How/when/why Did they start calling Dr. Robitnic "eggman?"

[WeeHawky RIP Norm]

In topic.

[Watson690]

In Japan he was always Eggman. In the west he was renamed Dr Robotnik because he could be.
He was retconned to Eggman around the time of Sonic Adventure because there was no reason for him to be called Robotnik. But again, he was always Eggman in Japan, we just got Robotnik because reasons.

[Syrsly]

The "Robotnik" name suited him more IMHO.

[Cheese]

Originally posted by TUXEDO Watson690:

In Japan he was always Eggman. In the west he was renamed Dr Robotnik because he could be.
(...)
But again, he was always Eggman in Japan, we just got Robotnik because reasons.

The reason is most likely that they thought the west would find the name Robotnik more appealing and be more likely to buy the games and merchandise and such.
They were probably very right. Even now, two decades since Adventure, people still whine about the name change and think Robotnik was cooler.
Even some people under 20 who weren't alive when the change was made feel this way. "Robotnik's" staying power is ridiculous.

He was retconned to Eggman around the time of Sonic Adventure because there was no reason for him to be called Robotnik.

It's a bit more than just that.
Adventure was the point where they would have had to start changing a ton of in-game content to continue hiding that Eggman's name was Eggman.

Eggman bosses and the Egg Carrier might need to be renamed. Maybe they could get away with the Death Egg by itself, and the odd Crystal Egg Zone or whatever in the 8-bit games, but when every single little thing related to "Robotnik" has Egg in the name and is shown on screen, people would really start to wonder what's up.

They'd need to alter the "puzzle" in this image because it would make absolutely no sense if left untouched. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1206037758
And so on.

It was probably just too much work to keep up the localization differences for no real payoff on what was already an extremely successful and established brand in the west with multiple TV shows, multiple comics, a float that had led the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, etc.

[Seraphita]

Eggman is more like a nickname. It might be his first name but SA2B confirmed that his family name was robotnik anyway. At least I'll always consider eggman as a nickname. SA2B knew where they were going with the hole grandfather thing. Wouldn't have sounded as cool if eggman.

[Miraglyth]

I always wondered. In the CG video in SA2 with the moon, the broadcast has Robotnik in the background. Was that the same in Japan or did they alter and re-encode it?

I guessed the former (and thought it was pretty cool that they fit both names in) but I never really went back and checked.

[Cheese]

Originally posted by Miraglyth:

I always wondered. In the CG video in SA2 with the moon, the broadcast has Robotnik in the background. Was that the same in Japan or did they alter and re-encode it?

It's exactly the same.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJcClMWtFp0&t=10m49s (10:49 if timecode doesn't work)

His grandfather is Gerald Robotnik in both regions, Ivo Robotnik is his actual name in both regions, and Eggman is the name he uses in both regions.

[Miraglyth]

Commendable.

[Seraphita]

In short, his family name is confirmed to be Robotnik. Hence why I say Eggman is more like a kind of nickname. Dr. Robotnik therefore works. Or Eggman, (as sonic loves to call him. lol)...

[Dark Redshift]

Originally posted by Syrsly - Twitch:

The "Robotnik" name suited him more IMHO.

Both of them do. I prefer his nickname of Eggman but Robotnik is his family name, confirmed when both the Japanese and english versions of Sonic Adventure 2 called his grandfather Professor Robotnik instead of "Chicken Old Guy".

Sonic just wasn't counting on Eggman liking the name Sonic made up to insult him. Maybe it was freudian, considering the name of Ivo's late puppy that Gerald gave him for Christmas in the Eggman backstory fan video I saw.

[GuyroMaster]

Originally posted by TUXEDO Watson690:

In Japan he was always Eggman. In the west he was renamed Dr Robotnik because he could be.
He was retconned to Eggman around the time of Sonic Adventure because there was no reason for him to be called Robotnik. But again, he was always Eggman in Japan, we just got Robotnik because reasons.

That's only partly true though. It was in Sonic Adventure 2 where the name Eggman was predominantly used. In Sonic Adventure 1/DX, Eggman referred to himself as Dr. Robotnik.
While he is known as Eggman, technically that's his nickname. I mean even in Sonic Adventure 2 we learned of Dr. Gerald Robotnik and Eggman claimed he was his Grandfather which would make one assume that Robotnik is Eggman's last name and his first name is Ivo...what did the Japanese dubbing call Gerald Robotnik in Sonic Adventure 2?
Now the one thing that personally never made any sense to me was the Julian Kintobor name that Eggman was called in Britain's version of Sonic

[randomizer]

Originally posted by GuyroMaster:

Now the one thing that personally never made any sense to me was the Julian Kintobor name that Eggman was called in Britain's version of Sonic

This name comes from the Archie comics and SatAM. I don't recall it being used anywhere else though.

[GuyroMaster]

Sonic the Comic used it too, but the backstory is so odd and no one considers the comics canon really...well the IDW new comics might be canon since they are taking place after Forces.

[mdesaleah]

Does anyone remember how Adventure made it clear that Sonic uses the name “Eggman” as an insult. It’s a nickname that he adopted, while his last name is actually Robotnik as seen with Maria and Gerald. So BOTH names are technically canon.

[funewchie]

Originally posted by GuyroMaster:

That's only partly true though. It was in Sonic Adventure 2 where the name Eggman was predominantly used. In Sonic Adventure 1/DX, Eggman referred to himself as Dr. Robotnik.
While he is known as Eggman, technically that's his nickname.

I mean even in Sonic Adventure 2 we learned of Dr. Gerald Robotnik and Eggman claimed he was his Grandfather which would make one assume that Robotnik is Eggman's last name and his first name is Ivo...what did the Japanese dubbing call Gerald Robotnik in Sonic Adventure 2?
Now the one thing that personally never made any sense to me was the Julian Kintobor name that Eggman was called in Britain's version of Sonic

To answer your question: in the Japanese version of Sonic Adventure 2, Gerald was referred to the same as in the English version: "Professor Gerald Robotnik"

Sega admitted they knew about the Robotnik name the West used (and did kinda like it), but wanted to use the Japanese name in the West... so they reached a compromise with the two names for the Doctor:
His name would be Eggman, but his family name would be Robotnik (as seen with Gerald).

(Thus he can be called "Robotnik" or "Eggman", as both names apply)
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(As for the Julian Kintobor name, it was just Robotnik spelled backwards.
Fun Fact: After it's reboot, the Archie Sonic comics used the name "Julian" for Snively of all things, making his name Dr. Julian Snively (and removing his blood relation to Robotnik, at Sega's orders))

[jabberwok]

I had just assumed they changed it to the Japanese version because they decided Robotnik might be vaguely offensive, since it sounds like the stereotype of Russian = evil in American pop culture...