First all, a big thank you to everyone who's donated to the KCMQ Request-A-Thon to help the True North women's shelter and requested Protomen songs!

Today, October 16, is the Request-A-Thon, and for a $30 donation to the True North women's shelter a song (or $250 to have 4 songs play uninterrupted at the top of an hour... looking at you Joe saga or Light knife fight saga), you can have ANY song played! They've already played Calling Out in the first hour of the show... let's see how many Protomen songs we can request for a good cause!

Here's the link - https://kcmq.com/kcmqs-true-north-request-a-thon/

His drink was empty now. There was nothing left to do but continue to gaze upon the burning silhouette of the city before him, his view fractured by the fissure in the glass, now extending across the entire pane.

The rebels had pressed their way block by block, street by street over the course of the night, and now they stood at the very foot of his tower. No doubt they’d be upon him in minutes. Albert set down his glass, and picked up the music box on his desk. After a moment, he set it back down, and looked again upon the incandescent horizon. His gaze did not falter as the elevator doors opened behind him. Nor did it waver as the steady crescendo of heavy metallic footsteps approached, a familiar shadow growing around his own form. Only inches behind now. The pounding gave way to silence. He took a breath, and closed his eyes.

———————-

Megaman met the girl’s glance briefly before they turned again to the tower looming before them. The engine of this city’s misery for so many years. It would fall tonight.

Still, an unspoken worry had been growing within them both as this night had gone on. They had encountered strikingly little resistance so far, and furthermore, the specter of Wily’s monster had not yet descended upon them. They knew escape would not be an option this time. They would have to stand square and tall, and somehow confront this unbeatable machine. And yet, Wily’s last line of defense remained undeployed. A trap was surely afoot.

A faint crash overhead. For a few seconds they were not sure they had heard anything at all over the din of ongoing skirmishes in the surrounding neighborhoods. All doubt vanished in a loud pang of crushed metal and a shower of broken glass, as a parked car only inches in front of where Megaman and the girl stood was suddenly flattened. The girl jumped back, startled against her better instincts, while Megaman cautiously approached the ruined vehicle, studying the caved-in rooftop.

He froze.

It was him. Dr. Albert Wily. His broken corpse lay contoured nearly perfectly in a cocoon of twisted steel before the two of them. His eyes wide open, transfixed on some invisible point in the sky as he lay dead in his cradle of metal.

For a while, Megaman could only stare. The girl slowly approached him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Her gaze turned upward to a shattered windowpane, about twenty stories above.

The architect of this city’s nightmare was finally dead. She had come here to achieve as much. Still, an anger grew within her. In his last act, this coward had denied the city the justice it deserved. A tear rolled down her cheek, past her lips concealing clenched teeth.

Megaman placed a hand on her shoulder in kind.

“You’ve told me before. The fight is never really done. And I see now why you fight. We did not come here for vengeance, Carol. We came here for a future. Your future. My part in this is almost done. But yours is only beginning.”

She looked up at Megaman. Suddenly the front door to the tower burst open, and the two immediately turned and aimed their weapons. From the darkness, a hulking metal frame came into view. Emerging from the shadows, a glowing red light. Wily’s monster. It was here.

———————-

It slowly advanced. A hail of gunfire erupted from the handful of rebels with small arms. But the beast neither attacked nor changed its pace, continuing its march undeterred. In the middle of the street, it came to a halt.

Megaman sensed a change since their last encounter. Calm and deliberate. This was not the merciless tornado of blades and bullets he had met before. It did not want to fight. It wanted to speak.

He lowered his weapon and approached the machine, as he signaled Carol and the others to hold their fire. They could only watch now.

Megaman briefly looked again at the remains of the fallen tyrant behind him. He understood now that this was not Albert’s own doing. He met the machine’s gaze again, and spoke first.

“It was you?”

The voice that returned surprised him. Mechanical without doubt, but uncannily human in contrast to this construct’s appearance.

“Son of Light, I have ended the reign of Dr. Wily. Consider it my apology. Since our last meeting I have seen much of this city, its people, and its suffering. My creator was a scourge. This city will be better for his death.”

Megaman continued to study the machine. It was sincere; he could ascertain that much.

“What are your intentions, then?” Megaman asked, sensing that he knew the answer already.

“The same as yours. To save mankind.”

The machine extended its hand. An offer of peace.

Megaman remained silent for a moment. He looked back upon the crowd of rebels watching them silently, the men and women adorned in tattered clothes and makeshift armaments who’d fought beside him; who’d rescued him at their own peril when he’d last fallen in battle.

He looked back at the machine. Long ago he had stood in the place of this prospective savior. The righteous fury, the ache in his heart for the pain of these people. He remembered it all too well, and he could plainly see it in the face of Wily’s son standing in front of him.

But he also remembered his brother’s words. He understood now.

A hero to save them. A tyrant to dominate them. Neither would allow their true freedom. These people had earned their own destiny.

This machine was no hero. But in its visor gleamed the reflections of many. He would allow them their future once and for all. The two of them would die tonight.

Megaman raised his weapon, the blue light of his charging blaster illuminating half his face in a menacing glow. Finally, he replied to the machine before him:

“You’ll do no such thing.”

Street Team achieved a massive win this morning - we are currently the only independent band available to pre-order on Barnes and Noble's website.

But yeah. Hi guys. I might have convinced Barnes and Noble to carry Act 3.

Here's the link to pre-order. Don't forget to pre-order from Endo Records in Miami as well, and call your local B&N to make sure it will be physically stocked!

Hello all,

I've been a die hard fan a while. I do believe I understand the work...and, well, Act 3 inspires. There are no heroes but those we make ourselves.

But those we make of ourselves.

So, in my vanity as a failed political scientist?

I am making my own work. Unofficial. Non canonical. Scrapped from the shoulders of giants. It is not complete yet.

But I have at least a song's worth of lyrics of liner notes, a smattering of excerpts if there's hunger for it, and enough scaffold of story to make it make sense.

If any find it worthy, let me know. If you have any notes, by all means. And if anyone wants to put it to music, I'd be happy to hear it.

I myself do not have voice or equipment currently, nor the ability to arrange. So, you'd do me a service. Likewise, any comments on improvements for readability or structuring in terms of arrangement, I'm going off of Genius to kinda model.

Background:

Act X takes place just before, and then just after, the hanging of Thomas Light. Unknown in the far distance beyond what Roll and Mega see, some revolutionaries see their chance. If heroes cannot save us from the machines, and if men are only cowards and fools?

Then with what little skill we have, we must become machines, and use the chains and tools that bind our hands to free ourselves.

And on a bright dawn in 20XX, Thomas Light died.

And Albert Wily's demise was broadcast an hour later.

Roll, Mega, and those of the City now stand within the ruins of Wily's society. A society without trust, without wisdom, without guidance, without Light. To seek some way not to rebuild, for there is no blueprint in the past for a City truly free. Not to fix. But to build anew.

Revolutionaries.

Free souls.

Mavericks.

The following song is written in the aftermath of the riot that as Wily's reign ends. We meet the Son Of Cain: the sole child of a machinist who was one of the last to be given severance from Wily Industries. Trained for a job that stopped existing years before he was born...now standing in a new age, shrouded and guided by the wisdom of the old one.

(Note 1)

As the elevator roof came down and base still held strong, rooted by its floor-dogs-- and the glass spread like diamonds upon the sky, many found themselves cheering, joyous. They still stared at the monumental screens where Wily's visage had held them for so long, as again and again, his last moments played out. No one had found their way up to the control booth, let alone figured out how it worked. The tyrant was dead! At long last!

But on the ground? There was still so much work to do. A figure found itself darting back and forth, with a toolbox half a century old and a terminal that was contraband to keep. He started with the simple ones. The [X]s. Where spray painted plates jammed and pushed into ribcages? He pried them open, let them fall apart. Moved along.

Another had repurposed an arm cannon, his knuckles a half inch behind the barrel. Now the manual safety wouldn't engage. Cain bled the line before the capacitor took his arm with it. Moved along.

Then he sees them.

Shadows near the fountain.

At first he freezes. History repeats. These were new. Worse. They made the slim, swift structures of Proto's Killers look like toys. Hulking chimera of industrial salvage and military scrap. Another trap. Another trick. The last tin soldiers there to gun us down. He expects it to turn, target, and fire. But he still marches forward. His eyes meet with a tall, crested devil...as it stumbles, and from beneath the metal? A wet and ragged wheeze comes out as it tries to keep itself right.

They are not Wily's. The battle is over. The war.

The war might be.

They might have.

The thought won't finish.

Whatever is left inside these shells is human. More or less.

The Son of Cain sets himself to work.

(Verse 1)

CAIN:

Hold still a moment.
I don't know how you managed this much
You wanna spend the rest of your life gasping?
You wanna wander on a crutch-

Would you just stop moving, please!
I can't see beyond the steam
You're gonna tear yourself apart,
If I can't tear apart the seams

You're a damn fool you know? [+Choir: You know...?]
To try and live a dead man's dreams? [+To try and live...]
I'm not staring here at heroes
You're all just suicide machines...

Did no one teach you all? [+Choir: Did no one...?]
The graveyard's full of fools like you..[+Choir: Fools like you...]
And men who'd leave you there abandoned
Without a clue of what to do...

(Note 2)

His hands shook. There were no safety latches. He'd spent years in the dark pouring over his father's earliest and final blueprints. How these men knew how to make any sort of armor, how to reconfigure the pieces of a hunter-drone to carry human weight...But he'd spliced them into a battery, bare to his spine, the exhaust ports were still cherry red over his shoulders. No safety latches. No SCRAM.

None of them thought they were going to survive.

Now, the more scrappy [X]s were starting to gather and watch as Cain's hands flew back and forth. Just enough to live. A chance to survive. Another with optics taken from a Sniper and digital patterns painted across the plating bled into the fountain quietly, the crimson mingling with the hydraulic fluid sheared by shrapnel.

(Verse 2)

CAIN:

Icarus, still fluttering. Your feathers stole in the moonlight
Swear to God unless you hold still, you won't make it to tonight-
You! Quit hiding in the shadows! Shrapnel tore right through your thigh!
I know flesh and iron better, and you are far too young to die

Now-

Did no one teach you all? [+Choir: Did no one...?]
The graveyard's full of fools like you..[+Choir: Fools like you...]
And men who'd leave you there abandoned
Without a clue of what to do...

(Note 3)

This was what his father warned him about. When he was young and didn't realize what the pension meant, and wanted to work with W.I. He wanted to help people. Now he was staring at a man whose eyes glinted back from a fogging visor. The diagnostic tool was spiking as the cryonics were about to exhaust vent back through the suit. He was going to cook alive.

He could fix them. He could save them all. He could make them better.

All of them were armed for war.

They built monsters.

Of course they did.

That was all Wily made.

You can only do so much with the tools you have.

The crowd was gathering now, and the murmurs were starting. The Son of Cain heard none of them over his own voice and thoughts.

CAIN:

So they were meant to kill-

[CAIN+Choir]

Were you now?

CAIN:

So they were meant to kill-

[CAIN+Choir]

Were *you?!*

CAIN:

Just tell me who I'm saving

Keep your mask

So long as what you say is true...

(Note 4)

The crowd crew louder. The revolutionaries had moved as one from the highway to the tower. Who was this? Wearing a coat from the old commercials. His hands too fast as he finds release pins blind and how to slide the ID plate to get at the wiring by touch. He knows how to set the spring tension without a scale, without a snap.

CAIN:

What would you build up now? [+Choir: What would you...]
What would you save?
If I set your feet back on Earth now,
Will you just march back to your grave?

What can you do right now? [Choir: What can you...]
What would you right? [Choir: Right now...right now...]
Are you gonna break this fever?
Will your fires bring the Light?

What will you do right now? [Choir: What will you...]
If I give you the right? [Choir: Right now, right now...]
Will you spark another war up?
Or can we all hold back the night...?

OUTRO (CAIN and CHOIR, fading as the crowd begins to close)

What can you do right now? [Choir: What can you...]
What would you right? [Choir: Right now...right now...]

(Note 5)

As Cain keeps his hands going, whoever wanders to him, he mends as best he can. What he knows of machine. What he knows of medicine. The questions that are loudest are asking if he can hep. The ones that are whispered, are simple and singular.

Who made \you*?*

And finally, one voice grows bold enough to ask. The shadow of an Arm Cannon falls upon Cain's knuckles as he gazes up...and sees a figure who killed his brother and abandoned mankind.

And Mega sees a wolf, wearing a labcoat like sheepskin in hopes to be taken back by the flock.

Both have seen and learned too well not to trust. Neither will back down...

I desperately want the Joe jacket from the old store but there's only the woman's small, medium sizes. If anyone wants to get rid of their xl, xxl jacket id love to take it off your hands!

After I sent a normal amount three hundred in 48 hours of emails to record stores… Endo’s Records in Miami has put Act 3’s blue vinyl on pre order with a November 13 ship date! You can pre-order with an option to ship or pick up in store.

https://endorecords.com/products/protomen-act-iii-this-city-made-us-limited-blue-vinyl-2lp-new-lp?_su_rec=Y485YrX0J_iTr7-m3bvOfjtPx1bH-1xnZeBp8sglS5qX9hAmKzin36SLbpi0nKS6o101yAwmy86x47xRbxAOSe_A1TQkPNLRxX51h3X4ztfwypmDSq-1CEUHddarQjJggby5-EyUJJomj0NWjYIUcXmH3AtWTGlpZYOuh88n9opnu9nZdzn7wvzLjXiiRBSczywkWhRW2ZLF2DQl3C5ScLRhRQheBdcID4uYmsSoWMdNIUxwt6oamORM1bV65KvpvvkKoakRWLo-Alsx5B1tbshczNuKADbSo5116_p-q1kRNWwcJ83CGL7Vpeuh9LYhYMg&_su_rec_id=e979de37-6895-4238-9c32-73d89750cd40-1791923190&variant=67692141838650

More record stores have pre-ordered it to carry, so stay tuned to see where it will end up! (And don’t forget to call your local record store to make sure it’s there!)

And if you’re local to Miami… stay tuned ;)

I’m manifesting a new cover album. Behold, Al's Version

Al's Version

1. Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears For Fears
   
2. Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top
   
3. Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd
   
4. Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
   
5. Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) - Eurythmics
   
6. Pennies From Heaven - MJF
   
7. Every Breath You Take - The Police
   
8. Real American - Rick Derringer
   
9. Another One Bites the Dust - Queen
   
10. Electric Eye - Judas Priest
    
11. Turbo Lover - Judas Priest
    
12. She’s a Maniac - Michael Sembello
    
13. Somebody’s Watching Me - Rockwell
    
14. Paint it Black - The Rolling Stones
    
15. The Final Countdown - Europe
    
16. The Show Must Go On - Queen
    
17. My Way

Spotify playlist of the above made by Mechanisms of Destruction

I made two orders in July, one for the act 3 posters. And another for the act 3 vinyl and a couple of t shirts. From the official merch site - through shopify.

Both orders basically stalled for a month - labels showed as being created but the tracking number showed no progress.

I complained about the order I made first via email - they responded promptly and then the order proceeded and was delivered a few days later. This was the posters.

The second package I waited a few days, then emailed about that one. This was about 2 weeks ago. They responded saying they’d look into it - and never followed up and now won’t respond at all. Package tracking still says “label created” as the newest step.

This is pretty brutal. It’s been over 2 months since I made the order. And this one was over $200 worth of merch.

Anyone have similar experiences?

With Act 3 introducing Roll, I thought it'd be fun to make a little piece with all 3 of the siblings as I see them in this universe. Yeah I know technically Roll isn't related to Megaman and Protoman in this universe but still.

Think about this every day ✊🏻 MAGFest 2026

Hi r/protomen! It's me, that one girl who won't stop calling radio stations about the Protomen. I'm posting here to let you all know about an opportunity that our fandom has to help victims of domestic and sexual violence while also spreading the word about our favorite band!

KCMQ, which is a classic rock station out of Missouri, is having a Request-a-Thon on October 16 to fundraise for True North of Columbia, a shelter that helps those affected by domestic and sexual violence. For a $30 donation - or a $250 donation to pick four songs to play at the top of an hour - you can request any song you want. Literally anything you want. "When we say anything, we mean anything! B-sides, live recordings, deep tracks, pop, country, EDM, monks chanting…whatever you want, if we’ve got it, we’ll play it. Seriously, did you hear it last time? It got WEIRD."

Basically... this is the perfect opportunity to request some Protomen, while also helping out an extremely good and timely cause.

The link to request and donate is here - https://kcmq.com/kcmqs-true-north-request-a-thon/

Let's get some plays - and help out the community of Columbia, Missouri!

I also wanted to thank you all for being so supportive and kind on my last post a few months ago when I missed out on Nashville.

Anyway, here's some random photos from different shows. The selfie with Panther is from their Tampa show with TWRP right as covid was becoming a thing. Last show of their tour, one of the best concert experiences I've ever had.

None of my friends understand my obsession with The Protomen so I need to share this with you guys!

The Joe Trilogy are collectively my favourite songs ever, and I’ve been hyperfixated on the character of Joe as well as the Light’s Monster/the assassin etc for about 17 years now. I finally decided that I needed to make my own Joe bike helmet, so I found one that I liked the shape of, cleaned it, sanded it, sprayed it and replaced the visor. It’s not 100% finished; I’m going to weather along the edges where’s there’s still a bit of light showing through and I’d like to install an oscillating LED strip on the back of the visor to get the eye.

Apart from that, I’ve collected what I think is every Sniper Joe toy (there are not many!) and made a Joe LEGO minifig complete with bike. Also seen here is my ticket from seeing The Protomen, for the second time, in Wolverhampton in 2022 and Sir Dr Robert Bakker’s pick that I was really lucky to snatch out of the air.

We’ve also got LEGO Biker Bob (big The City vibes) and the EndoCop plus Terminator Dog from NECA’s line of RoboCop vs Terminator figures, included here to honour two of the franchises that heavily inspired the band (Murphy!) and the Terminator Dog is my nod to The Hounds.

Rounding it out is my copy of Act II on vinyl, the pride and joy of my relatively meagre vinyl collection.

I’ve also commissioned an artist friend to do a Joe pin design which looks amazing and I now need to put into production. Hoping to have those in hand by the end of the year.

Thanks for looking, fellow Protofans!

I’ve been messing around with a Lasers & Feelings hack template I found online and made this Protomen themed micro-rpg

It's like describing a city to someone who's never seen one, then asking them to draw one

(this ones messy as hell i drew this in like 45 minutes after watching the movie for the first time)

My friend and I had a discussion on whether or not Mets exist in the Protomen universe and if they were in Hope Rides Alone specifically. Behold my takeaway from the conversation

Got my record through bandcamp, was very expensive, and arrived quite badly damaged. Reached out to them on bandcamp but haven't gotten a reply. I don't really wanna just chargeback on paypal so is there any other way I could get in touch?

Marking this as a shit post because holy shit, Megadad is not handling things well. I had originally put off listening to Act 3 for a while because I wasn't in a great place and expected things to go badly in it and just couldn't take it.

Act 1 was actually my first concert experience--generally not a loud, cramped places person but it was a stunner of a show so I've been along for the ride since and I'm utterly embarrassed with the state of the good Doctor. Normally I never understand why the bad guy doesn't just kill their rival but in this case I'm 100% getting it. You can't bring a knife to a robot fight.

Pumped to see the humans standing up again. Monsteropolis might be donezo after all this, but honestly that's fine with me, it's been that way for years.

My daughter asked me "Daddy what's this depressed man singing about" so I told her the backstory and she stopped me multiple times to say "That's a terrible idea" so I know she's got good media literacy. She also said she would have thrown a brick at Protoman so that's good but I think I need to get this kid a helmet.

I'm excited to see there's probably an Act 2 because this is goddamned miserable. I'm torn between wanting Rock to pull a Blondie and Tuco his ass before he gets the rope and just wanting to put him out of his misery. Tragic but not inappropriate for the time when he actually, for real now, gives up hope to be the time it actually makes him beef it personally. But you need more than hope, Thomas!

You need Hope and a frickin' Robot!

Gonna have to do better than that. At least he got out of the shadows and out into the light, at the end. Maybe he rigged the place to go up. Maybe he'll feel the sun on his face again, once more.

Too much to hope for.

Sincerely though, maybe he snuck down into the Robot Lab where the bits of Protoman were being worked on and flipped some Bassomatic settings. Personally I was also thinking that the project would be a literal Sniper Joe, but I'm not sure cyborgs are DW's style. I care less about Wily getting his comeuppance than about getting some acknowledgement than the spirit of resistance will keep going. Everyone's so sad!

Hi! I want to help out my fellow street teamers or anyone who would like to see Act III in their local record shop! My good friend u/fadeawaysayu (who has done SO much amazing work on street team resources) recently published this email template that I really liked, so I thought I would share it along!

--

Hi (store name)! 

My name is (name), 

The Protomen's Act Ill: This City Made Us is about to be distributed to record stores across the country. According to the Protomen's website, the pre-order period for record stores to get the records and CDs into stores starts on October 12, with a release date of November 13. I was wondering if you would be interested in stocking the album in your store - and in addition, stocking some exclusive T-shirts and merchandise that the band would create if there's enough interest. If you are, please pre-order the album to stock in your store once it becomes available on October 12! 

Act Ill: This City Made Us debuted at number 9 on the Billboard Album Charts, as well as number 3 in Canada and number 4 in the Emerging Artists category. It was also the most pre-ordered album for Bandcamp in 2025. 

Thank you so much,

(name) 

Here’s their website: protomen.com

--

In response to this, stores may ask for distribution information. In response, you can direct them to Alliance, but it should be in their systems to order on 8/12. For other neat street team resources, you can check out Sydney's Discord server, too. https://discord.gg/ySeJyJEhG7

There are a bunch of good sites for finding record stores, but this one is pretty cool if you ignore the bad design all over the site lol: https://recordstoredirectory.com/record-stores-near-me/

This one, too, if you're really into the map part: https://recordstores.love/

EDIT 9/20: Edited letter template to follow a more organic approach. It sounds better if you make it known that you are genuinely interested in buying the album! Remember that this is a template. The more personalized, the better.

Due to unfortunate life circumstances, I wasn't able to make it to any of the performances this year. It's honestly got me real fucked up, I'm a newer fan to the band and I wanted to get to one of these so badly. I hadn't seen anything just trawling the socials and websites I could find, has anyone in the band given any indication if this is something they really do (or do not) wanna do again?

Does anyone else have any head-canons for different interactions between the characters? I think one of the best things about their rock opera is how open it is for interpretation on some topics. We still don't know the identity of "the girl" but I like to think she has the nickname "Roll" but her real name... well... I'm sure the comic speaks for itself!

I've had this idea since Act 3 was launched but didn't get around to making it a reality until recently. I hope you all enjoy it! I'm not very experienced in illustrating comics so I hope this doesn't look too sloppy.