#stop sleeping on mech x4

[theworldvsyoshiko]

Despite everything, that put the colony over the $350k mark, so here we are. I mean, if I'm not going for Archonexus I don't need to end now, but this seems like a good spot for it anyway. The last several fights have been kinda iffy, so gotta get out while we still can. I guess it's a good guideline to remember for the future--this seems to be a good wealth level to cut and run, if you aren't pretty combat optimized.

The gang's a bit bigger this time.

Colony 2 (Study Butte) Stats:

Number of bodies buried outside: I absolutely did not do that this time. Way too much work. There was a corpse pile out back.

Colonist deaths: 3 (Cella, Da Silva, Natalya) Also, Slayer the Welsh Terrier and Jerky the Elephant.

Surviving colony members: 8

Yoshiko’s kills (humanoid): 35 (lifetime: 79)

Yoshiko’s kills (mechs): 24 (lifetime: 63)

Yoshiko’s kills (animals): 130 (lifetime: 209) So many fucking bugs.

Most pathetic surviving colony member: All of the more battered elephants died in that last fight, and the colony's mastery of bionics has stopped anybody from being horribly maimed over and over. I'm giving the award to Valabregue though. I had to scroll several times to get to the end of her injury list after that last fight, and she was within about 20 minutes of bleeding out before they patched her together.

Number of mechs: Militor Lancer Tunneler Centipede Gunner Centipede Blaster Legionary Lifter x4 Constructoid x2 Agrihand x2 Cleansweeper x2 Fabricor

Yoshiko's bodily situation:

Including her 24/7 neural supercharge, she:

takes 25% less damage from all sources, post armor.

is completely comfortable up to 97F when totally naked.

feels 50% less pain.

recovers from diseases 22% faster.

eats... probably a bit more food than a normal person, when you count in the sleep accelerator. But not a ton.

ignores 60% of environment toxins.

ignores 50% of the effect of toxins that do get into her.

eats 26% faster. (why is this a stat?)

gets tired 80% as fast.

does most labor at 151% speed.

... but twice as fast for things like surgery and making medication.

moves at about the same speed as a cheetah.

is within 1.6% of the maximum ranged weapons accuracy. If she isn't wearing the mechlord suit it's like 0.7%.

has kitty ears.

[spyder-incorporated]

SO

Turns out trying to move back to other Disney shows after watching Mech x4 is like trying to win tug of war against a mountain... It’s IMPOSSIBLE

Why, You might ask?

Well as I said above I am trying to “move back” instead of “move on” because let’s face it, no Disney show will top Mech x4 ever. But I also think it’s because the other Disney shows aren’t trying. LET ME EXPLAIN

So Mech x4 is obviously different from other Disney shows, mainly because it caters to an older audience and carries some general darker themes. (ex. Grey’s and Harris’s death) However in addition to that, it also does something most Disney shows don’t necessarily do. “Carry the original plot line.” But what does that mean? Let’s look back at some other Disney shows, for example Liv and Maddie, Jessie, Bunk’d, Austin and Ally, and Bizaardvark. (there are more but let’s stick with these) It may not seem like it, but all of these shows have one thing in common even though they are all drastically different. “They don’t stay on the main path plot line.” If you look back at these shows, there is no main plot line that they follow. Every episode is different, with different problems that they all end up solving by the end of the episode. Which is good and all.. I AM NOT SAYING THIS IS A BAD THING! But without a main theme to follow, where is the interesting content going to come from? A failed example of this would be Lab Rats: Elite Force. Lab Rats: Elite Force was hyped to the max but ended up getting cancelled after one season on a cliffhanger. Why? Because only 4-5 episodes out of 17 actually had to do with the main plot/problem. The rest were just filler episodes. Which is what the first example list was made up of. All of the shows had episodes that were basically filler episodes until the mid season finale or the season finale where there would be a 2 or 3 parter with suspense. That’s alright, but what happens when that starts to get boring? NOTHING APPARENTLY! ALL THOSE SHOWS GOT EXTRA SEASONS OF NOTHING! JUST BORING EPISODES THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH A GOOD PLOT LINE OR HAD ACTION OR SUSPENSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*cough* calm down... while I understand that Disney mainly makes content for a younger audience, I’m going to remain with the notion that if they tried to make more shows like Mech x4 that catered balance between heavier themes and humor then I think Disney would get an even bigger following.

Anyway! Unlike those shows, Mech x4 stayed on the plot line of success and kept their episodes relating to it while still being able to keep the humor that a Disney show needs as well as added a few filler episodes as well, but not a lot. This is why I think the show is so good. Besides the amazing cast, jaw dropping CGI, fantastic plot line, real suspense and drama while also keeping it PG13 as well as humorous and funny.

Mech x4 is really the best Disney show I’ve ever seen and it got completely slept on.

It’s shameful.

So what’s the lesson of this text post? I’m not sure either! This was more of an angry rant// why’d those shows get so many seasons when they’re literal trash!?// why are @jadyn-themechhead and I the only ones that have been active in this fandom for the past 2 weeks?! What happened to never leaving the fandom guys?! Come on!// a salty post cuz I really hate how much potential is being slept on with this show...

[megamanxfanfics]

The End of Season V

Happy Independence Day!!!!  Season V is finally Finished!!!!!

As we close out this last arc, I wanted to make some final thoughts, before I say goodbye to X5 forever!

----------------------------------Ep. 13--------------------------------------------

I said just about everything I want to say about this one already. [See previous entry] The only thing I’ll say is that it was really hard to keep any of the original narrative without making X & Zero’s relationship irreparable.

----------------------------------Ep. 14------------------------------------------

This was interesting!  Having a true Aftermath episode, after years of wondering what I might write next.

X needed to recover, and the world needed.. rediscovering on our part.  We know that the World was heavily damaged from X5 and the X6 intro, but we never get to explore just how much, from the games.

I had some fun exploring this through some final Dynamo continuity and of course, I took advantage of this with some final Gate continuity.  In Dynamo’s case, he won!  This is it!!  He got everything he wanted.  But now he’s left with this empty feeling inside.  ‘Now what...’

As for Gate, he’s just happy he’s alive and surprised at Isoc for keeping that mysterious barrier tech from Serges.  [The irony of this statement is not lost on me.]  There is a lot more that Isoc knows, that he isn’t letting on.  Gate remembers that Isoc liked to dumpster dive for parts after a fortress would be destroyed in the past.  We saw this in Xtreme 2.  That is why he suspects nothing of Isoc having X-Hunter tech.  Moreover, now they can continue to rebuild his reploids and take over the Research Community.  By force!

I love how at this point, everyone wants to reshape the World.  Not so much, Dynamo.  He just wants to enjoy it.  But Gate & Isoc have the Elite Reploid vision. We find out Zero’s motivations later.  And X, we know wants a World where reploids and humans co-exist in peace; this would later be called Elysium.

Back at Hunter Base, while X is asleep and recovering, I had a.. tough time dealing with Alia and the Rescued Reploids.  A little bit of Pre-X6 spilled in here, but the dialogue was all over the place.  I had Reploids reacting very aggressively, or Alia being too bossy and I recall having to edit it down a lot.  I attempted to keep the reactions as real as possible, because absolute strangers wouldn’t just automatically volunteer to be Maverick Hunters.  No matter how grateful they are for being rescued, they don’t owe you anything.

When we cut back to Zero, I had a blast writing him fly through the Zero Space 1 level.  There is no threat, and as far as Sigma is concerned, he is Home.  So of course there would be no lasers, firing at him.  But then I saw an opportunity at the boss lair that I couldn’t pass up.  This gave me a new writing motif for Ep. 15.

Back to X, he’s back up!  And sooner than expected!!  This was the first time I had to write an item-grab episode.  And honestly, it was kinda fun!  This part of it woke the episode up a little bit.  It was fun to write nostalgic settings like, Adler’s Lab and Dr. Glow’s Fortress.  It was also neat to explore X’s new Gaea Armor in a more peaceful way.  As we slowly warm up to the idea that X can traverse through spikes and bash through unbreakable blocks, like a Mech.

I had to give us some kind of stakes at the end of X’s item grab mission, in Dino-Rex’s well.  X reverts to his base armor and tests out the Speedster chip, as he needs it to grab a heart-tank before lava can hit him.

That was fun.  But then, when X got home it got complicated.  The job well done was short-lived, before he was introduced to the new recruits BY NAME.  [Yes, I spent some time looking up usable names from the X6 Rescued Reploid list.]  That conversation itself, reminded X of Zero which makes him cry...  Then, it got weird.  Emotions were a little all over the place, so I edited it as needed, but Signas was the saving grace here.  He introduced the idea that X might not need to kill Zero, but just save him.  The same way he did in X2.

Either way, X is nervous, but he goes in after Zero to finish what he's started.

---------------------------------Ep. 15----------------------------------------------

This was an awesome episode, that covered more ground than I thought it would.  X explores all of Zero Space Stage 1, with all the bells and whistles.  Lasers and mechaniloids are flying after him left and right.  X needs to use the Dark Hold and go in his base form, because the Gaea Armor is too slow.  [This caused enough of problem IRL when I was doing my research playthroughs.]

But once X got to the first boss, I had fun.  I took us back to 2 hours ago, while X was sleeping.  This is where Zero tore up the Shadow Devil like he was nothing.  And due to his clear knowledge of crammed Megaman History, he knows exactly who the Shadow Devil is, and it’s legacy to Wily Creatures.

When X learns that Zero destroyed this creature, he is instantly optimistic that he can bring Zero back, but Alia warns him not to feel that way.

Then we stay in the past with Zero for Z-Space Stage 2.  [At this point all the Mavericks were spawned by Sigma and Zero cleared them all, so for X these stages were a breeze, barring the first one, where Zero wasn’t a threat to Sigma yet.]  Despite Zero having to deal with Mavericks, this was not your average stage direction play through.  Zero had all these game breaking powers that I could use to my advantage and keep things interesting, and I did!

I really wanted X to fight the Rangda Bangda though.  So I came up with something for Zero to get through the room.  Sigma just introduces himself in that room and taunts him, letting him through.  “Welcome home, boy! I'm gonna enjoy working with you...”

Meanwhile, X deals with SIgma’s death trap.  Only, the Gaea Armor easily lets him get through it without too much trouble at all.

From Zero’s perspective, we find out a lot of his motivations and realize that he gets more and more tired every time he uses his God-Virus powers.  With a final flight to the gate, he is exhausted and all of the fighting he's done with X, the Shadow Devil and the mechaniloids up until now has finally taken it’s toll on him.  As he enters an empty room, Zero is confused, but also takes this moment to rest.

Meanwhile, X catches up to him, about 2 hours later.  Zero has now gotten a nap in, and the two are locked in the room together.

-----------------------------------Ep. 16-------------------------------------------------

The fated duel was upon us again!

The whole point of Battle of 2 Fates in the first place, was to skip this part.  But years later, my narrative has changed, and here we were.

I decided to turn it on it’s head though.  By this point, my version of Awakened Zero was really starting to come into his own.  He has revealed that this is His life and he is going to do what he wants.  The Old Man doesn’t control him, and neither do the Maverick Hunters.  And Sigma is still his target.

2 out of 3 ain’t bad.  X just has to work on that last part and maybe they can salvage this friendship.  Minus the whole controlling thing.

So Zero tells X this.  He has his own dreams.  Zero wants to live in a World where he rules over the survivors and guides them into a new era where the word Maverick doesn’t exist.

While, not terrible, this is too impure for X.  There’s still something evil lurking in there, and now his data is untraceable like Sigma.  It doesn't help that Zero wants to make the Fallen Colony his home and is willing to align with whomever survives, Maverick or not.

It is not only for this reason that X decides to take him on.  He does want to save Zero.  Like I said, 2 out of the 3 things are there.  If he can just do what he did in Season II, maybe it’ll all work out.

Well... that move never gets to happen.

I had a lot of fun making new fight choreography for this.  I pulled out all the stops, this time.  I even kept old fight choreography from the remainder of Battle of 2 Fates, but in all honesty, it wasn’t much.  And what was kept was already shaved down into something completely different.

So with that said, I really went for it.  Charged X4 & X5 weapons alike, using that Ultimate Buster chip like Alia & Douglas suggested in episode 14.  It was all happening, now.  And then... it was over!

11 pages too soon, too!

But fuck it.  I didn't need to pad this.  And I wasn’t going to cram and rush 2 Sigma fights in this chapter either.

I really enjoyed having Sigma enter the room after the battle was done. This happens in the game, but what also happens canonically is that he inexplicably LEAVES THEM when he HAS THEM.  He could’ve killed them right there, while they’re both comatose on the ground.  Or taken them in for re-programming.  And that is what I opted for.

Since Xtreme 2, I’ve really been thinking, what would Sigma do if he actually won.  And I’ve been honestly thinking that he’d keep X & Zero around, but in his own image.  Maverick Minions to do his bidding.  An Awakened Zero and a Maverick iX.  That would be his dream team.

----------------------------------Episode 17--------------------------------------------

And here in Episode 17, I finally got to explore this!

I didn’t want to cheapen the stuff that comes later, but I really needed to show us that this plan wasn’t going to work.  Despite the fact that he HAD them!!!

Sigma uses his virus specters to enter into their pores.  It works with Zero, even giving him some final breaths of life, but it does not work with X.  In fact, he has some mysterious barrier, protecting him from any infection.

This frustrates Sigma, who reveals that he just wants to make him iX.

From there, X wakes up and I’m not gonna write the whole episode again. lol

We get our much deserved fight, but keep in mind X has not recovered yet from his insane battle with Zero.  And he’s already used one Sub-tank.

So now X is going in, half-drained and with 1 Sub-tank!?  Yeah, that’s a death wish.

Still. I worked with it.  It took away the Ultimate Buster Chip advantage, explaining that Sigma removed any chip enhancers he already had.  Armors are internal, however.  Sigma wasn’t able to get in there [clearly].

I’m really proud of the Gaea Armor fight.  Specifically the “Predict this!” bit with the Giga Attack.

Using the 2nd Sub-tank during Sigma 1 was risky, but necessary.  X was now fully recovered, while Sigma was down, and he easily transformed into his Force Armor to discover Sigma’s weakness - the Tri-Thunder.

Once that was in play, this fight was practically in the bag.  Still, I needed a dramatic finish with the charged Tri-Thunder.  A Force Armor Nova Strike was in there, too, which only makes the stakes more desperate, because those moves really kill X’s stamina.

Now in Sigma Fight 2, it was hard to keep this interesting.  Dialogue, aside, X’s fight with him is a lot of back and forth, pattern memorizing, shoot the giant head nonsense.

I kept this up, however and even had fun with Sigma climbing over his shoulder, and shooting him at close range with the Spike Ball.  I also enjoyed how he used the radar one last time to find out his weaknesses.

But when I had enough, and narratively, when X was angry enough, he was able to transform into his Ultimate Armor with a hard Nova Strike to the face.  This does not kill him, but it definitely dwindled his energy way down for like, 5 more hits.  [I didn’t count.]

And theeeeen, I finally got to add in a line I created for Zero, basically at the beginning planning stages.  Zero makes a surprise Z-Buster shot, indicating that he is indeed alive, and still on X’s side, or at least.. his friend.  To the very end.

“Some things... go beyond our programing...”

I’ve had that line forever and now I finally got to use it!

X needed a final cool thing, besides just a Nova Strike, so I shoe-horned in this new attack, which is basically an Uppercutting Nova Strike.

The idea was that the hadouken evolved into the shuryuken, which evolved into the Hyper Aura, which evolved into the Nova Strike.  But now this was like a combination attack.  A blue flamed uppercutting Nova Strike type thing.  There is no name for it, because I made it up.  I probably won't use it again, either.  [But never say never...]

And there it is.  Sigma died, and we got our endings.

I owe TheGreatClement, from YouTube a huge thank you for already putting this together in his LP years ago.  I would’ve done the same thing, but his compilation made it so much easier to throw this together.

Then came inserting the bad ending.

1 Week Later, X forgets stuff.  And he HATES Zero!

I had to change that.  This was a challenge.  I didn’t want X to get mind-wiped at all by Dr. Light.  But now... I have room for gray area in X6...  So I compromised with the non-canon.  If X6 must indeed be a combined scenario of Good and Bad ending.  And in X6 he does indeed remember Zero fondly...  Then, I needed Dr. Light to mind-wipe something else.  “...all the Painful Memories.”  The painful memories of fighting Zero, himself.  [Whether that includes Season II or not, is up in the air.]

But as Alia explains, there’s a ‘Protection’ on X’s memory data now.  He can’t remember anything related to the Colony.  I went a step further to say that he remembers Zero destroying it, and then fighting Sigma together with him.  That’s it.  And even that memory is hazy, because Zero’s legs were missing during that fight.

So now, we have a firm compromise.  X can remember all the best parts of their history.  He can remember palling around at the base, and their proudest feelings together on good missions.  He still has his Best Friend in his heart.

The 2nd part of the bad ending doesn’t deal with this as much.  It introduces the idea of Elysium, which is just the name of the idea he has already had since X1.  But now he wants a Paradise.  His idea is fully formed, rather than.. a hopeful philosophy, I suppose.  If X gets his way, he will Do this!  They have a broken world they have to rebuild, but first they need to rebuild their base.

Also, before I leave this part, I need to mention something irritating.  I chose... X6 Reploid names, specifically to replace “Hunter A” and “Hunter B” in the ending.  Specifically, Araki & Batsu.  Those were the names.  I placed them both in this scene, and it felt great.  (At first.)

Then when I got to the good ending, I gave names for those 3 cooler ones that he talks to. Iso, Cody and Tekk.

I could’ve left it at that, but from here, I decided to look at the X6 sprites of Rescued Reploids, including Hunter 1 and 2 from the intro stage, and assigned more names.  When I looked at what these guys actually looked like, and compared it with those I have chosen, Hanse & Hal just stuck out like a sore thumb.

The fact that there were only 2 reploids rescued from Dr. Glow’s fortress cemented this decision.  They were gonna be the only true Yellow Reploids that are rescued from X5.  And therefore...  Araki & Batsu, the true Hunter A and Hunter B had to be replaced with Hanse & Hal, due to just being cooler and getting better designs.

It’s not the biggest thing in the World, but it’s just weird how planning works out sometimes.  It’s my own hangup, I know, and it might not make sense, but there it is.

ANYWAY.

Then the good ending kicks in, 2 weeks later.

[I really wanted to put 3 weeks later, but that 1st week with the bad stuff had to happen.]

X stands with Iso, Cody and Tekk as Alia lets them know that there is a new Mechaniloid in HORIE block, or whatever.

This scene will be expanded on in X6, and this isn’t the place for it, but you can only imagine what HORIE Block is.  - That’s right.  The intro stage to X6.

I already alluded to 2 other Hunters being in trouble - Data and Batsu, so there ya go.  [Yay, Hunter B is in there after all.]

But more to the point, we get our Good X5 Ending.  With X gripping the familiar saber in hand, and feeling stronger than ever, knowing that Zero is still with him.

---------------------------------tl;dr-----------------------------------------------------

My final thoughts on X5.  I really hate that game, man.  X4 was so solid, and honestly... if the text-based cut scenes were anime cut scenes, that would already do a World of Difference for me.  But gameplay mechanics wise, the introduction to the wire hook was interesting and the duck was necessary.  But otherwise... I dunno.  Some enemies were too strong, I hated the boss level up system, and the timed mission - while different, set a whole different tone for the game.  Gone was the chill exploring, even though you could go wherever you wanted to.  Alia would reprimand you if you were in an area that you didn’t belong in yet.

Still, the things that I like are that you are not really fighting Mavericks here, but instead visiting Reploids who could be infected, or in one way or another have a grudge with you.

And it’s those things, plus the prior Zero motivations that carried me through this Season.  Zero hating on the Repliforce turned into an evil ugly monster that threatened to ruin his friendship with X.

Also, Dynamo was a class act.  Not quite, Deadpool 4th wall breaking, but fun enough to really add life in places that were already tense and nerve-wracking.

Gate & Isoc’s sub-plot was pretty neat.  It turns out I had a little more for Gate to do than just brood in his own trailer.  I didn’t think Isoc would interact with him as much as he did, at first.

Showing a vulnerable Sigma whose dreams are falling apart before his final battle with X was risky, but one worth taking in my opinion.  Despite all these games, I feel like I don’t show him enough, so it was nice to delve into his thoughts a little bit.

And lastly, of course - the 3rd Arc roll call.

Ep. 13 - An Epic Battle written in 2011, revised into something even better in 2019.

Ep. 14 - An awesome aftermath episode that explores the damage to the world and it’s effect on Dynamo, Gate, Isoc, Sigma, Zero and X, who must recover items before he takes on Zero again.

Ep. 15 - Zero Space was crazy!  Zero fought way more than X, although, X did go through Stage 1 the hard way and they both fought the same amount of bosses.

Ep. 16 - An Epic Rematch!  Probably even better than Ep. 13.  That’d be a fun debate.

Ep. 17 - The Climactic Ending.  It’s all come down to X vs. Sigma, again, but the battle brings surprises to all of them.  When it’s all said and done, the Maverick Hunters are ready to move forward and rebuild.

And that’s all he wrote, folks.

There will be a Season Vi. Yes, I will be taking a break. But yes, you will be getting updates.

Until then, I hope you enjoyed Season V. Despite hating that game, I enjoyed writing more of this Season than you’d think.  There’s a lot more in there that I didn’t touch upon, I’m sure.  But anyway, you get the gist.

Later folks and as always.  Thank you for Reading.