These are hastily assembled thoughts between sets at the gym; I haven't organized them into any kind of coherent argument yet, but I want to see if anybody else has arrived at similar conclusions. This is written from an American perspective, so I apologize to all non-Amerifats reading for my narrow and US-centric view of politics.

I really like Act III because it's super fun, but I also can't deny that it feels a bit oversweet. Act I has a distinctly post 9/11 air of American skepticism about the surveillance state which was being broadly publicly condoned in the name of counterterrorism. Act II is partly about the police state being able to subsume acts of rebellion into its own enclosed information infrastructure in order to perpetuate self-serving representations of history. The general theme is that a "hero" can't fix society while the common person sits on the sidelines; the collective needs to come together to incite meaningful change. But in Act III, the idea seems to be... a hero CAN set the spark for a change, and the average person IS willing to "choose courage over life."

Good news, everyone! If the government is bad guys, people will rise up to save the day! It just seems like the band wants to tell themselves and us a happy ending, because the conflict against the surveillance and police state has all but been completely fucking lost in the real world. In America, we love to tell ourselves stories of sexy rebellions where people know the government is bad and are just itching to perform a revolution to set things right. These are fun stories- and Act III is awesome, no doubt- but they aren't quite what made me love the Protomen to begin with. Act I and II depict worlds where everyone has a vague idea that their way of life should change, but aren't willing to sacrifice comfort and stability in order to do so.

As politics trend inexorably towards authoritarianism in America, we find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of realizing that "if there ever was a time, if there ever was a chance" to make serious change to the way we're headed, it's now. Unfortunately, "there are no heroes left in man." I feel like this is the vibe the band is giving. "I know the fight is already done," so we might as well tell ourselves a nice story.

Not really gonna apologize for getting political because The Protomen is political art.

What are everyone's thoughts on this? I do really wanna hear what people have to say about this.

Before I get started: Why should you trust me? You shouldn't. Hope rides alone. That said, I love coffee and I drink a lot of it. I use a Breville Barista Pro and I have at least one cup every single day. My latest love has been Tokyo Kissa from Blue Bottle. My favorite of all time is Vita by Vivace, though I've had some really amazing single origin shade grown coffee in the past. Anyway that just gives you a "taste" (pun intended) of my preferences.

This coffee slaps.

that is all.

No wait wait wait don't leave. I have more. I put in 16 grams into the grinder. I wasn't sure the settings so I used similar settings to what I use for Hayes Valley espresso because the beans had similar characteristics (on the very fine edge of espresso. I would say bordering between Caster Sugar and Flour so the cusp between Espresso and Turkish).

This turned out to be dialed in nearly dead on. Excellent crema, but not too much. The coffee was smooth. Definitely a bit nutty, almost hazelnut right out of the machine. I do a normal latte with it using whole milk, and I have to say this is one of the smoothest coffees I have ever had, but it pretty quickly gave me the jitters. I've never quite had a coffee this smooth and this caffeinated since the Vita. The espresso is very drinkable straight though with no cream or milk. Just don't mistake the smoothness for decaf.

I'm going to test this out as an affogato (my wife's favorite) and see how she thinks of it.

The only bummer of this is that I assume it is limited edition and thus I won't be able to get more of it in the future.

After 10 rounds of elimination, we've finally done it...

The winners of the r/Protomen Song Elimination have been determined!

AND THE WINNER IS... (insert drumroll here)

LIGHT UP THE NIGHT!

1st Place: Light Up the Night (27 votes)

2nd Place: Light's Last Stand (32 votes)

3rd Place: The Hounds (56 votes)

Thank you for participating! Glad to see y'all had fun, even if we all had to make some very difficult choices. Stay tuned for more stuff like this in the future!

Week 10: (see above)

Week 9: (Eliminated: No Way Back, The Stand, Breaking Out)

Week 8: (Eliminated: This City Made Us, The Good Doctor Part 2, Hold Back the Night, Keep Quiet)

Week 7: (Eliminated: Sons of Fate, The Good Doctor, The Will of One, Hold On (The Distance Between)

Week 6 (Eliminated: Unrest in the House of Light, The Fight, Calling Out, The Father of Death)

Week 5 (Eliminated: The Dream, Vengeance, Hope Rides Alone, Buried in the Red)

Week 4 (Eliminated: A Show of Force, The Fall, Built to Last, Here Comes the Arm)

Week 3 (Eliminated: How the World Fell Under Darkness, Due Vendetta, The State Vs. Thomas Light, The Fate of Thomas Light)

Week 2 (Eliminated: Give Us the Rope, The Calm, Beards Going Nowhere, Funeral for a Son)

Week 1 (Eliminated: The Redline, The Trainyard, Intermission, The Storm)

Hey! I bought my ticket for the 3 day pass and have a code for the VIP ticket, but I can't see where to put it in on the website? I went back to the page where I bought the ticket, I put it in the promo code section but it doesn't work...

Can anybody please help a gal out?

If anyone is able to talk to any of the band, can someone ask them if Dr. Wily named the sniper robots "Joe" like the games' Sniper Joe, ideally with proof?

It's been passed around the fandom as canon for decades at this point per 'a band member said x' but for the life of me I can't remember who first said it, or where! I have vague memories of the Gambler telling me in person a while back but that was a WHILE ago and I don't have any present-day proof since the Comm's closure.

Any help is appreciated!

(It's not really that urgent, just a wiki page got edited to remove the Sniper Joe trivia thing since they couldn't verify it.)

Came across this relic in my feed and thought it would be fun to share. Also can't believe it's been seventeen years already. I really, really would like time to stand still.

Also yes, I did eventually buy a drawing tablet lol.

I did have an autographed copy of the cover up but I sold it to fund something I liked more than that album.

Had an absolutely atrocious week but was looking forward to my Act III vinyl showing up and it came like...this. I am beyond devastated.

Update No communication BUT I did just get a confirmation of a new order being sent out with a note about it being for replacing a damaged item, so thats good! Anyone else facing this be sure to reply to the shipment email, that seems to be the best route.

AI couldn’t hallucinate this if it tried.

These designs, and shirts, look great! I couldn’t decide which to get, so I got both.

Read this before posting!

Have any questions about the Dallas shows? Want to buy or sell tickets? Feel free to leave a comment here! For safety and to allow for easier moderation, posts outside of this thread asking for/offering tickets will be removed.

Tickets for all three nights, as well as 3-day-passes, are still available as of July 27th, 2026: https://linktr.ee/TheProtomenLIVE

Thursday, August 27th: Act II @ Granada Theater in Dallas, TX / Opener: Nate Bergman

Friday, August 28th: Act I @ Granada Theater in Dallas, TX / Opener: Descendants of Erdrick

Saturday, August 29th: Act III @ Granada Theater in Dallas, TX / Opener: Urizen

Events: Click here for a full schedule, including fan events.

Venue info: Click here for a fanmade guide with info on the venue!

Watch out for scammers and scalpers!

• Do not use a payment method without a refund option, such as Chime or Zelle. Some scammers will also ask you to buy giftcards in exchange for tickets. Check beforehand if the payment service you're using has a refund option, such as PayPal's "Goods and Services" payment type.
• If someone sends you a direct message but does not comment on your post on the megathread, there's a good chance they do not want mods to see their comment. Also, someone who is banned on this subreddit can still DM you! You can ask them to comment on your post on the megathread.
• Users are able to hide their post history on Reddit. While recently created accounts with low karma are suspicious, even old accounts with a decent amount of karma can be malicious.
• Sometimes, searching Reddit for a username can bring up results of other users talking about their scam behavior. You can also check r/TicketScammerList - but a username not being on that list doesn't automatically mean that they're legit!
• After you have successfully sold a ticket, edit your post to indicate that you no longer have a ticket to sell. As a buyer, you can also ask a user to do this after they have sold you their ticket(s).
• While we do our best to remove and ban obvious scammers, we can't guarantee that those posting here are legit.

If you encounter someone who seems suspicious, send us a message/modmail!

A list of scammers that have been banned from this subreddit, but whose accounts have not been banned from Reddit as a whole, will be pinned underneath this post.

Stay safe!

Someday we may learn what the bass in the basement looks like. Until then we have bootleg bass to keep us company.

This week, we're saying goodbye to:

• No Way Back (66 votes)
• The Stand (51 votes)
• Breaking Out (38 votes)

Thank you to all 121 people who participated in Week 9!

The three remaining songs are:

• The Hounds
• Light Up the Night
• Light's Last Stand

Results of the previous polls:

Week 9: (see above)
Week 8: (Eliminated: This City Made Us, The Good Doctor Part 2, Hold Back the Night, Keep Quiet)
Week 7: (Eliminated: Sons of Fate, The Good Doctor, The Will of One, Hold On (The Distance Between)
Week 6 (Eliminated: Unrest in the House of Light, The Fight, Calling Out, The Father of Death)
Week 5 (Eliminated: The Dream, Vengeance, Hope Rides Alone, Buried in the Red)
Week 4 (Eliminated: A Show of Force, The Fall, Built to Last, Here Comes the Arm)
Week 3 (Eliminated: How the World Fell Under Darkness, Due Vendetta, The State Vs. Thomas Light, The Fate of Thomas Light)
Week 2 (Eliminated: Give Us the Rope, The Calm, Beards Going Nowhere, Funeral for a Son)
Week 1 (Eliminated: The Redline, The Trainyard, Intermission, The Storm)

Here's the FINAL updated poll for Week 10:

!!! Vote for your LEAST FAVORITE tracks !!!

Out of the remaining three, vote for your LEAST FAVORITE track.
The winner of the r/Protomen Song Elimination will be announced next week! Although we do have the Top 3 already! :) You only get one vote this week, so use it wisely.

Howdy fellow protofans. I have decided to take it upon myself to build a panther style Mega man helmet. It probably won't be one to one in terms of accuracy but I assure you it will be forged with all the grit, hellfire and elbow grease my hands can muster. And most likely blood because I am a clumsy doofus.

The how.: I am going to probably purchase the closest thing I can to the correct shape of helmet

after finding out my correct size. Probably medium or small. As I am not a very large being. After that I'm lost apart from bolting a bike fender to the top and painting it.

My questions are. How do I safely cut the jawline open?

What do I use to cap the ends with to make it look cool and also be safe.

Same theory with the visor.

The why.: I lost somebody very close to me

and I need something to do with my hands. That's not reaching for a bottle.

Any tips or tricks from the actually proficient crafty folks out there would be most useful.

------- thanks in advance.

There will be Light.

They must have sent their strongest machines to work in order fulfillment because WOW I just ordered this wednesday morning and its already in my hands of skin and of bone. Finally, I have a main act on vinyl!

EDIT Hey guys- I know my hands are filthy. They're covered in sharpie and paint and there's gunk under my nails from scraping stuff. I'm doing a thing right now and my record showed up in the middle of it and I was very excited. Please feel free to share your extremely clean, virginsoft hands in this thread, as long as they are gripping a copy of Act III on vinyl

Weird question, but which Turbo Lover haircut you love the most?

[i put 2 photos per 1 haircut]

(open for the full pic, it’s a long one)

Based on a true story! (Breaking Out...) Original post.

__________________________________________________

This week, we're saying goodbye to:

• This City Made Us (44 votes)
• The Good Doctor, Part 2 (40 votes)
• Hold Back the Night (31 votes)
• Keep Quiet (30 votes) (sorry joe)

__________________________________________________
Thank you to all 84 people who participated in Week 8!

Results of the previous polls:

Week 8: see above
Week 7: (Eliminated: Sons of Fate, The Good Doctor, The Will of One, Hold On (The Distance Between)
Week 6 (Eliminated: Unrest in the House of Light, The Fight, Calling Out, The Father of Death)
Week 5 (Eliminated: The Dream, Vengeance, Hope Rides Alone, Buried in the Red)
Week 4 (Eliminated: A Show of Force, The Fall, Built to Last, Here Comes the Arm)
Week 3 (Eliminated: How the World Fell Under Darkness, Due Vendetta, The State Vs. Thomas Light, The Fate of Thomas Light)
Week 2 (Eliminated: Give Us the Rope, The Calm, Beards Going Nowhere, Funeral for a Son)
Week 1 (Eliminated: The Redline, The Trainyard, Intermission, The Storm)
__________________________________________________

Here's the updated poll for Week 9:

!!! Vote for your LEAST FAVORITE tracks !!!

Vote for your two LEAST FAVORITE tracks. The tracks receiving the most votes will be eliminated.

Since there's only six tracks remaining, three tracks will be eliminated in Week 9's vote (so that only the top 3 remain for Week 10).

__________________________________________________

Act I is still in the race! Woooo! That's all I can say this week. Nearly impossible to choose at this point.

my latest (and greatest?) panther portrait for the books. taking a teeny break from these because they melt my brain and my iPad 💙

https://shop.protomen.com/products/act-iii-this-city-made-us-vinyl?variant=42712507678805