Tag Archives: Proto Man

Mega Man: Resurrection Blues Review

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Eh I probably could have translated Blues into Proto Man at the end but I figured I’d just keep it as is this time. It’s pretty nice to be reading a classic Mega Man story with a fully original story. It’s pretty rare since most of the manga adaptions are based on the games. It makes things a little less predictable and I’d say the manga really makes the most of it as we get a lot of battles and a ton of different bots to appear. That’s definitely a good way to handle it and while the series goes by in the blink of an eye, you will be having a good time throughout.

The volume starts with some machines going haywire again. Initially this seems like the same old situation except Wily runs in confirming that it’s not him this time. Sure, he’s lied about this kind of thing before but this time he is completely serious. Mega Man is a little skeptical but even Dr. Light is supporting Wily so the hero gives in. The government decides to give Wily their full support in stopping this robotic menace so the evil genius creates the Wily Corps. These guys will be protecting the world from the evil robots and before long Wily has bases all across the country. The only one who is not in favor of this is Proto Man and he warns Mega Man that this is all a trap. Who should Mega Man believe, Proto Man or Wily?

Now obviously Mega Man should be turning on Wily by this point. One of the blue bomber’s fatal flaws is that he’s just too nice sometimes. He should absolutely be yelling and causing a scene instead. Of course there is a reason why Light is siding with the guy and lets say it involves even more trickery. Mega Man really needs to start coming around to the idea that Wily is just not going to turn good. He’s not some lost soul who is about to have a change of heart any minute now. At this point he is just determined to keep on getting in the way and making trouble.

The fact that he has any trouble accepting that is pretty crazy. I still like Mega Man of course but he does come across as super naive here the whole time. It’s not his best look by a longshot. At least power-wise he looks really good. For the most part he crushes the competition with just a few exceptions. Punk and Enker really give him tough fights. Enker in particular was pretty fun to see. His ability to absorb moves was really handy and it took a lot of strategy to beat him. I always like when Mega Man has to put on the thinking cap on in addition to his usual buster. It helps to really cement how much of a threat the villain is.

While this is Proto Man’s big chance to appear a lot, I would actually say he doesn’t look great. He definitely looks really smart since the guy doesn’t believe Wily at all. However, in the actual fight he is soundly defeated by the Wily copy of himself. It’s particularly embarrassing since he told Mega Man that he would prove he was the real deal by winning. So that was really unfortunate. Also, how can Wily just make a fake that’s even better when Wily and Light teamed up to make the original Proto Man? I know tech continues to evolve but that just felt disappointing. Fortunately Mega Man tapped into his potential and secured the victory there.

Another element I enjoyed from the title was all of the homages to the previous games. You had Cossack and his own robot masters show up to help save the day. This meant we had 3 different factions running around and causing chaos. Naturally the battles are mainly off screen but it was still cool to see so many robots on screen. Also, while the side battles were off screen, the big fights were extended and on screen. Again, the Punk and Enker battles were really intense. Likewise the fake Proto Man battle was also fairly long.

Whenever a series isn’t afraid to have a long fight that is a big green flag in my book. It’s not something that you see every day and it’s real impressive. The art is also really good and definitely does justice to the fights. It’s clear and really tells you the whole story. You’re never lost and the big panels also means that it is very easy to read. It’s one of the better art exhibitions I’ve seen for the manga.

There’s really nothing to dislike here except for the fact that the series is so short. With 5 chapters, the whole thing ends fast no matter what you do. So it’s a great one shot but it could have been even better as a full blown series. someone needs to start a full ongoing already. I’d read a Mega Man title for however many years it can last. The possibilities are really endless here. Naturally I would hope Mega Man won’t be so easily fooled next time. Poor Roll and Beet had to pay the price here. It was pretty eerie seeing them be completely dismantled. I know they’re robots so it’s not like they felt anything but it’s still something I wasn’t fully expecting.

Overall, Mega Man: Resurrection Blues is pretty fun. Again, I really liked the idea of having a unique story here. There’s a whole lot you can do with the franchise after all. Now granted, this one was only 5 chapters so the adventure really ends rather quickly but ultimately it was a fun read. Proto Man got to get some action and we had all kinds of robots going at it. I would definitely recommend this to any Mega Man fan. You don’t want to miss out on this, especially since the franchise doesn’t generally get a whole lot of content nowadays.

Overall 7/10

Mega Man & Bass Review

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It’s been a little bit but it’s time to finally check out the next Mega Man manga. It’s based on the & Bass game which was a lot of fun on the GBA. I remember sinking a ton of time into that one since it’s also really difficult as you would expect from any Mega title. At 10 chapters, it’s a pretty solid adaption. It does have to skip through some of the robots due to the end arriving so soon but it’s got a good amount of action and story so I was on board. I just wish Bass could have looked a bit better.

The manga starts a chapter 0 that introduces us to the characters. Mega Man is hanging out at a museum when a robot appears and mind controls all of the old robots who are being held there. The mind control signal that is sent out is unable to control Mega Man or Bass though as they are made of sterner stuff. Mega Man takes down the robots in the museum while Bass shows up to help since he doesn’t like the idea of anyone trying to mind control him. It may not be the most selfless reason to help, but it’s a reason I suppose so that’ll have to do. They take this guy down but was it really just a rogue robot trying to mind control people?

That leads into the true chapter 1 where a robot named King appears on TV and declares that from this point forward the robots will rule over the humans. Mega Man doesn’t like the sound of that and his fears are realized when Dr. Light and Wily realize that all of their data has vanished. They’re forced to band together to stop King now. To do that, Mega Man is sent into the field. Bass also wants to take King out to prove that he is the strongest robot of all. King aims to control all of the robots in the planet and Bass can’t let that stand. Will this powerful duo be able to save the day?

The art is definitely really solid here. It’s not quite at the Megamix level but the characters are all on point and the action scenes are very clear. It’s always easy to see what is happening at a glance and this is really an ideal kind of art style. It’s not quite as detailed as some others but this more basic approach worked really well here. Everything just pops out as a result.

The pacing is very quick as you can imagine. Of the 10 chapters, the first one is a prologue that doesn’t have much to do with the story and the next chapter is the intro so really you have 8 chapters to tell the story of the whole game. I’d say it handles this really well. Now, if your favorite Robot Master is one of the ones that doesn’t get a lot of action then you may be in a pickle but most of them get solid fights. It’s also been a while since I played the game so I’m not sure if these are the same 8 from the game but I’d assume so.

Bass gets a lot of hype moments but he will remind you a lot of Vegeta. He always goes in talking tough but ends up losing most of his fights. He was losing to the hand in chapter 1 before Mega Man stepped in, he was losing to Ground Man as well, then he lost to Tengu Man, and of course he lost to King at the end. The only fight he won was against the 3 guardians when Bass speed blitzed them all. Considering that Bass is in the title and everything, you just feel like he would have been more effective in combat. At least, I was certainly expecting that this would be the case.

I get that he was never as powerful as Bass EXE but he is still meant to be Mega Man’s rival after all so you would expect a level of hype there. Ah well, he may not get the wins but I still like his absolute confidence so he would be my favorite character in the story. Hopefully we get more classic Mega Man manga titles with Bass in them at some point. I know there are a bunch of other titles that have never been scanned so those are his best bet.

As for Mega Man, he’s a solid hero as always. He may have lost his confidence rather quickly when King showed up, but after a pep talk from Proto Man he was definitely ready to jump right back into action. He certainly seems to be a lot more powerful than Proto Man or Bass in this version so Mega Man really gets his props. His ability to copy weapons/abilities is still as useful as it ever was. Mix it all together and it’s easy to see why he is called Mega Man.

Meanwhile Dr. Light and Dr. Wily also get roles here. Wily looks pretty bad in all of his screen time though. The guy forgets his pants a few times and is shown to be super lazy. Throughout the adventure he is played purely for comic relief and naturally gets betrayed at one point. It’s nothing new for him of course, but you almost feel bad for the guy. He is not portrayed as being anywhere near as smart as Light here as his robots have a lot of clear flaws while Light’s appear to be perfect.

Dr. Light definitely looks a lot better. Ultimately it’s not like he will fight a lot or anything but he actually does go into the field at one point which is cool. Likewise for Roll and the rest of Mega Man’s friends. There’s even a little Mettaur in the series who acts as an ally. He wants to be big and strong one day but gradually comes to terms with the fact that he is a Mettaur.

Proto Man gets a small but important role here. It’s definitely intense to see him get sliced apart here. It’s got to be the most violent moment in the series but of course he is a robot so it’s not as if it’s all that violent compared to anything else. It’s a good way to establish King as a threat. It may not be a great look for Proto Man but he was never meant to be quite as powerful as Mega Man. It shows where his limitations are, but the guy is always ready to throw out some cool sounding lines. I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy and he gets a good amount of justice here.

As for King, he’s the big villain here of course and I thought he was really solid. His idea of making the robots rulers of the world is nothing new but it’s a solid plan overall. The humans definitely don’t seem to give them a fair shake. Even in this series the government is super quick to decide that they have to bomb the city to destroy King even if it means destroying Mega Man, Proto Man, and Bass. Light has to step in to try and stop this but the robots do appear expendable as King mentions.

So King makes for a very interesting villain. He’s also a very powerful one seeing as how he is able to take on guys like Mega, Proto, and Bass. He has to do the heavy lifting here since none of his minions are nearly as powerful. One of the big minions to show up is Tengu Man who looks pretty solid. He can fly with great speed and has to deal with both Mega Man and Bass. You’d think that these odds would be way too much for him but the whole thing is a lot closer than you would think.

Ground Man is another robot who gets a decent role. His drills are hard to stop since they have enough power to even temporarily overpower Mega Man and Bass. It’s always interesting just how powerful these guys are since our two heroes are built for combat while these minions presumably weren’t. It just goes to show that Light is always building these robots with top of the line equipment no matter what they are used for.

Cold Man is another robot who gets a decent role. It’s a little funny how everyone tries to think of a weakness and then Wily admits that “heat” is the weakness. I mean…it makes sense, but it’s also so basic that you have to take a step back. The rest of the robots don’t really get solo roles as the final 3 just rush Bass. It was a cool group fight though since to that point Bass hadn’t gotten to look too impressive. At least this way he had some opponents he could blast as he went for the win.

The series is definitely very by the books but it also shows how many cool stories you can tell in this universe. In particular the two stars and Proto Man are just a blast. More screen time for them would be an absolute win. Gigamix still stands as my all time favorite Mega Man story because of how well it used the characters. We got top notch fights and end of the world stakes. Typically X and the other titles are more known for that but Classic can definitely rise to the occasion as needed. This one does have a good degree of humor as well but the fights are played straight.

Additionally, the villains often bring up good points here. Light may have built a ton of robots but it isn’t exactly a utopia for them either. The robots aren’t really treated fairly and are tossed as soon as they aren’t useful here. The manga even touches on how some of the humans don’t even trust Mega Man. You could absolutely have a great ongoing about this someday.

Finally, a quick shoutout to the fun banter that Mega Man and Bass have. I like the dynamic they have going for them like when Bass just walks into his house and grabs a few power gems. Bass is quite at home no matter where he is and that’s the kind of confidence you would like to see from him. There isn’t time for more slice of life type moments like this but it does help flesh out the verse even more. Little scenes like that are fun to get some character moments between the battles. Of course if you have to choose, then the manga still makes the right call in focusing on battles above all else. With limited time you have to move as fast as possible.

Overall, Mega Man & Bass is a fun manga. It’s really straight to the point as you see the heroes jump in and start fighting the villains. There’s not a lot more to it than that but at the same time, do you need more than that with these guys? The classic robot action is what you came to see and the adventure does a good job of it. With a good balance between action and humor, this is a winner and definitely a title I would recommend. It just has no flaws and you’ll be blasting through it. It’s a very fast but satisfying read. Maybe one day Bass can get a spinoff manga of his own.

Overall 7/10

Mega Man Rock of Ages Review

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It’s time for another batch of Mega Man comics! Mega Man has been a consistently good comic series just like Sonic The Hedgehog and that doesn’t change with this volume. It is a little light on the action, which can be a little sad, but we do get some foreshadowing at things to come. To be honest, we probably got a little too much foreshadowing, but it’ll be nice if it all happens at some point.

The first two parter is about the origin of Proto Man. Dr Light built him after the government wanted to see some progress on their funding. Unfortunately, Dr Light got a little too excited about the concept and he became friends with Proto Man. His coworker…Dr Wily, quickly showed Dr Light the error of his ways. Unfortunately, Proto Man short circuited during the demonstration. Fixing him would be tricky and he may have lost some of his personality. Dr Light doesn’t help matters by complaining to one of his friends that he wishes he could take out part of Proto Man’s rebellious streak. Proto Man streaks off and Dr Light quickly claims that he was kidding. (A little too late for that…) Now, Proto Man has to come to terms with the fact that he is dying. It’s pretty emotional.

The next issue is about Roll and her friends as they head to the Beach. Their vacation is quickly interrupted when they notice that a ship is sinking. They quickly call in Oil Man and Splash Woman. Now, they have to try to save everyone before it is too late. Unfortunately, Tempo is one of the robots on the scene and she isn’t very good at this kind of thing. If only Mega Man was around!

The final comic features a lot of time travel. Mega Man gets thrown into the future and he continues to accelerate during the years. We get scenes from Mega Man and Bass, Mega Man 7, Mega Man 5, and so on. He has to find a way to stop going further into the future if he wants to even stand a chance at living through this. It’s a fun comic full of homages, but it can be a little dicey for fans who just want to see what’s going to happen next. It’ll really take years to adapt all of this, which is a little sad, but I can only hope that these events will occur soon.

So, this was a pretty solid volume. I will admit that I did have two main problems with it. The first is the startling absence of Mega Man. He doesn’t really get to appear until the final comic. I’m all for the side characters getting their own plots, but we really need Mega Man to get a larger role. He deserves it and I have to say that he’s more interesting than the others. Even Proto Man lacks the raw ability that Mega Man has at his disposal. Mega Man basically steals the show once again when he re appears.

The other would be the fact that there isn’t a whole lot of action in this volume. There is no actual villain for the first three comics and the final issue with Mega Man is the only exception. That one definitely had some pretty solid action scenes, but they all get interrupted before the fights can really get going. That’s a little disappointing right? I want a full fight where we really get to see how Mega Man stacks up!

Mega Man’s role may have been small, but it was definitely a good one. He essentially stole the show and showed why he is a natural born leader. It can be a little sketchy to see Mega Man lose his cool so quickly in the time travel story since he was supposed to have already gone through that character development, but maybe he’s just going to end up being the next Sonic. I’m cool with that, as long as Mega Man continues to rack up those wins. He is really the only hope for the heroes at the moment since the rest of them aren’t very powerful.

Proto Man is really in his human persona for most of the collection, but he’s a pretty good character. I don’t blame him for leaving during the first misunderstanding, but he shouldn’t have left the second time. He’s a hero through and through. Proto Man kept trying to help everyone even when he was dying from the effort. He’ll be a good partner for Mega Man down the line, but that likely won’t happen for a while. His ending is definitely hinting at the reverse.

Tempo was easily the worst character in the batch. She’s pretty worried the whole time and she really lacks confidence. She’s still a robot master though so she needs to act as one. It’s not like she couldn’t survive a fall from a super large height. These robots are super durable after all and she mostly spent the whole time embarrassing Roll. She has no role in the comics so far so I’m hoping that she’ll develop into a good character. I’m hoping….

Roll gets her own comic and it’s good to see her get a big role. I do wish that it had been a combat role since I’m sure that she can quickly be modified to fight. Still, this was good enough I suppose and she got to prove that she’s great at rescue operations. Dr Light tried to stop her, but nobody can really stop a robot master when they get serious. If Roll had not been around, things definitely would have gotten dicey.

Splash Woman and Oil Man are really just guest stars in the rescue comic. They have some pretty good team work and their abilities do go together pretty well. They don’t seem to be very powerful, but things could change. In the future comic, we see that Splash Woman is fighting Mega Man since the hero seems to have been framed. Of course, Mega Man is holding back so that he doesn’t hurt her.

Dr Light is a main character I suppose, but he’s pretty unlikable for the most part. He doesn’t want Roll to live up to her full potential and it’s really his fault that Proto Man is gone. We also find out that he (possibly) installed the engine wrong, which is why Proto Man is dying. He’s technically a nice guy, but he’s way too oblivious at some points and there’s no reason to really become a fan of his. He’s just too distant and protecting of the heroes..even though they already surpassed him.

Bass is the main reason why the final comic is epic. He has finally arrived! It’ll be quite a while before he gets a role in the main series at this point so I’ll take what I can get. He has a quick fight with Mega Man and then he proceeds to talk tough the whole time. He doesn’t back down from anyone and that’s what I always liked about Bass. I’m not sure if I’d say that it’s my favorite interpretation of the character, (Giga Mix portrayed him better) but it’s not bad. Hopefully Bass gets some big roles in the future.

The art is pretty solid as always. Everything is very clear even if it’s a little on the bland side. The artist may need to add some effects to spice up the battle scenes. They’re just a little too clear…even for me. Of course, that is what makes them so easy to read so it’s a mixed bag. Either way, the art is definitely very good.

Overall, This is another good batch of Mega Man comics. It may have been the weakest entry in the series, but it can only go up from here. You can definitely draw a lot of similarities from the Mega Man comic series to the Sonic one. Both of them are very up beat and the personalities of Sonic and Mega Man are starting to get a little similar. This is the kind of comic that’s easy to pick up and read at any time. The plot is pretty light after all as there are no plot twists or big cliff hangers. I do expect the next batch to have a lot more action though since I don’t want the series to start losing steam. I have heard that the crossover with Sonic is pretty awesome though so I can’t wait to read it! Bass is on the cover of that one so I’m confident that he will get a roll. I definitely recommend this collection and the story is fun enough that you can get past the lack of action.

Overall 6/10

Sabata vs Proto Man

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Sabata and Proto Man are pretty similar. They’ve even got most of the same powers. Sabata has less powers to choose from which is what costs him. They both have beams and while Sabata can teleport, Proto Man has the better speed. It’s a tough fight, but Sabata loses this round. Proto Man wins.

Proto Man vs Mephiles

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Mephiles is unbeatable, so it’s only natural that Proto Man couldn’t stop him. Proto Man has done good though, so don’t be mistaken. Proto Man can take down many a foe, but this is one battle he can’t win. Mephiles wins.

Proto Man has some pretty impressive skills. Proto Man wins.

Roy vs Proto Man

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Proto Man is not someone to take lightly. Those who did have long since dissapeared. Proto Man has the legendary proto buster. Roy has a fire sword and spirit. Courage and spirit is good but it won’t win fights. Proto Man also is Mega Man’s brother so that gives him bragging rights. Proto Man wins.