Mavericks or Robot Masters

[OmegaFactor]

Which group of baddies do you think is better than the other in terms of personality, appearance, ability and challenge(as a boss). Try to bring up specific examples of both groups. (IE: Shadow Man V.S Magna Centipede or something similar to this.)

[Relias]

Well, I love both groups for their own reasons, but I definitely gotta go with the Masters if only because I like Classic overall a lot more than X.  And I've never played an X past 5 (at least yet) whereas I've played all the Classic games very, very thoroughly.  Of course, that's not saying I don't think MMX1-3 don't have some of the coolest boss designs in the history of video games (with a few silly exceptions like Overdrive Ostrich, but don't get me wrong, I love his stage and music!) and that Armored Armadillo may just be my overall favorite boss from all Mega Man series combined.

But yeah, though it's obvious in "serious story speculation" the Mavricks would wipe the floor with the Masters, seeing as their technology is a hundred years more advanced and they're created by all kinds of humans and even probably groups / organizatons, rather than one crazy old man.  However, if you wanna get more "fan universe where anything can happen"...

Storm Eagle makes little poofs of wind and cool-looking but small, stubby little cyclones.
Storm Owl is just silly.
Air Man instantaneously forms MASSIVE WALLS OF MINIATURE TORNADOES AND CAN DO IT ONCE EVERY COUPLE SECONDS

Gravity Beetle has a lot of flashy effects and can pull you around.
Gravity Man can completely reverse the gravitational pull of anything around him for many meters, severely damaging anything that his weapon can't outright send into space.
Galaxy Man, with a similar weapon to how Beetle's actually works, can create miniature black flippin' holes, not just little gravity wells.

Chill Penguin is actually pretty cool and can make huge blizzards, cute ice penguins and slide and stuff.
Chill Man is even cooler can jump into the middle of the screen, go all Matrix on you and let loose barrages of ice missiles.

Frost Walrus is a big fat slow thing that's impossible not to be able to easily dodge given the ridiculous maneuverability you have in the X series.
Frost Man is GONNA CRUSH YA if you don't spam his weakness.

Spark Mandrill lights up like Lite Brites and climbs around the room like a monkey, sometimes punching the floor and making little sparklies appear.
Spark Man continually assaults you on his freaking impossibly-terrained room with a constant barrage of both saturating mini-spark barrages and massive balls of raw electrical energy thrown in your general direction.

Blast Hornet shoots bees.
Hornet Man shoots far, far cuter bees.

etc

[CutmanMike]

Robot Masters of course are the better choosing. They all have a simple design, not too much detail too them. For me less is more. Capcom doesn't shove personalities, details and traits down your throat when all you've got to work with is a blue robot with yellow arms and legs and a fan for a mouth. You make it up in your head what they look and sound like. The mavericks (and later robot masters) are full of detail, have their own (usually retarded) back story and most worse of all, their own voice.

Also Mavericks are dumb because they're designed after animals, usually with no rhyme or reason other than ITS THE FUTURE SO WE SAY SO

[Max]

I hate maverick's names.

What the fuck is a Hynard? A Hyena?

EDIT: Don't let me forget about Bamboo Pandemonium... *sigh*

[TrueTenguMan]

I have more respect for the bots in the zero series and Zx series for reasons unknown, though the X series is obvious... nothing of interest.

The Robot masters give more of a sense of imagination and allows us to put them in multiple scenarios ((Romance, drama, humor, etc...)) so I prefer them over anything new gen. Or more briefly, they're simplistic and to the point.

[tsukiyomaru0]

What I liked in Robot Masters:
Design, voices (in cartoon and MM8), abilities, stages, themes.

What I disliked in Robot Masters:
Most of them didn't react much to their weaknesses, the overused "man" at the end of their name, the designs used in MM10.

What I liked in Mavericks:
Being based on anything other than humans, melee abilities for Zero, charged attacks, SOME stage themes.

What I disliked in Mavericks:
Some of them had an annoying voice, too many patterns (in some cases), sometimes the ability they gave didn't match the weapon. Ah, and they are slave of Sigma that is slave to Nightmare Virus that came from guess who?

[TrueTenguMan]

... Ah, and they are slave of Sigma that is slave to Nightmare Virus that came from guess who?

Cept that in Mega Man X 1 they joined Sigma instead of be under the influence of the virus ((storm eagle reluctantly joined only because he failed to stop Sigma and became loyal to him.))

[Ivory]

Question seems a bit silly. Your asking a forum of people who are playing a classic megaman fangame what they prefer!
I have to go with Robot Masters. Mostly because I grew up with them first and I lost interest in the X Series after X3. The designs were far more simpler...and they didn't have those annoying reactions to weaknesses that make them easier than they needed to be.

[Mr. X]

Robot Masters.  If they didn't start screwing up the names of the Mavericks in X5 and beyond, I'd pick them hands down.  Now, it doesn't matter if they look cooler, they have dumb as Hell names now that I can't take seriously.  The Skiver?  WTF?

[TrueTenguMan]

The Skiver?  WTF?

As homage towards the band Guns n Roses, each maverick was named after each member. Hence the names:

Saul "Slash" Hudson=Grizzly Slash (Original: Crescent Grizzly)
Steven Adler=Squid Adler (Original: Volt Kraken)
Izzy Stradlin=Izzy Glow (Original: Shining Hotarunicus)
Duff McKagan=Duff McWhalen (Original: Tidal Makkoeen)
Michael "High in the Sky" Monroe=The Skiver (Original: Spiral Pegacion)
Axl Rose=Axle the Red (Original: Spike Rosered)
Dizzy Reed=Dark Dizzy (Original Dark Necrobat)
Matt Sorum=Mattrex (Original: Burn Dinorex)

Technically these are the American names so... yeah

[copycat]

Duff McWhalen

That's an actual Maverick name?  I thought it was just one of those strange nicknames/insults the Internet cooked up, like Fumbles McStupid or Angry McPointy.

...wow, it's true.

Erm... to contribute to the topic, then.  I think that the capabilities of the protagonists affect how challenging the Robot Masters or the Mavericks are, but I've only played Mega Man X so I can't really comment on Mavericks anymore than someone who has only played the original Mega Man can comment on Robot Masters.  The first attempts at each of these groups of bosses probably aren't representative of the challenge posed by later ones, since I don't know everything the protagonists could do in the X series.  

That said, designs may be a bit more interesting when dealing with the limitations of previous hardware.  I certainly like the details on Robot Masters such as Dive Man and animations they have been able to work into sprites for Robot Masters such as Toad Man and Nitro Man.  Then again, they were able to add a little extra touch with Launch Octopus in MMX with that prefight pointing with one of his arms.  I wish that Ring Man had done something like that to cement his purpose.  I guess the one thing I can say is there were far more Robot Masters' without voices than Mavericks without voices.  I prefer that.  Too easy to pick a grating English voice cast.

...seriously, Duff McWhalen??  I just can't get over that.

[Ivory]

And that's why I go by the Japanese names for the X5 Mavericks.

[Korby]

They're named after band members of Guns 'n' Roses.

[TrueTenguMan]

They're named after band members of Guns 'n' Roses.

I said that...

As homage towards the band Guns n Roses, each maverick was named after each member. Hence the names...

See? All there and pretty :3

[Mr. Sean Nelson]

Not that it is hugely controversial here, but I would certainly say that the robot masters are better villans. If nothing else, they are modeled after humans and are therefore personable. It is much more interesting to fight a humanoid robot than one modeled after an eagle, or a centipede, or a rhino for no good reason. But my reasoning is also jaded due to my dislike of the X-series main character. X is a pussy. Mega Man destroyed robots all the time, humanoid robots, and he didn't seem all THAT preturbed about it. X gives the player a sickeningly unrealistic melodrama with every game.