like a Dragon Worldwide, cuz the NEW Localization Name matches the Japanese name more than the IP's Former Name.
Annnnd then they dropped the name and we never saw Robotnik again Japanese people must have been so confused at wtf a Robotnik is when they played SA2 lol Also really disrespectful to retcon the character's original name as a "joke" only to fit in with the arguably much worse and generic American version
There's a bit of retconning involved, but Flynn confirmed on the old Archie blog (now defunct, unfortunately) that the Robo-Robotnik who becomes Eggman was actually a separate character from the one seen in issue #19.
Those who grew up with the 'Robotnik' Name usually tend to still prefer to call him that, though it depends on what they originally felt about it... Another reason the name 'Robotnik' was used was due to the influence of the Russian/German stereotyping being used in cartoons at the time - most infamous being the Russian Spies *Boris and Natasha Badnekov* of the _Rocky and Bullwinkle_ cartoons. When adapting Dr. Eggman for the Western Audiences, *SEGA of America* chose to work these influences into his Name, to put the common '-nik' suffix in stereotypical Russian speech translations along with the 'Robot' prefix to create a name that sounds much like an eccentric (or insane) German Inventor from WW1 (given that the many _Star Wars_ Empire references they used were themselves based on WW1 and Hitler's Regime) - Dr. Robotnik! So it's simply a name of the times - Wartime enemies were the Villains of choice in that time period, so *SEGA of America* capitalised on it to create an Antagonist that was as iconic as a *Fire-Breathing Dragon-Turtle kidnapping a Princess* to be the Big Bad for their *Rebellious Extreme foil* to *Nintendo's Knight in Sewer-Worker's Overalls...*
The rant/speech at the end (really love those btw) reminded me that apparently in the sonic 2 movie novelization Knuckles calls Sonic son of Mobius, and I loved that
I remember playing SA 1 and heard Sonic say Eggman, then be confused. I love both names but the Eggman design is my default and the Eggman theme helps to sell it. Loved this video, you're informative as ever Nick. keep doing your thing.
He only did that in the cartoons, to my knowledge, and started using the term "Eggman", which makes more sense considering how much of an egg theme he has (his mechs have "Egg" as part of their name, Wing Fortress Zone has "Eggman" plastered all over it, he's literally shaped like one in almost every medium), in SA1, with the doctor himself coming to refer to himself as his rightful name in SA2. In spite of this, "Ivo Robotnik" is still used in conjunction as his given name and surname respectively. As far as the games are concerned, Sonic actually put in some effort with his insults, unlike the few media where he decided to be Spiny McUninspired as opposed to Sonic.
![Stromae, Pomme - “Ma Meilleure Ennemie” (from Arcane Season 2) [Official Visualizer]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1F3OGIFnW1k/mqdefault.jpg)
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I personally loved how they set up a reason as to why sonic would call Jim's robotnik eggman, establishing the weird names with "donut Lord" and "pretzel lady" earlier on in the movie
What's better is Carey's Robotnik just rolls with it. Most of his stuff is egg shaped anyway, so he just accepts the nickname, I don't think we ever see him rebuke it, get mad at Sonic, or angrily correct him once (at least not that I remember). If he returns for the third movie, think he will fully embrace the name like western game Eggman has?
Also, Jim Carey did sing a cover of I Am The Walrus. So he was already claiming to be the Eggman before the Sonic movie. Goo goo g'joob
@@dn22pkkdd476 goo goo g'joob, hmmm... what could it mean
@@dn22pkkdd476 wasn’t it Cuckoo kachoo? Have I been mishearing that this whole time?
@@ironwraith852 "Holds you in his armchair you can feel his disease"
Who the hell knows with Beatles lyrics tbh
10:54 funny you mention this, because remnants of footage from the AOSTH pilot show that Jim Cummings was the first voice of that robotnik as well!
I love both names, they both suit him in different ways. Robotnik is a name that was quite intimidating and showed his love for robots whilst Eggman is a name that shows his goofy side. Both of these characteristics are very true to his character which makes me think that's why Sega has kept both of them around.
Yeah, I agree as well, I would definitively named him just "Dr. (Eggman) Ivo Julian Robotnik".
@@Jadinite-2006 Or Baldy Mc.Nosehair 😆
i personally use to call modern Robotnik 'Eggman', and for classic Robotnik just... Robotnik
@@Jadinite-2006 Wait, where does Julian come from?
@@extremmefan7305 The SatAM Series
I love that they recontextualize the nickname "Eggman" in the films to be Sonic making an observation about all the sleek white machines he sends out and still ties it into Sonic's personality in that films being a bit more driven by childlike wonder and a lack of context for human society. Much like his adoptive dad Tom is "Donut Lord" ruling over a bunch of little donuts he dressed up and gives speeches to in his boredom, Robotnik is "Eggman" because he commands a bunch of weird metallic eggs.
But will he be built like a egg in the third movie
Robotnik is and always has been better as a "real" name for such a fictional and cartoony person, and "Eggman" works really well as a nickname. Moreso for some versions than others.
Yep. I noticed they would have his name as: Dr Ivo "Eggman" Robonik.
And seems like they (sega) would also see eggman as a nickname as well.
that’s exactly what was confirmed in sonic frontiers egg memos Robotnick embraced sonics insult name of Eggman and it became one of the most feared names in the sonic universe
I owned Sonic 3 and Sonic 1 and he was always called Dr. Ivo Robotnik in the manuals which is why I was surprised to hear that his name was Eggman
@@hihosh1 It is because US release take place in different timeline then Japanese one. In US Sonic was inhabitant of Planet Mobius and was facing Dr. Ivo Robotnik. In Japan action always take place on Earth and his name was Eggman. But later both names were fused together.
Though technically with later games and animated series (there is also Archie comic) it was established that Japanese timeline take place in the past and American one in the future. American Eggman is also different character who is most likely the same as Eggman Nega. If we fallow Archie his name is Julian "Dr. Robotnik" Kintobar.
@@TheRezro I am South African, we got more Japanese and Euro stuff, but the booklet we got always called him Ivo Robotnik
It's funny how Jim Carrey predicted he would be playing Eggman in the live action movie...back in the 90's... for real, he did the cover song "I'm the walrus" and the line with him saying he was the Eggman came true.
dedication!
I've always preferred Eggman but I've grown to like the idea of Robotnik being a real named ignored for a more mocking nickname. It's a nice parallel to Tails where they have their physical characteristics mocked but they take it as new nicknames to empower themselves. I do like his old design's red eyes a lot.
@sk With enough willpower, anything is possible.
Is it weird that I heard eggman’s theme before Iam The Walrus?
Both Tails and Eggman are genius in their own ways and both have completely embraced a name that existed to mock them
I’m seeing a pattern
@sk personally, I prefer the Christian named Atheist
@sk Hi I'm carl
I think it's great that they've kept both of the names. But at the same time, it's kinda wild how they've seemed to completely ignore Tails' real name.
I always thought it's be cool if some of the characters referred to him as "Miles" but no one does it. Even in the second movie, he introduces himself as "Tails" which seemed like a missed opportunity to tie the two names together.
You could've had a situation where Miles had yet to introduce himself, and Sonic just gives him the nickname in the spur of the moment, especially since the two were running from Jim Carrey's Eggman and Knuckles at the time. And then after they get away, Tails officially introduces himself as Miles Prower, but then tells Sonic it's fine to keep calling him "Tails."
I just think it's weird how they've kept both Robotnik and Eggman throughout the years, but have seemingly all but wiped Miles Prower out from Tails' character.
Miles Per Hour Prower
Tails does introduce himself as Miles Prower in Sonic 2.
Maybe it's due to Tails already accepting the nickname by the time of most of his media and it not being mocking? Although, I vaguely remember one of the Jaleel White cartoons establish him being mocked by other kids and Sonic saying it was a cool nickname.
@@robinthrush9672 ok so it wasnt a mandella effect thing. I remember that too.
I mean, sonic does call him be his real name in the second movie.
I kinda like the Sonic Adventure approach where his name is Robotnik but Sonic & Co call him Eggman as an insult
That's what I settled on also. I loved his full English human name "Dr. Ivo Robotnik" and the silly insult Sonic gave him.
That was never said in the jp version
Far more simpler than making a convoluted plot line to just rename a character.
I agree
@sk who is talking about fronteirs ?
I like it that this franchise has so many versions of one character. It makes the game feel more diverse in ways and keeps things a bit fresher.
I love how Flynn writes Eggman. He makes him intimidating while keeping him goofy. That, above all else, makes me excited hes writing the next game
Unfortunately sega seems incapable of allowing a sonic game time to properly cook
The story was made by Sonic Team, The writing was done by Ian flynn
I’m from the future! Frontiers was great!
@@TF2Fan101...uh-huh...
@@frog4307 he’s right in the story department
And evident by sega approving one line he wrote and canonized one of the idw characters
That character is TANGLE
But gameplay could be tweaked
Fun fact, Jim Cummings has a history of voicing ultimately evil doctors. He also voiced the Master in Fallout 1.
Thats pretty cool
And Doctor Meanie in OK KO
Fun fact, the Master's female voice is Kath Soucie, Sally Acorn
@@TheWalkerman97 now ain’t that a coincidence
He also voiced Winnie the Pooh, and god only knows what evil shit that bear's done.
One of my favorite thing about his full name being Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik is that it fits well with Miles "Tails Prower.
Perfect
Yup! And Sonic “big dick” the Hedgehog!
@@TheDamnWinner Yeah, the classic name we all know him by!
@@ap1evideogame44 and don't forget Knuckles "cock&balls" the echidna
Nah, Sonic’s full name is Sonic “the“ Hedgehog
“He’s an absolute TREAT”
*Eggman shaking his ass*
but hes not lying that ass is a treat
Robotnik literally invented the twerk before anyone we just weren't ready yet
7:17 👀 that's wild
As a younger fan who played the Adventure games first, I always called him Robotnik, and sometimes Eggman. It just feels natural to switch between the too. I bring it down to using Eggman when he’s being an idiot and using Robotnik when he’s actually makes a big brain move against Sonic.
Well in SA1, he introduced himself as Dr. Robotnik, then sonic immediately calls him eggman. As an American who also played the adventure games first, i like to think that his actual name is Robotnik, while eggman is just sonic making fun of him as he does.
@@minamoorelull4521 I’m pretty sure that in canon it was just a random nickname Sonic used that ended up sticking.
@IsaacInfernape2000 I’m confused, why are you trying to say?
@IsaacInfernape2000 I get that, I just don’t get why you’re called yourself a gigachad 5 times,
@IsaacInfernape2000 Aight.
You know that line at the end "I'm gonna make myself an omelet" could honestly serve as a forshadow for the heavily loved fan-character Omelete!
The name "Eggman" fits his character because he looks just like an egg as a joke, but "Robotnik" makes a lot of sense due to his passion of crafting robots and machine, hence the word "robot" in his name.
He dresses like a Walrus in the Genesis games.
the word "robot" was actually derived from "robotnik", being a word that means worker or slave
@@wyzolol A Slavic word to be precise
Eggman makes just as much sense because you know... all of his robots have the word "Egg" in them ? Narcisism ? One of Eggman's core personality features that doesn't make sense if you rename him Robotnik for no reason ?
@@maude7420 yeah i still like both names tho
Honestly, it feels right to have both names. With Robotnik being his real name while Eggman is more along the lines of a supervillain name. Also I've always liked his game designs than his TV show ones, it always felt like the TV show designs were made to be really ugly for the sake of being ugly. Like they didn't think they could make his game design threatening in any way... which I feel is wrong. Lets not forget that in Sonic 2 in the air ship level right before going to the Death Egg that the ship sported the name Eggman everywhere.
I mean, in those shows, Robotnik was either a unfeeling person or a goofball you're supposed to laugh at. Look at that head! Look at his body! And I think that's the reaction Eggman's Classic design was going for. It's just that the Japanese don't think that a character that looked like that would belong in a kids game.
i always saw Ivo Robotnik being his real/birth name, and Eggman was a nick name that Sonic started calling him, so over time he just owned it as a kind of brand name. i like both names and i can see it being interchangeable
That's a retcon the English dub of SA1 tried to pull which was dropped the very next game
@@maude7420 SA2 has the guy's grandfather named Gerald Robotnik and this cousin named Maria Robotnik. In Japanese.
@@doomsdayrabbit4398 Yes out of a desire to unify the canon
But from Heroes onwards they completely forgot about it
@@maude7420 It doesn't have to be mentioned every five seconds. Both are dead and haven't had much effects on the canon outside of Shadow's story.
@@maude7420
And then Eggman directly mentions Maria in Frontiers.
Funny how that works out, huh?
I always thought the whole "I am The Walrus" reference was obvious in his original design. It seems clear that they made it a point to draw his collar of his little yellow cape to look like walrus tusks under his mustache, like the shot of him at 2:15, for example.
Having him be canonically called both names, and interchangeably as it is these days, is one of the most brilliant decisions Sega ever made. It's a fantastic decision that keeps the old fans happy and feeling validated while acknowledging the newer fans who know him by the more common name of this day and age. Granted, I do tend to call him Eggman more these days, but as a kid of the 90s who saw the original cartoons and read the Archie comics, I still call him Robotnik from time to time. Old habits die hard as they say.
By the way, where'd you get the music for SatAM and AOSTH? I've been looking forever for clean, accurate versions of those themes forever, and could never find them. I could find recreations, but not the actual versions of the music you used in your video.
Similar to how they combined Peach's western and Eastern names by making her western localisation "toadstool" her last name and her original name her fist name.
There aren't any around on RUclips? There's heaps of fans of these series (including myself) and I'm sure there are files around here
@@zbazza6978z There's recreations, but the actual clean versions of the music also known as "In The Halls of the Mountain King" that the show used for Robotnik's theme in AOSTH, the music for the various chase sequences, nor the music that's better known for Scratch and Grounder. Best I could find were rips that attempt to edit out the voices, albeit poorly.
As for SatAM, I can tell you that Robotnik actually had a different theme for season 2. Heck, the majority of music used in season 1 was dropped for season 2, but from what I could find, you would think that Season 2 used the same exact music as Season 1. I know for a fact that this is nowhere near the case, but a simple search doesn't seem to turn up anything of that. I mean, yeah, maybe Season 1's Robotnik theme and other tunes are better than Season 2's, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to listen to the Season 2 soundtrack.
It's like, for Power Rangers fans, trying to find the other variation cues of Bulk and Skull's theme beyond the minute long piece out there, or the Piranhatron theme to give one example. (I know Turbo is not the most beloved season where the Piranhatrons are concerned, but given Ron Wasserman's music is fire, I find it strange that tune can't be found in clean complete form that isn't a rip directly from one episode. It's also strange that given how much old fans like me love Bulk and Skull's shenanigans, I can't find even rips of the variation cues of their theme.)
Of course there's still people insisting that no, it *must* be one or another. People are weird.
@@strikerevimus With some movies, you can't find the little scores they use for specific moments in a film in the OST and that frustrates me to no end. Hunting for some obscure piece of audio is gratifying.
I think my favorite acknowledgment of the two names is in one of egg logs in sonic Frontiers. Eggman excitedly talks of how he reclaimed the name Eggman but then shuns the name baldy mc nosehair.
One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention when you brought up the Kintobor backstory:
At least in UK canon, it wasn't just the last name that was reversed . His full name prior to the accident that warped him and Sonic was "Ovi Kintobor". Ovi is latin for "relating to an egg", for adjectives and such. That makes it clearer that the "Ivo" first name for Robotnik was itself an egg reference, and thus the character was always, quite literally, an egg-man in this canon.
perfect
I don’t know if that was intentional but it’s still brilliant.
I thought that was the name of his anti doppelganger in the comics?
@@derrickdaniels3955 I haven't read the archie or fleetway comics. But it's definitely his original name in the UK children's novels. There was an entire book about his and Sonic's transformation and history, involving time travel, called "Sonic in the Fourth Dimension". I last reread it like 2 years ago, but even if I didn't, I remember it vividly from growing up.
I'd love for Arctur the Dragonkin and the rest of the Mythos Creatures to be brought to game or comics lore.
@@wanderlustwarrior YES. Arctur was an awesome antagonist (I'm straight up avoiding calling him a villain) for that book. Honestly, I'd settle for Ian Flynn mentioning in the IDW comics that the Mythos were the ancestors of the Zeti or something, and there's a shrine on the Lost Hex paying homage to the "Ancestral Father Arctur."
6:50 I could recognize that scene from anywhere, so glad you used that to introduce the cartoon robotnik
That’s also where the PINGAS meme came from!
I'm impressed you made a whole video about the origins of Eggman's names without mentioning the possible reference to the 80s/90s term "Egghead" which referred to "someone who is hilariously smart."
That said, I always liked the idea of Eggman being an insult/nickname and Robotnik being the real name. It makes more sense as a proper name, since it connects better to real naming conventions.
Tell that to Ian Flynn and IDW.
As a Russian who grew up playing sonic, I don't quite remember what we called him, but becoming an adult, and having genuine or jokey debates with my friends regarding whether Robotnik's name actually comes from "Работник" ("Rabotnik") or not, especially considering that his first name is Ivo, similarly to a Russian/slavic name Иван ("Ivan"). Thanks for bringing that up, Nick, really took me back to both my childhood and the good times joking around with me lads and lassies as an adult:D
It would be more suited for polish Robotnik and Ivo is real name in Poland
@@garryjones1776 oh, never knew that, thanks for letting me know!:)
@@garryjones1776 That makes home one Polack who can screw in a light bulb.
@@GIJOEFAN-ys8gp yeah the rest of them can screw in your mom
Yea, Robotnik spells his name the exact way, it is spelled in Polish.
That Sat AM version was my favorite back in the 90’s. His voice was so sinister and perfect in that version.
It was surprisingly really good. My only complaint was the dragon character. I irrationally hated her.
@@nightshadehelis9821 ah i remember her, always doing crash landings.
@@nightshadehelis9821 EVERYONE irrationally hated Dulcy. I even hated that I hated her because her voice actress Cree Summer is one of the greats of the field (up there with Jim Cummings and Kath Soucie).
At least the Archie comics gave her _some_ introduction rather than just plopping her in like SatAM did, even if Kenders - who hated & undermined SatAM's showrunner Ben Hurst [RIP] - had no idea what to do with her.
Ken Penders is one of the worst Sonic villians.
@@Soufriere84 NO WAY! I had no idea that was her! LOL. She's a legend! She played Foxy Love in Drawn Together! I thought her voice sounded familiar. That is so crazy to me.
"Are you keeping up? Because I'm not done." I love how you underline the absolute ridiculousness of Archie Robotnik. SatAM Robotnik was my first experience, and he's definitely always going to have a soft space in my heart for him.
In all honesty, I think the name of either Robotnik and Eggman are like a scale of what kind of character you're going to get in the medium.
Robotnik is the name you use when the character is going to be intimidating but can also be funny at times, while Eggman is the more silly and bombastic funny guy who's also a threat.
I knew some of this, but I think it's really cool how the current incarnation's real name is Ivo Robotnik and Dr. Eggman is an insulting nickname that he eventually embraced and made his own.
I thought that the name "Robotnik" was based off Robotnik's affinity for creating robots under the name of "Badniks". He just dubbed himself a "Robot-nik" to say that he was the "master" of all his created Badniks. He's been probably living too much alongside them that he believes he himself IS one in some form.
Robotnik, to me is his "original name". His "Classic Sonic" name.
After all, it's pretty well known as his full name's "Dr. Ivo Robotnik".
Eggman is more of his "mockery-turned-villain name". And I guess he worked that into his machines in later media and games to prove Sonic's mockery wrong and finally get to rub it in that an "Eggman" with "egg robots" (Egg Pawns, etc..) beat a supersonic blue hedgehog. XD
The Eggman name slipped a few time to an western audience in games such as Sonic 2 and Sonic Drift for example. It's not an exclusive modern thing in the West. (This ignoring the re-releases of course)
It's not his original name so much as his western name. In Japan he was already Eggman.
But yeah, that seems like it's pretty much the idea now.
I doubt they realized they were writing future pop culture material at the time of the first two games.
Love how boom eggman is an unapologetically punch clock villain
Fun fact, Jim Cummings also voiced the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog Robotnik in the unfinished pilot, so that whole trinity of evil robot doctors who hate Sonic and voiced by Jim Cummings is complete
Whatever version it is that you prefer, we can all agree that the good doctor has left an everlasting impression in all of us
Jim freaking Cummings!!! That is my ideal Sonic's nemesis.
BTW, the Walrus and the Eggman were two lower tier characters from Alice in Wonderland stories, where I believe the Beatles got their original inspiration from those characters.
In regards to Eggman/Robotnik's love of carnivals and theme parks, the Imposter Syndrome arc of the IDW Sonic comics has a small scene where Eggman explains why he makes so many of them despite how impractical they are.
Simply: he just likes theme parks.
Personally I think it is more of a cheap way to establish a place as his as a projection of his ambitions of imperialism.
plus its a good way of easily setting up a memorable level while making it also robotnik's level, which of course means the theme park levels went from the middle of the game to more towards the end
Honestly The name “Eggman” goes well with the character bc while he is goofy he can honestly be a monster and has a serious presence and with that name you wouldn’t expect to act like that. So the name, “Eggman,” is honestly genius in my opinion
@sk he took over the fuckin planet.
Like in the past, threatening to shoot Amy or rusting away Little Planet, or stealing the master emerald to destroy whichever planet Angel Island is on
@sk I mean?? The main theme of the original games is that this dude seemingly just hates the natural world and wants everything to either be roboticized or dead. Literally firebombs Angel Island in Sonic 3. CD shows how everything he touches eventually turns into a bigass nonsense factory.
He's like the theoretical "paperclip machine" that maximizes efficiency by bulldozing cities away to build more paperclips. But unlike those he seems to enjoy hurting people. His motives are complete nonsense and I think it's fun that this dude's whole goal is seemingly just a nonsense apocalypse.
I always liked how in one of the comics he was pretty much like "I love carnivals, I love hurting people, put 'em together and it's hilarious". Yeah, sometimes he "has a heart" if it's something other than him causing the damage. But he's mostly just jealous.
@sk i am an Eggman enjoyer, but come on.
He split the earth in Unleashed (that's thousands dead at least), enslaved an alien race (colors) and unleashed a robot zombie (Zombot) virus in the IDW (canon btw) comics.
He has blood on his hands. That's what makes him intimidating.
The fact you can make a 30 minute video on the name of Eggman and his different iterations, only to just scratch the surface of it just shows how deep this series roots go in terms of content. Not just the games, but literally every series spawned from Sonic comes with it's own lore and it's own timeline of how things happened. It's easy to say the series fell off and lost to Mario, but when the fans do this much to keep the ball rolling alongside the creators, you realize that the series never did die, just fell into bad hands here and there.
I've always assumed that Ivo Robotnik was his actual name, and Eggman was his nickname.
That's what the game said to justify the two names.
then Sonic Generations comes and says "no one calls me that anymore" regarding the Robotnik name and I'm here like 🤨
I always saw eggman as an insult, but instead of being offended robotnik went “lmao ok I’m eggman now” and kept the name just to piss sonic off.
I actually have a little head cannon that sonic calls him stuff like “egghead” and “egg-stache” just to see what else will stick lol.
same
@@xxsegaxx Good, based Generations
In the games he's Eggman, Robotnik was an invention of the western canon that is not relevant to the main continuity
Ivo Robotnik is his real name. Eggman is a nickname Sonic gave him that he just adopted with pride.
Sega combining the names Eggman and Robotnik was one of my favorite things that they did in terms of names
Well that and still acknowledging the name Cucky in games like Sonic Generations and the Sonic Dash mobile game
In my headcanon, I see his use of the name Eggman as a try to turn this insult into a name that should be feared when being called.
I actually liked that uncle chuck invented the robotociser
Because whilst it takes away from robotniks genius, it makes him more cruel in the fact he took a concept designed to help people and perverted it
I always thought both were good names, but I will say I liked the idea that Eggman was sonic's way of getting under robotnik's skin with a nickname to make fun of him, fit's sonic's personality fairly well
Note: Jim Cummings almost voiced the Robotnik in the AoStH series. He was actually in the pilot.
24:32 I remember hearing somewhere that Sonic calls Carrey's Robotnik Eggman since he has given people food oriented nicknames before (Donut Lord, Pretzel Lady)
I am mis-remembering or wasn't Robotnik literally used in the Sonic Manual or in the game credits in the ending. Its why i always called him Dr Robotnik and Never adopted the Eggman name because the Sonic Adventure games were pretty bad imo.
I grew up with Robotnik and always preferred this name. The whole "eggman" thing always felt like Sonic trying to be edgy. Being said, sonic is for everyone and should always unite fans, not divide. I absolutely love how Dr. R's (or eggman's) voice has led to an almost half hour video that brings everyone together. Sonic will ALWAYS be special to me.
I also love the idea that Dr. Robotnik took the insulting nickname Sonic gave him and turned it into a badge of honor. It’s a cool bit for the character, as if he’s telling us “Yeah, I’m an egg shaped man? What of it? I’m still the genius villain here!”
Don't think sonic calling robotnik eggman is really considered edgy
@@kirbo4252 yeah it’s more of a joke than edgy
The irony is that the name Robotnik seems like the West attempt to be edgy since Eggman is objectively a goofy name.
@@Magnet_Chaos that is true
Sonic tried to insult Eggman and he really just went "oh hey, that name is WAY more marketable than Robotnik, I'm trademarking that."
I feel like Eggman, Despite being and doing bad things, would still have a safe VPN. call it EggVPN or like Scramblers
EggVPN scrambles your online identification profile, making you untraceable!
@@ShaimingLong you’d have to be a hard-boiled hacker just to crack his security and poach his personal information.
@@Hyper_Drud Indeed! EggVPN's anti hack system is able to reverse hack the hacker and fry~ their CPU!
FYI, VPN services as they're sold to the public don't... do a whole lot.
Eggman would have a VPN to connect to his main network when he's out and about. That way he could access files from that home network without broadcasting them out all over the internet.
What most VPN services do is sort of the reverse. You're connecting to one of the company's "home networks" just so you can get back to the internet again. That only does two things: It mostly stops your ISP from spying on you, and in theory, the websites you connect to won't know your real IP address.
But... your real IP address hardly matters. There's a whole lot of ways to figure out who someone is (at least compared to everyone else if not absolutely) that don't involve your IP address at all. Browser fingerprint, any accounts you have online, etc.
And while it can be useful if you really don't want your ISP watching you, you're just signaling that you trust the VPN provider to not spy on you, instead.
@@colbyboucher6391 Where did you learn this? also cool
“Or if you’re just a normal person trying to keep their person information protected online.”
My guy, there’s a chance that hacker, may just be, a furry.
John Lennon deliberately wrote "I am the Walrus" as nonsensical after he found out that beatles songs were being studied academically. Apparently after he wrote it he said "let them interpret that!"
So basically he made a musical s-tpost then? That's ballsy.
Ironically it's funny that though both Mario and Sonic were rivals, their respective enemies also had a similar generational name recognition thing going on - many of the older fans still know them by King Koopa and Dr. Robotnik, which then became modern day Eggman and Bowser (similar story as well for Princess Toadstool and Peach)
In the original Sonic 1 Mega Drive instruction booklet in Japan, it stated his real name was Dr. Ivo Robotnik, but he was commonly referred to by his nickname Eggman.
Yes, he was designed before Sonic with a deliberate egg-shaped body. His design was put on the sideline as they developed Sonic and they kept giving Sonic more and more speed and additude, so they made Sonic the main character and came back to Robotnik to be the villain since they already had a design for him done.
His real name is Julius Kintobor, son of Ivo. He adopted the name Dr. Ivo Robotnik after overthrowing King Acorn and turning Mobotropolis into Robotropolis (SatAM and Archie comics canon).
Fun side fact: Did you know that 'Sonic' is also a nickname? That's not his real name. It's Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog (again, Archie comic canon). Put that in your egg and scramble it!!
I am fairly certain the manual does not call him robotnik since it was introduced in translation after the fact
I remember the early Archie comics fondly, even though I grew up in the 2000s I still was introduced to the franchise through Sonic Archives books.
I'm glad you clarified all of this! I always thought "Egman" was Sonic's irreverent nickname for the Dr. and future baton holders of the franchise just took that nick name and made it his real name out of ignorance.
Fun fact. The Ivo of Ivo Robotnik isn't actually pronounced "I-vo" but rather *"E-vo"* as in evil, or Ovi backwards (which is a prefix for egg). It was confirmed as such in one of the questions of the second Sonic Twitter takeover, which was Sonic Boom themed.
Although to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if Sega rolled back on that and it was now pronunced like most people do.
re: 90s cartoon Robotnik designs. Sonic fans since the 00s have gravitated the the grim dark Saturday morning version of the show, but my recollection is that the afternoon syndicated Adventures was more well known and popular. It's the version my friends and I definitely watched. It's no surprise that version of Robotnik became the most popular American version to use in toys
I see Eggman as a sort of a nickname Robotnik uses to push his brand forward. Sort of like how Dwayne Johnson is the Rock.
21:18 - For reference, one of his best schemes ever (that didn’t involve hiding behind Shadow or Metal Sonic, who are each infinitely more threatening) was commercially selling tomato soup to the masses and letting Sonic’s friends wrongly assume the soup was a ploy. In actuality, the cans for the soup were the problem. While relatively feeble individually, they were let into everyone’s home thanks to how much of a hit his soup was and their sheer numbers were *this* close to doing Sonic and friends in. He couldn’t follow up on this plan because he gloated about how many more soup can robots he had backstocked in warehouses, leading to a total product recall that dumped them back at his doorstep before he could activate them.
Also his one uncontested win over Sonic, to my memory, was beating him in a dance-off during a time stop that halted the New Years countdown.
My favorite Robotniks are the Sonic X interpretation and Jim Carrey’s immaculate performance
Jim Carrey is the perfect Robotknik
@@derrickdaniels3955 No he's not, Jim Carrey played himself in the movie, didn't even try
@@maude7420 not really. He played a megalomaniacal genius filtered through his own bread of humor. Not exactly game robotnik or just himslef.
Robotnik, as a name, should feel more evil, especially as that's his name in Sat AM where he is unquestionably evil. Instead, it has an almost dignified air to it: Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Eggman has the weird capacity to be silly in one breath and sinister in another. Joke about his body shape, sure, but then you see the hundreds of airships he's managed to build in secret.
No matter what, he's one of my favorite characters of all time!
He's plotting his schemes and he's got a master plan.
Things don’t fully lineup, but it is confirmed that that is the same version of Robo-Robotnik, as both the character himself and the comic do reference back to issue 19 (I’m pretty sure that’s the Night of a Thousand Sonics)
Robotnik has been my favorite Sonic character for a long while. What I love the most about him, though, is just how consistent he has been across each alternate continuity in the franchise. His general temperament and ideology may vary, but he always has this great mixture of showmanship and thinly-veiled cruelty.
I appreciate all the passion you've put into making this video
Always happy to see some appreciation for Long John Baldry's Robotnik. I adore that version.
I like how the two names are used synonymously to describe the same character, both names are iconic and creative
As someone who grew up in the Adventure era (my first Sonic game was SA1 on Dreamcast), I never understood the whole debate between whether he was called Robotnik or Eggman. SA1 clearly established that his real name is Robotnik and his nickname is Eggman.
Edit: In other words, both are correct.
Robotnik is a great villain, even if he is a bit goofy
I’m so glad you made this video because it brings back memories of one of my favorite moments in the series.
At 14:58 you can see Robotnik’a various credentials as a villain listed under megalomaniac, tyrant, dictator and most importantly *insurance salesman*.
For is there a more hated presence than an insurance company?
Sonic Generations even had a moment explaining the name change. Classic Tails recognizes classic Eggman as Dr. Robotnik, only for Robotnik to tell everyone that "nobody calls [him] that anymore".
Because he indeed never was called that outside of the dubs and American stuff
Since Generations is a game based on the Japanese continuity (Like Sonic 1, SA2 and all), Dr Robotnik isn't a thing
Not hard to understand lol
I really look forward to the 3rd Sonic movie making a running joke about the characters learning about Gerald and Maria Robotnik and saying "Robotnik is his REAL last name!?"
Technically, Robo-Robotnik from #19 is an entirely different origin. In that book, he came from a dystopian future where the freedom fighters were half robiticized and Robotnik decided to FULLY roboticize himself. That Robotnik was destroyed at the end of the issue. The one that became Eggman was from one of the futures with King Sonic as he uploaded himself to an unfinished space station.
Granted they're probably SUPPOSED to be the same person but by the time they brought him back, they probably thought people wouldn't notice.
That Snively bit made me realize it'd be cool to see you go through all of Robotnik's sidekicks across media. for such a consistent trope, it's so strange how MANY he's had. Scratch and Grounder, Snively, Sleet and Dingo, Grimer, Agent Stone, Starline, Omelette, Orbot and Cubot, among others I'm probably forgetting.
It would be very easy to give Eggman a decent cast of minions to bounce off of on a regular basis. Even with just a few you can land on basically the same dynamic that the high command of the Decepticons have: The big leader who comes up with all these outlandish schemes (Robotnik/Megatron), the duplicitous schemer with the nasally voice (Snively/Starscream, who actually shared a voice actor a decade apart), the loyal one that could do better but won't (Stone/Soundwave), and the sensible one that eventually decides that he's going to go rogue (Starline/Shockwave).
It'd be cool, but I highly doubt Sega of Japan even bothers to find them yet alone actually bringing them back. It's much easier to create new lackey in 10-15 minutes rather than reinventing what already exists.
Besides, you forgot to mention Commander Brutus, Coconuts, Decoe, Bocoe, Bokkun, Heavy and Bomb, Rough and Tumble, Egg Bosses and Hard-Boiled Heavies(hopefully A.D.A.M and E.V.E may have a chance to return in 20 years or so)
@@ashesGeek kind of the opposite there.
The ones you forgot are SA-55 from Sonic Unleashed (it’s been confirmed Orbot is a separate entity from him) along with Bocoe, Decoe, and Bokkun from Sonic X
18:23 Gosh dang IDK what everyone else thinks but I love Ian Flynn's Sonic comics so much. Especially here wherever you see Eggman showing the evil black-and-red eyeballs behind his glasses.
i mean, either way, he has the master plan...
i live in the UK and always knew him as Dr. Robotnik, when Sonic Adventure released i was like "okay who is Eggman?" i like how the movie uses both as both are fitting really.
Julian Robotnik will always be my favorite. I love his threatening appearance and voice, and also love the fact that he’s only focused on Sonic because Sonic is the only thing standing in his way of destroying the last resistance fighters in his world.
Yes you're right about the Beatles song! The original Sonic Team (or at least some of them) were fans of the Beatles and so they used that line from the song as a kind of design philosophy for the character "I am the eggman, I am the walrus" and it's why he has the big moustache and also it inspired the costume, those two big yellow triangles on the shirt represent the walrus tusks :) I wish I could remember my source for this, if I find it I will link it!
I always loved how Robotnik was portrayed in Sat Am. Because of the fact he was a genuine threat and had a scary menace to him; and because of the environmentalist message that the show conveyed through the side effects of eggman getting his way never really being explored in anything else to my knowledge.
He was an Evil Genius and a Tyrant who was beyond reasoning with, it really gave a reason of why Sonic and his Friends NEEDED to fight Eggman, who these days has practically no real presence and is treated as a joke destined for failure.
To add further: Giving Eggman a distinctly Slavic name in the West plus playing up the environmental themes that were already present really turns the early Sonic series into a sort of Cold War allegory, at least that's how I've always seen it. Well, S1 _was_ pre-USSR collapse. By that thinking, Robotnik is Stalin (great moustache) and/or Brezhnev - the former known for purges and the latter for global-scale environmental catastrophe. Sonic then is the Western free-spirit ideal.
I heard Sonic was partially inspired by Clinton and his jogging habbit.
Grew up w/Robotnic so I definitely prefer that name over Eggman but I've always liked the idea of Eggman being an insulting nickname for Robotnic so I love that that is kinda what ended up happening.
Also, loved Jim Carrey's version of Robotnic...yeah it was pretty much just Carrey being himself but it was so reminiscent of the wacky energy of the 90s cartoon (not the Sat AM) version that my sister and I absolutely adored as kids.
Fun fact that you probably already knew, the Swatbots and some of Eggman's more cunning and evil persona from SatAM made a return in Sonic Chronicles: the Dark Brotherhood. Say what you want about that game, but I personally think it was a great game and the plot and characters especially fascinated me.
Sadly due to Penders we will never get a sequel to that game.
@@gozillabk true but I think frontiers mentioned it. (I could be wrong.).
Honestly, as a kid I always called him "Eggman" whenever I felt it was meant to be funny or insulting, and "Robotnik" whenever things were meant to be serious, and I kind of imagine that Sonic himself would do the same.
I'm here for both names. Always a pleasure to hear you talk about all things nerd, Nick. Pup did his usual amazing work. Hope you're recovering well.
I always thought that Eggman was his joke name and Doctor Robotnik what's his true name I never knew there was a whole history between the names fighting
Boom's Eggman is like an Upside Down Egg, with the Swole Body.
i've seen so many of those youtube poops and memes of the robotnik from the adventures of sonic the hedgehog that he lives rent free in my head, and it overall makes me perfer the character more than the newer versions and many many redesigns of the character
I had always assumed "Robotnik" was a combination of "beatnik" and "robot"; considering "Eggman" was likely taken from the Beatles, I had always figured they wanted a more lawyer-friendly name while keeping the mild 50s/60s American influence there.
Also, speaking as an older zoomer, I grew up with "Eggman", though I was introduced to him as "Robotnik" via Mega Collection Plus. I did find it kind of weird that the older games described him as Robotnik when "Eggman" is clearly printed on the airship in Wing Fortress Zone, though this is before I knew he was always Eggman in Japan.
I like how the Sonic live-action movie puts both Dr. Robotnik and Eggman's name together. His name is still Ivo Robotnik but Sonic mockingly nicknamed him Eggman for his robot egg designs. That was a genius idea by the movie filmmakers.
Thinking about Gerald and Maria, I was very happy that his real name was fixed as ivo robotnik in the Japanese version and that Eggman was changed to a nickname.
I love that it shows how he can act as a threat even with a funny nickname
The Japanese Dub of SA2 Said the Jerry's Surname is Robotnik.
@@conradojavier7547 Yes, but after Colors? Or rather, from around that time, I can guess from the remarks of the overseas version of Generations and the place where the name was fixed to Eggman due to the boom.
It seems that even the family name has disappeared for a while
In Mario and Sonic's Tokyo, Gerald's setting was disappearing from Shadow
@@ドラゴンリュー-f1x It's like Yakuza Rename to Like a Dragon Worldwide, cuz the NEW Localization Name matches the Japanese name more than the IP's Former Name.
Annnnd then they dropped the name and we never saw Robotnik again
Japanese people must have been so confused at wtf a Robotnik is when they played SA2 lol
Also really disrespectful to retcon the character's original name as a "joke" only to fit in with the arguably much worse and generic American version
@@maude7420 Daily reminder that Sonic as a franchise was always a collaboration between the West and Japan and that neither side is the "true" Sonic.
"He's an absolute treat." With this frame??? 7:18 I mean, you're not wrong. Bro got some cake
There's a bit of retconning involved, but Flynn confirmed on the old Archie blog (now defunct, unfortunately) that the Robo-Robotnik who becomes Eggman was actually a separate character from the one seen in issue #19.
Well that clears up some confusion.
They should've adopted Scratch and Grounder as his minions in the games.
The geniune compromise between the japanese más western side of the series when it comes to Eggman is something that I will always appreciate
Those who grew up with the 'Robotnik' Name usually tend to still prefer to call him that, though it depends on what they originally felt about it...
Another reason the name 'Robotnik' was used was due to the influence of the Russian/German stereotyping being used in cartoons at the time - most infamous being the Russian Spies *Boris and Natasha Badnekov* of the _Rocky and Bullwinkle_ cartoons. When adapting Dr. Eggman for the Western Audiences, *SEGA of America* chose to work these influences into his Name, to put the common '-nik' suffix in stereotypical Russian speech translations along with the 'Robot' prefix to create a name that sounds much like an eccentric (or insane) German Inventor from WW1 (given that the many _Star Wars_ Empire references they used were themselves based on WW1 and Hitler's Regime) - Dr. Robotnik!
So it's simply a name of the times - Wartime enemies were the Villains of choice in that time period, so *SEGA of America* capitalised on it to create an Antagonist that was as iconic as a *Fire-Breathing Dragon-Turtle kidnapping a Princess* to be the Big Bad for their *Rebellious Extreme foil* to *Nintendo's Knight in Sewer-Worker's Overalls...*
Eggman is the only character that really stays the same across all mediums
The rant/speech at the end (really love those btw) reminded me that apparently in the sonic 2 movie novelization Knuckles calls Sonic son of Mobius, and I loved that
Eggman is his nickname abd Robotnick is his actual name, that's how's its been since day one of sonic content with him in it
I remember playing SA 1 and heard Sonic say Eggman, then be confused. I love both names but the Eggman design is my default and the Eggman theme helps to sell it. Loved this video, you're informative as ever Nick. keep doing your thing.
Sonic insults Dr. Robotnik by calling him RoBUTTnik. Dr. Robotnik = his only name.
He only did that in the cartoons, to my knowledge, and started using the term "Eggman", which makes more sense considering how much of an egg theme he has (his mechs have "Egg" as part of their name, Wing Fortress Zone has "Eggman" plastered all over it, he's literally shaped like one in almost every medium), in SA1, with the doctor himself coming to refer to himself as his rightful name in SA2. In spite of this, "Ivo Robotnik" is still used in conjunction as his given name and surname respectively. As far as the games are concerned, Sonic actually put in some effort with his insults, unlike the few media where he decided to be Spiny McUninspired as opposed to Sonic.