-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
We're all in agreement that "Doctor Ivo Robotnik" is a thousand times better than "Eggman", right?
- Thread starter AuthenticM
- Start date
From what I recall, the Japanese and American teams made up their own lore completely separately - neither side was clued into what the other one was doing and the only constant was that the main character's name was Sonic. The American names for the badniks (itself an American invention - in the Japanese manual and stuff they're just called robots) are all different, along with the animal buddies Sonic rescues in the first game, except for Flicky.
Fun tidbit on that, the squirrel in Sonic 1 is a boy named Ricky in Japan, but the American team went with... Sally Acorn. Well before the cartoon too.
I believe (unless it was a different comic I read) he was in an explosion from a failed experiment which turned him evil and messed up his name tag and he just rolled with it.
They do. It's just that their main audience knows him as Eggman.
Aside from being egg-shaped, most of his contraptions have an egg theme. His flying machine is called the Egg Mobile (called the Egg-O-Matic in AoStH), he's got a team of robotic minions called Egg Robos, he's got a Death Star knockoff called the Death Egg, and a lot of zones in the Game Gear games had "Egg" or "Scrambled" in their names. There was even an entire episode of AoStH where a comic artist makes a strip about Robotnik as Humpty Dumpty.
The dude is a goddamn "Egg" Man. Has always been, even in early 90s Western materials. That is the more appropriate name.
The dude is a goddamn "Egg" Man. Has always been, even in early 90s Western materials. That is the more appropriate name.
Robotnik, way cooler name than lame "eggman". In Sonic Adventures, I always thought Eggman was used as an insult to Robotnik.
Robotnik is also harder to say for both Japanese and English speakers, and carries a slight undertone of Cold War Russophobia.
Plus, without "Eggman" we would've never gotten this gem:
And, finally, dude does kinda look like an egg. As do many of his machines.
Dr. Eggman always made more sense in the context of the Genesis games. The dislike of his name because Robotnik sounds cooler or badass has always been baffling to me, because the actual character as portrayed is a goddamn goofball. When he isn't making egg-themed space stations with his walrus mustache plastered on it, he's making cute or dopey looking animal themed robots or coming up genius, fool-proof plans like "I'lI swing a giant ball at him, that'll do the trick".
I'm actually curious how many people prefer Robotnik despite identifying him as Eggman first, as opposed to meeting him as Robotnik and then seeing a seemingly-odd change for reasons that they wouldn't learn about for years. When arguing over which voice is superior for a character who's changed voice actors, many choose the first voice they heard.
I think Eggman is at least as thematic as a name, and there are other mad scientists who could easily be called "Robotnik" thematically but not "Eggman", so it's more distinct.
I think Eggman is at least as thematic as a name, and there are other mad scientists who could easily be called "Robotnik" thematically but not "Eggman", so it's more distinct.
ok now that this post made me realize that "Ivo" is actually incredibly sneaky wordplay, I change my vote to Robotnik
I don't know if Nintendo's ever tried changing his name to match. I've only heard of "Princess Toadstool."
Plus I think Koopas are a more distinct name than Turtles for the species. Like Goombas.
I really like "Eggman!"
I was always under the impression that his name is Robotnik, but they call him Eggman to tease him. I didn't think they renamed him.
I was always under the impression that his name is Robotnik, but they call him Eggman to tease him. I didn't think they renamed him.
Because bowser is better than koopa and koopa is already used as their race.
Seriously, king koopa is boring just like eggman.
Same with princess toadstool changing to peach and the majority of people not having a problem with it, because princess toadstool sounds like shit and is harder to pronounce on other countries' languages.
Btw Princess Rosalina is absolutely terrible and other countries have better names for her, maybe NoA should change that in the future also, jk of course, but her english name is pretty bad and doesnt work with her theme.
Main reason they probably changed her name from Rosetta to Rosalina is because they didn't want to get sued by Rosetta Stone company.
I vote Eggman. That's a name that's fun to say and hear, and it symbolises the character's quirkiness. Besides, I like Eggman's comedic moments a lot more.
I associate Robotnik with the Western variants of the character, so AoStH version is still Robotnik, the SatAM version is also Robotnik, and Fleetway's Sonic the Comic is also Robotnik. What do they all have in common? They have black sclera and red eyes, and they also tend to have a more conical head.
I wonder how Dean Sitton feels anytime a debate between the better name emerges.
Thank you for reading.
I associate Robotnik with the Western variants of the character, so AoStH version is still Robotnik, the SatAM version is also Robotnik, and Fleetway's Sonic the Comic is also Robotnik. What do they all have in common? They have black sclera and red eyes, and they also tend to have a more conical head.
I wonder how Dean Sitton feels anytime a debate between the better name emerges.
Thank you for reading.
Isnt the song basically the basis for him? I mean his original design made him look like a walrus
Bowser is King of the Koopas. Peach is Princess of the Toadstools. It's not really an issue either way. They just got real names in addition to their job titles.
It's literally both.
Robotnik is his family name. Eggman is his supervillain legacy.
This shouldn't be a controversy because they've literally set this stuff up so you can use whatever you want and still be right.
Even then, the idea that Eggman is too silly a name for a goofy over the top lad scientist who is egg shaped and wears Sgt. Pepper's outfit who creates goofy looking robots that have goofy names in both languages and whose most notable creation is a giant warship called the DEATH EGG and who exists in the same canon as a character who is named Miles Prower is ridiculous to me.
It's just down to preferring what you grew up with. That's all. Don't try to pretend there's some objective superiority to one choice over the other. They're both fine and both equally canon.
Robotnik is his family name. Eggman is his supervillain legacy.
This shouldn't be a controversy because they've literally set this stuff up so you can use whatever you want and still be right.
Even then, the idea that Eggman is too silly a name for a goofy over the top lad scientist who is egg shaped and wears Sgt. Pepper's outfit who creates goofy looking robots that have goofy names in both languages and whose most notable creation is a giant warship called the DEATH EGG and who exists in the same canon as a character who is named Miles Prower is ridiculous to me.
It's just down to preferring what you grew up with. That's all. Don't try to pretend there's some objective superiority to one choice over the other. They're both fine and both equally canon.
Koopa being their race came later/is mistranslated, it was originally King Koopa and Koopa troopas so troopers of Koopa.
The reason that nobody cares about that name anymore is cause Bowser was named in game in 1990, which is why a lot of media still called him King Koopa for awhile like the Movie, while Eggman was in 1999. Far more people here probably grew up with him being called Bowser.
I prefer Eggman now, it just fits the character and world better. Even in the early localized titles things are still called Egg (Death Egg for example), so it's not like it was completely out of no where for western audiences.
It's like a super villain title, which fits his overall character. The insult argument doesn't really work because it's an insult he would then be actively using himself.
Robotnik is just so on the nose (he makes Robots, let's call him Robot-Nik!)
But as others have said: it's technically both. Adventure 2 solidified that.
It's like a super villain title, which fits his overall character. The insult argument doesn't really work because it's an insult he would then be actively using himself.
Robotnik is just so on the nose (he makes Robots, let's call him Robot-Nik!)
But as others have said: it's technically both. Adventure 2 solidified that.
Yes they do; that is why they ditched Robotnik in favour of Eggman.
His name is Eggman, so i will call him Eggman. That's basically what it boils down to. I don't care that Robotnik sounds cooler to some it's still not his real name.