The thirty-sixth episode of Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
A half-man, half-duck named Dr. Brandon Quark appears with his robot servant D.U.F.U.S. in tow, and tries to oust Robotnik. The two team up to capture Sonic and Tails, but when Sonic and Tails escape, they try to get Robotnik and Quark to be enemies again.
This episode provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: Robotnik's Rival.
- Ash Face: Robotnik, Scratch, Grounder, and Quark all end up covered in ash after Quark destroys Robotnik's Darkenator.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Robotnik's film shown at the Baddy Awards, The Bad, The Worse, and the Ugly, shows a giant Robotnik squashing a village.Robotnik: I'll squash you like bugs!
- Bait-and-Switch: Tails comes across a free chili dog stand, but Sonic pulls him away from it, expecting it to be a trap, as Robotnik has done this to them many times before. The two sit on a nearby bench, only to discover that the free chili dog stand wasn't a trap after all; the bench was, as it was really a disguised D.U.F.U.S., who transforms into a cage to trap them.
- Blame Game: After Scratch accidentally duplicates Robotnik at the end of this episode, he and Grounder are quick to blame each other.
- By the Lights of Their Eyes: When Robotnik uses the Darkenator on Sonic and Tails, all that can be seen of them, as well as Scratch and Grounder, are their eyes.
- Call-Back: One of Robotnik's attempts at catching Sonic sees him using using a machine called the Darkenator, presumably the same one sold to him by Wes Weasley.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: When Robotnik tells Quark that Mobius isn't big enough for them both, Quark says, "Your belt isn't big enough for you!" and cuts Robotnik's belt, causing his pants to fall and exposing his underwear.
- Cranial Eruption: Happens to Robotnik when Scratch opens his hatch of Robotnik's tank, hitting Robotnik on the head as a result.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: In this episode's "Sonic Says" segment, Robotnik and Quark race each other, but Sonic disqualifies them both for cheating; the former for throwing a Banana Peel in the latter's path, and the latter for tying the former's shoelaces together.
- Duck!: Said by D.U.F.U.S. to Quark when the two are under attack by Robotnik. Quark, naturally, assumes he's being referred to as a duck again, but D.U.F.U.S. quickly clarifies what he means.
- Evil Is Petty: Quark's film shown at the Baddy Awards, Silence of the Yams involves Quark shooting at bags of sweet potatoes with a machine gun because he doesn't like the way they look.
- Fun with Acronyms: D.U.F.U.S. stands for Design Unit Flexible Underling Substitute.
- I Am Not Weasel: Despite having a duck-like lower half, Quark does not like being called a duck, and insists he isn't one.
- I Meant to Do That: After defeating Quark for the last time, Robotnik brags that he deliberately made Scratch and Grounder to be stupid so they wouldn't betray him like D.U.F.U.S. betrayed Quark. Given how Scratch and Grounder were originally created, this is pretty much Robotnik just trying to get one last leg up on his rival.
- Ironic Name: Quark has a robot named D.U.F.U.S., whose name is in fact, an acronym to show he's anything but.
- Let's You and Him Fight: Sonic and Tails engineer this between Quark and Robotnik in order to split up their partnership.
- Malicious Misnaming: Robotnik constantly misnames Quark "Quack" as a way of getting on his bad side.
- Mustache Vandalism: Robotnik and Quark put up a billboard of them shaking hands, saying, "Geniuses, Dictators, Friends". To try to get them to be enemies again, Tails paints a mustache and goatee on Quark, a goatee on Robotnik, and paints over the "R" in "Friends".
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When Sonic and Tails escape from their prison cell thanks to Grounder believing they're really holographic projections, Scratch reprimands Grounder for allowing them to escape.
- Nobody Here but Us Statues: After Sonic and Tails escape from their prison cell, to avoid being noticed by Robotnik and Quark, they pose as one of Robotnik's robot soldiers by having Sonic stand in the same position as them and wearing Tails as a hat.
- Porky Pig Pronunciation: Sonic and Tails trick Scratch and Grounder into thinking they've escaped by telling them that they're holographic projections. Grounder then says, "If you were just holo... holo... pictures, could I do this to you?" and tosses them into the air, allowing them to escape for real.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- D.U.F.U.S. turns against Quark and leaves him for dead when the two are under attack by Robotnik. It's at this point that Quark realizes he should have made D.U.F.U.S. less perfect.
- Quark himself flies South after Robotnik calls him a duck one too many times at the end of this episode.
- Shrink Ray: Quark has a shrinkerator, which Tails uses on Robotnik as part of his and Sonic's plan to get Robotnik and Quark to be enemies again.
- Turned Against Their Masters: Quark's minion D.U.F.U.S. is considerably smarter than Scratch and Grounder, which eventually leads to him rebelling after Scratch and Grounder inadvertently teach him about the concept of lying.
- Villainous Breakdown: After his final defeat by Robotnik and being betrayed by D.U.F.U.S., Quark snaps and starts quacking like an actual duck, before flying south for the winter.
- Villain Team-Up: After each of them fails to capture Sonic and Tails separately, under D.U.F.U.S.' advice, Robotnik and Quark team up to cature them, and briefly succeed.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: D.U.F.U.S. has the ability to transform into whatever he wants.
- Wingding Eyes: Roast ducks appear in Robotnik's pupils when Robotnik vows to hunt Quark after falling for Sonic and Tails' "Quark Land" trick.
