>>533786136
>Was Nicole really going to be human? If so, is she linked to whatever Robotnik's backstory was supposed to be?
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no, because Robotnik's planned backstory was basically "what if Planet of the Apes but Taylor was an invader."
A lot of fans also tend to forget that the Kingdom of Acorn didn't really exist in SATAM. Mobotropolis was essentially a city-state. A lot of the evolved animals outside of the city were depicted as wandering nomads and primitive tribes. The SATAM version of the Great War isn't really explained either, but it's not hard to imagine it was at least caused by Robotnik's presence. Maybe people were conflicted over the human knowledge and technology he brought with him, and he kept up a good-guy act for years while plotting to overthrow the city as his base of operations. But that's just speculation.

>>533624046
The impression I got is that he was always evil and was biding his time for the right chance, not that there was a particular moment that made him turn on the kingdom. Maybe it would've been explored if they went more into the war, but the framework Hurst had is that Robotnik and Snively were from the past and wanted to restore human rule over the planet.