Rockman Elysium

I was actually thinking about this this morning because of some concept-work for ZL9; I have been pondering how to incorporate the new explanation about Wily and Zero and the Virus into the story.

Something occured to me, about Wily and Sigma.

When did Wily and Sigma meet? My first remembrance was to say 'sometime between X4 and X5', since Sigma specifically mentions 'the old man in the desert' in that game, but then I second-thought myself. Sigma calls Zero 'the doctor's last' as early as X2, implying he had knowledge of Wily QUITE some time before he came out with it openly to Zero.

Then I started thinking about the whole batshittery with Zero, Sigma, the initial encounter, and the 'jump' of the virus from Zero to Sigma. Of course, we all have that scene memorized, right? We remember the big "W"- which everybody knows is the symbol of Wily- that made Zero break down on the spot.

Now, taking into account that Inafune has said that Wily was 'revived' by the Virus (I think we can also safely assume the virus either merged with him or has in some other way taken on aspects of him) - does this mean that Wily jumped into Sigma at the very beginning, in that first fight?

So the question for me is, why then would he have leapt away from Zero (his CREATION, who it's seeming more and more likely to me really was intended as a Gary Stu power-body for someone- be it the Virus or Wily himself...) to go to Sigma?

Was he in control until Zero forced him out, because (as Inafune says) "he's not that kind of person"?

To me anyway, this is a new question, not a rehash of earlier, because we have a different angle to look at the scene now.

Hmm, hmm... And if Wily moved into Sigma early, how much of what Sigma did after is actually Sigma's fault?

DISCUSS, y'all. :D

So, the Maverick Virus. In canon, it's pretty straight-forward what the virus does; infect reploids and makes them crazy, can affect anything mechanical, can actually alter reality and ... uh ... okay, the Virus in canon makes no sense. Anyway.

But I've seen some really neat fandom ideas of what the virus is or what it can be, and after seeing a few ideas mentioned around I decided to make this post. Basically, round up every neat idea that you've had about the virus and what it's capable of, and maybe Zero's intended purpose if it fits, and post it here!

The only one that I've come up with so far was inspired by an idea of mystery_muse, in which Zero's DNA/the Virus actually overwrites the DNA of any reploid it infects, making them almost identical on the DNA level. My idea from this was that this method actually turns reploids into mini-Zeros, under his command and capable of infecting more reploids. Essentially, Zero could replicate his own ARMY from scratch, turning any potential enemies into his slaves. This ability was partially passed onto Sigma, where he has (somewhat less) sway over any infected reploid.

You got any similar ideas? Fire away!

So, let's talk about Signas.

After the fall of Repliforce he appeared and was given full command of the Hunters. All that we know about him from the canon is that he has 'the most advanced processor of all existing Reploids' and that his capacity is so great that he can manage all the Maverick Hunters as a single cohesive unit.

I have a couple of theories about how this could possibly work (since all of us pretty much laughed off the idea of one Reploid leading the Hunters after the disaster of Sigma's revolution).

In Shirow' Appleseed, Briareos is said to have a 'monster brainstem', similar to that of an octopus. By implication this allows him to process a great deal of information at once and manage multiple add-on attachments effortlessly as if they were part of his own body. With this sophisticated processor, could it be possible that the same is true for Signas, and that the Units are no longer necessary because he can direct numberless Hunters with his own consciousness?

Another thought I have is that Epsilon, in CM, is a failed attempt to create a second Signas by the Federation. For whatever reason, it worked RIGHT the first time... My controversial idea? Signas has been designed to take full advantage of the 'vision' of the Virus.

The Maverick Virus seems to grant extraordinary perception to its victims- we all agree Zero has some degree of inner vision, and Sigma seems to show enhanced intelligence as well in MHX; other Mavericks, notably Snipe Anteator, have shown flashes of this too.

As a result of the fusion of a contained and tamed Maverick Virus and super-accelerated/advanced processors, then, Signas may have artificial precognition. He can quickly process any scenario and determine its ending within moments. This allows him not only to lead the Hunters, but to move them in advance of enemies- to sense the flow of a conflict as it is still forming and make decisions accordingly. It sort of makes him the anti-Sigma...

And it would make sense that the Fed tries to repeat this with Epsilon.

On a tangent, if Federation scientists and the Hunters have managed to create new-generation Reploids that are capable of containing the Virus without being affected (well, if you believe Lumine anyway) then at some point they must have figured out how to leash its powers; why not push that back to the creation of Signas? For that matter, how do we know that Colonel wasn't Signas' prototype?

DISCUSS.:D