Wire Sponge

Wire Sponge

Little Forest Demon
(緑林の小悪魔)

Character Description[]

Physical Appearance[]

Wire Sponge has a lime green body. He has yellow eyes in a black slit. His shoulders are at level with his "face" with purple padding, and two green arms pop out of each of them. The arms themselves are green and their extremities depend on the height: the top two arms end in white-gloved hands while the bottom pair is a set of segmented leaf-tipped whips that are used by Wire Sponge to attack as well as spun around him as a shield. Surmounting Wire Sponge is a yellow flower-like appendage that allows him to summon thunderbolts as an overdrive attack. Wire Sponge also has black legs with lime green and yellow feet.

History[]

Mega Man X2[]

Created in one ofSigma's Maverick-producing factories, an accident resulted in Wire Sponge having a personality disorder, causing him to be childish and easily amused, loving to dance and violently play. He still had impressive combat abilities, so Sigma placed him in charge of aWeather Control Center to use as his personal playground, where he found delight in passing the time by playing with the weather system.

Wire Sponge is one of the eight SA-Class Mavericks unleashed by theX-Hunters. Due to him causing trouble with the weather,X had to stop him in the weather control center. X obtains theStrike Chain after his defeat.

Mega Man Xtreme 2[]

Wire Sponge is one of the four resurrected Maverick bosses from the Zero Mission, and one of the eight bosses in Extreme Mode. Like before, Wire Sponge was causing trouble in a weather control center onLaguz Island, and had to be stopped byZero. Unlike inMega Man X2, he is weak toFire Wave.

Strategy[]

Wire Sponge uses hisStrike Chain like a whip and a grappling hook. He tries to control the stage by planting spiked vines and throwing his chains everywhere he can. When Sponge's health is less than half he will become enraged and electrified, causing lightning bolts to strike for a moment; he is also invulnerable in this state. Wire Sponge is easily fought with just the X-Buster firing charged shots, but if the final blow is dealt with theSonic Slicer, he is split in half. When Zero faces him inMega Man Xtreme 2, he is weak to theDrill Crush.

During his rematch inMega Man X2, he is fought in a noticeably smaller room.

	Chain Spin (チエーン回し,Chiēn-Mawashi)[1]
	Wire Sponge spins a chain in front of himself, deflecting attacks (save for Sonic Slicer). He often performs Strike Chain right afterwards.
	Damage: 2
	Strike Chain (ストライクチェーン,Sutoraiku Chēn)[1]
	Wire Sponge throws a chain horizontally at the player. If it hits a wall, it pulls Sponge towards it.
	Damage: 2
	Hanging (ぶら下がり,Burasagari)[1]
	Wire Sponge throws a chain vertically, latching to the ceiling to hang in the air. From here he launches seeds, which grow into spiked vines upon landing. They can be destroyed with any weapon.
	Damage: 2
	Lightning Strike (落雷,Rakurai)[1]
	At low health, Wire Sponge becomes enraged and performs a short dance, invincible. His flower becomes a lightning rod to call lightning strikes around the room. Afterwards, he is charged with electricity that increases his damage output for the rest of the battle.
	Damage: 2

Data[]

Stage[]

Main article:Weather Control Stage

Mega Man X2 stats[]

• Height: 188 cm (6'2")
• Weight: 96 kg (212 lbs)
• Power: 6400rp
• Speed: 4800rp

Other appearances[]

• Wire Sponge is one of the bosses from theX Challenge inMega Man X Legacy Collection andMega Man X Legacy Collection 2. He appears alongsideWeb Spider in stage 1-3 (Volume 2) andSpike Rosered in stage 4-2.
• Wire Sponge has a cameo appearance inMega Man ZX Advent, absorbed into the base of theTower of Verdure,Rospark the Floroid's stage.
• Wire Sponge appeared inBattle Memory fromRockman Xover.
• Wire Sponge appeared inTEPPEN.
• Wire Sponge appeared as an event character inDragon Poker.

Other media[]

Rockman X2 manga[]

Wire Sponge has the distinction of being the only Maverick to survive his battle with X in theRockman X2 manga, being repaired by Dr. Cain immediately following his defeat. This is due to Dr. Cain telling X to drop the idea of continuing the battle after Sponge revealed he was scared of fighting anymore. This is further shown by the fact that it was Dr. Cain who had stopped X from shooting Sponge by using his electrified cane to interfere.

Morph Moth also uses a Wire Sponge illusion to distract X during his battle, among illusions of otherMavericks in the first two games (except himself). It fails when X realizes that something wrong, as he does not remember killing Wire Sponge since he failed to do so seven chapters prior. X responds to this by attacking Morph Moth with his X-Buster, dispelling the illusions.

Archie Comics[]

Wire Sponge was one of many Mavericks who appeared in theWorlds Unite event after being revived bySigma. He and most of his fellow Mavericks from the series were dispatched to various worlds throughGenesis Portals to plantUnity Engines, following a brief attack on the heroic crew of theSky Patrol.

Rockman X Mega Mission[]

This section requiresexpansion.

Wire Sponge was revived and powered up byDr. Doppler'sLimited.

Gallery[]

Artwork[]

Alternate artwork for Wire Sponge.

Wire Sponge's back.

Wire Sponge in theRockman X2 Carddass.

Wire Hetimarl L fromRockman X Mega Mission.

Wire Sponge's remains can be seen absorbed into the Tower of Verdure inMega Man ZX Advent.

Wire Sponge inTEPPEN.

Wire Sponge inDragon Poker.

Mega Man X -Mega Man X8 Mavericks in Worlds Unite

Sprites[]

Trivia[]

• While Wire Sponge is named after asponge (technically an animal) outside Japan, his design and original name are derived from "hechima", Japanese forluffa, a vine plant that produces a cucumber like vegetable that is dried and sold to be used as acleaning sponge.
• Although Wire Sponge is not an electric-type Maverick, inMega Man Xtreme 2,Zero learns an electric-type attack from him, appropriately named "Lightning", apparently based on the lightning attack Wire Sponge uses after being reduced to critical health inMega Man X2.
• Wire Sponge's death animation with the Sonic Slicer is somewhat a precursor to the death animations of enemies in theMega Man Zero series when killed with theZ-Saber.
  • Oddly, inMega Man Xtreme 2, hitting Wire Sponge on the final blow with his weakness, theFire Wave, will cause him to split in half, much like a Sonic Slicer would fromMega Man X2.
  • This makes Wire Sponge the only boss to have multiple death animations in a single game, those being his regular explosion animation and the one where he gets chopped in half.

References[]