Recap / The Protomen

This page is dedicated to tropes used in The Protomen's songs, as well as those featured in their live performances. Unmarked Spoilers Abound. You've been warned.

Act I

Act I: Hope Rides Alone

The first act was created to specifically avoid sounding "pristine and perfect", according to the band. As such, the music sounds slightly grainy and distorted.

Track 1: Hope Rides Alone

In the year 200X, Dr. Wily rules the City with his army of evil robots. Nobody is left who remembers how he took control or how long it's been, and nobody dares oppose him—except for Dr. Light, an eccentric genius, who for 12 years labors to create a machine to save mankind - Protoman. Protoman challenges Dr. Wily's minions, but fails and is killed as an impassive crowd looks on.

This song is the first with its own official video/animation, found here.

• Attack! Attack! Attack!: The robots' method of attacking Protoman is to just keep attacking. It works.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Wily's robots tear Protoman apart and kill him.
• Crowd Song: The crowd chants "We are the dead" fairly spontaneously.
• Last Stand: Protoman attacks Wily's forces and keeps fighting until he can't anymore.
• Mockumentary: It begins with a busker singing about Protoman to his audience (you), and the original assault on Wily's fortress is presented as though it were a badly damaged audio/video tape with all the static. It's shown on an old monitor, and played on a gramaphone in the official video/animation.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Robot Masters deliver one to Protoman, killing him. Or so it seems.
• Quirky Miniboss Squad: The bosses from the first Mega Man game (Cutman, Gutsman, Elecman, Bombman, Iceman, and Fireman) kill Protoman.
• Respawning Enemies: An endless number of robots are left to be destroyed even when Protoman has nothing left.
• Theme Tune Roll Call: As the Robot Masters and Protoman step forward, they're named.
  Cutman! Gutsman! Elecman! Bombman! Fireman! Iceman! Proto...

Track 2: Funeral For A Son

Protoman's broken body is carried away by Wily's minions, and the crowd builds a monument to him, enshrining his helmet (the only piece of him left), but otherwise forgetting him and returning to their lives of slavery. With Protoman gone, Dr. Light comes to realize that he was more than a machine - he was a living, feeling being, a son, whom he had sent to die in vain. In anger, he ransacks his laboratory, but in doing so instead finds himself constructing a new robot in his anger and despair. And so Megaman is born.

• No-Dialogue Episode: The entire second track is an instrumental.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Dr. Light's reaction to sending his son in to a battle he could not win.
• Never Found the Body: All that's left of Protoman is his helmet.
• Replacement Goldfish: Dr. Light finds himself constructing a robot son to... replace his robot son.

Track 3: Unrest In The House Of Light

Years later, Dr. Light realizes that the people still whisper of Protoman, and fears that Megaman will be inspired to take up his brother's mantle. Dr. Light tells Megaman his brother's story, and the lesson he has learned from it - mankind cannot be saved because it is unwilling to stand for itself. He orders Megaman not to follow the same path.

• Because I Said So: Light's explanation as to why Megaman should not try to fight.
• La Résistance: Averted. Since Protoman, there has been no one who has tried to fight against Dr. Wily.
• Timeskip: Several years pass between Funeral For A Son and Unrest In The House Of Light.

Track 4: The Will of One

Megaman laments that the people deserve freedom after all, and tells Dr. Light that he'll never know whether mankind can be made free unless he tries. After a visit to the grave of Protoman, he decides that he will fight the fight his brother fought. Visiting Protoman's grave, he finds the words "Hope Rides Alone" scrawled across it "in some angry hand", and is inspired to avenge his brother. As he rushes through the city streets, public loudspeakers begin chanting orders to submit as a crowd grows and follows Megaman to Wily's fortress.

• Call-Forward: Lyrically, some of Light's words echo Emily's last words from Act II, which was produced later.
• Calling the Old Man Out: "Do not say 'This is how it has to be...' you do no better than the fools of this burning city!"
• Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: Wily's mantra to keep the peace is broadcast over the loudspeakers surrounding the fortress. The crowd turns it into a rallying cry.
• "I Want" Song: Coupled with an "I Am Becoming" Song; Megaman wants to leave Light's lab to find the truth, and fight Wily like his brother, so he does.
• Ironic Echo: Dr. Light's words from Unrest In The House Of Light.
• Grave-Marking Scene: Megaman does what any good protagonist does: He visits the shrine made to the one who fell before him. The words 'Hope Rides Alone' are carved in to the statue by Dr. Light.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: HOPE RIDES ALONE! Not a particularly heroic example, but the phrase does give the drive to storm the Fortress.
  • "The fight of PROTOMAAAAAAAN!"
• Take Up My Sword: The reason Megaman has chosen to fight. He feels Protoman deserves his fight to finish. "And as I live, there is no evil that will stand! And I will finish what was started, the fight of PROTOMAN!"
• Triumphant Reprise: To try to keep the rebellion in check, the chorus of telescreens begins chanting "We have control/We keep you safe/We are your hope." Undeterred, the rioters begins chanting the exact same phrase, drowning them out.

Track 5: Vengeance

At the Fortress, Megaman sees an army standing before him, as a figure watches from the shadows. Single-handedly, Megaman fights his way through the robot army and challenges the shadowy figure, who speaks in a voice that is horribly familiar to the crowd.

• Beige Prose: Megaman dispenses with poetry and gets right to destroying the army.
• Bring It: "All you wounded...Those of you who can... Pick yourselves off the ground! Hurry back! Tell your leader you'll need more men!"
• Determinator: The entire song is almost completely comprised of Megaman screaming for the army to come and get some while he blasts them away with insane strength.
• Foreshadowing: "The shadow/It covers your face/But your eyes shine/Just like mine..."
• Hot-Blooded: Megaman spends the entire song in a battle lust and screaming for the enemy to fight him.
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: Said often enough that he was in fact Tempting Fate.
• Oh, Crap!: Megaman has one at the very end of the song, when he sees his brother's face as the enemy leader.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Megaman's entire thought process. And he does a damned good job of it.
• Wham Line: In the booklet:
  Just before the shot rang out, the blast that would end this battle, the commander stepped out of the shadows and into the light. This was a face Megaman had seen before, in visions and dreams. This was not the face of evil.
  This was the face of a Hero. The face of a Son. The face of his Brother. This was Protoman.

Track 6: The Stand (Man or Machine)

The figure is revealed as Protoman, who is now working for Dr. Wily. Megaman struggles to come to grips with Protoman's Face–Heel Turn as Dr. Light explains that he had lied about Protoman's death to spare him the truth. Protoman stands before Megaman and speaks of why he has chosen to serve Dr. Wily - the human race, he says, doesn't deserve freedom unless it's willing to fight for itself, and attempts (vainly) to goad the crowd into fighting him.

• Anti-Villain: Protoman tries to goad the townspeople in to fighting, so that he may be proven wrong. He almost breaks down in tears when he is unsuccessful.
• Awful Truth: Dr. Light admits that he knowingly lied about the fate of Protoman, which was to make a...
  • Face–Heel Turn: Due to Protoman's belief that people who do not save themselves don't deserve to be saved.
• Broken Pedestal: Megaman discovering that Protoman, who he has admired and idolized, has turned against humanity.
• Foe-Tossing Charge: Protoman does this through his own army near the end of the song, if for no other reason than to show how awesome he is.
• Heroic Bystander: An Averted Trope. No one does anything to help Megaman, no matter how much Protoman tries to push them.
• "Not So Different" Remark: "I've been here before, I've stood where you stand. They called me their hero. The hero of man."
• The Reveal: Protoman is alive and is now Wily's top enforcer.
• Villain Song: Subverted in that he desperately wishes he was wrong, but has seen nothing to prove otherwise.

Track 7: The Sons Of Fate

Megaman and Protoman argue in battle whether humanity is worth saving, with Megaman slowly worn down. As he begins to realize that humanity will not fight for itself, the crowd continues urging him to kill Protoman, and he acquiesces, mortally wounding him. As his brother whispers his last words — "A hero is just a man who knows he's free" - the crowd assures Megaman that he had no choice and he shouldn't cry for him. Appalled by the experience, Megaman tells the crowd "You are the dead" and turns his back on them, leaving the city behind. As when Protoman first "died", the crowd chants "We are the dead" - but this time, as punishment for even thinking of rebellion, Dr. Wily orders his robots to slaughter them all.

• Apathetic Citizens: Invoked Trope. 'They will not stand' and 'They will not fight' are lines by Protoman. He finally screams to the crowd of people that no one will ever come to save them again, because they'll never try and fight for themselves.
• Arm Cannon: The opening to the song is their twin Busters charging.
• As Long as There Is One Man: Even after how much humanity had disappointed Protoman, and regardless of how much he says humans deserve the fate they're given, he still whispers at the end "If these people... tell this story... to their children... as they sleep... maybe someday... they'll see a Hero... is just a man... who knows he is free."
• Book Ends: "We are the dead."
• Dark Reprise: "...And as I live, there is no evil that will stand! And I will finish what was started— The fight of Protoman!"
• Despair Event Horizon: Megaman presumably crosses this.
  Protoman was dead. The crowd seemed pleased. Megaman finally understood.
  There are no Heroes left in Man.
• Evil Laugh: Protoman gives a particularly good one in the live performances.
• Final Speech: Protoman manages to do a brief one.
• Finish Him!: After he tells them they will never have another hero, the crowd cries out to Megaman "Destroy him!/You can save us!/ You're our only hope!/ KILL PROTOMAN!"
• Heroic BSoD: As mentioned in Lyrical Dissonance, the end of the song sees Megaman suffering one of these as he echoes in horror and shock his vow to avenge his brother, as he realizes the crowd genuinely does not care about Protoman`s death, and can`t even comprehend why Megaman would.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Megaman wishes it was this kind of fight. It's not.
• Humans Are Bastards: Just about everything the people in the crowd say exemplifies this.
• Leave No Survivors: After Megaman leaves, the humans are slaughtered for even thinking about a revolution this time.
• Lyrical Dissonance: Inverted. This somber song has Megaman singing the line originally sung with passion "And I will finish, what was started, the fight of Protoman!", right before Megaman leaves the city.
• My God, What Have I Done?: (In the live performances at least), Megaman's reaction to killing Protoman is something like "What have I done... What have you made me do?"
  • According to the liner notes, nobody saw who fired the shot that killed Protoman, so it may not have been Megaman after all...
• Precision F-Strike: In some performances, Wily says "Fuck it! Kill 'em all!" after Megaman declaration to the audience that "you are the dead".
• You Fool!: Protoman calls the crowd fools for still thinking of him as a hero.

Track 8: Due Vendetta

An "epilogue" consisting solely of the shouted names of characters from the Mega Man games. Was actually the first song the band recorded, and has an extended version called "Fade to Phil" that features a chiptune cover of Phil Collins' "Against All Odds."

• Chiptune: They feature prominently in this song.
• Evil Laugh: The singer delivers a creepy, disorted laugh about 3/4ths of the way through.
• Foreshadowing: "SNIPER JOE!" is among the names sung; both the Sniper and Joe are important characters in Act II.
• Game Over: The final words spoken in the album.
• Last Note Nightmare: In the extended version, "Fade to Phil", the chiptune music continues for some time as it covers the rest of the song. Then distortions and sounds come in, and it's creepy. Then the sounds get louder, and turn into what has been described as sounding like dial-up internet before fading into dead static completely.
• Theme Tune Roll Call: Essentially the point of the song. All the Robot Masters from the first two games are named, as are Wily, Light, a Sniper Joe, Rush Jet, and Megaman.
  • In live performances Panther switches it up, sometimes adding "Proto" and "Roll".

Act II

Act II: The Father of Death:

Abandoning the heavy synth of the first album, The Protomen chose a more 80s inspired album in light of its prequel status.

Track 1: Intermission

The actual track is a short instrumental, but the story is of Dr. Light's girlfriend, Emily, reading a letter he sent to her. The letter explains Tom's regret of letting his partner Albert convince him to modify the machines they built, that the newest one looks like a "lifeless steel man" and that the newest designs have been further modified to carry weapons. He says he will attempt to convince Albert to abandon the project before he puts the city in danger.

• Foreshadowing: The point of the song is to foreshadow future events.
• Fun with Acronyms: Geological Unmanned Terra-forming System, the name of the project the two doctors are working on, is a Shout-Out to the games via Gutsman.
• No-Dialogue Episode: The entire first track is an instrumental.

Track 2: The Good Doctor

Thirty years before the birth of Protoman, Drs. Light and Wily are partners. It is revealed that Dr. Thomas Light's father died while working in the mines. Light decides to study robotics, hoping that it will end the suffering in the hellish condition of the mines. Wily has been his partner in this endeavor, providing invaluable assistance in the research - but as the project nears fruition, Light discovers with horror that Wily has designed the robots to carry and use weapons, and fears that Wily's motives are less than benevolent.

On the night that the machines are to be activated, Light confronts Wily, who insists that the machines they've created will give them the power to rule the world and change it for the better. Light denounces Wily's theories, even Wily's hopes for profit and power based on their inventions, instead espousing the strength of human character. It is revealed that he has another reason to build these machines: His girlfriend, Emily Stanton, who works hard in the factory. Realizing that it's too late to change course, Light reluctantly switches on the machines.

• Big Bad Friend: Dr. Wily and Light work together presumably very well. Until Wily suggests that these robots could be used for non-industrial means.
• Counterpoint Duet: Light and Wily sing in counterpoint about uplifting humanity or ruling it with the machines they've designed.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Dr. Light's motivation for constructing robots powerful enough to replace man kind is his father dying in a mineshaft.
• Hero vs. Villain Duet: The song is a duet where Light reveals his altruistic goals in building machines to help humanity with dangerous jobs, while Wily scoffs that humanity will give control to them in exchange for relief from work.
• Just Think of the Potential!: "If you replace the working parts, you get a different machine."
• Suddenly Voiced: Dr. Wily had no speaking parts in Act I.
• You Fool!: Wily calls Light one once he hears the reasons why he made the machines.

Track 3: Father of Death

Light is wracked with guilt, believing that man will be destroyed by the inventions he created to spare suffering from Emily and those like her. Emily has gone to Light's apartment to deliver a letter to him; however, she finds Wily there, ransacking the apartment. Wily offers to take her away, but Emily refuses. He pleads his case, that Light will soon be a broken man, but Emily denounces that as well. She knows that Light will never give up, never give in. She is then murdered by Wily, who orders the Sniper robot Light built to slit her throat. Dr. Light walks in just seconds after the assassin leaves, and just seconds before the police arrive to arrest him for Emily's murder.

• Car Cushion: How Dr. Light escapes the police, breaking his arm in the process. Fanon states that it's Wily's car.
• Chekhov's Gun: Emily's letter to Thomas, which isn't heard of again until the very end, when he reads it before his impending doom and strengthens his will to continue the fight against Wily.
• Cyber Cyclops: The sniper robot has a singular red eye.
• Determinator: Emily. She rebukes Wily and flat-out informs him that Light's a better man. Wily takes that information rather poorly.
• Final Speech: Emily's last words. Though a better candidate may be her letter to Light.
• Historical In-Joke: On the Father of Death wanted poster, Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War for the Lincoln Administration, vows to bring Emily's murderer to justice.
• If I Can't Have You…: Though he doesn't actually say it, this is part of the motive for Dr. Wily's murder of Emily.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Emily dies mid-sentence after expressing there will be light.
• Made of Iron: Dr. Light breaks his arm from the fall... and apparently walks it off, as it's not brought up again.
• Music Box Intervals: The beginning of the song and after Emily is killed have a music box playing.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Light does this during the first part of the song.
• Slashed Throat: Emily is killed with the sniper slashes her throat with a knife.
• Super Window Jump: Light does this to escape the police, apparently missing the fire escape. Wily, on the other hand, opened the window to escape.

Track 4: The Hounds

Wily has convinced the world that Light was responsible for the murder with Light's own invention. Light is hunted down, while Wily continues to destroy Light's good name. He knows it is too late to admit he was the murderer, deciding that Light must be destroyed in the public eye. Wily switches on his massive broadcast system and bombards the masses with misinformation, while the manhunt for Light continues.

• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: When the press demands to know the name of the murdered girl, Wily just responds "Doesn't matter."
• …But He Sounds Handsome: Wily, while framing Doctor Light for the murder he committed, remarks that Light was a "smart man" for using a robot to kill Emily.
• Evil Laugh: Averted; while Wily does his fair share of Evil Gloating, he never once laughs.
• Ignored Epiphany: In the latter part of the song he contemplates undoing what he's done—for about two lines, casting the possibility aside immediately.
• Large Ham: Wily is clearly enjoying pinning the blame on Light. In live versions it's even more over-the-top.
• Moral Event Horizon: Wily discusses this in-universe.
  If there ever was a time, if there ever was a chance, to undo the things I've done and wash the bloodstains from my hands, it has passed and been forgotten.
• Stupid Sexy Wily: Just look at the comments this song gets on YouTube.
• Vetinari Job Security: Wily is counting on the invaluable nature of machines to make his rule absolute.
• Villain Song: In grand tradition, it's a ridiculously catchy, upbeat song.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Played With- Wily asks the reporters the rhetorical question "What kind of man builds a machine to kill a girl," referring to Light... but it was Wily who killed Emily.
  • There are also villainous implications there, given the subtext. Wily seems to be implying that a real man would have killed her himself; he notes Light is a "smart man" for using a machine.

Track 5: The State Vs. Thomas Light

Dr. Light is apprehended at Emily's grave, and is waiting for his fate to be decided. His sorrow is great, and the bloodthirstiness of the crowd has not heartened his spirits. He laments that the trial has become about persecuting Dr. Light, rather than the death of Emily. Hoping and praying that he will meet her soon in death, he knows nothing but guilt and sorrow. He stands before the court, knowing the verdict... and all but refusing to believe it when the court pronounces him innocent.

• BSoD Song: The entire song is Light feeling incredibly guilty over building the machine that killed Emily to the point where even though Wily commanded it to kill her, he feels he's just as guilty.
• It's All My Fault: Light spends the entire song blaming himself for his role in the events.
• Grief Song: Dr. Light laments his hand in the death of Emily.
• Lonely Funeral: Emily has no family, and her coworkers are too busy with work to attend and the Priest's words are drowned out by Wily's broadcast anyways.
• Mood Whiplash: After the audience spends a whole song rooting for Dr. Wily, this song comes in and shows the consequences of his actions. This is also done musically, going from an upbeat tune to a sad one.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: How Dr. Light feels about the creation of his industrial robots.
• Together in Death: Light prays for this. He doesn't get his wish.

Track 6: Give Us The Rope

Dr. Wily's smear campaign has worked. The miners have formed a lynch mob, intending to deliver the justice they feel the courts failed to provide. The police escort Light quickly out of town, but the mob gains ground surprisingly fast. Light gets on the first train out of the city, watching the skyline he helped build fade into the distance, as Dr. Wily's face on the telescreens continues to tear down his legacy.

• An Arm and a Leg: Aside from calling for a hanging, the crowd wishes to dismember Light.
  Give us his hands! Give us his feet!
• Angry Mob Song: Played with in that Light has been found innocent, and they still want to kill him.
• Beige Prose: The crowd's demands are remarkably straightforward.
• Convicted by Public Opinion: Wily's propaganda whips up a mob willing to kill Light to correct the "injustice" of his acquittal.
• Creepy Monotone: The crowd's vocals are toneless shouting, in contrast to the dramatic, emotional music backing them.
• Crowd Song: Just go to one of their shows. The whole freaking audience plays the part of the lynch mob.
• Get It Over With: Dr. Light, again. Notice that you only hear the miners. Not once does Light bother to protest.

Track 7: How The World Fell Under Darkness

With Light gone, and the people having lost their faith in the government, Wily has taken over, and no one tries to stop him. He rebuilds the mining town into a steel plated heaven. From his crystalline tower at the center of the city, Wily's propaganda broadcasts 24/7, filling every channel. His single telescreen atop the tower, visible from almost any point in the city, is supplemented over time with thousands more across the metropolis. A generation is born and grows to adulthood in this new utopia, not even knowing the hardships their parents faced. It comes with a price though, and that is that Wily's presence is everywhere. People speak in hushed tones of an assassin with a single red eye - a being they call "Light's Monster". Everyone remains content and silent. Except for one rebellious youth. His name is Joe.

• Act Break: By means of a Time Skip, with the music changing from guitars and violins to synth-heavy pieces.
• Call-Forward: The very first sentence of Hope Rides Alone reads "No one was left who could remember how it had happened...how the world had fallen under darkness..."
• Crystal Spires and Togas: Wily's robot workers tear down much of the city and rebuild it in this style to placate his new subjects.
  • Reflected in the music slowly turning more electronic until the strings have stopped and the electronic rhythm dominates the song. Subsequently, the second half of the album is largely synth based, leading back to how synth based the first album was.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: Starting here, and ending at The Fall, the tracks have a recurring heartbeat sound.
• Job-Stealing Robot: Wily's machines replace the human workforce entirely, and the humans don't mind at all.
• No-Dialogue Episode: The entire seventh track is an instrumental.

Track 8: Breaking Out

Joe is tired of the silent oppression of the city and yearns to leave. After a heartfelt bit to a girl in a bar, he makes his way to his old home to get his father's motorcyle. Kicking it into motion, he rides to the outskirts of the city, past all the modern marvels Wily has constructed. When he comes to a stop, a figure steps out of the shadows, Thomas Light. Before Light can speak, another figure emerges from behind Joe, the one eyed sniper robot that killed Emily.

• Arc Words: First bluntly stated here: "Don't turn your back on the City."
• Deuteragonist: Up until now, the story had focused on Light, and switches focus to a rebellious youth in the City.
• Establishing Character Moment: Joe sweet-talks a girl he barely knows while declaring his intent to get out of the City.
• Face Framed in Shadow: Dr. Light is described as framed in shadows in the liner notes.
• Foreshadowing: I wanna burn until there's nothing left to burn about foreshadows Joe's tragic death via explosion.
• "I Want" Song: Coupled with an "I Am Becoming" Song; Joe wants to break out and is.
• Wanderlust Song: Joe wants to break out of the City and see what lies beyond the horizon, even though he's been told no one should ever think such thoughts.

Track 9: Keep Quiet

Joe confronts the one eyed sniper robot and tells it he's not afraid to die, calling it out to fight him. Despite the robot easily overpowering him in physical combat, Joe pulls the robot's gun from its holster and shoots it, after which Dr. Light steps out of the shadows and deals the killing blow to it. Joe dons the robot's helmet as the two flee to an abandoned warehouse...

• Badass Boast: Essentially the entire song is this: it consists of Joe facing down "Light's Monster", the single being that's been keeping the entire city terrified into submission, and telling it that that's not gonna work on him, and demanding that it put its own life on the line if it wants to take him down. Then he kills it. (Well, he shoots it and then lets Dr. Light administer the killing blow.)
• Badass Normal: Joe is a normal human with no special powers or weapons and manages to defeat the sniper robot that's kept an entire city in line.
• Call-Forward: Retroactively.
  Joe: You're going to have to do better than fear! You're going to have to step out of the shadows and fight! *later* So come on...come on, step into the light!
  Megaman: Step forward...step into the light!
  • Also:
  Joe: I will not be told where to stand... not by man or machine...
  • Act 1's Recurring Riff, heard in Funeral for a Son and towards the end of The Sons of Fate, can also be heard at the very end.
• Dare to Be Badass: While the song is mostly about Joe's own will to fight, it can be seen as his call to the city to follow his example and revive itself. After all, in his view, there's nothing more left to lose. It even sounds like he's being brought to tears pleading to everyone else to join his fight.
  Joe: Just open your mouths and revive it!
• Dark Reprise: The robot sings its own synthesized version of the chorus at the end, repeating "This city... She's been dead... For years now..."
• Do Not Go Gentle: Despite being scared of "Light's Monster", Joe resolves that if he's doomed to die, he's going down swinging.
• Fate Worse than Death: "They say, this city, she's been dead for years now... so death is not something that scares me. There's worse things than death here."
  • This becomes a Dark Reprise at the end of the song, as the robot begins chanting the first line of that chorus repeatedly.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: The Sniper tries to kill Joe with its bare hands once he has the advantage...only to be shot point blank by its own gun as Joe steals it from its holster.
• Improvised Weapon: Joe finds a pipe to use against the Sniper. It...doesn't help much.
• Karmic Death: The Sniper killed Emily by slashing her throat. It's killed in the same manner.
• Machine Monotone: If we take the singing at the end to be the Sniper.
• Oh, Crap!: Joe's initial reaction to the Sniper is instant panic.
• Slashed Throat: Here, the Sniper dies this way.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Light says this to Joe right before he kills the Sniper.
  • From the notes: "I built this. It's mine to destroy."

Track 10: Light Up The Night

Dr. Light and Joe hatch their plan - armed with a satchel full of explosives, Joe will ride his motorcycle into Dr. Wily's tower at the center of the city and destroy the broadcast tower which feeds Wily's propaganda to the telescreens across the city. With his source of power cut off and the people left to think for themselves, Light will then sneak into the city and kill Wily himself. Wearing the slain robot's helmet, Joe sets off on his fateful ride...

• Hot-Blooded: Joe. He even lampshades it.
  "I've got this burning like my veins are filled with nothing but gasoline..."
  • Which immediately segues into the somewhat ominous line "And with this spark it's gonna be the biggest fire they've ever seen."
  • Joe is summed up by this YouTube comment:
    Joe wouldn't drive a car. He'd drive a motorcycle made of light and hope. That's on fire.
• Ironic Echo: Wily's "If you replace the working parts, you get a different machine" is echoed by Light as "If you destroy the working parts, what you get is a broken machine."
  • Another one is Wily's "The man who turns the wheels, they will follow anywhere he leads." Light echoes this, before wondering "Now the wheels are spinning out of control; what would they do if we held them still?"
• Refuge in Audacity: The plan to drive up to the tower, smash through the doors, climb countless stairs, set the bomb, and escape without running into any robots.
• Rousing Speech: In song form; it's essentially Light and Joe psyching themselves up for the plan.
• Shout-Out: To Streets of Fire, to which the album cover is based on. The words even have emphasis placed on them.
  Joe: "There is a fire that will burn through the streets of the city!

Track 11: The Fall

Joe ascends the tower with the broadcast signal, triumph in every note. As he reaches the roof, he sets the bomb, but it explodes too early for him to get away; Joe is flung off the roof and falls to his death. The tower is destroyed—and, one by one, the telescreens across the city explode. And yet, even as the broadcast tower collapses, Dr. Wily's voice continues to boom from the loudspeakers.

• Action Bomb: Joe ended up being this, albeit accidentally.
• Batman Gambit: The music video for Light Up The Night and The Fall makes it clear that not only was Wily expecting someone to rebel against his authoritarian rule over the city by blowing up the tower, he was in fact relying on it to further his own plans. First, no one made any attempt to stop Joe from climbing the tower, despite one of Wily's robot guards clearly watching him as he rammed the doors with an exploding motorcycle. Second, Wily had actually wired the tower to explode himself, and we're treated to a brief shot revealing that Wily had specifically set the timers on his own explosives to activate via proximity sensor. Wily not only made sure that the tower would be destroyed properly, but gave the would-be saboteur just long enough to realize they'd played into Wily's hands as a final, vindictive "fuck you."
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Joe's destruction of the tower ends up being this.
• Foregone Conclusion: Subverted. If you listened to Act I, you would think the plan would outright fail, as Wily has control during that time and this is the prequel. But Light and Joe's scheme works, and the tower and telescreens are destroyed. It's then Double Subverted as even though it worked, it doesn't change anything.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: Here, it flatlines to signify Joe's death.
• It's All Upstairs From Here: The tower has no elevator, so Joe climbs up countless flights of stairs.
• Last Note Nightmare: The entire piece is filled with an air of hope and imminent triumph which just plain deflates at the very end.
• Made of Explodium: Joe's motorcycle crashes through the tower doors and explodes.
• Mythology Gag: Joe's disguise as the Sniper makes him "Sniper Joe".
• Negated Moment of Awesome: The music falling down and dying at the end musically portrays Joe's heroics as one of these. The music video makes it worse, as not only was Wily expecting someone to rebel against his authoritarian rule over the city by blowing up the tower, he was in fact relying on it to further his own plans.
• Oh, Crap!: The music video, early in The Fall, has Light glance over when he notices that the signal from Joe's helmet is being blocked (that is, jammed). Light proceeds to launch himself out of his chair in this state.
• Stuff Blowing Up: Specifically, the Control Tower. The liner notes have this leading to some Impressive Pyrotechnics as the telescreens across the city explode shortly thereafter.
• Senseless Sacrifice: It didn't work. The music video makes it even worse, as Wily had rigged the tower to explode in the first place. Joe takes off his helmet, stares, and closes his eyes in defeat.
• Unwitting Pawn: Light and Joe's act of rebellion played right into Wily's hands, giving him an excuse to declare martial law and accelerate his accumulation of power.

Track 12: Here Comes The Arm

With a sense of horror, Light realizes that there are multiple broadcast signals and that Joe died for nothing. With the recent explosions, Wily rolls out an army of Snipers, declaring the city under martial law. Light can feel the arm of the law coming for him, and he is ready to face it. It is then that he reads the letter from Emily he received over twenty years ago but never had the courage to read. It says that she loves him, and that the world needs him. Light grimly asks Joe to tell Emily to wait for him: He has work to do. The construction of Protoman has begun.

• Crazy-Prepared: Wily built another control tower, an entire fortress, and a robot army in case his Sniper and main telescreen were attacked.
• Dark Reprise: Inverted; the music echoes Hope Rides Alone, but during and after Emily's letter this song is much more hopeful.
• Dead Man Writing: Emily's letter inspires Light to not give up hope.
• Despair Event Horizon: The Light Up The Night music video shows what are the first seconds of this song, and it's fairly obvious Light is crossing this when the song starts when he sweeps the table in front of him clean.
• Determinator: Dr. Light: "Joe, when you see Emily, tell her to wait for me, 'cause I still have work to do."
• Face Death with Dignity: Dr. Light's initial plan ("So I will stand here with my shoulders squared and tall, when the whistle comes not falter, when the crash comes I will fall."), before finding Emily's letter and invoking the trope below.
• Final Speech: Emily's letter acts as her last word to Dr. Light and inspire him to continue working.
• Foregone Conclusion: The hopefulness of the ending is screwed up when the viewer realizes what's going to happen next.
• He's Back!: The latter half of the song, for Light.
• Kick the Dog: A band member revealed that Wily later called the Sniper robots "Joe", like in the games, for an extra jab at Light.
• Leitmotif: The piano segment behind Emily's vocals are the same as the opening acoustic guitar lick of Hope Rides Alone.
• Made of Iron: The robot army, which Light compares to a speeding locomotive that would barely notice him as it ran him over.
• Mood Whiplash: From "Breaking Out" to "The Fall", the music and lyrics have been triumphant and glorious, but then Joe failed.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Light realizes that not only did the plan not work, Wily expected some form of rebellion and uses it as an excuse to take direct control of the City.
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Subverted; Dr. Light was counting on, and Joe was willing to bet his life that Dr. Wily's broadcast tower fit this trope, but Wily clearly knew better.
• Oh, Crap!: Light, when he realizes that Wily was expecting him to attack.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Light's reaction to realizing the robot army is approaching him. "Oh God, oh God... here comes the arm."
  • Here comes the arm needs at least a mention.
• Visionary Villain: Wily, of course.

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