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An image showing the Robotnik lineage (and a little bit of the Black Arms one) from the Sonic games.

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Sonic & Eggman: Unmatched Equals

Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Eggman are two of the most prominent characters in the entire franchise and perhaps the two with one of the most complex relationships in it.

Sharing history that seems to date back to even before the events of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, it's clear Sonic and Eggman have grown to see each other in very unique lenses that can't quite be labeled as "hatred" or "friendship," but rather something inbetween, a deep mutual understanding that goes beyond words.

Sonic does not see himself as a hero, but rather as simply a hedgehog who loves adventure and jumps to action whenever he feels like. Eggman, similarly, does not see himself as a proper villain, but as an ambitious man whose genius horizon cannot be comprehended by ordinary people. In this way, they are two sides of the same coin: unstoppable forces driven by their personal desires. And that's why they're the only ones who can truly keep up with each other.

While others might find Eggman's campaigns for world domination annoying or even frightening, Sonic sees them as nothing but thrills — it's in Sonic's nature to never stay put in one place and always be on the lookout for adventure, which is what makes Eggman the perfect foe for him. Though they'd both struggle to ever admit it, this eternal conflict of theirs is something they both love; no one else can match their "spirit," making their battles the only times the two are allowed to go all out and exceed their own limits. If Eggman manages to up the stakes, that just makes it all the more fun for Sonic to tackle.

And there's no end in sight to this rivalry. As long as Eggman tries to achieve his ambitions, Sonic won't be far behind. If either were to vanish, it'd be on the other's terms. Personally, this is one of my favorite bits of the franchise and one of the best pieces of gameplay-story integration given it allows their characters to shine in basically any format.

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Sonic’s World ancient civilizations

An image showing some of the major ancient civilizations of Sonic’s world.

Higher quality link

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Badnik lines

An image showcasing some of the Badnik series built by Dr. Eggman throughout the games.

Higher quality link

As a bonus, here's also an accompanying document going over the history of the E-Series.

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Eggman Empire Hierarchy chart

A chart detailing the power hierarchy of the Eggman Empire.

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Character analyzing Prince Bully because I want to do that

With their species introduced in Super Maro 64, and its remake Super Mario 64 DS, the Bullies have instantly established themselves to have a daredevil type of culture. Their way of winning by pushing their opponents off their arenas and into a fiery end is like a very fatal form of sumo wrestling.

With only feet to walk with, their horns held high, and a permanent frown, they’re a very headstrong species with a size that’s just the right amount of cute when fighting alone, but become very bothersome pests when they gang up. You know, like actual bullies.

It would only make sense that the potential royalty of this kind of culture would be just like them, only more sophisticated.

The Bullies reappeared years later in Super Mario 3D World, sporting a redesign I’ve got thoughts on unrelated to this post. Nonetheless, their tough helmets, frowns, and horns rearing forward still speaks to their way of charging straight at their foes to push them off.

Along with the reappearance of the Bullies, we also have Prince Bully, the royalty commanding the Bullies allied with Bowser. Different than the blue-shelled Bullies, Prince Bully’s got a shinier silver helmet and a plume embedded on it. Plumes are usually placed on helmets for identification of rank or to intimidate the opponent, so it would make sense that a prince of those species would wear a plume for both reasons.

When fighting Prince Bully, he actually starts off with a warcry before attacking. This is not someone that just charges randomly; he actually has an honor reason prior to engaging with their enemy. Of course the player can always interrupt Prince Bully before he can finish his ritual; take any chance you can get, but please keep what he’s doing in mind if you want to exploit or respect him.

In the player’s rematch with Prince Bully, he’s retrofitted his shoes and plume to be blue now to accommodate his new strategy of shooting three blue flames from his mouth. He dresses for the occasion, he adapts, but he still performs his warcry since that’s still important for him to do regardless if he has to change his strategies or not. This is very much indicative of him being too tied to his culture, regardless if it gives his enemy the advantage or not. Quite respectful of him

But it’s a flaw of him regardless. And judging by his pretty young voice in his warcry, you could also give off the image that he’s inexperienced or too naive to assume that all of his enemies would give him the chance to finish. That’s another side of that interpretation.

You can only guess if his parents are more ruthless in fighting or if they raised Prince Bully with this honor in mind.

Motive

Some of the royalty allied with Bowser sometimes have their reasons for joining Bowser.

King Bob-omb was fighting his own war against the Bob-omb Buddies, the reason for this war can be layered on with a lot of theory sauce. Being allied with Bowser gave the king a Power Star which gave him quite the advantage in power

The Whomp King felt vengeful towards every stone out there. Stones were stepped on, to create homes, and they were never thanked for it. He believed allying himself with Bowser would help with his retribution towards anyone who would misuse stone.

And hell, the King and Queen Hisstocrat love eachother (look at how they react when one of them is hurt) and you’ve only seen other Hisstocrats in context of serving the royalty dinner plates. It’s easy to theorize they were convinced to join Bowser for more food.

Looking at Prince Bully’s character, and all the other Bullies under him, they would definitely join to support the biggest bully of all: Bowser. Taking over territories, pushing people around. Prince Bully would definitely respect someone who so perfectly represents their culture on such a grand scale.

Conclusion

i don't even like Prince Bully all that much, but i wanted to note how you can character analyze a nonverbal character purely based on their animations and appearance. i like doing that in the spaces i frequent but haha they're currently talking about how Bones inside a Body aren't Bones

i also once made a "Classic Prince Bully" design. i wanted to exaggerate his headstrong attitude by further extending his plume.

it would be pretty funny to make Prince Bully a fan-favorite by developing him in further games with the personality traits he's got right now. an angry young boy too tied in tradition. imagine the amount of perspectives that a Mario story tied around tradition would bring. there's a lot of royalty in that universe, after all...

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Sonic Multiversal Chart

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What if Delfino Plaza was in Super Mario Odyssey?

While making this post, I remembered bigboxman8 made his own version of this location based on my template a long time ago! You can check it here!

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Eggman Nega (character overview)

Eggman Nega is a semi-recurring antagonist in the Sonic the Hedgehog series and, personally, my favorite character in the franchise. In this post, I aim to talk about him and the intricacies that make him such a good character.

More than what meets the eye

While on the surface it would seem Nega is just another Eggman with a different outfit, there’s a lot of nuance to his character that makes him stand out as his own villain.

Eggman Nega made his debut in Sonic Rush, also reappearing in its sequel, Sonic Rush Adventure. While back then he was intended to be the Sol counterpart to Dr. Eggman, Nega later suffered a shift in direction. Here, his “wicked,” off putting, calculating self is already put on full display, heavily contrasting his partner’s boastful, obtrusive manner of speech. His distaste for Ivo is also hinted at, although their relationship would be explored more in-depth in later entries.

A very prominent part of Eggman Nega’s personality is his chaotic nature. Rather than simply ruling over the world like Dr. Eggman seeks to, Nega’s goals involve plunging the world into an age of fear and disorder. While Dr. Eggman would prioritize maintaining his future Eggmanland intact…

…Eggman Nega sees no issue in completely destroying the world, given the opportunity.

Clinging to the past

Perhaps the most interesting part of Eggman Nega’s character is his feelings regarding Dr. Eggman. Starting with Sonic Rivals, it was established that Nega is actually the descendant of the doctor, whose failures have tarnished the family name. Nega, whose brilliance has not received the praise he believes it deserves in his own time, blames this on his ancestor, holding a deadly grudge against him.

This lack of accountability, this refusal to move on, makes for a really compelling villain, especially when this very game contrasts it with Shadow the Hedgehog, considering how a key part of his arc was confronting his past, breaking free from its shackles and paving his own path. While Nega decides to pin the blame on events outside of his control, Shadow instead works towards attaining the freedom to become his own person

Conclusion

And that's basically Eggman Nega. I made this post mainly to combat the notion that Nega is simply an "Eggman recolor," as many seem to believe. Hopefully, he will show up in future media soon.

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Solaris Project Timeline

A timeline of the events of the Solaris Project from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).

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Project Shadow Timeline

An image showing the events that lead to the birth of Shadow the Hedgehog.

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Infinite: (Not) Weak (character overview)

In this post I'm tackling the short-lived antagonist of Sonic Forces, Infinite, and some of the characteristics that make him a, surprisingly, thematically resonant and just overall good villain.

Overcorrection

To talk about his character, it’s pretty important to talk about the events that led to him adopting the “Infinite” persona. Before the events of the game, he was the ruthless leader of the Jackal Squad, calling himself “The Ultimate Mercenary.” Following an encounter with Dr. Eggman, Infinite accidentally revealed his deep-seated wishes to “change the world” and plunge it into anarchy and destruction, seeing as he’d grown tired of the world as it was. The doctor, taking advantage of this, hires the jackal as the new general of his army.

Several months before Eggman took over the world, the Jackal Squad was assigned to guard Eggman’s Mystic Jungle Facility, where the Phantom Ruby had undergone analysis. Despite their skill, they were all completely wiped out by Shadow the Hedgehog. By request of Eggman, their captain decides to confront the Ultimate Life Form by himself, but is beaten to the ground and overwhelmed with fear. Never before had he felt so powerless, so incapable, so weak.

To Shadow, it was just another grunt in his way, but to his opponent, it was an unbearable amount of humiliation. Vowing to never feel “weak” again, the jackal discarded his old self and was born anew as Infinite. Now, with the help of Eggman, he had the power to make all yield to his will, power unmatched even by the likes of Sonic himself (or so he believed).

Style

As part of his new identity, Infinite also adopted a much colder, intimidating demeanor, showing no hesitation when taking the lives of others. He revels in the fear of his opponents, perhaps to reassure himself that he is now above such behavior.  While Shadow strives to achieve perfection in all he does, Infinite is instead content with having his own flair, his “authenticity,” believing it to be superior, which is actually sort of one of his healthier traits.

Before anyone knew it, a live music club was there. The performers, let alone the audience, don’t remember much about why they were here. Still, everyone enjoyed this moment… except for one. “Don’t get in my way. You’re holding me down.” After the concert, Shadow coldly declares this to his partner. The poor attitude towards the audience, the shoddy performance… a stage show with him was far from the perfection Shadow was looking for. But when questioned, Infinite laughed boastfully and slowly closed in on Shadow. “It’s good enough for a runt who can’t understand authenticity. I have no interest in following your smugness in playing at perfection.” “So, you admit you’re a fake. Surely you understand that.” (Translation by @browniestash!)

Infinite deems friendships, as with many other things, a sign of weakness. Even though he led his own squad, one that valued him as a leader and comrade, the jackal did not feel the same way, even disregarding their qualms when allying himself with the Eggman Empire. Infinite, at the very least following his shift in identities, sees friends as naught but fleeting illusions, stating that your own strength is all one can rely on.

Obsession with power

Infinite, as a result of his encounter with Shadow, seems to be quite insecure about his strength, being obsessed with attaining more and more of it to the point of letting his own body be modified with the Phantom Ruby prototype. Referring to his past self as pathetic and unsightly for losing that fight, Infinite takes every opportunity to prove he is no longer that weakling. Even when facing unequivocal defeat, the jackal will refuse to retreat and insist on continuing to fight.

When everything you know has come and gone, (You are at your lowest, I am rising higher) Only scars remain of who I was (What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire!) When there's no one left to carry on, (This is an illusion, open up your eyes and...) This pain (persists), I can't (resist), But that's what it takes to be Infinite

After Sonic Forces, Infinite actually seems to reevaluate his need for power and his reliance on the Phantom Ruby prototype. After Dr. Eggman’s Otherworldification plan fails, Infinite is briefly freed from inside the Phantom Ruby and snatches the last remaining Phantom Ruby prototype from the doctor’s hands. As he is about to put it on again, the jackal is suddenly filled with doubt and hesitation. He ponders whether or not he really wants to resort to using that again. But before he can make a decision, his body vanishes with the light as the world returns to normal, which he seems to thinks was for the best.

“Heheheh, it really is a modified Phantom Ruby prototype… Just as I thought! If I put this on, I’ll have power once again!” Infinite’s shoulders were shaking with joy as he placed his hand on his chest where he had once worn the Phantom Ruby… but suddenly a cold wind blew through his heart. (I’m resorting to this again…?) His heart’s craving for power and his pride, which was deep within him, causes doubt in Infinite. He hesitated for only a few seconds before deciding whether or not to put “this” on his chest, and that’s when it happened. “…Ah?!” The elimination of otherworldification occurs in Infinite, and his body disappears with the light. The core in his hand slips through and falls into the glimmering lava… with a sizzling sound, it is lost to the world forever. Infinite was wide-eyed and stunned, but… “H-Heheh, haha…” He smiled wryly, lightly shaking his head, as if to say that it was for the best, and then vanished with the light. The world has been saved once again by a strange fate that no one had any way of knowing. The wind was merely blowing in the sky. (Translation by @browniestash!)

Conclusion

To end on a positive note, Infinite is not definitely dead! He's a character I really like from the one game he got to shine in, and Eitaro Toyoda has expressed his desire to see him come back, so we may actually see more of him in the future.

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Sonic’s World ancient civilizations

An image showing some of the major ancient civilizations of Sonic’s world.

Higher quality link

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Dr. Eggman: Full Delusion (character overview)

This post aims to analyze the main antagonist of the entire franchise, Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, discussing the facets that make up this honestly really interesting villain. Hopefully it won’t come across as too surface level, since his character is one of key importance to the entire Sonic brand.

Ego City

A look into Eggman's mind from Sonic Dream Team concept art.

Eggman (especially Classic Eggman) is, at his very core, an extremely childish individual. He throws loud tantrums when defeated, and doesn’t hesitate to gloat when succeeding. He builds expressive, toy-like robots to make up his army. His goal in life is to transform the world into a theme park built in his image. The name “Eggman” was adopted entirely out of spite.

He has a clouded view of morality, operating under the strange notion that, somehow, under his leadership, the whole world would “magically” see an age of peace and prosperity (despite referring to his own actions as evil quite frequently). And most prominently, he thinks extremely highly of himself, if all the monuments of his visage didn’t make it clear enough.

I am genius. I am great. I am brillant. I am smart. I am wise. I am an emperor.

It’s not fully known what led to this sort of behavior, but some guesses can be made. Ivo, in his own recount, did not receive much attention from his family after the passing of his cousin Maria, whose death was covered up as an accident aboard the Space Colony ARK.

He resents her for this as, in his words, she received “all that love” that he deemed rightfully his, as he was actually alive ("Right! There!"). It’s also told that Ivo regarded his late grandfather, Professor Gerald, as his “true hero.” The young Eggman was inspired by him to become the scientist he grew to be and "do good for humanity," just as his grandfather before him. Despite how greatly their methodology differs, Eggman still seemed to think he was following Gerald’s footsteps, this being especially apparent when he learns about Gerald's final moments.

Translation by @browniestash!

In Eggman's mind, Gerald was a hero, one whose research did naught but benefit humanity. But, then and there, what he saw instead was a grieving, vengeful man with the dying wish to destroy the world that wronged him, moments before his execution. Despite this provoking him to briefly question his whole goal, it did little to halt the doctor’s conquest in the grand scheme of things. In fact, nothing seems to be able to crush Eggman’s spirit, as no matter how many defeats he faces, the doctor will always come back and ready to try taking over the world again.

Need to control

Seeing as he surrounds himself with robots programmed to answer to his every command, it’s no surprise that Eggman is something of a control freak. To maintain a position of power upon others, Eggman will employ all levels of manipulation and deceit to ensure his will is carried out, and seems to struggle to think of others as anything more than pawns to his plans. And he will not hesitate to discard his tools once they stop being of use to him.

This is in harsh contrast to Sonic, a free-spirited hedgehog who stands against opression and inspires others to live out their authentic selves. Perhaps Sonic being this untameable entity is one of the many reasons that leads Eggman to hate him as much as he does, even if there is a mutual sort of respect the two share. Because it has been shown time and time again what he does with those he does not respect.

Despite all this, this manipulation does seem to have a limit, most notably during the ending of Shadow the Hedgehog, where he admits to Shadow that he lied about having built him, given that there was a big chance that would be their last interaction. Somewhere, deep within his heart, Eggman felt some form of remorse or guilt over misleading Shadow and messing with his sense of identity, so much so that he needed to tell the truth even if it meant losing a pontential pawn for his future schemes. It seems it takes mankind being entirely controlled by an alien overlord to get that out of him. This more human side of Eggman’s is also further explored in Sonic Frontiers with Sage and the doctor coming to see her as family. Overall, the theme seems to be that hiding beneath all the narcissism and basic disregard for others lies something resembling some form of a decent human being.

Conclusion

And that's Eggman. An incredibly intelligent, incredibly immature, manipulative egomaniac who loves being in control and thinks that he and he alone could singlehandedly run the entire world with his wisdom better than anyone else. As a note to end on, it'd be wrong not to link an analysis by Voiced By Mandy that discusses the relationship Eggman and Shadow have, which I can't recommend it enough.

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"To live a life of power, you must have faith that what you believe is right, even if others tell you you're wrong. The first thing you must do to live a life of power is to find courage. You must be ready to reach beyond the boundaries of Time itself. And to do that, all you need is the will to take that first step...."

Happy 30th Anniversary SONIC COMPACT DISC!!!!!!!

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Metal Sonic: Imperfect Self (character overview)

Hello again! Last time I did an overview of Eggman Nega, so this time I chose a character even closer to Dr. Eggman himself: Metal Sonic. This post aims to be a short analysis of the character, his motivations and what makes him so interesting as a foil to Sonic's free spirit.

Purpose. Identity. Sonic.

Introduced in Sonic CD, Metal Sonic was built by Dr. Eggman and given one sole purpose: destroying Sonic. Operating under the twisted belief that he is the real, true Sonic, Metal constantly tries to prove his superiority to his "imperfect self" in contests of speed, coming back stronger each time.

Metal Sonic continues to analyze the situation as he runs after him. He has been unable to beat Sonic since the first match. He has the best performance and a tireless body of steel. There are plenty of factors that make him unbeatable. And yet, he can’t win. Why? Why can’t he beat a hedgehog that just runs fast… And then… A rustle of electrons rippled through this sea of AI cognitive threads. …Isn’t that because he’s “just fast”? (Translation by @browniestash!)

Metal Sonic occasionally shows some doubt or insecurity in his sole mission, but ultimately never gives up, analyzing gathered data to rethink his strategy and come back as more of a threat than ever. And Sonic is more than happy to take the challenge.

He’s already sent out a distress signal. Help will be arriving soon and he will be recovered at Eggman’s base. If he can connect to the base’s main computer and analyze today’s data, he should be able to win the next round. There will be room to rethink his inhibitory behavior and attack patterns, as well as to sharpen his focus on speed. He can still reach a higher dimension. There is someone with whom he must determine who is better in that dimension… (Translation by @browniestash!)

Stripped of free will

While Sonic is, most of the time, the only thing in Metal Sonic's mind, he does have another relationship of great importance to his character: the one with his master and creator, Dr. Eggman.

Regularly filling the role of Eggman's silent enforcer, Metal Sonic holds a much higher status than most Badniks in the Eggman Empire, being among his favorite creations. He is a tool, sure, but he's undoubtedly one of his best tools.

Though, of course, this has little effect on his treatment of the metal doppelganger. As a general trait of Eggman's, while he is very much capable of praising his robots in the event they succeed...

...The doctor will offer them less than humane treatment when met with failure.

Seeing fault in his boss' leadership, Metal Sonic would reach his breaking point in Sonic Heroes, modifying himself into Neo Metal Sonic and taking charge of the Eggman Empire. Perhaps he thought that, with him in charge, the empire would finally be able to wipe out its opposition. More specifically, to wipe out Sonic the Hedgehog. Curiously, Metal Sonic here also aims to take over the world, though this may be a consequence of his will being "attuned" to Dr. Eggman's.

This attempt at overtaking his creator's empire fails, and Eggman takes this opportunity to strip Metal Sonic of his free will and turn him into an obedient robot once more. Despite his attempts, it would seem Metal still has some remaining autonomy, seeing as he'd double-cross Eggman once more in the future.

Conclusion

And that's Metal Sonic. A relentless robot with a single objective and a lot of hatred, who aims to prove his superiority and destroy his rival but is, as he sees it, held back by the lead of his creator. I've been meaning to write about this for a while, seeing as there's been a lot of interpretations of his motives floating around and it’s a character I find fascinating.

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Badnik lines

An image showcasing some of the Badnik series built by Dr. Eggman throughout the games.

Higher quality link

As a bonus, here's also an accompanying document going over the history of the E-Series.