Reaverbots

[Arne]

Hello.

I want to bring back some some of the mystery surrounding the Reaverbots. It was ages since I last played the games, so I had to brush up on the story/fluff. Let me know if this setup sounds logical:

MML2 ending spoiler below:

The Elder System was the name for the Reaverbots and a consciousness streaming network of some sort. It was controlled by some kind of Elder Entity with a sinister intent. The Elder System was mentioned by Sera after her defeat, and I think Yuna said that it was booting up again after the Ancient's System had been destroyed.

The Ancients (Master & Co) didn't invent the Reaverbots and network system, they just found it and hijacked it. First they tricked the Elder Entity into falling asleep. Then they assumed control of the Reaverbots and network by creating their own control device.

The Reaverbots were not a threat when tamed, and the new system put in place by the Ancients allowed their minds to be easily transferred into Reaverbot bodies. This effectively made the Ancients immortal. While the Ancients managed to understand some of the Reaverbot technology and even create a few modified versions, their curiosity and creativity died soon after immortality and simulated heaven had been achieved. Also, the Ancients only managed to assume control of some of the more superficial Reaverbots. Deep inside the Earth more powerful variants lay dormant. (I think Yuna said that not even she knew of all the Reaverbot stuff, and she's supposed to be well informed.)

When The System was destroyed at the end of MML2, the Elder Entity awoke and took control of its minions (the Reaverbots).

... Enter the Cthulhubots. Yeah, well, I'm just playing around here, I might post some more serious concepts later.


(Edit:Image update.)



Also, does anyone know for how long Trigger was in stasis (after the Master's death)?

[Chiz]

First off, the relevant text here:
Sera: Whenever the Master looked at me, I detected, a sadness in his eyes. The more I obeyed the System, and tried to serve the Master, the sadder he seemed. Now Trigger, thanks to you, perhaps, perhaps the Master, will also smile at me, as he did at you. [...] At last, I understand. Thank you, Trigger. [...]
Yuna: Don't think you're going to get off that easily, Sera! You were always too stubborn for your own good! If you had a shell, you could transfer your primary programs over, right? Gatts is dead, he died because of your gamble! If you die as well, who will be left to keep me company? You can't fool me, I know you can hear me! Still going to ignore me, then let me tell you something! Now that Elysium is no longer functioning, the old System the Master's people shut down has started to reactivate. It was
your responsibility to monitor it. If you die, and it takes over, the Master's work was for nothing! Do you want that?
Sera (now in Yuna's old body): Do you mean to say that? The Elder's System is becoming active again?
Yuna: There are remnants of that System buried all over Terra in what the carbons call ruins. There's so many even I don't know if how many there are. I doubt they've be fully active soon, but eventually they will. If we don't do anything, just imagine what will happen to Terra and all its people. If the Elders and their machines activate, what will your sacrifice here have been for? What do you say, Sera? Are you up for living with the people the Master left behind? Could be a little wild, but interesting!
Sera: Perhaps it might be worthwhile.

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

The Elder System was the name for the Reaverbots and a consciousness streaming network of some sort. It was controlled by some kind of Elder Entity with a sinister intent. The Elder System was mentioned by Sera after her defeat, and I think Yuna said that it was booting up again after the Ancient's System had been destroyed.

Entities, at least. 'Elders' was definitely pluralized in the end-game discussion.

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

The Ancients (Master & Co) didn't invent the Reaverbots and network system, they just found it and hijacked it. First they tricked the Elder Entity into falling asleep. Then they assumed control of the Reaverbots and network by creating their own control device.

This is all fine and good, but how do you lull a technological system or some other AI to sleep, but still have it active and intact enough to be commandeered by something else? It couldn't possibly be a real person behind the Elder system, as they would've died out long ago...unless you're bringing to question the Master's title of the last human. If the Elders were real people, and their death left the system vunerable to be repurposed by the Master system, then why would the Elder system reactivate? It would simply fall back into an instructionless state.

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

The Reaverbots were not a threat when tamed, and the new system put in place by the Ancients allowed their minds to be easily transferred into Reaverbot bodies.

Wait wait wait...so Reaver Green is people?

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

This effectively made the Ancients immortal. While the Ancients managed to understand some of the Reaverbot technology and even create a few modified versions, their curiosity and creativity died soon after immortality and simulated heaven had been achieved.

Heaven...Elysium?

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

Also, the Ancients only managed to assume control of some of the more superficial Reaverbots. Deep inside the Earth more powerful variants lay dormant.

Why would anyone voluntarily become a Fooroo or a Zakobon?

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

(I think Yuna said that not even she knew of all the Reaverbot stuff, and she's supposed to be well informed.)

She's also lived on a large block of ice and snow with bad weather for the last little while. Would make sense if she was a little behind the times on intel.

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

When The System was destroyed at the end of MML2, the Elder Entity awoke and took control of its minions (the Reaverbots).

Maybe not right away, but definitely within the last decade since the game was released. If the series is real-time, they're pretty much all dead by now.

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

... Enter the Cthulhubots. Yeah, well, I'm just playing around here, I might post some more serious concepts later.
[snip]

It's a pretty good image. I'm assuming the middle one is an Elder system unit?

Still, definitely would like to see more of this sort of thing. Community is always open to new artists, especially ones that post frequently and with a lot of stuff to show. We're big fans of show 'n tell here

Feb 26, 2009 16:03:17 GMT -5 Arne said:

Also, does anyone know for how long Trigger was in stasis (after the Master's death)?

He was in status from the fight with Sera (which was shortly after the Master's death) right up until he was found by Barrell in the Nino ruins. That's all the game tells us.

[duo]

Those are really good! I would love to see some more. The reaverbots have a nice style to them. They look like they'd fit in pretty well with the real mml reaverbots. However, the middle one looks too much like it's from megaman zero...

Could you give a description of what those reaverbots actually do? Their attacks, I mean.

[Arne]

Hi. Thanks for the replies! I'll address the issues brought up in an attempt to patch up my plot.

'Elders' was definitely pluralized in the end-game discussion.

I see. Perhaps the Elders are puppets of an Entity though...

...how do you lull a technological system or some other AI to sleep...

Here's the layout which I use.

- Reaverbots are mechanical bodies (inhabited by minds of various complexity, some Reaverbots have a bit more character).
- Then there's a network, like the internet. Physically it could be wires, wireless routers, etc. It's used for streaming consciousnesses into bodies. In MML1-2 it's used at various points by Juno (transferring to back-up), Sera (into Yuna's body?), Gatz (dragon thing).

Then there's a control thingamajib (hardware or software). The Elders has one, and the Ancients reverse-engineered it to hijack the hardware which was already in place. They somehow locked the Elders out of accessing the Reaverbots via the network. Maybe the Elders were simply tricked that there was a Glacier period which would last for a while. The Elders could be used to bigger timescales. Perhaps they were already asleep, or 'afk'. Even if the Elders woke up, they wouldn't be able to access the network because the control thingamajib of Ancients takes priority. Except now it has been destroyed...

The Elders could be a race which were enslaved by the Entity, or they have become an Entity. They don't need to be a human or something with a physical body. A terrible but undefined Entity would do.

Why would anyone voluntarily become a Fooroo or a Zakobon?

In MML there were "prototype anthro units" tied to the sub-cities. According to my plot, this is where the Ancients developed the humanoid Reaverbots (since they didn't want to be Zakobons). Perhaps they also lived there for a period of time (before moving to Elysium or some processor). Trigger, Sera etc. would be anthro units.

Anthro-, a prefix for having the quality of being human.

If the series is real-time, they're pretty much all dead by now.

Yeah, but it would be a good way to reset Trigger's arsenal. Actually, I'm thinking that he should come back after just a few months (i.e. not real-time). Perhaps he's too late anyways. Some nasty Reaverbots showed up and trashed the place. The islanders fled to a new island in a rag tag airship fleet. This would allow me to make a new setting (game map). It's also possible that Roll had to sell MM's stuff, again!

MM/Yuna/Sera eventually manages to get a shuttle working or one is sent to them. They're shot down by Reaverbots though, losing everything aboard in the crash.

The game would revolve around Trigger collecting parts of his super duper Reaverbot body (something along the lines of what Juno or Sera had). It's the only way to stand a chance against the Elders/Entity.

---

So, as for my timeline then:

- Time of the Elders, possibly stretching back tens of thousands of years.
- The Ancients find the Reaverbot network. Hijacks it.
- The Ancients builds the sub-cities and a new type of human Reaverbot.
- The Ancients migrate to some kind of digital heaven, like Elysium.
- The Master remains human to watch over the system for 3000 years. Gets bored and makes Carbons.
- The Master dies, Trigger is put in stasis.
- *
- Trigger is awaken.

* Didn't Yuna say that she found Roll's mom and took over her (carbon**) body because hers was damaged? Also, didn't the Reaverbots go nuts recently?

** (suggesting that modified carbons can be compatible with mind transfer... she could just have used an implant though.)

---

Left to right on image:

- The Great Race of Yith. It's a homage to the appearance of:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yith
www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2009/02/h-p-lovecraft-at-mountains-of-madness.html

- Just a figure for scale. It could be an anthro prototype.

- Elder Thing. Not necessarily connected with the Elder in my plot. It's a homage to the appearance of:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Thing
www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2009/02/h-p-lovecraft-at-mountains-of-madness.html

(I don't have any stats yet, I just wanted to get started by drawing something, anything.)

---

I have some more images I'm working on. May post soon.

[in·clover]

Nice. Very faithful to the games' style. At least, the ones on the left and the right are, the middle seems a bit out of place. Too organic looking, might fit in better with the Rockman Zero series' Pantheons and Guardians.

[Arne]

Yeah, I'm a fan of the Zero artwork, so there might be some influences there. However, as I have understood it, there are organic Reaverbots (Sera, Gatz, etc.)

Here's a sheet I'm working on. It's just pencil thumbnails which I noodle on in Photoshop until something happens. It's a good idea to keep things rough when trying out things. Polishing too much can 'lock' a design (you don't dare to experiment anymore). One thing which I want to do eventually is to create some structure with heavy/light versions as well as specific roles. I want to stay away from human looking bodies and keep them more alien and odd (except for the very human looking 'anthro' units). So, no Balrog demon shapes for the monster Reaverbots. With #4 I used two arms and two legs, so I decided to use a setup similar to the Fingerii for the body/head to weird things up a bit.

I might update this image later. (Edit: No, I won't. I've made a new one.)

This image now outdated - see a later post (8) for a more recent version.

[in·clover]

!@#$%^&*


Number 8 is my fave.

Feb 27, 2009 16:41:25 GMT -5 Arne said:

Yeah, I'm a fan of the Zero artwork, so there might be some influences there. However, as I have understood it, there are organic Reaverbots (Sera, Gatz, etc.)

Sera's a Mother Unit, Gatz is a Servitor Unit. There's nothing saying they're reaverbots in the game, aside from the Servitors' ability to transform into reaverbots... but yeah. I think that's all open to interpretation, so kudos for clutching that artistic liberty by the balls, and squeezing ever so hard.

Also, welcome. You're my new favorite member. Well, one of my faves. Awesome.

*ThumbsUp*

[Dragge]

I like numbers: 4, 18, 21, and 23. Is 23 supposed to be some sort of new Bonne Gustaff? They are pretty nice looking, all of them as a matter of fact. If there ever is a Legends 3 you should literally be signed on for reaverbot designer!

[Arne]

Huge image. I think I'll update this as I go rather than uploading new ones. Lots of roughs still.

The idea is to do several tiers. The Reaverbots which you run into in MML1 and 2 are kind of superficial and maybe not running at their full potential. The Elders (in my plot) starts to churn out more elite things. Eventually it gets crazy and Trigger has to find and use his purifier body/armour/mobile suit. Remember that even though Juno is just a bureaucrat he's got a pretty massive armour, and Trigger's gear is just scrap parts. Since Trigger is made for Reaverbot demolition he's probably got some pretty phat stuff stowed away somewhere. It could be a nice way to change the scale of the game.

The sub-cities or sub-installations deeper down could have huge mobile factories with a buzzing community around them. Think... Clarke's Rama in terms of mystery feeling. Lots of strange monuments.

LARGE IMAGE

[Musashi]

Wow! This all looks amazing, almost exactly like the official art! I've always had a hard time drawing original reaverbots that didn't look waaay out of place. I especially like the 'Accelerator Head' and Trigger and his 'Purifier' form.

[Arne]

Thanks. I've updated the image in Post 8.

I need to sort the stuff into geographical location. Some Reaverbots could be at several locations, but I don't like when everyone's everywhere. For example, the Mammoths in MML2 seems out of place in Ruins. It's pretty silly with colored hard versions too. Nowadays we don't have the same restrictions on hardware at least. I think Light-Medium-Heavy versions makes the setting more coherent with the designs reinforcing each other. Another thing which can liven up things is to make some characters able to perform different tasks, like operate vehicles, read panels, stand and ponder, etc. The Servebots do this, but also the Zakobon in the first ruin of MML1 (pop out of walls, zoom past, etc). I added a Zakobon Dispenser based on that.

[Arne]

Here's me trying to make sense of the story.

Edit: I made a page for my text-walls because it's more convenient. I've done some illustrations to better clarify the structure of things.

Reaverbot Legends

[Arne]

I'm not sure whether this would be silly (fourth wall) or not. The Servbots did watch Megaman on TV though...

[Dragge]

That would have been hilarous in Legends 2. Bonne machines based off of Megaman enemies!.

[Buster Cannon]

That's pretty much pure awesomeness! I couldn't stand those purple-hopper things in MM1, and seeing a Servbot pilot one would just be plain creepy (but cool). If/when we get a new MML game, they should definitely throw something in there like this, just for nostalgia's sake. Guard Joe Servbots for the win!

Also, I know it's been said before, but your style looks exactly like the MMZ sketch art. I own a copy of Megaman Zero: Official Complete Works, and your art looks exactly like the concept art for the games. Judging by your art, I wouldn't mind if Inticreates did some work on Legends!