Roll, Mayl and Luna need to watch out as a new rival idol group is out for their spot!  In other news, while my ability to dutifully work on full updates is still curtailed by my current situation, it does seem I'll be able at least moderate comments. So comment away as they are opened again~

              A bonus mini update for those of you who still visit during this site's down period (you fellows are actually spiking up the hit counter!) .  I was fortunate enough to end at a place with web access for the night, and I was saving this for the anniversary of Megaman Universe's cancellation a year ago anyways.  Imagining the wacky misadventures Rock and the Megas could of had together does make me lament the lost of that title.

           Well things got sped up, so the site is closing up on the comments and update front starting from TODAY until April 16th.  Though I'm going to be busy with errands though most of the time, hopefully I'll have a stockpile stuff ready for the website when I return.  Take care~

           Ryusei No Rockman's Yashibu Town is a fairly interesting place. A bustling commercial district with it's giant revolving Moai-esque statue, department store that houses a whole event hall on the roof, and a statue of a dog named "Bachi" that serves as a meeting point.  While the general oddities may make this area seem like a spontaneous original creation, its name is a mere one syllable location alteration of Tokyo's Shibuya, the area's busiest shopping district.  And this gives new context to that strange dog statue meeting spot,...

            Our story goes back to 1923.  Being the 8th in his litter, a Akita puppy was born into the name of Hachiko (ハチ公)  and was adopted by Ueno Hidesaburoh.  While not the only dog the professor owned,  the two appear to be particularly close.  Ueno worked as a professor at the Imperial University's Agriculture Department, a short distance away from his home in Shibuya.  So each morning the professor would make his way to the Shibuya Train Station for his daily commute. Ever the loyal dog, Hachiko would accompany his master on his walk to the station.  And at the day's end,  Hachiko would return to the station to "pick up" his master, accompanying him on his journey home.  It was a sweet regular routine for the two.

            That is until one day, the routine abruptly stopped.  On May 21st 1925, the professor had suffered a stroke and sadly passed away at the University. The loyal dog who saw his master off that morning never saw him return.  But he continued to wait for him. From that day forward, Hachiko would return to the train station and spend his day loyally waiting for his master. Regardless of the weather, and despite attempts by caretakers trying to keep him away, Hachiko would always return to the station and wait til the last train of the day, hoping to one day see his beloved master again.

               This faithful practice went on for days, weeks, months, and eventually years. Naturally the commuters and station workers took notice of the dog oddly consistent visits. A former student of Ueno would learn of the dog, and started to spread Hachiko's story of devotion.  And after newspapers picked up on the former student's articles, people started flocking to the station to see the dog's daily steadfast vigil.   In honor of the dog's faithfulness, a bronze statue was erected in front of Shibuya Station in March 1934.  Since it was at the station, Hachiko was naturally at the unveiling.

           It would be another year before Hachiko would finally succumb to failing health.  The dog was found dead in 1935, a victim to cancer and worms from living on the streets near the station.  While his decade's long is now at it's end, his legend lives on to this day. He has been dubbed "Faithful Dog Hatchiko" (忠犬ハチ公), a symbol in Japan of what human loyalty should stride to be.  Along with the statue, an shrine to the dog has been built near his owner's grave. And his account has been retold in story countless times.  Most recently a Hollywood Movie staring Richard Gere had been produced by Sony pictures, though resetting the story in modern times United States.  And of course, bringing us back full circle, A thinly veiled "Bachi" statue in Ryusei no Rockman's Yashibu town.

          Today, March 8th 2012, is the 77th anniversary of Hachiko's death.  If you find yourself in playing Ryusei no Rockman sometime in the near future, I do implore you to pay "Bachi" the respect his inspiration deserves.

                 An upgrade of the original Speed Melody by 名波.  Now it also includes Rockman Megaworld and Rockman 9 music!

             Before the combat armament, before a nefarious scientist's bid world domination, and before the introduction of the Industrial Robots, there were the Household Helper Robots.  Named Rock and Roll, these two little robots were modeled after human children of the approximate age of 10 years to handle and assist in domestic tasks.  Rockman's story narrative rests it's center on this fact. But if the goal was to accomplish household chores and duties, why would anyone build mechanical children?

           If you look at today's real world modern household robots, they are streamlined machines built to accomplish tasks in the most efficient means possible.  No extraneous input receivers, extravagant processing or pointless decorative output.  Just modular mechanical actuators providing the bare minimal movement necessary to carry out a job, and the most straight forward of probability algorithms for determining how to do it.  But Rock and Roll are on the far opposite end of the spectrum of that.

           Going over all the official reference books, a reason is never explicitly given for the excessively human adolescent forms.  All that is ever said is that Rock and Roll were "just" brought to life one day and spent their days with their creator, Dr. Thomas Right.  While that would end the curious issue for some, it has left space for fans of the Rockman narrative room to speculate. After all, even in fiction, nothing happens "just cause".

           A popular theory I've seen floating around is that Rock and Roll are "Replacement Goldfish", individuals who are used to assume the emotional place of a lost loved one.  Relaying this back to the cause for mechanical children being built, Dr. Right would have (in theory) at one time had children, but they met some sort of unfortunate untimely demise .  So in mad scientist fashion, he created robotic facsimiles of them as a outlet for his desire to bring them "back to life" and restore his life to the way it was before their passing.

            As a literary trope in Science Fiction, "Replacement Goldfish" is a popular driving force for all sorts of humanistic creations.  Most notably for this discussion,   Most notibley for this discussion, Tetsuwan Atom, a critical character inspiration to Rockman, credits Atom's original purpose to serve as his creator's own Replacement Goldfish.  As the story goes,  as Head of the Ministry of Science, Dr. Tenma commissions his lab to build a super robot in the likeness of his deceased son Tobio.  The super robot abilities were so that the prodigy could never be taken away from him by a mere accident, like the way a vehicular accident had taken the life of Tobio. 

           Also worth mentioning, the Rockman Franchise does already have a couple Replacement Goldfish among it's ranks.  Having the biggest impact here, Battle Network's own Rockman.EXE could very well be classified as a sort of Replacement Goldfish.  Those who familiar with the narrative will recall that Rockman.EXE programing stems from the DNA of Dr. Hikari's dead son, Netto's twin brother Saito.  (as hair-brained a concept as that actually is,..)

            But these don't really give much solid footing in terms of codifying an answer for "why mechanical children?" to Rock and Roll.  As convincing as those examples may sound, they are rather tangential.  What is important for this theory to hold weight unfortunately is something hard to just wedge in. The elaborate family man back-story and sad tragic deaths, have never been remotely hinted at.  If they were central motivations to Dr. Right's work,  it would seem truly unlikely that these facts would be glossed over.

            Also working against it, "Replacement Goldfish" as a theory carries a very ugly side.
It transforms Dr. Right into a broken man chasing the past in mad scientist fashion, and the goal of his life's work is a self-adsorbed fictionalization of his daily life.  Not a pretty picture for the Rockman Series' fatherly backbone character. And it completely throws out the canonical established picture of Dr. Right as a visionary working towards a brighter future for the world.