Proto Man

Proto Man, or Blues (プルース) is the first Robot Master created by Dr. Light and is considered the "brother" to Mega Man. He first appeared in Mega Man 3 as an antagonist but soon switched sides, aiding Mega Man in his fight against evil.

Origin
Proto Man was intended to become the first humanoid robot capable of independent thought and reasoning and built for the purpose of combat.

Being a prototype robot, Proto Man's design was not complete. It was later discovered by Dr. Light that Proto Man had a dangerous imbalance in his energy core that would eventually kill him. However, being created too independent, not having another of his kind to interact with and severely troubled by his incomplete status, Proto Man had begun growing distrust for the good doctor. Refusing to have Dr. Light meddle with his systems, fearing Light would change his character, Proto Man went missing.

Dr. Light had presumed Proto Man to have died and regrettably gave up on him. Learning from his mistakes, he perfected the energy core and created sibling units Rock and Roll. The combat aspects of Proto Man's design became the basis of the Sniper Joe series of robots.

Knowing the time of his demise, Proto Man wandered the world alone. Before his energy reactor was completely depleted, he was found by the exiled scientist Dr. Wily. Dr. Wily managed to temporarily repair Proto Man by altering his energy core from a Solar to a Nuclear one, as well as making other modifications. Working on Proto Man's systems gave Wily greater knowledge in creating robots, helping his plans for world domination along.

Indebted to Wily, Proto Man served him under the alias of Break Man. He did this until his encounters with Mega Man in Mega Man 3 made him realize the true nature of Dr. Wily. Proto Man turned on Dr. Wily, aiding Mega Man but refusing help from Dr. Light, still holding onto his feelings of distrust.

Protoman's signature whistle is a staple of the character and almost always before appearance.

Mega Man Powered Up
Although Proto Man has no involvement in the story, he is a unlockable playable character that is unlocked after beating all mission modes, or downloading him. He uses his Proto Shield to block attacks like Megaman in Mega Man 7. His shield can also be knocked off by enemies.

Mega Man 3
Proto Man appears in Shadow Man, Gemini Man, Hard Man and Magnet Man's stages to test Megaman's strength. After the defeat of the Doc Robot(s), Proto Man will fight Megaman one last time disguised as Break Man. After Megaman defeats Dr. Wily, he saves Megaman and brings him back to Dr. Light's lab.

Mega Man 4
Proto Man rescues the kidnapped Kalinka and brings her to Mega Man and her father, Dr. Cossack, after Mega Man defeats him, to let her tell Mega Man that her father was forced to build the eight Robot Masters for Dr. Wily.

Mega Man 5
Proto Man was framed for a robot attack and kidnapping Dr. Light. Mega Man later finds out that Dr. Wily created a robot called Dark Man to impersonate Proto Man (presumably as revenge for betraying him in the last game). Proto Man appears to reveal the deception and later helps Mega Man near the end of the game by helping lift the roof of Dr. Wily's castle when Mega Man saved Dr. Light.

Mega Man 6
Proto Man appears in Tomahawk Man's stage to give him the Energy Balancer upgrade. With it, when Megaman collects weapons energy with the Mega Buster equipped, it restores the weapon with the least energy in it.

Mega Man 7
Proto Man appears in Cloud Man and Turbo Man's stage, giving him hints to certain secrets. After Mega Man visits him in those areas, he will appear in Shade Man's stage hidden in the wall behind the Sniper Joe 01 after the mini-boss VAN Pookin. He will challenge Megaman to a fight and if he takes enough damage, he will give his Proto Shield.

Mega Man 8
After Mega Man's battle with Duo, Proto Man tells him that Dr. Wily's new fortress, called "Wily Tower," lies just ahead. Then, after Wily's defeat and Mega Man's rescue at the hands of Duo, Mega Man returns to the area near the wreckage of Wily Tower to find Proto Man standing on a tree. Proto Man tells him that Duo left to return to space but had a message for him - "Thank you."

Mega Man and Bass
Proto Man appears in the intro stage, trying to shoot King, but is sliced in half, Mega Man shows concern and tells him to go to Dr Light for repairs, whilst Bass ignores him and claims he's the most powerful robot.

He reappears in the 3rd Castle Stage and uses his Big Bang Blast to destroy King's shield. He then appears in Bass's ending to destroy the data for King Mk II that Wily made.

Proto Man is notably out of character in this appearance. Although usually preferring to sneak in and out at the most opportune times to help Mega Man in small but valuable ways, he is shown in this game to recklessly challenge King head on, and is defeated for the first time by someone else besides Mega Man. Then, Mega Man tells him to go to Dr. Light to get repaired, and he apparently goes, which he would not likely do due to his distrust to the good doctor. He then later appears to fight King again, this time seeming unusually angry and vengeful, trying to destroy King with a powerful Big Bang Strike. The attack didn't outright destroy King, but it weakened him enough for Mega Man and/or Bass to defeat him on their own.

Mega Man 9
He appears after Mega Man defeats Wily and warns him about Wily's trap. Mega Man says he can't risk it not being a trap. So he disappeared, but he soon returns to save the unconscious Mega Man from being crushed by the collapsing fortress. He is also available as a downloadable playable character for 200 Wii points/160 Microsoft points/ $1.99

He is basically the same as Mega Man except he can Slide and Charge Shot, receives twice damage from attacks and goes back twice as much when hit. He can only fire two shots at a time, as opposed to Mega Man's 3. He can deflect bullets with his Proto Shield while jumping, and instead of Rush, he has the Proto Coil and Proto Jet, which somewhat resemble the transport items from Mega Man 2.

He has no story cutscenes, and he cannot use the shop.

Data
Mega Man: Battle and Chase:
 * Vehicle: Red Striker
 * Body: Shield Body ("Mach Shield Body" in Japan)
 * Engine: L-Blow Engine (Last Blow Engine)
 * Wing: Hi-Speed Wing
 * Tire: Sharp Tire ("Sharp Steer Tire" in Japan)

Mega Man and Bass CD data
A proto-type robot that Dr. Light created. He appears out of nowhere to help Megaman. "Let me tell you something..." Good point: Good whistler Bad point: Keeping contact Like: Solitary travel Dislike: Interviews



Power & Abilities
Proto Man is an astoundingly powerful robot fighter, capable of destroying even shields, as displayed in Megaman & Bass.

Proto Buster: (プルースバスター) A gun that is available to Protoman on either the left or right hand, but he is most commonly seen with a blaster on his left, due to the fact he is left-handed.

Proto Shield: A strong shield that can deflect most attacks, he also dashes while holding it, using it as a battering ram.

Proto Strike: (プルースストライク) A powerful short range charge shot used by Proto Man in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. A attack with the same name is used in Mega Man: Battle & Chase and Mega Man Powered Up.

Big Bang Strike: (ビッグバン ストライク) An energy blast of tremendous power. This attack is very dangerous to Proto Man, however, as it severely drains his energy. It's used in Mega Man & Bass to destroy King's shield.

Mega Man 3

 * "Where's Dr. Wily? Oh, no... Too late..."

Mega Man 7

 * "So, Brother. You are not as weak as I thought. Let's see which of us Father made stronger!"
 * "Maybe you are the superior model, Mega Man. Here, take this."
 * "It's okay. Take it. And... watch your back."

Mega Man 8

 * "Are you okay?"
 * "Who was that?"
 * "He may be connected to Dr. Wily."
 * "'Wily Tower' is just ahead of here."

Mega Man & Bass

 * "Stop it right there, King! First, Dr. Wily's lab, now the museum?"
 * "You're not going anywhere, King!"
 * "No, you're gonna face ME first!"
 * "Ugh... Looks like I have no choice but to use this..."
 * "Mega Man/Bass, get back! I'm going to channel all my energy into this blast!"
 * "It's time to end this! Big Bang Strike!!"
 * "Y-You idiot! Are you doing to waste this chance I just gave you!? Fight, damn it, fight...!" (translation of the SNES version)
 * "Bass, you're underestimating him! He's... still alive...!"

Mega Man 9

 * "You're a fool, Mega Man! It's a trap! That's the fake Dr. Light robot Wily used to make that fake video!"
 * "Naive as always... Do what you want, then!"
 * "Looks like you need my help... Again."

Trivia

 * His appearance makes many references to Char Aznable of the Gundam anime, such as his red color scheme, signature sunglasses, his shield resembling that of Char's Gelgoog, and his single eye as Break Man, a feature present in all of Char's mobile suits.
 * His character also bears resemblance to Racer X from the Speed Racer series (known as Mach Go Go Go in Japan) and the main characters of the anime Cyborg 009.
 * Some more of Proto Man's traits could be a reference to a villain in the Kikaider series, the Haikaider. In addition to being the hero's brother, Haikaider wears a yellow scarf in his human disguise, and announces his presence with a whistle.
 * Since Rockman/Mega Man looks like Tetswan Atom/Astro Boy, Blues/Proto Man could be a reference to Rocky, another Osamu Tezuka character.
 * In the American Mega Man TV show from Ruby-Spears, Proto Man worked for Dr. Wily, and had an intense rivalry with his "brother".
 * In Mega Man: Powered Up, he couldn't copy weapons like Mega Man, but in the arcade games and in Mega Man 9, he can.
 * In the Bob and George comic, Proto Man takes up the name Prometheus during the XEra, a name unintentionally shared with the Mega Man ZX character, Prometheus.
 * In regards to ZX, Protoman makes a tiny cameo in it, as Girouette's Model Z Mega Man form resembles Protoman (mainly through the Visor). Ironically, Model Z is stated to be based off of the likeness of Zero, whom was thought by fans to be a future version of either Roll or Proto Man, ala Mega Man and Mega Man X, before conformation that he was an entirely different robot.
 * Another coincidental nod between Proto Man and Zero is that they have the same original voice actors.
 * Proto Man's story from the animated series and Mega Man 5 together inspired his role in the rock opera by The Protomen.
 * Proto Man's Red Striker from Battle and Chase reappears in Mega Man ZX in Innerpeace belonging to one of two twins. The other other twin is possession of Mega Man's Rush Roadster.
 * A small, unnoticed plot-hole is the fact of Proto Man has most of Mega Man's abilities, even though he is a prototype, and therefore should not have Mega Man's later recieved abilities. However, this could be countered by saying that Mega Man didn't have these abilities at the start for two reasons:
 * 1) Mega Man wasn't designed as a fighting robot, and therefore wouldn't need these abilities.
 * 2) Dr. Light need time to perfect them before giving them to Mega Man, and the abilities Proto Man has are merely the early prototypes of them.
 * Proto Man is one of the main characters in the upcoming live-action fan film.

Proto Man from Mega Man 9
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