While I'm happy to see Robotnik's full name being mentioned, the one thing I didn't like is that they pronounced "Ivo" in the wrong way according to their own Sonic Bible, but I can see that the intended pronunciation isn't intuitive for native English speakers (unlike, say, Italians).
But Mr Hockey! My theory means that Tails can beat us up when we complain about things! ... ... Oh heck...
The Japanese version is up. They acknowledged Ivo for the first time in the series (as far as i know) with the correct pronunciation according to the old western Bible, no less (with いい). No more "his real name is unknown" from the Japanese side.
I still feel like we have the movie to thank for reviving the Robotnik name. Generations basically buried it, later Archie comics scrubbed the name from the series, and even Mike Pollock in off the cuff stuff or jokey clips was like "lol who's Robotnik." But after the movies started using that name and they became so popular even the Japanese side of the franchise had to finally acknowledge that people also know this character as Robotnik and they're just going to have to deal with it. I like the idea of the reclaimed nickname angle. Yes, you have to kind of bend interpretation of things a bit in the classics to make this work but idk, maybe off camera in SegaSonic Sonic, Mighty, and Ray start calling him Eggman and it ticks him off, and after losing he went crazy, took the name, and then built the death egg as like a "ya call me an egg I'll show you what an egg can do" thing. Sonic 1 doesnt use the egg thing really at all, the only info you have on his name comes from the manual. CD doesn't either except mentions in music that werent there over in the US. So you have like 3 games in the timeline before the blatant egg talk starts (there was always the Eggmobile and weirdly enough in English the Egg-o-matic, also the boss names included Egg, like Egg Wrecker or Psycho Egg, but that info isnt conveyed to us that often, although weirdly it will be in Origins boss rush), enough time went by and he lost enough and was mocked by Sonic enough (because classic Sonic can be a bit of a dick) that he went a little nuts. I can totally see this as a move someone with a warped ego would do as a mental defense mechanism.
There are multiple accounts of various super unlikeable/infamous people on social media being memed on so hard that they try to cash in on the meme, only for it to either backfire on them or not be funny anymore. It checks out lol
*Looks at Robotnik Winter in Triple Trouble* We started the name contamination first, mwahahaha. Now seriously, my only issue with "Eggman" is the lack of imagination in giving him that name, I stuck to the western name for that reason more than anything else. I'd have liked "Easterman" a lot more.
I guess Sonic Team, at first, simply cared about giving characters names simple, easy and fast to say and fitting to each's appearance and personality.
I think Eggman is a pretty clever name. It references I Am the Walrus (as does his classic design's resemblance to a walrus), his round shape, as well as his baldness and high intellect (by invoking the term "egghead") all at once. Whereas "Robotnik" ignores his egg-based naming conventions. I recall many fans being puzzled by the name "Death Egg" in the olden pre-SA1 days.
Oh, of course, there was limited space in games to put long character strings, so they usually defaulted to that behaviour even if the names didn't show up in-game. Even harder to do in English than it was in japanese, and these japanese devs were writing english text on-screen. Just think about Knuckles being referenced as K-T-E (Knuckles The Echidna) along the lives icon in the HUD because Knuckles was too lng for that. Genuinely asking: what's "I Am The Walrus" and, more important, why would Eggman (both name and character) be linked to it?
It's a Beatles song from 1967: There's lyrics in there, "I am the eggman, we are the eggmen." About 0:55.
Yeah. His classic design is meant to invoke a walrus' appearance, with the "whiskers" (moustache) and "tusks" (yellow triangles).
Then I wonder why haven't them called Eggman "Walrus"? When localized, it could have become "Walrus Robotnik" xD
Then it's noticeable I'm not a fan of The Beatles. Ok then, the name makes a lot of psychodelic sense, which is great but a bit confusing when it's Sonic related.
Damn, didn't even post the in-game version, for shame. Anyway, I think Eggman's perfectly fine. Maybe it's because it's ingrained after so many years (and I think I was exposed to it before Robotnik since my first exposure to Sonic was Heroes at a friends house and then receiving Rush and a DS for Christmas, before later getting the SatAM DVDs), but I think it very much captures the character as a whole, somehow, both his faux-jolly nature yet also the underlying menace. "Easterman" is already based off that name but I feel like it tries too hard to be clever and becomes obscure and nowhere near as catchy as a result. Less is more.
Oh, yes, I chose it because it sounds as a surname too. I came up with that name for an idea I had which wasn't really a parody but had some "bootlegging" of the characters for some amusement.
Oh wow, I always felt the yellow cape parts looked like something, but I didn't realize it until now. That's perfect.
You could easily spin Robotnik as unoriginal as well, I mean Cold War sentiment is the most generic villain crap coming from American's fiction, and Dr. Blue collared wage-slave isn't the most inspired name ever. Both names good reasons behind it, I'd say let just leave it at that. Specially now that Sega seems to be less resistant in incorporating western canon. Who knows? We might see stuff like Sally Acorn, and i wouldn't mind to see a separate character "Julian Robotnik" even if my preference is on Classy Eggy, Robotnik is a family/clan name, why not cash on that?. (And personally i find a bit sad to diminish something that came from the team who started it all.) Not at all, The roots of Sonic conception are interlinked a lot to Western Pop Culture through the eyes of Japan. Michael Jackson, Santa Claus, Felix the Cat...
I doubt we’d get anything from SatAM, it’s got too much baggage tied to it now and it was periphery to the games even in the west.
