Man of Action writer Joe Kelly is hard at work preparing Mega Man's return to television next year. Though no new details came to light, Kelly took to Twitter to reassure fans all is well.
1) To all the very cool #MegaMan fans out there who are asking me many questions about the upcoming series - here's what I can tell you...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
2) MOA is part of a group of companies looking to bring Big Blue to life for a new era. Lots of folks are working hard to make a great show.— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
3) I am legally prohibited from saying ANYTHING specific about the show, and though I love you, I am not getting sued for you. However...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
4) I can say that MOA looked at 30 years of source material in developing the series with our partners. We focused on the games and lore...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
5) Our job is to work with Capcom & Dentsu USA to distill down the DNA of MegaMan and apply that to modern animated storytelling...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
6) So that's what we did. It's new. I can't compare it to anything else because it isn't going to be like anything else. It's something new.— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
7) HUNDREDS of people work on an animated show. No one wakes up for work and says, "I'm going to ruin that fan's beloved thing."..— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
8) At MOA, we start from the same place - do we like the idea? Can we bring something new to it? Will it be fun? We answer yes and write...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
9) That's what we did with MegaMan. There is still a long process to bringing it to the screen, but talented people are working hard...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
10) In 2017, we'll see how it came out. Cartoons take a year to make. Lots of blood sweat & tears. And fun. Fun is key. We built a fun show.— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
11) We respect MegaMan, his long time fans and the new audience. Can't prove that to you, you'll judge for yourselves...— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
12) But I humbly submit that you reserve judgement until after the show airs. Telling me the show sucks when nothing has been seen..?— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
13) Sort of undermines the whole respect thing. (And please, cross apply this to all creators working on any franchise characters.)— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
14) Let the work speak for itself.— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
15) That's all I got 4 now. Hope it makes sense. Hope you understand where I'm coming from. Hope you'll enjoy the show when it airs. Thanks!— Joe Kelly (@JoeKellyMOA) April 13, 2016
He's confident, I'll give him that.
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna guess at what this show looks like:
ReplyDelete'30 years'
So they're looking at the Smash model in some capacity. I really hope for a good, streamlined design to go with the Megaman name to help it carry in the modern setting. Possibly even the Archie comics, considering:
'modern storytelling'
That the Archie comics story format was already well-received by fans, and falls a fair amount in line with the MoA format of shows like Ben 10.
Additionally, there's an emphasis on:
'fun'
'never been done before'
Especially on fun multiple times. In the modern context, fun means things like MLP, Titans GO!, Nick TMNT, PPG reboot. So, MoA is seeing the success of these shows, and is gearing up to newly inject that into what they currently do. To do that, they're going to strip away the NES plots and most of the RM's, and focus solely on the most popular RM's and Wily. With smatterings of gags with Metools and maybe even Rush. Additionally, we should see Megaman getting an initial power boost, and power creep is essential in engendering loyalty. That'll mostly come through RM weapons and then the end-of-season upgrades.
This is one heck of a tightrope walk. I see why MoA got the bid. They're going to need lots of combat with a fair amount of CAREFULLY MODERN humor since the franchise has been struggling to appeal. And Megaman is going to have to play sports or do something that helps viewers identify WITH him (not try to BE him like SF and ZX tried to shoehorn).
But as long as they don't go too 'slice of life anime' nor too goofy/mature with the humor, I think MM will turn out to be far more watchable than Ben 10 since it doesn't tend itself to romances or drama (and the few times it does, it's brief and welcome).
Here's hoping for a great show!
Not trying to sound aggressive or anything, but what was shoehorned about being Mega Man in Star Force or ZX? The Viewer/Player was not Mega Man in those games, the main characters, Geo Stelar, and Vent/Aile were and If we wanted to get technical Vent and Aile aren't even the Mega Man of the ZX series since anyone with a Biometal is termed "Mega Man" in that series, that and the fact that the Biometals take after many other characters besides X and Zero.
DeleteI saw Mega Man from Star Force as just that, Mega Man from the Star Force universe, in said universe Mega Man is the alter ego of Geo Stelar and his EM partner Omega-Xis, if you have issues with Mega Man not being Mega Man out of the gate, then I guess It'd be ok to have issues with the Classic series as well since Mega Man is normally known as Rock, and only transforms into Mega Man when he goes into battle. Just saying Tokusatsu elements like that existed in Mega Man way before Star Force.
Well, in the Koji Izuki manga of "Rockman 8" and "Rockman and Forte", Rock was in scholl-like thing and even play football with little kids.
DeleteActually, I wanna see a more Ikehara "Rockman" style with a Mega Man who uses cheap tricks against the bosses.
Great Teen Titans Go.... So it's could end up being a crappy show with goon preschool humor and nothing more. No action what so ever. I really hope it's just action packed. There's a severe lack of that these days. Just humor shows
DeleteAction cartoons are expensive to produce and rely solely on merch to stay on the air. Don't count on it. If by some miracle it is a competent action show, it'll get canned in about a month.
DeleteThat's just sad. An action show is basically shunned for idiotic shows. It's great to have comedy shows, but that's like 80-90% of all you see now. There like no major variety at all. Hope it could be like a modern TMNTish or Classic Teen Titan blend of nice action, story, & a smidge of heart/comedy. MegaMan franchise always seems action packed with very little major laughs. Like I can think of how you could make a comedy of the franchise unless it was just about Servbots.
DeleteShaolinTurtle:
Delete"The Viewer/Player was not Mega Man in those games, the main characters, Geo Stelar, and Vent/Aile were"
That's still the player by proxy (especially when you're given the opportunity to choose a different gender for the first time in a Mega Man game ever, and don't ask me how a female human can be a genetic match to a male model Reploid).
"and If we wanted to get technical Vent and Aile aren't even the Mega Man of the ZX series since anyone with a Biometal is termed "Mega Man" in that series, that and the fact that the Biometals take after many other characters besides X and Zero."
Which makes the blatant 'self-insertion' marketing angle all that more heinous. More on that:
"if you have issues with Mega Man not being Mega Man out of the gate, then I guess It'd be ok to have issues with the Classic series as well since Mega Man is normally known as Rock, and only transforms into Mega Man when he goes into battle. Just saying Tokusatsu elements like that existed in Mega Man way before Star Force."
Blues is pretty much Proto Man all the time except for the occasional lack of helmet, Roll never transforms, and Bass is never not his armored self.
Then along comes MMBN, and we get these Full Synchro forms. Now, first of all, only Lan and Hub were supposed to be able to do this because they are practically identical. Hub's very human, and their Syncing was special. Along comes MMBN3 and the anime to introduce it to more of the cast, and, you know, it doesn't really catch on. Why? Same reason comics died out - it isn't special any more. To exasperate this further, then comes SF with multiple characters partnering with aliens (uniqueness gone), and ZX with its Biometals of multiple heroes made needlessly complex by combining Biometals (again, no longer special). Having learned no lesson from the now-dead BN series, both series were axed after their third and second entries, respectively.
To answer your question, these transformations of the player's proxy characters was shoehorned for the same reason that Lightning from Final Fantasy is not necessarily popular - there is no longer anything inherently special about these characters, and yet the marketing still pushes on like the ancient Abercrombie and Fitch CEO trying to wear young clothes.
So, what I hope we see again is, what made Mega Man special in the first place - being his own awesome self, even if that changes over time, as we all do.
MegaNerdX:
Granted, I'm speculating, but it's based upon the same observations that SR T pointed out (I just buried the business end of it).
That said, if there's any franchise out there that could auto-correct and steer modern storytelling into making sure action is done well and in an intriguing manner, it's Mega Man (specifically a Mega Man reboot where events COULD occur differently than before).
As for the humor, I envision cutesy humor (e.g. Rock tripping over a Metool) and relational humor (e.g. male/female or human/robot difference gags between Rock and Roll, or Rush reacting to one of Rock's -occasional- bad jokes, and I mean 'Humor NaviCust Program' bad, by which I mean good).
@HyperSonicEXE Well ok, even though I don't agree with you, I appreciate that you took the time to give me an explanation of what you meant. Take care dude.
Delete@HyperSonicEXE: I'll echo ShaolinTurtle's curiosity regarding your "shoehorned" comment... How do you feel about Mega Man Zero? Technically, Zero is "player by proxy" since the player is not the real Zero but a copy who wants to be Zero. Does this make the entire Zero series "shoehorned", and, if not, why?
DeletePersonally, I have never had issues with Mega Man ZX, and like it more than Mega Man Zero in some respects. (Particularly ZX1.) Mega Man ZX did a great job of allowing us to play as characters that we always wanted to play as (the 4 Guardians and Omega Zero) without having to write a super-complicated story with interwoven storylines in order to provide an excuse to have so many playable characters. In addition, I feel that the Metroidvania style of play of ZX was a really good fit for the series. I will admit that ZX Advent was a little lazier in the sense that it scaled back the Metroidvania elements a little and the single transformation was a little lazy. However, it's not fair to say either ZX game is bad or unworthy of being called a Mega Man game because of "blatant self-insertion". In addition, it almost looked like Capcom's plans for the ZX series was to make it a tie-in series for X, Zero, and Legends. So if a game is continuing the canon storyline, I have trouble agreeing that ZX is "shoehorned" and supposedly inferior. Personally, I would like to see a Mega Man ZX3 released on PC/consoles with an epic Metroidvania-style world of Super Metroid or SOTN proportions, and with a fully mix-n-match Megamerge system. I think that such a game would sell well to many audiences provided that Capcom were to put the proper effort into making it a high-quality release.
So yeah, maybe I'm rambling a little, but I have heard similar arguments before and am just trying to understand your point of view a little more. There's my take on things though.
@Anonymous: Keep that metroidvania crap out of the Rockman series. For other franchises is OK, but for Rockman just no. Backtracking is pointless, annoying and not fun at all. What are you talking about? Zero in the Zero series is the original only the body is a copy. If you are talking why is he a Rockman it is because he earned the title by being a hero. ZX destroys the timeline completely by splitting itself where in one the player is male and in the sequel female and in the other one the player is female and in the sequel male. They never address which one is the cannon one. In ZX Advent it is implied that both characters exist but they never explain what happens to the opposite protagonist. Also, ZX Advent doesn't explain completely what happens between this one and ZX. ZX also doesn't explain what happens previously to its one story only some small details for its own boring storyline. The protagonists are boring, not unique at all and most of the characters are copy and paste from the previous series. The fact anyone can be a Rockman just because they have a toy in their hands and shouting"Rock-on" is a complete insult to actual Rockmen. Terrible boring uninspired level design(a level you are constantly attacked by missiles, wtf?, a lot more spikes than in X6), dreadful side-quests(go back to that missile level then back to the base five times or more each because the game said so), the "missions" aren't missions at all(reach the end of the level and kill the boss) and the biggest screw up by far how are they gonna explain a one way timeline that splits in two only for it to go back to one(Dash/Legends)? Overall a disgusting experience. I don't and possibly won't ever consider it cannon. Just make ZX3 so we can see what bs they come with or a game where we play as Trigger(an actual Rockman) previously to Dash.
Delete@Anonymous2: My opinion/expectation is that well-constructed Metroidvania does not contain pointless, annoying backtracking hence my comment about ZX3 being a "high-quality" release. And I personally have no problems with the level design in either game, but others may share a different opinion...
DeleteRegarding the split storylines in ZX, the story is constructed such that it is completely irrelevant whether Vent/Aile were the protagonist. (Future storylines could just refer to them as "a courier", or completely ignore specifically who was the protagonist as is the case in some of the Mega Man X games with multiple protagonists.) It appears that the real core of the story was going to focus on the Biometals, Prairie, the Wise Men, etc. and their goals. The other characters such as Vent/Aile, Grey/Ashe, Serpent, etc. are merely a (disposable?) means for the Biometals to do their bidding. It is no different from MMZ Zero - he has the soul of Zero, but he is not the original form/body of Zero. So it is not so much the case that "anyone can be a Rockman" as it is that X, Zero, and co are dead and now need a "copy body" of sorts to continue their fight. I believe that much of the backstory concerns that you have would be expounded on in a third/fourth game as there are a lot of unanswered questions. (What is the full backstory for Pandora/Prometheus, why Model A is called Albert when it is clearly is based on Axl, etc.) Also note that Dr. Weil and Omega were the driving force behind Zero's backstory, and they did not appear until Zero 3. So the ZX story would have probably picked up in future games as the basic story groundwork had been established.
Mobbing a show creator because of the tiniest scraps of details concerning an early draft because it isn't the same fossilized concept you insist must be followed to the letter.
ReplyDeleteOf course you all did.
Stay "classy", fandom. No wonder Capcom plans to move on and find a new audience.
Look it's not that we don't want them to take creative liberties. It's because we want them to make it the best show they possibly could. When the name "dreamwave" came up, we got scared because that comic was awful.
DeleteArchie took some creative liberties and had quite a bit of success. This isn't us insisting that the show has to follow some arbitrary format, it's about following a format that isn't garbage.
DeleteWell said Taichara. Even if they got concern about, "dreamwave", the nature of the reaction was immature and unproductive. "Sucks"? Give me a break... This is why I stay as far away from most fandoms with anything that concerns my favorite franchises.
DeleteThere was an early draft? When/where?
Delete"Dreamwave" is awesome, better than none.
DeleteIdiotic generalizations still a thing on this site? Cool.
DeleteBy that same logic Capcom should move on to try and find a new audience for Street Fighter as well because of all the complaints going on there.
There's hardly anyone who has even seen the details that have leaked about the show so far and you're throwing the entire fandom under the bus because of a few individuals early reactions?
DeleteBrilliant.
"to bring Big Blue to life for a new era"
ReplyDeleteSounds like a multimedia project, I only hope if they make a game for 2017, is handled in Japan.
My five bucks is that this is somehow a mass crossover of most, if not all of the Mega Man series. Or at least Classic and MMBN, those two series are practically begging for one at this point, being direct alternate universes.
ReplyDeleteSome of the stuff he said there really makes it sound like this is supposed to be a series that kind of merges the ideas of the whole Mega Man multi-series, and I'm fine with that. Nickelodeon's TMNT is a pure joy to watch and if this can be on-par with that, I'll watch the crap out of it.
ReplyDeleteIt's Joe Kelly
ReplyDeleteI have faith
And you should too
If you read any of his works, then you have nothing to worry about.
If you haven't and you're being completely cynical about it, then I suggest you stop commenting on the subject and read some Joe Kelly.
Capcom is obviously trying to bring back Mega Man to modern audiences in a BIG way. They're not just going to release a game and call it a day. That's not going to help the franchise grow at all.
I wish this fandom would being so damn cynical.
Cynicism isn't all that hard to imagine when you've had four games in a row cancelled and the last game was a crappy mobile game.
DeleteNot to mention the countless number of other ways Capcom has mismanaged the franchise over the years. Capcom has earned the skepticism they get.
DeleteWe'll see how "big" of a way Capcom is trying to bring Mega Man to modern audiences.
My prediction is the television series, a variety of merchandise to coincide with it, and a game series based on the television show will be what we get. I'll be tickled pink with all of it...if the show turns out to be good and does the franchise justice.
DeleteThe only thing I'm worried about is Capcom going full-steam with it and completely disregarding all previous Mega Man properties. I sincerely hope they don't.
Calling it now: The show gets canceled some time this year due to "negative response" and "a lack of interest". シ
ReplyDeleteThe one problem I think everyone has is that when something like a series is made'new' they won't like it because its 'too' different or they will refuse to give it a try. It is even proven through video games. However, I think people should learn that not everything is going to be exactly the same and should be more open to 'new' or 'different' ideas. I think this animation will be an awesome addition to the franchise, its been forever since anything rockman has came out in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe one problem I think everyone has is that when something like a series is made'new' they won't like it because its 'too' different or they will refuse to give it a try. It is even proven through video games. However, I think people should learn that not everything is going to be exactly the same and should be more open to 'new' or 'different' ideas. I think this animation will be an awesome addition to the franchise, its been forever since anything rockman has came out in my opinion.
ReplyDelete"for a new era"
ReplyDelete"like nothing youve seen before"
"Modern animated storytelling"
it's gonna be shit.
I wouldnt be surprised if it has that same shitty noodle limbed style adventuretime made popular and literally everything does now
Well I can certainly agree Adventure Time is a pile of trash and shouldn't exist.
DeleteAgreed. I wish I could go back in time to prevent that thing from existing. The "jokes" are terrible, the animation disgustingly ugly and lazy and the characters are all painfully stupid. Shows like that make kids and in the worst cases adults dumber. The only show I can kinda watch is Regular show, but it went downhill from the second half of the second season in both animation and content itself. And I HATE flash animation I get paper costs more, but still they should make more drawn shows.
DeleteThis show should not exist, nobody asked for it.
ReplyDelete