You hit it smack dab on the Shiftry's nose.
Of course rather than airing the "Upon A Star" OVA (being a pitch on its own anyway), I meant that the actual series didn't go about using similar character designs from the games and the OVA. Megaman turned into Mega-f**, Rush became Scooby Doo, Roll was Barbie on steroids, IceMan smoked one too many cigarettes...the only characters true to fashion would be Light and Wily, as well as a few Robot Masters. Also, where was Dr. Cossack? Pharoah Man and Ring Man were in the series, darn writers.
The biggest mistake with the (uninspired) Mega Man TV series besides character design and sloppy writing would probably be that it came too soon and ended too soon. The later games 7 and 8 had new characters (Bass!) AND more interesting Robot Masters to write with (I can imagine Shadow Man not getting along with Tengu Man, Freeze Man trying to hit on Roll, Astro Man being afraid of dogs including Rush). I don't remember if there were any MM6 bosses that appeared in the series...was there? Oh and I REALLY hated that episode where there was a computer virus and they turned into cavemen. That's just wrong on so many levels.
It's too late from what I can tell because the momentum for the classic Megaman rests only in the memory of the fans, the youngest of them are almost out of high school and the rest are well into adulthood which seems unrealistic to market. Capcom's making new universes to grow on, and maybe some PSP remakes following Megaman Powered-Up. Right now, the Battle Network series is a hot property.
Also making Protoman evil confused me because I was a late bloomer on the Classic Series universe. In fact, I was more familiar with X than the original when I was tuning into the cartoon.
Ah, to be 9 again...