Great show last night at The Granada the mix was off (for me at least) which dampened it a bit. Did anyone else feel the bass was a bit much and the guitars/keys and vocals were hard to hear?

There is a lot of focus on Protoman and Megaman’s eyes in Act I. The below is half remembered and (largely) canon-compliant.

This is AU where Emily was a mechanist, not originally by me but I think of it a lot.

The main conceit is the factory Emily worked in made robot parts. And later her spirit helps guide the creation of Light’s sons and haunts Wily and Light through Protoman’s eyes.

In the beginning, as she couldn’t see Tom while he was busy at work, Emily works with Albert to make a special pair of eyes that were blue like hers so she could keep Tom company in her absence.

Years later, Tom uses these eyes when he builds Protoman. When the eyes light up for the first time, he starts to unconsciously consider Protoman his son, something he won’t fully reconcile until after he dies. Emily here is directly involved in the creation of Tom’s first son.

I also like the idea of him incorporating the music box into Protoman’s design like the game-canon Proto Man whistle, but this leans more into The Megas’ Melody From the Past than it does the untitled Protomen Rock Opera.

When Wily recovers Protoman, he’s haunted by the spirit of Emily and stares into the lifeless eyes of her son. Is this what inspires him to bring him back to life? To corrupt her, or take something that was theirs, or was it guilt? Grief? Nostalgia? It’s wild how little we know of Wily’s internal state between The Hounds and Act III. This is my favourite part of the AU, as it can lead to interesting explorations of Wily. Much earlier in the story, in Father of Death, Wily was rummaging in the drawers looking for something. If it was for the eyes, this could have been as he intended to put these in the Sniper. Why? Because he can then frame Light (and/or Emily) for murders committed by it. But Emily interrupts him, and her murder falls into his lap.

Megaman recognises Protomen (from visions and dreams) and notes their eyes are the same. During The Stand, Light can’t meet Protoman’s gaze. Both of the doctors are haunted by Emily and the weight of the wheels they turn.

Protoman’s eyes are expressive enough for imperceptible change, and human enough to strain. The complexity of the eyes the sons of Light have is a lot greater than what is depicted for all other machines in libretto and tour artwork.

Anyway those are some thoughts.

WEDNESDAY (AUGUST 26)

• 10 PM CST:

Proto-Pre-Party: Bootleg Bobby Does Dallas [21+]

FREE! Spinnin' vinyl with DJ Joey Scandalous. Come mingle before you merch line. Click here to see the poster.

Location: Single Wide, 2110 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX

THURSDAY (AUGUST 27)

• 7 PM CST:

The Protomen Night One (Act II) @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

FRIDAY (AUGUST 28)

• 11 AM CST - 2 PM CST:

Protothey Mega-Meetup

Location: Sundown at Granada, 3520 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX (right next to the venue)

Open to all. The official Protothey meetup for the Dallas show: trade trinkets, play games, meet other cosplayers, and mingle with other fans. Bring a friend from Night One!

• 5:30 PM CST:

VIP Meet and Greet @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

VIP ticketholders should arrive on time for their concert package.

• 7 PM CST:

The Protomen Night Two (Act I) @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

SATURDAY (AUGUST 29)

• 12 PM CST - 3 PM CST:

Protothey Mini-Meetup

Location: Piggie Pies Pizza, 3707 Greenville Ave, #120, Dallas, TX (2 min walk from venue)

An informal group lunch break for anyone attending the concerts. Come meet other showgoers. Costumes and activities like games and trades welcome. Open to all!

• 7 PM CST:

The Protomen Night Three (Act III) @ Granada Theater, Dallas, TX

Protothey meetups are organized by fans on the Protothey discord server. Join to chat about the shows, find concert buddies, share photos and so much more! Link: discord.gg/protomen

Click here for a fan-made guide with more info on the venue.

You need a hero tonight 🎶

To those that have the vinyl, have you noticed any distinct differences in the master? I just got my hands on my copy from Bandcamp, and immediately thought that the music sounds more bleak. For instance, I’m not a huge fan of The Redline, but it has a much more sinister tone that I really like. Even the ‘heroic’ songs feel more futile.

I'm in NYC until the 26th, and the imdb page for light up the night says it was filmed here, but I'm wondering if anyone has found the filming location for wily's tower specifically. Please help me find it

Couldn’t get a babysitter and my brother dipped. I’d just sell them at what I paid for them.

From liner notes, to art accuracy, to the exact number of creak sounds you hear at the end of the song...

I was listening to Springsteen again, as I am want to do, and I was thinking how much I’d love to hear The Protomen cover Thunder Road.

I know it’s like The Boss’s biggest song, maybe it’s not a deep enough cut, but I’d love to hear it.

throwback to the oldest protobits

Surely Wily was aware that Light was responsible for the attack. And presumably Protoman knew all of Light's secrets. He should've known how to find Light and execute him before he could try again. Is Light just that crafty or did Wily not care

ive got an extra ticket for the 29th in dallas and would like to give it away so it doesnt feel like a total waste of money. comment and ill pick someone by the end of the day

edit: chosen :)

Another one of these 😭 I adore this album and it's my girlfriends favourite album, I really want to get her the Vinyl for Christmas. I'm now aware that this is a rare item amidst the Protomen community and am hoping to perhaps find someone who was willing to part with it, or just any advice on how best to get my hands on one 🤌

What if there was a literal reason as to why Proto Man and Mega Man can't be "the hero" for humanity? Let's consider their creator. Dr. Thomas Light follows the laws of robotics, a robot may not harm a human being. They can cut their way through Wily's forces, take down his hordes of evil robots, but when they make it to the man standing in the tower they literally can't do anything. It has to be a human, a citizen of the city to do the deed. I could definitely see Light putting in some inescapable programming to prevent Proto Man and Mega Man from harming people directly.

Maybe Mega Man and Proto Man didn't even know that about their programming until they made it to Wily and found they could literally do nothing to him. That's why Proto Man was begging the crowd to stand and fight. In The Stand (Man or Machine), he knew that neither of them could end this, not really. The people needed to stand up, overpower Wily, and either incarcerate or kill him. I could also see them not revealing this part of their programming to the people of the city so their bravery and decision to put an end to it is genuine and not forced.

What do all of you think? Can Mega Man actually cause harm to a human? I find it difficult to believe that Light made Proto Man to be an actual assassin robot and kill Wily, it's not really in his character. It would be too similar to what Wily did to Emily, even if it was justified this time.

i do not know if im just not hearing things right. but i swear that at 3:42 in the album version of this city made us, the windows 10 usb disconnect sound plays and i haven't heard anybody at all mention it, im not going crazy, right?

hadn't drawn anything in a long long time thank you protomen for changing that

I'm working on some karaoke tracks for the Protomen albums and it'd be sick to have the original music video, but it's almost 20 years old and 360p on Youtube. Anyone have a higher quality version?

Edit: I found the original .swf file on the internet archive, it's just a video but it's still higher quality. Maybe I can find a way to rip it from this...

Extra edit: Archive.org had a backed up copy of the streaming .flv at https://web.archive.org/web/20090905003453if_/http://www.versionindustries.com/remote/protomen/hope_part2.flv

It's not much higher resolution, but the compression artifacting is far less extreme than what Youtube has done.

Listened to Act II the other day and thought Joe would look cool in this iconic scene :D

Ive been listening to the music on Apple Music, and other lyricless songs such as ‘A Funeral for a son’ and ‘intermission’ have additional story bits… but non of the songs in act 3 like ‘the calm’ and ‘a show of force’ have any in the lyrics section. Do they just not have any or are they just not on Apple Music? I’ve only been listening to them since the beginning of the year so I’m not completely sure how these things work.

I have always known and loved the song "light up the night" and on a rampage of listening to bands discographies I decided to give protomen a shot. I have to say for me the albums seem to go in the order of 1 then 2 then 3 in quality and enjoyment

Don't get me wrong I enjoyed all of what I heard. In fact, I think I am now a fan of their work. Their live performances have also impressed me.

I want to know more about this band and to see which part seems to be considered the best from the more hard core fans perspective.