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Dr. Fakenstein - TV Tropes

️Wed Apr 27 2016

Being the Trope Codifier for the extremely popular Mad Scientist trope, it's not a wonder that Frankenstein's titular doctor^note would have his own share of Expies, but there are some that go as far as ripping off his name too. Apparently, it's a popular practice for writers to name Mad Scientist characters after the most famous one in fiction (either as an Homage or Parody, or to drive the point home that those characters are supposed to be MAD!).

Most of the time, it's an exotic-sounding surname starting with "Franken" or ending with "Stein" (as in Albert Einstein, another popular codifier of this trope). "Victor", despite being a fairly common name, may also count as this trope if the character in question is known for dabbling in dangerous, questionable science involving giving life to dead/inanimate beings (even more so if said character has a German-sounding surname or is German himself) as the reference to Victor Frankenstein becomes obvious in that case.

Sometimes a member of The Von Trope Family and/or a denizen of Überwald. Very often accompanied by The Igor, another heavily parodied character. Compare with Frankenstein's Monster, for the kind of experiment this character is probably into, and Franken-X, for when the name "Frankenstein" is used to refer to the creature Frankenstein created instead of Frankenstein himself.

See also Dr. Genericius and Dr. Brainpart, for similar naming patterns used for Mad Scientist types. Subtrope of Names to Run Away from Really Fast.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Franken Fran has Fran Madaraki, a cute Frankenstein's Monster. While she was most likely (erroneously) named after the monster, she still fits the trope on virtue of being an expert surgeon that creates horrors of her own.
Soul Eater has Dr. Franken Stein, another deliberate Expy and a typical Mad Scientist, albeit a heroic one.
A more subtle example would be Franky from One Piece. After surviving a gruesome accident, he had to rebuild most of his body with mechanical parts from a ship, becoming a cyborg in the process (thus, following the theme of rebirth present in the Frankenstein novel).
Dr. Franken von Vogler, from the Giant Robo OVA, is actually a subversion. He was introduced as a classic Mad Scientist at first, but turned out to be just a victim of bad PR.
Blood Lad has a Dr. Franken who creates Akim Papladon, a demon that steals body parts of his liking.

Comic Books

Etrigan: The original The Demon comic by Jack Kirby had an arc where the main villain was a mad scientist named Baron Von Evilstein, himself descended from a mad scientist Etrigan confronted centuries ago known as Rakenstein.
Runaways: Chase Stein's parents, Victor and Janet Stein, are a pair of Mad Scientists whose inventions are used by their son. The father's name should tell you everything.
In Madman, the titular character's civilian identity is Frank Einstein. Supposedly, Doctors Flem and Boiffard named him for Frank Sinatra and Albert Einstein, but Frank is a resurrected dead man with a scarred face and bolts in the sides of his neck...
In a Rantanplan comic, the titular dog and Averell Dalton are kidnapped by two scientists named Frank and Stein (the latter also having Einstein Hair).
Professor Martin Stein is the man responsible for the reactor that created Firestorm. As such, he is often perceived this way (the 2004 run of the comic gives him Einstein Hair for good measure).
An Elseworlds Superman one-shot story called Superman Monster had a version of Lex Luthor called Viktor Luthor. He finds some Krypton techology from the rocket that brought Kal-El to Earth and uses it to help him give life to a reconstructed human being.
The main villain of the Madballs comic book published by now defunct Marvel Comics subsidiary Star Comics was a Mad Scientist named Dr. Viktor Frankenbeans.
A recurring character in Count Duckula comics was Dr Frankenstork.
A Pig-Iron solo story in Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew! pitted him against the similarly-built Frankenswine's Monster, created by Dr Victor Frankenswine.

Films — Animation

Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, a remake of the 1984 short film of the same name, is both a parody and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein. Frankenweenie is about a young filmmaker and scientist named Victor Frankenstein (natch) who brings his dog back to life.
Dr. Finkelstein from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Halloweentown's resident scientist and creator of Frankenstein's Monster-inspired Sally.
In Scooby-Doo! Frankencreepy, Velma's original family name is revealed to be "von Dinkenstein" (it was changed to just "Dinkley" during immigration). Turns out she is also the descendant of a Mad Scientist and even ends up becoming one herself, although through hypnosis.

Films — Live-Action

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the infamous crossdressing Mad Scientist played by Tim Curry.
Jeffrey Franken from Frankenhooker is a "bio-electro technician" (whatever that means). He tries to revive his dead wife by reconstructing her body with pieces from dead hookers.
The House by the Cemetery has this as part of a twofer homage: the Mad Scientist villain is Dr. Freudstein. This is a less certain example, though, as it is pronounced -steen, which naturally brings us too:
Young Frankenstein, where the name is spelled the same, but Fredrick insists the pronunciation is "FRONK-in-Steen"... at least until he jumps off the slippery slope and fully embraces his family legacy, at which point he demands to be called by the usual pronunciation.
Blaxploitation film Blackenstein has yet another Dr. Stein who creates the eponymous monster.

Literature

Earth's Scariest Monsters!: Dr. Victor Stein, a Mad Scientist who goes on to create Frankenstein's Monster Frankenstorm from the body parts of criminals he stole from a cemetery.
Franny K. Stein is about Franny, a seven year-old practitioner of mad science.
Rowley Jefferson's Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories: In story 11, The Science Project, Victor ends up becoming a Dr. Frankenstein parody, but is actually expanded upon because he does more than create Frankenstein. Of course, Frankenstein is still his most famous creation, but Victor did some cool stuff.
In Thief of Time, Jeremy Clockson says to The Igor that he's heard some people really come alive in thunderstorms, and Igor says yes, that used to happen when he worked for Dr. Finklestein...
Considering its title, it's no surprise that Vic and Frank: Necromancers loves this trope.

Live-Action TV

In the episode "Never, Never Say Die" of The Avengers, Christopher Lee played the robotic double of a scientist named Professor Frank N. Stone.
The Hilarious House Of Frightenstein had the eponymous Count Frightenstein, complete with an Igor sidekick. He even had his own monster creation, Brucie. Interestingly enough, Dr. Frightenstein also doubles as a spoof of the Classical Movie Vampire... complete with full Dracula regalia (except for sneakers) and speech full of Vampire Vords. He prefers toast instead of blood.
In Beetleborgs, Dr. Baron von Frankenbeans appears occasionally to check in on his creation (named simply "Frankenbeans").
El Chapulín Colorado had an episode where the main antagonist is called Dr. Panchostein. The characters even called him "same as Frankenstein, but in Totonaca version".
Among the Gauntlet of Villains on the game show Whew! was Frank and Stein.

Music

Tabletop Games

Victor Mordenheim from Ravenloft is a very transparent pastiche of Frankenstein.

Video Games

King K. Rool from the Donkey Kong Country series calls himself "Baron K. Roolenstein" in the third game of the Rare trilogy.
The Wario Land series has Mad Scienstein. Two guesses to what he does.
Dr. Cranken from Viewtiful Joe 2 combines "Franken" with "Crank" and "Kraken", the creature he is based of.
League of Legends has Viktor, a scientist champion who turned himself into a cyborg.
Darkstalkers has Victor von Gerdenheim, the professor who created the series' playable Frankenstein's Monster that also shares the same name as his creator.
Decap Attack has Dr. Frank N. Stein, who creates Chuck, the headless mummy player character, to battle a demon.
RuneScape has Dr. Fenkenstrain a mad scientist that lives in a castle, and creates monsters.
Overwatch: Junkrat's Halloween-themed Mad Scientist costume, "Doctor Junkenstein", which in addition to the stereotypical mad scientist look also gives him plenty of electrical equipment to accompany his mad explosives. He also has his own monster known as "Junkenstein's Monster", based off his partner-in-crime, Roadhog.
More Bugs in Boxes (2005 Video Game): Dr. Bugenstien is the host of the "Build a Bug" minigame, walking the player through color-coordinated puzzles. He even has an assistant named Igor.
BioShock has Dr. J.S. Steinman, a plastic surgeon obsessed with making his subjects beautiful, which lead him down the road of Sanity Slippage.

Webcomics

Frankie and Stein is about child Mad Scientist "Stein" and his creation "Frankie".
Frank from Two Guys and Guy is a sociopathic scientist who creates all sorts of devices, many of them of the apocalyptic kind.
Dr. Vlad Stein from Blood Stain invokes the imagery of a typical Mad Scientist, with Einstein Hair, a dirty Labcoat of Science and Medicine and a scary, cliched name that references Dracula as well. Turns out he is just an Absent-Minded Professor.

Web Original

In The Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids, the 2019 Halloween Special The Ghosts and the Machine introduced the android Mad Scientist Frankenstein-818. At least one version of the original Frankenstein has also been established to exist in the series, hailing from a parallel universe.
The Slimebeast Creepypasta Class Creeps has the narrator describe an attempt he and his friends had of streaming the pilot episode of an obscure 90's cartoon that had the premise of several students being killed in a horrible accident and revived as grotesque monsters by a mad scientist. The scientist happens to be named Dr. Satanstein.
Dr. Crafty has the main antagonist Doctor Mindstein, a rare female example.

Western Animation

Runaway Brain features Dr. Frankenollie, a mad monkey scientist who swaps Mickey's brain with Julius', a Frankenstein's Monster that looks like Pete. He also ends up dying by crumbling into ash thanks to his experiment. His name is a wordplay on the names of two legendary Disney animators, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.
The Goof Troop episode "Frankengoof" involved Goofy inheriting a castle from a relative named Dr. Frankengoof. Naturally, a Frankenstein's Monster came along with the castle.
Ben 10 has Dr. Viktor, a NASA scientist who is actually a Transylian, an alien race of Frankenstein's Monsters, working for Ghostfreak/Zs'Skayr, thus he ends up referencing both Frankenstein and his monster. When Ben turns into that race himself, the form was originally called Benviktor in the credits (alongside other unnamed monster forms "Benwolf" and "Benmummy") and later given the official name Frankenstrike.
The Phineas and Ferb episode "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein" had Dr. Phineastein, an ancient Victorian scientist. He created his own monster, based on Perry the Platypus.
While Professor Frink from The Simpsons is not an example (he's named after John Frink), there is a Treehouse of Horror episode where he revives his dead father. The episode is called "Frinkenstein".
One of the last season episodes of Regular Show has minor character "Dr. Prankenstein'' (he insists his name is pronounced "Pronkensteen", but no-one cares), a scientist who researches prank tools.
I Am Weasel has I.M. Weasel playing Frankenweasel in an episode (actually a dentist who was trying to go back to his Mad Scientist roots), complete with I.R. Baboon as The Igor.
The Oh Yeah! Cartoons short "Elise: Mere Mortal" featured an eccentric orthodontist named Dr. Toothinstein.
The Danger Mouse episode "Duckula Meets Frankenstoat" features, yes, a Dr. Frankenstoat, who teams up with the vampire duck to create Robotic Vampoids.
"Claymation Comedy of Horrors" has a mad scientist pig named Victor Frankenswine.
The Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa episode "How the West was Shrunk" had Bat Blastagun and his gang conspire with a mad scientist named Dr. Wolfenstein.
Michael Jackson's Halloween featured a Mad Scientist cat named Franklin Stein.
Rita and Runt from "Animaniacs'' had a segment featuring a female Dr. Frankenstein wannabe called "Phrankenstein" (yes, with a "ph").
The Beetlejuice episode "Snugglejuice" revolves around a Neitherworld holiday called Pranksgiving, which is founded by a mad scientist who is an expert on practical jokes (and Beetlejuice's personal idol) known as Dr. Prankenstein.
Implied at the conclusion of the Looney Tunes cartoon "Hare Conditioned," where Bugs Bunny tells the department store manager about the "Frankencense monster" behind him ready to strangulate him.
The Patrick Star Show has Dr. Plankenstein, a Mad Scientist version of Plankton. He's always seen in a Deliberately Monochrome gothic castle, watching TV or scheming with his creation SpongeMonster (who looks like a Frankenstein's Monster version SpongeBob) and bumbling assistant Patgor (who looks like Patrick).
Roger Ramjet had a mad scientist named Dr. Frank N. Schwine as one of the villains, who attempted to use one of Roger's proton energy pills to give his monster strength.

It's pronounced "fake-en-stein", you dirty-minded pig!