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Mega Man Ruby Spears: Bot Transfer Rant
Reviewed: 04/20/2022
The Snake Men Saga Begins!
So, this is episode #9 on the animation paper as we get the body switching trope and the debut of Snake Man; whom unlike Dust Man is going to be a recurring Robot Master for pretty much the rest of the series . How does this episode fare? Let's rant on shall we...?!
Bot Transfer is written by Richard Merwin and was directed by Katsumi Minoguchi.
We begin this episode in the air on an airplane in a fog for some reason. Apparently, the fog has a country map in the foreground as Roll looks out the window while the PA confirms that they will be soon landing in Geneva, Switzerland. More animal cruelty ensues as Roll points out that Rush is in an awful storage compartment and Rock responds by saying it's all okay and they can play with him when the flight is over. This is NOT okay, Rock! Dr. Light checks his watch as they have lots of time before the International Science Conference. Wonder how much time it will take to make sure Rush doesn't turn heel on them when they get to the hotel. Rock is relaxed right now and then we hear panic of the denizens on the flight in the background. Oh, great; are we going to get an airplane hijacking with the pilot being a bible thumper like we did in Chargeman Ken, again?! Thankfully, sort of, Rock gets up, turns around to see Guts Man and Cut Man on the plane; because, of course! Zoom in had no animation whatsoever as Rock asks where did they come from? Answer: Teleportation, Rock; it's obvious this was out of nowhere. Guts Man and Cut Man resort to vandalism as Cut Man once again calls Mega Man a blue dweeb. Of course, Rock is powerless because his buster is too dangerous inside of a plane. So, Rock accuracy sucks so much that he has to restrain. He is a blue dweeb as Roll tells Rock to run interference while she goes to the opposite seats. Rock protests this outrage and then does a barrel roll kick and knocks Guts Man down and Guts Man squashes Cut Man. This is so stupid as Cut Man tries to cut Rock down to size, but Roll redirects the Rolling Cutter right into the luggage compartment panel, it opens and suitcases fall on the heels. Rock then uses a airplane cart of drinks to mow down the heels as Cut Man and Guts Man decide that this is all they can take of Rock and they bail stage left down the elevator. This causes Rock and Roll to panic because Rush is down there. Rock and Roll go down the elevator and we see Rush in an animal cage on top of some cargo barking. I'm shocked Cut Man and Guts Man didn't kidnap Rush, at least not yet anyway. Oh, and the heels are gone as Dr. Light enters and proclaims that they did a clever trick at 36,000 feet. You are giving them way too much credit there, you Santa Claus wannabe.
Rock and Light then notice a chamber pod, which is empty. Rock and Light wonder what this thing is. I'm guessing this is the Bot Transfer device that will ignite the body switching trope part of this episode. Rock is not amused by this device, but the guise of this is that Dr. Light will take it with him to the hotel in Geneva and analyze it. Scene change to Dr. Wily's Castle RS version AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as I wait with baited breath to hear Dr. Wily calls Cut Man a hit of useless chip again. Not quite, but Dr. Wily is pissed off about this failure. We discover that the chamber in question is in fact a transport chamber, so I assume that was used to get into the plane. It was legit teleportation, says I! Dr. Wily proclaims that if Dr. Light finds out, his plan is ruined; so it's clear that the transporter in the background during this scene is going to be used at some point. Dr. Wily goes over to Guts Man and says "here is what we are going to do", and then we head to Geneva, Switzerland as it looks more like a beach resort than Switzerland. They could have easily used a fictional country and no one would care. Pan over to the Grand Hotel where the giant fountation containing a statue of a spartan riding a chariot of tamed lions. That was something else and the water is the only thing animated in this scene. Head inside as Dr. Light is talking to the hotel manager, who other than an accent, is really generic, outside of grey hair in the back. Rock is signing the book as a bellhop, who dresses better than the manager, comes in wheeling in the animal cage containing Rush. Roll opens the cage door and Rush literally tackles Roll down to the ground to lick her face. HA! Rush then swing off a chandelier and does back flips before tackling down the hotel manager. Baloo doing this from Road To Macadamia was far more impressive than Rush doing it, sadly. I did giggle at this anyway. Oh, and the hotel manager was wearing a brown wig and I'm guessing Rush is getting kicked out of the hotel. If you ever want to know why no animals are allowed in hotels, blame Rush for it. The hotel manager looks like a clown now as Rock apologizes for Rush's excitement. Roll puts luggage onto Rush and they walk up as Rush is tamer now. Rock gets the honor of bringing up the teleportation chamber to the hotel room, which came out of nowhere, of course. HAHA! Everyone walks into the hotel room without incident as Rock puts the chamber down on the floor.
The hotel suite looks very generic as well. Dr. Light basically tells everyone to relax as he is going to check on the chamber. Cut to outside as they show Roll at the window and then pan over to a large building that calls themselves the League Of Nations. There is a clear white flag on a flagpole, which in my culture, is the flag of surrender. Although to be fair, there are times where I wish America would learn how to surrender. I discover that the voice over is the bus PA on tour as the building is for the International Science Conference. Cut to a white truck that looks similar to the one in episode #2, therefore; it has to be the heels. The back door opens and we have Cut Man, Guts Man and the debut of Snake Man, who looks like an ugly badass, rather than an handsome badass in the games. It really doesn't matter, since Snake Man is a slave to Dr. Wily anyway. Snake Man is clearly hissing his promos as the heels run out with Guts Man bringing out the transport chamber we saw earlier in Dr. Wily's Castle RS edition. Guts Man notices a conveniently placed gate and it's time for this edition of: CUT MAN IS INCOMPENTENT~! Cut Man cuts the bars and the alarm goes off with Cut Man yelling "This wasn't supposed to have an alarm on it!" I laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed some more. Cut Man being totally clueless about basic security is glorious. Snake Man is not liking this as here comes the bad episode police with their Police Bot. Just to note: Google Switzerland Police Force and check the uniforms. They don't wear the same clothes as the American Police force, Richard Merwin. Las Vegas would have been a better place for the International Science Conference if you cannot understand Swiss culture. Guts Man tackles two officers down and Cut Man uses a Rolling Cutter to take a power pole down on the police force. Alarm sounds continue as we head inside Dr. Light's room and see Rock checking a laptop computer in 1994 proclaiming that the building is called the Palace of Nations. Rock wants to go with Rush and somehow, Rush gets much bigger on the transformation. Size proporation is not this show's strong suit either, it seems. Head to ground level with the American looking cops in Switzerland shooting their guns and using laser sounds because no bullets are allowed.
The reason TaleSpin's gunplay was shocking was not because it existed, it's because of (a.) how much of it was present, (b) they actually animated bullets instead of flashes in many of the scenes and (c) used actual gun sounds instead of laser sound effects in most episodes. Also, DISNEY~! Guts Man takes the chamber as Snake Man and Cut Man shoot their weapons at the police, struggling. Oh, and here comes Rock and Rush from behind to make the heels look even dumber than when Cut Man first started this. The heels turns around and shoot their weapons and Search Snake and Rolling Cutter suddenly shoot straight. Yeah, that was dumb as Rock dodges all. Rock and Rush land and hide behind a giant globe sphere like structure and Rock fires. Rock's face during firing is comedy gold! Snake Man shoots a snake into the metal bar and the snake eats said bar. Rock thinks he's won and then another blaster destroys the metal on the other side and Rock and Rush dodge. Out of nowhere, is Proto Blues Man because of course. Rock threatens to kill Proto Man (yeah, sure blue dweeb); but Guts Man has two police officers and he's ready to be a cop killer. The heels surround Rock and Rush as Rock asks for any ideas. Rush gets a creepy music close up and that ends the segment six and a half minutes in. So far, this has been an inoffensive episode with Cut Man being Cut Man, and Rush being Rush. Both in show and the eyecatcher. Never grows old.
After the commercial break; we get a closeup of Blues' face as his shades light up like a blue dweeb. Blues orders Rock to surrender and Rock puts his hands up saying that he has no choice but to surrender. HA! America would never do something like that, which is why the country is often considered ugly. Guts Man puts throws the officers away and I'm not sure if that helped them or hurt them. Rock then notices the conveniently placed tour bus at the Palace of Nations. Rock then decides to change his mind and just hop away stage right, making the heels look like dumbasses. The heels all fire their weapons at Rock as Rock and Rush get into the bus. Rock puts on his seatbelt off camera, so he can be safe. Now, someone in the comment sections claimed that there are no seatbelts on the bus. This is not true, since Rock is driving the bus! The driver seat does have a seatbelt and is required to buckle up. You can argue the hypocrisy of the driver being able to buckle up and not anyone else, outside of wheelchairs, but come on now! Rock shoots at the heels and Proto Man says directly into the hard camera: What is the world coming to when you cannot even trust your own brother?! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Psychological projection much there, Blues?! Rock is shooting some more and a woman in yellow is cheering him on with a man in cyan blue. Rock acts like he knows them for some reason. That also made me laugh. The man claims that it's more fun than sight seeing and Rock is called a Blue Man. If he paints the non-blue parts blue, he would make a good contender of the Blue Man group, as their personal bodyguard. Not you, Ken Izzy! No one can take you anywhere without shooting someone in the back. More shooting and driving over bushes makes Gregory Weagle something something as the heels hide behind the globe. Snake Man thinks they can take Rock on, and another shot beckons. Proto Man just buried Snake Man on boosting his IQ. Yup, Dr. Wily needs more humble chips in Proto Man's brain. Proto Man realizes that the chamber is unguarded, so all the heels bail with the chamber into the white truck. Blues apparently got Elec Man's weapon for some reason even though Elec Man is not in this episode and uses the bolt beam to flatten one of the buses' tires. Rock is forced to stop as the white truck bails stage left. The woman in yellow was not amused by this as the two American police officer thank Rock for the rescue.
Rock is grateful, but he suspects the heels will come back as usual and that is that. Scene change to the hotel suite with an outside window as Dr. Light continues to fix and analyze the chambers; but he's getting nowhere on that front. Rock is happy as Roll is using a wheel to rub Rock's back. I swear that this is what Roll is doing, and she's happy to do this. I also love that Rock was considered dirty when he looked clean in the entire scenes he was in. This sounds like a back rub to me. Dr. Light has a white card as Dr. Light appears to need some sleep, so Rock suggests he get some sleep. Rock examines the card; which is clearly a circuit board when Rock rotates it. Dr. Light leaves to go to sleep. Scene change to Dr. Wily Castle RS version as Dr. Wily is pissed off because he foiled him twice and that is twice too many. Dr. Wily is in his lab talking to his Robot Masters on the computer; and Blues points out that Dr. Wily told them that it wasn't supposed to have an alarm on it. Again, if Cut Man is incompentent, then so is Dr. Wily by proxy and here's another demonstration of such incompentence. Dr. Wily ignores it anyway because he has a Krackpotkin Plan and it involves Rock directly. No mistake this time as we scene change to a dark bedroom as Dr. Light is asleep in blue pjs. Dr. Light is snoring as Rock checks him at the door and tells Dr. Light to sleep well, before closing the door. Jump cut to the suite near the window as Rush is playing Space Invaders on the laptop, badly. Roll is doing something, but the animation doesn't tell me anything right now. Roll accuses Rush of cheating and Rush just laughs it off. Yeah sure, Roll. In comes Rock to protest this because of noise pollution waking up Dr. Light. Then an antique golden white telephone on a shelf rings and Rock is confused. Rock answers the phone and some scientist named Dr. Bolov is wanting to talk to Dr. Light. Rock realizes who it is, but "Dr. Bolov" wants to talk outside the hotel suite because it's not safe. By the way, 2:1 odds that the guy in the phone booth outside is either Cut Man or Proto Man in a disguise that wouldn't have fooled me. The red hands give this away. The guise of this is for Rock to meet "Dr. Bolov" in the old town in ten minutes. Rock agrees to it carte blanche and hangs up the phone. This is not going to end well for the blue dweeb. Head into the old town with Rock walking ground like he's in a Scooby-Doo episode...Oh, wait. Scooby-Doo stuff is a motif of Richard Merwin I should note. Rock then calls out for Dr. Omlov for some strange reason and out comes Dr. Blues Omlov from the shadows and tells Rock to follow him. Rock is confused as Dr. Omlov doesn't want to be followed. Then we get a whiplashing jump cut to another shot of the old town as Rock and the "doctor" are walking down town now. The music cut to something else was really jarring here. Wonder if there was a scene they had to snip out for time reasons?
Rock and "doctor" go into a building and then go upstairs. They head into a dark room with cartoon lighting and the "doctor" shows off the transport chamber and anyone who has been paying attention to this episode knows where this is going now. Rock examines the chamber and the "doctor" pushes Rock into the chamber and seals it up. Rock gets up, protests this outrage and the "doctor" reveals himself as Proto Man. I'm so sad, I wish it was Cut Man. That would have been funnier. Blues brings out a television cellphone and on the monitor is Dr. Wily loving life as Guts Man, Cut Man and Snake Man enter with Guts Man pulling a cord to turn on the lights. Suddenly, there is a THIRD chamber and Snake Man gets into that one and that chamber is sealed. Wait, what?! Proto Man pushes the password sequence which is 025A. Yawn, I have heard worse passcodes then this. Blue Wii light engulfs both chambers and Rock is now in Snake Man's body and Snake Man is in Rock's body. Personally, this makes a lot more sense than most body switching episodes since they are robots anyway, so kudos for that, I guess. Although by the time this episode aired, the bloom was off the rose on this angle. In an amazing sequence of events: Neither one has the voice of the other, and that's even better in hindsight because having their voice in the other would have to assure that everyone who is not affected acting stupid to make the plot work. No need to do that here. Besides, Rock and Snake Man are voiced by the same person anyway. So, for the purposes of this rant: Rock is now Rock Snake and Snake Man is now Snake Rock. Rock Snake even keeps his hissing lisp and I'm sort of sad that they did because they need to have a cue in order for the babyfaces to figure out that Rock is in Snake Man's body and not have it seem to be out of nowhere. Otherwise, this is better than A Baloo Switcheroo so far. Rock Snake bails to find Dr. Light and Snake Rock and the heels laugh it up and love life because Dr. Light cannot save him now.Scene change to the park with the globe structure as Rock Snake is running and looks blown up. Rock Snake is pleading for help as four police bots see Snake Man and shoot black flashes at Rock Snake, showing that they are bullets and just cannot animate them properly. Also, the sound effects sound less like lasers now. Rock Snake bails and ducks under a structure pleading for this stop because he's Mega Man. The fact that he's panicky is actually a great non-verbal cue that Rock Snake is telling the truth, but no one cares about that sort of thing anymore since TaleSpin did that much better than this show, sadly. This ends the segment 12 and 1/2 minutes in.
After the commercial break, Rock Snake realizes that this is futitle as we get a laughable logic break, with two of the police bots turning into American Police Officers. Even funnier, there is no animation and the scene looks like they are shooting flashlights out of their pistols over and over again. Sigh. Rock Snake bails into the bushes and even the police are confused that he didn't once try to fight back, another non-verbal cue that Rock Snake is telling the truth that he's really Mega Man in Snake Man's robot skin. The officers are stalking Rock Snake for a while as one of the officers is wearing the SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT, because of course he is. Douglas Benson was much cooler than you, sir. Rock Snake uses the Search Snake weapon on a the trunk of a conveniently placed tree and it timbers down in front of the offices as it's now three police bots and one human officer. Rock Snake not wanting to hurt the officer is understandable since he's not a murderous asshole and it's all a misunderstanding, so the decision is not the usual BS&P one. The human officer climbs over the tree and is fuming as he invokes an APB on Rock Snake as Rock Snake goes backwards into the bushes deeper and that is that. We head to Wily's Castle again as Dr. Wily is doing the happy dance in his lab and loving life as the Robot Masters and Snake Rock are staring at him life "Why?". The best part of this was Dr. Wily pulling on his own hair in victory. That made me laugh. Like I said, when this show is good, it's really good. When it bad, it's hideously hilarious. Dr. Wily then orders Snake Rock to go to Dr. Light's hotel suite and remove the chamber. Then bring it to the conference door at the Palace of Nations and plant it in the conference room. When the show starts, the other Robot Masters come in and kidnap the scientists and teleport them to Skull Fortress. Why does he need to kidnap the scientists? I hope this gets explained, but I doubt it. Oh, and Dr. Wily blows them off before turning off the monitor after the heels agree without incident. Because Dr. Wily is a psychopath with cluster B traits in the maligant department. Basically, Dr. Wily is kidnapping them to get ransom money to build his empire for world domination. Which I guess is his wicked work according to Dr. Wily.
Scene change to the Grand Hotel with the most generic logo I have ever seen, making the place look totally not memorable. A truck backs up near the loading dock as two robots wearing banana yellow baseball caps open the back of the truck and out comes Rock Snake running into the hotel wanting to see Dr. Light as we scene change to Rock Snake in the hallway about to open up Room 32, which is where the babyfaces were staying in said hotel. Rock Snake knocks on the door and Roll answers it. I just love that Roll knows who Snake Man is despite this being Snake Man's debut. That made me laugh. So, Rock Snake blocks the door closing and heads in. Roll, Rush and Dr. Light are not buying any of this as Rock Snake is pleading and the fact that he's pleading and not trying to hurt should have been a clue that this is really Mega Man, but of course not. Dr. Light has his cellphone signaller to signal for Mega Man, who is Snake Rock of course. Rock Snake goes head over feet backwards over the balcony and free falls. Rock Snake falls into a dumptruck of dirt and is driven away stage right. Roll is frustrated that Rock Snake got away as Roll and Rush thank each other anyway. In comes Snake Rock proclaiming that he got the emergency signal. They exchange notes for a while and Snake Man's impression of Rock is dead on, outside of looking more evil than usual. It helps when Snake Man and Rock have the same person voicing them. So, we scene change as the babyfaces are asleep now and Snake Rock finds the circuit board and places it in the chamber as the babyfaces are in for a surprise tomorrow. Head outside to the Palace of Nations as Rock Snake is hiding behind a dumpster and he's this close to stealing Newton Two-Two's catchphrase from The Mighty Hercules. Rock Snake jumps into the empty dumpster and decides to hide out until morning. Morning arises as a bunch of brown cars drive onto the driveway outside of the Palace of Nations. We head inside to the conference room as the International Science Conference begins with Dr. Light as the main guest speaker of the show. Dr. Light proclaims that they will begin in a few moments as we cut to outside with Rock Snake getting out of the dumpster and I wondered where Sting stole his catchphrase from for WCW and beyond. Rock Snake goes up the catwalks and stairs and goes into a window and inside the building. Man, the security here is awfully lax.
Scene change to inside the front door as Snake Rock brings in the transport chamber and the security guard is like "okay". Snake Rock wheels the chamber in, stops, pushes the number "four" and Wii blue lights engulf the chamber. The panel opens and out comes Guts Man and Cut Man, then they stand back and more Wii blue lights engulf the chamber without pushing buttons to reveal Blues. Blues is loving this irony as Rock wants to give the scientists a free vacation as prisoners at Skull Fortress. Snake Rock pulls down a rope, I'm guessing that it opens a curtain to reveal Snake Rock, Cut Man and Guts Man to Dr. Light and the scientists. Dr. Light screams no, and throws his gravel at Guts Man, Guts Man totally no-sold this. Snake Rock orders everyone into the chamber as Cut Man uses the Rolling Cutter to smother the scientists with a cloth that reads "United Nations Science Conference", at least this only happened once and not multiple times like in Wizard Land from Teddy Ruxpin. The heels take the scientists away except for Dr. Light as Roll cannot believe this is happening and Dr. Light realizes that Rock Snake was in fact Mega Man and even figured out how Dr. Wily did it, making the babyfaces look like complete morons. Rock Snake swings like Tarzan and Roll cannot believe that Rock is such a snake. HA! Snake Rock blows him off because I'm in Rock's body and I'm OP'ed. Rock Snake agrees with him; but since Snake Rock's cover is blown, that means Rush has zero problems getting in from behind Snake Rock and in front of the open chamber and Rock Snake pushes Snake Rock into the chamber and gets in informing Roll of the passcode. Roll closes the panel, types 025AE and the E button is "Enter" which was not pushed earlier. Blue Wii beams engulf the chamber and the heels all panic because their plan is dead now. They throw the scientists away as the chamber opens to reveal both robots coming out and they now do the "Who's Who" angle. Here is how it should have been booked: All sides cannot tell who is who, Rock trips Snake Man as a tease that it didn't work and then do WEAPON GET~! Neither robot should have said a word because the WEAPON GET~ sequence is the best way to tell who is who. Nope! Snake shoots Search Snake into a sanbag tied to rope and that's how to tell them apart. DUMB! Rock then trips Snake Man and we do the WEAPON GET~ sequence.
They had a perfect non-verbal cue way to create suspense and make this work and Richard Merwin didn't give the kids enough credit to think nothing had changed when it actually did. Cut Man gets his blades cut off by Search Snake in the process and most of the heels bail, except for Guts Man. Guts Man wants to fight, but Rock uses Search Snake again to cut the sandbag attached to the rope and then crushes Gut Man's head into his body like a Darkwing Duck cartoon wannabe and he bails in the chamber with the rest of the heels. Blue Wii beams ensue, so Rock shoots the chamber to destroy it and that is that, although Dr. Light's eyes might need checking after this light show. Dr. Light is relieved that this is over as he grabs his gravel and returns to the podium as the scientists return to their seats unharmed. Everyone pops for the real Mega Man for saving the day as we return to Dr. Light's residence as I'm groaning because this has to end with Rush doing something stupid. Dr. Light is creating a jamming device in his lab to prevent Dr. Wily from using the transporters ever again. Okay, that makes sense, as Rock is relieved for not being a snake despite the transporters being a good device used for an evil purpose. And the episode ends right there at 24:00 approx. Good, having Rush do something stupid at the end is old and played out anyway. Dumb finish aside, this was one of the better body switching episodes I have seen in this time period. **** (80%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Well, this was one of best episodes in the series thus far. Outside of some really hilarious dumb stuff like American police officers in Switzerland and the usual Cut Man being Cut Man (although Dr. Wily is really at fault here, make no mistake); this is one of the best body swapping episodes I have ever seen and in many respects, it was done better than A Baloo Switcheroo. Mostly because they actually kept the robot voices the same and reduced it to non-verbal cue. Although, having the babyfaces look dumb near the end having them get it instead of the non-verbal cues and actions of Mega Man in Snake Man's body. I guess that was too complex for kids at the time. There were times when the animation looked silly and the finish would have better with none of the robots talking and just have Mega Man do his weapon get sequence outright; however, there were a lot of funny moments in this episode. Proto Man's fourth wall breaking, Roll calling Rock a snake and Cut Man being Cut Man made this probably the most entertaining episode of the series so far. It was far from boring and I enjoyed it for the most part. So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.