Bond Man Hitoshi Ariga's rendition of Bond Man. Series Information Appearances: Rockman Tanjou Densetsu

Bond Man (ボンドマン, Bondoman) is a Robot Master that uses a powerful adhesive as weapon, and when used by Mega Man it can stop enemies. Bond Man was created by Keiji Inafune for the first Mega Man game, which was originally planned to have eight stage bosses, but during development the amount of stage bosses had to be cut to six because of limitations, and as seven Robot Masters were already created, one had to be scrapped. Bond Man was removed and the function of his Special Weapon to stop enemies was passed to the Ice Slasher. When Hitoshi Ariga discussed with Keiji Inafune about the content for his 1995 manga story Rockman wo Tsukutta Otokotachi - Rockman Tanjou Densetsu, Inafune mentions Bond Man and describes him to Ariga, who designed him based on Inafune's comments.[1]

When Hitoshi Ariga and Iwamoto Yoshihiro were discussing about the content from the book R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works, Ariga mentions that some original illustrations and sketches, like Bond Man and Ballade's second form, appear to have been lost during the passing of time, which is why they were not included in the book.[2] In a interview in July 2008, Inafune said he considered adding Bond Man in Mega Man Powered Up, but as Bond Man developed a cult status among fans and what could be presented in the game was different than the time he created Bond Man, Inafune decided to create the new bosses Time Man and Oil Man instead and left him as the "legend" he is.

The opening of Sonic Universe #51 (part of the Worlds Collide crossover) shows Dr. Light in the process of building Bond Man until Roll announces that Proto Man is fighting against strange robots. Light mentions that he's had the idea for Bond Man "since the original line", a nod to Bond Man's conceptualization.

Trivia

An additional reason for Bond Man being scrapped may be due to Bomb Man and Bond Man both start with the letter B. This would make it difficult to design the pause menu because in the first two games each weapon is referred to as the first letter of each Robot Master.

References



