In April 1990, Sega petitioned its research and development department, AM8, to create a character who would replace Alex Kidd as the company's mascot, as well as compete against Nintendo's flagship character, Mario. A caricature of Theodore Roosevelt was among the proposed designs, and combined with the idea of an egg-shaped character, it eventually became the basis of the visual design for Dr. Robotnik/"Eggman". In creating the "bad guy" for the Sonic series, the development team wanted a character who was "the opposite of Sonic"; a character who represented "machinery" and "development"...