Gerald Robotnik


 * This article is about Gerald Robotnik. You may be looking for the main villain of the game continuity, Doctor Eggman.

"All of you ungrateful humans, who took everything away from me, will feel my loss, and despair!"

- Gerald Robotnik, Sonic Adventure 2

Professor Gerald Robotnik (プロフェッサー・ジェラルド・ロボトニック) is a fictional character from the Sonic the Hedgehog series who first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2. He was a human scientist and the grandfather of Maria Robotnik and Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik. Widely acknowledged as one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, Gerald was responsible for several groundbreaking creations, such as the Space Colony ARK, the Biolizard, Artificial Chaos, the Chaos Drives, and his greatest achievement, Shadow the Hedgehog. Even decades later, his discoveries and research would come to play an important role in the fate of the world.

Over fifty years prior to Shadow the Hedgehog, Gerald was asked to lead Project Shadow, a medical program for researching immortality, which he accepted in hopes of finding a cure for a fatal illness afflicting his dearly loved granddaughter. While Gerald completed the project by creating the "Ultimate Lifeform", Shadow the Hedgehog, though not without drastic measures, Gerald was taken into custody by the military when his work was deemed too dangerous. When hearing Maria had been killed by the military, Gerald slipped into madness and spend his last days plotting revenge at humanity before his execution.

Appearance
Gerald Robotnik bore a distinct resemblance to his grandson. He had broad and elevated shoulders, a round, almost egg-shaped, torso (though not with as large a girth as Eggman), slightly over-proportioned arms and legs, and large hands and feet. He was also bald with a dome-shaped head, a long and large nose, and low-set small ears. Like Eggman, he also had an oversize whitish grey mustache, except that his was more voluminous and smooth. He was also not very tall of stature, only being about half a head taller than Maria

Gerald's general attire consisted of a brown turtleneck sweater and a white lab coat with black buttons. He also wore blue pince-nez glasses which had a distinct ripple-like pattern on them. In Sonic Adventure 2 he was shown wearing white pants, while in Shadow the Hedgehog he is seen wearing brown pants and blue shoes.

In Sonic Adventure 2 and its remake, Gerald's design was slightly different. In these games he was skinnier, had more normal body proportions, his head was slightly pointier, and his mustache was more ragged. His glasses also had no ripple pattern.

Early Life
Nearly nothing is know about Gerald Robotnik's early life, besides that he grew to become the greatest scientific mind of his time. He set out to help the world and dedicated his life's work to the people of earth, using his research to bring happiness and hope to all people through the power of science. During his carrier, Gerald accomplished many great things, his most remarkable creation being the Space Colony ARK, the world's first space colony which he designed and came to live on. Other accomplishments he achieved included developing the Artificial Chaos, discovering and researching an interdimensional beast called the Ifrit and how to release it, and being the first to propose the existence of the Fourth Great Civilization which he wrote a book about called The Fourth Great Civilization.

At some point, Gerald got a granddaughter named Maria Robotnik. Gerald came to grow extremely fond of Maria and she became his whole world and only reason for living. He would eventually live and work together with Maria on the Space Colony ARK.

Project Shadow
Over fifty years prior to Shadow the Hedgehog, Gerald got a letter from the by then-President of the United Federation who requested his help with a medical project named "Project Shadow" which was meant to research immortality and create an "immortality formula." Initially, Gerald stubbornly refused this request, believing they were crossing the limits of man and that this research could be used to make weapons. However, Gerald changed his mind because of Maria, who was suffering from Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome, an incurable and fatal disease. Realizing that the immortality research could be used to develop a cure for Maria's illness, Gerald accepted the President's request in the end and agreed to led the project on the Space Colony ARK.

In the first stages of Project Shadow, Gerald researched the Chaos Emeralds which resulted in the Chaos Drives, which were a test to apply the Emeralds' infinite energy to living beings. With the Chaos Drives, Gerald and his colleges moved to the project's next phase which was to create an immortal lifeform dubbed "The Ultimate Lifeform" with the first order of business being to create a prototype.

During the development of the ultimate lifeform, Gerald needed help to create such a creature which led him to making contact with Black Doom, the alien leader of the Black Arms race, during the fifty-year return of the Black Comet, and they made a deal. Gerald promised to deliver the seven Chaos Emeralds to Black Doom in fifty years and in turn, Black Doom would collaborate with Gerald and his research, even providing his blood to Gerald as DNA for the project. However, Gerald eventually discovered that the Black Arms planned to use the Chaos Emeralds to destroy earth and enslave the human population. Realizing he had made a terrible mistake, Gerald secretly plotted against Black Doom and developed the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Black Comet and the aliens with it when they made their return.

Eventually, Gerald and his colleges managed to successfully create the "Prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform" which was dubbed the Biolizard. While the Biolizard lived up to many of Gerald and the others' standards as it grew and they reveled in glory, the creature was too flawed. In addition to a bestial nature, weak limbs and reliance on machinery for survival, Gerald noticed the Biolizard was growing too fast and requested that the control part on its vital organs was reinforced. Eventually, the Biolizard became too unruly and hard to control and caused many problem's onboard the ARK.

Fearing that the government planned to cease his research and imprison everyone who knew about Shadow, Gerald also prepared a contingency video for Shadow to see, explaining his intention for Shadow to make up for Gerald's past mistake by collecting all the Chaos Emeralds and then using the Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Black Comet.

Later, G.U.N. decided Gerald's experiments were dangerous to humanity, and boarded the ARK to forcibly shut them down, ending up with Maria among the list of casualties in the process. This caused Gerald to lose his grip on reality, and he created plans to crash the ARK into the planet to destroy it as revenge at the world for taking Maria away from him. Based on his original projections, Gerald designed Shadow's mind, presumably altering his memories, to carry out his wish for revenge, and as well set the Biolizard up to ensure that the ARK would collide with the planet. He was eventually captured by G.U.N. under the guise of disappearing under mysterious circumstances. During his imprisonment, he left behind a recorded videotape where he explained his final plan to have revenge on the ungrateful earth by having the ARK crash into it.

The Space Colony ARK
The former home of Gerald, Maria, the would-be commander of G.U.N., and various researchers and soldiers, the ARK was a gigantic space colony where great research was performed. The entire place also worked as a life support system for Maria. While Gerald focused on making inventions for the good of mankind (such as the Heal Unit), little known devices of mass destruction were being made (the Ultimate Life form and the Eclipse Cannon), mostly under the influence of and preparing against Black Doom. Others who lived aboard the ARK were Shadow (who protected the ARK from danger until it was shut down), the Biolizard and Emerl (until he was transported to G.U.N.'s fortress). When Shadow failed to protect the ARK from an inside attack, the ARK was shut down. Many died (including Maria) and Gerald himself went insane. The ARK was later rediscovered by Dr. Eggman, who used it as a temporary base.

Eclipse Cannon
The Eclipse Cannon is an extremely powerful weapon that is located inside the "nose" of the Space Colony ARK (the ARK resembles Gerald's face). It is powered by Chaos Emeralds, and can destroy planets or even pierce stars with all seven. Gerald built it to destroy the Black Arms when they arrived near Earth, but after he went insane, he reprogrammed it to send the ARK flying into the Earth the next time it was activated with all seven Emeralds. Eventually, it was used for its original purpose.

Artificial Chaos
Artificial Chaos are Gerald's first noteworthy creations. They resemble Chaos from Sonic Adventure and are most likely modeled after him as Maria states that Gerald created them based on "a god of an ancient culture". The Artificial Chaos are made up of a core (the head, shaped like that of Chaos 0) and trillions of nanobots that both protect the core and provide the body for it. While the Artificial Chaos seen in Shadow the Hedgehog had red, half-closed eyes and red marking on their heads, the ones in Sonic Adventure 2 have larger green eyes and an emblem on their foreheads.

When first created they began acting out and attacking the ARK (according to Gerald in  Shadow the Hedgehog' s Expert Mode, they had their electrode conductors reversed), but G.U.N. (and possibly Shadow), stopped them. They were later fixed, and then adopted by the government to protect the ARK. In Shadow the Hedgehog, when the Black Arms invade the ARK, Doom's Eye calls the Artificial Chaos "the legacy of Gerald" and then announced that they belonged to the Black Arms now, suggesting that the aliens somehow took control of them.

Biolizard
Biolizard was the Prototype of the Ultimate Life. It was a giant lizard hooked up to a life support system. The Biolizard was deemed a failure as it went out of control and had to be sealed up. After Gerald went insane, he programmed the Biolizard to stop anyone from hindering the ARK crashing into the Earth, but it was stopped.

Shadow the Hedgehog
Perhaps Gerald's most brilliant achievement, this was the finished result of Project Shadow, the immortal Ultimate Life form who would never age. Shadow was created after Gerald had gone into a pact with the alien leader Black Doom, using his alien blood to create Shadow with a promise that Shadow would help Black Doom retrieve the Chaos Emeralds 50 years later. However, Project: Shadow was cancelled a week after Shadow was created, and Shadow was eventually captured and hidden away by G.U.N.

Heal Units
Portable box-like devices that send out energy that replenish health and are still used to this day by G.U.N.. The Heal Unit may have inspired the creation of the Heal Cannon, a Bazooka-like weapon that fires shots with the same healing capabilities. Maria Robotnik feels it is Gerald's greatest creation (next to Shadow of course, most likely due to the fact that she is a pacifist).

Bomb Units
The Bomb units produce an unlimited supply of bombs. These are used in the game Shadow the Hedgehog to break walls and find secret passage ways. Their design is very similar to the Heal Units design.

Archie Comics
Gerald Robotnik also appears in Archie Comics as the maternal grandfather of Dr. Robotnik.

Sonic X
Sonic X, with some differences, retold the story of Gerald Robotnik. He played a similar role to his Sonic Adventure 2 counterpart, instigating the crash sequence of the ARK. However, his diary entry and ultimately, his motivations, were different, where he was escorted to Union Army Prison and wondering who could possibly believe that someone arrested him. He also implies in his rants in his diary that he was the creator of the "pseudo-perpetual mobile Chaos Drives." He also wonders if his arrest had anything to do with a conspiracy by G.U.N. to take over the Eclipse Cannon and Artificial Chaos, and mentions that Project Shadow is the only thing in his mind, and that he won't stand for such immorality. The diary omits any references to Maria's death or the fact that her death drove him insane. It also contained two cases of swearing in the diary ("Oh, hell" when he discovers that he was going to be locked up in the Union Army Prison and "for christ's sake" when expressing his distaste at being locked up and citing his being the father of the pseudo-perpetual mobile Chaos Drives), a rarity at the time.

Trivia

 * In the original photograph of him and Maria in Sonic Adventure 2 artwork, he was skinnier than his grandson. However, in a similar photograph of him and Maria in Shadow the Hedgehog, he is shown to be much bigger. Also, his glasses in Sonic Adventure 2 are smaller, but they are bigger and take up nearly twice the space in Shadow the Hedgehog.
 * Given there is a video feed of the professor in both games, it is thought that his appearance in Shadow the Hedgehog is his healthy, "sane" appearance, whereas the version seen by Sonic Adventure 2 occurred near the end of his life.
 * It is strongly implied that the tape revealing his final plan is actually his last words he gave before an execution, as suggested by the other voice in the audio asking if there is anything else he'd wish to say and then giving a vague "Ready" order. However, this is unconfirmed. In the Sonic X adaptation, distinct firing squad click and gunshot noises were added off-screen, although no one comments on it and Professor Gerald also doesn't seem to react to them in the English dub.
 * In the official game guide of Sonic The Hedgehog (2006) they wrote his name Gerard