What is this? Why has Tobyjoey posted a forum in the News & Updates community tab? The answer is quite simple; Adrian, Boss, and Rhythm work tirelessly behind the scenes to give new content to the Prototype, and someone needs to make sure all the rest of us masses notice and appreciate their hard work. Gaze upon their majesty! GAZE! Anyways, I'll be letting you all know what updates have been made to the Prototype, so expect to hear more from me. Enough waffling, let's get to the new stuff!

A new Robot Master has entered the Prototype, and let me tell you, he's a BLAST!

The explosive Blast Man makes his entrance, flaunting a beautifully expressive sprite sheet done by Rhythm. Blast Man comes equipped with five alts, including one based on the BlastMan.exe Net Navi. With him, Blast Man brings...

The Chain Blast! The Prototype is no stranger to sticky bomb type weapons, but Chain Blast stands out among the rest in it's ability to chain multiple Chain Blasts together into one huge explosion! Each fired Chain Blast will delay their collective timer one turn, so feel free to pepper your enemy with bombs before letting them have it. Unlike the Remote Mine, Chain Blasts don't have to be adjacent to one another to chain.

              

But that's not all Blast Man brings to the table. To make his artistic displays as dazzling as possible, Blast Man comes equipped the new skill Pyrotechnician, which raises the field multiplier for Explode upon entering the battle. He'll be sure to leave a dent in the opponent's team!

              

Like other new Robot Masters, to unlock Blast Man, you'll need to take him on in a brand new Challenge Mission! Make sure you blow all four Blast Men away in only eight turns before they turn you into a pile of ashes! And remember, to recruit Blast Man to your ranks, defeat the main Blast Man using only Neutral abilities. Don't lose track of who's who!

Blast Man isn't the only one feeling festive. All three player characters are now decked out in holday garbs! Enjoy the jolly Dr. Light, the mischevious Dr. Wily, and the stoic Dr. Cossack.

Furthermore, a new slew of skills that have been given to select Robot Masters. Let's take a look!

It seems Guts Man has a newfound confidence, as he has the new skill Unwavering, preventing his stats from being changed during battle! Guts Man can rumble with the best of them, and keep going too!

Dive Man may not be a Water Core, and he still isn't with his new skill. However, that doesn't mean the water doesn't help him! If the Water field multiplier has been boosted at all, Dive Man's Speed will be boosted by one stage after each turn, thanks to his skill Thalassophile.

The master of spacial distortions Gravity Man can bounce back from anything you throw at him. If Gravity Man's stats are altered, Topsy-Turvy will cause them to have the opposite effect! Remember, up is down and down is up!

Crystal Man's psychic skills have been further attuned in this update. If Crystal Man scans an enemy robot, Crystal Man's Clairvoyance allows him to see all the abilities the robot knows! Invade your enemy's privacy to get the upper hand!

There are a few more changes that should be taken notice of.
1. The playable doctors now use their Base 2 sprites, and players of the Prototype can now use Base 2 sprites for their avatars!
2. Items knocked off by Quick Strike will now be re-equipped at the end of battle.
3. A two year old bug preventing the effects that trigger during stat boosts and breaks have been fixed.
4. Switching robots now counts as a turn. Maybe consider using some bulkier robots or robots with the ability to pivot?
5. Blast, Acid, Block, and Frost Man have new alts!
6. The difficulty of chapters 2 and 4 has been retooled with the removal of hard coded stat boosts against enemy robots.
7. Pirate Man now appears in star fields.


That about wraps up this recent update. You may now begin your uproarious applause, the first to stop clapping will be IP banned. In all seriousness, I know it has been a tough year for a lot of us, so I hope you can get as much joy as you can out of these upcoming holidays. Additionally, I think Adrian, MegaBossMan, and Rhythm should be commended to their dedication to this game, and also to Shadownico and Beta for their roles in our Discord and forums. You, the community are also vital to the success of the Prototype; how could you have an online rpg without people? Players are willing to put their ingenuity and creativity into this community, and I know projects like The Chaos Zone have given people something to look forward to in these uncertain times. Stay safe, let your loved ones know you care about them, and pray you don't get Quick Striked.

Sincerely,
Tobyjoey