Tinker

Tinker
Espiownage's concept of Tinker.
Misc. Information
Script:	ティンカー
Rōmaji:	Tinkā
Designer:	Espiownage (Servbot #1061)

Tinker (ティンカー, Tinkā, temporary name) was a character set to appear in the cancelled Mega Man Legends 3.

Characteristics

Tinker would have been a mischievous little ferret that the Bright Bats found while exploring ancient ruins, where Tinker had accidentally wandered inside out of his own curious nature. When he was found, he seemed like a normal ferret except for a strange belt with a Reaverbot eye around his waist. Oddly enough, Tinker seemed very protective of it when people even tried to touch it. When the Bright Bats took him in, they couldn't think of a name for him until Barrett noticed the curious ferret would observe Grill as he made his inventions, one day seeing him try to create something himself out of the junk Pic had collected. Barrett came up with the name Tinker due to the way he would play with the parts and his curiosity.

Tinker got along with all the members of the Bright Bats except for Max due to an incident where Tinker completely destroyed one of the action figures he had ordered in one of his attempts to create an invention. Barrett had taken it upon himself to take responsibility for Tinker and decided he would train him and give him tasks for the group. Tinker grew very close to Barrett to the point where he would enjoy sitting on top of Barrett's shoulder and often mimic his movements.

Aside from Tinker's curious nature and his love for machinery, he was also quick on his feet and liked small spaces. He was given a pair of goggles and a bandana to wear while riding on Barrett's motorhorse. It also appeared that his love for machinery was much deeper than just his curious nature, as the eye on Tinker's belt would sometimes react when he would be near robots.

Production Notes

Espiownage's comments

Even though the group is called the Bright Bats, I couldn't see a bat as their mascot in my mind. I remembered reading notes from Keiji Inafune about wanting characters to have unique silhouettes, and I took that into consideration with my design. Thinking of the other mascots of the series, Data and the Servbots, I wanted to make something that would feel familiar and yet different.

From the very start of the design, I wanted a creature that could sit on Barrett's shoulder, but I also liked the idea of giving it a long, slender body, and that's when a ferret became my choice animal. I also wanted a different design for the eyes to give him more of a rugged look. During the process, I studied fur patterns on the faces of real ferrets, and I made a bat-shaped "mask" for him, just as a way to connect to the Bright Bat theme.

I wanted a machine-like element to him as well, where the toughest part was the choice of making him a real ferret or a robot. I chose a real ferret, though I have been open to the thought of making him a robot as well. With that in mind, that was where I decided to create the Reaverbot eye belt. Something that wasn't part of him, yet part of the design.

The thought behind his name was to go with the robotic theme of the Mega Man series in general, thinking of possible names that may have fit with the series. When considering his personality and the theme, I instantly came up with the name Tinker, and it just felt right. As for the color scheme, let's just say I was very inspired by the Capcom game Ghost Trick for the DS.

The belt was meant to be something unusual, something out of place yet it felt like it belonged at the same time. That was one of the "mystery" traits, as well as his color scheme. I always felt like black was a color of mystery, especially combined with the color blue.

The idea of him imitating Barrett may have been inspired by a cartoon character, kind of forgot how that came about, but after I made that part of his personality, the idea of a Tinker-Punch made me think epic...now I think I know what to do for my 3rd image.

I feel honored that Tinker was picked and I'm glad that people like his design too. Seriously, I can't thank everyone enough to congrats and accepting Tinker as the Bright Bats mascot!

I never hated the idea of a bat as the mascot, but I went into the design thinking that a bat would be too obvious, and assuming they had the name "The Bright Bats" before finding a mascot, a bat would only make sense if they found it as their mascot and then named their group after that.

He could've decided to use a hook because of his name. It wouldn't be unusual for them to have a bat as a mascot, but to me, I didn't want something that felt obvious. The Bat mask was my little "nod" to the bat name, but other than that, I felt Tinker was a good fit for the Bright Bats.

I wasn't even thinking Tinkerbell when I came up with the name, it came along after I came up with the name as I began googling the name to see if any other characters had it. I always think of the name as a creative term, but mainly for machines. Like Tinker Toys. And thinking of the names of other characters in the Mega Man Universe like Data, Tron, etc. I thought it would work well, especially with other Bright Bats like Pic and Grill.

Staff comments

• Eguchi: What I love about this design is that, even though he's got that nasty glare and wicked smile, he's still just a little guy that you just can't stay mad at. And not just in terms of his interactions with the Bright Bats, but also with Data and the Servbots, it was easy to imagine lots of funny scenes. It seems like the creator deliberated over whether to make Tinker a real creature or a robot, but I think he nailed the Legends style right on the head by giving the character just a bit of a robotic taste.
• Ishihara: That wicked facial expression provides a good contrast with Data and the Servbots.

Gallery

Concept art of Tinker.

Fanart created by Servbot #137 (Arne Niklas)

Fanart created by Servbot #507 (MegaGoemon)

References

• Devroom: Presenting our Mascot Selection