one of the millions of things i liked about spider-verse was that not only did all the female characters look different from each other, they gave mary jane her classic dimples and square chin, which might not seem like a big deal but you’d be surprised how much tiny details like those can make women in comic books look distinct
also seriously it feels like some animated films are pushing it to have two female characters who look even slightly different so i appreciate that spider-verse made sure every woman in it looked distinct from each other
veggietales is genuinely so fucking funny and it’s even funnier because as soon as i forget that it’s a christian show a carrot starts reciting a bible verse
It’s the end of the year and I’m going to talk about some of the shit I’ve obsessed over in 2018. First up, I’m gonna toss aside any idea of easing people into this band because what I want to talk about is the niche and strange video game rock opera eponymous album from The Protomen.
((THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG POST, REMEMBER “J” SKIPS POSTS ON DASH))
This album is from 2005 and it has a sound quality that verges on lo fi aesthetic. While it’s follow-up (which I will talk about later) has a very Meat Load-inspired sonic feel, this one is rough and coarse like a handful of sand. Usually I have, hrm, let’s just say snobbish feelings about audio quality in my music. I want some fucking fidelity.
Not here. Here, I’m fine, and I can view it as a piece of the overal portrait. In fact, it sort of helps create a bridge between this album and it’s source material.
Which is Megaman, of course. I was never a Megaman household, I always played Zelda growing up and I wasn’t good at hard games, so I bounced off Megaman in my gaming career. On top of that, it’s not really the source material I would expect for a huge rock opera.
But it works. It’s electric and harsh and weirdly carries forth the brutalism of the games. It takes the sparse human drama of the games, used like a shoestring plot, and unravels every individual thread to make a new tapestry.
We’re going song by song, hit play.
I: HOPE RIDES ALONE
This song is the greatest example of a mission statement I can think of outside Tobyfox’s “Heartache” from Undertale. Both perform the same function: to inform the listener precisely what they are in for. We start with this dour proclamation of dystopia, of robot sentries, of a world under the thumb of oppression, where no one would stand against the villain….
Or so Dr. Wily believed [GUITAR SMASH]
It’s funny and on point and amazing, it’s like nodding and saying “we are playing this shit straight, yes this is a Megaman rock opera, we’re going all in, come on for the ride.”
Then we start laying out some fucking musical themes. Shit kicks off with a galloping tempo that feels like a cinematic pan and zoom into Dr. Light.
The song establishes setting, establishes the tragic start of the story with the fall of Protoman, and is just blistering as it roars through dumb robot names and an audio battle. It leans all the way into the premise and almost frontloads the entire album with a dump of information, both straight up lyrical storytelling as well as establishing the sound of the world. It’s crowded with content, brimming to overfull.
II A: FUNERAL FOR A SON
And then, tellingly, immediately takes a massive step back and spends two and a half minutes on a dirge for the fallen Protoman, to pay respect for a character we’ve only known for one song.
II B: UNREST IN THE HOUSE OF LIGHT
God I fucking love the sort of genre shift in the music that is associated with Dr. Light. Whenever a song is focused on him, there is a distinct modification to the soundscape to make it go full Western and signifies Light’s presence.
This one also starts to seesaw between a throat low fatherly tone and the bitter rage that hides in Light, his frustration and fury at himself and his circumstances, the people he’s hurt and the lost potential of his life. Like it’s breaking out of him in gushes of discontent he can’t keep dammed up.
There is something truly worn down about the song, which makes more sense once you have the context of Act Two, but is still resonant here.
III: THE WILL OF ONE
It took me a while to warm to this song but now it’s maybe one of my favorite on the album. I get the same feeling from it that I do from the opening number, the way it moves and feels begging for a stage production. And Light’s parternal warning acting as the hook through everything, it’s beautiful.
“You do no better than the fools of this burning city,” mwah, chef’s kiss.
Megaman is such a force of hope and naivete, he really shines in opposition to Light. He feels genuine in his absolutely absurd desire to save the world.
Hope Rides Alone as the arc words for the album and for the entire story of the two concept albums is reinforced so often in that way I love with narrative themes. Hope made Protoman a beacon for the city, and it made Joe into a beacon for the city, and it makes Megaman into its latest effigy.
Also the finale with the robots screaming their dystopic refrain over some absolute fucking SHREDDING ON THE FUCKING GUITAR is so fucking metal, god bless.
IV: VENGEANCE
hi this is my favorite song on the album, and it’s Megaman just fuckign screaming himself raw as he fucking destroys Wily’s army, incandescent and shining and burning. Also “I’ve come for vengeance for the first Son of Light” is a fucking incredible line. Actually, the lyrics in the entire song are brutal and overconfident and brilliant. This song feels like a goddamn slaughter.
I have a fucking intense love for vocals that sound overwrought in their own emotion. If it sounds like the singer is about to pass out from oxygen deprivation or about to break down sobbing, I’m probably way into it, and that is the backbone of this song. Sure the instruments are harsh and amazing, sure the writing is good, but the performance here is so fucking dial up to 11, I love it.
V: THE STAND (MAN OR MACHINE)
I love Wily and I love Light and I love Joe and I love Megaman but holy fucking shit
Protoman.
Protoman. I love the strange broken reverb effect on his voice. I love how he doesn’t even fucking address Megaman at first, he fucking taunts the assembled crowd, seeing his own past in the scene before him.
And when “They looked at me then/now they turn to you/do you understand now?” and the song’s tempo just kicks up a little more, it feels like whatever Megaman has instead of a heart is beating faster as he’s standing before the broken and rebuilt body of his brother, the person his father taught him about every night before bed. It’s a nightmare he never imagined stood before him.
Compared to the wider drama of the City in Act Two, the one here is so insular and personal and feels raw for it. Which is reinforced by the lo-fi feeling of the whole album. It’s this brilliant synergy of disparate elements that solidifies the thesis.
VI: SONS OF FATE
GOD I FUCKING LOVE PROTOMAN AND I LOVE BOSS BATTLE MUSIC
MEGAMAN SCREAMING IN DISMAY AT PROTOMAN WHILE PROTO JUST SHOOTS DOWN EVER UTTERANCE OF A BETTER FUTURE WHILE GUITARS AND DRUMS SMASH.
Also Protoman stopping to like… make a final appeal to the assembled crowd, even if he knows its useless, one last call for revolution that will go unheeded. Protoman knows victory can come and how, but watches over and over as it fails.
Towards the middle-end, Megaman repeats his oath to “finish the fight of Protoman” from “The Will of One” but he’s fucking crying as the gravity of what he must do is falling around him like heavy rain. It’s fucking ANGUISH and I eat this melodrama the fuck up.
“You are our hero” answered with “You are the dead,” LIKE DAMN SON.
WHERE IS ACT THREE, PROTOMEN, FUCKING GIVE IT TO ME!
Anyway, this album is amazing, if not as accessible as the second one but DON’T WORRY I’LL PROBABLY TALK ABOUT THAT ONE TOO.
i haven’t worn anything but this hoodie in 234 days
all jean outfit (or, joutfit)
somebody’s step dad at like, chili’s
forest lesbian. you know.
feel free to add more
50′s greaser complete with motercycle
business twink
beach grandpa
jeff goldblum
folk singer who plays banjo and is also a vampire
swashbuckling knave
hipster barista in a beanie that everyone has had a crush on probably
dapper necromancer
twenties jazz club singer (with top hat)
mysterious figure in the corner of a cafe on a rainy day with their hat brim pulled low and a cold, half-finished cup of coffee sitting on the table in front of them, forgotten
For some reason my brain can’t reconcile that this song exists outside of the game. Every note of this is branded on my subconscious. I’ve listened to this song more than I’ve listened to my own voice and yet it still manages to calm my body better than an anesthetic. I’m astral projecting - my thumbs are typing but my soul is playing Skyrim.
