Messages

751

Gaming / Re: The Kingdom Hearts Thread

« on: August 10, 2011, 03:20:58 AM »

"XIII [Top Spin]s"

Real classy.

I think Xemnas renamed the non-founders. Dunno for sure; I'd have to check.

752

X / Re: Why does everyone hate Mega Man X6?

« on: August 10, 2011, 02:48:12 AM »

You know, looking back at that "repaired myself/waited 'til I recovered" bit. I may be wrong, but US-Zero could be referring to self-repair systems; in a way, that could mean the same thing as what was originally said.

753

Original / Re: Finally! Megaman's Soccer ending has been found!

« on: August 09, 2011, 11:40:48 PM »

Cool. And here I was thinking they only ever made the credits (which also went unused).

754

Fan Creations / Re: Rebirth of the Rockman-Themed Stolen *Bleep* Thread!!

« on: August 09, 2011, 06:38:24 PM »

I think he meant "we still don't know if he's the original Megaman or not".

He's not.



By BNmotive.

755

Fan Creations / Re: Rebirth of the Rockman-Themed Stolen *Bleep* Thread!!

« on: August 09, 2011, 02:27:52 PM »

By The-Bubblegum-Site and ERIK96.

756

Rockman Series / Re: Interview with Joe Ruby on RS-MM

« on: August 06, 2011, 03:30:22 PM »

It also would've been nice to see some RS-MM sheets, compared to the Star Force and EXE animation, those are a must-have (let alone a must-find).

Hey, guess what? This site has some at the bottom of the page! (Of interest: Elecman's lack of gauntlets, and Proto's BELT)

757

X / Re: Why does everyone hate Mega Man X6?

« on: August 05, 2011, 10:51:17 PM »

Even so, nobody bothers to take notice that in X5, X is only alive due to deus ex machina.

I noticed! Of course, my memories of reading about that are fuzzy...

758

News and Announcements / Re: Capcom Asking For Megaman Fans & Cosplayers to Leave SDCC..?

« on: August 05, 2011, 08:36:06 PM »

I actually wouldn't mind paying for a demo if it was something worthwhile, like Layton vs. Ace Attorney or Mario Kart 7.

Same here.

This, for whatever reason, just feels like "Never give out for free what you can slap a price tag on, no matter how illogically!"

759

Rockman Series / Interview with Joe Ruby on RS-MM

« on: August 05, 2011, 08:28:16 PM »

Posted by M. Sipher on his tumblr. Edit: direct link here because I don't know how Tumblr works.

Okay, a little backdrop first. A few years ago, Matt Karpowich (of the Obscure Transformers Website, among other projects) got in touch with Joe Ruby of Ruby-Spears Productions for some interview stuff. Knowing I was a Mega Man fan, I got the chance to do a dedicated set of questions based on the MM cartoon. Some interesting tidbits came from it, but for one reason or another, neither interview got published.
Until now.
So here we go. Here’s one of the big boys of animation, co-creator of Scooby-Doo, answering a few questions (and debunking a few rumors!) on the American Mega Man cartoon. Enjoy!
*****
When did the cartoon series first begin early production?

JR: 1994

Capcom had said that the series was originally to follow the Japanese character designs from the games. But at the time, test audiences didn’t care for the look, so the character designer was tasked with coming up with several different looks for the main characters. Can you elaborate on this process, and what other styles were tested?

JR:   As I recall, the only designs we saw were of the original MegaMan. We felt he was too young for our audience, so we made him a teenager and proportioned him as a well-built athlete type.

Had you started this project, say, a year later, do you think that Japanese animation’s growing stylistic acceptance would have changed the way the series was made?

JR:   Not necessarily. The concept was not hard adventure, but a lighter action series with some comedy, done in a retro 1980’s style.

What reference material was used when developing the series? Were you given any of the Japanese comics to look at, or simply the US games and artwork?

JR:   There were no comics, but written material about the game and its characters, both present and future. Also, we were given all the character artwork that appeared in the games, and copies of the U.S. games.

MegaMan’s trademark is his ability to use the weapons of his beaten opponents. One aspect of this ability is that he changes color when he uses one of his enemy’s weapons in the games. Was this dropped from the cartoon simply for the sake of the animators?

JR:   Yes. Especially with so many characters colored red, black and yellow, it would get visually confusing in animation. What we did is have an animated effect as MM absorbed the enemy’s power into his “power arm.”

What prompted the decision to make ProtoMan a villain? Even though he was painted as one in the MegaMan 5 game (which would have been the most recent game when the project was started), it was revealed to be a frame-job by Dr. Wily, the series’ perennial villain.

JR:   I don’t recall exactly. But it had to come from Capcom to make him that way, either directly, or from the materials we were given.

You guys developed the most widely recognized canine cartoon star in the world, Scooby-Doo… I have to ask, how much of Scooby is in MegaMan’s robo-pooch Rush?

JR:   Well, he didn’t eat Scooby Snacks. Actually, we tried to keep his character as different as possible. But a goofy dog that talks will always be likened to Scooby. Especially if we do it.

A semi-major character from the game series, Dr. Cossack, never appeared in the cartoon. Was this simply to keep the series from getting too complicated, cast-wise?

JR:   That sounds right.

One of the things that really struck me about the cartoon was its portrayal of MegaMan’s sister, Roll. Her role prior had been little more than stay home, worry about MegaMan, and occasionally get kidnapped. The US Roll, however, jumps right into the action, and does her fair share of dismantling Wily’s robots armed with little more than souped-up versions of common tools. What brought on this change to a more gutsy Roll?

JR:   It (excuse the non-intended pun) broadened the show, gave more interplay and gags, and hopefully would attract some girl audience. (Also, it showed were not male chauvinistic pigs as our wives think)

Scott McNeil, who voiced Wily, ProtoMan, and probably a few dozen other characters, had mentioned that originally, Wily was meant to have a British accent rather than the more stereotypical (yet far more fun) faux-German-Slavic accent. Also that ProtoMan was also to be voiced by MegaMan’s actor, Ian Corlett, to play up their “same plans” origins. Are there any other pre-production changes that you can recall in regards to the character portrayal?

JR:   Wiley’s voice characterization came out of a Japanese MM educational film in which they portrayed him speaking Japanese with a German accent. We had been asked to recast and re-record the film into English and that’s how some of the voices came to be, or followed that theme.

How much say-so did Bandai have in the development of the series? The second season seemed to heavily feature the Wily Robots who had been made into action figures, as well as repeated appearances of MegaMan’s new armors and vehicles, which were slated to be produced for the toy line as well (but never released, sadly).

JR:   As I recall, they had an exec that would go over the scripts to insure that the toy villains were being used. The second season, we had meetings with the execs regarding the look, selection, and use of the new toys in the scripts.

Outside of that, what say did Capcom have in which Wily Robots showed up in any given episode?

JR:   I believe they went along with the toy company.

The Mega Man cartoon apparently scored big ratings in syndication. Why was the series ended after this second season? Did it have anything to do with the Bandai-made toy line being cut short (a fate it shared with other licenses like The Tick, Sailor Moon, and -for a time- Dragon Ball)? Or was it ultimately Capcom’s decision?

JR:   Probably all the above and more, which we were not privy to. Obviously, we were looking forward to continuing the series, which was fun to do, and, had great ratings.

Had the series continued, would we have seen characters from more recent games, or even the Mega Man games that were exclusive to the Nintendo Game Boy?

JR:   We were planning on integrating the new Mega X character and game materials into the new shows.


THE RUMOR MILL

Here, there aren’t so much questions, but nuggets of info we had picked up and have always wanted official verification/debunking of. Any of these you can comment on would be VERY appreciated.

Some of the most persistent rumors concerning the cartoon series are about the third season that never happened. According to rumor, the season was cut after only one episode was finished (“Crime of the Century”, in which Wily uses remote-controlled toys to pull off heists), but was planned as a full 13-episode run.

JR:   Nothing was cut short. It was decided just to make the one additional episode. And that completed the package.

Another big rumor is that this third season would have introduced Bass, MegaMan’s new rival from the game series, who would replace ProtoMan as Wily’s Number Two in order to tie into the current game setup. And following that, Proto would become more the Racer-X to Mega’s Speed Racer, as is the setup in the games.

JR:   Guess it was just a rumor. That thinking never reached us if that was true.

Of course, there’s the second-season episode “Mega X”, which featured the debut of Capcom’s related Mega Man X series to animation. Again, the rumor mill has it that Mega Man X was to get his own spin-off cartoon (and accompanying toy line), but that too never came to be.

JR:   Yes, that was true, as far as I can recall.

Thank you for your time, and thank you for giving us the cartoon!
- Greg Sepelak
Hey! You’re very welcome.
- Joe Ruby

I was intrigued by that "Mr. Corlett voicing Proto as well" bit, myself; as much as I like McNeil-Proto, that would've been interesting to see, too.

760

Rockman Series / Re: The story of Rockman Online

« on: July 29, 2011, 05:19:21 PM »

http://www.themmnetwork.com/2011/07/29/rockman-online-update-discusses-force-metal/

Finally, an update.

Essentially, everyone wants Force Metal. Gaudile is working on purifying it so that its users won't suffer the side effects, whilst Dr. Psyche is all "Hooray for body horror!"

761

Fan Creations / Re: The Gonzo has art.

« on: July 28, 2011, 06:46:41 PM »

Maybe...

Oh man. I was screwing around with pony makers (mostly this one: [link] and the two on Doll Divine) and, with the exception of the tall guys, drew them all here. Along with a random space-filling Pinkie Pie.

None of them really have backstories (I guess the lone pegacorn near the bottom was created rather than born) except for the tall guys, one of whom I already drew post-stabbing Proto.

Seidhr is one of the few minions of Tirac (villain of the first G1 TV special) who isn't brainwashed, and seemingly only joined for his own amusement. In reality, one of his dearest friends was brainwashed by ill-intended creatures of light, and he hopes to persuade Tirac into using the Rainbow of Darkness on him, as all other attempts to break this brainwashing have failed. The logic being that a powerful dark force would cancel out a powerful light force and return his friend to normal--even Seidhr isn't sure it'll work that way.

Despite his good intentions, he's a dick. A dick who uses dark magic (not on the level of the RoD) and stabs people with his horn.

As for Gallant Stride--he's that friend of Seidhr's. Before being mind-controlled, he was a decent pony who tried to steer his buddy away from the dark arts, on account of the risk of Celestia noticing and stomping him into the dirt. Then he was struck with a bolt of pure irony (figuratively). Poor Gallant.


The last four ponies were made in G1 pony makers. I guess they're vaguely G4-ish the way I drew them...

"Hmm...*fyre-flye/Lauren Faust's human art reminds me of PPG."

This resulted. Bet this isn't the first time someone drew Ponypuffs. :/

Posted on: July 25, 2011, 03:40:28 PM

Why is Derpy so excited about Proto? Because he's another gray pony, maybe? Or is it the shades?

Whatever reason, Proto's not interested.

This is totally how Ruby-Spears would've handled the Zero series. At least, Zero's and X's designs.

Perhaps Weil created cyberspace, and trapped X there so there'd be one less obstacle in his goal for world domination/destruction--which pales in comparison to all the horrible things he'd done in the past. Zero's (and Ciel's) main goal would be split between getting X out of there, and finding Weil.

Oh, and there's eldritch abominations lurking in cyberspace that only show up as flickering glitches in the Matrix real world. Poor X.

edit:

Commission for ~GaiaX2, of his dude.

Posted on: July 26, 2011, 03:57:42 PM

Mostly RS-MM, MLP:FiM, TFA, and a lone PSnG doodle.

* Sleeping ponies. Anatomy is wonky.

* Tried converting Alarm over to TFA style; I have no idea what his altmode would be, since Arwings and their attachments wouldn't exist in either TFA or RS-MM.

* ~KaitlinEXE's Sparkchip and Roll, hanging out in the blank white void. (I dunno if Sparkchip is really that tall)

* And then Chip was a pony.

* Proto doesn't like Panty. Panty doesn't like Proto. They have to work together. Much property damage was made.

NOTE: Commissions are still open, and I'm hoping to make $20 in four or five days--clearly I have learned nothing. >.>

Posted on: July 28, 2011, 10:09:30 AM

Oh man, the photo quality is all blargh. D: Still, this was a good shot of Zidane, I think. Taken on one of the bookshelves in the sewing room.

Sorry, Zidane, you can't steal that mirror.

Funtastic fact: This photo was taken in such low light that it was incomprehensible. So I re-made the scanline effect in Photoshop and slapped it on this, and suddenly the absolute blarghary is a clever effect to show that Reimi is about to shoot someone's already-damaged camera.

Yeah. "Clever" is a bit of a stretch. (Photo taken in the living room, early in the morning. The other photo I took with the flash on wasn't so great, either)

'Twas in a chat room with *ChaosCroc and the subject turned to BlazBlue--specifically, the Murakumo Units. I wondered how RS-Rock would look like as one, then later drew it.

Mostly based off of Mu-12's design; tried to keep as much of Rock's in there as possible. Not included: giant [tornado fang]-off floating weapon. Or pants.

762

DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: July 25, 2011, 05:12:02 AM »

I dunno how related this could be, but...

They canned MML3 but want to re-release this? I just hope this had been decided beforehand...

763

Fan Creations / Re: The Gonzo has art.

« on: July 24, 2011, 12:45:23 PM »

Thanks. (Hm...)

and why are Zero & Iris smiling like that?

First, there is no Iris in this pic. (Should've clarified.) Second, they are not on the same plane as Sigma and therefore don't have to look at his ugly mug.

Posted on: July 23, 2011, 12:37:54 PM

Sure, X could crush him like a soda can and has firepower hundreds of years advanced of any other known robot, but Proto's just fine. Not nervous or jealous or anything. He just wishes X would go sit somewhere else.

Either Optimus is gigantic, or Mega is very short.

After agonizing over which Transformers continuity to cross over with RS-MM (considered G1, but I already paired that with Capcom-Mega), I think I've settled on Animated. I dunno if I'll ever do much with it, since I've only seen clips. :/

Rock and Optimus might make a good team, but the latter would have many, many problems with Proto, I'd bet.

Rock meets Grimlock and is not sure if want. Also very confused.

I may have botched Grimlock; the only good reference I could find was loaded with .JPEG artifacts, and his face was too damn dark to make out any details. Sorry, Grimlock.

edit: Sketch of the above pic.

764

Fan Creations / Re: The Gonzo has art.

« on: July 23, 2011, 01:25:57 PM »

Wait... is that combination of Sonic and Raichu in a form of a boy? 8(

Could be; don't know enough about the character to say for sure. :/


dA is borked right now, so I hope attaching this pic is alright EDIT: properly linking to it now. Long story short: I'm not happy with Capcom, either. You don't screw with your fanbase like this.

Also: I DO NOT want anyone in this thread going "it was doomed from the start, quit your bitching". We're allowed to be angry about this.





Posted on: July 19, 2011, 06:42:33 AM

I told one of my sisters that I'd draw her AU Sora (http://animeellie.deviantart.com/art/AU-KH-concept-WITH-KEYBLADES-230883801), and now it's drawn.

Long (and mostly unrevealed) story short: Corrupted, amnesiac Sora whose friends are frantically looking for him. (Durr, forgot the fake blood on his Keyblade...)

Posted on: July 20, 2011, 08:24:44 AM

Couldn't think of a better title because I'm brain-dead right now.

Once again, I tried and failed to imitate Mr. Shigenori's style; this time, I attempted to make a background with a stock image of TV static (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bswise/3368467066/). Perspective is horrifically wonky (and my now-lost writings would've involved security cameras, not TVs). >.>


Sure, Proto may look like he's pimping it up now, but then his arm falls asleep.

Posted on: July 21, 2011, 05:59:04 PM

opy-pasted from TMMN's oekaki:

"Slightly-older Roll meets one of the beta Aero designs, whom I've dubbed Sephira (gotta make use of the suggested US name, right?). I'm sure they'd become friends.


[My] introduction to Megaman Legends? It was that weird commercial where lots of kids said how much they loved Megaman. I wouldn't get a formal introduction until later, when I found *lizsama's dA gallery in middle school.

Played MM64 (why not just leave it as "Legends"?) on a horrible N64 emulator that nearly obsoleted my computer; before that, got a copy of MML2 at Rhino Video Games just before it was switched out for GameStop. I played MM64 all the way to the end, and liked it despite the alleged porting issues; I would've loved to play MML3, lack of 3DS aside. ;_;

All I contributed to the MML3 Project was voting for Mr. Ishikawa's Aero design, and a glorified karma meter as an easter egg (it didn't win, obviously); I didn't feel like I could design a decent Reaverbot or Bonne mech, so I left those to others. Same goes for the mascot. Hell, I didn't even know what was going on in the forums; I just kept up with the project via Protodude et al.

I did briefly wonder if I should've posted more, since God knows I can keep talking about one subject for EONS, but I figured that no force on Earth could've saved MML3. Especially not if CoE is playing the blame game and CoJ isn't saying anything (to us, anyway)."


Maybe it's just Mr. Inafune's art style, but I always felt his entry into that contest was better suited for the Classic series. And looked a bit like femme-Zero.

Have a couple of half-naked Repliroids.

So, yes...X is incredibly ripped, as opposed to Rock and Proto (and Zero) who are incredibly not. One thousand hours in the gym?


Used one of Tom of Finland's pieces for reference, since I was too cowardly to Google "shirtless dudes". Boo.

God, Sigma's ugly.

Recently, I discovered the "Running Man" segment of Neo-Tokyo (specifically the MTV dub); its presentation influenced this pic and how I see a hypothetical RS-X series. At the very least, I wanted this to have that same grainy look most older anime have--frustratingly, the only "fake screencap" tutorials I could find all emulated the newer "over-gradiated/sterile" stuff. So I just made a texture from a Neo-Tokyo screencap and hoped it worked.


As for said hypothetical series--I've been thinking about whether or not/how long X had something personal against Sigma, and why Sigma would focus on X if the writers didn't use the same reasons from the games. Long story short: the former involves lots of trauma; the latter, predatory ickiness. Their feud won't end until one of them dies, or joins the other ("one" and "other" are not interchangeable), and X doesn't care how many times his superior officer screeches at him because he dropped damn near everything to go after Sigma.

765

News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype version officially announced!

« on: July 23, 2011, 08:38:02 AM »

Either way, I'd have to get a new piece of hardware. At least on the 3DS, I could play it in private.

766

Original / Re: How will the series end?

« on: July 23, 2011, 08:36:17 AM »

I don't care if X9 (or MM11) is hi- or lo-def, as long as it's fun. Wouldn't have my hopes up for the story making sense in the grand scheme of things (God knows MMX canon is already borked), though.

767

News and Announcements / Re: Capcom Asking For Megaman Fans & Cosplayers to Leave SDCC..?

« on: July 22, 2011, 12:21:34 AM »

Whether or not this is true...Yeesh. YEESH. After I suggested that someone calmly try to get answers out of them there, to boot...

768

News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Prototype version officially announced!

« on: July 21, 2011, 03:13:50 AM »

Capcom of Europe, specifically.

One mod over at CU, Liana, had this to say:

I second you guys! Thank you Christian, for taking the time to come on here, pretty much as soon as you got home! O_O

I still have major issues with Capcom Europe and the people responding via their Twitter.

In response to an article from the MMNetwork, rarely did I see any real effort from them to push the Devroom, or the MML3/Prototype projects, nay even make solid connections with Capcom's family of websites to really create a buzz or melting pot for European Mega Man fans. All they seem to care about is Moto GP, Resident Evil and stuffing Japanese producers with donuts and bloomin Ferrero Rocher!!

Are there live streams from Capcom Europe? NO. Capcom USA steps up to the plate. I hope there are more efforts from my side of the pond to take initiative and handle our own regional events and to start streaming tournaments, events (Excel, Gamescom, etc), interviews with producers and to generally make a dent on the European market. Maybe even have Seth or yourself come over here, meet our teams and introduce yourselves properly! (Sven, you got the Euro roots, come on.. )

The only thing I can commend Capcom Europe on, is their growing improvement with live events and launch parties. They have attempted to make a conscious effort to make a start with Fight Clubs. I can only hope they follow Unity's example and pull out the stops with community involvement that does not include bribery.

Their forums continue to remain stagnant. Unity seems to be the only place where any real visible effort is made and your strong, public, SOLID connections with the Japan office are undeniable.

Again, Thank You.

L

(ps- play with these ideas!)

Thread is here, by the way: http://www.capcom-unity.com/ask_capcom/go/thread/view/7371/28042937/Cleaning_things_up?pg=1

So at least one person at CoA agrees with us.

769

DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: July 20, 2011, 11:17:13 PM »

Hey, guess what?

http://twitter.com/#!/CapcomEuro

@[ some guy] iit's a shame the fans didn't want to get more involved :-( if we saw there was an audience for MML3 people might change minds

That's right. They blamed us for "not wanting to get more involved".

Except I'm fairly certain we were.

Didn't even give us the goddamn Prototype. Didn't even wait for 3DS sales to pick up. Just canned everything and said it was all our fault.


...I'm feel awkward posting this after the news thread got locked, but Jesus. Even taking into account the comparatively low Servbot numbers, the backlash should've told them something.

770

News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Has Been Cancelled

« on: July 20, 2011, 12:49:42 PM »

About that restoration project--as much as I doubt it'll work, I do admire the fans' dedication. But if Capcom is stupid enough to C&D it, then they'll just be digging themselves deeper. Much, much deeper.

771

News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Has Been Cancelled

« on: July 20, 2011, 07:12:26 AM »

Boycotting Capcom will do nothing, the Mega Man community is not big enough and even if we were as big as the RE community, it will do nothing. And the worst thing is that it will portray us as an immature community.

...we have to continue to support a company that not only epic-league trolled us (for lack of a better term and because I want to stop repeating myself), but won't tell us why? Yeah, lots of people are jumping the 3DS ship, but did Capcom at least try porting MML3 to someplace else? They aren't saying. Was the game just not shaping up very well? Maybe, but it was only ~25% done; why not use the other 75% to fix its problems? If they didn't think it'd sell well, why not release the Prototype version (a.k.a. the sales test) as planned?

Plus, Capcom has apparently forgotten all other languages and only speaks Money now. So there's that to keep in mind.

Like I said, I'm torn on this, but really--until Capcom gives us some answers, why shouldn't we at least be allowed to be angry about all this?

You can boycott them all you want, it won't stop them from making millions off of the next monster hunter title they make.

Maybe so, and maybe Capcom will never get the hint. But we shouldn't be forced to put up with this.

772

DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: July 20, 2011, 05:56:42 AM »

No proof.

But if that does turn out to be the real reason...

773

DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: July 20, 2011, 05:44:12 AM »

http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/itdlp/megaman_legends_3_cancelled/c26ind3

Reposted from the Prototype thread. So apparently MML3 just wasn't shaping up to be a fun game...

IT WAS ONLY 25% DONE. YOU SERIOUSLY COULDN'T USE THE REST OF YOUR DEVELOPMENT TIME TO FIX THAT?!

774

News and Announcements / Re: Mega Man Legends 3 Has Been Cancelled

« on: July 20, 2011, 05:28:51 AM »

Well, I read your article. I'm kinda torn on the boycotting issue--how would Capcom know our intentions, if they did this? At the very least, the marketing department seems to be out of touch with reality (as in, they all moved to the backwards antimatter planet of Qwaard); there's no telling how they'd react.

On the other hand...support what? We don't know if they'll make any new MM games in the future--hell, we don't even know if Rockman Online will survive--and I think all Capcom has planned are rehashes of games people already played full price for. If we buy those rehashes, what's to stop them from assuming that they were right in dumping MML3 like this?


Also, left a comment on PRC replying to a couple of dickweeds who think we should all instantly move on from this, because if we don't, we're just childish idiots who can't handle reality. Context is a very important thing...

775

DASH / Re: It's dead, Jim.

« on: July 19, 2011, 01:23:48 PM »

aside/ You know, as unenthused with the story as I was, and despite the fact it'd likely only see release in Korea, I still want Rockman Online to make it. If at least one MM project saw the light of day, that would be great. But no, they haven't updated in a while... /aside

Isn't Capcom going to be at Comic Con this year? To whoever's going there, please ask them (politely) if they know why MML3 was canceled. Maybe they will, maybe they won't--maybe we'll just get more meaningless PR bullshit. But it'll be worth a try.