“ | Axl... The shape-shifter. The prototype of the Reploids who will lead the new age... | „ |
~ Optic Sunflower praising Axl as the prototype of the New Generation Reploids. |
Optic Sunflower, also known in Japan as Optic Sunfloward, is a boss and a minor antagonist in Mega Man X8. He ran a training program named Helios, but went haywire and caused his training program to go haywire as well. His stage is a gauntlet stage where X and his allies have to fight their way through enemies in order to reach Optic Sunflower. Upon defeating him, X will gain the Shining Ray, which he can use to fire eight light rays in the cardinal and diagonal directions.
He was voiced by Turkey Deguchi in Japanese and Elinor Holt in Engiish.
Personality[]
Optic Sunflower formerly showed some signs of losing his sense of self, even wondering out loud about his own identity, but seemed to understand his goals and believed the Hunters had no right to stop him. He understood that he was not perceived as a "good guy," but refused to be perceived as a monster, like with the rest of his allies.
However, after four other Mavericks are destroyed, Sunflower regained his sense of self and his whole identity, and became completely normal and rational in tone and mental stability, Here, he is a flamboyant, but far more reasonable Reploid, and manages to know that X and Zero have an inkling or two as to what he and the Mavericks under Sigma and Lumine are after here. And as for Axl, he genuinely praised him for being the shape-shifting prototype of the New Generation Reploids who will lead the new age, only for Axl to tell him "Tough luck, chump!", leading to Sunflower saying that Axl would've been chosen too if he's a little smarter.
Appearance[]
Optic Sunflower resembles a humanoid sunflower, hence his name. His head is supported by a long, serpentine neck. His shoulder pads and fingers resemble flower petals, and he has a green and yellow suit of armor that resembles a plant.
His weapon[]
Optic uses the Shining Ray, the Tenshouha, and the Ray Gun for his weaponry.
X can get his hands on the Shining Ray, which allows him to fire a burst of light that explodes into eight bursts that fly outwards.
Zero gets his hands on the Tenshouha. With this, he punches the ground, which summons light pillars near him. The light pillars are indistinguishable in their looks from the lasers that Optic can summon for his Overdrive Attack.
Axl can get the Ray Gun. With this, he can launch lasers with rapid-fire. The lasers do little damage on their own, but are fired so quickly that they can rack up damage to whatever opponent Axl sics his Ray Gun on.
Dark Mantis is weak to these weapons, most likely due to his darkness motif clashing with Optic's light motif.
Biography[]
Optic Sunflower makes his lair in the remnants of Troia Base, which contained Helios, the training program that he used to run prior to going Maverick. In order to reach the room where Optic Sunflower dwells, X and his friends have to fight their way through waves of enemies. In the seventh round, Vile V may show up to block the gang's way; if not, a Guardroid VR appears in his place. There is a chance in the pre-boss hallway that a teleporter which leads to a hologram of Cut Man's sprite that acts as a miniboss appears if you do well enough and have save data from Mega Man X: Command Mission.
Battle[]
Optic Sunflower has several attacks at his disposal. One of his attacks has Optic fire a laser from his face. The laser fires straight up or down, reciprocating to the sides. He can also throw a light net that paralyses those who touch it and bounces around the room, change the layout of his room, and fire a laser while rotating his face in a full circle. Upon losing half his HP or more, Optic will fire a laser down onto the stage three times via means of a satellite. A similar, downgraded version of this appears in the following phase as part of his normal moveset. Upon Optic Sunflower's defeat, X gets his hands on the Shining Ray, which Dark Mantis is weak to. Optic's weakness is the Green Spinner.
Quote[]
“ | Axl... The shape-shifter. The prototype of the Reploids who will lead the new age... (Axl: So what? You sayin' I should join you? Tough luck, chump!) If only you were a little smarter, you could have been chosen, too... | „ |
~ Optic praising Axl as the prototype before their fight. |
Trivia[]
- When Optic Sunflower uses his strongest attack, you can see a device that looks like the Final Weapon from Mega Man X4.
- Optic Sunflower's voice and floral design make him easily mistaken for a woman. This is justified as both of his voice actors (English and Japanese) are female.