If Robotnik Is a Genius...

Anon · Post by **Anon** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:24 am

Just because Eggman is a genius in the area of mechanics doesn't mean that he's a tactical genius. Sonic's obviously got him in that area.

j-man · Post by **j-man** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:33 am

Sonic doesn't use tactics, you goon. That's contradictory to his whole character. GOSH.

Anon · Post by **Anon** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:34 pm

What I meant to say is that Sonic has a knack for pointing out weaknesses. Somehow that came out as "Sonic = tactical genius". Eh, whatever.

Samface · Post by **Samface** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:23 pm

Sonic has a knack for running through weaknesses. And basically everything else that looks remotely unfriendly until he destroys the right thing.

(Note that I haven't played a new Sonic game since Rush, and that only briefly, so feel free to yell at me if he's started displaying any sort of forethought more recently.)

Anon · Post by **Anon** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:42 pm

I always thought that considering how many bosses can kill you if you're not careful or don't know what you're doing beforehand, the fact that Sonic could take down Eggman's creations time and again was fascinating — moreso then than now.

And doesn't Sonic Rush have instant kills on every boss or something?

Owen Axel · Post by **Owen Axel** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 4:17 pm

Lately, I'm of the opinion that Eggman isn't trying to kill Sonic at all. Rather, to satisfy his own ego, he's time and time again trying to put himself in a position of power where Sonic is totally unable to stop him. Sure, he'll take a gift horse like the whole SA2 capsule trap thing, but he never seems to devote himself towards the singular task of killing Sonic.

It's the sleeping gas scene in Sonic Adventure that got me thinking all that. Eggman puts Sonic to sleep in the middle of the street, totally helpless sitting duck for several hours, but instead of simply killing Sonic while he's unconscious, Eggman grabs a Chaos Emerald and flies off. If killing Sonic was any kind of goal to the villain, then he'd have to be an idiot to ignore an opportunity like that.

Radrappy · Post by **Radrappy** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:36 pm

If Sonic died, Eggman would slowly become a depressed shell of a man. Sonic serves as to feed Eggman's very ambition and will to live, create, and destroy.

The same goes for Sonic. He wouldn't even BE a hero if there wasn't a force like Eggman around to challenge him. He'd just be a cocky, extremely fast little bastard. They need eachother more than Mario needs Bowser in my opinion. Mario at least has plumping(and the princess) to fall back on.

Post by **Esrever** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 5:38 pm

There's definitely a big ego component. Why else would Eggman keep trying to build robotic duplicates of Sonic? It'd be much easier to destroy Sonic with a device designed to exploit his weaknesses, rather than one designed simply to mimic (and surpass) his strengths. But Eggman doesn't just want to destroy Sonic... he wants to beat him at his own game. He wants to prove he can do everything Sonic can do, only better.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:09 pm

There are some spoilers here but I figure you all played SA2 and Sonic Heroes.

Even though SA2 and Sonic Heroes aren't as good as some other games, they do put some interesting things in the plot regarding this.

One is the capsule trap on SA2 that Owen Axel mentioned, where Eggman actually thinks he killed Sonic, and Amy thinks he's dead. I think it's one of the best scenes in the game, where all the charactes are, well, in-character. Sonic stands proud and practically accepts his death and farewells Tails and Amy.

The other thing is Metal Sonic's rebellion in Sonic Heroes. That's the only game where Eggman is a real victim of his own creation. Even though Chaos ends up falling out of his control and the whole ARK thing backfires on him, during the whole Sonic Heroes thing he's nothing but a sitting duck, imprisioned by Metal Sonic, and all he can do is tamper with some radio to call the Chaotix. Also it's interesting how Omega hates him, even though that is poorly explored through the game.

There's another scene where Sonic, Tails and Knuckles think they killed Eggman. They just destroyed some egg boss machine, and Eggman is laid down on the ground. Of course, they realized it is a fake, but even so, makes me wonder how Eggman doesn't waste himself inside these exploding machines.

Frieza2000 · Post by **Frieza2000** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:20 pm

That's another interesting thing about Eggman. Standing in the midst of his collapsing bases and plummeting with his exploding space ships, he's stared death in the face quite a few times. That's gotta do something to a person.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:23 pm

Well, I guess he IS a bit crazy.

Post by **G.Silver** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:27 pm

Clearly if there's one thing Eggman is concerned about it's his own safety, he's always got an escape plan handy. Most of his creations are modular and designed to jettison damaged components so he can take off safely once his attack has failed, and in Sonic CD we see that he's even got a little jet pack to escape with if it really comes down to to losing his entire machine (although he's hella fast on foot too, so I don't really see why he needs it). In Sonic 1 we see the Eggmobile take a lot of damage and fly away (repeatedly) after/while exploding, but presumably it is well-designed enough and he's genius enough to make the repairs quickly once he's retreated to a safe distance. He really ought to be working in the automotive industry.

If nothing else, maybe he's kind of like a human airbag?

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:34 pm

G.Silver wrote:(although he's hella fast on foot too, so I don't really see why he needs it).

Haha, I always forget how Eggman is able to inexplicably out run Sonic in every instance that it calls for.

Maybe Eggman's rage for Sonic boils down to jealousy that Sonic gets all this recognition for his speed, even though Eggman is actually faster.

Remix · Post by **Remix** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:42 pm

Sonic's speed is all in the muscle fibers.

Robotnik is propelled by explosive flatulence.

jenkins · Post by **jenkins** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:46 pm

Grant wrote:
G.Silver wrote:(although he's hella fast on foot too, so I don't really see why he needs it).
Haha, I always forget how Eggman is able to inexplicably out run Sonic in every instance that it calls for.

Maybe Eggman's rage for Sonic boils down to jealousy that Sonic gets all this recognition for his speed, even though Eggman is actually faster.

I think you've finally found a perfectly reasonable and likely cause for Eggman's evil schemes. Well done, you solved Sonic!

Post by **G.Silver** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:12 pm

Maybe it's a little meta-game there too, since Eggman was originally a contender as the main character?

j-man · Post by **j-man** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:47 pm

I'd like to see Eggman actually use the Emeralds and become Super Eggman. There's an angle they haven't raped yet.

Opa-Opa · Post by **Opa-Opa** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:50 pm

Yeah. Knowing the last Sonic games, Eggman would probably turn into a giant lizard.

j-man · Post by **j-man** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 8:57 pm

giant lizard with a 'tache = win

Yami CJMErl · Post by **Yami CJMErl** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:09 pm

Remix wrote:Sonic's speed is all in the muscle fibers.

Robotnik is propelled by explosive flatulence.

Sadly enough, that actually makes SENSE.

WW · Post by WW » Tue Mar 06, 2007 10:43 pm

j-man wrote:giant lizard with a 'tache = win

1000 hours in mspaint

Black Rook · Post by **Black Rook** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:17 am

I would so play a game featuring that. It should come with aspirin, too.

But knowing Sonic Team, Super Eggman would look like something Square rejected.

(I like how he has two mustaches)

Kelso · Post by **Kelso** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:00 am

I dig Dinosaur Eggman.

Omni Hunter · Post by **Omni Hunter** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:10 pm

The idea reminded me of a Fleetway story where Eggman took Sonic's powers like his speed. The image of a blue, spiky eggman is quite unnerving.

Rob-Bert · Post by **Rob-Bert** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:24 pm

Yami CJMErl wrote:
Remix wrote:Sonic's speed is all in the muscle fibers.

Robotnik is propelled by explosive flatulence.
Sadly enough, that actually makes SENSE.

I dunno. Eggman is nowhere near as unsophisticated as Wario. He was probably born fat, even I'll bet he'd try to invent a way for him to burn it all off if he wasn't so busy trying top catch Sonic.