Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik[a] is a fictional character created by the Japanese game designer Naoto Ohshima who serves as the main antagonist of Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.

Since the release of Sonic Adventure, the franchise has reconciled the different names by establishing "Robotnik" as his real surname and "Eggman" as a once-derisive nickname that the character eventually embraced.

In 1990, Sega president Hayao Nakayama sought a flagship series to compete with Nintendo's Mario franchise, along with a character to serve as a company mascot.

Mitsuaki Kanuka voiced the character in the final season of Sonic Prime due to Nakamura's temporary break related to his poor health.

While it was announced that the rest of the cast would be replaced from Sonic Free Riders onward in 2010, Pollock retained his role, making him the longest-serving voice actor to portray the character in any language.

[37] Eggman's original design portrayed the character as a bald, rotund human wearing pince-nez sunglasses, a red flight suit with a yellow collar, a bushy mustache, and black pants with two white buttons.

Dr. Eggman (referred to by his full name Dr. Ivo Robotnik in the Western instruction manual) debuted in the 1991 Sega Genesis platform game Sonic the Hedgehog, where he attempts to steal six of the seven Chaos Emeralds and aims to turn all of the helpless animals inhabiting South Island into robots under his control.

Robotnik returned in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, where he once again seeks the Chaos Emeralds (soon finding out that there are seven, rather than six) to create the Death Egg, a huge space station in his likeness, in order to achieve world domination.

Afterward, as a contingency plan, an Egg-Robo—a Badnik designed in his likeness who survived the destruction of the Death Egg—is programmed by Robotnik to menace Knuckles in revenge for the echidna's role in his defeat.

In Sonic Mania, Robotnik (referred to as "Classic Eggman") detects a signal on Angel Island, revealed to be a gem with mysterious reality-warping powers, the Phantom Ruby.

Knuckles is joined by a group of detectives known as the Chaotix, consisting of Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee, alongside two friendly robots called Heavy and Bomb.

In the last story, Eggman aids Sonic in trying to stop a fail-safe put in place by his grandfather, Prof. Gerald Robotnik, which set the colony on a crash course with Earth.

He is once again the main antagonist, but it is discovered that he was betrayed and captured by his own creation Metal Sonic, who disguised himself as Eggman and had taken control of the Egg Fleet for his own world domination plans.

Eggman ensnares Super Sonic in a trap and uses his Chaos Emerald energy to power a gigantic laser cannon, which shatters the Earth to pieces and frees Dark Gaia, the beast contained within.

After the credits, Eggman is seen stranded in deep space inside the Eggmobile along with his two robot assistants Orbot and Cubot, stating he has his revenge plan laid out.

In the post-credits scene, both doctors wind up stranded in White Space with no apparent way out, leading Classic Eggman to suggest obtaining their teaching degrees once they escape.

However, while doing so, Sage also takes it upon herself to dissuade Sonic from freeing his friends, whom she imprisoned after they all arrived on the Starfall Islands, as she is aware of unknown but devastating consequences that would result from his mission.

Despite her efforts to galvanize the Titans, the Ancients' guardian robots who protect the Chaos Emeralds, against the heroic hedgehog, Super Sonic is able to destroy all three and free Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, but in doing so, releases a malevolent cosmic entity known only as the End.

The End had destroyed the Ancients' homeworld centuries ago and was imprisoned in Cyber Space by the four leaders of the beings, but had managed to manipulate Sonic into freeing it.

[38] His appearance in the syndicated weekday series Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog was designed by cartoonist Milton Knight,[56][57] and his voice was provided by blues musician Long John Baldry.

In the premiere episode, Eggman, alongside his lackey robots Deco, Boco, and Bokkun, have collected the Chaos Emeralds and kidnapped Cream the Rabbit for an unknown scheme, only for Sonic to confront him and damage his latest machine.

Kintobor was transformed into Robotnik by a laboratory accident involving the Chaos Emeralds and a rotten egg, becoming his own evil opposite who frequently used egg-related puns in his dialogue.

This story was first featured in a 14-page promotional comic book published by Sega in the United States, written by Francis Mao, that was designed to promote the game,[67] but would go on to greater fame in the United Kingdom, where it would be used by the vast majority of local publications, including the guidebook Stay Sonic, a series of novels from Virgin Books, and Fleetway Publications' Sonic the Comic, which was published from 1993 until 2002.

When Sonic finally locates him, he is skeptical of his nemesis' supposed change of heart, but is convinced of his reformation after seeing Mr. Tinker protect the children from a Badnik horde, even defending him from Shadow the Hedgehog who planned to execute him.

Quickly covering most of the planet, Eggman is unconcerned when it is discovered that his control over the new robotic life forms has become less effective, prompting Starline to betray him by summoning the Deadly Six.

In the film, he is referred to almost exclusively as Robotnik, and is depicted as a twisted scientist hired by the United States Department of Defense to hunt down Sonic after the latter caused a power outage across the Pacific Northwest.

He is transported to a planet filled with mushrooms, where he shaves his head and grows out his moustache over the course of 87 days, making him further resemble his in-game appearances, as he plots his revenge against Sonic.

Robotnik turns on Gerald upon learning he intends on using the Eclipse Cannon to completely annihilate the Earth as revenge for his late granddaughter Maria's death.

[75] He was featured at number three in a "Reader's Choice" edition of GameSpot's "Top Ten Video Game Villains" article, which noted a massive complaint by fans at his exclusion from the original list.

[83] A macrocyclic molecule discovered by a Harvard University research team to potentially inhibit the protein Sonic hedgehog was named "Robotnikinin" after the Dr. Robotnik character.