Egg Man or Robotnik?

[the King]

So should have all of the Pokemon kept their original Japanese names?

They should of just kept Pokemon in Japan and spared America from that brutal craze.

[PixelPixii]

So should have all of the Pokemon kept their original Japanese names?

They should of just kept Pokemon in Japan and spared America from that brutal craze.

LOL!

[flamepanther]

I wonder how this poll would go with younger gamers. A little bit of "it's what I'm used to" tends to go a long way in terms of what people prefer in these things.

[YoshiEgg25]

So should have all of the Pokemon kept their original Japanese names?

They should of just kept Pokemon in Japan and spared America from that brutal craze.

[Original_Name]

He was always a fairly comical character in the games. This didn't really change, except that now it's next to impossible for the peripheral fiction to try to change that. If anything, the way Sonic Team presents the character now is almost like a blending of the previous Japanese/in-game and U.S. comic/TV presentations of the character.

I don't see how he was discernibly comical or uncomical early on -- obviously this can be attributed to the limitations at the time, but from what I recall of the games the entire "personality" of his character is pretty ambiguous. What we were presented with onscreen and in the manual, however, just screams "evil" -- and there's a big difference between that and "evil, but a complete joke". I mean, I concede that they might have planned to make him seem comical later on, but that didn't manifest itself in any big way in the early games -- I guess it's kinda silly the way his face turns red when he's defeated, but it never detracted from my ability to view him as a serious villain.

Regardless, I just think he has a ton of potential as an at least mostly serious villain, and it's a shame to see it squandered on such a flat joke of a character.

[flamepanther]

I don't see how he was discernibly comical or uncomical early on

...

I guess it's kinda silly the way his face turns red when he's defeated

Well there's that. There's also... I mean jeez, just look at him! He's a fat bald man shaped like an egg, wearing what looks like a circus costume, and sporting a comically large mustache (which billows for effect, even). He tries to take over the world with cute robotic animals. His arch nemesis is a blue cartoon mascot animal. He juggles and pilots a flying egg. The character is not meant to be taken seriously. Hell, nothing in Sonic is really meant to be all that serious. There's nothing wrong with that.

Regardless, I just think he has a ton of potential as an at least predominantly serious villain, and it's a shame to see it squandered on such a flat joke of a character.

I don't think that being comical makes him a wasted character. Like I said, nothing in Sonic is strictly serious. It all takes place in a silly cartoon universe, which frankly draws a lot of influence from Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball comics. Dragon Ball is well known for taking an oddball cast and a goofy setting and managing to make the adventure still feel important and the action still feel serious. Eggman fits nicely into such a universe, and relative to the lighthearted atmosphere of the series, the character poses a legitimate threat despite his humor value. I also like how Sonic Team's version of Eggman treats everything he does, including world conquest, as a sort of game. He gets a lighthearted, but nevertheless twisted and sick sense of fun out of all of it--at least up until the point where it's evident that he's going to lose. He's a comical yet wicked villain, and I think that makes him perfectly suited to a silly yet awesome game universe.

Besides, considering the gloved mascot animal hero, expecting the villain to be totally serious is pretty much like wanting the same thing out of Big Bad Pete.

[Original_Name]

This is feeling similar to the conversation we had in the Sonic Adventure vs. Sonic Adventure 2 thread, Flame. As far as the world not being fitting for anything really serious, I remember I once read Earthbound described as "Charlie Brown meets the Cthulhu Mythos" -- I viewed the first Sonics in a similar kind of light.

I wish they'd take the character further because that's how I saw him when I was younger (and how other people, like those who wrote SatAM, envisioned him), and frankly think it's incredibly badass. I understand that's subjective, and I also realize that the fact that the Sonic universe didn't turn out to be as rad as I imagined it to be when I was younger is nothing to lose any sleep over. It's not like I'm crying to Sega, "WHY DON'T YOU TAKE ROBOTNIK SERIOUSLY!?" it's just that I see the character has potential to be alot more interesting, and without changing the actual character, just presenting his qualities in a different light.

As I said in another thread:

In my perfect world, Sonic exists in a post-apocalyptic world once lain to waste by the rampant pollution and irresponsibility of mankind, but slowly restoring itself back to the natural order... the single remaining human being the psychotic egomaniac named Dr. Robotnik whom, in a display of humanity that is both admirable and shameful all at once, preserves the industrious legacy of his (and our) species on a planet which will no longer tolerate him... oh, and throw in more Metal Sonic, which opens up a whole new Human Nature vs. Mother Nature dichotomy.

I think that's fucking awesome, but not everyone agrees with me that that's what Sonic SHOULD be and that's perfectly okay (I'm not about to throw hissy-fits over Sonic the Hedgehog of all things)... it's just that I over-shot what Sonic was trying to say to me when I was younger, and it's a shame, because it said some extremely interesting things to me.

[Haoie]

Dr Robotnik all the way!

I blame all those Sonic SATAM episodes!

[d123456]

eggman is just plain ridiculous

[flamepanther]

eggman is just plain ridiculous

Yes, but so it Robotnik. They're both totally absurd names. You just happen to be more used to one of them.