Could the Blue Bomber be a woman, and if so, what would have changed?
Megaman (known as Rockman in Japan) is the long-running franchise from Capcom that, over the years, has been inspired by everything from Casshern to Astro Boy. While Capcom proper has rather notably neglected the series in the recent years (an iOS title, Rockman Xover, was panned enough in Japan that a release in America wasn’t on the cards). Much of the support for the super fighting robot has come from outside the company; Archie has been publishing an ongoing comic with enough success that they’re officially bringing in the X era into the books, fan remixed soundtracks have come out, and the creator of the franchise has moved on to both the Megaman-inspired Mighty No. 9 and the Megaman Zero-inspired Azure Striker Gunvolt.
While Megaman might be seeing unmitigated support from their fans, one fact has largely stayed clear with the franchise; it’s mainly a boy’s club. It took until Megaman 9 for a female Robot Master to join the ranks in Splash Woman, and most of the female cast has been relegated to support roles. Quake Woman was crafted for the comic, Roll has been playable on a rare occassion, and Megaman ZX allowed the player to chose a gender. Even comic artist Ryan Jampole is looking to pitch a Roll-centric miniseries to Archie, giving more attention to the franchise’s most-notable lass.
The fans have decided to come together and drastically increase the female character base, launching the Mega Woman Gender Swap Collab Challenge.
With only a few slots left, Andrew Dickman is trying to round up enough artists to tackle as many characters from the franchise as possible. Hoping to end by the beginning of May, it’s a fun project that can bring the community together in an exploration of what makes a character a character.
Does Roll work as a meek man with a broom? Does Dr. Wily inspire as much fear as a lady? How do you particularly give a new gender to an amorphous blob like the Yellow Devil?
If successful, they might go for another round with the Megaman X cast. Would this mean a female Zero would have a buzzcut?
