Doctor Eggman

Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (ドクター・エッグマン, Dokutā Egguman, ロボトニック Robotonikku) is a video game character and the main antagonist of the Sonic the Hedgehog series created by Sega. He is a rotund mad scientist with an IQ of 300, who plans to conquer the world in order to build his own Eggman Empire, and is the archenemy of Sonic the Hedgehog. His original character designer was Naoto Ohshima, and while he has gone through several major and minor appearance changes throughout the series, his in-game designs retain several basic characteristics, such as his egg-shaped body, red-black-yellow clothing, pince-nez sunglasses, and large mustache.

Eggman has appeared in almost every Sonic the Hedgehog video game since his first appearance in the 1991 title Sonic the Hedgehog, and is also a prominent character in other Sonic media, including comics, novels, animated TV series and an original video animation.

Concept and inspiration

In April 1990, Sega commissioned its AM8 R&D department to create a character who would replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot, as well as compete against Nintendo's flagship character, Mario. The idea of an egg-shaped character became the basis of the visual design for Eggman. In creating the "bad guy" for the Sonic series, the development team wanted a character who was "the opposite of Sonic;" a character who represented "machinery" and "development" to play on the then-growing debate between developers and environmentalists. The character was also designed to be easy for children to draw.