Importance of Childhood

A more subtle theme to the Mega Man series, one theme that can be interpreted throughout is the need for youth and childhood, and the need for it to foster growth and development. This ultimately ties into Mega Man's themes of the creation of fully automated and alive entities through robotics, but at the cost of allowing them self awareness and the room to make errors and mistakes to learn from them in the face of life's unpredicabilities and imperfections.

Mega Man
Perhaps the series that carries this theme the strongest, the Classic series bears this with the contrast of Mega Man against the Robot Masters. Originally made as a robot boy named Rock, Rock was apparently given a semblance of normal life with his robot sister Roll, and his creator, Doctor Thomas Light. Though created in mind as an assistant, Light appears to not have created Rock with the full intention of being a full time servant, with some hints that Rock and Roll were made also for accompaniment as a family with Auto, Rush, Beat, Tango, and Eddie. Able to face more complexities and scenarios in the wake of everyday life, Rock was able to learn much more about the world and its complexities, and this would likely contribute into how he would want to make the conscious decision to become Mega Man.

The Robot Masters hold not just elements of specialized elite androids built for specific purposes, but to the ideas of superheroes and supervillains who have been bestowed naturally tremendous powers at birth, and career lines set upon adulthood. Due to their specialized natures, they have tremendous and unique powers and abilities, but being made simply for specific duties, and despite their own personalities, have not experienced life akin to humans, and in turn are not able to make complex moral decisions like Rock, which showcases the line that separates Mega Man's advanced nature and complexities that allow him to act more like a human. This lack of complex human emotion is also what allows villains like Dr. Wily to be able to manipulate them through their sense of duty, and deems them disposable without consequence upon retirement to humans.

What could be taken out of this, is the aesop and the lesson that a man is not born; he is made, and that it is okay for humans to keep child like sense of wonder and curiosity in the face of a world where stringent need to become adult units and obedient workers, along with the extreme demand to bear youth yet act like adults is the standard. Mega Man does not entirely rely on his Mega Buster to simply solve his problems; he learns to maneuver, call up help, and uses the Special Weapons he gains from other Robot Masters to fight his way through. One lesson out of this is that it is good to learn about the world and to be skillful in as many things as much as one can, essentially.

Mega Man X
Going into the topic where robots gain full cognizance and sentience as their own being, X contrasts heavily against his descendants, specifically those who have become Maverick, and shows a more extreme scenario where development does not factor into a Reploid's growth cycle. X was essentially given a "life" through his 30 year trial in stasis, allowing him to freely make errors and mistakes, but without consequence to the world at large, and allowed him to learn from these mistakes. From this, X developed a deep sense of right and wrong, and with a moral core to keep true to in extreme situations.

Reploids and Mechanilroids on the other hand, are instantaneously put out into the world upon completion and activation- They are expected to act as they are told, and to simply use their self awareness and sentience to perform the tasks given to them flawlessly without question. This essentially leads to their faculties as living beings to pent up feelings and frustrations, and for some, to lash out without understanding of these emotions nor constructive means to vent, and without moral consideration and guidance, turns into reckless behaviors, be it to engage in illegal activities or to express themselves in unknowingly destructive manners without consideration to the consequences. Due to the expectations demanded of them by humans, they are deemed Maverick and defective, than a living being, and are to be put down without objection if they showcase anything lesser than dutiful behavior.

The Mega Man X series could then perhaps be a metaphor for adolescence; if the Classic series can be considered childhood, then the X series could definitely be considered as the "teenage years" of the series, where the scenarios and consequences are more extreme and bear more weight of their effects on to the world as the next generation of Doctor Light's innovations take hold upon the world without his guidance. While X is indicative of a stable teenager with guiding outlets to ensure strong mental and emotional faculties to endure life's challenges, Mavericks in this case can likely represent teenagers who are struggling to come to terms with their development and lack guidance; the Maverick Virus and Sigma in this case can also be surmised as darker corrupting influences of the world that leads teenagers to follow unruly and unwholesome lifestyles and ways, including gang violence, drug abuse, and overall, unconstructive and dangerous rebellious behavior. Furthermore, X's role as a Maverick Hunter may also be reflective of the inherent competitive nature of adolescence, in where the emotional part of the brain that reigns dominant in this development cycle has teenagers yearn for acceptance and understanding as stand out individuals, and where this competition of being is an extreme world where few win and many lose.

Mega Man Zero
Much like how Mega Man Zero does not focus on a creation of Doctor Light, Zero can likely represent the anti-theme of the Importance of Childhood; in this case, the importance of adulthood. Created by Doctor Albert Wily, Zero is likely indicative of how not all children are born equal; while some are born gentle and good natured, some infants can be born somewhat terrifying in their behavior, with a need for good parenting to raise them right. While X was given diagnostic tests, Zero was left alone, akin to an orphan, and upon awakening, engaged in destroying Sigma's unit, until being defeated and his memory scrambled. After this, his experience as a Maverick Hunter would have him redeemed as a heroic individual, than the intention of being Doctor Wily's ultimate tool of destruction.

The world of adulthood would perhaps be best exemplified in the extreme world of 23XX portrayed in the Mega Man Zero series, where

If the importance of childhood states that having an inner child is good, then the importance of adulthood would have to argue that experiences are also important to shape oneself to grow as a person; this would be best exemplified by the parallels of Zero and Copy X. Whereas Copy X was created as a perfect copy without the diagnostic tests and experiences of the original X, Zero does not have his original body, but still has his heart and memories as he was in 21XX. Copy X embodies all of the negative traits of the childhood themes found in both Classic and X, with the overt specialization of the Robot Masters and the problems with identity and emotional imbalance found with Mavericks.