She/Her|INTJ|Aquarius/Gemini Rising/Libra Moon|36|United States X is the best and must be protected at all costs. Fite me. Header by teatea (who's sadly deactivated). :( Blog is SFW and X-centric. Enjoy your stay!
Oh, boy. They're actually doing X2 and apparently it's supposed to be focused on the lore. Given how absolutely rushed the X1 comics were, I have no faith for these, given they are once again only six issues. I'm also predicting one of these three things will happen:
1. They don't include the fourth female member of the X-Hunters who was omitted from the game due to memory limitations at the time.
2. They do include her, but she's overly sexualized and perpetuates the femme fatale/female villain trope.
3. They replace her with X-Kai because they're trying desperately hard to make XDive bs canon.
Oh, and here's yet another retelling of the events before X1! Why is this even necessary when we already have The Day of Sigma OVA and Dawn of X and the X Factor side stories from Archie? This is incredibly redundant and I expect it to be just as boring as the X comics.
Apparently, this is supposed to focus on how Zero became a Maverick Hunter with a brand new original Maverick joining the cast. I am so sick and tired of the constant Zero glazing at the expense of X, especially since this is supposed to be X's story. Not only in the fandom, but in licensed content and games as well.
Not looking forward to reviewing these and having a miserable time. Ugh.
No, for real, be honest with me: which MMX ship do you think is wayyy too forced? By both the fans and Capcom themselves?
For me, it's XAlia. I can't see them being together. I can't, I'm sorry, but I just can't. If they had chemistry, I could tolerate it, but they don't even have that. In my mind, this ship only exists because of the rule: "if a man and a woman coexist in the same environment, it soon becomes necessary for them to be together."
Even though there are references in some media about that shipp (4Koma manga and XDiVE. X6 doesn't count because I interpret it more as Alia trying to tell X her secret instead of simply saying "I love you" out of nowhere) I can't really accept them being together. Especially considering what Alia did to Gate. It just doesn't sit right with me. It doesn't sit right with me at all.
(Comments and reblogs attacking others due to differing opinions will be deleted and blocked. Let's maintain a sense of respect here. Please, it's just fictional characters at the end of the day).
Let's get into the penultimate issue, issue #4. More below the cut.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!
X starts off in Armored Armadillo's stage, finding the secret Hadoken capsule. His face in the bottom left panel is adorable.
Minerva actually has some character here. Too bad it's too little too late as this is the second to last issue in this run. Here, she greets X warmly and tries to cheer him up. More than being an operator acts like his friend. Though, I wish Luna had some personality. Oh, and again, they're drawn pretty normally.
I don't know how I feel about Vile knowing about Zero's past. I feel like information that sensitive wouldn't be so easily disclosed to the Maverick Hunters besides Sigma and Dr. Cain. Not even X knows his past.
Also, what the hell was the point of the bourbon glass if all he did was break it? It's just another one of Dan's "Look! Another reference!" without actually including it into the plot. Oh, and Vile's characterization still sucks.
The top right panel is drawn so weird. I mean, I get what they were trying to go for, but it looks more comical than tragic. Also, last I checked, Vile didn't care about destroying the world. This reads like Saturday morning cartoon villain.
I'm confused as to who says, "Hadoken unlocked!". Is it Dr. Light? But how would that work? Is he an A.I in X's systems like J.A.R.V.I.S. and F.R.I.D.A.Y. are to Tony Stark? Is it his operating system? I'm pretty sure this will be answered in a oneshot or X2 which isn't even greenlit.
Dan said this himself, and it's a case of counting chickens before they hatch. Especially when the books aren't even selling well.
This was pretty badass. Ngl. Definitely one of my favorite pages.
Here we ago again with taking direct dialogue from MHX. Vile's quote in the top left panel is taken directly from his ending in his own playable mode. And again, why would Vile care about Sigma winning against X? I really hate that they reduced my favorite X villain into Sigma’s lapdog. Ugh.
I like the little flashback montage here. Especially the middle right panel with Luna and Minerva. Too bad we don't get to see these light-hearted moments in the main story and instead in the second to last issue.
They actually did the thing and made X cry! Omg! Honestly, this page broke me cuz of how completely shattered X is here. I just wanna hold and hug and protect him. I also like the little wisps of hair coming out of the front of Zero's helmet. That's such a nice little detail.
I feel so bad for my precious boy! But he sure does look cool here.
That's it for issue #4. A vast improvement from the last two, but it still felt rushed as far as X going through the Sigma Fortress was concerned. Not to mention Minerva having more personality and a friendship with X, Zero, and Luna could've been established early on instead of the penultimate issue.
It feels like one of those cases were the story starts off like crap, but actually becomes decent towards the end, which is not good storytelling if you ask me. If you want to sell a good story, you have to hook people in from the very beginning. Otherwise, they'll just lose interest and won't bother with the next one.
Plus the fact that Dan says he has more stories to tell that will get better and expand on things in oneshot issues of all things, makes me think of the BBC Sherlock fandom cope back in the 10s with how awful season 4 was and that it was intentionally bad and that there's a secret good episode. And as I said earlier, dude is really counting his chickens before they hatch if he seriously thinks he'll get to even do those oneshots, let alone adapt X2.
Already on the first page, three Maverick bosses get defeated. It not only reeks of terrible pacing, but makes X's journey look too easy. Not to mention, excluding Kuwanger was a stupid choice since he and X were once friends (at least in MHX). He was definitely one of my favorite Maverick bosses in that game along with Sting Chameleon, Storm Eagle, and Armored Armadillo. Seeing him wasted like this is disappointing, but not at all that surprising, given what we've seen with Spark Mandrill in the previous issue.
Oh, and what do you know? Luna and Minerva are actually drawn normally for once. I wasn't expecting that since this is Udon we're talking about. But I'm not going to give credit or cookies to Hanzo Steinbeck for doing the bare minimum of representing women respectfully in a comic book. This should be the norm, not the exception.
I really dislike how Zero was inserted into this issue as tagging along with X. How are you gonna doubt the guy who took on seven Mavericks solo, especially the more difficult ones like Storm Eagle and Boomerang Kuwanger? And with upgrades no less. I thought this was supposed to be X's story, but I guess the chuds at Udon couldn't resist some Zero glazing. As if we needed more of it.
Oh, and I really hate how he talks here. In the Timelines and first issues, he speaks normally. Now suddenly he talks like he's a Southerner in the US? Why? What was the thought process behind this choice? It doesn't make sense and makes Zero seem incredibly out of character.
Dr. Light's "this world of man" really irritated me. It's archaic and doesn't make sense for a future setting like Megaman X where even now in 2026, people are using "humans" or "humanity" to describe homo sapiens. Male comic book writers not referring to humankind as man challenge: IMPOSSIBLE.
Oh, and there's supposed to be some kind of Transformers joke in this page, but since I'm not big on that franchise (I grew up with Beast Wars and watched the Armada anime series), I definitely missed it. Don't understand the reasoning for this except that Dan Arseneault worked on the Transformers comics before writing for the X series. Not saying there isn't an overlap between X and Transformers fans, but I don't think that overlap is common. I dunno. Seems like a weird choice to include when you're trying to market your comics towards hardcore and casual fans alike.
This is actually a decent page. X knowing that he can easily destroy this robot but actively chooses not to is great storytelling for his character. It makes me wish we had more moments like these where X shows restraint and doesn't resort to killing to get the job done.
Oh, boy! Another typo! I get that Udon is not on the same level as Marvel or DC, but come on. There's no excuse not to have this stuff proofread before finalizing it.
This actually seems on brand for Sting Chameleon. Dude was not well-liked in his unit which prevented opportunities for a potential promotion, so I wouldn't put it past him to use his stealth abilities to ambush the entire 9th Special Rangers Unit.
I dunno, but Zero incapacitating a Maverick boss with one stab feels like glazing when you consider that the fights X had took more effort. However, the next page...
I like X saving Zero this time around and finishing the job. This page was peak aura farming for X.
This page is my favorite. Zero gassing up X as he makes his grand entrance in the fully assembled First/Light Armor. He looks adorable.
That's it for now. Definitely an improvement from issue #2, but the comics still struggles with pacing, typos, weird dialogue choices, expanded lore that is immediately forgotten and goes nowhere, and bringing absolutely nothing new to the plot of X1.
Next is issue #4. Oh, and I find it absolutely hilarious that there was radio silence from Dan Arseneault on Rockman Day except to tweet about Transformers. Then issue #4 releases and he comes of out the woodwork to engage with the Twitter Megaman fandom again, as they all glaze his comics. I dunno, seems like larping/tourism to me.
We start off with X defeating Spark Mandrill. If you think this is bad with Mavericks getting destroyed in less than two pages, wait til you see the next issue. Also, lol at Dan "burrowing" Mandrill's defeat quote from MHX. All he did was change some of the wording. How original.
This. Page. Makes. Me. Angry.
Where do I even begin? Why is Luna posed like her back is broken? This is the same egregious nonsense with male comic artists like Greg Land and Rob Liefield who don't know how women's bodies work or proper female proportions. Oh, and and don't get me started on her commenting on X's rank. Bro has been clearing through bosses easily with upgrades, and you're out here questioning his abilities? Be so for real.
Here's one of the few interesting pages, but they go nowhere with it. Having Sigma be aware of these mysterious upgrade capsules is good and makes you wonder what he intended to do with them if he was able to open them. Too bad we don't see this again.
This is actually good. I like X's connection to the good doctor becoming stronger with each upgrade. Though, I'd love an explanation for this.
Ugh. Why did we have to make Zero have a connection with the capsules? Why must we have this unnecessary Zero glazing in X's own story again? Unless, the connection is simply Dr. Light and Wily, then it doesn't make sense. Even then, Bass was said to steal the schematics for X, not his armors, so idk.
Another instance of stealing exact lines from MHX, even though this comic is barely even based on that game. Not to mention, Capcom apparently being against using the redesigns to be more consistent with XDive, which doesn't make sense as that game isn't even canon. Capcom being Capcom, I guess.
For someone who calls himself "this huge Megaman lore and history guy" how do you screw up the name of one of X's special weapons? Do the people at Udon even proofread this stuff before finalizing it? This isn't the first this has happened either.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, I don't feel comfortable with X swearing. He's too nice for that IMO. Zero, maybe I can see. But X? Dude is too wholesome and polite for that.
I'm only posting this page because of how cool it looks. X's face in the bottom right corner makes me swoon so hard.
And here's another gooner bait page! Why are her boobs bigger than her head? Why is she squeezing them together like that? For reference, here's how she looks in her concept art for MHX. Nothing like the comic at all and is just an example of exaggerated female proportions. Ugh.
That's it for now. While I do like Hanzo's art, I hate the way he draws the only two female characters. I'm really tired of Udon sexualizing women in their comics in order to get them to sell to a certain demographic. It's alienating to female fans like myself who've been involved in the fandom since 2000. It's really telling how they cover up poor writing with art that borders on softcore porn and fetish bait. Yikes.
Now, I'll give credit where credit is due to the artist in this issue (Hanzo Steinbeck). X looks REALLY good here.
From here, it's just more action sequences. No major storytelling here. The bottom panel of X made my brain blue-screen. WHY IS HE POSING LIKE THAT?
I will say, I like X's uncertainty here. It fits with his early days as a reluctant Maverick Hunter in his first major war.
Like I mentioned in previous posts, the Dr. Light interactions are by far my favorite, but they go absolutely nowhere with them. Lasting for about two pages, then it's straight back to the game's "plot".
LOOK AT HIS CHEEKS. THEY'RE SO SQUISHABLE. Sorry, that's all I have to say for this page.
Here, we see X's mercy and reluctance to kill. This is one of the things that made this issue decent as it also establishes Storm Eagle and X's friendship, like in MHX.
This was my favorite page, aside from Dr. Light. X trying to save not just his enemies, but those who were close to him really shows his gentle and compassionate side without turning him to the gloom and doom Debbie Downer from X7.
Bad Zero! I don't know how I feel about the characters swearing. Maybe Zero is acceptable, but in later issues, X does it and it just makes me feel like that isn't something he would do. Also, that one panel I hated in Timelines was redrawn and looks a bit better? Also, why is his bottom lip so shiny? It's killing me. X, please.
I gotta love Zero's comments every time X gets an upgrade. He's basically gassing up his bff and it's cute af.
Anyway, this was a much better issue than the previous two. However, issue #2 is where it just goes downhill. More to come
Now on to the Timelines issue. More below the cut.
Why do Reploids need beds? Why is X's room so messy? Usually in the games, they rest in stasis pods. No explanation for this, which is a shame cuz it could've been some good world building about Reploids trying to emulate human behavior and customs.
I absolutely HATE the bottom panel. Why do the generic Reploids look like recolors of X? Look, I know there's that one quote from SENSEI in the Official Complete Works regarding the generic Reploids at the end of X5:
"The Reploids that appear in the ending are X's followers, so I made their body designs very simple. As I was drawing them, I wondered if X looked like this when he was at their level. My simple designs became quite popular among the staff, where the most common comment was, 'I love how they look like cheap knock-offs!' (laughs)" (Suetsugu)
But even then, they still looked unique from X. X5 isn't the only case. You see this in Command Mission, X7, X6, and MHX. Hell, even Archie had unique designs of their own. There's literally no excuse for this, and the fact that Dan tried justifying it as "palette swaps of X" is lazy and disingenuous at best. Especially when he tauts himself as this "big Megaman history and lore guy". Read the transcripts in ShadowRockZX's interviews to see exactly what I mean.
This is exactly interesting. Too bad it doesn't last long (like two pages).
Aside from X looking weird as hell, this is good lore expansion. But again, it's interrupted in favor of retelling the exact events in play-by-play style of X1.
Chill Penguin going Maverick cuz he's bored and not because he hates X for being "high and mighty" is so damn lazy. His characterization sucks here, and is the exact problem I highlighted earlier about Dan wanting this to be based on MHX, yet doing his own thing and taking elements from X1.
X's face is so weird in the third panel. Ugh. I'm so put off by this art. Thank God they replaced the artist for the rest of the issues. Though that isn't saying much when we get to issue #2. You'll see what I mean.
Yeah, that's it for now. I don't know how this book out sold the other Timelines issues, especially since Ian Flynn is a much better writer than Dan Arseneault (he wrote the Zero Timelines issue).
Alright. I decided to bite the bullet and actually try to do a review of the Udon comics, starting with issue #0 as that's the first one in the reading order. I'm not gonna point out obvious Easter eggs as they're just that; obvious.
This is a pretty solid start. The Dr. Light panels are the strongest as far as storytelling goes.
Same with Dr. Cain, but before anything of substance can be fleshed out further, we get interrupted by a mission.
Two issues here: using Vile's cringey Japanese name and "Sigma’s 19th Elite Unit". Don't know if that's a typo or not as Dan never addressed it, but Maverick Hunter units only go up to 17, which is the Elite Unit.
Here's perhaps the most egregious page. Slave name? Since when does a selfish and destructive character like Vile care about Reploid oppression? Why use him as a mouthpiece? It could work with a different character, but I would ditch the whole "slave name" thing as that's a common trope in Western comics/media by white male writers to use non-human characters as allegories for real-life marginalized groups.
This was a cheap way for the writer to try to X-Men his way into a video game about sentient robots. Vile is just coming off as Temu Magneto, and as someone who loves the character (especially after MHX and X8), this really pissed me off. Also, X looks really uncanny here.
Again, the problem with this comic is that Dan claims to be taking ideas from MHX, but then goes and turns Vile into Sigma’s lapdog. You can't have it both ways, my guy. Either the "story" is based on MHX or the original SNES game. This is how you confuse the casuals you claim you're trying to appeal to.
Yeah, this issue is one of the worst, and the art by Edwin Huang doesn't help. X looks weird in a lot of the panels. And don't get me started on those cursed covers for Timelines that were revealed when the comics were announced. The coloring is also off putting.
She is “out-fanfictioned” because, as the strip specifically calls out, she is a girl and a jet. Setting aside for the moment whether “fanfictiony” is an insult or not, why is being a woman more fanfictiony? What makes being a woman a trope? Aren’t girls, like, 51% of us? Is there more than one dude Autobot jet? Yes? Do we do comics about how we roll our eyes at new dude Autobot jets? No? Then why is a lady jet something we single out?
You draw enough TF commissions you see these details in fan characters a lot. Girl-seeker, badass loner, ninjabot with sword… or some combination.
Windblade is none of those. Zero.
She’s not a seeker. She’s got friends. She’s not a ninja.
(Also, as if there were any doubt that you were using “fanfictiony” as an insult, your bit here clears that up.)
And for the record, no, I don’t recall having been asked to draw a Transformers fancharacter for probably half a decade. Plenty of canonical ones, sure. The closest I’ve gotten is “Optimus Prime as a Green Lantern.” But being asked to draw ladyseeker ninja loners is not a trend I can vouch for.
Also David, not sure why you are having fun insulting me. The one time I’ve met you (maybe twice?) you seemed very polite.
I’m not really having that much fun. I would have been super ecstatic to see a comic from you celebrating a new female character, rather than playing into how our society mocks and denigrates them merely for existing. I am WEARY of this. And I am pushing back against it because it’s stupid and it’s damaging and I don’t want to see any more of it. The best thing I can say about it is that maybe you didn’t think through the implications of what you were saying very well and, in the service of making an easy joke, have regurgitated the script culture has given us regarding how women characters are strongly suggested to be viewed.
tl;dr: This strip made me very very angry. Walky smash.
I went digging and couldn't turn up anything, substantial or otherwise, about Matt Moylan. I need to know how low to place my expectations for my second favorite mega men, because it sounds like "pretty damn low"
Matt Moylan is the Director of Publishing over at Udon. He's been there for ages. He's also a total reactionary.
To give full context, this is gonna get a little long.
Moylan is perhaps best known for the Transformers fancomic Lil Formers, which was popular in the '00s. This isn't super important here, but allow me to go on a tangent because it's where a lot of people know the guy from, and it's mildly more entertaining than just screencapping his tweets. The comic was basically just an excuse for him to draw a bunch of chibi Transformers that people would then use in forum signatures and whatnot. Sometimes he would attach his cranky old geewunner opinions and complain about art style changes or new female characters in the dialogue, if he wasn't just making a generic joke about Wheelie being annoying or Seaspray having a silly voice or whatever.
Comedy gold, I know.
Lil Formers was well known within the fandom. Geewunners and kids who didn't know any better and just liked the chibi Transformers (guilty) loved it. Other fans grew more annoyed by Moylan's schtick. As far back as 2009 TFWiki contributor David Willis mocked it in a strip from his own webcomic, Shortpacked:
His wiki page on TFWiki also recounts a bizarre old bit of fandom drama. Moylan had previously worked for the defunct comic publisher Dreamwave, who published the Transformers comics in the early '00s, and in 2006 he went on popular Transformers forum TFW2005 to make several claims about behind the scenes conflicts and unfulfilled story plans. Most bizarre was a claim that Autobot Sunstreaker was supposed to be gay in the Dreamwave comics, which was written off as a childish attempt to rile up the fandom. His claims were all vehemently disputed by the Dreamwave writers he was shit talking, who would also accuse Moylan of anonymously slandering them and sending them threatening emails. Swell guy!
Anyway, hopefully this isn't surprising to literally anyone who's been on a forum in the last decade, but this nerd who won't shut up about the Good Ol' Days of the '80s is now a reactionary conservative who complains about how they're making everything "woke." And unfortunately he's no longer just some guy drawing dumb little one-panel comics about Transformers, he's now overseeing all of the output at Capcom's go-to comic and art book publisher in North America.
Here's some of his tweets to illustrate what he's like these days.
Yes, that's a reply to Mark "Grummz" Kern. He's also chatted up accounts like Libs of Tiktok and Comicsgate ringleader Ethan Van Sciver. Also note the reply in which he tries to tell Greg Weisman himself that Gargoyles had "not an ounce of woke." This guy's brain is fucking cooked.
Here's a take he posted about The Boys, too, just because it's really fucking funny to me:
After I and several other people posted about his behavior over on Bluesky and expressed disinterest in buying anything from Udon (such as the new Mega Man comics), he deleted his Twitter for like a week. He's since restored it, the tweets in question now long gone. Clearly it wasn't a good look for him to be making statements about his employer's values like this, sometimes in the same breath as announcements about new comics. That being said, he's issued no actual apology for his statements, and Udon hasn't acknowledged it at all. There's no reason to believe he's had a change of heart. They're just gonna pretend he never said any of this. And as of a few days ago, he's been announced as the writer for the one-shot Mega Man ZX comic that Udon is putting out later this year. Yaaaayyyy
I know there are a lot of cool people working on stuff for Udon, but Moylan being in a position of power there means I have zero interest in giving that company money. When your Director of Publishing is over on Twitter trying to court an audience of reactionary nerds and proudly proclaiming that Udon is "anti-woke, anti-DEI," and then you go to their website and the first image you see is this...
...Look, I love huge boobs as much as the next bisexual furry pervert, but this particular image in conjunction with his tweets paints a pretty clear picture of what sort of values Moylan is pushing at Udon. He wants to cater to nerds who will buy softcore Street Fighter hentai thinking it'll own the libs.
So hey, if he doesn't want my dirty woke money, fine by me. I'm not touching anything Udon publishes as long as Matt Moylan still works there.
I was planning to make a post about it here, but then I got this ask on main, so that works too. Anyway, here's why I have no intention of discussing Udon's upcoming Mega Man comics on this blog.
I swore I posted this, but I guess not. Pangea in the style of Megaman X8.
She is an energy generator but has a flaw that causes spontaneous overheating from time to time.
The bottom drawings are a couple of meme redraws, the girl Pangea is holding is Shadow, who belongs to ShadowFudo!
Some doodle headshots done on my Samsung tablet. Pangea, Mia and Myth are my ocs, all the other ocs belong to friends!
Artemis belongs to Artsy_Azure
Counter belongs to Cocomocoa
Elysian belongs to SuperEllysan
Shadow belongs to ShadowFudo
Scilla belongs to Samanico
