MEGA MAN #15 - (W) Ian Flynn (A) Gary Martin & Various (CA) Ben Bates
‘Spiritus ex Machina,’ Part 3. Time is running out for Mega Man and his friends. A new twist catches both heroes and villains off-guard, and putting Dr. Light and everyone at the A.R.T.S. in mortal danger! Meanwhile, Dr. Wily’s growing army in the Amazon discovers a certain red-and-grey robot!”
So, what do you make of the lady in green? She's assumed to be Quake Woman, the character previously teased in issue #14's solicitation. She's not exactly what I had in mind, honestly. I don't really see how the whole "quake" motif fits into her design, but I suppose it's a bit premature to pass judgment without seeing her in action.
Preview pages coming in due course.
Credit: The Mega Man Network
Copy-pasting my comment from TMMN:
ReplyDelete"I think someone on the Bumbleking forums suggested that “Quake” is a pun (as in, “shakes things up”), rather than her power. I really hope that’s the rationale behind her design (which I liked more after the above theory)."
Wow! Love it, looks very perfect.
DeleteYeah, that's a pretty generic design, sadly. Not bad, just terribly generic
ReplyDeleteShe looks like a generic NPC not a major character.
ReplyDeleteIf they gave her some sort of stylized helmet like nearly every other Robot Master she'd be a lot better.
Wow Rush search, Proto Man, Pharaohman, MM3 robot masters and RAMOON! this looks like is going to be awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe designs from MM1-MM5 were generally very simple, ESPCIALLY between 1-3. This may look 'generic' but I think it fits the era quite perfectly. The important thing besides that is noting that her proportions and design make her LOOK like a Megaman character. I like it! :D
ReplyDeleteWhoopey, this looks like the fifth arc (which will probably be MM3) will have immediate events after this arc, judging on Protoman at the bottom. XD At least, that's what I'd do if I were Ian.
ReplyDeleteLook at the visor reflection at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteI see MagmaMan from Megaman 9 among the robots and Wily, along with Heatman.
This is about to get interesting...
Could Archie be mixing things up by mixing and mashing robot masters from different games?
@Anonymous: That's Needleman, not Magmaman. Easy mistake though! XD
ReplyDelete@Alice
ReplyDeleteYes the designs were simple in the earlier games but even then they gave some hint to their purpose. Cut Man was a lumber felling robot, hence giant scissors, Guts Man worked construction hence being bulky, Ice Man worked in sub-arctic hence the parka.
There is absolutely nothing about Quake Woman's design that says "Quake" not even her color scheme.
@Anon
That's Needle Man not Magma Man you can tell by the fact he's hanging out with the other MM3 Robot Masters.
@Anon: The thing about that is... we don't know what her powers are. It might not be gimmicky enough to warrant a motif. Besides that, gimmicks are more important for robots in a production series.
ReplyDeleteStandalone Robot Masters have NEVER had clear gimmicks to reflect their powers. Bass, Enker, Punk, Ballade, Darkman, Ra Thor, King... none of their designs reflect their powers, if they had anything special to begin with. Even Quickman and Pharaohman's designs don't reflect what their abilities are (just their name, in Pharaoh's case).
Quakewoman is not a series model. I wouldn't worry about giving her a gimmick. One-off models have traditionally gotten away with it. Her name is thus far enough to explain what she does.
If you're not satisfied with that, just consider this a good starting point. They emulated the design basics from the classic series almost perfectly. If they make more original characters, they'll be able to expand upon it naturally as the game's style itself evolved between 1 and 6.
Yet, Pharaoh Man is on the cover, and he wasn't around til MM4, and was built by Dr. Cossack no less! So, this must be a strange hybrid of MM3 and MM4 timeline-wise, or just something different altogether. Has Dr. Cossack been in the story at all yet? Just wondering, since Pharaoh Man was there...
ReplyDeleteNot a bad run. The Sonic comic started backsliding at issue #11, Mega Man just might do better.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they keep that pretentious fan fic-influence out of their scripts.
Just say NO to MegaMan love triangles and needless character kill-offs.
@Allahweh: Except that this is NOT a MM3&4 hybrid adaptation. This is an original story arc that sets up future events. Here's a copy-paste comment from TMMN:
ReplyDelete"Phaelin said: I like how people think characters can only debut within their own game’s timeline. Cossack would obviously be around long before Four. It’d make sense to introduce him in a small way early on. Otherwise, you just get the random “I am really jealous and will now take over the world!” plot that was Four."
I don't care what anybody says, I'm really digging Quake Woman's design. It could be my bias for twintails speaking, though, but I really don't see any reason to hate on her design, especially since we know nothing about her outside of her name.
ReplyDelete@Rock-X:
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. I had the impression that Dr. Cossack was another leading scientist of the period, perhaps not quite as well-known as Dr. Light and company. But, if he was a peer of theirs then there's nothing wrong than to think he came up with his own robots around that time.
Obviously there were other good designers as evidenced by the somewhat throw-away plot of MM6 and that whole Robot Tournament.