Fuse Man

"High voltage!"

- Fuse Man

Fuse Man (ヒューズマン) is a Robot Master who appears in Mega Man 11. Originally created to manage electrical equipment in a power plant, Fuse Man was reprogrammed by Dr. Wily to fight against Mega Man. He is able to freely manipulate high voltage currents and move at lightning speed, being able to instantaneously get on an opponent's blind spot and emit electric attacks. When he activates the Speed Gear installed by Dr. Wily, he gains a speed boost and becomes as fast as lightning. His Special Weapon, Scramble Thunder, allows Mega Man to launch a sphere of electricity that will cling onto solid surfaces and can be controlled in any direction.

Appearance
Fuse Man is a tall slender robot with a black skin-tight suit that is protected by yellow and blue armor. His helmet is also yellow and has two energy tubes that stick out from its sides, somewhat resembling horns. A lightning bolt symbol is also engraved on each of Fuse Man's boots. In addition, a green circle is engraved on Fuse Man's left chest plate, and yellow spikes protrude from the sides of Fuse Man's lower torso.

Personality
With an alert and on-edge disposition coupled by his electrifying nature, Fuse Man uses his electric-based powers to attack his opponents at lightning-fast speed. He is also bit of a show-off, moving at the speed of light to demonstrate his agile prowess after activating his speed gear. Just like the other Robot Masters in the game, Fuse Man enjoys making puns related to his elemental powers even before his defeat. He is also shown to have a liking to animals, most specifically his pet rabbit "Watt". In fact, tending to his pet rabbit is the only time Fuse Man can relax as his job requires him to be alert 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

Strategy
Fuse Man's attack patterns are simple, but the battle can be very difficult due to his incredible speed. He will begin by casting two balls of electricity, one on the ground and the other on the ceiling. As he's doing this, Fuse Man will create an electrical barrier around him. This makes him invulnerable for a short time which prompts Mega Man to wait for him to proceed with his set-up before he can damage him. Afterwards, Fuse Man will teleport above Mega Man and cast his Scramble Thunder towards him at very high speeds as the electric spheres will begin to move around the room on a metal rail in a clockwise motion, forming a rectangular shape. His Scramble Thunder can be avoided by sliding out of the way, but caution must be taken as one of the electric spheres can also come around to damage Mega Man as he dodges the projectile. Sometimes, Fuse Man will wait a second or so after he teleports before firing his weapon to set a trap, making it so that Mega Man will have to evade both his Scrambe Thunder and the electric spheres at the same time. The Speed Gear can be utilized here as it makes dodging much easier, but the Power Gear may prove problematic because while it can quickly shave off Fuse Man's health, it holds Mega Man in place once he fires a double Charge Shot, increasing the chances of him getting damaged. Fuse Man will continue this pattern until he loses half of his health.

Once Fuse Man is at half health, he will teleport to the middle of the room in midair to activate his own Speed Gear. When activated, his speed is increased immensely and his attack pattern changes. His new method of attack is to teleport to the top of the room and slam back down to damage Mega Man with a powerful electric strike, imitating the movements of an actual lightning bolt. These attacks are extremely fast and difficult to dodge, making the Speed Gear the best way to go here unless one is skilled enough without it. Fortunately, Fuse Man will only do this several times until he stops and goes into his third phase.

In his third and final phase, Fuse Man will revert back to his original attack pattern albeit with some small changes. Instead of casting one shot of Scramble Thunder, he will fire two at different trajectories to increase the likelihood of Mega Man getting damaged. Additionally, the electric spheres will move in somewhat triangular shapes where they now move in the same direction as each other and intersect at the middle of the room. Fuse Man will eventually be defeated with good timing, patience and great use of the Speed Gear. However, if Fuse Man isn't defeated in time during his final phase, he will revert back to phase two, activating the Speed Gear again and attempting to damage Mega Man with his lightning strike attacks.

Other appearances
Fuse Man appeared as an event character in the game Yuusha no Kuse ni Konamaiki da DASH!, where he is a Dragon type monster. His Active Skill is Scramble Thunder.

In-Game Quotes
Pre-Battle Taunts:
 * "You scrambled my electrons!"
 * "I recognize that voltage!"
 * "How could I refuse?"
 * “Let's amp this up!”
 * "Assault and battery!"
 * “Prepare to diode!”
 * "Power up!"

Attack Shouts:
 * ”Contact!” (Said when he generates sparks that roll around the edges of the room.)
 * ”Fuse Change!” (Said when he generates sparks that roll around the edges of the room.)
 * "Ngh!"
 * ”Zap!”
 * "Stay down!"
 * ”Huh!”
 * ”Live Wire!”
 * ”Mgh!"
 * "Nygh!"
 * "Power up!"
 * "Switch on!"

Activating Speed Gear:
 * ”Speed Gear!”
 * ”High voltage!”

Attack Shouts (Speed Gear):
 * "Rewired!"
 * ”Speed!”
 * "Shocking!"
 * "Charge!"

Death:
 * “SHORT CIRCUIT!”
 * "BLACKOUT!"

Other media
Fuse Man appeared in the Rockman 11: Unmei no Haguruma!! manga.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, Fuse Man bears a resemblance to ElecMan.EXE, and both were designed by the same artist.
 * Fuse Man once shared his name with a fanmade Robot Master also named Fuse Man from the fangame Mega Man: Rock Force, but the latter's name was later changed to Boom Man. This is similar to how Nitro Man from Mega Man Unlimited was renamed Trinitro Man because Mega Man 10 already had a Nitro Man.
 * Interestingly, both of these fanmade Robot Masters are bomb-themed.
 * Fuse Man is one of the two Robot Masters in Mega Man 11 who has a mouth, the other being Blast Man.
 * Due to his electricity-based powers and lightning fast speed, Fuse Man might be a successor to Elec Man and Quick Man.
 * Fuse Man's stage theme was used for Mega Man 11's announcement trailer in December 2017.
 * Fuse Man's weakness to Bounce Ball is a reference to rubber being a strong electrical insulator; this weakness is similar to how Sheep Man is weak to Rebound Striker from Mega Man 10.
 * Fuse Man owns a pet eel named "Watt" instead of a pet rabbit in the Japanese version.

Fuse Man Fuse Man