Doctor Thomas Light

"Humans and robots living together in harmony and equality. That was my ultimate wish."

- Dr. Light's hand writing

"Sometimes, peace cannot be achieved unless those who spread war are destroyed."

- Dr. Light

Doctor Thomas Light, known as Doctor Thomas Right (トーマス・ライト博士) in Japan, is a character from the Mega Man and Mega Man X series.

His counterpart from the Mega Man Battle Network series is called Tadashi Hikari, and he is the inventor of the PET and the grandfather of Lan Hikari and Hub Hikari.

Before the first Mega Man game
In the 20th century, Thomas Light attended the Robot Institute of Technology (ローバート工科大学) where he met Albert W. Wily and became classmates. The two graduated together with their doctorate degrees (PhDs), although Light always received more credit than Wily. The two were nominated for the Nobel Prize for physics, but only Dr. Light won. Dr. Wily, with his pride hurt and tired of being in second place, vanished, and Dr. Light didn't see him again until the events of the first game. At an unknown time, Dr. Light (alongside Dr. Wily in some sources outside of Japan) founded his laboratory to further the development of computing and robotics technology for the benefit of mankind in the coming era. Light became a world-renowned scientist and the leading expert on robotics.

Light built a series of household and civil service robots. Not long after that, he created a humanoid robot with a much more advanced A.I., DLN-000 Proto Man, the first "advanced robot", known as a Robot Master in some sources. However, Proto Man's dangerous imbalance in his energy core and having a strong sense of independence, went A.W.O.L. before his repairs were complete in fear that his personality would change in the process. Yet, in the year 200X (sometime in the first decade of the 21st century), Light would build on the successes and failures of the Proto Man project to build other Robot Masters, like Rock (a lab assistant, also known as Mega), Roll (a householder), and a series of industrial robots.

When Dr. Wily grew jealous of Light's works receiving credit and his works not (in USA sources he's jealous because Light received all the credit for the team's work), he stole and reprogrammed Light's industrial robots, attempting to take over the world. Rock, having a strong sense of justice, volunteered to be converted into the super robot known as Mega Man.

Mega Man games
After converting Rock into Mega Man, Mega Man fights against Dr. Wily's forces and manages to defeat him. After Wily's first defeat, he tries to conquer the world again several times, and Dr. Light has been developing new inventions to help Mega Man counter Wily. Some of his main creations include Items 1-3, Rush, Eddie, Tango, Auto and upgrades to the Mega Buster.

In most games, Dr. Light only appears in scenes, some of them being brief. Below are all his appearances in the games:


 * Mega Man: In-game, Dr. Light only appears in the ending alongside Roll. In the Rockman Complete Works version, he is also the Navigator from the Navi Mode.
 * Mega Man Powered Up: Dr. Light stays in his laboratory alongside Roll.


 * Mega Man 2: Dr. Light appears to give Items 1-3 to Mega Man.


 * Mega Man 3: Dr. Wily pretends to be sorry for his acts and works together with Dr. Light to build the giant peace keeping robot Gamma. It was Light's lifelong dream to create a giant robot to protect and serve world peace. They also created some Robot Masters together so they could obtain the Energy Elements needed to complete Gamma. When Gamma was near completion, Wily stole it to be used in his plans to conquer the world, but Mega Man manages to destroy Gamma. Dr. Light realizes that the robot who rescued Mega Man in the ending is Proto Man.


 * Mega Man 4: While Dr. Light has no appearances in-game, he improved Mega Man's Mega Buster, allowing Mega Man to fire charged shots, and he created the support robot Eddie.


 * Mega Man 5: Light was captured by Proto Man (Dark Man 4) at the beginning of the game, and was rescued in the ending.


 * Mega Man 6: Dr. Light is absent in-game, but he modified Rush so he can combine with Mega Man, changing him into Power Mega Man or Jet Mega Man. He is the Navigator from the Navi Mode in the Rockman Complete Works version of the game.


 * Mega Man 7: Light appears in the opening stage, in his lab, and in the ending. When Bass was damaged by Shade Man, Mega Man said Dr. Light could repair him. After his repairs, Bass attacked the lab and stole plans that Light created to improve the Rush Adapter. Wily used the plans to create the Super Adapter for Treble.


 * Mega Man 8: Dr. Light asks Mega Man to investigate an outer space object that had fallen on an island, which coincidentally was being used by Wily as a hideout. Wily gets to the crash site first and collects the "Evil Energy" before fleeing the scene. Unable to halt Wily's escape, Mega Man discovers and retrieves a heavily damaged robot from the crater called Duo. Light repairs Duo and studies a small portion of the Evil Energy that was found. After Mega Man defeats four Robot Masters, Duo awakens and destroys the Evil Energy in Light's laboratory, and goes after the Evil Energy in Dr. Wily's possession.


 * Mega Man & Bass: Dr. Light appears in the CD database to say how the collection is going and as one of the database's entries. He also appears in Mega Man's ending.


 * Mega Man 9: Light is charged for the crimes committed by his robots and is sent to jail, but when it was discovered that Wily reprogrammed his robots, he is freed. Dr. Wily also used a Light-like robot to create an incriminating video. In the ending, Dr. Wily uses the fake Dr. Light to trick Mega Man into believing that Light was taken by fake officers and felt ill while in his Wily Castle.


 * Mega Man 10: Dr. Light appears in his laboratory, where he takes care of the ill Roll and works with Wily to find a cure for Roboenza.


 * Mega Man IV and Mega Man V: Dr. Light exchanges P Chips by items in his laboratory.


 * Wily & Right's RockBoard: That's Paradise: Dr. Light is a playable character. His objective is to expand his facilities, making world peace easier to achieve.


 * Mega Man: The Wily Wars: In order to stop Dr. Wily's alterations in time, Mega Man was sent into the past in a time machine hastily crafted by Dr. Light.


 * Mega Man's Soccer: Dr. Light was watching a game of soccer on TV with Rock and Roll. When Dr. Wily's robots attack the field, Light modifies Mega Man so he can face the robots.


 * Mega Man: Battle & Chase: As Dr. Light's super computer was damaged due to a thunder storm, Mega Man decides to enter the Battle & Chase tournament and use the prize money to buy a new computer. In Mega Man's ending, Dr. Light says he repaired his computer, and the money is used to throw a party to commemorate Mega Man's victory.


 * Super Adventure Rockman: Dr. Light immunizes Mega Man, Rush, Beat and the six industrial Robot Masters from the first game from the electromagnetic waves caused by Ra Moon, and watches over Roll while they try to stop Wily.


 * Mega Man: The Power Battle: Dr. Light appears in Mega Man's ending.


 * Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters: Dr. Light appears in the stage select screen and in the endings of Mega Man, Proto Man, and Duo. In Mega Man's ending, he cheers up Mega Man alongside Roll and Auto. In Proto Man's ending, Light is worried with Proto Man and tries to convince him to repair the defect in his energy system, without success. In Duo's ending, Light talks with Duo about a strange alien energy and bids him farewell.


 * Rockman & Forte: Mirai Kara no Chousensha: Dr. Light is the shopkeeper in Mega Man's story.


 * Mega Man Rush Marine: Dr. Light appears in his laboratory.

Late years
In the year 20XX (later in the 21st century), Dr. Light began work on Mega Man X (the "X" standing for a factor of unknown potential). X would possess the ability to make his own decisions in life, unlike Rock who was bound by Asimov's "laws of robotics". However, Light knew that he would not live long enough to fully test X's potential, so he had X sealed in a capsule on September 18, 20XX, not to be awakened for thirty years. He is presumed to have passed away some time after.

Mega Man X series
In 21XX, more than 30 years after X's seal, Dr. Cain found the capsule with X in the ruins of Dr. Light's Laboratory. A holographic image of Dr. Light continued to provide support for X through the use of capsules during the Maverick Wars. This image of Dr. Light is shown to be able to keep up with current events and communicate with others. In Mega Man X5's ending, Light is shown to be able to appear outside the capsule, although it only happened once to repair a fatally injured X. It is unknown if Light can willingly appear outside the capsule or was only able to do so due to the effects of Zero Space.

Other video game appearances

 * Dr. Light, along with Dr. Cossack, is responsible for creating the Reploid OVER-1, the main protagonist of Rockman ×over. Dr. Light appears in some of the game's Battle Memory.
 * Dr. Light made short appearances in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes in Mega Man's and Roll's victory poses, and in Roll's ending from Marvel vs. Capcom and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. He also appears as a boss in the Expert Course from Adventure Quiz: Capcom World 2.

Mega Man &amp; Bass CD data


Rockman Battle & Fighters data
おっ？ワ、ワシか？まさか、ここにカーソルがはいるとは…では、かいせつしよう！！ワシはライトはかせ. ロックやロールをつくったのもこのワシ. じんるいのへいわのためにロボットをけんきゅうしている. みんなもへいわをあいしそしてまもっていってほしい.

Translation: Oh? M, me? No way, herein the cursor indicates it... But, I will try to explain!! I'm Doctor Right. I also created Rock and Roll. I have been studying robots for the peace of mankind. I hope everyone keeps loving peace.

In other media
Dr. Light appeared in most media related to the Mega Man and Mega Man X series.

Mega Man (cartoon)
Dr. Light is one of the main character in Ruby-Spears' Mega Man animated series. Dr. Light has a shorter beard and an English sound to his voice, where the video game Light supposedly does not. A rather humorous difference is that this version of Dr. Light is often prone to bouts of absent-mindedness (such as his delay to notice the barred door in Electric Nightmare), and sometimes unknowingly cracks musical puns.

Dr. Light is the world's most famous living scientist and the creator of Mega Man. He is a brilliant man and has a strong sense of right and wrong. He once worked side by side with Dr. Wily and they created the first humanoid robot together. Shortly after the robot's outburst, Light said the flaw was too dangerous and they should restart their work from the beginning, but Wily stole the blueprints for the prototype and other robots. Dr. Light however was able to build two new robots (Rock and Roll) who would serve as his assistants. In a sense, they are like his children.

Light has made many inventions and contributions to science and robotics, like a time machine, the Brain Bot, a college campus for robots to learn like humans do, and even an anti-curse machine.

Captain N: The Game Master
In Captain N: The Game Master, Dr. Light is named Dr. Wright and he is an old dwarfed man with a big nose, pointed ears and less hair than the original. He is a scientist from Megaland that created Mega Man and other robots, such as Garbage Man, Mega Girl, and Rush.

Mega Man: Upon a Star
Dr. Light is a video game character that assists Mega Man. In the second episode, he creates a time machine to assist Mega Man, but it is stolen by Dr. Wily.

Mega Man (Dreamwave Productions)
Dr. Light is a robotics genius that created several devices to help the world. He lives in Mega City (formerly Monstropolis) with Mega Man, Roll, Auto and other of his creations, and he sends Mega Man to school under the normal persona of "Rocky Light" to interact with humans and become more like one.

During the series, many of his creations are attacked by robots, and when his laboratory is burned to the ground by Heat Man, he visits "Dr. Wiley Robotics" to ask his former assistant Dr. Wiley to stop sabotaging his municipal inventions, knowing that he is the only person that would know the weaknesses of the technology he developed. Dr. Light was right, and Wily angrily says that they developed the technologies together and he went out on his own so Dr. Light would not steal his ideas. Light doesn't understand why he left and why he is attacking him, and Wiley replies that he never understood him, sending skull-shaped robots to attack Light. Dr. Light uses a device to destroy Wiley's robots and informs that he notified the police. Unwilling to be defeated by Dr. Light, Wiley transforms his building into a gigantic Devil-like robot to attack the city. Mega Man appears and saves Dr. Light, while Proto Man destroys the giant robot.

Mega Man (Archie Comics)
Light knew the Russian and Phillipino scientists Mikhail Sergeievich Cossack and Dr. Noele Lalinde from college. When young, Dr. Light had a military contract to build an advanced fighting robot, receiving a great deal of his funds from military research. He worked alongside Dr. Wily to create the prototype Blues. Blues demonstrates self-awareness shortly after awakening, and Dr. Light takes him out into the world for culture and treats him like a son. When Light Labs' benefactors wanted something to show for their investments, Dr. Light made a demonstration of his autonomous combat robot. The tests initially go well, but Blues soon suffers an imbalance in his power generator. The test is cut short, but the military is pleased enough to order a simplified version for future use, leading to the creation of the Sniper Joes. Later, Blues awakens in Light Labs and hears Light and Wily arguing over remodelling Blues, as the change carries a risk of wiping his personality. Dr. Light later chats with Dr. Noele Lalinde about it and begins to wonders what to do, and says that it would be easier if he could change Blues' personality, but he plans to repair him the next day. Without hearing the rest of the conversation, Blues is devastated his own father would think to reprogram him, so he packs up and flees into the night. Dr. Light never heard of Blues again. Wily comforts Light by saying that Blues was a prototype, a means to an end. After creating the combat robots for the military and selling them by the hundreds, Light would be able to create the Robot Masters, free-thinking robots to serve humanity. He also created Oil Man and Time Man, but because of their being "powered up" by various standards, he shelved the project before completion and had left them in the care of Wily. Unknown to Light at the time, however, Wily secretly completed them behind his back. He also at some point went on an expedition to the Lanfront Ruins with Pedro Astil.

Many years later, Dr. Light created the two robots Rock and Roll, and unveiled a new line of industrial robots to help mankind, the Robot Masters. However, Dr. Wily decides to reprogram Dr. Light's Robot Masters and use them to conquer the world. Dr. Light can't believe that Wily would do such a thing, and is hopeless as the robots are too powerful to be stopped. Rock, having a strong sense of justice, decides to stop them, and Dr. Light reluctantly modifies him into a combat robot named Mega Man. Throughout the entire event, he supplied information and advice to Mega Man regarding how to stop Wily and the reprogrammed Robot Masters, although he gradually grew disturbed when Mega Man grew more cocky and reckless due to the Special Weapons program getting to his head. Eventually, after all six Robot Masters were defeated, Light had him restrained while he created the Magnet Beam to ensure he didn't recklessly attack Wily's production facility. After these events, Light aided in the cleanup of the Robot Masters, and was also under investigation by Agents Stern and Krantz due to his Robot Masters being responsible. After Wily escaped due to a backup plan caused by Oil Man and Time Man, Light offered to be placed under custody when Stern and Krantz believed him to be responsible for Wily's escape. He later learned that Wily had abducted Roll, and informed them of Wily's most likely hideout: an old shed used for training Oil Man and Time Man. After Roll was rescued, Light was released and embraced Rock. Although Light suspected that Wily may strike back again, in the meantime he put away Mega Man's armor while Rock returned to working on Robots. During the farewell party to Mega Man, however, Light and the others were ambushed by one of Dr. Wily's new Robot Masters: Quick Man. Mega Man was dispatched to stop Wily once again after given the ultimatum that Mega Man face his robot masters alone or otherwise they will cause destruction. Throughout the event, Light deduced from Mega Man's erratic behavior that Wily had also infected his own Robot Masters with a worm specifically to infect Mega Man when he used his Special Weapons copying ability, and made measures to remotely download an antibody to Mega Man in addition to tracking him to counteract it, although the download stopped at 2% before Mega Man was completely infected by the worm and became programmed to fight for Dr. Wily. As a last resort, the eight original Robot Masters were dispatched to save Mega Man by infiltrating Dr. Wily's hideout. Afterwards, as it was certain that Dr. Wily will strike back again, Light had Rock adopt the role of Mega Man in case Wily struck again, and also created the helper robot Rush.

During the A.R.T.S. Convention, Dr. Light was to present Elec Man, Roll, Rock, and Rush, as well as have a debate regarding whether Robot AIs should possess human-like qualities. He also reunited with Dr. Cossack, Lalinde, and Pedro. He also discovered Tempo, renamed Quake Woman, although he was surprised that she was emotionless. During the debate, where he was to debate against Lalinde, the convention was taken over by the terrorist group Emerald Spears. He alongside Cossack and Lalinde proceeded to debate with their leader, Harvey Greenleaf, before his second in command, Xander Payne, took over and threatened the scientists. He eventually detonated the bomb in the audience chamber while the doctors were still inside, although Mega Man and Quake Woman aided in saving them as well as eliminating the final bomb. Afterwards, Rock uncovered Blues' name in Light's database while he was undergoing cleaning, causing Light to reluctantly explain Blues' past as well as his presumed shutdown. He also had Guts Man aid Concrete Man and Ice Man regarding building a dam and expanding the glacier research institute, respectively, although the latter event resulted in Guts Man being flash frozen and sent back to Light by an irate Ice Man due to Guts Man making things worse. In addition, he and Lalinde also attempted to improve on Mega Man, including the ability to have him Slide. However, the slide portion ran into frustrating problems regarding its failing to work on Modes 9 and 10, which forced him and Mega Man to be unavailable to take calls, resulting in them being unavailable when Roll called requesting their aid regarding a run aground ship. They later discovered what had happened from a breaking news report, although by the time they arrived they discovered that Roll, alongside Quake Woman, Rush, Oil Man, and Splash Woman (the last having secretly been activated by Oil Man to aid in helping the people evacuate the ship) had already saved the populace. Light also presided over the New Years Eve celebrations, and later dispatched Rock and Roll to aid Ice Man in his research on Valentine's Day due to a suggestion from Roll while he and Lalinde met with Stern and Krantz at dinner. During this time, Light and Stern entered a debate regarding the future of robotics, to Lalinde and Krantz' embarrassment. He later was interviewed during Mega Man's birthday, although Wily utilized this interview to manipulate Blues, renamed Break Man, into attacking the then-recently renamed Mega City right when Mega Man was presented with the key to the city while Wily met with Eggman. When he saw Break Man, he recognized him as Blues.

Worlds Collide
In the aftermath of the Genesis Wave, Light got the feeling that he was forgetting something about his past, but put it aside while working on Bond Man. He, alongside Rock and Roll also witnessed a breaking news report regarding the Mega City Federal Reserve being attacked by four unidentified robots, with Proto Man fighting against them. Mega Man later informed him of a strange portal that appeared when a strange blue blur appeared and had the other robots escape as he entered the portal in pursuit. Light later aided Proto Man in repairs, although the latter requested that Roll repair him instead, which Light heeded. He also was contacted by Time Man about the time-space anomaly, and sent a message requesting Duo's aid in solving the spacial imbalance. He eventually was kidnapped by Bass and Metal Sonic under the orders of Wily and Eggman and taken to the Wily Egg in the Skull Egg Zone pocket dimension, although not before creating a recreation of the Ring Energy to allow Sonic and Mega Man to enter Mega City. During this time, Light was held prisoner as well as nearly killed by a Motobug and Mettaur, although they destroyed themselves by accident due to their bumping into each other, he also supplied information to Rouge the Bat regarding the Wily Egg's weakpoints, and used the Motobug and Mettaur's parts to create a radio system to send an SOS signal. However, the signal was too weak to penetrate the Wily Egg's exterior and only succeeded in giving him away to Eggman's robots, who likewise informed Eggman of Light's transmission. He was later thrown out by Eggman into the crater, largely because he deduced how much of a threat he was to his and Wily's plans, although he was saved by Shadow's Chaos Control. He later aided the Freedom Fighters in fighting the Robot Master Army in order to hold them off while Mega Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Tails infiltrated the Wily Egg. After Light's original Robot Masters arrived as the cavalry, Light, Knuckles, Rush, and Proto Man, having deduced that Mega Man and Sonic ran into trouble, infiltrated the Wily Egg themselves while the Robot Masters provided cover. Afterwards, Light, after freeing Mega Man and Sonic, aided them in trying to shut down the Genesis Wave Generator, although because the controls were out of reach, he could not disable it, resulting in a backup plan where Sonic and Mega Man would adopt super forms to undo the Genesis Wave with Chaos Control.

Blackout
After the events of the crossover, Light informed Roll that Break Man was likely to be Blues, Rock and Roll's long lost brother, resulting in Roll rushing to their current battleground to warn Mega Man. After the EMP wave occurred at the hands of Ra Moon, Light was supplied with the formula to create a coating for Mega Man and the other Robot Masters to reboot them from the effects of the EMP wave, which knocked out technology. Two weeks later, Mega Man was revived by Light and Astil, alongside Plant Man, with Cut Man, Guts Man, Bomb Man, and Rush following suit before being dispatched to the Amazon.

Other appearances
Dr. Light is also present in several manga, like Mega Man Megamix, Rockman, Rockman 8, Rockman &amp; Forte, Rockman 10 -Extra F-, Rockman 4Koma Dai Koushin, Rockman Battle &amp; Chase, and Rockman X. He also appears in Novas Aventuras de Megaman, Rockman Kiki Ippatsu, and in card #58 from Rockman X Mega Mission 2.



Trivia

 * Keiji Inafune based Dr. Light's design off of Santa Claus.  This also ended up referenced by Dr. Eggman during the World's Collide crossover (specifically, Mega Man Issue 26), where he referred to Light as "Santa in a lab coat."


 * Dr. Thomas Light may be named after the inventor Thomas Edison.  This can possibly stem from the fact that Edison invented the incandescent lightbulb.
 * In the Japanese versions, Dr. Light is known as Dr. Right. His symbol is an "R" icon in Japan. He has been known as Dr. Light outside of Japan, however. This is due to the lack of differentiation in the Japanese pronunciation of the L & R sounds.
 * "Dr. Wright," which is Dr. Light's name in the instruction manual for Mega Man and a few other sources, is a Western approximation of "Dr. Right."
 * In the cartoon series Captain N: The Game Master, Dr. Light is called Dr. Wright, which is his name from the first Mega Man instruction manual. In addition to robotics, he also seems to have extensive knowledge of the human body, as evidenced when the N-Team shrunk themselves to diagnose a malady of Kevin Keene. Through communication, Dr. Light behaved like a medical doctor, warning Mega Man and the others to avoid stomach acid.
 * Coincidentally, a Mr. Wright appears in the SNES version of SimCity, although this character is based on the game's creator Will Wright.
 * He is one of the few human characters from the classic series to have a Mega Man Battle Network counterpart, Tadashi Hikari (Tadashi meaning right, and Hikari meaning light, both of the spellings of Dr. Light's surname). The others being Dr. Cossack and Dr. Wily.


 * In Mega Man ZX Advent, there is a character named Master Thomas of the Sage Trinity, which is a reference to Dr. Light. Master Thomas, however, is nowhere near as benevolent as his namesake and intends to continue the work of fellow Sage Master Albert, who is named after Dr. Albert W. Wily.
 * Master Thomas' malevolent personality may have been based on Dr. Light's namesake, Thomas Edison.  Edison was seen on morally ambiguous ground due to animal abuse and inventing the electric chair.


 * Dr. Light is a known smoker and is seen with a smoking pipe on some occasions.


 * In the US and European release of Mega Man 8, Dr. Light's voice sounds similar to Elmer Fudd's.


 * The Dr. Light hologram seems to know of Zero, as well as Alia when Zero discovers one of his capsules in Mega Man X5
 * It is possible that the Light hologram is a clone of Dr. Light's mind.


 * In the Japanese ROM from the first Mega Man game, Dr. Light had unused sprites in the end of the game, where he can speak.


 * The Dr. Light capsule hologram is wearing a Karate gi and sweatband when it teaches X the Hadouken in Mega Man X. This is to pay homage to Ryu from Capcom's other franchise, Street Fighter.


 * Dr. Light's hobby is playing computer games.


 * In the Japanese version of Mega Man 7, Roll compares the Noise Crush with Dr. Light's singing voice, implying that he is an awful singer.