Robotnik or Eggman? »

        Even though this plothole has been solved, it was one of the most prestigious continuity errors in its hay day, rest assure. Up until Sonic Adventure, Sonic's nemesis and the bad guy of the games was known as Dr. Robotnik in America and Europe while in Japan he was known as Dr. Eggman. How did this happen? In 1991 when Sonic the Hedgehog was in the makes, Eggman's general design was done by Naoto Ohshima. And when Sonic 1 was released, the villain was named Robotnik. Robotnik actually came before Eggman since Sonic the Hedgehog's release was in America a month before Japan's.

         Japan originally intended to name the character as Eggman instead of Robotnik, but because of copyright issues with the Beatles song, America gave the Robotnik name. Japan kept their original idea for their own translation of the game, so along came Eggman. In the end, they're still the exact same character in spite of the belief of some idiots later on.

The left is Sonic Team's/Japan's rendition of Eggman when Sonic first came out. This appearance held firm pretty much permanently until Sonic Adventure came about. On the right is how America drew Robotnik. As you can see, he looks pretty much the same except they forgot to add gloves, spectacles, and a red nose. You may have remembered this American rendition of Eggman depicted on the American/European boxart of many old Sonic titles such as Sonic 2, 3, and Sonic Chaos. No matter what, they are both the same exact character.

          When 1993 rolled by and Sega of America found it necessary to flesh Sonic out more and make the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog TV series, Archie Sonic Comic, and SatAM TV series, they decided to change Robotnik's design. This is when the true dispute between them really began to brew. Since SOA's design was so drastically different, people began to think that ROBOTNIK was an entirely different person.

These are the designs SOA came up with for the SatAM TV show, AoStH TV show, and Archie storyline. The one on the left was used in the SatAM TV show and Archie Comics. The right one was in AoStH, but they're both basically the same design used for the same 'save Mobius' continuity. If you remember, the one on the right was used on the American boxart for Sonic Triple Trouble, Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and the Master System/Gamegear version of Sonic Spinball. These two designs are what some fans think is Dr. Robotnik, while Japan's version is Dr. Eggman. They are still both the exact same character, they both have the names Dr. Eggman AND Dr. Robotnik, but are depicted differently to appeal to their corresponding nations. However, I will agree that Japan's design looks a lot better.

          In the end, all designs of this character are of the exact same individual. The one in Japan had his own appearance and was named Dr. Eggman, but could also be called Robotnik and you'd still be making references to the SAME character and vice versa. They were just different designs to appeal to different nations. Eventually, this dispute came to an end upon the arrival of today's Eggman, which has an appearance that obviously beats the crap out of all the other Eggmans/Robotnik's. Sonic Adventure's design of Eggman is also what brought the name "Eggman" to US shores, baffling many American fans as to what the hell an Eggman was supposed to be. This mixing eventually resulted in…

           The name "Robotnik" became officially recognized in Japan as well come Sonic Adventure 2. The popularity of Robotnik was so high in the west that the eastern shores eventually hopped onto the Robotnik bandwagon and these days, Eggman's true name, no matter what country you're in, is Dr. Robotnik. What do we have to thank for this decision? Gerald and Maria Robotnik. Although, Eggman himself was not referred to as Dr. Robotnik once in the game, his cousin and grandfather both had the Robotnik surname in both the American and Japanese versions of the game (since apparently Sonic Team had the common sense to know that Gerald and Maria Eggman sound insanely stupid), thus officially making Robotnik Eggman's true surname, while Dr. Eggman is more of an alias, thus mending the plothole.