#DWN-055

[mmkin]

Been a fan of Megaman since I was a kid, even more so after reading the Mega/Gigamix mangas. So here's some of my favorite Robot Masters!

[dpn-datalogs]

DPN-010 (DWN-055) SHADE MAN AI AGE: Late 30s ORIENTATION: Panromantic/pansexual GENDER/PRONOUNS: Male/him, his, he HEIGHT: 233cm BIRTHDAY: October 15 TAG: !Gentlebat

DATA: Originally built as a performance unit for a carnival’s haunted house attraction, the robot known as Count Creepy was stolen by Dr. Albert Wily and rebuilt as a high-end combat unit known as Shade Man. Shade Man was open about his reluctance to serve Dr. Wily, and often went to lengths to aviod contact with Wily as best he could. At one point, Shade Man was ordered to kidnap Dr. Alexander Graham Prescott so that Wily could put the renowned environmentalist’s robotics skills to work for the Wily Regime. During Prescott’s enslavement, he and Shade Man formed a strong friendship that would eventually culminate in their joint attempt to escape Wily’s fortress and control. The escape was an explosive success, and Shade Man was welcomed into the DPN line as family. Currently, Shade Man serves as security for the Prescott Foundation.

COMBAT/UTILITY DATA:

Dr. Wily put a surprising amount of work into Shade Man’s fighting abilities, themeing the robot’s combat protocol around vampire folklore. Shade Man is able to fly, cling to walls and ceilings with powerful hydraulic talons, and sap energy and essential fluids from robots by utilizing a specialized siphoning mechanism outfitted to his extended canine teeth.

Primary Weapon: “Noise Crush” Originally intended as a method of controlling human minds through sonic pulse emission, Dr. Wily made a wiring error when constructing Shade Man’s arm-mounted sound cannon. Instead, the cannon produces destructively powerful sound waves that can be reflected and amplified.

Primary weakness: Explosive and high-impact weapons; previously had increased sensitivity to bright lights, though this was due to an error in optic calibration that has been fixed by Prescott; bit of a coward; terrible singing voice

PERSONALITY: One word that can truly describe Shade Man is “gentlemanly.” He is kindhearted, polite, considerate, selfless, and is prone to do the courageous thing despite being something of a coward. He carries himself with an air of panache and ettiquette that seems to intentionally contrast with his monstrous outward appearance. Shade Man’s experiences as both a disposable performance but and an unwilling agent of evil made him all the more appreciative of the things in his life he truly enjoys, and the good fortune he has come into. From his newfound level of freedom, his adopted family, or even his pet kitten Count Meowcula, Shade Man can and will stand to protect that which he holds dear with truly monstrous determination.

[haunted-machines]

[SPEECHLESS] | Shade Man

playlist

Serial No. APN:003 DWN:031

WRA Registry: DWN:055

Activation Date: 10/1 10/31

Literal Age: 9 yrs

Mental Equivalent: Adult

Pronouns: He/Him

Height: 213 cm (7ft)

Weight: 117 kg (258 lbs)

Function: Haunted Town Oversight / Intelligence Unit / City Project Manager

Having originally been built to manage a quarter of an amusement park, Shade Man has taken to Wily City like a fish to water, essentially establishing himself as Dr. Wily’s secretary over night.

Looking after robots, children, and the elderly was not a new task to Shade Man. He was originally built to manage the entirety of the little horror themed town towards the back of his park. He was not the only robot master the park employed, but he rarely interacted with the others beyond token requests for assistance. Now with the capacity to be more sentimental, Shade might call them his former siblings, but at the time, he viewed them no differently than any of his human coworkers. Watching them occasionally get rebooted for causing, or in some cases failing to prevent, too much trouble certainly did not help him view them as “family” anyway. But Shade sees no use holding onto the past. There was nothing he alone could do to protect his original siblings. Now, though, he does everything in his newfound power to protect his current ones.

The most notable of those new powers is his Master Weapon: the Noise Crush. Shade Man can convert electrical energy into a short burst of sound waves between 100 and 200 dB, depending on how much the weapon is charged, which are shot from his buster. In order to avoid damaging himself with this, he is then able to absorb the rebounding waves by immediately converting them back into electrical energy to charge his next attack. His secondary (and in his opinion much more useful) abilities are his petrifying gaze and energy absorbing fangs. Shade’s eyes can emit an invisible wavelength that, when visually registered, will transmit an overwhelming amount of junk data into his opponent’s processor, causing a denial of service that impedes any functions for about 30-60 seconds (When registered by humans, it can cause seizures and a loss of consciousness). His fangs, when in direct contact with circuitry, can transfer the energy to his own core. Both of which have proven far more helpful in his quest to keep Wily City in some kind of organization.

He made quite the first impression as an organizer by commandeering the 7th war. More or less by himself, after the doctor was arrested at the end of the world bridge race. Shade had not spent the last several months plotting how to get the great Dr. Wily to notice him or die trying just to stand by and let them take him away. So, more than eager to prove his skill, he took the following six months to stage a full war in his new family’s name, complete with global reach and multistage attack phases. Even if the doctor did complain about how long it took (Six months? He built the third numbers in three months! Between playing house with Light and Mega Man no less!), it was fair to say his superior units were impressed. Even Dr. Wily had the grace to admit it “Wasn’t too shabby. For a newbuilt’s first attempt, in any case.”

Backhanded compliments aside, Shade is generally trusted by the whole of the city to be competent project oversight. He oversees most, if not all major plans within the island, though he tends to spend more of his time playing mediator between the robot masters involved in those plans than anything else. Of course, Shade adores his family in spite of their constant infighting. In fact, the infighting might be what he loves the most about them, if only for the sheer symbolism in watching them bicker and fail, knowing without a doubt that their master, no, their father would never lay a hand on them in retaliation.

Shade Man is a frighteningly clever robot master. A suave speaker with practiced charm, he gets along with most everyone in the city. Though some part of that is a genuine desire for real connections, it is also an engrained survival strategy. Having spent his formative years balancing on the edge of the Three Laws, staying one step ahead of the game is what kept him alive. Though he logically knows he is now safe in Wily City, that type of thinking doesn’t just go away. Instead, it has manifested in a compulsion to know everything that is going on. Shade has dug through every byte of information in Wily City’s database he could get his hands on, and stays on top of all its latest developments. Though he ultimately means well, you’ll definitely have a hard time keeping that nose out of your business.

last updated 01.02.23

[dwn-13-berserkercrash]

Nope, Shade is from the seventh bunch of you guys, DWN-055. I think. Wily really needs to find a better way to categorize y'all. Vampire bat lookin' nerd, somehow weaponizes echolocation. Your guess how is as good as mine.

“We don’t have a Seventh bunch right now… but uh, at this rate, dad may do something like that…”

[robotiic-natiion]

Character Profiles #6 - Freeze Man, Shade Man, & Turbo Man

Name: Freeze Man

Serial Number: DWN. 049

Civilian Form Face-Claim: Silver Fullbuster (Fairy Tail)

Background: Freeze Man was originally created for the purpose of finding non-polluting energy sources, but was modified by Dr. Wily for combat, utilizing his ability to manipulate the ambient temperature, using higher temperatures to fuel himself, and the lower spectrum to use as his Freeze Cracker weapon. However, once Megaman had defeated him on that faithful day, his entire base of operations up in the Arctics went haywire due to their fight, collapsing on top of Freeze. And even while signaling the distress call directly to Wily multiple times, he did not respond, and Freeze Man sunk into the ice-cold waters along with his base.

Only several months later did a rescue team of DWN’s respond to the signal, managing to salvage Freeze Man’s now severely frost-damaged and cracked body. Thawing his body out of the ice, Wily deemed him unsalvageable unless given an entirely new body. And so he went on to create Freeze Man’s current body, based on his civilian form. His weapons were also upgraded from simply creating his Freeze Cracker weapon, to basically bathing entire areas in sheer, unimaginable levels of cold by basically venting out the cold temperatures in the ambient in the form of thick clouds of liquid nitrogen.

But Freeze is far from happy with the new ‘life’ that the doctor has given him. He resents him for his failure of saving him earlier, and almost considering to scrap him as he laid on death’s door. Ever since then, he’s been out for Wily with a vengeance.

Personality: He might appear as surprisingly laid-back, casual, and jovial at first glance, but Freeze Man is a much colder robot than he might appear to be. Ever since his near-death experience, Freeze Man has turned literally cold-hearted. He is a sadist, and loves to see people slowly suffering, like he did when sinking into the ocean. He hates both Dr. Wily and Megaman with a flaring passion. Wily for abandoning him and considering to scrap him, and Megaman for being the catalyst of it all.

Name: Shade Man

Serial Number: DWN. 055

Civilian Form Face-Claim: N/A

Personality: Shade Man loves to appear as dapper and dandy as he can, to give himself the image of a respectable robot master as well as a good manager for his haunted house attraction. He is, in general, quite confident in all that he does, but does not let it tip over into arrogance or vanity, and instead acts humbled and honored whenever he is complimented. However, he hides a great shame in how he used to be when Wily reprogrammed him for combat, and made him into an oil-thirsty robotic monster.

Name: Turbo Man

Serial Number: DWN. 056

Civilian Form Face-Claim: N/A

Personality: A hot-headed daredevil, and a sucker for publicity and fame, Turbo Man is a robot with a passion for racing and speed, and will not turn down any opportunity he gets to race anyone just to prove his point. He feels a little bit entitled due to this, however, and can often get rather overbearing with his boasting and bragging, but under all of it he means well, and just wanna show off. He has a slight rivalry with Quick Man due to his equally immense speed, but he also slightly admires him.

[mirrorshaded]

Top 8 Robot Masters

Mega Man is one of those series’ that I nearly know inside and out, yet don’t speak of all that often. It was an obsession throughout most of my childhood, with Mega Man III (NES) having been my first. In a lot of ways its appeal is not so dissimilar from Pokémon (hear me out), in that it has a large assortment of simple, themed characters fans can choose favorites from or project onto. I’ve heard the Pokémon analogy used on similar things, such as the Touhou Project. (Don’t quote me on this, I still don’t know what Touhou is despite having it explained more than once.) I guess I’m fond of the Pokémon analogy and things that fit the bill, and although the Mega Man franchise typically only introduces eight robot masters to fight per game, there are... a lot of games. So anyway, after much consideration, I’ve finally complied my top 8 (listed in no particular order): DWN-016: Wood Man (Mega Man II) I'm about to lose everybody on this, but II might be my least favorite main entry in the classic series (fight me). This could be because I missed the hype train and had III to compare with, or simply because I'm tired of hearing about it. For the record, I like it, but for some reason whenever I want to play something older I just pick up the first one. Regardless of this, it has Wood Man. I'm kind of a plant person, and a robot made of wood is fairly ironic. Come on, he shoots leaves at you; tremble with terror as they slowly descend from above! In his defense, Air Man was from the same game and a glorified air conditioner. I feel you, buddy. I've always been fond of how these games never took themselves too seriously. (Well, that was until "retro" became marketable and they gave us things like Sheep Man a few years ago.) I remember seeing Wood Man in the Ruby-Spears cartoon and thinking his version of the leaf shield made a lot more sense because it was, in fact, a shield (though, I definitely favored his design on Captain N most). His cameo in 8 was a welcome surprise. DWN-019: Gemini Man (Mega Man III) III, IV, and VII are my favorite entries of the classic series. With III being what it is for me (sliding!), it was difficult not to fill this roster with more from it. The trippy, pseudo-aquatic ambience of Gemini Man's stage really caught my attention as a child (easily my favorite stage overall), and that largely has to do with him being here. Gemini Man himself is a pretty suave guy and entertaining to fight, though. DWN-022: Snake Man (Mega Man III) Snake Man was a given. Usually, when people ask me what my favorite robot master of all time is, he's the safe answer. (In fact, I own an unopened action figure of him from the Ruby-Spears cartoon line.) Apparently, he was originally designed to investigate narrow areas and survey topography on uninhabited planets marked for development. His bio is more of a curiosity than others: "Snake Man is intelligent and shrewd, but he can also be tenacious. He enjoys actively hunting and cornering his prey like a snake, which puts him at odds with the fair-minded Hard Man. He enjoys the company of Toad Man, for whom the feelings are unfortunately not mutual, and has a hatred of slugs." Also, his stage is pretty ridiculous: what he shoots, the enemies, the floor—all snakes. DWN-028: Pharaoh Man (Mega Man IV) Pharaoh Man is awesome. DWN-032: Skull Man (Mega Man IV) IV is an interesting game in that I consider it the bridge between old and new when it comes to the classic series. Not just for the New Mega Buster, but the fact that it lacks many of the cheap shots seen in the previous three installments, while retaining difficulty. V and VI definitely had that safety net feel to them you'd find later in a portion of the SNES library. Maybe I notice a difference because I'm drawn to punishment, I'm not sure. What I'm getting at is that IV appears to be the most balanced of the NES lot. You could say that my three favorite "things" in life are botany, traditional martial arts and classic horror, so Skull Man is a no-brainer. (Get it?) IV was kind enough to give me two horror-themed robot masters if you count Pharaoh Man. I hate barrier weapons, I swear, yet three of those bastards snuck in here somehow. Skull Man's stage is creative; really like Skeleton Joe. DWN-045: Plant Man (Mega Man VI) I like Plant Man's design more than Wood Man's. It's a shame his fighting strategy managed to be worse. (Maybe I shouldn't have taken a stab at the floating leaves thing earlier.) I felt they did a much better job with him in The Power Battle and The Power Fighters. His bio states he's prone to depression for some reason—could be that his stage is known as the "forgotten area?" DWN-054: Slash Man (Mega Man VII) I've come to find that VII was either hit-or-miss for people. My only complaint was that I'd've preferred they hadn't cut the robot masters into two separate groupings. Slash Man is one of the hardest bosses in the series to me (somewhere under Quick Man). Like many stages in VII, the Robosaur Park is paced well and doesn't get boring. (Robot dinosaurs!) Obviously draws inspiration from X-Men's Wolverine. (Curious, in the hallway leading to him there's an X dead center on the wall.) You know, when this game came out it took me forever to find Beat because Proto Man's hint was partialy misleading. He tells you to "try the flame weapon in the woods," and I considered Slash Man's stage a jungle. For a while I assumed he was just telling you to light the candles in the lower half of Shade Man's stage, which technically takes place in a forest—that would've been a stupid hint. DWN-055: Shade Man (Mega Man VII) Lastly, Shade Man. I'm not sure they could have done his stage more justice. I'm not so much a fan of Ghosts 'n Goblins, but the homage is welcomed. I'm fond of the mid-boss and werewolf enemies. Always liked split-path stages, and being able to fight Proto Man there was a nice touch. Shade Man himself needs little explaining, doesn't he? He's basically the lord of darkness. Well, that's that. Maybe some day I'll get around to a Mega Man X maverick list, but it seems unlikely.