Eggman Empire


 * Robotnikland redirects here. For the episode, see Robotnikland (episode).

''"Long live the Eggman Empire."

- Sonic Adventure 2 dark side trailer  The Eggman Empire (エッグマン帝国), also known as Robotnik Empire, is an empire of scientists and robots in the Sonic the Hedgehog'' series. The Eggman Empire, as its name shows, is led by Dr. Eggman. It is the doctor's ultimate goal to have the Eggman Empire encompass the entire Earth in his quest to achieve global dominance. So far, the Eggman Empire has never actually been seen or built, and merely refers to the territories Eggman has claimed and plans to claim. Sonic Unleashed was the most recent game to feature the Eggman Empire, although Sonic Colors could possibly count.

In the world of the video game series, Eggmanland (エッグマンランド), also known as Robotnikland or Robotropolis, is a land that Sonic the Hedgehog's nemesis, Dr. Eggman, often speaks of and are meant to serve as the captial of the Eggman Empire, from where the doctor plans to spread his rule from. In some continuities it is a land that he has already established; in others he only has plans for it.

The early cartoons and Archie Comics use the name Robotropolis (though the comics later adopted the name when an alternate version of Robotnik appeared). In most continuities, Eggmanland takes on the form of a technocratic dictatorship, with Dr. Eggman himself as the self-appointed Head of State. In general, as far as the social order of each continuity's Eggmanland spans out, robots and scientists employed by Eggman are granted greater social status than that of other Humans and Mobians.

Overview
While the Eggman Empire refers to all the areas controlled by Dr. Eggman, the capital of the Eggman Empire does not actually exist; Eggman constantly strives to establish it with various plans, several of which involve the use of Chaos Emeralds, befriending mythological deities or a combination of both.

Originally the empire has not being referenced in the first main installments of the series, as Eggman is mostly told to being after Chaos Emeralds, kidnapping Animals and turning them to his royal Badniks or building the Death Egg in original instruction manuals, although it is implied that building his empire would be the next step after completing his early operations.

In Sonic the Hedgehog CD, Dr. Ivo Robotnik temporarily succeeds in creating a complete "Eggmanland" in the future world of the Little Planet by altering the past - this dark future is mainly a bleak post-apocalyptic world with all of Robotnik's robots being broken down and the scenery rusted and deteriorating. This could either mean two things: Robotnik's desired utopia is doomed to failure or that he has no regard to whatever happens to the planet environmentally, as long as it is under his control.

In Japanese instruction manual of Sonic Labyrinth, Eggman is known to hint about his plans of world domination for the first time. Eggman mentions about it again in Sonic Adventure as "Robotnikland", which he can build over the ruins of the Station Square after destroying it. For doing that, he released Chaos from Master Emerald and tries to collect Chaos Emeralds in order to get Chaos to its full form. In Sonic Adventure 2, the names "Eggman Empire" and "Robotnik Empire" were both used. This can be presumed as two words in the background while Eggman was broadcasting his threat. Also, in the Dark Story, a scene is called "Eggman Empire". The latter game also implies that his world domination plans, and essentially the Eggman Empire, had earlier been spawned as a result of his initial beliefs that his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, had been unfairly tried by the government.

Occasionally there has been someone else forcefully taking Eggman's position in the Eggman Empire. In Sonic Heroes, Metal Sonic imprisoned Eggman and took control of the empire, while also taking new physical form as managing to copy several abilities to get his monstorous form.

In Shadow the Hedgehog, the Eggman Empire is one of the factions that Shadow can align himself with along with GUN and the Black Arms. When fighting for the Eggman Empire, Shadow is guided by Eggman, who communicates with him from a hovering TV-like apparatus.

While Eggman himself may not yet be able to complete Eggmanland, it was shown in Sonic Rush, that his "alter ego", Eggman Nega, has completed it. However in Sonic Rivals and its sequel, Eggman Nega disguises himself as Eggman and takes control of Eggman's empire as trying to change the world to single card with his special camera or releasing Ifrit from another dimension.

In Sonic Unleashed, Eggmanland does exist as one of the game's stages, created through the power of Dark Gaia and looking like a twisted mixture of a carnival and a factory. In Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, it is shown in the cliff-hanger ending that he has finally achieved his "empire" while Sonic and company were in the Twilight Cage as a result of the time difference between the two areas.

Prior the events of Sonic Colors, Eggman has taken over numerous planets, which are populated with Wisps. Eggman uses Wisps and their powers as its energy source of mainly fueling the Mind Control Ray and Badniks as well. All these planets are connected to Dr. Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park, which also has giant mind control ray, that originally Eggman would used to get everyone at Sonic's world under his control after getting enough of Wisp's life source. He had been close to get everyone in the Earth on his control, but due to the energy leak, the large mind control ray gets malfunctions, creates a black hole and severely destroys the Mind Control Ray and the entire amusement park itself as well.

Decal
Wherever Eggman is setting his operations, it typically displays a traditional decal. This decal is often also seen on his robotic creations, vehicles, battleships or weaponry. Also many deadly in-game obstacles and structures are known to have Eggman's decal as well. The Eggman Empire's decal is known to have the smiley face of Doctor Eggman himself, which could be also shown everywhere on his empire, if he manages to succeed with his plans.

The early known, stylistic EG logo can be found at wings and doors of Wing Fortress Zone in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but it has also be seen at right shoulder of Grounder and brown driving seat of Egg Typhoon from Sonic Drift. More Eggman-looking decal is then seen in Sonic Adventure, depicting Dr. Eggman's classic design despite getting redesigned in the game. Eggman has another decals everywhere on his hidden pyramid base in Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic Heroes features another decal on the Eggman Fleet which is also seen in Shadow the Hedgehog as well. Since Sonic Unleashed, Eggman made simplistic decal to fit his modern appearance. The most recognized logo is seen at his Eggmanland flag in the same game. Recent decal of his empire is then used since Sonic Colors.

Sonic the Comic
In the continuity of Fleetway's Sonic the Comic, Doctor Robotnik managed to conquer all of the planet Mobius and establish a totalitarian regime when Sonic and his crew were catapulted six months into the future by the Omni-Viewer. He remained in power from Sonic the Comic #8-#100, ruling the planet first from the Special Zone's Egg Fortress and later from Citadel Robotnik in the Metropolis City Zone. Under his rule, Mobius was heavily industrialised and (deliberately) polluted. Citizens could be grabbed at any moment to be sent to the Badnik Processing Plants and Robotnik would regularly send Badniks to attack the Zones he was in charge of, just to show he could. Due to his constant targeting of the Emerald Hill Zone, the people were secretly evacuated to the Mushroom Hill Zone on the Floating Island.

In the milestone 100th issue of STC, all of Robotnik's computer systems and Badniks are wiped out by an electromagnetic pulse generated by Super Sonic. He never managed to regain his power base, despite the aid of the extra-dimensional Drakon Empire and he was eventually driven insane by his failures and imprisoned at last. The D.R.A.T. sprung up immediately after his defeat, campaigning to bring Robotnik back.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog
In the Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, Robotnik has his own base of operations, a fortress located upon a hill with a large yellow or gold statue with hand salute. In the episode "Robotnikland", Dr. Robotnik takes over an amusement park called Mobiusland and renames this as Robotnikland, which he reprograms the rides to form a death trap. Sonic visits Robotnikland on his birthday as a trick by Scratch and Grounder.

In the Sonic Christmas Blast special, elements of the other contemporary cartoon appeared such as Princess Sally and versions of Robotropolis and the SWATbots.

Animated Series/Archie Comics
In the Archie-published Sonic comics continuity and the Saturday Morning ("SatAM") ABC show it ran concurrently with, Dr. Robotnik had already conquered a majority of the planet Mobius. His state and regime had no official name, though his seat of power was the captured royal city of Mobotropolis, which he renamed Robotropolis and converted into a factory city to produce his legions of robots.

Later in the Archie continuity (SatAM was cancelled early into Archie's run), both the original Dr. Robotnik and Robotropolis have been destroyed. He has been replaced by a Robotnik from an alternate timeline, who later took on a form that resembled his Sonic Adventure era design, and along with the games, now refers to himself as Dr. Eggman (though sometimes still calling himself Robotnik to avoid continuity confusion). Eggman has now established the Eggman Empire, which covers select regions of the Planet Mobius as he ruled from the city of New Megaopolis. This Empire is currently engaged in open war with the Kingdom of Acorn.

However, numerous setbacks have left the Empire in shambles. With the destruction of over 90% of his Badnik forces, as well as his capital city, Robotnik's last functional base of operations is the Eggdome, which was later remodeled and launched as the Death Egg Mark II.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie
In the Japanese version of Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, Dr. Robotnik tells Sonic that he lived in the utopian city Eggmanland (Robotropolis in the English Version), but that a robot known as Metal Robotnik and his army destroyed his people and drove him into the dimension of Sonic and Tails, The Land of the Sky. Robotropolis itself appeared as a very modern city, complete with a giant light fixture in Robotnik's likeness. The entire city is powered by the Egg Generator (Robot Generator in English), a machine bearing Robotnik's face, deep within the Doctor's base. Unlike the games, where Robotnik wants to expand his empire, this version of the Doc seems content with ruling Robotropolis, and would rather simply destroy the Land of the Sky to make his empire the only ruling power in existence.

Robotropolis is located beside or very near the Ancient Relics, and abandoned and sinking city that resembles a post-apocalyptic New York City. Due to how the movie is cut, many people confuse Robotropolis for the Ancient Relics.

Sonic Underground
The Eggman Empire were also featured in Sonic Underground, where it is called the "Robotnik Empire". Robotropolis was also featured in this media, in primarily the same setting as in Sonic the Hedgehog television series. The main difference is that it seems the city, and by extension the planet as a whole, has a sizable amount of de-roboticized inhabitants, namely the nobility and inhabitants in the poorer parts of the city. The three siblings (Sonia, Sonic and Manic) in the "Sonic Underground" have an apartment in the city. Another important difference, which has been hinted at above, is that the city is actually built for people to live in, in contrast to SatAM where Robotropolis is primarily a "factory city" entirely committed to producing SWATbots.

Sonic X
In Sonic X, much like in the games, the Eggman Empire is Dr. Eggman own private empire that he seeks to establish worldwide, with him as the absolute ruling head of state. Throughout the series, the doctor's ultimate goal is expand the Eggman Empire across the globe. To this end, Dr. Eggman always seeks to take complete dominance the planet, but are constantly thwarted in his efforts by Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends.

When in Sonic's dimension, Dr. Eggman sought to spread the Eggman Empire on Sonic's world. After being transported to Earth, however, Dr. Eggman decided to try and re-establish the Eggman Empire there, but was stopped by Sonic, his friends and their new allies at every step. When Dr. Eggman and lackeys later on returned to Sonic's dimension, the doctor went back to his original plans of spreading the Eggman Empire on Sonic's world.

The decal the Docter uses varies, from black and yellow designs similar to those seen from Sonic Adventure 2, to more "evil" designs, such as a red and black variant that has much harder lines.

Trivia

 * Even though Sonic Labyrinth was the first game to hint about an Eggmanland, the name and idea about Eggman's dream utopia has most likely took its basics from Sonic the Hedgehog OVA, that was released at Japan around that time.