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1-> "''The crowd had gathered there to watch him fall, to watch their hopes destroyed...''"
2--> ''Hope Rides Alone''
3[[quoteright:235:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/electrocuted_3299.PNG]]
4[[caption-width-right:235:Elecman shows why he's ThatOneBoss.]]
5
6Music/TheProtomen are awesome indeed, but you may be wary of red lights, computer screens, and machines in general afterward...
7
8----
9!! Act I
10* The manner in which Protoman dies in "Hope Rides Alone." He's literally torn apart as an impassive crowd watches. The music video on the website shows his battle with the Robot Masters in detail, getting hit so hard his jawbone shatters, he has an arm chopped off, and has his ''face'' electrocuted, creating the image of a skull.
11--> ''They watched them beat him, they watched them break him...''
12** Also from the music video, there's a creepy shot of a doll hanging in effigy right as the first "We are the dead" kicks in.
13** The Robot Masters as presented in the music video are much more realistic and far creepier machines than their game counterparts, invoking the UncannyValley. [[http://protomen.com/act1/images/wallpapers/elecface.jpg Especially Elecman's skull-like face]].
14* Wily's robot army attacks defenseless civilians on Wily's orders twice throughout the story, and the populace is conditioned to accept the abuse through a mantra on telescreens and loudspeakers.
15--> '''WE HAVE CONTROL. WE KEEP YOU SAFE. WE ARE YOUR HOPE.'''
16* The idea that the populace has been so thoroughly placated that they order Megaman to kill Protoman, after watching the latter ''die'' and doing nothing to help him.
17* In live versions of "The Sons of Fate", even if the banter beforehand is silly, they play the song itself straight. Including Protoman waving a gatling gun in your face, the crowd that you're a part of calling for his death, and Wily's orders to kill them all. In the song itself, Megaman tries desperately to convince Protoman to not fight, ultimately failing as he kills his brother, [[MoralEventHorizon as the crowd cheers him on as their hero and wonders why he cries.]] After a DarkReprise of the chorus from The Will of One, right as the crowd finishes praising him [[HeroicBSOD he snaps]] with a CallBack to ''Hope Rides Alone'' before [[DownerEnding leaving humanity to be ripped apart by Wily's robots.]]
18--> '''Megaman:''' ''You are the dead.''
19* "Fade to Phil," the extended version of "Due Vendetta", has creepy 8-bit chiptunes that keep playing as the song gets more and more distorted, eventually fading to static.
20
21!! Act II
22* The entirety of Act II. Light is an idealist, sure, but all he wants is to make sure that no one has to work themselves to death. Wily takes that dream, ''and utterly ruins it'' in the worst possible way, and Light's dream of a somewhat less dangerous life is corrupted so thoroughly that he desperately longs to kill Wily, despite being a gentle person before it all went to hell.
23* The manner of Emily's death--the Sniper slits her throat with a knife--and the fact that no one cared to attend her funeral. The music video for Light up the Night opens on her death, and it's hard to watch.
24* Wily's takeover in "The Hounds" ends on this note in the liner notes, and is all about him cementing his rule by painting Light as a monster and taking over every form of media the City has so none can speak against him.
25--> ''After a few inspirational opening lines, Wily turned his attention to the matter at hand. Thomas Light. He assured them that the murderer would be apprehended. He promised them that their city would be made safe again. They trusted him completely.''
26* In "Give Us the Rope," the crowd calls for Light to be hung, even after he was found innocent, and also wishes to ''dismember'' Light.
27--> ''Give us his hands! Give us his feet!''
28* The liner notes for "How The World Fell Under Darkness" describe how the citizens grew to accept Wily's rule as the robots took over their jobs, and the Sniper lurked to kill anyone who spoke out of line.
29-->''A generation grew up inside the metal hands that gently circled the neck of the city.''\
30''The undesirables, the homeless, the criminal element of the city, systematically vanished.''
31* The Sniper managed to keep the entire City in line through fear alone. It killed Emily and nearly chokes Joe to death. In the music video, another robot drags a man out of a [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall Protomen concert]] for seemingly no reason and promptly beats him to the brink of death, repeatedly punching his face until the man's a limp, bloodied mess. The crowd initially holds back at the thought of repercussions, but [[HopeSpot once Joe rides by,]] they immediately mob and tear apart the machine. Then Joe dies shortly thereafter, along with hope they could've had afterwards.
32* The HeartbeatSoundtrack throughout Act II slows, then flatlines as Joe dies in "The Fall." The music video makes it even worse, as Wily had rigged the tower to explode, with each bomb registering as "threat detected" through his helmet viewscreen. Joe takes off his helmet, stares, and closes his eyes in defeat.
33* As Dr. Light speaks in the beginning of "Here Comes the Arm," there's high-pitched, siren-like synthesizer waves representing Wily's control, and that the building he's standing under is about to come down on his head. It's punctuated in the notes by thousands of Snipers marching out of Wily's fortress.
34-->''Even from the courtyard, Light could make out the thousands upon thousands of green-helmeted robots marching from the steel gates of the complex.''\
35''Wily had built a fortress. He had built an army. He had been waiting for this moment to unleash it.''
36
37!!Act III
38* The [[http://www.twitch.tv/pax/b/330672275 live]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBWGZgbaEEQ preview]] for an Act III song has Wily's mantra playing over the band members at points. The lyrics, while mainly depressing, are also frightening in that they show just how bad the City's gotten--Light has completely given up and refuses to help the female lead, feeling it's his fault that everyone died and nobody can defeat Wily--and other songs accentuate it with images of fire and ashes.
39-->'''Light:''' For all of your heroes are gone... and the blood they spilled is on ''my hands''! Your darkness will block out the sun... Not a thing can be done with so few men that a hero couldn't do!
40
41!!Other
42* The Queen album insert is an homage to the Queen II art and a representation of both Acts, showing the main players and symbolism of gears, wires, and helmets. What makes it scary are the details, like Joe's body, a noose around Light's neck, Emily's visage in the sky, metallic hands circling the City, and Wily moving the gears forward as Light struggles to hold them back.
43* ''The Cover Up'' album is the soundtrack to a movie made during the time skip in "How the World Fell Under Darkness.". The last story track cuts to Wily receiving an insufficient excuse, saying he wants results, and smashing something in a rage as soon as he hangs up the phone.
44* [[http://i.imgur.com/B98sO.png This promo]] Music/MakeupAndVanitySet made for his ''Act I'' album fits in with the band's lore, showing a rebel leader whose group was completely wiped out.
45-->The first time I heard the robots marching I thought the world was swallowing us up. The sky turned black from the ash and fire. I tried to keep us together, but in the end I could not save them. I hid underground when they swept for survivors. The last of the armies fell as we reached the coast. We drew the drones out with sounds and frequencies. We ambushed the first attack with sines and saws and squares; a new sound.
46* [[http://clrvynt.com/the-protomen-tour-is-hell/ This interview]] is mostly silly, but reveals a time where the band almost died to Wii Bowling when an accidentally thrown controller hit the headlight switch and turned it off, resulting in the bus almost going off a cliff.

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