Well, I don’t know if there’s a point to these introductory posts or not, but I may as well make one just for the sake of having something to start with.
Hi, I’m MasterOfPasta. I am now a Tumblr user for reasons that are most definitely unrelated to the goings on of other social media platforms.
With that said, if you recognize that name from anywhere, it’s probably Twitter, YouTube, or maybe even Discord. Expect similar content to make its way onto here (save for my YouTube videos, which are comically amateurish Cars animations because I made them when I was 11)
As you can see, a fair amount of goofy, shitty art (debatably referred to as so). I’ll probably also use tumblr’s format (and the significantly more mature and reasonable userbase I hear you have) to share more thoughts and opinions on the shit I’m interested in.
You know it’s kind of fucked up to think about how we have both a good and bad ending for Mecha Sonic’s story before us at the same time to compare and contrast
I feel like you could like. “do something” with this. How would the Withered Mechamalgamation actually come to exist in a Sonic story lol
The “Eggman is actually an adapted insult from Sonic!” thing that we are now proudly reminded of every 20 minutes makes me irrationally angry so I’m going to put an unnecessary amount of effort into explaining why it sucks.
Supreme dumbass (although, perhaps not pointless) nerd rage below.
This seemingly innocuous thing is somehow emblematic of everything I do not like regarding how Sonic is currently handled. It:
- is one of the most blatant “Flynn-isms” (providing an explanation to something which does not need one entirely for the sake of winning brownie points with the fandom and “solving inconsistencies”)
- treats localized material like it is “equally as legitimate” as things which the actual creators of sonic made
- instead of taking the path of least resistance, the explanation is still convoluted and contradictory with other information, therefore meaning its purpose of “solving things” isn’t even fucking accomplished
- makes Eggman, the character, less interesting.
Let’s make a ground rule clear: his name is supposed to be Eggman. We could talk about the merits of “Robotnik” as a name as much as we like, but the fact of the matter is, whether you like it or not, his original, intended name is Eggman. And it works, because this character LOOKS like a fuckin Egg Man.
“Eggman” is a great name because it makes him seem silly and non-threatening, not in spite of it. Eggman is a character defined by contrast; he’s smart, but he’s also kind of absent-minded. He sometimes looks friendly, but he can also look scary and ugly under the right conditions because of his toothy grin and vibrant, perfectly circular glasses. He’s quite jolly and funny, but also capable of extreme anger and desperation.
He seems silly and harmless, but is capable of single-handedly destroying entire ecosystems and designing scarily effective hedgehog killing machines.
He’s trying to do things he think will “improve” the earth, but he ruins it in the process.
If you make Eggman purely evil and imposing, you miss the point of Eggman. These are traits Eggman has in common with actual strangely intelligent manchildren. I would know.
However, I would argue the single most key thing about “Eggman” as a name is it’s second half: man. Eggman is generally representative of humanity and it’s insatiable desire for “progress,” at the cost of everything in its way. And, you know, the “Egg” half is self explanatory.
So, personally, I would say that there is not much reason to try and legitimize “Robotnik” in the first place, beyond it sounding cool and having a pun in it. Eggman is not only more fitting, it is more meaningful.
This is all relevant, because this “adapted insult” shit is spawned exclusively from a desire to try and make the way it was for Americans in real life- Robotnik “changed” to Eggman- the case in THE ACTUAL IN-LORE CANON OF SONIC THE FUCKING BLUE CARTOON HEDGEHOG, for some god forsaken reason. This whole Robotnik thing is also the primary headliner for how the American versions of non-American stories are now given more priority, because they are the more well-known versions, which more or less only serves to retroactively simplify the actual themes Classic Sonic was going for. Why would you do this as a storyteller, unless you were irrationally trying to make everything “equally valid?” It’s supremely shitty to do this fandom-satisfying stuff when viewed from a lens of actual artistic integrity. (And it also makes trying to convince people that Classic Sonic has more going on than it looks a god damn nightmare because they live in this ouroboros-esque feedback loop of misinformation)
And you can’t argue that his name was Robotnik in-universe up until SA1, anyways, and that all of this “wasn’t actually in the games, so it doesn’t contradict anything if it’s retconned!” These things come up all the time in these debates already, and you’re probably bored to tears of hearing about them, but I’m going to use them anyways.
Lol.
You could argue that “oh, he just adapted the insult before Sonic 2!” to which I have to ask, what’s the god damn point, then? Congratulations. He is “Robotnik” for one, maybe two games. You’re not getting what you want out of this, either.
Well, now we have an interesting question on our hands. Why WOULD he call himself “Eggman?”
This is where things become more headcanon-y, but it’s all extrapolated from actual character quirks of Eggman’s.
“Adapted insult” is honestly fiiiine as another “he’s always trying to be one step ahead of Sonic!” thing, but the logic is really tortured and it’s far more interesting to explore “Eggman” as a conscious, self-chosen name.
Consider for a moment how egotistical and proud of himself Eggman is. He genuinely thinks he is the single most awesome specimen there is, he’s so proud of his intelligence and vision that he oftentimes forgets the most basic of logic, in a “you forgot the first rule of X!” sort of way.
Eggman is also a businessman. And all businessmen are obsessed with one thing above all else: marketing.
And so, I choose to interpret “Eggman” as him deliberately selling his image as a perfectly spherical weirdo with a big mustache. It could even be something like a “superhero name,” he’s so proud of it that he wants everyone to know it and respect it. He is the Eggman, that’s what he is, and don’t ask again.
If he came up with a catchy name for himself and started plastering it everywhere, every single person would eventually know who “The Eggman” is. And it’s not like Eggman is insecure about being fat, or whatever; again, he thinks he’s perfect. “Eggman” is a name he’s both proud of and is great for marketing.
Every logo of his also fits cleanly into this “plastering The Eggman everywhere” idea; they’re all either of the word “Egg” itself, or something to do with his appearance, most commonly just straight up his face.
Oh, yeah, and as alluded to earlier, his god damn theme song is about how proud he is about being “The Eggman.”
In summary, “His name was Robotnik, and then Sonic insulted him by calling him Eggman, so he just decided to roll with it” is a dumb explanation, made entirely to both-sides something that is actively worse for being both-sides’ed, and it is significantly better characterization-wise if Eggman just came up with the name himself.
Thus concludes this week’s edition of Pasta’s Dumb Nerd Soapbox, I hope I explained myself well.
A little while ago, I drew this wacky nameless badnik guy on the spot for a Mario & Luigi box art redraw (a redraw which no one who isn’t in a singular specific discord server I am in would understand or find funny, so I can’t really post it widely) simply because I needed a quick stand-in for Prince Peasley and now I think I might genuinely like the fucker
Not sure what to name him yet. Currently we have “Prince Lead-ward” and “Sir Thunderpants” but I’ll probably have to think about it more.
Something fairly instrumental to Mecha Sonic Mk 2’s design which I don’t see much art address (and honestly, I’ve been struggling to get it working in my own) is what I like to call “vague space.”
Why is this character so hard to draw? Take a close look at the torso in particular.
You cannot actually make out what piece or part is connecting Mecha’s head or arms to his “body.” In fact, on the original sprite, it’s ALL black. There’s no “torso piece” besides the chestplate which looks almost “seperate” from whatever is holding it there.
This is “vauge space,” and it’s where all of Mecha 2’s mysterious machinery hides.
Mecha Sonic’s actual inner workings are the single most confusing thing about him. The central aspect of his mechanics, however, is that he can “open” himself to show off his eye. (This is metal as hell, by the way, some more Springtrap-ass art of this in existence would be nice)
How in god’s name he actually accomplishes this, though, is unknowable. Yet, when he does “open his eye,” you can see mechanical parts that are normally not visible, those blue bars and beams surrounding his eye.
If it helps, there’s also this Scrapnik Island panel of Sonic kicking Mecha’s head, where it almost looks like it’s bending back on a hinge joint; you can even see the hole at the bottom of his chin where the eye would slide past.
This “unknowability” of his mechanics are what the vague space addresses. We don’t quite know how it works, so having it there means there’s room for interpretation, that he can “believably” pull the eye move.
Every area of complete darkness on the sprite technically counts, but here’s the specific area which I’m referring to highlighted.
Hopefully this helps with understanding how everything about Mecha Mk 2 connects. It took me quite a while to consciously “get” this.
