#I made some alterations to his pose and helmet so it's more of a stylized take of the usual stiffly posed Mega Man sprite

[stardestroyer81]

Longtime followers of mine may have seen my faux Mega Man Ultimate screenshots, which range from exemplary stage designs to full-on boss battles! However, it's been a little while since I've made another sprite piece of what certain in-game moments of Mega Man Ultimate would look like, and for my next screenshot, I knew just what I wanted to sprite!

My last faux screenshot detailed the electrifying battle against SLN-001, Zap Man, and seeing how easy it was to sprite full screens with the magic of tilesetting, I aimed to make a mockup of a battle against another one of the Synth Legion Numbers, Satellite Woman! And unlike Zap Man's simpler NES-esque boss arena...

... the boss arena of SLN-003 has a lot more going on!

Who doesn't love space? When it came time for me to decide which of the eight Synth Legion numbers to devote my next boss battle mockup to, Satellite Woman was my first choice, because that meant I got to sprite an out of this world background for her by way of tilesetting!

And there was a lot I could do with it, too. While I initially didn't have a whole lot of ideas as to what Satellite Woman's boss arena could look like, I did eventually come up with two goals: for it to have a Mega Man V feel to it as well as referencing her bio, which mentions her base of operations being exactly one hundred parsecs away from Earth.

This is what I came up with! One of the earliest design decisions I made was that I wanted to have Mega Man fall into the boss arena rather than walk into it— we haven't had a lot of robot master boss arenas of a vertical caliber since the original Mega Man! Fortress bosses have entrances of this type, so why can't more robot masters?

Secondly, the arena lacks walls, because I find that the quarters in which you do battle with Satellite Woman feel a lot more vast without them than they would with the usual boss-in-the-box formula. I first planned on having the satellite platform be shorter in width, where if you fell off, it'd be a one-hit KO, but I felt like that wouldn't be too fair (Even if Cloud Man did it first).

Perhaps the most appealing part about the entire background are the drifting satellites and the gorgeous view of Earth— both of which took me quite some time to sprite! The Earth sprite in particular (Which I think was the asset that took me the longest to sprite) fits snugly into a 32x32 tile, whereas the satellites make up a 48x48 tile.

The last design choice I'd like to mention are the colors in this piece. For Satellite Woman's boss arena, I wanted to stray away from the usual NES limitations and go for something a little more flashy— hence my decision to make the space background all kinds of blue hues instead of a solid black (Plus, if I went with the latter, you wouldn't be able to make out Satellite's complex sprites very well!).

I kept switching between purple and light green for the bottom platform, and when I couldn't reach a consensus, I tried a turquoise color to see what that would look like, and it made for a stellar in-between! It was always a given for the space station up above to be colored after Satellite Woman, so I didn't have a lot of trouble figuring out colors there.

And finally, as I've started to do for my art posts, this was the process I went about in designing the arena! Starting with a conceptual sketch of the room I drew in MS Paint, it follows up with a general layout made up of placeholder green and purple tiles, and from there you can see the final product start to form!

With design specifics out of the way, we can touch base on what it's like to be pitted against the connoisseur of the cosmos, Satellite Woman! Her battle takes a lot of inspiration from Star Man's battle from Mega Man 5, with the emphasis on the robot master constantly being shielded and zero-gravity jumping aplenty.

When she's not putting her Reflect Satellite to good use, Mega Man may attempt to land a blow on her... if she doesn't land a blow on him first! The only time you can do damage to Satellite Woman is when her shields are down or when she's firing lasers from her Satellite Buster (Pictured above), so it's very much easier said than done...

That is, of course, unless you arrive with her weakness weapon in tow!

Enter Glitch Strike, the weapon you acquire after defeating the bug-tastic Glitch Man! Glitch Strike allows Mega Man to speedily glitch a lengthy distance in any direction, passing through any projectiles without harm and— with precise aim— may ram into opponents. However, this ability comes with a hefty energy cost (Much like Tornado Blow in Mega Man 9), and you'll only see four or five uses of it with a full meter. Better use them wisely!

Well, that's about everything— this ended up being one of my biggest sprite pieces in a while, and it took a whole lot of thought and experimentation to look just right! I hope you've enjoyed reading through the design process, and more importantly the fruits of my labor!

[thimbil]

Having some thoughts about the references and inspirations used for the Bad Batch’s designs.

So Boba Fett is my absolute favorite character and Temeura Morrison was perfect casting. I went to see the 2008 TCW movie in theaters because I was so excited to see him again, even if he was animated. You can imagine my disappointment. Whoever was on screen was not Temeura Morrison. You could sort of see a resemblance if you squinted and didn’t think too hard about it. They replaced Temeura with Racially Ambiguous G.I. Joe. If I didn’t know better and someone told me the animated clones are space Italians from the moon of New Jersey I would buy it. One Million Brothers Pizzeria and Italian Bistro. Not that there’s something wrong with being space Italian, I just don’t think it’s the right choice for the Fetts. The design got slightly improved by season 7 but it still bugs the hell out of me.

I did eventually get into the show later and (of course) got invested in the clones. Unfortunately, they were largely sidelined by the Jedi storylines. Out of the two new main characters created for TCW, Ahsoka definitely got more development and focus than Rex. When they announced The Bad Batch, I was excited to see a show specifically devoted to the clones… at least that’s what it said on the tin. We have all seen what lurks beneath those stylish helmets.

Jango Fett, you are NOT the father.

So who is?

Based on interviews with Filoni, it sounds like the Bad Batch was a George Lucas idea. And like all his ideas, it’s super derivative. The original trilogy directly lifted elements from sci fi serials, westerns, and samurai movies, more specifically Kurosawa films like The Hidden Fortress. For The Bad Batch character designs, the influence is obviously American action and adventure movies.

Now let’s get specific. Bad Batch, who’s your daddy?

Hunter

Sylvester Stallone as Rambo in First Blood 1982. That bandana has become an integral part of the iconic action hero look. You see a character wearing one and it’s a visual shorthand for either “this character is a tough guy” like Billy played by Sonny Landham in Predator 1987, or “this character thinks he is/wants to be a tough guy” like Brand played by Josh Brolin in The Goonies 1985 or Edward Frog played by Corey Feldman in The Lost Boys 1987.

Hunter’s model is closest to the original clone base. If you look closely you will see the eyebrows are straighter with a much lower angle to the arch. His nose is also not the same shape as a standard clone like Rex, including a narrower bridge. It’s certainly not Temeura Morrison’s nose. Remember what I said about space Italians? It didn’t take much to push the existing clone design to resemble an specific Italian man instead of a specific Māori man. The 23&Me came back, and Hunter inherited more than the bandana from Sylvester.

Crosshair

The long narrow nose, the sharp cheekbones, the scowl. That’s no clone, that’s just animated Clint Eastwood. Not even Young and Hot Clint Eastwood from Rawhide 1959-1965. With that hair, I’m talking Gran Torino 2008. The man of few words schtick and family friendly toothpick in lieu of cigar are pure Eastwood as The Man With No Name from Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns A Fist Full of Dollars 1964, For a Few Dollars More 1965, and The Good the Bad and the Ugly 1966.

In a way, this is full circle because the actor Jeremy Bulloch took inspiration from Clint Eastwood for his performance as Boba Fett in ESB.

Wrecker

In an interview Filoni lists the Hulk as an (obvious) inspiration for Wrecker. Ever seen the old Hulk tv show from 1978? Well take a look at the actor who played him, Lou Ferrigno. Would you look at that. Even has his papa’s nose.

You could make the argument that Wrecker was influenced by The Rock, an appropriately buff ‘n bald Polynesian (Samoan, not Maori) man. But look at him next his Fast and Furious costar Vin Diesel and tell me which one resembles Wrecker’s character model more.

Tech

Tech is a little trickier for me to place. If he has a more direct inspiration it must be something I haven’t seen. That said, his hairline is very Bruce Willis as John McClane in Die Hard 1988. His quippiness and large glasses remind me of Shane Black as Hawkins from Predator 1987. In terms of his face, he looks a but like the result of McClane and Hawkins deciding to settle down and start a family. Although, Tech’s biggest contributors are probably just everyone on TV Trope’s list for Smart People Wear Glasses.

And finally,

Echo

Oh Echo. Considering he wasn’t created for the Bad Batch, he probably wasn’t based on a particular character or movie. But if I had to guess, his situation and appearance remind me a lot of Alex Murphy played by Peter Weller in Robocop 1987. However, Robocop explored the Man or Machine Identity Crisis with more nuance, depth, and dignity. Yikes.

The exact tropes and references used in The Bad Batch have been done successfully with characters who aren’t even human. Gizmo from Gremlins 2: The New Batch 1990 had a brief stint with the Rambo bandana. I could have picked any number of characters for Defining Feature Is Glasses but here is the most cursed version of Simon of Alvin and the Chipmunks. Suffer as I have. Marc Antony with his beloved Pussyfoot from Looney Tunes has the same tough guy with a soft center vibe as Wrecker and his Lula (also a kind of cat). Hell, in the same show we have Cad Bane sharing Cowboy Clint Eastwood with Crosshair. I actually think Bane makes a better Eastwood which is wild considering Crosshair has Eastwood’s entire face and Bane is blue.

So we’ve established you don’t need your characters to look exactly like their inspirations to match their vibe. So why go through the trouble and cost of creating completely new character designs instead of recycling and altering assets they already had on hand? Just slap on a bandana, toothpick, goggles, and make Wrecker bigger than the others while he does a Hulk pose and you’re done. Based on the general reaction to Howzer it would have been a low effort slam dunk crowd pleaser.

But they didn’t do that.

So here’s the thing. I like the tropes used in The Bad Batch. I am a fan of action adventure movies from the 80s-90s, the sillier the better. I am part of the Bad Batch’s target audience. Considering what I know about Disney and Lucasfilm, I went in with low expectations. I genuinely don’t hate the idea of seeing references to these actors and media in The Bad Batch. I don’t think basing these characters on tropes was a bad idea. If anything it’s a solid starting point for building the characters.

The trouble is nothing got built on the foundation. The plot is directionless, the pacing is wacky, and the characters have nearly no emotional depth or defining character arcs. They just sort of exist without reacting much while the story happens around them. But I can excuse all of that. You don’t stay a fan of Star Wars as long as I have not being able to cherrypick and fill in the gaps. This show has a deeper issue that shouldn’t be ignored.

Why do the animated clones bear at best only a passing resemblance to their live action actor? In interviews, Filoni wouldn’t shut up but the technological advancements in the animation for season 7. So if they are updating things, why not try to make the clones a closer match to their source material? Why did they have to look like completely different people in The Bad Batch to be “unique”? Looking like Temeura Morrison would have no bearing on their special abilities and TCW proved you can have identical looking characters and still have them be distinct. In fact, that’s a powerful theme and the source of tragedy for the clones’ narrative overall.

Here’s Filoni’s early concept art of Crosshair, Wrecker, Tech, and Hunter. (Interesting but irrelevant: Wrecker seems to have a cog tattoo similar to Jesse’s instead of a scar. Wouldn’t it have been funny if they kept that so when they met in season 7 one if them could say something like “Hey we’re twins!” That’s a little clone humor. Just for you guys 😘)

None of these drawings look like the clones in TCW, much less Temeura Morrison. Let’s be generous. Maybe Filoni struggles with drawing a real person’s likeness, as many people do. But he had to hand this off to other artists down the line whose job specifically involves making a stylized character resemble their actor. Yet the final designs missed the mark almost as much as this initial concept. Starting to seem as if the clones looking more like Temeura Morrison was never even on the table. It wasn’t a lack of creativity, skill or technical limitations on the part of the creative team. I don’t think there is an innocent explanation. They went out of their way to make the final product exactly how we got it.

This goes beyond homage. They could have made the same pop culture references and character tropes without completely stripping Temeura Morrison from the role he originated. It was a very purposeful choice to replace him with more immediately familiar actors from established franchises and films. It wouldn’t shock me if Filoni, Lucas, and anyone else calling the shots didn’t even think hard or care enough about the decision to immediately recognize a problem. And I don’t think they believed anyone else would either. At least no one whose opinion they cared about. Those faces are comfortingly familiar and proven bankable. They are what we’re all used to seeing after all. They’re white.

Lack of imagination, bad intentions, or simple ignorance doesn’t really matter in the end. The result is the same. Call it what it is. They replaced a man of color with a bunch of white guys. That’s by the book garden variety run of the mill whitewashing. There’s no debate worth having about it. For a fanbase that loves to nitpick things like whether or not it’s in character for Han to shoot first or Jeans Guy in the Mandalorian, we sure are quick to find excuses for clones who look nothing like their template. Why is that? If you don’t see the problem, congratulations. Your ass is showing. Pull your jeans up.

[comedianrobotmaster]

Elecman Design Sketches

Here are some sketches of Elecman (DLN-008)

(Again, sorry if it looks a bit rough; I’ll later re-draw this on my digital drawing pad along with color it for more clarity of details.)

My interpretation of these re-designs will mainly try to be realistic and practical with some added changes to the characters; so, lets get into more detail with Elecman and the specific features he has, along with a character bio.

When Dr. Light first designed Elecman’s blueprints and pitched them to his team at his global company headquarters, Elecman was almost a completely different robot- he was only meant to stay stationary anchored inside a power plant’s mainframe to serve as a backup generator and employee supervisor. After he got approval from them he quickly changed the build to be more humanoid in shape-claiming that it was a danger to have the robot stuck inside the building in the case of an emergency, then over time through his development, changed and added combat features on Elecman without anyone's acknowledgement. Dr. Light, from the beginning of Elecman’s vary conception, had planned to turn him into a convenient weapon (against other robots specifically) at his disposal, under the guise that he supervises a power plant and helps maintain it with his electricity. Elecman, despite being somewhat clumsy, is actually one of the most dangerous opponents any combat robot would be unlucky to face off against due to a multitude of factors relating to his specialized design. Elecman’s combative style is a mixture of close and distance based techniques involving electricity from his fists, boots, and Tesla coils on his back; His tall, slender and flexible frame is well built and sturdy enough for him to mostly rely on physical combat with even larger adversaries. Elecman’s speed exceeds that of Metalman and is almost on par with Quickman (without his speed boost); the metal plating on his armor is blast, fire, and bullet proof along with curtain areas being able to simply bend back into shape with a pair of pliers. The source of his nearly limitless electricity and raw energy is implied to be an experimental engine block seen placed in the center of his front chest plate; The engine works similarly to a mini particle accelerator in a closed circular loop, where separate unstable atoms bounce off of each other to generate electricity (Fake Sy-Fi Science at its finest lol). Whenever he uses his electricity, the clear tubes connected to the sides of the engine begin to glow a light blue. To use this generated electricity as a weapon, he has two large batteries on his back and smaller ones on each of his limbs; when all of his batteries are fully charged, he slowly dissipates energy still being made by his engine into the atmosphere around him and into the ground below. The energy in all of those batteries can have enough electricity to power a large city for three to five days. Due to him having constant energy, he does not recharge or ‘sleep’ at night and instead does activities around the clock; which leads to him doing pretty odd things at night from time to time to occupy himself. He uses his electricity as a distance based weapon by having two modified Tesla coils on his back directly behind both of his arms and next to his large main batteries on his back panel of armor; The Tesla coils can fold down to conserve space and ensure that the attachments won’t get damaged in a doorway or against a wall. The coil ends spread and discharge electricity all around himself as a defensive and offensive weapon to create some distance away from his opponent; to aim this electricity at a specific target, he simply lets the electricity flow through one of his arms and points in the desired direction. The electricity released from him repeatedly using his weapon has a chance to spread enough to temperately change weather patterns nearby him. Elecman’s armor is shaped and stylized with many angles throughout the pieces; his helmet is shaped like a cycling helmet and prominently features a decorative gold ‘mask’ as well as a stylized lightning bolt plate. Inside his helmet is a holographic targeting compass programmed to calculate where his electricity might land on the compass; to better visualize the compass inside, the round fish-eye visors on the helmet are tinted green. Elecman’s helmet also features a removable face plate that snaps back into place with metal clips on its sides. Elecman’s torso, including the engine in front, also features a LED screen that serves as a light and decorative piece; he can alter the screen to show a specific image of his choosing (most of the time its a lighting bold logo). Elecman’s armor also features removable round shoulder pads; preferably, he doesn't wear these on a regular basis due to it obstructing his distance based electric abilities somewhat. It’s implied that Dr. Light based aspects of Elecman’s design off of Quickman’s due to certain shared traits, such as the general helmet shape, torso shape, removable face plate and shoulder pads, swap-able gloves, and throw able weapon. Elecman’s weapon of electricity is perhaps the most efficient against other robots, specifically (Economic) construction based robots who use lower volts of electricity. However, there is a major flaw in the temperature regulation of his experimental engine; it’s cooling system will remain on for quite some time even if there is an extreme temperature change (Like Iceman’s Ice Shooter), and it does not feature a way to heat up to defrost in polar weather- Because of this, his engine will freeze up and he is prone to colder temperatures regardless if he is outside or inside.

Elecman’s forearms are specialized to have copious amounts of electricity pass through the limbs as well as be effective in close physical combat. Inside both of his arms are large tubes full of conductive carbon wiring that loop around and connect directly with his main batteries on his backside underneath his jumpsuit; The tubing then connects directly to specialized armored combat gloves that have conductive knuckles and  metal fingertips. any heat generated by the current of energy through the tubes gets vented out by the use of a small compartment with a fan near his elbow. Elecman has a small, easily removable battery on each of the undersides of his forearms; these batteries feature a USB plug in and can be set to discharge different amounts of electricity with a adjustment slid on one of it’s panels. If the batteries were to be tampered enough it would explode similarly to a bomb; and it would most-likely be a deadly event due to each of the batteries mostly containing compressed lithium and toxic gasses. If Elecman needed more accuracy with his long range electric attacks, he would swap out his standard gloves for more specialized ones featuring long metal prongs at the ends of the fingertips; This, however would weaken the amount of electricity from his attack in most circumstances, so he usually does not do this often. In addition to his electrified fists, he also has a set of specialized metal bladed weapons at his disposal; these weapons feature a handle with a battery that holds a charge and dispels it into the metal blades, and a sensor that controls it upon heavy impact after throwing. The blades are specially sharp enough to puncture most metal armors, and in some cases, with enough force applied to the throw, break through concrete.

Elecman’s boots are made to be highly versatile in most situations in and out of combat with motorized wheels and pointed metal-plated boot tips, as well as other features. His knee joints are made to be extra flexible with a lower knee plate in the boot as well as a soft, shock absorbing knee pads. His boots prominently feature two large wheels where a heel would be, and a retractable smaller wheel on the inner portion of the foot portion of his boots; The main wheels on his boots can spread apart for a more wider boot and more stability- typically the main wheels also do this when the smaller wheel is out and in ‘wheeled mode’ instead of the standard ‘boot mode’.While in ‘boot mode’, the main wheels on the heels are locked into place to prevent him from losing his balance and easily falling with each step he might take. The tip of his boots are double reinforced with metal, sharpened to a point, and connected to his main batteries via internal tubing underneath his jumpsuit; these features allow him to kick opponents while electrocuting them for a more efficient and quick fight. The batteries in this boots are located on the inner portions. The back of the boots have a metal plate that adjusts to the height of the heel to prevent the wheels underneath it kicking up debris from the ground.

Bonus: A zoom in on that ‘displeased’ Elecman (middle finger) sketch that I did for fun :D (and practice drawing hands with poses) (I’m definitely going to re-draw this digitally with color someday)

Sorry if my activity on here has been sporadic, full-time college work has been getting busy- but I did manage to find some time to relax and finish these sketches. Next I might try to edit those Stardroid Mercury sketches I set aside a while ago...