Have you ever wondered why Mega Man wears his "underwear" outside? Maybe it's not really underwear but what's with it? The answer actually lies in the past; the 1930's, the Golden Age of comic books. The lowdown on this neat little bit of trivia awaits you after the break!
When it comes to Mega Man lore, Akira Kitamura, Keiji Inafune and company incorporated many references to American superheroes, like the application of a "-Man" suffix to Mega Man and the Robot Masters. Along with this, we have the "underwear of power" trope. The underwear of power is "when a Super Hero or a related type of character wears a speedo or something similar as part of their outfit."
Apparently, the presence of outside underwear is a reference to the circus strongmen; athletes of great masculine stature clad in skintight spandex... and underwear. In conceiving the earliest incarnation of Superman, comic artist Joseph "Joe" Shuster actually applied this style of dress to the Man of Tomorrow because, at the time, circus strongmen were considered the archetype of pure strength.
Following Superman's lead, countless other underwear clad heroes popped up. Superman (and his underwear) became a timeless template for every hero that followed: Batman, Wonder Man, Amazing Man, Hawk Man... and eventually Mega Man.
Now, as any Mega Man fan can tell you, the underwear doesn't stick with every Blue Bomber iteration. Again, this may be attributed to his American superhoero roots.
Superheroes -- like most things in our world -- change with the times and current sensibilities. The undies and tights, you see, gradually waned in popularity. Today, few iconic comic book figures wear undies. Battle Network, Star Force and even Command Missions' interruption of Mega Man X followed this trend. Heck, even Mega Man Legends 3's "design D" Volnutt. More recently, there's OVER-1, too.
Regardless of the wardrobe changes that may lie ahead -- for both Mega Man and superheroes -- we will always fondly remember these characters in their simplest and earliest forms. When you think Superman, you think cape, spandex and underwear. When *I* think Mega Man, my mind whisks me back to that classic design, undies and all. That's the beauty of iconic characters. Their qualities stick with you.
Source: Beams and Struts
Awesome read.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sub-Mariner, Captain America, the Thin Man, the Angel... Sounds like Protodude has a wee bit of a DC bias. :P
ReplyDeleteIt's for extra protection. You never know when something like what happened in Web of Spider-Man 75 may happen.
ReplyDeleteFrom TV Tropes:
"Fin Fang Foom. A dragon. In underwear. Damn."
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo... thanks to Capcom, this is where we Mega Man fans are at, now? We have nothing else to talk about, other than Mega Man's underwear?
ReplyDeleteKidding, kidding. That was interesting, though, as all articles about Mega Man's past are. Never realized the relation to the circus strong men.
I still can't help but think there's some truth to my joke, unfortunately, lol.
First of all, this was a really great post. I enjoyed it overall.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm not as fond of Classic MegaMan as a lot of fans are. In fact, he's one of my least favorite MegaMen, and part of the reason is his design. I've always thought the underwear looks cheesy and kiddy.
For me, the "interruption of MegaMan X" (don't care what anyone says -- I liked that game) had a better MegaMan design. I can stand Zero's briefs, but I've always thought of them as a joke more so than a planned part of his look. As for Battle Network and Star Force, I'm glad they did away with Mega-undies altogether.
Long story short, the undies turn me off. (And I don't like Classic MegaMan.)
I... never really wondered that, actually. I just kind of accepted it. Still pretty neat, though.
ReplyDeleteoh americans and their perverted view on everything, it's not some pants or any kind of that, it's just a piece of body that connects legs and torso, if you ever had assembling rockman figure you should know what it is.
ReplyDeleteCould've mentioned how they've removed Superman's undies in the new Man of Steel flick that's coming out.
ReplyDeleteThey removed it case it's based on the New 52 Superman who doesn't have the old design.
ReplyDelete