waltzoid | Snowflake Challenge 2026-3 (Reply)

Let's see what we have this time...

(checks prompt)

Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

This one goes out to Mega Man (the character/series/franchise/etc.), and the fans keeping the torch (Man) lit over the ups and downs of the fandom's life cycle, including its many, many long dry spells.

The Blue Bomber has been one of my "comfort" characters ever since I first popped Mega Man 2 into my NES as a kid. Ever since I played that game, I've dipped my hands into whatever Mega Man media I could find -- the Archie comics, the Ruby-Spears cartoon, almost every game spinoff series, and even his "Green Gremlin" iteration from Captain N: The Game Master. It was always one of those things I had to check out, even if the end product turned out to be less than stellar (X5 through X7, Battle Network 4, Fully Charged). I still occasionally hear Proto Man's whistle in my head to this day.

I've never written a word of fanfic for this series, but I have viewed uncountable megabytes of fan art and played several fan games (I've even finished a few levels in some of them!). The passion that the fanbase has for that lovable blue-armored android whose superpower is "absorb the other guy's powers" never ceases to amaze me.

I'm what most might call a "fandom tourist" - by my personal definition, I'm someone who likes to keep to themselves when engaging with a creative work to avoid spoilers and arguments. Fortunately, aside from the cries every year for a new game in any of its many sub-series, discussion has been mostly civil, and I do still enjoy reading discussion about game mechanics, Robot Master designs and weapons...that sort of thing.

However long this fandom lasts after the original game's 40th anniversary in 2027, I'm glad to have followed it, even if it's just as a Mettall who occasionally lifts his helmet to fire a few bullets before taking a Mega Buster blast to the face.