askekksu

[askekksu]

🃏

[ bluesky ]

[askekksu]

the wedding rings have gone missing! 💍

[askekksu]

As a veteran member of the fandom...

It's true. There is a misogyny problem here. There is also an over-correction problem where female characters are not respected by any side the moment they start to look sexy, ie Alia X8 vs Alia X5. Can't tell you how many diatribes about her X5 cone boobs design being "better" , her long loose hair being "unprofessional", and all that stuff I've heard. It looks to me that the more flat and boyish she looks and acts, the better a character she is to some people, and I reject that.

Let's not limit female characters to EITHER smart or pretty -- she's an incredible scientist. Her job as an operator is incredibly important too, as she guides THE Megaman X, the one and only. She can be smart and pretty, she doesn't have to look boyish to be valid.

Women have to walk such a fine line at all times, being just pretty enough, but not TOO pretty, smart and capable but not so much that they upstage any male characters, always agreeable and never sharp or bold or...threatening... I mean, it's exhausting. I am reminded of the speech given by the mom in the Barbie movie. She was spot-on.

I think maybe Capcom didn't expect to gain so many female fans for their robot power fantasy series.

And X -- he's suffered since day one from not being a roided-out, low emotions male. But I LOVE HIM for his empathy, his small stature, his kindness and soft voice. I want more male representation like that. He is so so so impressive and important for being someone whose accomplishments do not match his appearance expectations.

And I know that the ZeroX fandom likes to experiment with gender. There is worth in seeing X as a trans man, and I know the XZero side likes Zero as the Trans candidate. We all have deep, important reasons for that, and both sides seem to insult or turn off the other, but we shouldn't be labeled something awful for what we see and bond with.

Fandom as a whole, for all of history, has enjoyed gender swaps and the like, and maybe that helps us become more aware of misogyny when we explore.

Tl;Dr, I think we should hope and push for more equality and less misogyny, but also not eat each other alive when it comes to groups that are much better about it and have small differences comparatively.

Bc of this, I made a community called "Abel City Heroes" where all your fan characters can be showcased and thrive, even if they are *gasp* female with strong personalities and a role in the story! Something that usually gets labeled as a Mary Sue.

Come see us.

Underlying misogyny in the Mega Man X fandom

Maybe I'm coming across as "too woke" here or reading into things too much, but I'd like to talk about the misogyny surrounding the mmx fandom as I feel it's an overlooked issue .

My first example is the treatment Iris gets in the fandom.

Ignoring the blatant sexualistaion she's gotten over the years, Iris is either forgotten (which I don't fully blame people for actually), treated decently or hated and bashed for.......kinda nothing honestly

You see, Iris suffers from this thing called "treating writing flaws like character flaws." A.K.A. hating characters for what is clearly an out-of-universe problem.

The most common example is that characters (usually female) are poorly written, and fans of the media hate the characters for it. It's made even worse when male characters suffer from the same writing mistakes and get little to no negativity.

You can probably see how this relates to mmx. Iris is very much not a well written character. She barely has a role other than "extra trauma for Zero boo hoo," but then again, X and Zero ALSO aren't well written. They just seem better because you see more of them, but truthfully, you only need a maximum of three words to describe any of these characters.

Fandom misogyny also applies to other female characters, especially in the oversexualisation or complete ignorance department. Another great example of this would be Layer.

In-game Layer is a reserved, calm, collected woman who only really breaks out of that when Zero is around, in which she seems to get awkward, no doubt due to her hinted crush at the man. Even then she doesn't act all that different.

In a lot of fanon interpretations, though Layer seems to be sexualised and even demonised despite her barely contributing to the games. Granted colourisim also plays a part in that not only in fanon content but in canon media as well. Layer is the only black character in the X series, and she is by far the most sexualised, no doubt also contributing to her fanon depictions.

Another chatacter I'll mention in relation to underlying misogyny in the fandom is one you might not expect.

It's X.

Yeah

X suffers from this thing in male characters especially, where a desire for peace, benevolence and a dislike of violence, or any indication of emotions really, are seen as weak, soft, or you guessed it, feminine traits.

These type of characters are then often infantilised, fetishised, and generally misrepresentation in fan made media.

(It's at this point I would like to state there is nothing wrong with soft or weak or feminine male characters on their own)

X very much suffers from this, as despite fighting several wars people still portray him as a wimp. Even in the Zero games which is honestly kinda absurd to me?

Speaking of the Zero games, this post ia about mmz, so I'll keep this brief, bit there's also a lot of weird stuff when it comes to female characters in that fandom aswell, mostly sexualisation. For Fairy Leviathan, even though I don't like it and think it sucks, I can at least understand it. She does seem to have the maturity of a young adult and is almost flirtatious in her appearances. However, I can not say the same about certain depictions of Ciel, who is a confirmed CHILD. She's 14 in mmz 1, and she's 16 in mmz 4. No excuses.

Well we've come to the end of this rant where I'd like to say that there is nothing inherently wrong with ooc depictions of characters. People are allowed to have fun and play around with characters they enjoy. That's not at all my problem.

My problem is when fanon is treated like canon, to the point where fan made contet is treated as official information which ofc leads to a lot of confusion, misunderstandings and it'd honestly just plain annoying.

There's also problematic aspects like misogyny, racism and others, which I mentioned previously. To anyone with half a brain it should be obvious why those are bad things.

Anyway I saulte for making it the end of this thank you for listening to my ultimately not that clear way of presenting things

[askekksu]

To be honest, these are all exercises, so they can be a bit rough

[askekksu]

miscellaneous xzeros

[askekksu]

[askekksu]

2025 Megaman Summer Fanart Contest - Rules Thread

Sorry for the slight delay, but it is once again time for a new Megaman Summer Fanart Contest!

Two categories, in which you are allowed to submit one entry for each category, if you would like. If you place higher in one category, you will be automatically disqualified from winning in the other, for reasons of fairness, and to give other people a chance to win a prize.

This year, on top of the usual cash prizes, physical participation prizes are back once again! Everyone who submits a pic will be entered into the raffle for a chance at one of three awesome items! If you submit an entry into both categories, you can double your odds for one specific item of your choice.

This year is not being separated into Talent and Humor categories, so do your best at drawing to fit the theme of each category and showing off your creativity. All rules and info will follow, after the break:

CATEGORY 1: Ariga Amalgamix

The first category this year won't necessarily be summer-themed, although you can try if you feel like it. But I wanted to have one category with a little bit of Ariga flavor to it, so we are going to turn this into a sort of Ariga tribute category of sorts. For this category, I would like you to try to create a tribute to Hitoshi Ariga's style and manga influence, but in sort of a unique mixture.

While he has done art for practically all the Mega Man series in some capacity, the majority of his manga and projects have focused on the Classic series, with a little bit of X. Aside from some cameos, like EXE characters in Gigamix, for example. So, while showing tribute to the characters and manga stories he is best known for, I would like you to also mix in characters from other series who have not been a part of Ariga's manga universe, while trying to best represent them in his style. How you pull that off is up to your imagination.

For example: Skull Man digging for dino bones with Volnutt and other diggers. Star Force Mega Man fighting off the Stardroids. Battle and Chase franchise crossover, but with reporters Neige, Midorikawa Kero and Gyroman.EXE taking the place of Plum, Chest and Ripot. A 4-Koma of Maverick Soccer, using Bubble Crab as a soccer ball. Dr. Auto Number 008 Sexy Man judging the Megasexy Man/Woman contest. Or Ariga-styled versions of the Mega Man 11 Robot Masters interacting with the Hourly Part-Timer Pay Squad. Take something, be it a character/story/format you love about Ariga's works, and mix in something he has not drawn before, with it.

Content Requirements: *Tribute art to manga artist Hitoshi Ariga, drawing Mega Man characters replicating his unique style and design *A mixup of something familiar from his manga and something new featuring characters that he has never included in them *Must contain a minimum of at least one character from a game/series that Ariga has already drawn in his manga before AND one character drawn in an Ariga-style that he has NOT drawn in his manga (excluding minor cameos)

CATEGORY 2: Mega Mannequins

In most years the summer contest focuses on enjoying the warm weather at, or in, the water, this year we're going to focus on purchasing that summer fashion and modeling it for prospective buyers.

In some shape or form, most Mega Man games have often had some type of shop where you can purchase goods and upgrades. From Big Eddie's or Higsby's to Dressmaker Hip Bone or Macy's-parody Nacy's, there are a bunch of unique shops to choose from. In the case of this category, you are going to take some type of Mega Man shop and turn them into a typical fashion retail store, if they aren't already one. This store has set up a window display to show off it's new summer fashion line, be it summer tanks and shorts, dresses, swimwear, or watermelon-painted reploid armor.

What is unique about this store display, is they have decided to use real live models (or sort-of-living robot ones) to show off their fashion line. You know, like, "it's your mom, in a swimsuit on an igloo in the store window...It doesn't fit."

So, it is up to you to draw your favorite Mega Man characters acting as Mega Mannequins, in their summer fashion, modeling in this retail window display. Be creative with your displays with fun and flashy design and additional background details that scream summer. For some small help at actual summer retail window display inspiration, check out this link.

Ask if you aren't sure about a store choice, but this can include/is not limited to the actual store design or creating your own storefront based off of actual in-game shops:

Big Eddie's, Light Lab, Reggae's, Saffron/Cumin/Jasmine's, Junk Shop, Dressmaker Hip Bone, Tailor Chinos, The EXE anime shady Chinatown salesman's shop, Higsby's, Net Navi/Bugfrag Shop, Nacy's, Big Wave, Cerveau's, RiCO's, etc.

Content Requirements: *Mega Man character(s) of your choice modeling summer fashion in a retail store window display *Must use a shop name/logo from the vast Mega Man shopping universe somewhere in the pic

PRIZES:

The winners for each category will receive the following:

1st Place: $125 USD

2nd Place: $75 USD

3rd Place: $50 USD

Participation Raffle Prizes:

Over the past year, I swiped a couple rare things that perhaps many of you never got a chance to be there for or purchase. And I thought they might be nice little sweeteners to get people to want to participate this year, especially with how quiet the fandom and franchise is right now. Those who place for the cash prizes are also still eligible for participation prizes.

If you enter into either category, you will be eligible for a chance at all 3 participation raffle prizes. If you enter into both categories, you can get your name entered a second time for one specific item of your choice. I will draw for prize #1 first, and whoever wins that will then be ineligible for the other two, and so on down.

Your participation prizes are the following:

Prize #3 - UDON Mega Man Robot Masters Limited Edition Metal Card Set from the 2024 SDCC (featuring Fire Man, Elec Man, Ice Man and Bomb Man)

Prize #2 - UDON Mega Man Bass and Treble Limited Edition Gold Metal Card, from the 2024 SDCC, signed on the back of the card by Hitoshi Ariga

Prize #1 - A shikishi board artwork of Mega Man drawn and signed by Hitoshi Ariga from the 2024 SDCC, verified through the CGC Signature Series

(yes, I'm still keeping my bought version with the "To: Jaz" personalization on it, and giving away this cleaner piece to a lucky one of you! ;p)

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

When you submit, I would prefer if you could include the following information in this format, along with your entry:

(Your name/preferred alias) As much as I usually know who you are, there's always someone new or somebody who has a different preference from what their email name says.

(Category this entry is for) You can either say 1/2 or the category title

(Participation raffle) Let me know if you are in for all of the prizes, or if you want to decline from being entered for a specific prize. If you enter into both categories, let me know the one prize you want your extra chance to go towards.

Only submit your own work, as usual. AI artwork is not allowed. Any character, major or minor, from any series is allowed. OCs are allowed, as long as your art contains at least one canon Megaman character.

As always, participants are allowed to submit from all over the world. As long as the US Postal Service/FedEx will send to your country, and the state of the world doesn't get worse, I hope to be able to send the participation prizes to anyone around the globe. But if your country does not accept mail from the US, there will sadly be nothing I can do.

Paypal is still the preferred method for cash prize payouts. Please have a valid account to receive your winnings.

Kids, get your parents permission before entering.

Entries do not need to be colored, but it is preferred. The more effort put into things as always, the better chance you have!

Entries can either be e-mailed to me at rock2125[at]hotmail[dot]com, or you can just PM/note me a link to your pic.

DO NOT post your pics publicly here, in other galleries, social media, etc. until the contest is over. This is the fairest way for competitive reasons. I prefer to keep them all secret until the deadline has passed.

I'll edit a confirmed entry list in this thread when I receive them. So you won't be in the dark about whether or not I've received your entry.

DEADLINE:

The deadline for this contest will be Tuesday, August 26th, 2025 by 11:59PM, global end of day. This gives you well over 2 months to finish your entry!

MISCELLANEOUS INFO:

As usual, If you don't plan to enter, but would like to help me judge, please let me know through DM, or mention so here. Never hurts to have extra opinions on all the entries.

Bug me with questions if you have any. Everyone is welcome to join in and good luck to everyone who enters!

CONFIRMED ENTRIES:

Cat. 1: ??? Cat. 2: ???

[askekksu]

Doodles from today

I love the airbrush and lasso tool

[askekksu]

XZero Week 2025

Day 1 ~ Damage (Based on X5's intro stage)

[askekksu]

Happy Rockman Day

[askekksu]

[askekksu]

[askekksu]

Blue boys snipping at one another

Prev

[askekksu]

The X Games

[askekksu]

i love x5

[askekksu]

Dr. Light knows what he has to do.

[askekksu]

X's inner thoughts