Bonus Blog: Duo scaling and Evil-Justice Duality

Flip: Hey! A quick note before we begin, this blog wasn't done by us, but by our friend Migue. We are simply hosting it on Blogger given our friendship and continuous support, but all credit goes to him. Credits to the lovely L.A.D. for the killer edits (as always). Without further ado, let's hear the man.

 

Mikha'el: Hello, everyone! Mikha’el here to bring you all another MM8 document. This time I will NOT be re-evaluating the accursed Duo feats again. Instead, I will do something far more interesting and more unique than before, and that is examining the lore behind Evil Energy and Justice Energy, the implications that the complete lore brings about and its impacts on the outlook of Duo scaling for the Robot Timeline. Take a cup of coffee or tea for this because it will be quite a read.

About Evil Energy and Justice Energy

Both of these energies are of alien origin and are naturally opposed (good vs evil lol). They are both implied to be different variants of a white alien energy that possesses a lot of power even in an infinitesimal amount and can be colored with good or evil. However, despite their implied similar origins, they both operate differently in a notable fashion.

To begin with, they both have different ways to be wielded: Energy of Justice can be wielded by those that have a virtuous heart/spirit as a result of it weaponising the good in people, while Evil Energy can be wielded by those with evil hearts/spirits due to enticing/encouraging evil thoughts in the target and even taking root in them - both consequently giving this energy the ability to possess the target.

 

Due to the repelling nature of these energies, those with enough Energy of Justice can resist Evil Energy’s ability to possess the target so long as their good will is >= Evil Energy’s ability to augment evil intents as shown by Duo resisting Evil Robot’s Evil Energy attack. Otherwise, they risk dying at the hands of Evil Energy as shown by Mega Man almost dying from Evil Robot’s Evil Energy possessing him until Duo gave him more Justice Energy. In addition, those with Justice Energy can resist Evil Energy’s ability to absorb energy.

 

Curiously, both have similar ways to propagate: both can use the minds/spirits that they absorb and use it to multiply, with the other units propagating to other minds/spirits. This is not only told with Evil Energy propagating across the planet, but also showcased with Bass having Energy of Justice in MM2:TPF despite never being explicitly given to him.

 

Lastly, these energies are explicitly stated to be far above the whole of Earth’s civilization prior to Mega Man 8, and this civilization is capable of feats such as making teleporters/space shuttles that can take you to exoplanets in interstellar space, having space equipment that can destroy entire asteroids, creating planet-sized battle stations with curvature-spanning cannons that can warp space-time via sheer AP and planet-busting bombs, creating alternate dimensions, etc. In fact, if Evil Energy’s propagation wasn’t stopped, the Earth would’ve been destroyed and this cosmic energy would’ve continued to threaten the whole universe. And Duo and Evil Robot’s clash and chase getting cosmic results are self-explanatory.

 

As a result of these energies being incredibly powerful, those that use this energy receive huge stat amps, with mere infinitesimal amounts providing amps of up to hundreds of times even to fodder robots with the fodder bot one-shotting Rush. As one can see, with all these implications appraised, something is obviously going to change for the scaling. So let’s discuss that.

Scaling Implications

So, with all this information appraised, the implications is that narratively Duo and Evil Robot are far above everything Earth’s civilization has built, and those that use their energies get colossal stat buffs. So how do the protagonists play into this?

 

Well, at first glance, it’s a bit weird. Rock can defeat the 8 Robot Masters who are powered by these energies. He also beats Bass too with this Evil Energy amp + Treble Boost. And lastly, he ultimately defeats Wily Machine Number 8 which is powered by Evil Robot’s Evil Energy. And all these with seemingly no justifications. So… what gives?

 

Well, this is the part where I am gonna blow your mind. And I won’t beat around the bush about this either. Basically… Rock -from the moment Duo arrived to Earth- got his mind/spirit on a part of Duo’s Energy of Justice (yeah, another case of translations being context ignorant lol). So, all along -throughout this game and onwards-, Rock had this colossal amp on him the whole time which allowed him to defeat Evil Energy amped beings, with him getting more Justice Energy just to purge the Evil Energy from his body. And as stated before, Bass also has it in MM2:TPF. This all perfectly explains why Mega Man and Bass are both implied to be comparable to Duo in the 10 Year History Book despite the narrative suggesting Evil and Justice Energies being >>>>> everything before MM8.

 

But what about all the other characters from MM2:TPF, including Proto Man? Well, Proto Man is definitely also powered up, so he can just be argued to have Justice Energy as well given he’s pretty close to both Mega Man and Bass, sharing their sense of justice and good too. And the other Robot Masters in the “Power Fighters”? Well, they’re amped too. With what, you might ask? The “energy from that time” (localised as Alien Energy), more specifically the parts Dr. Light had (which the 4 heroes can use too) as well as the research he had on the white energy. 

 

Dr. Wily at the beginning of the game stole both this energy and the research with his mechs. Given what we saw him do with this kind of stuff in MM8, it’s natural to say they got upgraded with this stuff. And given -for the most part (though this particular ending is admitted to go against certain mainline characterisation)- they kept these upgrades after the games? All subsequent Robot Masters from MM&B and onwards would scale normally. X and Zero would all still upscale massively above even Duo due to Duo being comparable to Mega Man and Bass with these amps, and Zero is still stated to be far above them.

 

Unfortunately, of the RMs that existed before MM8, not many actually scale to Duo (except those that reappear in SAR and in MM2:TPF, they’re fine). Maybe they can downscale by hundreds of times from Duo and Evil Robot’s feats and/or the feats that appear before.

Conclusions

 

• Mega Man, Proto Man, Bass, Wily (with certain mechs) and Duo would upscale everything prior to MM8, giving solid scaling chains above some things like teleporters, Rush Space’s top speeds, black hole stuff and even the Wily Star’s destruction. Also scale to Duo’ feats.

• X and Zero’s scaling don’t change but they resist spiritual possession, empathic manipulation and energy absorption. Mega Man, Proto Man and Bass would resist possession, empathic manipulation and energy absorption via Energy of Justice.

• Hundreds of times multiplier for the cosmic energies which can be used for anything.