What if Dr. Cossack simply made Skull Man as a cry for help and to connect him to Wily? I wouldn't be surprised if Skullman.EXE was ahold over from the bizarre original concept of Lan being a necromancer/medium and Megaman being a demon. Kalinka was also planned to be in Battle Network 3 but got cut. There's concept art of her and some of them are really cute, so we missed out.
Skull Man being a hint isn't a bad theory. Did not hear about the necromancer thing, and maybe I'll look into the Kalinka art and use her in a bonus round, if it isn't too hard to find. Here I was thinking of maybe using Mary, Ring's netop.
@13:30 Well, at least every Robot Master from Mega Man 4 isn't cribbing from a Mega Man 2 Robot Master... *or are they?* Air Man => Dust Man *Reason:* A stretch, but fans can blow dust *and* both RMs are like small appliances given life (fan versus vacuum). Bubble Man => Toad Man *Reason:* Both are green, aquatic themed, kind-of-joke enemies that move funny on land. Crash Man => Drill Man *Reason:* Both are orange, drill-handed dudes firing exploding drill bombs. Flash Man => Bright Man *Reason:* Both stop time, though at least they look extremely different. Heat Man => Pharoah man *Reason:* Both are mostly yellow colored with chargeable fire/heat projectiles! Metal Man => Dive Man *Reason:* Both have ACTUAL weapons. Yeah, this one doesn't really work unless you turn your head and squint. Quick Man => Ring Man *Reason:* Fast guys with similar looks and boomerang weapons. Wood Man => Skull Man *Reason:* Things that shouldn't be used to build a robot; wood versus bone. Oh, and both use barriers. Skull Man looks kewl, at least. ;) I'm betting some were intentional, a few were accidental, and... well the stretches just _weren't_ but it isn't impossible that this is the "You can copy my homework but just don't make it obvious." situation. One lazy copy/paste (Crash/Drill), a few more innovative ones, and then two that were actually original. Because smart cheaters know to stop at 75% copying. ;) Also, now my head canon is Dr. Cossack really did copy from Wily both because of time/resource demands and thinking "Eh, maybe if they're familiar Mega Man will win and maybe even save the world alongside my daughter!"
Some of them might be a bit of a stretch, but I was still kind of surprised by how many connections I could draw here, though I went with Toad and Snake. 4 through 6 do seem to be their own trilogy, not just because of numbering but also due to the charge shot and second fortress fake out, so them starting things out by repurposing their greatest hits doesn't seem all that farfetched overall. And, lore wise, maybe Wily did have some suggestions, since Cossack wasn't exactly world domination focused.
Heh, when I should be hurrying and getting ready to work *but* ExploDjinn finally drops Round 4 comparing Classic to Battle Network designs! For the new, I've been watching the video and typing up my own takes, but that means catching folks up on what they may have missed from the previous videos/comments. And yes, this part is just a copy/paste from the previous video's equivalent comment: even I gotta work some days. *Anyway:* 1) Unless otherwise stated, I either agree with ExploDjinn, or don't significantly differ. 2) I'm focusing more on aesthetic, personality, and theme than gameplay. 3) Robot Masters are gonna look similar, given both story and hardware limitations, so I won't hold that against them. 4) NetNavis, on the other hand, *don't* have much of a reason to look similar to each other... or to be physically plausible. 5) Ties *are* allowed. 6) So are "Not Applicable" (N/A) results for when there's no counterpart. 7) I absolutely flipflop on these, and often. 8) "Classic" will usually be used to denote the RM; ".EXE" at the end will usually be included if we're talking about the Navi. 9) There's a lot of room for "personal interpretation". *That last one needs some explaining.* Take Quick Man; most see an agile assassin, but sometimes I see him as a sugared up toddler. Like when he just runs into the corner of the room and... keeps running in place there. ;) I also freely admit to being influenced by non-canon takes on characters, memes, etc. I mean, with this batch in particular, I noticed ExploDjinn treating a lot of Navis as if they were actual, physical entities. Which may be relevant to the later Battle Network games (never played 4 thru 6), but I wouldn't know. *I'll save the running tally for the end, so let's begin!* *Bright Man Vs BrightMan.EXE* If I wasn't already in more or less total agreement with ExploDjinn, let me add that green is my favorite color *and* I'm a fan of Jet Set Radio... or Jet Grind Radio as it was originally called in North America due to naming-rights-issues. Also, I am a NumberMan.EXE fan... and NumberMan.EXE was thought to have been inspired by Classic Bright Man. We didn't get BrightMan.EXE until a little ways into the Battle Network series. BrightMan.EXE easily takes it. *Toad Man Vs ToadMan.EXE* Though I still agree with _nearly_ everything ExploDjinn said... in the end i just like Classic Toad Man's appearance better. Maybe it is because of the "lovable loser" shtick he's presented as in various fan works (including _Bob & George_ ), or the cute little dance he does to use his attack. Which you can interrupt by shotting him with buster shot (regular or charged) so the fight is super easy. Both characters are a little aquatic to be thought of as "toads" rather than "frogs"... but a quick web search suggests there may not actually be a hard and fast distinction between the two. Whether there is or not, though, I'm going with Classic Toad Man. *Drill Man Vs DrillMan.EXE* Again, I cannot argue with _most_ of ExploDjinn's critique, but I need to explain something _personal._ As a kid, I owned the _Gobot_ Screw Head, or "Drill Robo" if you're more partial to _Machine Robo._ Anyway, while not my favorite kind of vehicle, ever since I was little I thought drill tanks were cool. _Neither_ of these guys turn into a drill tank, but one of them transforms into a giant drill and I think that's so silly, so over-the-top that it goes past being dorky to being fun, if not "cool". So DrillMan.EXE wins this one. *Pharaoh Man vs PharoahMan.EXE* Remember how I said DrillMan.EXE took what was a silly concept and took it so far it became cool? That does *not* apply to PharoahMan.EXE. Basically, all the Navi has going for him in this matchup is being _different._ That might be worth some bonus points, but I *don't* need an explanation for why a Robot Master's weapon arm looks like the Mega Buster; I just assume that busters are like guns; especially to the untrained eye, most pistols look like each other, most shotguns look like each other, most rifles look like each other... etc. With that real world example being pertinent since I could easily mistake a single-barreled shotgun for a rifle due to my ignorance about the finer points of distinction between the two. Throw in the Pharoah Man meme from the old Ruby Spears cartoon, and Pharaoh Man easily conquers this round. *Ring Man Vs Ring.EXE* Again, take what ExploDjinn says about the two and apply it to me... who doesn't hate Quick Man, but isn't a fanboy for him. Though this might be expert level "You can copy my homework but don't make it obvious." with how Classic Ring Man looks (and fights). My love of _Mega Man Battle Network Battle Chip Challenge_ skews things even more in Ring's favor. Even though I never realized Ring was a female Navi. Pretty sure I didn't pick Mary/Ring.EXE as my characters for either of my two Story Mode save slots in that game, so I never saw (or just forgot) any scenes where Ring was clearly addressed as being female. *Oops.* Ring.EXE totally wins this _not_ because I feel stupid for missing that Ring.EXE was a "she". >.> *Dust Man Vs DustMan.EXE* This is the first time I've ever seen DustMan.EXE. _I think._ Neither of these guys look great to be, but neither do they look "bad". My biggest issue is that neither screams "Dust Man" to me. Like, Junk Man _looks_ like "junk", but Dust Man looks like HVAC Man, while DustMan.EXE looks more like IncineratorMan.EXE. Or something like that. Maybe in the future, I'll know if I prefer one over the other, but for now.... ...it's a tie. *Dive Man VS DiveMan.EXE* Broken record, but I agree with ExploDjinn. Meaning Dive Man takes it. *SkullMan Vs SkullMan.EXE* What's funny is, I took my Mega Man 3 comparison post and copy/pasted it. This was Shadow Man Vs ShadowMan.EXE's entry and... *it works for Skull Man Vs SkullMan.EXE!* It is a tie, for all the reasons stated in the video. *Except* it wasn't even close to a tie in the video... but I've seen some decent fan art of Classic Skull Man that _really_ helps. Even official art tends to make him look cooler than his in-game sprite. Still repeating my thing with Shadow Man vs ShadowMan.EXE I'll add that I would _love_ to blend the two designs together. S'like Skull Man isn't skeleton-y enough, but SkullMan.EXE might take it a bit too far? Again, it's a tie! *Dr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack Vs Dr. Cossack* No, I did _not_ know Classic Series Dr. Cossack's full name. I only discovered it just now, referencing the Mega Man Knowledge Base fan wiki. It looks like Battle Network Dr. Cossack isn't known by anything else, so that's a decent way to distinguish them. Well, not really, that is a _long_ full name and not the easiest to pronounce for this American English speaker/reader. Plus, the name is the main thing that version of Dr. Cossack has going for him. As the video shows, Battle Network Dr. Cossack has his own look, and what did I say my favorite color was? Battle Network Dr. Cossack wins this round! *For this round,* the scores are *Classic:* 3 *Battle Network:* 4 *Ties:* 2 *Not Applicable:* 0 The *running totals* are: *Classic:* 12 *Battle Network:* 15 *Ties:* 9 *N/A:* 3 At least if I've counted correctly. Kind of in a hurry, if I wasn't clear earlier. I will add, that if I forced myself to break the two ties I had, I'd have probably gone with Classic Dust Man but Battle Network's SkullMan.EXE... so it'd just be 13/16 in Battle Network's favor. Which ignores all the _other_ ties I didn't force myself to break. Either way, I'm a bit surprised at how well the Classic Series has been doing. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but when this began, I thought I would more heavily favor Battle Network. *Edit:* Ironically, I didn't need to go into work after all so I _could_ have taken more time but... like what I did do wasn't overkill anyway. XD
Oh hey, someone else who read Bob and George. And hey, no deadlines on these, I just appreciate the watchtime and comments. I kind of thought I'd be more biased towards the RMs, so I'm surprised by how close my only tallies are. (And glad to hear you were able to have the Sunday off).
What if Dr. Cossack simply made Skull Man as a cry for help and to connect him to Wily? I wouldn't be surprised if Skullman.EXE was ahold over from the bizarre original concept of Lan being a necromancer/medium and Megaman being a demon.
Kalinka was also planned to be in Battle Network 3 but got cut. There's concept art of her and some of them are really cute, so we missed out.
Skull Man being a hint isn't a bad theory. Did not hear about the necromancer thing, and maybe I'll look into the Kalinka art and use her in a bonus round, if it isn't too hard to find. Here I was thinking of maybe using Mary, Ring's netop.
@13:30 Well, at least every Robot Master from Mega Man 4 isn't cribbing from a Mega Man 2 Robot Master... *or are they?*
Air Man => Dust Man *Reason:* A stretch, but fans can blow dust *and* both RMs are like small appliances given life (fan versus vacuum).
Bubble Man => Toad Man *Reason:* Both are green, aquatic themed, kind-of-joke enemies that move funny on land.
Crash Man => Drill Man *Reason:* Both are orange, drill-handed dudes firing exploding drill bombs.
Flash Man => Bright Man *Reason:* Both stop time, though at least they look extremely different.
Heat Man => Pharoah man *Reason:* Both are mostly yellow colored with chargeable fire/heat projectiles!
Metal Man => Dive Man *Reason:* Both have ACTUAL weapons. Yeah, this one doesn't really work unless you turn your head and squint.
Quick Man => Ring Man *Reason:* Fast guys with similar looks and boomerang weapons.
Wood Man => Skull Man *Reason:* Things that shouldn't be used to build a robot; wood versus bone. Oh, and both use barriers. Skull Man looks kewl, at least. ;)
I'm betting some were intentional, a few were accidental, and... well the stretches just _weren't_ but it isn't impossible that this is the "You can copy my homework but just don't make it obvious." situation. One lazy copy/paste (Crash/Drill), a few more innovative ones, and then two that were actually original. Because smart cheaters know to stop at 75% copying. ;) Also, now my head canon is Dr. Cossack really did copy from Wily both because of time/resource demands and thinking "Eh, maybe if they're familiar Mega Man will win and maybe even save the world alongside my daughter!"
Some of them might be a bit of a stretch, but I was still kind of surprised by how many connections I could draw here, though I went with Toad and Snake. 4 through 6 do seem to be their own trilogy, not just because of numbering but also due to the charge shot and second fortress fake out, so them starting things out by repurposing their greatest hits doesn't seem all that farfetched overall. And, lore wise, maybe Wily did have some suggestions, since Cossack wasn't exactly world domination focused.
Heh, when I should be hurrying and getting ready to work *but* ExploDjinn finally drops Round 4 comparing Classic to Battle Network designs!
For the new, I've been watching the video and typing up my own takes, but that means catching folks up on what they may have missed from the previous videos/comments. And yes, this part is just a copy/paste from the previous video's equivalent comment: even I gotta work some days.
*Anyway:*
1) Unless otherwise stated, I either agree with ExploDjinn, or don't significantly differ.
2) I'm focusing more on aesthetic, personality, and theme than gameplay.
3) Robot Masters are gonna look similar, given both story and hardware limitations, so I won't hold that against them.
4) NetNavis, on the other hand, *don't* have much of a reason to look similar to each other... or to be physically plausible.
5) Ties *are* allowed.
6) So are "Not Applicable" (N/A) results for when there's no counterpart.
7) I absolutely flipflop on these, and often.
8) "Classic" will usually be used to denote the RM; ".EXE" at the end will usually be included if we're talking about the Navi.
9) There's a lot of room for "personal interpretation".
*That last one needs some explaining.* Take Quick Man; most see an agile assassin, but sometimes I see him as a sugared up toddler. Like when he just runs into the corner of the room and... keeps running in place there. ;) I also freely admit to being influenced by non-canon takes on characters, memes, etc. I mean, with this batch in particular, I noticed ExploDjinn treating a lot of Navis as if they were actual, physical entities. Which may be relevant to the later Battle Network games (never played 4 thru 6), but I wouldn't know.
*I'll save the running tally for the end, so let's begin!*
*Bright Man Vs BrightMan.EXE*
If I wasn't already in more or less total agreement with ExploDjinn, let me add that green is my favorite color *and* I'm a fan of Jet Set Radio... or Jet Grind Radio as it was originally called in North America due to naming-rights-issues. Also, I am a NumberMan.EXE fan... and NumberMan.EXE was thought to have been inspired by Classic Bright Man. We didn't get BrightMan.EXE until a little ways into the Battle Network series.
BrightMan.EXE easily takes it.
*Toad Man Vs ToadMan.EXE*
Though I still agree with _nearly_ everything ExploDjinn said... in the end i just like Classic Toad Man's appearance better. Maybe it is because of the "lovable loser" shtick he's presented as in various fan works (including _Bob & George_ ), or the cute little dance he does to use his attack. Which you can interrupt by shotting him with buster shot (regular or charged) so the fight is super easy. Both characters are a little aquatic to be thought of as "toads" rather than "frogs"... but a quick web search suggests there may not actually be a hard and fast distinction between the two.
Whether there is or not, though, I'm going with Classic Toad Man.
*Drill Man Vs DrillMan.EXE*
Again, I cannot argue with _most_ of ExploDjinn's critique, but I need to explain something _personal._ As a kid, I owned the _Gobot_ Screw Head, or "Drill Robo" if you're more partial to _Machine Robo._ Anyway, while not my favorite kind of vehicle, ever since I was little I thought drill tanks were cool. _Neither_ of these guys turn into a drill tank, but one of them transforms into a giant drill and I think that's so silly, so over-the-top that it goes past being dorky to being fun, if not "cool".
So DrillMan.EXE wins this one.
*Pharaoh Man vs PharoahMan.EXE*
Remember how I said DrillMan.EXE took what was a silly concept and took it so far it became cool? That does *not* apply to PharoahMan.EXE. Basically, all the Navi has going for him in this matchup is being _different._ That might be worth some bonus points, but I *don't* need an explanation for why a Robot Master's weapon arm looks like the Mega Buster; I just assume that busters are like guns; especially to the untrained eye, most pistols look like each other, most shotguns look like each other, most rifles look like each other... etc. With that real world example being pertinent since I could easily mistake a single-barreled shotgun for a rifle due to my ignorance about the finer points of distinction between the two.
Throw in the Pharoah Man meme from the old Ruby Spears cartoon, and Pharaoh Man easily conquers this round.
*Ring Man Vs Ring.EXE*
Again, take what ExploDjinn says about the two and apply it to me... who doesn't hate Quick Man, but isn't a fanboy for him. Though this might be expert level "You can copy my homework but don't make it obvious." with how Classic Ring Man looks (and fights). My love of _Mega Man Battle Network Battle Chip Challenge_ skews things even more in Ring's favor. Even though I never realized Ring was a female Navi. Pretty sure I didn't pick Mary/Ring.EXE as my characters for either of my two Story Mode save slots in that game, so I never saw (or just forgot) any scenes where Ring was clearly addressed as being female. *Oops.*
Ring.EXE totally wins this _not_ because I feel stupid for missing that Ring.EXE was a "she". >.>
*Dust Man Vs DustMan.EXE*
This is the first time I've ever seen DustMan.EXE. _I think._ Neither of these guys look great to be, but neither do they look "bad". My biggest issue is that neither screams "Dust Man" to me. Like, Junk Man _looks_ like "junk", but Dust Man looks like HVAC Man, while DustMan.EXE looks more like IncineratorMan.EXE. Or something like that. Maybe in the future, I'll know if I prefer one over the other, but for now....
...it's a tie.
*Dive Man VS DiveMan.EXE*
Broken record, but I agree with ExploDjinn.
Meaning Dive Man takes it.
*SkullMan Vs SkullMan.EXE*
What's funny is, I took my Mega Man 3 comparison post and copy/pasted it. This was Shadow Man Vs ShadowMan.EXE's entry and... *it works for Skull Man Vs SkullMan.EXE!* It is a tie, for all the reasons stated in the video. *Except* it wasn't even close to a tie in the video... but I've seen some decent fan art of Classic Skull Man that _really_ helps. Even official art tends to make him look cooler than his in-game sprite. Still repeating my thing with Shadow Man vs ShadowMan.EXE I'll add that I would _love_ to blend the two designs together. S'like Skull Man isn't skeleton-y enough, but SkullMan.EXE might take it a bit too far?
Again, it's a tie!
*Dr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Cossack Vs Dr. Cossack*
No, I did _not_ know Classic Series Dr. Cossack's full name. I only discovered it just now, referencing the Mega Man Knowledge Base fan wiki. It looks like Battle Network Dr. Cossack isn't known by anything else, so that's a decent way to distinguish them. Well, not really, that is a _long_ full name and not the easiest to pronounce for this American English speaker/reader. Plus, the name is the main thing that version of Dr. Cossack has going for him. As the video shows, Battle Network Dr. Cossack has his own look, and what did I say my favorite color was?
Battle Network Dr. Cossack wins this round!
*For this round,* the scores are
*Classic:* 3
*Battle Network:* 4
*Ties:* 2
*Not Applicable:* 0
The *running totals* are:
*Classic:* 12
*Battle Network:* 15
*Ties:* 9
*N/A:* 3
At least if I've counted correctly. Kind of in a hurry, if I wasn't clear earlier. I will add, that if I forced myself to break the two ties I had, I'd have probably gone with Classic Dust Man but Battle Network's SkullMan.EXE... so it'd just be 13/16 in Battle Network's favor. Which ignores all the _other_ ties I didn't force myself to break. Either way, I'm a bit surprised at how well the Classic Series has been doing. Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, but when this began, I thought I would more heavily favor Battle Network.
*Edit:* Ironically, I didn't need to go into work after all so I _could_ have taken more time but... like what I did do wasn't overkill anyway. XD
Oh hey, someone else who read Bob and George. And hey, no deadlines on these, I just appreciate the watchtime and comments. I kind of thought I'd be more biased towards the RMs, so I'm surprised by how close my only tallies are. (And glad to hear you were able to have the Sunday off).