Rampage was all right. Sonic was a much better film though. I would rewatch Sonic over a few times. I couldn't care less if I ever see Rampage again.
See what I mean? Sonic was fun today, and I couldn't believe how packed the theater was even though it was the matinee I went to.Usually I go early because I hate crowds and the matinees are usually pretty quiet, but today didn't quite work for me in that regard.
It's true he didn't have any real backstory, but his character animations definitely gave him some personality. Same as with Sonic. It was only as much as you can get across through cartoon pantomime. But it was enough that I could look at the SatAM characters and know that they weren't really the same guys, as much as I enjoyed the show. But on the other hand, what we could glean about Robotnik/Eggman from the games and official Sega artwork is that his megalomania and antisocial tendencies are equaled by his fun-loving and whimsical nature. And that much about him has been consistent through most of the changing post-SatAM interpretations of the character--from the Japanese OVA, to Sonic X, to Sonic Boom, and all of the games released from Sonic Adventure onward. So Venixion can be absolutely right that Jim Carrey tends to play most of his iconic characters the same way and that he's just doing more of that rather than really adapting to the character. But the way he plays his goofy, antisocial characters already matches the basic elements of who Dr. Eggman is. I haven't seen the movie yet, but even just picturing Jim Carrey doing Jim Carrey things already seems like a decent fit.
I just love that a whole new generation will know him as Dr. Robotnik. For 7 years and among cartoons, comics & many games across the genesis, master system, game gear, & Sega cd he was Dr. Robotnik. And then one day they tell us he’s really Dr. Eggman because reasons. I’ve always been bitter about that. I’m fine with them using Eggman as an insult or nickname for him. But they didn’t even do that. They just acted like that was his real name. So thank you, Sonic movie, for giving us back Dr. Robotnik!
Most movie stars only have one character — themselves. Being a movie star is completely different from being an actor.
Some original concept art from Jeff Folwer using Chris Evans as Tom and some sort of lizard looking villain that apparently never made the cut...
The Concept art of Sonic looks way better than the final art, in my opinion. I don't know who the lizard guy is, but he looks pretty damn cool. Looks like something out of the Dark Crystal. It's also good to know that Thanos almost made a cameo.
It has a combo of the athlete body from the previous design, and the head from the final design. It sort of merges hairspikes with quills too, which gives an interesting look. But I'm happy with Sonic's design in the film.
He also has a rougher look, that looks far less like a cartoon. Which was my biggest problem with the final design and the first trailer design. They both make Sonic look like a cartoon hanging out in the real world. Which isn't too big of a deal, I am happy with the over all design, but overall, I do like the concept art better.
Even though it doesn't look like any existing sonic character I can think of (unless it's a strange take on Lyric from that terrible Sonic Boom game), I do like that lizard villain's design. The staff also would make a perfect setup for the greater cinematic universe by hinting at Count Graduon.
This seems kinda senseless. Eggman was his original name. It's the name Sonic Team picked for him, and what he was called in Japan. That's why he had so much egg-themed stuff. Changing the names on everything that doesn't come from North America isn't really a laudible practice, and it's not really sustainable in the post-internet era, so they fixed it. And when they fixed it, they did make it so that it's a nickname. It's made clear early in the English dialogue for Sonic Adventure, when it's introduced by Sonic as an epithet. Then in Sonic Adventure 2, they went the extra mile to unify the Japanese and international versions by introducing the Robotnik name in Japan. A video broadcast by the villain uses both names on screen, and his grandfather's name is given as Gerald Robotnik, even in the Japanese voice track. So I'm not sure exactly what more they were supposed to do. But that's not the senseless part. People get attached to a name they're used to, and we can't all be paying attention to everything that goes on in a franchise. What I don't get is why someone would wish that same confusion on another generation of kids.
Use the name “Dr. Robotnik” in the games more than once every 20 years. Maybe even use it interchangeably with “Eggman” the way Nintendo handles Bowser & King Koopa. I’m really not asking much.
To me, he'll always be Robotnik (I think it sounds better than Eggman as well), so I'm glad they used that. But I also love how in this movie, Sonic calls him Eggman a few times in the final act because his robots are all egg shaped. That feels like the best of both worlds to me. Maybe that lizard was meant to be running around the Mushroom planet as a potential tease for the Mushroom Kingdom. Either way, cool looking design.
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They probably would have, if they'd continued in the plot-heavy direction of Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic '06. The main villain's legacy and motivations would be too obvious of a topic not to explore, which would mean ample opportunity to use the villain's real name. But it turns out it's best when Sonic games don't try to ground or explain things and when the story is as simple as possible. Every time Sega strays from that, they get reminded. Sega of America is long since gone, so if we're applying the K.I.S.S. principle, he's just going to be Eggman. Meanwhile, the Archie comics took the unusual approach of deciding that Eggman and Robotnik are two different characters. That would have made room to use the Robotnik name more often... except they killed Robotnik off. The rebooted IDW comics and the Sonic Boom cartoon both try to stay true to their video game source material, so they're not likely venues for the name. Sonic Boom in particular tries to keep things simple and whimsical. But now we have a live-action movie set in the real world present day, where there's no other option but to ground and explain things. "Dr. Eggman" isn't a name the United States government calls on as a specialist. Lo and behold, it finally made sense to use the Robotnik name again, so they did. If the movie becomes a series--which looks likely at this point--we'll probably see that name used mostly on our Earth and seldomly in Sonic's world. FWIW, I don't recall "King Koopa" being used much if at all in recent decades. Even in the '80s and '90s it was used almost exclusively by the DiC and Valiant spin-off material. Which is interesting because Bowser is Nintendo of America's Westernized name for the character. In Japan he's almost exclusively just "Kuppa" (not King Koopa). Instances of Charles Martinet using the name "Bowser" in voice work for the games tend to get scrubbed from the Japanese versions. So it's still pretty much NoA using "Bowser" and Nintendo Co. Ltd. using "Kuppa" like it's always been, and the example isn't really applicable. A closer example would be Princess Peach, where Super Mario 64 briefly implies that "Peach" is her name and "Princess Toadstool" is her title, and it's rarely spoken of again. Strangely, I don't see too many people getting bitter and pissy about it decades later.
I've seen it generally accepted that her name is basically "Princess Peach Toadstool", with Peach as her first name. It's a simple way to have both names make sense. Another example is the Street Fighter character Charlie, known in Japan as Nash, and fans basically just put the two names together so he's now Charlie Nash. My kids really want to see this movie, but I'll have to explain beforehand that the bad guy's name is Robotnik and not Eggman. Being only 7, most of what they've seen and read about Sonic has the bad guy named Eggman, which makes me sad.
Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik isn't really any different, apart from Sega explicitly making it part of the canon before fans were widely doing it.
