Air Man

Air Man (エアーマン) was initially intented to be a giant walking fan to blow garbage out of the streets. After Dr. Albert Wily turned evil, he remodeled Air Man into a combat unit. One of Air Man's minions, the Fan Fiend, bares some resemblance to him. He and Wind Man are rivals.

Strategy
Air Man creates six tornadoes and blows them in the direction of Mega Man with his propeller to damage him. After doing this three times, he will jump to the other side of the screen and repeat the attack. Air Man is very weak to the Leaf Shield, as it clogs up his propeller with leaves.

The first Doc Robot from Needle Man's stage uses the same strategy from Mega Man 2. This Doc Robot is weak against Magnet Missile and Spark Shock. Also, Mega Man can slide in this game, making it easier to avoid some tornadoes.

In Mega Man II, Air Man's strategy is the same of Mega Man 2, except he shots 4 tornadoes instead of 6. Mega Man can slide to avoid some tornadoes.

In Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, Air Man uses his Air Shooter to create five tornadoes, and blows them in the direction of the player. He also pushs or pulls Mega Man away using only wind, with a "Dera" Pipi coming to attack sometimes while pushing. After losing half of his energy, he will enter in Hypermode, which gives new attacks to him. He can jump to the center of the screen and use his propeller to suck junk to him, using it as a shield similar to the Junk Shield, and them blow the junk away. He will also use a typhoon attack. Air Man is weak to the Super Arm in this game, as the fragments from the broken blocks clogs up his propeller.

Mega Man and Bass CD data
With the huge propeller installed in his body, it can create powerful gusts of wind. "What wind blows you here?" Good point: Putting on airs Bad point: Windy talk Like: Surfing Dislike: Fall of the leaf (a nod to his weakness, Leaf Shield)



Rockman Complete Works data
おなかに強力なプロペラをないそうした、どくとくなデザインのロボット. あるていどのダメージはかくこしてれんしゃ攻撃だ.

Translation: In his belly, a strong propeller was installed, he is a robot with peculiar design. To some extent he causes rapid fire damage.

Stage enemies
Enemies in Air Man's stage from Mega Man 2 and Mega Man II.
 * Air Tikki (with Gremlins)
 * Fan Fiend
 * Lightning Lord
 * Pipi
 * Squirm

Other media
Air Man appears in Episode 7: Ice Age of the Mega Man animated series, where his appearance was drastically altered from his video game counterpart. This Air Man's armor was a powder blue instead of the darker shade of blue in Mega Man 2. He is also taller, and in one scene, he appeared to be taller than Guts Man. The most notorious change was that Air Man now had a face and red eyes. In the game, Air Man was basically a torso with eyes and a big fan in the middle with arms and legs. It should also be noted that he and Ice Man do not get along very well.

He also appears in Captain N: The Game Master, where he suffers more drastic alterations. He is white instead of blue, and has propellers in both arms instead of his torso.

In the manga Rockman Megamix, Air Man's blaster is on his right arm instead of the left one, and he has large shoulders similar to the animated series and a larger back.

"I can't defeat Air Man"
Air Man is considered one of the most difficult bosses of Mega Man 2 by some fans. On this note, a fan song known as "Airman can't be defeated" (エアーマンが倒せない Air Man ga Taosenai), best known as the English translation "I can't defeat Air Man", was created. The story throughout the song is somewhat like this: A player tries to pass the long lava area in Heat Man's stage, but repeatedly fails. The player mentions that Item-2 can make it easier to pass this area, but it is guarded by Air Man. He tries to defeat Air Man, but cannot, no matter how hard he tries. Later, he mentions Air Man is weak to the Leaf Shield and tries to defeat Wood Man. However, he cannot beat Wood Man either, and and eventually gives up. The second verse is then repeated, implying the player is trying to defeat Air Man again (especially since the official video uses a new fight scene for the verse repetition).

Several themes run throughout the song. Namely, E-Tanks are mentioned several times, and the bosses patterns are loosely described, such as how Wood Man tries to trap the player close to himself. During the first guitar solo, a slide show of animated sprites of Mega Man, Air Man, and the enemies in Air Man's level is shown, with the words "Air Man ga Taosenai" on the top and bottom of the screen. During the second guitar solo, an almost identical slideshow is shown, with Wood Man in place of Air Man, Wood Man's level enemies in place of Air Man's, and "Wood Man mo Taosenai" in place of "Air Man ga Taosenai".

The song is most commonly viewed alongside a video. The official video features lightly-pixelated animation and sprites from Mega Man 2. The majority of the fan-made videos are animated, and many feature sprites from Mega Man 2. Some even use gameplay footage. Some fan-made videos depict Mega Man defeating Wood Man and returning to battle Air Man, often with either an unclear outcome, Air Man's defeat, or Mega Man's defeat again.

Here are some versions of this music, with videos, on YouTube:
 * Animated version
 * English Fan Dub
 * Official, but not full, English version

Trivia

 * Evidently, Dr. Wily made Air Man think that Monsteropolis betrayed them according to his "Megas" theme song called "The Annihilation of Monsteropolis". The song goes on to say that Air Man also features a ravaging blood lust, and that he doesn't give up easily.