My Design A Robot Master Entry: Paozo Man

I’m writing this on New Year’s Day, 2026. However, I’m not publishing it yet, as that’s apparently against the contest rules. So hopefully I can publish it at some point in the future, but for now, I just want to capture my thoughts while they’re fresh.

When Capcom announced Mega Man: Dual Override, they concurrently announced a new Robot Master design contest:

One with an extremely short turnaround time, right smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, with a deadline of New Year’s Day. No pressure, right?

For my part, I wasn’t going to enter. For one thing, as previously chronicled, I’ve been really sick since right after The Game Awards and the announcement.

For another, well, there’s that whole thing where I work with UDON and Nintendo Force and they’re partners with Capcom. But people wanted me to enter when I said I probably shouldn’t, and so I asked, and as a freelancer, I was told I should be in the clear. If not and I’m disqualified, that’s fine. I’ve got other stuff to hang my hat on, like the upcoming release of Mega Man Legends Timelines #1, a week out as I write this. (I’ve already gotten my comp copies.)

One thought kept sticking with me as I pondered what I would enter, though. “Man, that hose arm sure looks like it would be a good elephant trunk to me.”

Then I remembered there was an actual elephant robot with suction powers in Mega Man 9. A little added inspiration from some of my favorite Robot Masters (and NetNavi), and an idea was born…

Paozo Man! So named for the enemy he’s derived from.

Now, if you know me, then you know that in addition to Mega Man, I’m a huge fan of Transformers and Power Rangers. You might even note some music from each making their way into “Legends of the Halcyon Era”, not to mention that the starship Dragon Nova bears a striking resemblance to the white whale I’d been chasing most of my life, Fortress Maximus (at least until I can find someone to do an original design). And then there’s the GunRobos, too.

Oh, and the Autobot necklace I always wear. I guess that’s a tell, too.

And if you know me as a Mega Man fan, particularly on social media, then you might already know who my favorite Robot Masters are, as there’s some overlap there: Turbo Man and Nitro Man (with GyroMan.EXE as my favorite NetNavi).

So yeah. I love transforming robots, I love Robot Masters, and I really love transforming Robot Masters. It all made sense to follow that.

One part that doesn’t get as much representation, though, are the beasts. I love Beast Wars, as well as the more robotic types. So maybe it’s about time we had a transforming beast Robot Master?

The asymmetric design kind of guided things from there. Lio Convoy was the chief inspiration for putting the Paozo head on the shoulder, while others like Mach Kick and Longrack helped fill out the idea of him not having a regular arm, per the contest design specs.

Via Rock Miyabi’s Tumblr

As cool as Turbo Man and Nitro Man are, though, I don’t know how well they’d be able to actually transform without revisions or compromises, if at all. Hitoshi Ariga’s redesign of Turbo Man seems to handle it masterfully, though, and I wanted a design that you could see how one form becomes the other. I didn’t have time to fully refine it to the degree I’d like, but at the very least, I made sure to include the bottoms of his robot mode feet visible on the elephant mode’s left-hand– er, feet. Meanwhile, you can see the front of the elephant feet on the back of the robot mode legs, as well as the tail and back-right leg that forms his other arm.

That left the issue of the remaining elephant leg. I decided to have it rotate up along his back in robot mode to form a sort of mini-cannon, sort of like Generation One Megatron. In this case, I thought it would be a neat way to produce the balls that the Paozo used their trunks to blow back and forth.

I’d have liked to fine-tune it more, but again, time crunch + being sick kind of put the kibosh on that. Besides, even if they chose it, they’re going to refine it, anyway.

For the presentation, the choice was simple: Keep on with the Transformers theme, though with a Mega Man flavor to it. Basically, I based it on the backs of so many Transformers boxes, like this one:

…minus all the stuff at the bottom, that is.

In case you were wondering: Yes, I did have to resist making jokes about how much this Robot Master “sucks”.

And I believe that’s it!

Now to get back to that late episode of “Legends of the Halcyon Era”…

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LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.