We're on a bit of a roll with all this rare and unseen Mega Man animation history lately. And tonight, for your viewing pleasure, we have the complete Ruby-Spears Mega Man press kits from 1994 to 1995. Check 'em out here. That's 22-pages of grade-A, Ruby-Spears cheese.
So yeah; these materials have gone unseen for a good 26-years. They were originally distributed to different television networks in the mid-nineties. Each sheet was meticulously designed to help sell the cartoon -- that is, to entice networks into airing Mega Man and establish a quid pro quo. The show drives network ratings up, and those ratings translate to game and toy sales. Bada bing bada boom.
The press kits also contain unrealized licensing and merchandise deals (a comic book from Bruce Hamilton!) and some pretty uncommon key art, too. I mean, just look at Mega Man's fleshy hand and whatever is going on with Cut Man's face up there. These unpolished designs appeared during a few commercial bumpers, actually. Interesting stuff.
Anyway, we hope enjoy this little slice of Ruby-Spears history! The press kits were donated by @ForcedUserX!
I figured the model sheets and bumpers were from early on in the development process!
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Look at the Mega Man Logo ? It is the same logo found on Sega Game Gear's Mega Man. :-)
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Strange how they used Megaman X art to represent the Mega Man animation and brand though. It's like using Adult Goku to promote the Kid Goku classic Dragon Ball series.
ReplyDeleteI love that image. It looks like boxart you'd see on an NES Megaman game.
ReplyDeleteAw, it's not THAT bad! :c
DeleteThough if you're referring to the general composition and not QUALITY art, I see what you mean.
DeleteOh, huh. Cutman has his ear loops here instead of those metal ears in the show. Makes me wonder if that was a conscious design decision
ReplyDeleteI resent this cartoon so much after having discovered the original Ruby Spears trailer that went with the 3 episodes of the anime we were supposed to get when I was a kid. It's like, god forbid the hero looks somewhat adorable, no; he's gotta look like Captain America's brother who was rejected by Marvel. I discovered Mega Man right before kindergarten, and latched onto it like a kid would have latched on to Spider Man or Star Wars at the time, but unlike Marvel, DC, or Star Wars, Mega Man didn't have squat outside of the games except for this cartoon, which I loved as a kid, but even then I still didn't think it looked right, so I'd spend hours drawing my own Mega Man comics. I guess I'm blathering, but I really hated the way the west bastardized everything from Japan. So many great famicom game covers and cartoons were given horrid makeovers to fit in with western crap that it was nothing like, and I'm especially peeved about the garbage treatment my childhood hero got. I mean, it wasn't until the EIGHTH game that Mega Man kept his eastern/anime appearance on the front cover of the western release. I really could go on, but I'll spare you guys :P I only hope my blathering made some sense, and ultimately, I'm so happy to see that Mega Man is finally getting the love he has deserved since our birth year (yes, the blue bomber and I were actually born the same year!... I know, I'm a dork) and it's all thanks to every one of you who truly love and support the series, and just want to see it flourish the way it never got to back in the 90s (and so far, Capcom has seemed to have really redeemed themselves!) Thank you guys for keeping Mega Man alive!
ReplyDeleteI personally think the show would have made so much more money if mm actually looked like a kid, like he should. Lets not even get started on X's eyebrows. I tried watching it, a few times. And in some episodes you can tell they did not change the script before changing the art, so the characters come off as immature, and Dr. Wily calling cutman gutsman and protoman "Kids". Some parts might have been falling points (Curse of the lion men), but at least you can tell who everyone is, and most videogame shows are terrible. It might have been muscular and different than we are used to, but we can easily say it was better than say the super mario brothers super show.
DeleteRuby-Spears Mega Man rocks. Screw the haters. Also,Amazing find,guys. Hope Rockman Corner uncoverse more RS stuff in the future.
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