History Characters / MegaManZeroProtagonists

* AdaptationalComicRelief: The MMZ manga makes anyone who's played the games suffer whiplash. Zero goes from being a stoic antihero to a dork who is prone to making a fool of himself.

** Another one of Zero's Forms (see PaletteSwap below) is the '''X''' form. Guess what color this form is based on, as well as what weapon it specializes in? Possibly a MythologyGag as well.

* NotSoStoic: He has his occasional moments of snapping at others in annoyance and being a DeadpanSnarker, and there's his moment with the missile in ''Zero 3'', but probably one of the only moments in the entire series where his expression visibly changes is when [[spoiler:Elpizo destroys X's physical body. The resulting scene graphic shows him ''scowling in unadulterated anger'', and he drops all snark and commentary altogether to kick Elpizo's ass for it.]]

** NotSoStoic: At the end of the final game [[spoiler:when he knows he's about to be sent on a suicide mission]], Zero takes a moment to comfort Ciel in a very rare show of emotion.
** He does so again in the final encounter, offering some choice last words to Ciel.
-->'''Zero:''' Ciel...believe in me!
** He also appears to have been genuinely shaken by [[spoiler:Craft's death]], possibly in part because his parting words serve as an IronicEcho of X's. It rattled him enough that when speaking to Neige, he ends up accepting and agreeing with Neige's belief that even if he's doing it for a good cause, his perpetuating violence makes him much like Weil, requiring Neige to assure him in his actions.

* TheUnchosenOne: Ciel wakes Zero up amnesiac and he questions whether or not he's really Zero, although saving her leaves the latter more than convinced. [[spoiler: Turns out he's not, at least physically. He ''is'' the consciousness of the Zero of 21XX, but that consciousness was implanted in a replica body. In short, this Zero is no longer Zero by original design in ''any'' capacity.]]

* ZerothLawRebellion: Played with copious amounts of irony via Zero's final decision in dealing with Weil. The irony here is twofold: while Zero was NOT designed to be ThreeLawsCompliant, yet he CHOOSES to obey them of his free will, and in how Zero's actions are in perfect compliance with law zero. Note: The spirit of Law Zero is a [[GodzillaThreshold threshold law]] with a very specific trigger (such as a mass murderer) for it to be appropiate.
** And for this instance being notable at all is because Weil noted that, being a Reploid hero, Zero should protect humans like Weil, invoking ThreeLawsCompliant in the process. Of course, aside from not thinking of himself as a hero to begin with, the Law Zero allowed Zero ([[PunNotIntended oops]]) to kill such a bastard like Weil anyway.

* ReedRichardsIsUseless: Actually a subplot in the second game, Ciel stepping down from her position as RebelLeader in order to try to fix the energy crisis that started the war in the first place. Once Elpizo, her replacement, goes off the rails and dies in the process, Ciel goes back to juggling leadership with testing for her new energy source. It becomes outright subverted near the end of the series, where she ''does'' develop the new energy source, and by the ''ZX'' series this energy source is central to human and reploid survival and coexistence.

** TheAce: Arguably developes into this in the end, when compared to the other protagonists of the Mega Man series. He was obviously stronger than Classic Mega Man or Volnutt to start with, the ZX protagonists face weaker versions of the Weil Zero killed, and even surpasses X himself, defeating (with a little help) a threat X and Zero together only barely stopped previously, that had CameBackStrong. And despite all the crap he goes through, he never undergoes any sort of Wangst like X, or his previous self did. All this makes him the greatest hero in the Classic Timeline. It's pretty clear if he were still around after Zero 4, [[StoryBreakerPower absolutely nothing would've been able to threaten the world.]] Not bad all things considered, since he was originally supposed to be [[AntiAntiChrist its destroyer.]]

* DestroyerDeity: Of a heroic sort. Neo Arcadian propaganda hypes him up as an unfeeling ancient evil the Resistance awakened to lay waste to humanity. Not completely incorrect, given [[VideoGame/MegaManX his past.]] Anubis Necromancess V even refers to him as the "God of Destruction," a title usually reserved for Omega. [[spoiler:Taking into account that Omega has Zero's old body and Zero could very well have been as unbelievably strong and crazy as Omega, this is a perfectly reasonable thing to call him.]]

* EffectiveKnockoff: [[spoiler:He is revealed to be a "knockoff" of Omega, the FinalBoss. Despite that, he cares little about it and just proceeds to defeat Omega (when no other people have done before). The more impressive thing is that Omega's body was once Zero's; Zero is simply badass enough to defeat his own (more powerful, not to mention boosted) body.]]

** Zero is very strong with his weapons, but his health bar is small.

** He has one in the drama tracks, during the Elf Wars, aimed at Omega.

* PromotedToPlayable: In ''X DiVE''.

* UncertainDoom: Overlapping with a downplayed version of SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome. After all the megatons of pure crap she has to endure through the ''Zero'' saga, ''ZX'' leaves her fate in the air and suggests Serpent tried to eliminate her, but we don't know ''what'' happened or if he was successful because there was no sequel to ''ZX Advent''...

* NotSoStoic: He has his occasional moments of snapping at others in annoyance and being a DeadpanSnarker, and there's his moment with the [[spoiler:missile]] in ''Zero 3'', but probably one of the only moments in the entire series where his expression visibly changes is when [[spoiler:Elpizo destroys X's physical body. The resulting scene graphic shows him ''scowling in unadulterated anger'', and he drops all snark and commentary altogether to kick Elpizo's ass for it.]]

* CloningBlues: [[spoiler:It's revealed that the body he inhabits is a copy. Zero doesn't give a damn about it and cuts down the doppelganger inhabiting his original body without hesitation, deciding that it's the mind that matters, not the body.]]

** He also appears to have been genuinely shaken by [[spoiler:Craft's death]], possibly in part because his parting words serve as an IronicEcho of X's. It rattled him enough that when speaking to Neige, he ends up accepting and agreeing with Neige's belief that even if he's doing it for a good cause, his perpetuating violence makes him NotSoDifferent from Weil, requiring Neige to assure him in his actions.

* AdaptationalWimp: The MMZ manga makes anyone who's played the games suffer whiplash. Zero goes from being a stoic antihero to childish and prone to making a fool of himself.

** Ciel has told Zero a number of times that she "believes in him". In the end, right before his fight with Weil, he tells her "Ciel...Believe in me!" [[spoiler:And it's his FamousLastWords, too.]]

* BodyguardCrush: Possibly the unofficial LoveInterest for Zero. It was implicitly stated that she actually had romantic feelings for him. Plus, there's Zero's FamousLastWords, which drove some fans to such conclusions:

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Not only Weil, but also X know about [[spoiler:the [[TomatoInTheMirror relationship]] between Zero and Omega]], with X blatantly not telling Zero about it up until Weil himself let the secret out.

** He also had this reaction when faced with the possibility of fighting all three remaining Guardians at the end of ''Zero 1''.

* SuperNotDrowningSkills: He has this; a good thing for navigating water levels. Though played with in the submarine mission in the fourth game; due to the stage being so deep in the ocean, he has to find the entry into the submarine under a time limit or he'll be crushed by the oceanic pressure.

* WalkingTheEarth: From the end of ''Zero 1'' to the beginning of ''Zero 2''.

* WhatTheHellHero: In ''Zero 4'', Neige and her Caravan call him out on all his and the Resistance's actions throughout the series, up to and including bringing the war to Area Zero, even though Zero and the resistance didn't even go to Area Zero until ''Weil's troops were already approaching it.'' Zero later calls the Caravan out for attempting to abandon [[DamselInDistress Neige when she was kidnapped.]]

* {{Expy}}: Ciel has a very uncanny similarity, in appearances, background, AND role, to Alia from the ''X'' series.
** And done recursively in ''VideoGame/MegaManX8'' when Alia gets a makeover to look more like Ciel...as well as [[FanservicePack other alterations]], but that's irrelevant here.

* GadgeteerGenius: She built the BigBad of the first game at the age of ''[[ImprobableAge six]]'' (or nine, depending on who you ask). Moreover, she perfectly reproduced the base prototype. By comparison, every Maverick in the previous series came about precisely because they were flawed copies of the original. By the age of 15-16, she's working on free, clean energy for everyone.
** Also, considering that she ''built'' the BigBad, she was likely also something of a WrenchWench before she moved on to energy research.

* ItRunsInTheFamily: Her ancestress is the creator of AllLovingHero Mother Elf. Ciel's main field of research is into energy involving cyber-elves. Do the math!
* IWillWaitForYou: [[spoiler: In the end of ''Zero 4'', Ciel declares that she "knows" Zero is alive, and she will wait for him to return.]]
** That's the best example. Here's one of the earliest examples:

** He claims that he never cared about justice or peace during his WorldOfCardboardSpeech at the end of ''Zero 4'', which is what big brother [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Bass]] said in ''VideoGame/MegaMan2ThePowerFighters''. [[IronicEcho However, while Bass claims that he only fights for himself, Zero says that he fights for the people he believes in.]]

* HumbleHero: Evident in his WorldOfCardboardSpeech above. In addition, he doesn't think a battle Reploid like him could change the world; he instead fights for those who he believes are able to do so.

* ImNotAHeroIm: One of his most prominent traits. See also his WorldOfCardboardSpeech above.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: His BadassCreed [[MeaningfulEcho evolves]] into ''[[FinalSpeech this]]'':
-->"I never cared about justice, and I don't recall ever calling myself a hero. I've always only fought for the people I believe in. I won't hesitate...If an enemy appears in front of me, I ''will'' destroy it!"
** He also has one in the drama tracks, during the Elf Wars, aimed at Omega.
--> Omega, I finally knew because I fought with myself. What kind of fighting I have done so far? What exactly my hesitation has been so far? Now I can say that my power is not for destruction. It's for my friends; my power is to protect my friends' beliefs! Be gone, my nightmare!

* OhCrap: The possibility of facing the Einherjar Warriors ''all together'' (which, fortunately, didn't happen) is one of the few times in the series that Zero had this reaction (subtle, yes, but a reaction nonetheless).

** Yet [[RuleOfThree another time]] is when he realizes that [[spoiler:he can't stop Omega's missile [[RidingTheBomb while riding it]].]] As this means he's about to get hit by an ''[=ICBM=]'', he's rather less subtle in this case, giving a LoudGulp before turning around and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere spamming his dash]].

* ShutUpHannibal: After Weil's gloating in ''Zero 3'':

** The WorldOfCardboardSpeech below also is used as this, as a response to Weil saying that a "hero, fighting for justice and humanity" like him should not kill a human like Weil.

-->'''Zero:''' Ciel... believe in me!
** He also appears to have been genuinely shaken by [[spoiler:Craft's death]], possibly in part because his parting words serve as an IronicEcho of X's. It rattled him enough that when speaking to Neige, he ends up accepting and agreeing with Neige's belief that even if he's doing it for a good cause, his perpetuating violence makes him NotSoDifferent than Weil, requiring Neige to assure him in his actions.

* TheStoic: Oh so much. Even in the drama tracks (see LowerDeckEpisode below), he can't talk about anything other than things about his missions.

* UncertainDoom: After all the megatons of pure crap she has to endure through the ''Zero'' saga, ''ZX'' leaves her fate in the air and suggests Serpent tried to eliminate her, but we don't know ''what'' happened or if he was successful because there was no sequel to ''ZX Advent''...

* TheHeroDies: His most likely fate at the end of [[spoiler:Zero 4]]. Zero [[spoiler: sacrifices himself to stop Doctor Weil]]. Ciel believes [[spoiler: he is still alive.]]

* TheHeroDies: His most likely fate at the end of [[spoiler:Zero 4]]. Zero [[spoiler: sacrifices himself to stop Doctor Weil]].

* WideEyedIdealist: She aspires for humans and Reploids to coexist harmonically, and eschews from violence to make her dream become a reality.

--> '''Ciel:''' Zero, I...I believe in you.

* {{Fanservice}}: ''VideoGame/RockmanXOver'' has [[http://www.therockmanexezone.com/gallery/albums/userpics/10002/16002_32ad9744.png art of Ciel in a flower-patterned pink two-piece]], for some reason.

[[/folder]]

* FlowerInHerHair: Wears a red hibiscus in her hair in the {{fanservice}} image of her in a pink bikini.

* YankTheDogsChain: At the beginning of ''Zero 3'', Ciel has finally finished the CIEL System, and has sent her research to Neo Arcadia, possibly opening up a chance for peace talks... and then Weil uses that information to spark another all-out war between the two sides. [[spoiler:Weil proposes to combine the C.I.E.L. system with the Dark Elf to generate enough energy at once to solve the crisis. Ciel refuses because she can't trust in the ObviouslyEvil MadScientist to handle the new technology, which is [[XanatosGambit what he was expecting her to say]]. Copy-X then promptly declares her an extremist trying to create a criminal monopoly on the energy resources and accuses Zero of being the muscle to keep her plan going. Cue three missions to prevent an AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs.]]

[[caption-width-right:277:[[labelnote:Click here to see her appearance in ''Mega Man X Dive'']]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rockman_x_dive_hunter_program_ciel.png[[/labelnote]]]]

A human scientist looking into more efficient energy sources, particularly Cyber Elves, which she believes will end the war between humans and Reploids. She's also responsible for making Copy-X -- [[NicejobBreakingItHero whoops]]. Ciel is the one who initially finds Zero, informs him of his legendary warrior status, and asks him for help fighting the tyranny of Copy-X's Neo Arcadia. After defeating Copy-X, Zero wanders off to do his own thing, but in the end, he realizes that he and Ciel need each other to accomplish their goals.

* YankTheDogsChain: At the beginning of ''Zero 3'', Ciel has finally finished the CIEL System, and has sent her research to Neo Arcadia, possibly opening up a chance for peace talks...and then Weil uses that information to spark another all-out war between the two sides.
** To be specific: [[spoiler:Weil proposes to combine the C.I.E.L. system with the Dark Elf to generate enough energy at once to solve the crisis. Ciel refuses because she can't trust in the ObviouslyEvil MadScientist to handle the new technology, which is [[XanatosGambit what he was expecting her to say]]. Copy-X then promptly declares her an extremist trying to create a criminal monopoly on the energy resources and accuses Zero of being the muscle to keep her plan going. Cue three missions to prevent an AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs.]]

* NiceGirl: Gentle, kind hearted, and always concerned about the welfare of others.