#Megamergers

[eclipsemeteor]

Nobody asked for this but my dumb ass in the middle of the night, waking up suddenly thinking "yo what if you combined Gundam SEED with Megaman ZX?" So here's Kira Yamato, with a Model XH variant to give him a Freedom-like Megamerge.

Stepping stones, photoshop edits and a sprite recolor were the start of this:

[neomel]

What is WRONG with them !!!!! <3

[emeraldthelynx]

Designs for the Megamerged forms of Lan and Megaman. (I had so much trouble with this, I still hate the helmets...)

Chapter Two of Light the Future is now up!

[efraart-mix]

Last year I made some Escáloz and Elmet arts using the biomentals from Mega Man ZX biomentals, and now (As part of the Ibis Paint tests), I have decided to do the same with Polaris :D

[shinysamurott9]

Thinking about a scenario where Alouette and Ciel sit down and watch some Magical Girl anime together

[tigertaurus22]

Concept art for Aile double megamerged with Model LM, or Model LMX

This is after she confiscates the biometal from Rei, and only Aile can do so because her brother is still infected with malice.

Abilities include making portals and copied projections of slain enemies. They’ll appear kind of like the sages’ avatars in Totk, except lavender in color.

[newshare24]

Honda and Nissan to start talks on potential mega-merger | Automotive industry

Japanese carmakers Honda and Nissan will begin negotiations over a potential merger, according to a report. The Nikkei financial newspaper said on Tuesday that the two Japanese companies would start talks to help combat the increased global competition from bigger electric vehicle makers. The firms, which are the second- and third-largest car manufacturers in Japan, had combined vehicle sales of…

[megaman-zx-prismatic-kingdom]

Concept art for Model LMX, or if Aile double megamerged with Model LM

[zonaraze]

it honestly annoys me so much that in the english version of zxa, they just have atlas say "biometal...!" in the ending scene when in the japanese version, she says something that explains a LOT about the biometals

i'm like 90% sure her line translates to "the biometals...! do they still have the strength to resist us...!"

WHICH IS A CRAZY LINE TO CUT OUT TBH

it implies that a) yes, the guardian biometals were somehow modified to not be able to talk, b) the 4 mega men actually KNOW about their biometals not being able to talk, and c) the reason model z is able to stop the 4 of them from moving is because he is attempting to communicate with their biometals' consciousnesses and trying to get them to cancel their megamerges.

[douchewiththeshades]

This was a big one.

oc design comm! Megamerge Model V! Honestly i had a blast with this

ive always wanted to imitate megaman zero and zx and making this character was a lot of enjoyable work

comm was for my main man @mcsunshineii

[neomel]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUHH

HAAAAAAUAAAUUUAAU GIVE IT TO ME I NEED IT I CRAVE

[partisan-by-default]

One of the Biden administration's final acts will be securing a legal prohibition on the merger of two of America's largest grocery chains, Kroger and Albertsons — a deal that, had it gone through, would have created a combined company with more locations than Walmart and eliminated a major source of competition that keeps food prices stable.

The case, brought by outgoing progressive Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan, will likely be her last major action before she is ousted in the Trump administration. Khan stands to be replaced with a far-right, pro-merger commissioner who has vowed to focus more on fighting "DEI," "wokeness," and internal dissent against Trump than corporate misconduct.

But that may not matter long term, wrote Stacy Mitchell for The Atlantic — because the new precedent against megamergers could be hard to reverse.

"The rulings offer the clearest proof yet that the new antitrust movement is breaking through," wrote Mitchell. "This merger, which sparked fears of higher grocery prices and closed supermarkets, captured public attention in a way that few antitrust cases have. Judges are people too, and they are aware of the debates about corporate power and competition that have been taking place over the past decade."

[nat-seal-well]

LMAO

[unintentional-edgelord]

Companion post to the previous regarding Girouette and the Double Megamerge, though it goes more into differences between the one in ZX and that in Advent.

From Vent and Aile's perspective, while the double merge has given them the power to keep going, what they had to go through to get there is nothing short of horrible.

The ZX script straight-up tells us that they consider Girouettes' death their fault - Model Z does so, as well. We don't know anything about their dad so we can perhaps assume he was never in the picture, but either way, Giro's death now means that Vent and Aile have lost not one, but two very important parental figures in their lives. Sure, they've got a guiding force in Model X, but unlike Giro they've been matched with him for a week at most, and that bond hasn't been forged quite to that extent yet.

This is also at a point in their lives where they think finally, finally, they have exactly what they need to stop any more lives from being lost instead of being that helpless child they were at the theme park, so it's bitterly ironic that the moment they get the power to do this, they lose yet another parent.

The musical cues in the original ZX add an additional layer to it. On first playthrough, you wouldn't be likely to realise that Fragments, one of the "sadder" songs of the game which is present when Girouette dies, has the same melody as Snake Eyes, the theme of Slither Inc. HQ - interesting that they chose to use this theme instead of Metallic Soul, which is considered the theme of the Biometals and used during other sad moments of the game. Perhaps it's in direct reference to Serpent having a hand in Girouettes' death, the same way it's played right at the start of the game when Vent and Aile are talking about their deceased mum?

Either way, the one-two gut punch of that transition from Fragments to Trinity is powerful as hell; the fade out from Fragments leading into the bass line of Trinity lets you know there's some serious ass-kicking about to happen. Interestingly enough, the leitmotif of Trinity (that synthy bit) doesn't appear elsewhere in either ZX soundtrack; maybe in Rockin On if you squint really hard with the intro electric guitar It's honestly a damn shame because it's one of the coolest tracks in the game. Determined Eyes from Advent didn't allude to it either - but that theme is a whole other level of badass, so I'm not too fussed. Just would've been a really cool callback!

Anyhow, the title "Trinity" as well could not only be a reference to Vent/Aile and both Models X and Z, but could also be in reference to Girouette and the Biometals; those lending the protagonists their strength. The whole tone of the track and the way it's built up really gives you the feeling that something monumental and never-before-seen is about to happen.

It's also interesting to contrast the original in ZX to the Double Megamerge cutscenes in Advent.

In the first one, Vent/Aile look like they're visibly in pain from the strain of the merge, as you can see:

And then they emerge triumphant from it - the pain, the sorrow has now given them the fuel and determination to carry on and become "a hero who can protect everyone." The framing of the scene, coupled with the soundtrack, is iconic and powerful as hell, particularly the shots of the helmet crystal and the hair spreading out like angel wings behind them - both of which are homaged in Advent.

I also like that Advent brought back Metallic Soul and not Fragments for the scene leading up to it. That theme feels a lot more like Vent and Aile's this time around, and hits a lot more poignantly than Fragments would in my opinion. Now if only they'd brought back Rockin On as the boss theme... Advent as a whole could've done a better job of tying into ZX to be quite honest.

As for the scene itself, I know the original in ZX is practically identical for Vent and Aile, but as I've noted previously, they both visibly look like they're in massive pain when they perform the merge for the first time. (It's also never explained why there's an energy surge that kills the mavericks afterwards, although it's super awesome - maybe Models X and Z channelled any excess power from the merge outwards to avoid killing Vent/Aile from too much energy?)

Advent contrasts this for them both, although more so in Aile's case than Vent's. Aile's is obviously a clear homage to magical girl anime, but she looks relaxed pretty much the whole way through, laughing and smiling at X and Z's cyberelves at the start and her joyful expression doesn't really disappear right until the end when she's confronting Grey. Vent's merge hints maybe that he's still in some pain, based on that yell he lets out - but it comes across less like a yell of pain and more like a kiai, feeling incredibly powerful. His scene gives off the feeling that not only has he grown into the responsibility and power that comes with wielding both Biometals, but he also utterly owns it now. Honestly, I don't think I'll ever get over how well-done the snappiness and timing of Vent's scene is.

On a mildly related tangent, though it is nice to see how happy Aile is during the merge in Advent, I will forever be annoyed that her scene doesn't feel as impactful as Vent's. It feels long and unnecessarily drawn out; yes I understand it's a contrast to the original in ZX and yes I understand it's supposed to be a magical homage, but not once (to me, anyways) does it feel to me that "this is the hero who saved the world four years ago."

Not even when we get the iconic helmet crystal forming, or the shot with the hair spread out like great seraph wings.

I mean come on, you're going to compare this from Aile's:

With this, from Vent's?

You did Aile dirty, Capcom.

You did Aile dirty.

(Disclaimer, while Vent is my favourite of the duo, Aile has a special place in my heart as she was who I used during my very first playthrough of ZX, and I'm honestly annoyed they chose to focus more on fanservice than anything else when she showed up in Advent. She so deserved better.)

[aqueousablution]

Finally beat ZX Advent! (... and with it, the Zero/ZX collection!)

After all these years it's nice to have finally gotten around to this game! I've owned it physically since high school, but because I never beat ZX back then, I never even played Advent a single time. This also means I'm done with the collection as well! 110% worth it, even if it did get a bit frustrating at times (but that just comes with the territory). Zero 3 and 4 have solidified their places in my top games of all time, ZX and ZX Advent are pretty damn great, and even Zero 1 and 2 are still really good (warts and all).

I think someday I'll replay the collection - maybe even stream it again, and finish the ZX games onstream too! I'll probably see about installing a decensor mod for the Zero games to get the oil splatters back (I was always sad I never got to see those in action), and maybe I'll look into that mod that undubs(?) ZX to restore the JP voiceover while keeping English text (like the one I used for Advent, though in ZX's case there's no English dub to "undub", so is it really an undub...?). Though if I stream it, that might get annoying... We'll see. If I do, I might play as Vent in ZX and Grey on Expert in Advent to get the bonus stuff you get for those playthroughs (well, I think I could technically just do another Ashe playthrough, but I want to see Grey's story, and this way I can show Aile's kickass megamerge sequence on stream like I originally wanted).

Anyway, Ashe best girl, Model ZX is a certified boss-melter, these games kick ass, you should go play them if you can. Just, uh, remember to save after every mission in Zero 1 in case you fail a mission, and maaaaaaybe consider playing Zero 2 on easy mode because hoo girl does that one like stepping on your balls.

R.O.C.K.-ON!