Webcomic / Life of Wily

And now you are prepared.

"Sounds fun. And that's what we're all about here at Life of Wily. Pure. Stupid. Fun."

— Mega Man, summing up the strip's general philosophy

Life of Wily was a Sprite Comic that ran from 2001 to 2003, immediately following in Bob and George's wake. The comic's primary distinction from its many-at-the-time competitors is the addition of one Original Character: Megatug, a Naïve Newcomer created to replace Mega Man when the latter was presumed dead, who resembles him in almost every way aside from being green and having Auto's boots.

The comic remained online for a considerable amount of time after its cancellation (ended in 2003, remained online until late 2019), but is now fully available through the Internet Archive. Bear in mind that you'll have to sometimes switch to a different snapshot to see some of the strips.

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Includes examples of:

• Aborted Arc: The final strip has a To Be Continued teasing a potential continuation, titled "Life of Wily: Dead to Rights", to come out September 2003. It never came, as the author felt the time was right to put the strip to rest.
• Accidental Hero:
  • Dr. Light slams into Wily by accident while trying to control Flame Mammoth.
  • Proto Man dares Bass into pressing an upside-down switch inside Mega Man's mind. The plaque on the side of the switch reads 'STRIP RESET'. As Proto Man was not around to learn of the Reset Button, he and Bass spend the final moments before the reset believing they did something wrong.
• Accidental Misnaming:
  • Megatug frequently calls Dr. Light "Dr. Wily", since at that point he's the scientist with most appearances and thus must be who the comic is named after.
  • The author himself, in an example of Cowboy BeBop at His Computer, called Neon Tiger 'Slash Man'. In his defense, the internet was young and there were a lot of sprites.
  • Dr. Light calls Sigma 'creepy guy' while forced to pretend to be Dr. Wily.
• Action Girl: Roll ends up becoming this after every single one of the heroes either gets captured or sidetracked.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Despite the direness of the situation, Megatug gets a good laugh from seeing Proto Man be decapitated, especially after all the grief the latter gave him.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Some characters who would otherwise only appear in the X series are introduced as Wily's robotic creations in this comic. Neon Tiger being a Wily creation is actually pivotal for a certain plot point.
• Adaptational Personality Change:
  • Most notably Sigma, who is a minion of Wily in this continuity, and a very easygoing one at that. Until, that is, he becomes Demigod Wily.
  • Proto Man starts off being rather cowardly (though some would argue he's just picking his battles), but he gets over it when it comes time to fight Grenade Man.
    Proto Man: Who was I kidding? I'm a robot with a built-in blaster, and my sole purpose in life is to kill.
• Affably Evil: The large majority of the villains, including Wily himself. Until his actions directly lead to the murder of Dr. Light, that is.
• Allergic to Love: Wily's reaction to being blinded by his night vision goggles is "it hurts like kindness!"
• Anachronism Stew: For Mega Man. Some mavericks from the Mega Man X series, set over a 100 years after the end of Mega Man (Classic), show up, as well as Sigma, the Big Bad, hobnobbing it with Wily for some reason.
• Ambiguous Situation: We'll likely never know what that coffin from the May 8th 2002 strip was, or who was knocking inside it. That strip is called 'Loose Ends' for a reason, after all.
• And Then What?: Heat Man throws a variation of it in Neon Tiger's face, stating that, as he believes himself to be nothing more than the sum of his parts, he could not possibly have any reason to want to rule the world.
  Neon Tiger: ...Free pizza?
• Animals Not to Scale: Lampshaded with the Antlion, a giant beast named after a small bug.
• Animated Actors: Used several times, with strips that start before the 'camera' starts running. A notable instance is when Roll and Wily are talking about buying an Xbox, followed by a jagged yellow speech bubble (apparently coming from Dr. Light) saying "And, ACTION!" appearing, after which they immediately segue into giving each other dramatic speeches.
• Antagonist Title: Wily occasionally veers into Villain Protagonist territory, but he's never the main focus.
• Anti-Climax: The search for the Reset Button, which takes only one comic. It being pushed, however, takes a little longer... because Mega Man mistakenly thought it meant pushing the platform the button was in along the floor.
• Apocalypse Anarchy: Played for Laughs after the pressing of the Reset Button:
  Dr. Light: Well, you know what this means.
  Light/Roll/Megatug: Let's go find some butts and kick 'em!
• Appeal to Obscurity: In their big battle, Demigod Wily accuses Roll of being "about as pop culture as Dee Dee Stockton" was. Note that there is no celebrity named Dee Dee Stockton.
• Arc Villain: Dr. Wily, then Demigod Wily and then Cut Man in the final arc, though the latter is just a Dragon.
• Art Evolution: As soon as the author found out how to create anti-aliased text bubbles, God gave Mega Man the ability to use them.
• Artifact Title: This is the reason why the characters refuse to believe Wily could die, since the strip is named after him. Neon Tiger plots to invoke it just to shut them up.
• Artistic License: The way Proto Man is able to take Megatug apart while leaving him conscious, even going as far as removing his motherboard. In reality, Megatug would have to be deactivated for this.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: Mega Man walks right into this by asking BreakMan, a character whose specialty is taking breaks constantly (a break from what?) why he won't help them beat Wily: "I'm on break". The title hangs a lampshade on it with "Saw it Coming a Mile Away, Didn't You?"
• Atrocious Alias:
  • Why the name Megatug? According to the author, he just tried to come up with the dumbest possible name for a robot superhero.
  • Roll dislikes the name DoctorMan for Dr. Light's suit of Powered Armor, but he thinks it sounds cool.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Mega Man is easily distracted by anything cool, no matter if he has to save the world or not.
• Author Guest Spot: Surprisingly, the author decided to not use a sprite recolor for his avatar. It is instead a hanging portrait of himself in Real Life. In fact, the first time it appeared, it wasn't even actually him, just a regular portrait.
• The Bad Guy Wins: It is unknown where the strip might have gone had it continued longer, but the final arc ends in nothing short of complete victory for Wily. And given that the last strips are titled "Life of Wily: Endgame", it may not even be a cliffhanger so much as a straight Downer Ending.
• Bad Liar: Dr. Wily is just not very good at pretending to be a good guy.
• Beat Panel:
  • Roll's reaction to the Dee Dee Stockton joke.
  • A notable instance when Megatug and Proto Man are alone. Megatug tries to ask him something, but Proto Man cuts him off with a terse "no." The panels that follow show Megatug looking at him dumbfounded, looking away, and then finally giving up and closing his mouth.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Did BreakMan think that his Author Avatar would be introduced and then rather quickly Killed Off for Real? Probably not.
• Better than a Bare Bulb: The comic lampshades damn near everything weird that happens.
  Mega Man: The power is inside me, but I have so many questions that need answers. How can a robot like me stand up against a demigod like Dr. Wilysigma? What will happen to us all if the strip actually resets, as unlikely as that may be?
  (Aside Glance) How long has it been since we had a new background?
• Blah, Blah, Blah: Roll says "The nefarious evil of blah, blah, blah, blah..." as she runs to confront Wily.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Mega Man proudly proclaims he has arrived at Wily's fortress to avenge his fallen brothers (not knowing they're alive). Wily points out that he was brought there by his bird, and in fact did not actually want to come at that point.
  • Wily tells Megatug that he created Cut Man to cut out labels for CDs.
    Megatug: Now I know I may seem stupid. But you don't think for a second I believe this robot cuts out CD labels, do you?
    Wily: Ah, but he does. (glances around)
    'Tug: You're trying to trick me!
    Wily: Ah, but I'm not.
  • Proto Man tells Megatug that he tried to stop the black bird from stealing his stuff, but all Megatug saw was Proto Man tell said bird to leave the stuff alone and then when they refused to listen, he just stood around.
  • Dr. Light gives Wily a run for his money in this regard while unwillingly impersonating him.
    Sigma: You seem to be acting funny lately. Is everything okay?
    Dr. Light: I'm not acting funny. (waves his hand up and down)
    Sigma: Yes you are.
    Light: No. I'm not. (waves hand again)
    Sigma: What are you doing there with the hand waving?
    Light: I'm not acting funny, that's for darn sure.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Mega Man starts the strip off by addressing the reader, and the comic continued to break the fourth wall on occasion, though not to the degree that Bob and George did.
• Brick Joke:
  • The second bird that was sent by Wily's minions in Strip 57 finally makes an appearance dragging Mega Man away from the Wilding Girls in the May 3rd 2001 strip.
  • Roll saves the good guys by grabbing Megatug's jetpack that Dr. Light had forced him to leave earlier.
  • Dr. Wily uses Melfina's deactivation and reactivation phrases on Mega Man, with the reactivation phrase coming later.
  • After so many attempts to either have Proto Man kick Megatug's head, or have 'Tug kick Proto Man's head, Proto Man finally manages to kick 'Tug to great effect while in the latter's body.
• …But He Sounds Handsome: A variation: Dr. Wily, when impersonating Dr. Light, mentions "our nemesis Dr. Wily (may he live forever)".
• Caged Inside a Reploid: Dr. Light ends up locked inside Flame Mammoth, and later discovers how to control him from the inside.
• Call-Back:
  • Megatug points out that Mega Man's 'feel-good matrix' appears to have worn off when he calls the Lotus-Eater Machine a 'stupid videogame world'.
    Mega Man: My what?
  • Mega Man and 'Tug reminisce about the "Prepare to meet your doom' line from way, way back in the beginning of the strip as the comic gears up for its first (mostly)-serious arc. Mega Man comments it was awesome, and Megatug gives him a very wide smile. The title ('What Plot?') is less enthused about it, however.
  • When the strip resets, it reverts back to what was happening in Strip #105, the moment that set in motion the events of the previous arc.
  • Mega Man brings up how Megatug went on the quest to kill Wily to avoid being fired by the author, some 200+ strips after that happened.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Wily, as always, fights to advance the cause of evil.
• Cassandra Truth: In one guest comic, a fan character named WarpMan interrupts the events of Strip #105 to explain why they shouldn't kill Wily, and sums up the events of the Wilysigma arc that will result from that decision. Megatug's response is "Yeah, right" and he proceeds to do it anyway.
• Catchphrase: "Oh, COME ON!" gets used a few times, but it then disappears. Mega Man goads Megatug into saying it again later for old times' sake, before using it himself when he returns to the Lotus-Eater Machine.
• Cat Up a Tree: Proto Man takes a break from rescuing the two Megas in order to return a cat to its owner.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Not as much as some of its peers at the time, but what started as a Random Events Plot quickly becomes more serious, and the second arc ends in a catastrophic defeat for the good guys with no silver lining in sight.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: This almost happens to Proto Man, if not for the characters suddenly remembering his existence.
• Circular Reasoning: Not only does Flame Mammoth believe that if someone resembles Dr. Wily they must BE Dr. Wily, but he also believes that because he's said that more than once, it must therefore be true!
• Cliffhanger: The comic ends in such a way. Though Wily's last scheme has ended in his victory, the heroes are still at large and ready to oppose him, as they always have been.
• Cloud Cuckoo Lander:
  • Mega Man, most definitely. He keeps mentioning having both a childhood and a mother, despite that being impossible.
  • Mega Tug is also, such as his constant confusion over Dr. Light and Dr. Wily. However, he tends to be more of a Straight Man than Mega Man.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Heat Man threatens Megatug with this. At first, 'Tug thinks he'll be asking him questions during it, but he is wrong.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • Megatug says the Lotus-Eater Machine that trapped them in an 8-bit world reminds him of a Keanu Reeves movie... Parenthood! Of course!
  • Heat Man gets interrupted constantly as he is pondering the ramifications of Neon Tiger's sentience so the others can talk about pizza.
• Comically Small Bribe: Megatug would have betrayed the other heroes had Wily only had ten bucks to give him.
• Contemplate Our Navels:
  • Proto Man tries doing this with Mega Man about the importance of courage and preparation. Mega Man's response is to put on a hardhat.
  • Neon Tiger begins examining his own existence in a conversation with Heat Man, believing himself to be Just a Machine. Heat Man argues back that Neon Tiger wants to Take Over the World, something Wily wouldn't have programmed into one of his minions. It is this back-and-forth that allows Wily to come Back from the Dead.
  • Megatug's justification for not killing Dr. Wily is taken word-for-word from a speech by Gandalf. Mega Man is having none of it.
  • And likewise, Proto Man is having none of Megatug's brief Straw Nihilist spiel in the beginning of the second arc.
    Proto Man: Settle down there, Socrates, you're blowing my mind into tiny pieces.
• Continuity Creep: Went from a Random Events Plot with very little happening to a battle for the fate of the earth, not unlike the games themselves.
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • Guts Man just happens to throw a boulder directly into the ravine where Junk Man was about to curb-stomp Mega Man, saving him.
    Mega Man: Ah, the luxuries of coincidence as a plot device. That was messy.
  • A similar thing happens much later in the strip when Roll fires her blaster in such a way as to light several candles on the wall in a row. The blast goes so far that it hits Heat Man just as he was getting ready to finish off Megatug.
• Conversational Troping: The wilybots enjoy doing this quite a bit, especially discussing movies. Sigma and Flame Mammoth argue about a Plot Hole in the The Time Machine remake at one point.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: This is what happens to anyone who tries to fight Guts Man fairly.
• Curse Cut Short:
  • Protoman says "Alright, let's open up a can!" (of whoop-ass) before he and Mega Man head off to fight Wily's robots.
  • Proto Man must have some problem with swears, because he also stops Mega Man from saying John McClane's catchphrase.
• Curse of The Ancients: Wily's "Holy Toledo!"
• Cutting the Knot: How does Roll save the two Megas and Dr. Light? Why, with Megatug's jet pack, of course!
  Dr. Light: CHEATER!
• Cut Your Heart Out With A Spoon: Sigma tells the heroes that he'll grind their bones to make bread.
• Dating Catwoman: Roll ends up having a brief fling with Wily. He was in his Sigma form at the time, but still.
• Deadpan Snarker: Proto Man is the primary purveyor of this in the strip. Such as when Megatug claims he'll take his revenge on Dr. Light (actually Wily in Light's body) with his harmless bird body: "Sounds great. I'll just stand back to avoid the shrapnel, shall I?"
• Death Is Cheap: Discussed by the characters. Megatug does not believe for one second that Wily is dead, despite having literally blasted him through the chest.
• Decapitated Army: Wily's army becomes directionless after his death as none of them truly have the ability or desire to be an evil villain... aside from Neon Tiger, that is.
• Dedication:
  • The May 15th 2001 strip has one to Douglas Adams.
    But he left me with laughter,
    Having long ago planted here
    So gentle a seed of wonder...
    
    Perhaps I can tell stories, too.
  • The September 11, 2001 strip has one for the people who lost their lives that day.
• Deity of Human Origin: Wily undergoes ascension to godhood after Heat Man and Neon Tiger conclude through a lot of rhetoric that he was able to create life.
• Denser and Wackier: Compared to the games it's based on, very much so. Keep in mind, this is a webcomic that at point involved one of its main characters playing a football video game with Heathcliff the cat.
• Derailed Train of Thought: Dr. Light goes into a long digression about how he hopes everyone is okay back home, describing how they should make sure to feed his cute little metools, and groom Rush (wait, Rush exists here?), perform maintenance on Roll... Sigma is tired of it.
• Dirty Coward:
  • Proto Man, despite promising he would have Megatug's back in the fight against Heathcliff, immediately flees.
  • Prince Edward, though Rydia is certain he'll come back to help at just the right moment. she's wrong.
  • Dr. Light offers Mega Man's specs to Flame Mammoth just so he can be spared torture. Nevermind that mass-producing Mega Man would make Wily's army unstoppable.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Dr. Light goes from casually talking with Neon Tiger to declaring his intent to murder him because he insulted MacGyver (1985).
• Distinction Without a Difference: Wily's interrogation of Megatug:
  Wily: So, you say there was just the one bird? I'm told there were two.
  Megatug: Well, I suppose if they were exact genetic replicas occupying the same spot in the space-time continuum...
• Distracted by the Sexy: Rydia gets distracted by seeing Mega Man in his usual outfit.
• The Dragon: It isn't all that clear who Wily's dragon was at first, as Sigma, Heat Man, Flame Mammoth and Neon Tiger seemed to have equal standing. However, in the second story arc, Cut Man acts as The Mole for him and tries to systematically murder all of the good guys at once.
• Dragon Ascendant: Discussed by the bad guys after Wily's death. Flame Mammoth says that he has no desire to rule the world, while Sigma notes that he lacks Wily's gift for planning. Neon Tiger, on the other hand, is very eager to take up his mantle. He becomes the Dragon Ascendant for a while before Wily's resurrection.
• Dramatic Irony: Several times, the Reset Button and the so-called Manual Override are overlooked by the heroes, usually with them obliviously asking "But where could it be?"
• Dressing as the Enemy: Megatug steals Heat Man's outfit to use as a disguise.
• Duck Season, Rabbit Season: The April 9th 2001 comic:
  Wily: Oh, you'll talk, Megatug.
  Megatug: No, I won't.
  Wily: Oh yes you will!
  Megatug: No, I won't.
  Wily: Oh, no you won't!
  Megatug: Oh, yes I will!
  Wily: Excellent! I'll hold you to that.
  Megatug: HEY! What kind of torture is this?!!
• Easy Amnesia: Dr. Light made 'Sandwiches of Forgetfulness' to induce this.
• Enemy Mine: Sigma and Dr. Light team up to fix the situation in the second arc.
• Every Man Has His Price: Megatug's is ten bucks, apparently.
• Evil Costume Switch: Done to a building when Neon Tiger takes over and decides to redecorate their base to make it more menacing, complete with so-called 'blood red' curtains.
• Evil Laugh: Dr. Light tries and fails to do one of these. It apparently sounded really bad, given Sigma's reaction. Wily gives an earnest one in the ending.
• The Exit Is That Way: Proto Man dramatically sets off to rescue his brothers, complete with a narration caption that is then abruptly interrupted when he turns around to go the right direction.
• Fair-Weather Friend: Mega Man and 'Tug abandon Proto Man the first chance they get, and likewise, Proto Man does the same for Bass.
• Fake Ultimate Villain: Heathcliff turns out to be quite the scaredy-cat after several comics' worth of building him up as Megatug's final test of heroism. Which isn't to say he's not tough for Megatug to defeat, however.
• Filler Strips: Has quite a few, usually for the holidays. The February 4th comic for instance, was nothing but the title of 'Final Fantasy III' and Megatug freaking out about why the comic was stalling so hard. Ironically enough, characters from Final Fantasy would end up appearing in the comic later on, but from Final Fantasy IV instead.
• Finagle's Law: Of course Proto Man's flare would happen to be fired at exactly the right time to murder Melvin, the robot bird that was carrying Megatug.
• Firing Day: The others make Megatug believe he will be fired from the comic, to motivate him to be a better hero.
• Five-Aces Cheater: Megatug tells Heathcliff to exit the house onstensibly to check if Proto Man is gone, only to then scream "YES! Safety!" because Heathcliff neglected to pause the game and he kept playing.
• Foreshadowing: The March 2 comic has an opening narration that quickly devolves into a Final Fantasy reference, foreshadowing that characters from that franchise will make an appearance during that arc.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend:
  • Mega Man invokes this when Proto Man is shot down, telling Mega Tug they need to forget about him so the plot can move along. Megatug quickly acquiesces, saying "Oh, I get it. MY BROTHER IS DEAD!"
  • Mega then plays it straight when he proclaims he will avenge his brother (Megatug) whose name he's already forgotten.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: Dr. Light and Dr. Wily switch bodies in the beginning of the second arc.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Wily wasn't exactly nobody, but he was hardly a threating villain, until he became a Deity of Human Origin.
• Funetik Aksent: The one time a Wilding Girl talks, they use this. "Meester Megatug, where haf joo gone tooooo?"
• The "Fun" in "Funeral": Wily's minions organize a funeral for him. It quickly devolves into their typical nonsense. Heat Man gets into an argument about Neon Tiger's sentience while the rest are discussing Pizza.
• Gallows Humor: The way Megatug and Proto Man's headless bodies are constantly being injured, broken, or getting other heads shoved into them is funny in a rather macabre way.
• Gave Up Too Soon: In one guest comic, the panel of Mega Man ordering 'Tug to shoot Wily is repeated three times, before it cuts to Bass and Proto Man to reveal it's because he's been pressing the Reset Button and not seeing a reaction.
  Bass: Okay. We've flipped this switch a dozen times and nothing happened. I give up.
• Genius Ditz: Lampshaded when Neon Tiger is having a philosophical discussion with Heat Man.
  Heat Man: Is it just me, or are you switching back and forth between smart and stupid?
  Neon Tiger: It's a glitch.
• Genre Savvy: Wily after gaining omniscience in his Demigod form.
  Wily: So does this mean you'll join me? Rule at my side as queen?
  Roll: Aw, why not? But I have one condition: Give me demigod powers, too.
  Wily: So you can betray me, start the countdown and reset my strip? Not likely.
  Roll: I had to try.
• Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul: Played for Laughs when Mega Man tells Proto Man how he'll remain happy the entire trip because Dr. Light gave him a good attitude about it (by pressing buttons on his chest).
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Flame Mammoth thinks Wily must be giving Megatug some Evil Gloating. Cut back to Wily, and he's in the middle of a Seinfeldian Conversation with 'Tug.
  • Dr. Light's Big Damn Heroes moment and declaration that Wily's minions are no match for him is immediately interrupted by a panel of him in Wily's dungeon.
• God: Mega Man hears a voice which he believes to be the voice of God. Said voice neither confirms nor denies it.
• Go-Karting with Bowser:
  • Wily has a truce with the heroes during the holiday comics, citing "the constraints of decency" as the reason why he doesn't blast them all to smithereens.
  • Megatug and Heathcliff have a match of electronic football at one point, though it's less a friendly break from their rivalry and more an extension of it.
  • Dr. Light goes to lunch with Neon Tiger, since their fight simply wasn't going to happen. The more likely reason is that Flame Mammoth just doesn't have any good fighting sprites, due to his fighting style largely consisting of jumping.
• Gone Horribly Right: A bird steals Megatug's body, so he uses his blaster to shoot it dead. It works, but he also hits his own body as well.
• Good Luck Charm: Mega Man's "Lucky Hat".
• Gory Discretion Shot: What happens to Heathcliff is not shown on-panel. Neither is what happens to Edward and Break Man.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: A strange minced oath from Dr. Light early in the comic: "Oh, my dear..."
• Grand Theft Me: Wily takes Sigma's body after his resurrection.
• Guest Comic: Had one during the author's hiatus in May 24th 2001, for a t-shirt idea contest. There were several from December 26th 2001 up to the 31st, and a few more later on.
• Guest-Star Party Member: BreakMan, a green Proto Man recolor, appears for a while, though has no effect on the plot, since he's on a break.
• Hand Wave: The explanation for how Proto Man and Bass got out of Mega Man's head: they fell out through his ear. (and then grew back to normal size?) Keep in mind their presence inside Mega Man's head was never explained to begin with.
• Heroism Motive Speech: Dr. Light's speech about why he's going after Mega Man, Mega Tug and Proto Man:
  Dr. Light: Listen - Megatug went to Dr. Wily's lair because he believed something that wasn't true.
  Roll: What do you mean?
  Light: He thought the Author sent him on this stupid quest, but it was me. I rigged the whole thing.
  Roll: So you're going after him?
  Light: I'm going after him because I believe in something, too.
  Roll: And what is that?
  Light: I believe I can bring them back.
• History Repeats: Despite the heroes' best efforts... Mega Man still blows a hole in Dr. Wily's chest, just much, much later. The only reason the heroes don't realize this is that they believe he shot Dr. Light instead.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Flame Mammoth eating Dr. Light allows the latter to control him like a People Puppet.
• Holiday Episode: Used as justification for filler comics. The most frequent is the Fourth of July, but there was even one for Groundhog Day at one point.
• Honey Trap: When they're not beating you up, the Wilding Girls engage in this, as Megatug discovered when one of them stole his clothes.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming:
  • Happens when Mega Man claims he'll avenge Megatug while also admitting to having forgotten his name, and when Megatug defiantly declares to Wily that as long as he doesn't have ten bucks to give him, he shall never betray his friends!
  • The two megas thank BreakMan for dying in their stead.
• I Am Not Shazam: In-Universe, Megatug thinks Dr. Light must be Dr. Wily, due to the title of the comic.
• Idiot Hero: Mega Man, Megatug, Dr. Light, and to a lesser extent, Proto Man.
• Imagine Spot:
  • Roll briefly imagines Dr. Light being burned alive by Heat Man after Light insists he can take care of himself.
  • Mega Man imagines himself roasting weenies over Wood Man's corpse, but is taken out of the fantasy when the real Wood Man asks what he is doing.
  • Bass hallucinates that he's escaped from prison.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction:
  • Wily's order to Grenade Man:
    Wily: I must destroy him, along with all his little robot pals. And when I say 'I', that means 'you'.
  • Cecil states that Edward will not run away in battle... unless the monster attacks them.
  • Dr. Light says he trust the boys to come through as they always do, and then admits Roll's gonna have to save them.
• Incredibly Lame Pun:
  • Cloud Man makes a pretty bad one about a "facili-tater". Wily gives an Aside Glance in response. This becomes a mild Running Gag.
  • Megatug is "one step a-head" of Proto Man. They were both headless at the time.
  • Dr. Wily closes out the comic with one of these. "Let's just call him Dr. Light at the end of the tunnel, eh? Mwaahahahahahahaha!!
• In Medias Res: The August 1st 2001 strip is set later than the two strips following it.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Dr Light reassures Roll that his robots are resourceful, and to always expect the unexpected from them. Right then, Mega Man pops in looking for his retainer, having apparently made the entire trip back just to get it. Well, he was right about that last part...
• Ironic Echo: Megatug and Mega Man arrogantly declare that Roll is probably heading home already and leaving the fight to the 'professionals'. She flings that word back in their face after taking the Doctor Man armor.
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: Proto Man name drops the trope name despite immediately preceding it with a "Do you hear that?"
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: This is the villains' primary interrogation method. Most notably, the reused sprite from River City Ransom does this while pretending to ask Megatug some questions. He actually doesn't have any.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Proto Man and Bass find themselves inside Mega Man's head after their bus comes back. How they got there is never explained.
• Jump Scare: Not really; the 2001 Halloween strip is a gif that eventually shows the word "[1]!".
• Killed Off for Real:
  • Auto's boots were used to make Megatug. He's not coming back.
  • Likewise for Heathcliff and Prince Edward, the latter of which isn't even seen onscreen before his gruesome death. Or during it, for that matter.
  • This is also what happens to the guest character, BreakMan, who also gets his head ripped off out of panel.
• Killer Rabbit:
  • Heathcliff is portrayed as this; the reality is somewhat different.
  • The Wilding Girls are a band of cute chibi girls, but are very dangerous.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Wily gives an aside glance at hearing "facilitater" for the first time. Even more dramatic is Proto Man's reaction to hearing the headless Megatug say "I'm way ahead of you" and then proceed to explain the joke.
  Proto Man: Oh, Lord! Smite me with the thunders of Thy mighty hand!
• Laser-Guided Karma: Discussed when Megatug, sans head, is sitting with the likewise headless Proto Man, who had earlier tried to play soccer with 'Tug's head before losing his own. Then 'Tug reveals he can still control his body, leading Proto Man to remark that if he does anything to his head, he will end him. 'Tug gives him a large grin in response as his body gets up from the floor.
• Last Stand: Proto Man inadvertently causes this for himself and Bass, not knowing just how numerous the Wilding Girls are.
• Left Hanging: The comic was cancelled in the middle of its final arc.
• Lemony Narrator: The narrator frequently gets interrupted by the team's antics, and sometimes even by outside sources.
• Les Collaborateurs: Dr. Light tries to do this so Flame Mammoth will spare him. Mammoth isn't really interested.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: The august 30th comic, "Summarizing Foolishness", has Mega Man recapping the events that just happened with this line.
• Let's You and Him Fight: Cecil and Rydia think Proto Man might be the Antlion, or know where it is, so they capture him.
• Literal Metaphor: Proto Man assumes that Dr. Light told Mega Man some encouraging thing when the latter tells him that Light gave him a good attitude about the journey. What he actually did was activate his 'Feel Good Matrix'.
• Literal-Minded: Shade Man serves Dr. Light a Jack and Coke on the rocks. It's a drink filled with tiny Mega Men. Because his original name is Rock, see.
• Losing Your Head:
  • Edward somehow manages to grab his head and place it back on his body and is seemingly no worse for wear... until it uncerimoniously falls off, that is.
  • Megatug, being a robot, can survive with only his head, and even control the rest of his body remotely.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: Mega and Tug get trapped in an 8-bit one.
• MacGuffin: The very literal Reset Button.
• Manipulative Bastard: Dr. Light has shades of being a good version of this. Such as sending Megatug on the quest to kill Wily by lying to him and pretending to be the author, or telling Mega Man to eat the sandwiches of forgetfulness he made.
• Medium Awareness: Damn near everyone has this, aside from the FF characters, who express skepticism at the idea of video game characters existing.
• Milestone Celebration: Started with the 50th comic celebration, then the 100th, and continued every hundred comics, aside from the 200th, which only had the title expressing surprise at getting that far.
• Mind over Matter: Megatug appears to try this against Heat Man's flames. It doesn't work; as he puts it, the fire is still "PIPIN' HOT!!"
• Minion with an F in Evil: Every single one of Wily's minions is incompetent, aside from Guts Man and Grenade Man. Even the otherwise capable Slash Man-ER, Neon Tiger has to stop after some Evil Gloating to ask the others if he sounded evil enough.
• The Mirror Shows Your True Self: An inversion; when Dr. Light looks at the mirror after switching bodies with Dr. Wily, he realizes what happened. It's actually his regular sprite that shows the readers his true self.
• Misery Poker: After the reset, Flame Mammoth and Sigma talk about how glad they are to have avoided their Bad Futures. Mammoth says he's glad to not have an old man inside of him anymore. Sigma retorts with "Yeah? I had Dr. Wily inside my dead husk, gallavanting around with Megaman's sister".
  Flame Mammoth: Touché, my friend. Touché.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Proto Man puts Megatug's head in a bird body, making him look like a Cuccoo from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
• Moment of Awesome: When Proto Man kicks Megatug's head as a distraction and blasts Cut Man in the head, fulfilling an earlier Brick Joke and ending the Arc Villain's life.
• Murder by Cremation: What very well could have happened to Wily had Neon Tiger's plan to cremate him succeeded.
• Music Soothes the Savage Beast: Mega plots to sing Guts Man a lullaby to lull him to sleep.
• Mythology Gag: The entire fight between Roll wearing the Doctor Man armor and Demigod Wily is a big one for the Mega Man X series.
• Narm: invoked In-Universe, Roll is too distracted by Demigod Wily squishing his two halves together to feel the terror he expected her to feel. Later on, she mocks his attempts to be imposing in his bright purple suit.
• Narrating the Present: Some of the characters do this in certain strips. Usually what's actually happening is not nearly as dramatic as they make it sound.
• New Season, New Name: The strips after May 5th 2003 are titled "Life of Wily: Endgame" for a reason.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Auto ends up blowing Mega Man sky-high (literally) while trying to repair him.
  • Dr. Light winds up shot dead at the hands of the heroes while they believe him to be Dr. Wily doing a Grand Theft Me on the good doctor. And they were right, up until Wily switched back.
• Non-Indicative Name: The comic itself doesn't really focus on Wily's life. He's just the antagonist.
• Noodle Implements: Proto Man opens up Megatug's head and discovers a badger living inside. Megatug appears to not know why it's there.
• Noodle Incident: Dr. Light apparently tried to convince Sigma he wasn't Dr. Wily by dropping his pants. What this was supposed to accomplish is anyone's guess.
• No-Sell: A thug in the 8-Bit Realm no-sells Megatug's blaster shot with his fist.
  Megatug: Curse this 8-Bit Hell!
• Not Me This Time: Neon Tiger denies Dr. Light's idea that he trapped Mega Man in the 8-Bit Realm on purpose, saying that whatever he did, he did it himself.
• Occam's Razor: Flame Mammoth applies this during the second arc, thinking that if the man in front of him resembles Dr. Wily, he must be Dr. Wily, rather than seeing his odd behaviour and words that clearly indicate otherwise.
• Official Fan-Submitted Content: The various guest comics. The entire second arc itself was submitted by a fan (Chris Williams).
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Bass claims to have had one of these with Flash Man and Bomb Man when Proto Man arrives at their hidey-hole. Proto Man thinks otherwise.
• Off with His Head!: The antlion rips Edward's head and shoves it on a pike.
• One-Winged Angel: Demigod Wily transforms from a 16-bit sprite to a 32-bit one to highlight a higher level of power. More specifically, from X1 Sigma to X5 Sigma.
• Only Mostly Dead: Mega Man wasn't destroyed by the explosion in the beginning of the comic, only blown clear.
• Only Sane Woman: Roll very quickly grows into this role the moment she enters Wily's castle.
  Roll: You're professionals, so act like it!
• Out-of-Character Alert: Dr. Light and Dr. Wily both start acting unlike themselves in the second arc, causing their allies to become suspicious of them. Well, some of their allies.
• People Puppets: Dr. Light manages to do this to Flame Mammoth, and uses him as armor afterwards.
• Please, I Will Do Anything!: Dr. Light is reduced to trying to buy his freedom at any cost when being interrogated by Flame Mammoth.
• Plot Hole: How did Roll manage to regenerate her arm? Simple: "In an amazing sequence you can only wish you'd seen!"
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: Outside of Dr. Light, all the heroes are quite rude, while the villains are very polite and easy-going.
• Poke the Poodle: Mega Man's plan to beat Guts Man? Sing him a lullaby.
• The Pollyanna: Dr. Light turns Mega Man into this with a feel-good matrix. Otherwise, he tends to be a bit cranky.
• Powered Armor: Dr. Light's "DoctorMan" suit, which resembles Zero from Mega Man X.
• Power Creep: Deliberately inverted by Dr. Light, who removes Megatug's wings after Mega Man comes back, so they can be on the same level.
• Promoted Fanboy: Chris Williams won the contest for the second arc idea. All the comics for the Grand Theft Me arc have a 'story by Chris Williams' credit.
• Pulling Themselves Together: This is one of Demigod Wily's many powers, which he demonstrates to Roll.
• Pun: The title of the February 15th, 2002 strip Tolkien it one step too far.
• Put on a Bus: Proto Man left for a while to hide in fear from the Wilding Girls inside a cave, alongside Bass. However, The Bus Came Back as of the January 30th 2002 strip.
• Race Against the Clock: The timer for the Reset Button results in this for the villains.
• Rage Against the Author: A milder example than most occurs when Megatug gets angry at an unnecessary Filler Strip.
• Random Events Plot: The earlier strips have a lot of this. Megatug's training in particular largely consists of a lot of trolling.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: This is one way to interpret the ending of the comic itself. Wily has succeeded only in murdering Dr. Light. Mega Man and the others are still alive and well, and there's every likelihood they'll stop him, even if they were unable to this time.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • The Thanksgiving comic for 2001 is one example, as it became a wall of text explaining what happened because the author's computer crashed while he was hard at work on the actual comic that was supposed to be posted that day.
  • If you know your sprite comics, you can see a few subtle examples of this at work, such as the reason why Flame Mammoth and Neon Tiger never actually fought (Mammoth doesn't have sprites ideal for a close-quarters battle) or why Demigod Wily reverted to his classic Sigma sprite when facing 8-bit mega (because likewise, his 32-bit sprite his exactly one alternate pose, and that's extending his hand).
• Reference Overdosed: The comic's references range from shout-outs, to getting meta about shout-outs, to getting meta about how meta the shout-out gags are getting.
• Reset Button: The Reset Button that is a MacGuffin in the penultimate arc exists for this purpose. Mega Man succeeds in activating it.
• Robotic Psychopath: Neon Tiger is the most clear example. Sigma is also, though he's quite mellow about it.
• Running Gagged: Dr. Wily presents Cut Man to Megatug and calls him a "facilitator of mankind's ultimate doom". Megatug then says "Hehehe...facilitater".
  Wily: Oh, come off it! That's not even a funny joke!
• Sanity Slippage: Proto Man goes through this after having too much of 'Tug's stupidity, and starts talking like Gollum.
• Sarcasm-Blind: Megatug briefly becomes this when Proto Man quips that all he has left is his 'Furious Flutter' attack, which he'd previously been rather unimpressed by. Megatug replies with "See?! And you doubted!" Granted, it might just be Selective Obliviousness on his part.
• Self-Deprecation: The comic is rather harshly critical of itself. However, of all the characters, Mega Man is the one who seems to despise it the most.
• Self-Proclaimed Liar: A variation: When they decide to do an Enemy Mine together, Dr. Light asks Sigma if he can trust him. Sigma says "no". It takes Dr. Light a second to realize that's what he said.
• Serious Business:
  • The flight velocity of an unladen swallow, which Demigod Wily defines as 15 to 45 mph. When he explains why, Roll falls to her knees and exclaims that he IS a god.
  • For Dr. Light, MacGyver (1985). His Go-Karting with Bowser moment falls apart when Neon Tiger says the show didn't hold up.
• Severed Head Sports: Proto Man tries to use Megatug's head for soccer. He fails because it's way too heavy for that. Then when Proto Man puts his head inside a robot bird body, 'Tug can't fly, because his head is still too heavy.
• Shout-Out: Has its own page.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Proto Man, if he isn't a Dirty Coward.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • Mega Man interrupts the all-important quest to defeat Dr. Wily to get his retainer.
  • Neon Tiger AND Flame Mammoth are very preoccupied with pizza.
  • Dr. Light would rather play with the pedals inside Flame Mammoth than help the heroes. At least until the countdown starts.
  • Mega Man's virtual underling allows the Robot Masters he controls to beat Mega up because he "doesn't like losing".
• The Sociopath: Neon Tiger, as exemplied by his lack of regard for his own creator.
• Something Only They Would Say: Inverted: Dr. Light proves his true identity to Sigma by doing a very poor attempt at an Evil Laugh.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Dr. Wily, not seconds after telling Sigma that Dr. Light is dead, makes an Incredibly Lame Pun about it.
• Spoof Aesop: A Public Service Announcement for stopping robot violence plays at Wily's funeral.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Mega Man defies this with the FFIV characters, telling them to go away because this is his story, not theirs. They are promptly Put on a Bus and forgotten.
• Start X to Stop X: Wily wants to stop the heroes from getting to his evil lair. How will he do this? By capturing them and then bringing them to his evil lair.
• Sting: Parodied when Mega Man manages to cause a yellow "DUN, DUN, DUN!!" speech bubble to appear on command by saying the words "or someone".
• Strange Minds Think Alike:
  • Mega Man also tells the "facili-tater" joke to a Wilding Girl, much like Cloud Man did to Wily. It must be a famous joke in their universe.
  • When Megatug explains to Dr. Light how Mega Man is going to push the Reset Button to solve everything, Dr. Light asks "how far back does it go?" Cut to Mega Man pushing the button further and further away from its original location, but never actually pressing it.
  • Proto Man puts Megatug's head in a headless bird robot's body, while Wily places a bird robot in Megatug's headless body.
• Sudden Downer Ending: Did you really expect such a zany and random webcomic to end with a major character's death while the main bad guy is now in a position to destroy our heroes from the inside with impunity?
• Super Gullible: It is very easy to trick Megatug and Bass into thinking you have their best interests in mind.
• Supervillain Lair: Wily has one of these, which the narration outright calls an "evil lair".
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Flame Mammoth tells Dr. Light to get on with their plan to kill Dr. Light, he responds with a casual "sure, why not?"
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Megatug is simply an Eager Rookie version of Mega Man, down to looking almost exactly like him. He was this at first, but then Mega Man was revealed to be alive.
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Cut Man didn't cut off Pummeltug's head because he was going to reveal Wily's plan, no sir! (Surprisingly, the heroes don't buy it this time.)
• Tactical Withdrawal: Parodied: Bass makes him and Proto Man do this against the Wilding Girls, planning to hide in terror afterward. "It always works", he says.
• Take Our Word for It:
  • Because of a hard drive crash, the author is forced to write a wall of text explaining what would happened in the 2001 Thanksgiving comic (Dr. Light gorging himself on the food and vomiting into a river).
  • In-Universe, the virtual thug is defeated by Megatug claiming to have unleashed such a devastating attack that he'll never recover from it.
  • The epilogue for the first arc tells us that Mega Man and co. had many adventures afterwards, "to which the legends of yore stand ill in comparison. But there is not time enough to tell those stories here. Instead, we bring you this."
    Megatug: You bring back my Hot Pocket before I blast your face into sweet endless oblivion!
• Thou Shalt Not Kill: Soundly averted, no matter what the games have to say about it. Megatug and Mega Man are perfectly willing to murder Dr. Wily, and in the former's case, actually go through with it.
• Too Dumb to Live: Megatug asks for a demonstration of Cut Man's ability to separate heads from their bodies. Walked right into that one, he did...
  Megatug: Will it hurt?
  Cut Man: Only for a moment.
• Too Much Information: Dr. Light happens to eavesdrop on Roll and Wily talking about their relationship. He can't handle it.
• Take That!: Cecil is portrayed as irritatingly mumbling to himself about his Dark Knightness, much like he did in his game. Rydia is sick of it.
• Tempting Fate:

  Proto Man: What, you'd rather have more enemies face, jumping around and shouting "Prepare to meet your doom"?
  Guts Man: PREPARE TO MEET YOUR DOOM!

  • Megatug declares that something dramatic needs to happen while inside a Lotus-Eater Machine. The floor then vanishes.
  • Megatug inverts it when he's left alone in said machine, saying it can't get any better than this. It immediately does get 'better' - a sprite from River City Ransom shows up to beat him up. Apparently, this trope is cognizant of sarcasm.
• Thanking the Viewer: The 100th strip has a message from the author thanking the readers for stopping by and reading the comic.
• The Rant: There's only the one, a long message to the side memorializing the comic's day in the sun.
• Time Bomb: Both literal and figurative: The Reset Button gives both the heroes and villain exactly one minute to either ensure or prevent its activation, respectively.
• Tom the Dark Lord: Heathcliff of all people is treated like a terror beyond reckoning by Proto Man.
• Trigger Phrase: Wily added two for Mega Man, one to deactivate him and one to reactivate him, both of them being references to Outlaw Star. The reactivation was apparently also supposed to make him Brainwashed and Crazy, but Mega seems none the wiser.
  "Did I hear something about breakfast?"
• Trolling Creator: The author claimed to skip BreakMan's death to get the plot moving, but then spent two strips showing it happening.
• Unknown Rival: Implied to be the case with Wood Man's monologue about taking his revenge on Mega Man.
• Unreliable Narrator: Not the actual narrator, but when the characters themselves do it, it's usually this. Case in point, Bass narrates how he kept himself and Proto Man entertained while in prison, when he's in fact only narrating that he is, while Proto Man has already escaped.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Bass is tricked by Dr. Wily into trying to kill Mega Man and Roll. That's not the 'instigating doom' part. That comes when he jumps over a blaster shot from Mega Man which hits Dr. Wily... just as Dr. Light is transferring his own consciousness back into that body. So now Dr. Light is dead, the world thinks that he died as a villain and traitor, and Wily is still at large with the heroes none the wiser. Nice Job Breaking It, Heroes!
  • Dr. Light, with Sigma's help, makes a mental transporter in order to put himself back in his normal body. He dies, and Dr. Wily is able to replicate the plans, raising the possibility he could pull multiple Grand Theft Me's on the heroes without them ever finding out.
• Vagueness Is Coming: MegaTug of all people sees 'a vision of blood and burning death' that he warns Mega and Roll about, but refuses to get into specifics. Turns out it was about the emergence of Demigod Wily.
• Volleying Insults: Heathcliff and Megatug engage in a bout of this while engaged in a bout of Madden NFL.
  Heathcliff: And that's called RESET. It was going to be called BOOT TO THE HEAD, but I'm not wearing shoes.
  Megatug: Heh... so you lost your wittle shoesies, kitty-cat?
  Heathcliff: Yeah. I left them at the foot of Your Mom's bed.
• Warrior Poet: Neon Tiger can Contemplate Our Navels like no one else. Demigod Wily as well, as shown when he dissects the the concept of the existence of the 'unladen swallow'.
• We ARE Struggling Together: Proto Man and Megatug are reduced to this after their mutual decapitations, bickering together in ways worthy of Heathcliff.
• We Can Rule Together: Wily extends this proposition to roll, but she interprets it as a marriage proposal.
• What Does This Button Do?: Surprisingly, it's not Mega Man or 'Tug who engage in this sort of behaviour, but rather Proto Man and Bass. Proto Man managed to save the day by pressing the Reset Button with this mentality. And conversely, He screws it up by pressing another button later.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Twelve strips leading up to Christmas 2001 do this with The Night Before Christmas.
• William Telling: Cut Man sets this up with Megatug, but it's really only a ruse to slice off his head.
• Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Inverted with Dr. Light and Sigma. Dr. Light barrels through Sigma's statement that he cannot be trusted, and has to ask him to repeat.
  Dr. Light: I don't know...can I trust you, Sigma?
  Sigma: No.
  Light: Excellent. Well, first we need to engineer a... Wait. Did you just say "no"?
  Sigma: No.
  Light: Okay. Good.
• Xanatos Roulette: How did Wily know Proto Man Would be so eager to press the button on his Grand Theft Me device? Simple: He didn't. There was no possible way he could have known that would happen.
• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • Megatug gets a new friend named Melvin for all of two comics before he's abruptly shot down and vaporized by Proto Man by complete accident.
  • Megatug is gladdened by the deactivation of Mega Man's feel-good matrix, but Dr. Light quickly turns it back on.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!:
  • Dr. Light's reaction when Neon Tiger wonders why the readers don't believe Wily is dead is a "you're kidding me, right?"
  • Mega Man's reaction to the reason why Dr. Light isn't coming to help them: He's playing with pedals.
• Your Mom: Delivered by Heathcliff to Megatug, and by Proto Man to Guts Man.

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