Doctor Thomas Light

**Doctor Thomas Light** is one of the major characters from the *Mega Man* franchise.

The creator of Blues, Rock, Roll, and the Light Robot Masters, Dr. Light is considered by many to be the father of modern robotics. His company, Light Labs, is dedicated to building robots for the betterment of humanity. He believes in peace and second chances, offering Dr. Wily a partnership in his company even after the man was banned from working on advanced robotics due to unethical practices. He has a friendship with Dr. Cossack and some romantic interest in Dr. Noele Lalinde. One of his dreams is to someday create a truly free-willed AI.

In the AWA fics, Thomas is set to appear in a future AWA storyline.

## **Appearance**

Thomas is a short and portly old man with a neck-length white hair and has a wool-like beard, and has blue eyes. He often wears a white lab coat over a blue collared shirt with a blue polka-dotted necktie, red pants and brown shoes.

## **Personality**

Thomas is very much Rock and Roll's father figure, his and Blues' relationship is like the one between a father and a prodigal son, and even the other Light numbers are often seen hanging about Light Labs as if it were their home.

As genuinely good-natured as Thomas is, the man can be scary if angered.

Dr. Light is very optimistic about the idea that humans and robots have a bright future together, and will do his best to convince people of that. In some ways, he's very blind to the dangers and challenges that await him.

## **Trivia**

* Keiji Inafune based Dr. Light's design off of Santa Claus. This also ended up referenced by Dr. Eggman during the World's Collide crossover (specifically, *Mega Man Issue 26*), where he referred to Light as "Santa in a lab coat".

* Dr. Thomas Light may be named after the inventor Thomas Edison. This can possibly stem from the popular belief that Edison invented the incandescent **light** bulb.
* In the Japanese versions, Dr. Light is known as Dr. Right. His symbol is an "R" icon in Japan. He has been known as Dr. Light outside of Japan, however. This is due to the lack of differentiation in the Japanese pronunciation of the L & R sounds.
* "Dr. Wright," which is Dr. Light's name in the instruction manual for *Mega Man* and a few other sources, is a Western approximation of "Dr. Right".
	+ In the cartoon series *Captain N: The Game Master*, Dr. Light is called Dr. Wright, which is his name from the first *Mega Man* instruction manual. In addition to robotics, he also seems to have extensive knowledge of the human body, as evidenced when the N-Team shrunk themselves to diagnose a malady of Kevin Keene. Through communication, Dr. Light behaved like a medical doctor, warning Mega Man and the others to avoid stomach acid.
* He is one of the few human characters from the classic series to have a *Mega Man Battle Network* counterpart, Tadashi Hikari (Tadashi meaning right, and Hikari meaning light, both of the spellings of Dr. Light's surname). The others being Dr. Cossack and Dr. Wily.

* In *Mega Man ZX Advent*, there is a character named Master Thomas of the Sage Trinity, which is a reference to Dr. Light. Master Thomas, however, is revealed in the Expert Mode ending to be nowhere near as benevolent as his namesake and intends to continue the work of fellow Sage Master Albert, who is named after Dr. Albert W. Wily.
	+ Master Thomas' malevolent personality may have been based on Dr. Light's namesake, Thomas Edison. Edison was seen on morally ambiguous grounds due to animal abuse (such as an instance testing his electric-based inventions on an elephant with lethal results) and inventing the electric chair.

* Dr. Light is a known smoker and is seen with a smoking pipe on some occasions.

* In the US and European release of *Mega Man 8*, Dr. Light's voice sounds similar to Elmer Fudd's.

* The Dr. Light hologram seems to know of Zero, as well as Alia when Zero discovers one of his capsules in *Mega Man X5.*
	+ It is possible that the Light hologram is an AI based on Dr. Light's mind.

* In the Japanese ROM from the first *Mega Man* game, Dr. Light had unused sprites in the end of the game, where he can speak.

* The Dr. Light capsule hologram is wearing a Karate gi and sweatband when it teaches X the Hadouken in *Mega Man X*. This is to pay homage to Ryu from Capcom's other franchise, *Street Fighter*.

* Dr. Light's hobby is playing computer games.

* In the Japanese version of *Mega Man 7*, Roll compares the Noise Crush with Dr. Light's singing voice, with Mega Man calling Roll "severe", implying that he is an awful singer.
* In the original timeline, Dr. Light would not be present upon X's awakening from his capsule. In a separate continuity in *Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite,*Dr. Light serves as an ally and was presented to be alive and well when X awakened.
* In the NES titles, Dr. Light's beard gives off the appearance of having a metal jaw.
* According to the relationship chart found in the production notes that come with the complete edition of *Rockman 11*, Dr. Light is a professor at the Mecha-Chuchets Institute of Robology.
	+ Dr. Light is also contracted to O.D.A. Electronics as their roboticist, and O.D.A. Electronics supplies electronic parts to Dr. Light in return.
	+ B.B Bomb Company is one of Dr. Light's maintenance clients.