Robotward

Robotward
Art by Nathan Yaffe
GENERAL
Sonic the Hedgehog
SpongeBob SquarePants
Character	Dr. Robotnik
Character	Squidward Tentacles
Canonical?	Fanon
Status of Relationship	Never Met
IN FANDOM
Type (?)	Slash
Also Known As	Handsome Robotward, Squidnik

1

Robotward is the slash ship between Dr. Robotnik and Squidward Tentacles from the Sonic the Hedgehog and SpongeBob SquarePants fandoms.

Canon

Squidward and Robotnik/Eggman are both disliked in their respective stories, they both hold a grudge against the titular character. However, while Robotnik is an outright villain, Squidward is merely a sourpuss who simply wants people to leave him alone. They are both very smart, but use their talents in ways that are destructive to others, though Squidward does so unintentionally. They are also both raging egotists, most of Robotnik's machines are designed to resemble him, while Squidward uses his art skills exclusively to create self-portraits. Finally, most of their incarnations are both bald.

Fanon

Robotward sprung into existence thanks to the Drawfee show making a video where they decide to pair random characters that were chosen by each host picking two characters from completely different media, then giving each of them to two different hosts without telling anyone whom they got and then having to draw the pairing they received. Host Nathan tells the story that his co-host Karina let him pick between "Minecraft Steve" and the Live-Action Robotnik played by Jim Carrey, with Nathan preferring Robotnik, and other co-host Julia giving him "Handsome Squidward" (from the episode "The Two Faces of Squidward"). Though all hosts are clearly amused by this, fellow co-host Jacob points out that the pairing does kind of work and all hosts seem to agree. Nathan then tries to argue why they would be attracted to oneanother, revealing that he actually thought up a backstory for their first meeting while drawing the image.

Nathan reveals that, though he was aware of Handsome Squidward as a meme, he didn't know the plot of the episode involved Squidward's face being smashed by a door, turning him handsome temporarily and then reverting back to normal when he dramatically falls into a pillar. Nathan thinks that in alternate timeline, Robotnik is searching for the Chaos Emeralds on the ocean floor, destroying the Krusty Krab on his way and preventing Squidward from falling into the pillar. The moment Robotnik and Squidward made eye contact, they immediately felt something for oneanother. Nathan then further argues that Robotnik and Squidward would find kindred spirits in each other, pointing out that they share similar plights as misunderstood outsiders. Nathan believes that Squidward has the potential to be a villain, pointing out that the only thing preventing him from becoming one is his lack of power, so he would see more benefits to joining Robotnik to receive a taste of power from the Chaos Emeralds. Nathan explains that though he does not see the relationship as healthy, he does believe that Robotnik and Squidward are co-dependent based on a shared dislike for others and a shared attraction for each other.

When the whole group argues that it's a purely physical relationship, Nathan admits that he took some liberties with Squidward's design, showing him roughly equal to Robotnik's size which Jacob points out makes sense as the size of squids tends to vary. Since Squidward joins Robotnik's evil causes, Nathan describes him as Robotnik's "muscle". Further describing them as a villain couple in his mind, Nathan took inspiration from a cover showing Enchantress and Executioner (part of Thor's Rogue's Gallery), though he did alter the pose slightly for Squidward by making him embrace Robotnik as opposed to Executioner just stoically holding his weapon and barely reacting to Enchantress. That was a deliberate choice on Nathan's part, he explains that he did want to make it clear that at least Squidward has some genuine attraction for Robotnik. When Nathan points out that they are still not looking at each other, but rather at the fourth wall, the other hosts joke about the audience walking in on them doing something with the Chaos Emeralds.

Jacob has some genuine hope that the episode inspires some genuine recursive fanwork for each of the pairings, even wishing that it would become someone's favorite crackship (including a joke of using Nathan's drawing as their phone background and then needing to explain it to a stranger). Julia then looks up if anyone had actually thought of shipping Robotnik and Squidward with each other, despite the other hosts telling her that there's no way, but then confirming that the only things she could find is memes of Robotnik and Squidward meeting. Nathan asks her if the Squidward in question is Handsome Squidward, with Karina asking her if there's any implication of romance, Julia denies both. Inbetween, Nathan imitates Squidward taunting Sonic while working for Robotnik. When Nathan questions whether their love is actually genuine or just built on a lust for power, Karina considers that it's one-sided: it's love on Squidward's end, but "kind of troubling" on Robotnik's end. As a finishing gag, Nathan comes up with the ship name of "Handsome Robotward", with Jacob saying the Chaos Emerald represents the chaotic nature of their relationship.

The pairing was well-received by Drawfee fans, some even having made the picture into their phone background like Jacob suggested. However, Jacob's wish that every pairing in the episode received fanfic did not come true, Robotward was the only one that did so, most likely because all the other pairings involved characters who were already married.

Fandom

FAN FICTION

Robotnik/Squidward tag on AO3

TUMBLR

Robotward posts on Tumblr