Changing the Base Skin: Giving the Tournament Robot a Face

[Gumballtoid]

I would like to second the above sentiments. Maestro is cool and all, but I'd still prefer Joe.

[MusashiAA]

I see that things are already cleared up:

-You play as "the tournament robot", not Mega Man. Mega Man is part of the tournament at one point, he is a different character from you. Even the main villain acknowledges you as a separate character.

-The tournament robot is faceless because the player is supposed to fill in the blanks with whatever they want, even their OC, Maestro. Forcing a predetermined original character as the supposedly faceless tournament robot kinda defeats the entire purpose of it in the first place. Keep it as officially faceless as possible. EDIT: the idea of randomly assigning a fresh install player a random skin at the beginning of the singleplayer campaign (not multiplayer, that should be the default base class skin, Mega Man) was thrown around 2 years ago, but ultimately dropped. Or something like that.

-Mega Man is the default skin perhaps because Mega Man is the most recognizable character in the entire franchise, or because he's got a far more basic design than any other character, but not because the tournament robot is Mega Man: this is very clearly stated by every other character in the game. Mega Man's skin design makes any color scheme change a dead giveaway: from any angle you can clearly see what color scheme any player is wearing, it is very evident and conveys itself very easily. Giving this fact any lore importance or using this as an argument for giving the faceless player character a face is a moot point: the story very clearly separates the tournament robot from Mega Man.

-Maestro is a good OC, I'll give you that. Maybe some would consider the lack of Doom-like nods in its design a sin, maybe some would call him Staff (a musical staff, where you write all musical compositions) or Raster (the writing tool used to draw musical charts), but Maestro's a nifty name. Not in my MM8BDM, though.

-Sniper Joe being the default skin (different from the canon "face" of the tournament robot) instead of Mega Man clearly has enough approval of the community, as seen twice already, and it makes sense, as explained twice already. If it's the right choice or not, that's honestly something that should be up to Mike. Not me, not you, not the "mayority" of the "community", not any transitory devteam chief, but Mike.

[fortegigasgospel]

Mega Man even appears in the first stage of the Campaign, Cut Man, his bot is in various stages. So right off the bat it is clear you aren't Megaman. Hell when you first start the game you are standing in front of Light and he uses your name.
Also the idea of being a Joe with a name right off the bat is questionable also. If you are supposedly a Joe fresh off the assembly line, why didn't he call you "Sniper Joe" or "Joe" why do you have a name, you're apparently a nameless mass-produced robot who can't be differentiated with the one standing next to you?

[JaxOf7]

Just gonna get this out of the way: the Sniper Joe skin isn't very good. He's got cyan on his gun, belt buckle, and backpack. That's it. If we use that, I expect colors redone.

To summarize what has been said: you are a tourney robot. You have a display module that masks your appearance, much like the alien hologram in MM2. You have a default setting when you come into being. Other guys using custom skins you don't have also use this default setting. There are 3 choices for this setting
1. Megaman
+Good skin
+Easily recognizable
-MegaMan is already a character in story
-Supposed to be a main hero sort of character, odd to see in droves
2. Sniper Joe
+Not a singular character
+Easily recognizable
+Being seen in droves matches his canon appearance
(-Not a good skin at this moment)
-Monoeye gives an evil connotation, odd to have as "hero"
3. Maestro
(*The appearance of having your display module "off")
+Very neutral look, works as both a droves character and hero character
+Good skin
+Gives the game identity among the megaman franchise (much like what the Megaman Killers do for the GB remakes)
-Confusion for people new to game

You know what, I'm rootin for maestro. Though Sniper Joe option is close 2nd. Maybe we could go with a more original looking Sniper Joe? They get modified all the damn time, it would not be a stretch.

[Geno]

I personally want the Maestro character with the alts to be in the game, because I'd actually legitimately want to use the female variation of the skin, haha

Also, basing it off of the NormalNavi from Battle Network was a cool thing

[Ceridran]

i tried to make some alt designs, but i realized that emptiness is exactly what makes maestro work. adding a face or a new pose or elements from some kind of culture or animal gives it a sort of personality.

doodle

[Max]

(*The appearance of having your display module "off")

I back him because of this

people saying 'OH WHO WOULD USE HIM THOUGH' well who uses mega man i don't see anyone and this base guy
-looks better
-gives mega man more identity through seperation
-is MUCH BETTER THAN A SNIPER JOE and is unique to 8bdm
-makes a lot of sense in the campaign because you're the only one who can change skin so it's like you're a different robot to everyone else with a display module and that's you with it off

plus its not really an 'OC' if he's not a character either just a face

I will say he looks more like a repliroid from Mega Man X7 or something than a robot master mostly because of the big chest and tiny arms? I think
I dont want to redraw him though you can do that

[MusashiAA]

Giving the faceless character a face defeats the purpose of inmersion, at least from my point of view. The tournament robot, with his display module "off", is not meant to be seen, but is instead meant to be given a different form by the player with any other skin they've got, core or custom.

It's easier to understand why the Mega Man skin is the default base skin, easier to explain, easier to forgive, easier to relate to the concept of it: it's a filler form. Replacing it with this original character raises more questions than answers, and disassociates the game from the series. Imagine being in the shoes of a new player, joining an online match, and seeing the default skin: if he sees Megamen, it's easier to relate him with the concept of an automatically displayed default skin in place of missing custom ones; if he sees any other official character, the concept is still graspable and relatable to something already established and known and accepted; if he sees an original, fan-made character, there's nothing to relate it to other than being some guy's randomly plastered original character skin into the game because of favors or influence and whatnot. It feels like walking into a server with a lot of people wearing Yoshi the Hedgehog skins at the same time: better for the default skin to be a core, official character than a fan-made one, because the former is more known and relatable to the concept of a blank slate, basic, default display skin. You can't miss with Mega Man (or any other official Mega Man character) as the default skin, unlike with a non-official one.






There's essentially three topics colliding with each other:

-The faceless tournament robot as a character the player fills in. This is, in my opinion, an idea that should be kept intact, as its been. But this is not the point of the topic, despite coming into play when you introduce...

-"Maestro" as the "face" of the faceless tournament robot, who is in my opinion a very cool idea and a nice looking character, which will probably get a skin and class of its own, things I'll actually encourage. The thing is, officially giving a predetermined form to a "formless" character where players are expected to give it form of their own machinations is wrong (not even bad). This is just discussing the quality of the character itself, which is also not the point of the topic, which is...

-Changing the base skin. I've already argued that Mega Man is and has been a better candidate for the base skin than anybody else for its widely known and commonly accepted status, as well as his very plain and basic design (which lends itself naturally to all the color schemes because, you know, they were designed for him to begin with). You can try and redesign Maestro to mimic Mega Man's blue/cyan color distribution more, but at that point, why even care about designing Maestro as the base skin when Mega Man is more relatable and accepted? Don't change it: Maestro feels like something that I'd expect to see in CutmanMike's MM8BDM Concept Art sketchbook (49.59), as an unused character.

I'd go as far as say that, now that you've unveiled Maestro as a base skin replacement and a personification of the player, you've already established it as a character separate from the personal, individual form each player has given it, and by relation given to themselves, over the years: it's already been retconned.

[Kapus]

Has this concept been brought up to Cutmanmike himself? I would like to know what he thinks of it.

[Gumballtoid]

I don't like Mega Man being the base skin. I want to be able to use the Mega Man skin and not have everyone else say, "Oh, I wonder what custom skin that guy is using." Whether or not folks go the Maestro route, I want to see the base skin changed.

I would also like to know what Mike's thoughts on this are. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought he was pretty adamant about not identifying the Tournament Robot.

[JaxOf7]

For the record, I think guys who wanted to be identified as Megaman would have just used Megaman-Hair up until now.

[CutmanMike]

I gave this the OK a while back since the story has has always (and even more now) pointed out that you are not Mega Man. I'm seeing a lot of concerns about irking new players when they're given this original character from the get go (remember that when you start the game, you are pushed to the player options screen and you see your base skin which is Mega Man), and I would find myself in that category as I dislike Mega Man (or any) fangame content that introduces it's own original characters. It is why there is no CutmanMike skin in the game, and why I have always tried to use every available Mega Man character that is canon even if they originally had very little to do with the original game series itself (see Gamma/Evil Robot/Genesis Unit etc).

If we're going to do it, he should be as faceless as possible as many people have stated. He should be as blank slate/boring as possible. No name, no backstory, just the base skin for the game. I wouldn't even give him a bot for people to choose from in custom games, because he's not a character. He's you, the player. What you are or why you're in the Mega Man universe is up for the player to decide, not us. If the character looks as "base" as possible, I think new players will realize what he is.

I don't like Sniper Joe being the base character either. Sniper Joes are mass created but their appearance is well known. I would prefer for you to have your own look. Someone created you and you went to Dr. Light's lab to get suited up for the Tournament. You're not a random Sniper Joe that entered the tourney. You are you.

For these reasons I am ok with the decision to have a base skin for the game that is an original creation. As for the design, I would like him to have armor and animations similar to Mega Man's, which is extremely simple. I will let the community decide on the rest.

Btw this does not fix the problem of new players always being the same skin. I think that is a different matter entirely that we might be able to fix (if we wanted to).

Maestro feels like something that I'd expect to see in CutmanMike's MM8BDM Concept Art sketchbook (49.59), as an unused character.

Hmmm what a great idea! My concept art is usually fabulous.  

[Hallan Parva]

Mike is the hero we all needed

[Zard1084]

I agree with mike that the Tournament Robot needs to be as faceless as possible

[Gumballtoid]

In that case, basing him off of the Normal Navi is definitely the way to go.

If he could be tweaked to be a little more simple and Mega Man-like, then I'm all for it.