History Music / TheProtomen

The main page of their website can be found [[http://www.protomen.com here]].

** The band often performs covers of various '80s songs during their encores, including "Silent Running" by Mike and the Mechanics, "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, and a face-meltingly awesome rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with the Gambler on lead vocals.

* ''The Cover Up'' (Cover CD, Vinyl/Cassette Tape, 2015)

* ApatheticCitizens: Seen across both Acts, particularly in Act I, and viciously deconstructed.

* AnonymousBand: Those codenames up there are all you'd get from them.

* CityNoir: The City.

* CallForward: "We will BUILD heroes!" Said by Wily, in what seems like irony until you realize that he's ''right'' - even Light chooses to "create a man to save the world" rather than risking his own hide. This idea that people will always search for others to build up as heroes rather than rising to the challenge themselves is the backbone of the first album's plot.

* CloudCuckooLander: The band's email "press releases" are rambling affairs which take several paragraphs before actually mentioning anything having to do with the band. Their announcement of the release date for Act II, for instance, opened with a paean to Shark Week on the Discovery Channel (including a picture of a shark with Tom Selleck's face), and included a 48-second "preview" of the album which was every track played ''at once'' to the point of being unintelligible.

** On their Twitter account, the band responded to a question about Doug Fetterman by saying a shark ate him for a week, and that's how Shark Week began.

* ArcWords: Several phrases appear in songs other than their own as a sort of foreshadowing; "Hope rides alone", "We are the dead", and "Even now there is hope for man".

*** "Light" and "fire" are predominant arc words of Act II, appearing in nearly every song with lyrics. Also, referring to the city as a machine itself.

** "Ready, willing, prepared to fight." Protoman is in "Hope rides alone," Megaman proclaims he is in "Vengeance" and challenges Wily's commander asking if he is as well. [[spoiler: Ironically, Megaman is just asking Protoman, though he doesn't know it. Yet.]]

** Act I begins and ends with a failed assault on Wily's fortress and [[spoiler: Protoman dying]].

* CrossOver: In May 2011, the Protomen were set to appear on a double bill in Nashville with none other than ''Tiffany'' of '80s pop star fame. However, [[spoiler: due to a family tragedy]] the band couldn't make it.

* DarkReprise: Not exactly, but lyrics from The Will Of One are repeated in a much darker context in The Sons Of Fate; at first they are Mega Man talking about fighting against Wily the same way his brother Protoman did, but the second time [[spoiler: they indicate Mega Man's disgust with humanity after killing Protoman, taking up his brother's nihilistic point of view himself]].

* HeroicSacrifice: Joe. And Protoman. [[spoiler: Sort of.]]

* RockOpera: Both of which end in the most depressing way possible. In the end of Act I, [[spoiler: Humanity is still enslaved, two heroes have been broken and one suffered two 'deaths': Figurative and literal.]] In the end of Act II, the world is just becoming enslaved, one hero [[spoiler: has died pointlessly,]] and the other sets out on a task [[DramaticIrony which the audience already knows is doomed to fail.]]
** Despite this, Act II ends on a high note compared to Act I. The final act of the album [[spoiler: details Joe's rebellion and attack on Wily's control tower. And following his death]], Thomas Light reads [[spoiler: the dead]] Emily's letter and realizes "This city needs [him] now," he then begins building Protoman. Also, Act II ends on a high note if you consider that [[spoiler: Protoman's belief that all men are cowards who would rather die to fight back was proven wrong, not so long ago. There was still at least one man that had the courage to fight back.]]

* RockOperaPlot

The first album, a self-titled release also known as ''Act I'' or ''Hope Rides Alone'', was self-published in 2005, and tells the story of how Protoman and Megaman were created to fight against Dr. Wily's regime and the very different paths their lives took. It was followed in September 2009 by ''Act II: The Father of Death'', a prequel which tells the story of how Dr. Light and Wily created artificial intelligence, and how it all went so very wrong. ''Act III'' takes place sometime after ''Act I'' and is to be released an an unspecified date. A [[https://www.twitch.tv/pax/b/330672275 live]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBWGZgbaEEQ preview]] of an ''Act III'' track was heard at PAX 2012, and a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLdi6DnpzQI second song was previewed]] at [=MAGfest=] 2015.

* ''This City Made Us Act III Vinyl EP'' (2015)

* Ringo Segundo: Guitar, backing vocals, vocals (Under Pressure)

* AdaptationalVillainy: Wily was always a bad guy, but the game canon has him as LaughablyEvil in the Classic series. This incarnation takes his evil UpToEleven; he's a fascistic dictator who got where he is by having the Sniper murder his best friend's lover in cold blood, then framed said friend for it.

An [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788868065/the-official-protomen-documentary official documentary]] is in production. An official music video for Light Up the Night was also released and can be viewed for free, bought, and downloaded on their website.

Tropes relating to specific songs should be placed [[Recap/TheProtomen here]].

* AerithAndBob: The band members' names run from fantastical, like Scartoe and Panther, to ordinary names like Doug.

An [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788868065/the-official-protomen-documentary official documentary]] is in production. An official music video for Light Up the Night was also released.

The Protomen are a [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters very large]] indie progressive rock band from Nashville, [=TN=], whose musical catalogue is based around a RockOpera trilogy inspired by ''[[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]''. ''[[InNameOnly Very loosely]]'' based off of the mythology of the classic ''Mega Man'' games, the first three in particular, it shows an Orwellian {{Dystopia}} that's a {{Deconstruction}} of HoldingOutForAHero, and a general examination of the psychology behind fascism.

Tropes relating to specific songs should be placed [[Music/TheProtomenTropes here]].

An [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788868065/the-official-protomen-documentary official documentary]] is in production, as is an official music video for Light Up the Night, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k40apNr7vvE which got an official preview during PAX East 2016]]. Its trailer can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4CO9reBgs here]].

The Protomen have appeared in a ZombieApocalypse webcomic, Webcomic/DeadOfSummer. Several members have other bands, including Music/CheerUpCharlieDaniels (Turbo Lover, occasionally Panther, the Gambler, and Sir Bakker in live shows), Music/AdamAndTheCouchPotatoes (Turbo Lover, with the Gambler appearing in a music video), and The Ascent Of Everest (Sir Bakker). Music/MakeupAndVanitySet is affiliated with them, having done an 8-bit chiptunes mix of ''Act I'', with plans to make one of ''Act II''. They are also affiliated with Music/{{Brentalfloss}}, Music/TheMegas, and Music/TenaciousD, and have gotten "Light up the Night" into ''VideoGame/RockBand 4''.

Additionally, the Protomen composed the score for ''Terminator the Second'', a theatrical piece of found art that reconstructs the plot of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' using dialogue from the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare. They appeared in it as the SWAT Team that takes down Dyson. They have also produced music for ''WebVideo/VideoGameHighSchool''.

* Kingsley Ivan Lamarck Rodrigo Othello Youngblood (K.I.L.R.O.Y.) : Master of Ceremonies, armorer, [[DropTheHammer sledgehammer percussion]], vocals (Protoman - Sons of Fate live), tiny guitar, extremely exuberant maracas.

Additionally, the Protomen composed the score for ''Terminator the Second'', a theatrical piece of found art that reconstructs the plot of ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' using dialogue from the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare. They appeared in it as the SWAT Team that takes down Dyson. They have also produced music for WebVideo/VideoGameHighSchool.

An [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788868065/the-official-protomen-documentary official documentary]] is in production, as is an official music video for Light Up the Night, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k40apNr7vvE which got an official preview during PAX East 2016]]. Its trailer can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4CO9reBgs here]].

* HilarityEnsues: In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr1ZNuX5o5M this]] video, the crowd gets a little... ''too'' into the Sons of Fate. Two words: Nerf gun.

An [[http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/788868065/the-official-protomen-documentary official documentary]] is in production, as is an official music video for Light Up the Night, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k40apNr7vvE which got an official preview during PAX East 2016]].

** The fandom does this as well, calling themselves "The Resistance". Individual clubs or groups of fans might take squad names. Of particular note are the Chamethrawer Squadron, the LIGHT Brigade, and "Protofans."
*** Also the Brotomen. Though that is more of a loose association.

* TheDragon: The Sniper was this to Dr. Wily before Light and Joe took it out.