Protoman: Being Megaman's brother, he's built almost exactly like him, right down to the washboard abs. He has the trademark visor and scarf, but the shield is completely absent. He has a plasma cannon similar to Megaman's, only it fires blue shots while Mega's shoots yellow shots. As mentioned above, Protoman is the bad guy in the TV series, and he seems to behave much like Bass does in the games; that he is superior to Megaman, and strives to be the one to destroy him, even if it means disobeying Dr. Wily at times. One thing that bugs me is how the show contradicted itself regarding Protoman's origins. The first episode said that Dr. Wily built him. A later episode, Bro Bots, had a bit of dialogue that said Dr. Light made him... Anyway, another point of interest is that Protoman is also capable of copying weapons, but he only did it once, in the very first episode. But it showed that he can do it if he wants to.
Roll: She seems to have been one of the characters who was changed the most. She both looks and acts completely different than in the games. Aside from getting taller, she's thrown away the red dress and wears a bright yellow and red jumpsuit, with red boots. On one arm is a kind of mecanical device that transforms her arm into various household appliances (She was still originally built as a housekeeper, after all) that she's tweaked up to be useful in battle. Yeah, apparently, Roll's gotten sick and tired of being a bump on a log, and now insists on helping Megaman out in his fights against Dr. Wily, whether he wants her along or not. Maybe it was to get more female viewers; although Megaman's comment in the first episode didn't help that matter any: "I don't need any girl robots getting in my way!" Way to go Mega; now that you've alienated your entire female audience, let's see who you manage to keep!
Cutman: Oh, man is this guy a hoot. He looks similar to how he does in the games, except he has a strange-looking mouthpiece instead of a normal mouth, as well as a gray zig-zag pattern on his arms (and is taller and muscular, but that pretty much goes for nearly every robot master that appears). He talks in a funny voice that sounds like the robotic equivilant of Igor. He should get together with Shademan and go on tour or something. Instead, though, he's Wily's loyal lackey and Gutsman's girlfri...er...partner. He also makes sure to spew lots and lots of puns relating to cutting and slicing and such. The way he uses his weapon is slightly modified from the games. He still throws the blade on his head to attack, but he can also morph his arm into an arm cannon and fires blades from there.
Gutsman: There's really not much to say about him. He looks and behaves much like he does in the games. Gutsman talks in the brawny kind of voice that you would expect. The only real difference is that his lower jaw is painted blue instead of the flesh color that it is in the games. The jaw also seems to change size depending on his mood.
Iceman: I guess the producers were worried about racisim issues when the show was made, so they decided the cute little eskimo boy motif was out. Now, Iceman is tall, buff, and had large wide eyes that look like he wears glasses. His coat also looks more of a green color than blue, like in the games. For his attack, he shoots freezing rays from his hands, as opposed to ice shots from his mouth. One extra note is that in the first episode, Dr. Light called his attack the Ice Slasher, as it is in the games.
Fireman: Alas, poor Fireman. We barely knew ye. He appeared in the first episode only to be killed by Roll's suck-job (?!) before the first commercial break. We have not seen nor heard from him since. He looked great, too. He looked very much like in the game art, plus a cool-looking flame design was added to his arm cannons. It seemed all the robot masters that were the most true to their respective games didn't stay in the show for long. So rest in peace Fireman, you will be missed.
Elecman: I can't say much for Elecman, as he looks a lot as he does in the games, only taller, etc. Whether or not he can still kill Megaman in three hits remains to be seen.
Bombman: Again, he looks rather true to his game appearences. Although they still haven't answered the question as to where the heck those bombs of his come from. In one episode, we just see him put his hand behind his back, and Presto! He's holding a bomb when he brings it back out. I guess he takes lessons from Magicman.
Airman: They made this guy a bit different than the games, but I rather liked the change. He has more of a face, with a large, wide mouth and red glowing eyes. He looks a lot more intimidating than in the games. He pretty much uses the same attacks; strong wind attacks from his fans. But they seemed pretty strong in the TV show, at least enough to where he was tossing Megaman and Roll around like a couple of big metal rag dolls!
Quickman: Quickman looked great, very true to how he appears in the games. However, they couldn't seem to agree with how his weapon was used. In one episode, Robo Spider, he attacked in the manner I expected; he fired his boomerangs from the launcher on his arm. In the other episode he was in, The Day the Moon Fell, he would detatch the boomerang from his head and throw it! The producers of the TV show did that a lot with robot masters with throwing weapons, since they seem to have a copy of it on their heads anyhow, such as Quickman, Metalman, and Shadowman.
Heatman: Another great appearence by an accurately drawn robot master. Heatman looked excellent! Unfortunatly, that means he wouldn't last long. He got covered in some kind of molten wax or something, and Dr. Wily never bothered to break him out. I'm sure Heatman and Fireman are playing lots of fun games in the robot master garbage bin...
Woodman: Woodman looked pretty decent. Very accurate to the game. His biggest difference was in his weapon. Instead of summoning a bunch of leaves from nowhere, he carrys a sort of large metal leaf. It's wide and flat, so it makes an effective shield. Plus, it has a sharp edge, so he can use it offensively as well.
Metalman: They did a nice job on Metalman. He looks very much like in the games, except for his eyes. Rather than normal eyes, he has a pair of glowing red eyes. Cutman must have payed him a few visits while Metalman was on the assembly bench, as he seemed to share a few of his "cut" and "sharp" puns with him. As mentioned above, Metalman uses his weapon by removing the blade on his head and throwing it, apparently being able to control its flight so it returns to him. He can also morph his hands into buzzsaws for a close-up attack.
Crashman: One of my favorite robot masters, and sadly, he only showed up for a few seconds in one episode. He looked alright, although his color seemed off. He had an interesting way of firing his weapon here; he would pull the drill-hands into his arm and fire missiles from there.
Sparkman: I honestly don't know what to think. Somehow, Sparkman looks a lot dorkier than he did in the games. But most of him looks fine, he still looks accurate, I just don't know...
Snakeman: I really like what they did for Snakeman. He looks much more menacing. I loved the eyes; they're red and yellow, and look more like a reptilian eye. The mouth is changed to a mouthpiece, not unlike Cutman's, and his arm cannon is made to look like a snake's head. From there, he fires his snake drones, which can chew through most materials, including Cutman in a cute site gag in a later episode }:D
Needleman: Another great-looking robot master. Drawn almost perfectly. Not much to say here other than the unfortunate fact that we only saw him once.
Hardman: Hardman looked pretty good, although he didn't do a whole lot, he actually seemed to me like an armored version of Gutsman. Megaman used his Hard Knuckle, however, in the way I'd expect.
Topman: As with most robot masters, Topman was taller than he should be. But at least they didn't make him a complete wuss like in the games. He actualy seemed pretty formidable.
Geminiman: Same as Topman. Other than that, Geminiman looked pretty good, except I thought his chin was kind of exaggerated. He didn't copy himself, just the Gemini Laser, but we did get to see it bounce in one part. (although Megaman's plasma shots have bounced as well, so I guess that weapon is now obsolete...)
Magnetman: In the one episode he was in, Magnetman was done rather well. He looked just like in the games and had a decent voice. His weapon was rather different, however. Instead of Magnet Missiles, Magnetman would emmit magnetic pulses that just pulled metallic objects around, so he didn't seem to do much as far as attacks were concerned.
Shadowman: Shadowman seemed alright. He did the same things as Metalman with his weapon; he'd take the shuriken from his head and throw it, returning to him like a boomerang. He didn't talk much, but I found his voice somewhat raspy, not very ninja-like.
Ringman: Other than sounding like an ex-rock star, Ringman was designed rather well. Although he never seemed to exhibit any use for the peg that was in place of one of his hands. To attack, Ringman would simply touch his hand to the ring on his head, and Ring Boomerangs would appear in his hand.
Diveman: Ugh. They completely desecrated this guy. His face looked terrible, with his huge nose and chin, and while he hardly talked, it was painful to hear him do so. Rather than firing Dive Missiles from the hatch on his chest, he'd simply morph a hand into an arm cannon and fire them from there. The really freaky part of it, though, was the fact that yellow foam trailed from behind the missiles. Are they propelled by urinating or something?!
Pharaohman: Another sweet-looking robot master that got shafted after one episode. Pharaohman looked spot-on as in the games, plus they added a wicked cape. His Pharaoh Shot here consisted of a red heat-ray fired from his arm cannon. Plus, his voice sounded great, and very true to his character. I just wish there was a little more to the fight scene with him and Megaman.
Brightman: What happened to him? I thought he looked like a flaming dork, and his voice didn't help things too much. The lightbulb on his head is no longer round, but more of an oval-shape, like it got squished down. He also has a big solar panel on his chest that arcs out and back like a triangle, so he kind of looks like he's undergone a little cosmetic surgery. (x_x) His only weapon is his Flash Stopper, which can hold his foes at bay, unless they take the simple precaution of wearing sunglasses.
Toadman: Looking every bit as kooky as Brightman, Toadman must've gone swimming in the same chemical bath the Joker wound up in, due to the ridiculously stupid grin fixed on his face. He also has flippers instead of feet, but I guess that makes sense. They got his weapon right, though; a hatch on his back opens, firing a missile into the air, which starts an acid rain torrent, much like how Megaman uses it in the games. Makes more sense than a dumb rain dance, I guess.
Drillman: He gets a big thumbs-up. They took one of my all-time favorite robot masters, made him very accurate to the games (both in appearence and weapon), and gave him a decent part in three different episodes. If there's one thing wrong, its the fact that they might have made the drills on his arms too big. Oh well, if Cloud can twirl his big honkin' sword with one hand like a baton, Drillman should be able to handle his drill-arms. :D
Dustman: Dustman was drawn very different from the games. The end result wasn't too bad, just different. He didn't fire his Dust Crusher like the games, but one thing I found interesting was they he actually used his arm cannon in the TV show (In the games, Dustman is drawn with an arm cannon, but it is never used). The way Megaman copied his weapon was simply hilarious, though. Megs got a big vaccum cleaner on his head just like Dustman's, and used it to sweep up debris and fire it back. ^^
Stoneman: They did a nice job on Stoneman, appearence-wise, looking exactly like Capcom's artwork, so there's not much to talk about there. His weapon worked a tad different; he would simpy fire rocks from an arm cannon instead of making stones rotate around him. It still worked well, though, and I wish he could have been in more than just half an episode (He was in the first half of "The Big Shake", then vanished during the second half).
Gravityman: Like Stoneman, they did a very accurate job on the drawing (Actually, the same could be said of all of the MM5 robot masters). His weapon consisted of a gravity beam, which he would simply fire at the ceiling to make parts of it fall. Also like Stoneman, he disappeared without a trace halfway through the only episod he was in.
Crystalman: Yet another accurate emulation of the Crystalman in the games, they also did his weapon quite well. He would simply materialize a crystal orb in his hand, then throw it, but what was neat was how the gems on his arms would flash a bit beforehand. Like Pharaohman, though I wish the fight between him and Megaman wasn't so cheap and abrupt (If you were a robot master, it would be stupid to try and grab Megaman when he only has to touch you to copy your weapon).
Naplamman: Where was he, you ask? While he never appeared in any episodes, he shows up very briefly during the intro. Look for a short bit of a purple robot firing missiles. You may have to slow it down to get a good look. Not much else to say about him, other than the fact that he was drawn quite well.
Waveman: He too was drawn very true to Capcom's artwork (to the the point where he almost clashes wih Diveman's rather poor drawing style). The did his weapons quite well also. He uses the harpoon gun like in the games, and his Water Wave cannon fires a kind of water-whirl. Put to good use, it seems quite destructive. And it was rather amusing that he didn't mind nailing Protoman with it just to get Megaman too.
Starman: *sigh* If only he hadn't shown up in such a crappy episode...Starman was drawn pretty well when the artists weren't rushing. His weapon is also different from the games, but as is the case with the others, it still works. Instead of a shield of stars, Starman would simply fire star-shaped projectiles from his arm cannon. That left little reason for Megaman to copy it, though, except that the shots look cool now, plus Megs gets that neat star-design on the end of his arm cannon.
Gyroman: Of the MM5 robot master, Gyroman was perhaps drawn the least accurate. He still looked fine, however; it was probably just the "taller, more muscular" look. His weapon was a bit strange. Sure, he fired his rotor like in the games, but when Megaman copies it, it worked totally different. Megaman sprouted the rotor on his back, and would fly with it. Actually, that was kind of cool. Different, but cool.
Darkman: Interesting that they chose to put this guy in a couple of episodes. However, they drew the wrong guy! <|D Instead of the "real" Darkman, they have the second Sentinal as Darkman. But they still drew him well, and they even let Megaman copy his weapon, which are bolts of black energy.
