Humanizing Eggman - Analyzing What Sonic Frontiers Means for Eggman's Character 

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This is why the egg memos were AMAZING. The more you buy, the more you see how Eggman gets attached to his daughter, and even addresses himself as her father. I was so upset when there was no egg memos left.

Something else that must be noted is just how... _scholarly_ Eggman is when discussing the ancients. We're used to him egomaniacally scheming, but here he displays a scientist's wonder at uncovering something new and unexpected. The Egg Memos depict a calmer side of Eggman. The part of Eggman that loves to tinker and learn, experiment and explore.

Eggman treats his robots like tools He treats Orbot and Cubot like slaves He treats Metal Sonic like a dog he's proud of But when it came to Sage, he treated her like his own daughter

I actually believe that Sage's introduction will make Eggman more dangerous than ever. As for the first time in his life he has someone to fight *for* rather than against. In prior installments, it seems like fighting Sonic is the only thing that really gave his life meaning. He doesn't even do anything with the power he gains when he succeeds in defeating him and making his empire. But now? he has motivation and a reason to conquer, to give Sage a life he never could have. He's made many enemies, and unless he conquers the world, Sage will always be at risk. The scariest part about Sage's existence, is the fact she *is* that heart of eggman, his daughter. The one thing he'd be willing to sacrifice his own life for by this point. And that could very well... lead Sage... to become *The End*.

One interesting, little-discussed element of the Mario/Sonic rivalry is that when it comes to the respective villains, Bowser and Robotnik, the latter has always been portrayed as in many ways the more monstrous of the two. Even as early as the 90s, the Super Mario Bros 3 cartoon humanized Bowser with his parental affections for his Koopa Kids, whereas over in SatAM, Robotnik was a legitimately terrifying monster who frightened audiences almost as much as he did his enemies. In the games, Bowser continued to display a soft spot to varying degrees, with titles like the Super Mario RPG, the Paper Mario series and the Mario & Luigi series doing much to cement him as a loveable lug of a bad guy. Meanwhile, Robotnik just went from one atrocity to another. So it's interesting to see Frontiers making him, well, just a little more Bowser-like.

My interpretation of the whole thing is that Robotnik eventually realizes that Sage is the ultimate thesis for the world he is trying to create: a world where technology can achieve anything that nature can, and surpass it. In this case, it was creating a fully sapient artificial intelligence that, while dedicated to his cause, did so with compassion and empathy. If Eggman's paternal side was finally revealed, I'm sure his greatest goal is to now create a better world for his surrogate daughter. Of course, Eggman still being Eggman, that world is one where technology reigns supreme.

Disagree with you on Sage, I absolutely can see her following eggman in his future schemes, it's not like Sage ISN'T aware of his entire campaign history and yet it didn't bother her, her love and loyalty is with Father Eggman, not the rest of the world, he's why Sage sacrificed herself. And it's not like fictional villains haven't had a family member(or someone unrelated) that they care about, it hasn't stopped their villainy. And besides all of that, Flynn said that "some form of Sage came back under Eggman's guidance", and was talking about how she might be darker in some ways.

This Eggman was cool. I just wish we'd gotten more screentime between him and Sage

I think this is a good next step to his character. Even people like Eggman need to change in order not to feel stale and predictable.

Eggman was always and I mean *always* the main antagonist. But now after seeing how Ian Flynn wrote him in Frontiers and managed to do something impossible, I just can't help but question: "Where are they gonna take Eggman now?! Surely there's no way on Earth he's gonna plot another scheme in the next game!"

In Sonic X he does have limits. He shows concern for Sonic when the Eggsterminator pummels Sonic into the ground. He also saves Sonic multiple times in Season 3.

I love seeing this more human side to Eggman and it''s not totally out of left field for him to have his softer moments. At the end of SA2 he opened up to Tails about how much he admired his grandfather, and in Lost World he protected Tails from Cubot with seemingly no ulterior motive than just seeing he was in danger. He may never stop being a villain, but even so that doesn't mean he's without redeeming qualities. I enjoyed how his pridefulness towards Metal Sonic sometimes manifested in fatherly ways, particularly in IDW, and his treatment of Sage was basically that but tenfold.

I'm just realizing now that we don't actually fight him in Sonic Frontiers. But listening to his dialogue in this game really gives you context of how spiteful he is, and rightly so because he wasn't given as much love and attention as Maria.

Yes. I do think humanizing Eggman is a good thing. People seem to forget that even the most seemingly heartless, horrible, narcissistic, and cruel individuals are still human beings, and this is a good way to remind people of that. Usually those horrible actions are a result of bad decisions and childhood trauma... it doesn't justify the actions, of course, but mental problems like narcissism and sociopathy CAN be cope-able (not curable, necessarily... but cope-able) with proper therapy to help reduce the harm it causes.

Ian really made Eggman the most human he’s ever been in any sonic game ever.

The writing in this game was so good. No joke, I was so happy when I saw Ian Flynn's name in the credits. Him and his team did such a great job explaining while Eggman didn't hate Maria, being neglected had a major effect on him. Especially since he really respected his Grandfather despite of all this. Sage going from obedient program to his digital daughter and voice of reason really did wonders for his character. It has the same effect like Bowser and his kids. They made still be evil and mischievous but at the end of the day, they're still fathers that love their families.

I just like it when Eggman's treated seriously. This look into the more almost vulnerable and emotional side is really nice but I don't know if I'd want that all the time, could be a bit tiring

Going off what Ian has said on the Bumblekast I don't think either Ivo or Sage will pull off a complete heel-face turn, just either become anti-villains (especially in the case of Sage) or have anti-villain elements added to their characters. (in the case of Eggman this time) Sage apparently will go several lengths just to please her beloved father according to Ian.

There is a certain tumblr post made by a cool guy I know of named Doctor Mechano and it goes over every game instance of Eggman's humanity Really shows how despite very much being an evil man he's not your usual villain, in the sence that he actually can care for lives of other people, but his drive to conquer is still very mcuh prominent

I wonder how Mike Pollock felt about the mustache-twirling scientist's sopposed new change of pace & direction when reading his lines.🤔

Eggman being neglected as a child would definitely explain his egomania. It comes from a place of fragility. He NEEDS to slap his face in everything as a way to reaffirm his own importance. Likewise, he simultaneously craves the attention and adoration of others and deeply resents them for that dependency. Lastly, he surrounds himself with artificial entities designed to adore him, but who can't really converse with him as free agents. The end result is frustration. He's afraid to interact with flesh-and-blood people, and bitterly blames his robots for not being better company.

Do you think from here on out Eggman will be like Red Death from Venture Bros. where he can still be an absolutely despicable human being while also being a caring father?

What if Eggman manages to get a part of Sage back, but ends up having to let her go again to something more tragic, thus making him even more cold and insane throughout the future games

Funny how the robotnik family always treat there daughter (or granddaughter) with more respect and love than there sons

My feelings on humanizing Eggman are very much mixed. On the one hand, the dynamic between him and Sage is very wholesome and I even cried after seeing the ending to Frontiers. As much as I'd love to see more of that kind of thing, it completely goes against the character that's been established over the last 30 years. Eggman is a narcissistic, megalomaniacal sociopath who has historically never cared about anyone and has committed numerous atrocities from enslaving animals to waging global war. Does someone like that even deserve redemption? Normally I would say no, but I'm so fascinated by the idea now that I can't help but be intrigued and get excited over how such an arc will play out. I just hope that the next game acknowledges everything that happened in Frontiers and develops its story from there, I don't want Eggman to do an about-face and, say, reprogram Sage to hate Sonic again and make her an obedient puppet that goes along with whatever heinous scheme he comes up with next.

If Sonic Frontiers and Sonic Adventure 2 have shown anything, it's that the best endings could be the ones that are bittersweet and full of emotion. When the characters are allowed to transcend their "roles" and feel like people who can change and grow, you have something that's so much stronger than the saturday morning cartoon feel where everyone just moves from one adventure to the next. I'm super interested in where things go from here.

It was definitely a big risk; but probably needed when you realise they've started to exhaust what they could do with him. Being more narrative focused than the Mario series, with characters that grow & change; Eggman's kind of been stagnant in his growth for a while - which explains the difficulty they had been having with him in previous games. Even the fans realised to expect him to go through the whole 'discovers ancient weapon, gets betrayed, etc.' plotline every time now. This shift, though, opens new payhways & storylines for him, as well as new dynamics between him and the cast. Considering the amount of times he's teamed up with the main cast, as well as some other background elements, etc., it feels like a natural place for him to go. He may slowly change into more of an Anti-Villain type; still aimed at world domination, but now with a code that's driven by SAGE. Still opposed to Sonic & co, but now maybe less willing on collateral damage. Meanwhile new characters take on recurring villainous roles, which on reading both archie and IDW comics, I've really been wanting in the games for a while now. Truly interested in where they take the franchise next!

Even before Frontiers I loved Dr. Eggman. As a character he has always been a joy to watch in many of the incarnations. Whether it be the monstrous and in human maniac he was in SATAM or the goofy Saturday morning cartoon villain in the form of Boom, he was always one of the best parts of the series. And this game just blew me away. I bought Sage's relationship with him immediately but I was so worried as I kept seeing Cutscenes of the game what Eggman felt of Sage. Would she have to betray him to save Sonic? Would he try to eliminate her for her foolishness or trying to become more than she was? Then the answer was given to me when he was saved by her and he said he was proud of her and showed great pride but also great thankfulness. I was left shocked. Eggman was actually showing this kinda fatherly energy to a creation. It blew me away and as the game progress up till the final cutscene I was just in awe and pure bliss with how adorable and touching they were in their father - daughter relationship. Heck they even broke one of my most hated rules which this franchise itself established by bringing her back after a touching death to make that lose the heart break. But I didn't care she came back and he was happy and that was all I needed. So for me it was the true gem of the story and characters in frontiers which is saying something given how good this game was with it's story and characters. I just hope they know what they were doing. I have no idea how you make Eggman this human and yet have him still try to hurt sonic and crew. I have no idea how you make Sage able to stand her father doing horrible things to people she grew to actually respect and care for. But at the same time I just want more interactions with Sage and Eggman as a adorable father daughter duo. So honestly I am left so curious of the future but I wanna say even with all this franchise has been and not been over this last decade I have hope. and I hope Sega and Flynn can keep making that hope stronger and stronger.

Eggman often wants to make an amusement park as apart of his evil goals... now imagine him wanting to make an amusement park so his daughter could play at it when ever she wants. that would be precious

It’s why I like the quote from Jake from adventure time “just because he’s a bad man doesn’t mean he’s a bad father”

DR ROMARKNICK ART LES GOOO To me, I think it’s just about time that he’s been humanized in such a way that Frontiers has done, hopefully being able to continue in the next game.

I think we’re slowly building up to Eggman being a more minor antagonist with other villains being the main threat (kinda like what SA2 and 06 had)

I could absolutely see Sage doing whatever Eggman asks of her, since that's what she's programmed to do. I actually really like that she's an AI that got a character arc, yet never broke its original programming at any point. She was made to protect Eggman and follow his orders, and she consistently does both for the entire game's runtime. I'm pretty sure she's the only case of that in all of fiction. I'm really looking forward to seeing her show up in later games.

0:06 I can't unhear the anouncement from eggman in this scene now

Actually, Eggman's relations to Sage reminded me quite a lot Shredder and Karai relations, especially in 2002 TMNT series. There Shredder actually cares about Karai, but still demands obedience from her.

There actually is official artwork from Sonic Channel showing Eggman de-corrupting Sage's appearance around Christmas time. The first glimpse of Robotnik originating as a good person is seen with interpretations of his counterpart Kintobor. As for Bowser, he actually loves his son Junior. And he's loyal to his troops.

Yeah eggman having someone to care and do evil together its a super cool idea

I feel like this is going to become the Sonic version of Bowser and Bowser Jr’s dynamic. Eggman is gonna keep doing his thing, and Sage is actively gonna facilitate that, but at the same time there’s some “boundaries” the two might not overstep, and the two’s love for another is as genuine as anything. What will probably make this different from those two tyrannical turtles, though, is that the two’s relationship with the heroes will be different from one another. Sage being more respectful to the gang, even cordial to a point, while Eggman will continue his schtick of respect being as begrudging as possible.

This is why I say that we're not seeing Eggman, we're seeing Ivo Robotnik. This is ivo showing true compassion and attention he's wanted since childhood

No, I don't think you need to worry. Sure it's different that eggman now has someone more than himself to care about but will he stop being a villain? No, villains can have family or those they see as family (Bowser and Bowser Jr are an example) if anything he will be even more motivated to build his empire now, especially since he now has an heir. And yes Sage may have learned something from sonic and his friends but despite that her loyalty and love belongs to eggman so she will be against his plans. No if anything she will help him maybe want him to be as safe as possible but yes she doesn't have an individual mind and soul, yet more one of logic and she only sees the positives of her creator and his dream.

Eggman will always be an Antagonist, that doesn’t mean he’ll always be the Villain.

Eggman’s psychology being elaborated on is why I love Ian’s writing. In IDW, you really get to feel his ego, how despite being oh so simple he is quite complex. Every scheme has basically just been a way for him to show off over anything else, he literally states that he could just easily carpet bomb Sonic but doesn’t because that isn’t how he wants to win. Every thing he does, every action, it is to guide the world into what he believes it should be like. Sage is just something to be added in to the pot

This was a very interesting take, I wonder where this could be taken, provided that they do follow up upon this, I hope they do, I will look forward to see what all of this will ultimately mean for the Franchise, SEGA better not screw it up. Also, I really liked the Egg Memos, it felt like we got to know a side of Eggman that we hardly, if ever, get to see, it was fascinating.

Honestly, I think this is a fantastic addition to Eggman's character. They don't necessarily need to change how he operates in the future, as world conquest have always been his main drive. But now, that drive have evolved from "Building Eggman Land for my own ego" to "Building Eggman Land for my daughter" and let her take control of everything like he said. As for Sage, she also do not necessarily need to have second thoughts about helping Eggman hurt innocent people. While she grown to admire Sonic's selfless heroism, she genuinely love Eggman above all despite having the entire database of Eggman's countless atrocities in her head. I believe she can rationalize that violence and death are unavoidable in conflicts, but with her help, her father can achieve his goal with the least amount of casualties possible. And if it happens to went too far, she know Sonic will be there to save the day, and save her father from himself if need be. Hell, I could even see Eggman putting her on support duty and stay home to keep his base and army in shape while he went on to do his scheme of the week. He may very well be doing his best to keep her safe and out of *his* troubles, especially if he thinks his little girl would be disappointed or have any negative opinion in what he about to do. After all, we just learned Eggman seek approval of family. He also almost lost her once, so he isn't going to risk it a second time.

This is a different "branch" of humanization then you discussed in the video, but Sonic Adventure 1 has a hidden room behind the cockpit of the Egg Carrier that is basically an arcade rec room for the Doctor. It help solidify his goofier Japanese personality into the greater continuity and shows off his childish side.

It's really cool seeing bad guys like Eggman develope genuinely good relationships with another character. It allows for a lot more possible character interactions and always feels really sweet, especially when they see eachother as family like with this.

I’m very late to the party on this one but I honestly think that making Eggman able to fight for someone other than just himself while still remaining completely evil is a genius idea that will give his character more diversity going forward. He can be the cool villain, the silly villain, the manipulator, the horrifying monster, and all the things he was before, but now he can also be the villain who takes a day off of world conquest because it’s his daughter’s 7th birthday. We’ve seen through Murder of Sonic that he’s still just as vicious as ever, he now just has a family unit that loves and supports him and vice versa. As for Sage, it seems she’s going to be happy with whatever Eggman wants to do, though she’ll probably end up being a lot more merciful and even sometimes help Sonic behind her dad’s back. It’s really exciting stuff.

Sage singing at the end credit got me in my feelings. That song is a vibe 🥺

Bowser is actually a perfect parallel because we get introduced to his son Jr and at the end he wants to join in fighting Mario again so slSahe could easily soften Eggman around her but could also lead to new stories with her as a base like him taking a relic to give her a real body or even her helping in boss fights as controlling arenas to make fighting his robots more difficult.

Tbh we might get a dedede-esk redemption for eggman, where eggman becomes more of a rival rather than outright evil

I've never had the 'completely evil' sense for eggman. Rather, he was always evil for a purpose- stupidly selfish purposes, but a purpose. Not exactly evil for sake of evil- he never cared about causing misery for miseries sake. Everything was just a means to an end and the process didn't matter. He's always been my definition of chaotic neutral taken to the extreme- give them a goal and they will do anything in their power to achieve it, regardless of consequence. He does not care about hurting people, and nor does he care about not hurting them either. The only exception kinda being sonic- which I've got a theory about. Eggman has two main goals/desires that define him for me: 1. An overwhelming desire for recognition, validation, and praise. This manifesting in his various theme parks, attempts at conquering, and near-overwhelming displays of narcissism and vanity. He is the greatest, and wants to be seen and heard of as such. Many of his robots are far 'showier' than necessary too, often being weaker for it despite his obvious capabilities to make them better- the guy is probably the greatest genius of the planet after all (he's basically the only one with working space exploration, and the actual logistics of running his robot empire, manufactorums, and construction planning is ridiculous. That's not even mentioning how quickly he manages to break down and learn about different energy forms and how to apply them). This however, conflicts with his massive inability to understand social dynamics and other people. The guy just does not understand others; his ability to empathize is extremely restricted. I imagine his childhood combined with his genius culminated in this. His second desire I attribute to him is a craving for sheer power. He can never get enough of it. Whatever the reason he needs it, viscerally. (personally I think the cause of this desire is childhood abuse, or something similar. Robotnik as a word means worker or, if you follow its etymology, slave, which doesn't give a good light to his family history.) His quest for more and more power is never ending, and leads to his exploitation of nearly every single energy type/source he comes across or learns about, or knowledge stored and hoarded he wishes to get his hands on. From powerful items to powerful entities, he craves them all. Those two desires are what I've always viewed as the basis for why he acts like he does- not necessarily because he's evil for evil's sake, but because he lacks empathy and has specific goals. Then again, I know him mostly from Unleashed & Colors, a single anime/show that I don't remember the name of, and a few out of order comic issues. Never really watched the Sat-am stuff.

Honestly I like the idea of a evil man being a doting father. If you've ever seen the Venture Brothers show you'll know about Red Death. He's a super villain that basically looks like the Red Skull from Marvel. He's as evil as can be and is down right sadistic with his enemies. But at the same time he has a wife and family that he absolutely adores and is incredibly soft around to the point he seems like a normal guy. It doesn't detract from his evilness as, but it gives him more depth than just a mustache twirling villain. Which I feel like could be the same for Eggman.

After watching your analysis (great job by the way), and seeing some of the Egg Memos I totally forgot, I mainly picked something up from the one about Maria. Originally I shrugged that one off since this was a game that didn't include Shadow (unless you count the mods), but maybe when he talked about how everyone focused on her, and when you pointed out Sage wanted a family like Sonic's when she saw him and Tails, I think maybe that's the reason why Eggman can't stand Sonic. That sense of family that Sonic was able to build over the years, and while he had his robots, they don't capture that feel of humanity. It's like if you ask an AI to say "I love you," they're programmed to do so. But if you ask a living thing (that speaks, of course), it has to be earned. And maybe that's what we never understood about Eggman that we could draw from the GOOD incarnations of Shadow or Movie Knuckles. That feeling of loneliness and isolation that a lot of people can connect to. But no matter what, I can't wait to see what the future holds for the Doctor and his Daughter.

So I can see how this can actually lead to a very interesting story. Eggman will not give up his plans to conquer the world and create his Eggman empire but thanks to Sage he will be less evil about it. Maybe she convinces him that cruelty will just lead to rebellion, maybe she strokes his ego by saying that he would look better if his empire had the happiest, richest and healthiest people or maybe she just pleads with him to avoid unnecessary cruelty. Maybe a combination of all three. Ultimately he will not directly make the people he conquers his slaves but just have them work for him and in return he will pay them and treat them decently or maybe even good. His technology would obviously be capable of making the world a better place so he does just that. Now obviously he wouldn’t be a good person, while he treats those who surrenders fairly he will crush rebellion and destroy all resistance and frankly I think Sage would be fully ok with these terms. This might even start a form of character arc for Sage, when planning the infrastructure of the Eggman empire she compares it to the other civilizations in the world and concludes that objectively their is the superior civilization in any measurable way. With that in mind she is excited to help spread her father’s influence to not only help him but to make the world a better place but what she meets is resistance, every country, city or village they face resist them and even though she constantly tries to argue for the advantages to peacefully join them they still fight back and this makes her frustrated with people and starts to consider them stupid for not seeing the advantages of their rule. Then when Sonic is stopping them at any chance they get she will grow increasingly frustrated with him and ultimately become more and more like her father and more ruthless with their enemies including Sonic and his friends. If anyone has any complaints or additions please let me know.

The fact eggman compared sage to maria makes me want shadow and sage to meet sooo bad

honestly I'd really like to see Eggman get a sort of redemption arc of sorts as long as it's done well. Like in the IDW Transformers arc that see's Megatron join the Autobots, at some point he ends up on Necroworld which is essentially a planet sized memorial. for every life someone has taken a flower is planted around a statue of them. and Megatron's has thousands. Like I don't expect Eggman to ever be fully "Team Sonic" but to see him try to be a better man could be very interesting

If anything team eggman feel much better with sage in it than zavok

I don't know, I actually really like the subversion of "the villains/antagonists ALSO have the power of love/friendship on their side!". Because hey- in real life, people have facets, are three-dimensional. They can be terrible overall, but also love kids and animals for example.

Love this take on the character. Loved this game. Eggman being a dad was a concept I've really enjoyed with Metal and Eggette, so I'm incredibly happy to see it becoming a reality.

i mean i think Eggman is mostly a Monster, but i can see how he changed he helped Shadow and proves respect for Sonic Tails ecc His relationship with Sage is pretty understandable

I watched your video this morning, my dude, and your take is so good. Humanizing a villain beyond their established role is a really good way to help tell a compelling story and Ian Flynn as well as the Japanese writers handled that task very well. Ian knows how to give depth to the characters, now if only they can loosen up on Shadow and allow him to be fleshed out again. Its time to step out of their comfort zone, quit being cowards and let the writers do whatever they want to do with him freely.

I remember watching an impausive podcast months ago and the guest said something like "when you have a daughter it changes you" I dont remember what he said fully but see that Eggman did exactly that is crazy to think about

They’re probably going to use sage as a way to finally pry his guts open.

If you were reading the comics you'd probably realize who tangle was when she was mentioned but the fact that she was mentioned means that frontiers is probably way after the metal virus and probably imposter syndrome in the comics meaning that we actually have some reason as to why Eggman softened up. Basically he lost his memory for a while and became a loveable little guy named mr.tinkerer and made a daughter named belle so father/daughter complex set up and during metal virus and imposter syndrome 3 new villains are introduced dr.starline aka eggmans assistant for the metal virus and starlines creations surge and kit aka the sonic and tails copycats. If your wondering who tangle is still their just someone sonic met during the metal virus arc. Also mecha's back thanks to the scrapnik island comics.

I'm honestly happy that they haven't completely retconned humans out of the series, with Maria and Gerald being referanced.

I love the video and eggman may be the most hated villain but in sonic frontiers eggman having a daughter named sage to keep him safe is something I didn't know about his pas

Thing about Eggy is that he's always been a representative of humanity since the very first game. Of the worst aspects? Sure, very much so. But always human. Egoistical, megalomaniacal, self-absorbed and narcissistic, yet undeniably a human. A person. Even since the Adventure games, particularly SA2, we've know that he's not entirely devoid or incapable of positive interactions with others, let alone feeling love and/or admiration. Him finally cracking out of his shell with his most impressive creation yet, one that actually manages to impress him and succeed, is nothing more than an extension of that. His love may come from a twisted perspective of ego-stroking, but its still love and appreciation for Sage.

Eggman sees Sage as his daughter. He sees Orbot and Cubot as his annoying servants. And Metal Sonic as his greatest creation.

I love this iteration of Eggman. I played SA2 before SA1 and being able to play as him and see his perspective blew my mind. They’ve never quite achieved that again with Eggman until now, and I love it. “Ganondorf can’t be trusted with those triangles” 😂

Dont forget even his future is dark. Eggman Nega calling him the black sheep of the familie!

My biggest question about humanizing Eggman is, how are they gonna walk back him trying to effectively nuke the earth with the power of the sun? Sonic Forces made him beyond cartoonishly evil, and it feels like Frontiers just wants us to forget that happened.

Finally we have a eggman represented just like the adventure duology

I think there's some comedy potential in Sage still loving and following Eggman but also being friends with Sonic & Co., and so she sort of regularly manages truces between them.

Eggman stole the show for me 😭 If Mike Pollock no longer voices Eggman, I am going to have a birth of cactuses out of my a$$hole.

I think humanizing Eggman would have worked before Sonic Forces.

Heya Ace, I would whole heartedly recommend continuing to read the comic series, what is shown in there in regards to what happens to Eggman throughout it really does add to his humanization, it is possible that some events in the comics may have had a hand in what lead to his development in sonic frontiers. Perhaps even a hint of him wanting to be a good person who wants to love and be loved, but is just stuck being as he ever was because he enjoys being that way far too much to ever want to be better even for his own sake.

Humanizing Eggman is honestly something I’ve always wanted and his father daughter relationship with Sage is beautiful! I remember them saying that Forces will literally be the only time Eggman will ever get close to conquering the world. Which means all the other future Sonic games he’ll never get that close again and now that he’s got Sage I can see him getting a lot more softer as time goes on the more he spends time with her and maybe even his other creations too.

i legit started crying at the end of the game when eggman looked so defeated. it was heart wrenching. and then too have Dear Father start playing RIGHT AFTERWARDS. my heart can't take it.

Now the only character we need to be more emotional is Sonic himself, like seriously, can't the guy feel somewhat sad?

I think in order to reset eggman to the evil status quo for the next game the writers will probaly make eggman reprogram the new version of sage to dislike sonic.

If bell saw how eggman treats sage she'd blow a gasket

I like how Sonic Frontiers takes Eggman - even if he is mostly stuck in cyberspace - seriously. He isn't made into a bumbling fool, but isn't overpowered either. In a way, this might be the most grounded Eggman (or among the most grounded) appearance the character has made. Sage among all the other traits mentioned is also a great display of just how intelligent Eggman really is. I hope in the future Eggman gets treated with this sort of respect too, because as the series main villain and technically the oldest characters, it would be a pleasant change of pace.

All previous Eggman creations either sufficiently fulfilled their purpose or failed him. Sage is the first one to surpass his exceptations. He sees himself as perfect and all his creation as perfect too. It makes sense that he would feel attached to the creation that is more perfect than he expected.

But Bowser is already the best Dad! Haven't you seen the parental control videos for the Switch?

Nice video! Thank god this video appeared in my Up next section! You seriously have a lot of potential my friend! I wish you great amounts of happiness and success! :)

Glad people are talking about this. Felt that with this “new generation of Sonic” Sega was building, they needed a built in “out” if they ever needed to bring Sonic to an end. After all, if Eggman gave up being the bad guy and started a family, who would Sonic fight? No more evil mad scientists? Mission accomplished! It’s not an ending I want to come for a while, mind you, and I can definitely imagine sage working along side her father to take on the world, but I do look forward to what this new Eggman will become.

The original formula of Sonic is that Eggman is destroying the environment and exploiting animal life for his own gain. He is a stand-in for all humanity. He represents the cleverness of humanity, yes, but also its arrogance. No matter what horrible things he's done though at the end of the day, he's still a human being. He's not a demon. He's not wholly evil. He has a heart. It's just eclipsed by his pride and greed. Is Eggman redeemable? If he is, then all of humanity is.

15:05 I think this could be a good idea for like the final Sonic game and be the start of some sort of redemption arc but this isn't an Indie game we're talking about its popular triple a video game franchise that has been going on for 30 something years

I think it's obvious where this is going to go and it's a genius motivator for Eggman to double down. He'll 100% blame his daughter's death on Sonic and it's that which will fuel his actions going forward. The bit with The End is both literal and figurative, I think Eggman just essentially uploaded a contaminated SAGE into his network out of stricken grief not caring for the consequences in doing so. He'll still be the antagonist, but he'll have more of a reason to remain evil.

I just finished watching this video and this was very well said. Yes how Robotnik is behaving in this game is very alien. He's always been evil to the bone. I mean in Sonic adventure 2 he appeared to show at least some form of sympathy because of how surprised he was about what his grandfather had planned on doing, but ultimately he only really help the good guys because it was a mutual interest to save the planet from destruction.

I love the way you've analysed this relationship and really broken it down. I personally like this change in Eggman and I'm interested to see what they do in future games

I liked the memo about how the Reason he's called Eggman was to take Sonic's teasing and turn it into a symbol of terror. But he still has too much pride to do the same for Baldy McNosehair

I think Ivo Robotnik should have a confrontation moment. Where he ends up coming to a crossroads in his life where he faces GUN and his family? The psychological horror arc of having two of his worlds, combining with the Maria as a hedgehog concept would be a real dynamic mad scientist arc. His grandfather was so determined to save his grandchildren as Eggman was still right there and orphaned. A Greek tragedy of Ivo seeking world domination overshadowing Sage or his connection to other people. A blind genius who looks for happiness in all the wrong places as Sage tries to help him as the situation becomes more tragic.

Humanizing an egg hard-boiled by anger and family problems. Yeah, absolutely nothing can go wrong doing that!

I love this father - daughter relationship (I cried in the end) I just hope that he doesn't lose his cool of being the main villaing and being a big menace because of "bad guy, good dad" trope. For example, I like how he was portrayed in the IDW comics (like in Metal virus saga and issue#50)

I'd argue Eggman could be even more deadly having Sage by his side. A scientific genius of a father (who's also crazy) would do anything to protect his daughter

Eggman wanting a family and trying to build an amusement park for them is a wholesome thought.

FINALLYYYY!!!! The first time I care about Eggman since SA2 or the Metarex Saga

I hope we learned a little more about Eggman in the next Sonic game I love moments like this is why I love Sonic adventure 2 the story and learning a bit about Eggman 's family for the first time I want more of that.