Bond Man (ボンドマン Bondoman) is an unused Robot Master who was designed for the first Mega Man game. He was planned to use a powerful adhesive as a weapon, which would grant Mega Man a Special Weapon that could stop enemies. Despite being cut from the game during development, Bond Man has made cameo appearances in other media since then and gathered a fan following.
Summary
Bond Man was created by Keiji Inafune for the first Mega Man, which was originally planned to have eight Robot Masters bosses, but during development the amount of bosses had to be cut to six because of limitations. Bond Man was removed entirely and his ability to freeze enemies was passed to Ice Man and his Ice Slasher. While Oil Man and Bubble Man were both cut as well, they were later used in future installments, unlike Bond Man who remains without an appearance in the series as a legitimate Robot Master.[1]
When Hitoshi Ariga discussed with Keiji Inafune about the content for his 1995 manga story Rockman wo Tsukutta Otokotachi - Rockman Tanjou Densetsu, Inafune mentioned Bond Man and described him. Ariga designed him for his own artwork based on Inafune's comments.[2]
When Hitoshi Ariga and Iwamoto Yoshihiro discussed the content from the book R20 Rockman & Rockman X Official Complete Works, Ariga mentioned 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.[3] 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 boss Time Man and recreate the at-the-time unknown Oil Man instead, leaving Bond Man as the "legend" he is.
Archie Comics
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 in combat with 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 the fact that Bomb Man and Bond Man both start with the letter B. This would interfere with the pause menu design, since in Mega Man each Special Weapon is referred to by an acronym of the Robot Masters' names.
References