Doctor Eggman in other media

Several Sonic the Hedgehog continuities, based on the original video game continuity, have emerged over the years, each presenting different depictions of the games characters. Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik, the series main villain, is arguably the character that has differed the most between incarnations. This article describes his various incarnations in western media.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

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The AoStH version of Dr. Robotnik.

The AoStH continuity, shorthand for Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, the first Sonic animated series, had little history for Robotnik, merely presenting him as a villain who sought to rule Mobius. Notably, the design of Robotnik in this series was wildly different from his portrayal in the games. At least once per episode, Robotnik declares his hatred of Sonic with his unmistakable scream of "I HATE THAT HEDGEHOG!".

In the episode "Best Hedgehog" (which was the first episode to air, but the thirteenth in production order), it was revealed that, in high school, Robotnik harbored a crush on his classmate, Lucinda, who, according to him, was the one thing he treasured most besides power. But since she was already in love with fellow classmate Lucas, his feelings were obviously unreturned. Ivo attempted to get revenge on Lucas with one of his inventions, but it failed and resulted in him being expelled. Somewhere along the line, Robotnik managed to get a doctorate degree, which he proves by way of a diploma he flaunts often. In this episode there are two flashbacks, one is Lucas' where an acne-ridden Robotnik sets a robot on Lucas and promises Lucinda money if she "went steady with him". He, however, was rejected. The second is a made up account by Robotnik told to Scratch and Grounder, in which a handsomely portrayed Robotnik's feelings for Lucinda were returned. When Lucas turns up, Robotnik beats him up.

Interestingly, this version of Robotnik has invented far more than all of his other incarnations put together. His flaw, though, is that all of his robots, among them Scratch and Grounder, aren't very intelligent, and as a result, they always fail in their schemes. In fact, Dr. Robotnik even created a robot wife called Omaletta (which got malfunctioned by water) and a son called Robotnik Jr but he turned to Sonic's side and got disowned.

This is the only continuity where one of Robotnik's parents is ever seen. Mama Robotnik is usually kept under control of Mobius' local asylum, but she occasionally escapes to make a special guest appearance. She is quite a mad woman, to the fact that even Ivo himself fears her.

Robotnik also has a cousin called Dr. Warpnik whom Robotnik banished to the Land of Confusion since he is a "loonie".

This version of Robotnik was also featured in the Genesis and Game Gear game Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine — notably, that was the only game to feature Eggman as the titular character. Robotnik's AoStH design was also used in American Sega display cases and in most European Sonic merchandise from 1994 up until the release of Sonic Adventure.

The AoStH Robotnik's designer, Milton Knight, designed this version with the intention of making him "animation's sexiest fat man!"

Fleetway

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The Fleetway version of Robotnik

The Fleetway continuity originates with a short "official" storyline created by Sega of America for the original game, which was then expanded upon by the book, Stay Sonic, and even further by the enduring Sonic the Comic, as well as some other UK novels. As this extended continuity mainly featured in Sonic the Comic, is known as the Fleetway continuity, named after the comic's publisher. However, since, StC's storyline used aspects of SegaSonic storyline such as South Island, the differences between the two blur in places. In general, however, both are based on the game series. Although his goals and actions were always evil, the Fleetway incarnation of Robotnik was, until near the end of the series, often very tongue in cheek, possessed of such foibles as replacing the "ex" in words with "eggs" (e.g. "eggs-actly").

Here, Doctor Robotnik (as he was consistently called, even when the Western video games switched to using the "Eggman" name) had a particularly different origin to anything from any other country. Originally, he was not Doctor Ivo Robotnik, but was Doctor Ovi Kintobor, a kindly scientist from Earth who, though unexplained means, accidentally wound up stranded on Mobius. Setting up an underground laboratory in the Emerald Hill Zone, Kintobor resolved that he would make the peaceful Mobius a true paradise by eradicating even the tiniest traces of negative energy from it. Using a machine he named the Retro-Orbital Chaos Compressor (ROCC), formed of many purifying golden rings, he slowly gathered all the negative energy on Mobius, and, requiring a vessel to contain it, acquired six mysterious emeralds to do the job.

It was then that an inquisitive young brown hedgehog named Sonic came tumbling into his lab. Kintobor quickly became friends with Sonic, and helped him to advance his speed - while testing a new invention of Kintobor's termed "Power Sneakers," Sonic ran so fast that he broke the sound barrier, and the shockwaves fused his quills and tempered his body cobalt blue. Sonic used his new speed to help search for the seventh and final emerald, which was required to stabilize the energy transfer. Their efforts were in vain, but Kintobor eventually apparently discovered a way to complete the transfer without the seventh emerald. Before the process was initiated, they decided to have lunch, but found only one rotten egg. With the egg in his hand, Kintobor went back to the ROCC... and tripped on a cable, falling over and slamming his hand into the machine's control panel. The ROCC exploded, bathing Kintobor — and the egg — in chaos energy, and scattering the golden rings that comprised it across the planet. As the smoke cleared, Sonic made a terrifying discovery — Doctor Ovi Kintobor was no more — now, he was Ivo Robotnik.

After two attempts to take over Mobius, as chronicled in the first two Sonic the Hedgehog video games, Robotnik employed a different tack, taking control of a portion of the weird alternate dimension known as the Special Zone and establishing a fortress there. Putting the sentient energy-field known as the Omnipotent Omni-Viewer under his control, Robotnik had his pawn transport Sonic and a group of his friends six months into Mobius's future. During their absence, Robotnik's forces overran the planet, so that when Sonic and co. returned, they found that Robotnik now had unquestioned control of Mobius.

Recommended by his image consultants to try a new look, Robotnik abandoned his traditional game-based appearance by enclosing himself in a gigantic egg, from which he "hatched" in a new body based on his AoStH incarnation. Galvanised into more aggressive action by this transformation, Robotnik poured his time into "Project: Metallix" which bore fruit with Metal Sonic, who derived power from a cyberformed Miracle Planet. Myriad schemes, robots and technology ensued in his constant war with Sonic, but Robotnik's goal always remained to acquire the reality-warping power of the Chaos Emeralds for his own, and he was offered his chance when a mechanical failure on his orbital Death Egg satellite caused the craft, with him aboard, to plummet out of the sky. Before impacting with Mobius, however, the spacecraft landed on the legendary Floating Island, where Robotnik encountered Knuckles the Echidna. Convincing him that Sonic had stolen the Chaos Emeralds, Robotnik allowed himself to be captured by the Freedom Fighters, allowing Knuckles to follow him to their base, where they ransomed Porker Lewis to acquire the ancient gems. Returning to the Floating Island, Knuckles reintegrated Sonic's six emeralds with the six kept on the island, and Robotnik revealed a device which he had created that would take the place of the seventh, grey emerald, in the process. Using the device to seize control of the emerald power, Robotnik grew to giant size and perform such feats as turning Tails to glass before Knuckles revealed that the grey emerald was in his possession, and used it to de-power Robotnik and return him to Mobius.

Smarting after this defeat, Robotnik's first action was to return to the Freedom Fighters' base with an army of Badniks and destroy it, forcing Sonic and his team into operating out of a mobile headquarters. The Death Egg, however, remained on the Floating Island, and Robotnik soon returned there to supervise its repair, arranging for a new model of Metallix to steal the Master Emerald to power the deadly device. With the Death Egg active, Robotnik was poised to unleash its death ray upon the Emerald Hill Zone, before Knuckles activated ancient weaponry on the floating island and crippled the ship. Invading it and stealing the Master Emerald, Sonic went up against Robotnik in a suit of armour, eventually sending him toppling back to Mobius. Enraged by the idignity, Robotnik vowed vengeance, moving his base of operations out of the Special Zone and into "Citadel Robotnik" in the Metropolis Zone, but he found himself unable to exact his revenge on the Emerald Hill folk, as they had been secretly moved into seclusion on the Floating Island.

Coincidentally, Robotnik's next two greatest opponents were not the Freedom Fighters, but his own renegade creations. Using a copy of the Omni-Viewer, the rebellious Brotherhood of Metallix altered the timeline so that Kintobor never became Robotnik and took over Mobius, necessitating that Sonic restore the natural order of things (meaning that, in turn, Sonic was actually responsible for creating Robotnik). Subsequently, Commander Brutus, a Badnik trooper that Robotnik programmed with a copy of his own brain patterns, constructed his own army and invaded the Metropolis Zone, having acquired Robotnik's ambition for conquest. Robotnik faced his mental twin down in combat armour, spraying him with liquid nitrogen and shattering his body, destroying him.

A chain of seeming good fortune for Robotnik ultimately led to his downfall when he discovered that Sonic had become stranded in the Special Zone. Encountering the fatally wounded echidna, Doctor Zachary, who had fallen from the Floating Island in battle with Knuckles, Robotnik restored him with cybernetic components, and learned from him of that Emerald Hill folk hiding on the island. Striking while Knuckles was absent, Robotnik and Zachary used the hapless Emerald Hillers to create a giant biological computer. Seconds before he was able to activate the grotesque device, however, a massive electro-magnetic pulse — created by Super Sonic in the Special Zone and shunted to Mobius by the Omni-Viewer — swept across the planet, utterly destroying his robots and computer systems. Left utterly defenceless, Robotnik was captured by the returned Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, and although he was liberated by Grimer and went into hiding, he had firmly been toppled as ruler the planet, and Mobius was free of his control at last.

Long having planned to investigate the mysterious Flickies Island, Robotnik used his fall from power as a chance to finally explore the island, discovering that the Flicky birds which populated it came from another dimension, and made excellent organic batteries for new Badniks. As a result of activating the Mobius Ring that served as a gateway to that other world, however, Robotnik was abducted by the alien Drakon Empire and brought through the ring to their homeworld. Ever the entrepreneur, the good doctor struck a deal with the aliens, arranging for Sonic to be placed into trial by combat against his new Metallix model. Triumphing over his robot opponent, Sonic was pronounced innocent, and Robotnik was left at something of a loose end, conducting a series of random Badnik attacks on Mobius from his staging base on Flickies Island that were summarily repelled by Sonic and Tails. Soon, however, the Drakons made contact with Robotnik again, seeking his help in locating the Chaos Emeralds, which had originally belonged to their race in ancient times. Feigning ignorance of the gems' location, Robotnik encouraged the Drakons to concentrate on prying that information from Sonic instead, while he arranged a complicated double-cross that involved his assistant, Grimer, appearing to defect to the Drakons' side and reveal the location of the Emeralds to them. With the Drakons having taken care of all opposition standing between them and the Emeralds, Robotnik made his move, finally taking control of the jewels in their full-power state. The sheer energy apparently proved too much for his body to contain, however, as he was transformed into a crystal statue.

This was, however, soon revealed to be a chrysalis stage as Robotnik's body adapted to the immense energies it now contained. Becoming mobile once again, Robotnik used the power of the emeralds to alter history, removing Sonic from the timeline and showing the hero the Mobius that would have existed without him. Putting Sonic through a myriad of torments, from warping reality around him to pitting him against an army of his strongest foes to even showing Sonic that he was destined to grow old never being able to defeat Robotnik, Robotnik then made the mistake of allowing Sonic to goad him into restoring Knuckles as his ally. With the echidna's aid, Sonic drained the emerald power from Robotnik's body with the Grey Emerald, but, barely able to exist without the power, Robotnik shrank away to nothing, disappearing into a sub-atomic universe, where, on the world of Shanazar, he found himself reverted back into Doctor Kintobor. Found by inhabitants of Shanazar City, Kintobor was brought before Princess Kupacious, who installed him as he grand vizier. Finding that he was apparently beginning to turn back into Robotnik, Kintobor quickly formulated an elixir that held off the transformation, but, when Sonic, Grimer and Nack the Weasel, arrived in Shanazar in pursuit of him, and Kintobor was sent on a mission to the Mystic Mountain, the elixir's effects wore off, and he became Doctor Robotnik once again.

Retaining his position as vizier, Robotnik had a court magician wipe Sonic's mind of the memory of the device he had used to come to Shanazar, so, while the forgetful hedgehog was exploring the planet's many other zones, Robotnik and Grimer fashion the device into a machine which would fused Mobius and Shanazar into one composite world. Intending to protect himself from any harmful effects with a magic gem, so that he might emerge as the ruler of the combined planet, Robotnik was thwarted when Princess Kupacious, turned into a frog by more magic, stole the gem for herself. Regardless, the scheme amounted to nothing when Mobius and Shanazar fused without any ill effects.

Confronted by Amy Rose with the possibility that his own evil methodology had been self-defeating, Robotnik began a dark, downward spiral. Tiring of his long-running war with Sonic, he decided that it was time to bring the game to an end — no longer would be strive to conquer Mobius, but instead, he would destroy it outright. A chance encounter with the living alien hive-mind, the Plax, gave Robotnik the opportunity he desired — mistaken by the Plax for a spiritual leader, the "Great Destroyer," that their legends spoke of, Robotnik used their technology to drain elemental energy from both Mobius and its sister world, Earth, forcing both planets into total ecological collapse. But once again, Robotnik's own evil ways proved to be his undoing when the renegade super-badnik he had created, Shortfuse the Cybernik, wired himself into the energy-transfer machine and used it to undo the damage to the planets.

Having been caught in a cave-in as his base collapsed around him following this confrontation, Robotnik reached his lowest point. Not rising from his chair, or even eating, for days on end, a suicudal depression overcame the former dictator. Desperate to snap his master out of his grim state, Grimer unearthed a container holding a creature made of living chaos that Robotnik had discovered years before, and unleashed it upon the Freedom Fighters. Unaware — but soon informed by Robotnik - that he was unable to control this "Chaos," Grimer thought that he had succeeded as Robotnik's interest in watching the battles between Sonic and the monster grew. When Chaos targeted the Chaos Emeralds and Knuckles reacted by scattering them across Mobius, Robotnik went into action, gathering the emeralds at his fortress outside the Metropolis Zone, drawing Chaos and the Freedom Fighters there. Grimer was shocked, however, when he discovered that this was not part of some grand plan by Robotnik — the crazed villain had, in actuality, drawn his enemies there so that they might all die together as Chaos absorbed the emeralds. But Robotnik was denied even the embrace of oblivion when Super Sonic arrived to absorb Chaos's energies into his own body, and then be re-integrated back together with Sonic.

Sonic the Comic - Online!

The fan-made continuation of Sonic the Comic (viewed by some as "officially unofficial," due to its endorsement by some of the creators of StC) has furthered the story of Robotnik, who, denied the peace of the grave, had completely lost his mind, and was left a drooling maniac. Deemed to be too insane to stand trial, he was locked away in a Mental Institution. He was deathly silent for the duration of his incarcration, never eating or sleeping.

Liberated from imprisonment by his former ally, the psychotic echidna scientist Dr. Zachary, however, Robotnik became part of his criminal "Syndicate," who unleashed the artificial lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog. After his battle with Sonic aboard Robotnik's Death Carrier, Shadow used all the Chaos Energy he had left (seemingly dying in the process) to teleport Robotnik to safety.

StC-O! has also added some material to Kintobor's established history. Whereas the novel, Sonic the Hedgehog in the Fourth Dimension, attested that Kintobor had come to Mobius on a one-man science exploration mission, later statements made by the Ring of Eternity indicated that Mobius was an important multiversal crossroads point, and StC-O! has used that idea to indicate that Kintobor unintentionally "slipped" between dimensions and wound up on Mobius while simply going out to do his shopping. Furthermore, in contrast to Stay Sonic's claims that he had to locate each of the six Chaos Emeralds individually, StC-O! has Kintobor discover all six amdist a cache of other technology left over from the Echidna-Drakon war within a hollow hill, leading to the surrounding zone being dubbed "Emerald Hill." Through use of this Chaos Energy, Kintobor made contact with the Equinox Crocodile Research Team in the Special Zone, explaining how Sonic first met the Omni-Viewer, and educated an unfinished chaos energy lifeform which eventually became Shadow.

Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series)

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The SatAM version of Robotnik

Another continuity began with the Sonic the Hedgehog (TV series) cartoon, which is known as SatAM due to its original airing time (Saturday AM). Vastly different from the SegaSonic and Fleetway continuities, the only characters used from the original story are Sonic, Tails and Dr. Robotnik. Unlike his other incarnations, the SatAM Robotnik is by no means a mad scientist plotting world domination. In contrast, he is a malevolent dictator who has already conquered most of the planet Mobius. What we know of his history is revealed mostly in the second season, especially when Sonic and Sally travel back to the past. His name was Julian, and the earliest detail we know about him is that he was an assistant for Naugus, the wizard who discovered the limited dimension known as the Void. Julian betrayed Naugus and trapped him within the Void. Later, he headed up the Ministry of War in King Acorn's regime, and was instrumental in winning the Great War for the monarchy (the Great War is not explained any further than that). King Acorn allowed Julian to dismantle the military — from Acorn's perspective, this was presumably because the War's finale no longer necessitated it, while Julian's main motive was obviously to set up a coup. Additionally, he stole the plans for the Roboticizer from Sir Charles Hedgehog, Sonic's uncle. Robotnik's coup culminated in his banishment of Acorn to the Void, and his roboticization of 85% of the Mobian population in Mobotropolis. In the show's final episode entitled, The Doomsday project, Sonic and Sally used the Deep Power Stones to become super and destroy Robotnik's title building, causing Robotnik to flee in his hovercraft. But as the building exploded, Robotnik disappeared without a trace.

Due to the role he plays in the series, this Robotnik was given a sinister design to distinguish him from the often comical appearance of his counterparts. While other versions of this character often go after Sonic themselves, this Robotnik directs his forces from a command chair while petting his robotic pet bird, Cluck (seen only in Season 1). SatAM Robotnik seems to have many things in common with the Baron Harkonnen from the book and movie series Dune, including the descriptions of his SWATbot hover units as well as his own personal ability to levitate (Seen in one episode of Season 1 and the last episodes of Season 2). Whether or not this is coincidence, the similarities often make this version of Robotnik an intimidating and fierce character. The cartoon ended after two 13-episode seasons, but the characters continued to appear in the American comic book series based on it, produced by Archie Comics, which developed its own continuity.

Archie Comics

Ivo Robotnik/Robotnik Prime

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Robotnik Prime with his loyal pet, Cluck

In this universe, Dr. Robotnik begins his existence as Julian Kintobor of the House of Ivo, the son of a human-like Overlander and a human from the city of Station Square. He studied under the genius scientist, Dr. Nate Morgan for an extended period of time. Once his mentor passed unto him everything he knew, Julian conspired against Morgan and had him banished. During the breakout of the Great War, he worked as a high-profile weapons engineer for the Overlander armies, brainstorming the most sophisticated military hardware in history. Due to his engineering prowess, the Overlanders nearly pushed their Mobian adversaries to the brink of defeat. However, Julian's methods were put into question when it was revealed that he utilized live Overlander test subjects to evaluate his destructive brainchildren. He was tried in court by his brother Colin in response to this revelation, and was presumably sentenced to either death or life imprisonment. Regardless of the verdict, the court rulings did not bode well with his plans for the future; and he eventually escaped confinement. After barely evading law enforcement officers, he made it to the Mobian border and found himself welcomed by the Kingdom of Acorn. Swearing allegiance, he vows to contribute his inside knowledge on their enemy. The Kingdom's Warlord, Kodos, took the man under his wing — only to suffer the same fate as Morgan. After Kodos "disappeared", Julian assumed the mantle of Warlord.

After defeating the Overlanders in the Great War, he (like his SatAM counterpart) used Charles' invention, the roboticizer, to his own twisted ends. After sabotaging it to turn Sonic's father Jules into a drone, he conspired to have Sonic's mother, Bernie, roboticized, and soon Tails' father Amadeus followed. His plotting culminated with a successful coup to usurp power over all royal territories. Adopting the sinister moniker of Dr. Robotnik, he transfiguring the once beautiful capital city of Mobotropolis into an industrial wasteland he dubbed Robotropolis. Once his power over the Mobian regions was secure, the tyrant then focused his attention on consolidating the rest of the planet. Soon enough, he had nearly all of Mobius under his thumb; only a select few locations were kept hidden from his all-encompassing power. He would continue to rule Mobius with an iron fist, with his loyal henchman Crabmeat, and his wayward nephew, Snively. As time went on, Robotnik disseminated various regional governors across the planet called "Underbosses" to enforce his will and to lead campaigns against local dissenters.

With the Overlanders forced into hiding by Robotnik's armies of SWATbots, his reign continued to last undisputed. Things changed however, when he found resistance in the form of burgeoning rebel cells calling themselves "Freedom Fighters", particularly in the Knothole group led by the King's daughter Princess Sally, and championed by a now grown Sonic the Hedgehog. He continually attempted to crush the resistance for 50 issues, until the four-issue "EndGame" story, where, in addition to trying to have Sally killed and Sonic framed for the murder, discovered the location of Knothole, held the Freedom Fighters at gunpoint, and planned to unleash a weapon called the "Ultimate Annihilator" (In later issues it is referred to as the "Ultimate Nullifier"), a powerful weapon that could warp reality itself. Decisive victory was at hand for the dictator; it appeared as if all of hope for Mobius was lost. Unfortunately for Robotnik, Snively tampered with his ultimate weapon, and after gruelling final battle with Sonic, Julian Ivo Robotnik was killed by being torn apart atom by atom when the weapon backfired.

His displaced molecules recombined temporarily with the help of a device invented by Eggman (and Knuckles' new reality-warping abilities) and soon formulated a plot with his contemporary to reverse the process with Sonic and his comrades. He tricked his former enemies in Knothole Village into thinking he had escaped the clutches of Eggman (who he claimed resurrected him to steal his memories). King Acorn went along with the scheme but it was revealed that the Freedom Fighters only granted him amnesty in an attempt to sabotoge the device that brought him back. His return was cut short in a quarrel with Eggman after it was determined that his existence on this plane of reality was limited. Unfortunately for Robotnik, the machine was since destroyed. Nevertheless, that does not mean the dreaded despot will be gone for good.

Recent developments in the comic have revealed a new villain tentatively titled "Anonymous" who manipulates events behind the scenes with access to older Robotnik technology. It has been stated that he is around Robotnik's height, and his silhouette looks markedly like Robotnik Prime. Recent developments have revealed that Anonymous is A.D.A.M., Eggman's rogue sentient computer virus. The lead writer has since revealed that the reason Robotnik Prime's image was used to depict Anonymous in past issues was due to the fact that he was in fact originally going to turn out to be Robotnik.

Robotnik's name is a reversal of his family's surname (Kintobor → Robotnik). After conquering Mobius he adopted the sinister moniker of "Robotnik" to differentiate himself from his past. He has several relatives — Snively, his nephew, being one of them. There is also his brother, Colin (who was roboticized and then later destroyed), and Snively's half-sister, Hope Kintobor. Finally, from Station Square, there is his deceased grandfather and cousin, Gerald and Maria Kintobor — just as in the games. Hope greatly resembles Maria, and currently lives with the Freedom Fighters in the newly christened Kingdom of Knothole.

Robo-Robotnik/Eggman

Prior to the "EndGame" storyline, a Robotnik from another universe appeared, calling himself "Robo-Robotnik." In his universe, in addition to transforming Sonic and his cohorts into nightmarish cyborgs, he roboticized himself, making himself more powerful. In addition to using a variation of SWATBots known as Shadow Bots (ironically, they were defeated by Robotnik Prime's forces), he sought a legendary weapon called the Giant Borg. He temporarily gained its power, until he was struck down by the force of thousands of multi-dimensional Sonics. The destruction of his weapon seemingly destroyed him, leaving him nothing more than a head — or so everyone thought.

Robo-Robotnik would live on, by transferring his consciousness to a space station in his dimension and remained there for many years. After encountering a temporarily displaced original Robotnik (who was sent to the alternate reality when his creation E.V.E seemingly destroyed him), he decided to "get back in the game" as it were, and supposedly eliminated his version of Sonic along with the royal family. Feeling dissatisfied, he conspired to return to Sonic's dimension, Mobius Prime and after a series of manipulations over several issues, he revealed himself after capturing all the Robians on Mobius. This plan to destroy Sonic failed, though he succeeded in conquering Robotropolis and controlling many of the Robians on Mobius (though he would later lose them). However, his body was destroyed, and he uploaded into a new form based on that of the character's current video-game based design, giving birth to Eggman (though he would still be called Robotnik half the time in an attempt not to confuse readers).

The series continued, and he lost his body numerous times, however he kept the game design instead of the multitudes of other designs under Robotropolis. He later found himself, Snively (who had by that point been roboticized), Sonic, and Tails captured by an alien race known as the BEM. Eggman and Snively were transformed back into humans (or Overlanders), and forced to battle for their lives against a roboticized Sonic and Tails in order to prove whether or not flesh was superior to metal. They were returned to Mobius without being changed back, and have remained so ever since (as an after effect from the BEM's deroboticizer somehow prevents Reroboticzation).

After the Xorda, an alien race that had attacked Mobius in the ancient past when it was still known as "Earth", attacked the planet again, Sonic was lost in space. This granted Eggman the opportunity to spread his power base, and conquered small portions of Mobius, thereby creating the "Eggman Empire." His robot legions are controlled by a sentient computer named ADAM, and he has a robotic "daughter" named Mecha (or "M" for short). He also changed his main base of operations from the nuclear wasteland of Robotropolis (after being tricked into lowering the shields, nuclear missiles infiltrated the city and irradiated the area) to New Megapolis (ironically, Old Megapolis is New York City).

Robo-Robotnik has supposedly taken the original Robotnik's place on Mobius Prime for the time being, but his power over Mobius has diminished to significantly less than that of the world's former autocrat. Although originally a similar alternate reality Robotnik, the character of Eggman has evolved to the point where there are considerable differences between the two. Incidentally, while Robotnik Prime became more and more like his SatAM self as the comic progressed, Eggman (Robo-Robotnik) has grown to act very similar to his game counterpart.

Ivana Robotnik

As with other characters in the comics, Robotnik had several other dimenisonal counterparts. Among these was a female version from a Mobius based on Sailor Moon, Ivana Robotnik. Ivana appeared on Mobius Prime intending to turn Sonic into a monster. However, she was stopped by an alliance of Sonic, her nemesis Sally Moon, and Sally's boyfriend Tuxedo Knux.

Sonic Underground

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Robotnik, flanked by Sleet (left) and Dingo (right), from Sonic Underground

Like the Robotnik of SatAM and Robotnik Prime of the Archie continuity, Sonic Underground's Dr. Robotnik has already taken over most of Mobius. Like his counterpart, this Robotnik's greatest nemesis is Sonic the Hedgehog. However, he must also contend with Sonic's siblings, Sonia and Manic. Other than that, SU's Robotnik has a history much like that of SatAM's, including deposing the rightful ruler SatAM's King Acorn, SU's Queen Aleena Hedgehog). Additionally, this version of Robotnik has the same design as the SatAM Robotnik, but wears a red cape rather than a yellow one. His voice was also different, performed by Gary Chalk who played Grounder from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Instead of Snively, who was not in the series, Robotnik's assistants were two canine bounty hunters named Sleet and Dingo.

This version of Robotnik did not appear in every episode, with Sleet and Dingo serving as the ever-present villains instead (as they were pursuing Sonic Underground while Robotnik remained in Robotropolis). Unlike his SatAM counterpart, he did not Roboticise the whole population of Mobius; that was reserved for those who broke the laws (of which there were many), leaving an underclass for him to have fun oppressing and an aristocracy which he taxed heavily. While he is often viewed as less evil than his SatAM version, one of his goals is to find Sanctuary — where Freedom Fighter's leave their children — and exterminate all the children in it. He also once was willing to let the entire planet be destroyed by Chaos Energy if it meant the Sonic Underground would be destroyed as well.