Act III: This City Made Us
Act III: This City Made Us is the fourth album by rock band the Protomen, and the follow-up to Act II: The Father of Death. The album revisits the Mega Man-inspired rock opera concept from the band's first two albums.
Plot
A girl watches the city from a rooftop before the building beside her collapses from a missile attack sent by dictator Albert Wily. She makes her way through the city as people react to the building's collapse before coming across Thomas Light, giving a speech to a small rebel army, telling them that they have no hope in their fight against Wily. The girl, revealed to be the leader of the rebel army, rebukes him, giving hope back to the crowd. Seeing the crowd is prepared to fight, Light anxiously leaves, but the girl follows him. He takes her to a trainyard, which has a computer that shows Megaman's location. Reminded of Joe by the girl, Light gives her the location and she leaves to find Megaman. Light reflects on the hopeless state of the city as he makes his way into Wily's fortress, using a device to prevent the robot guards from stopping him.In the control room of his fortress, Wily watches over the city. He thinks on how to maintain control of the city, frustrated that the rebel insurgency has been hiding in the southern side of the city where his robot army and missile attacks cannot reach. Wily sends another pair of rockets to the southern side of the city, hoping to finally hit them, as he drinks away his anxieties and rage. The girl arrives at the canyon where Megaman resides and tries to convince Megaman to come back to the city and help fight against Wily. Megaman, in anger at the city for letting him down before, refuses to return. The girl, in disgust at his inaction, throws his helmet at him before driving away. Megaman, thinking back on Light's role in his life and his fight with Protoman, changes his mind and begins to sprint back to the city.
The girl watches missiles attack the city while she continues her drive back and speeds up to get back faster. Wily watches over the city's destruction with a smile as he continues to attack the revolutionaries. Light begins to interfere with Wily's drones as the revolutionaries use doors and car hoods to protect them from the robot army's attacks before swiftly destroying the army. Light watches over the city, knowing that Wily has a plan to destroy the rebel army with a new machine. He falls asleep after working late at night and dreams of his late wife, Emily, who tells him that there is still hope and there is still work to be done before he can be with her in the afterlife.
Light wakes up and takes Emily's music box as he heads out into the city, stopping at Emily's grave before going to Wily's tower. As he walks through the city, he destroys robots and hears Wily's propaganda over loudspeakers, noticing a fear in Wily's messages that wasn't present before. Light goes to the top of Wily's control tower as Wily questions whether or not he should have activated his machine. Wily enters his control tower, where Light reveals himself and tries to convince Wily to turn off his robot army by playing Emily's music box, causing Wily to break down and have his robot guards beat Light nearly to death. Wily then tells his citizens to gather to "witness the beginning of a new era of peace and freedom". Citizens and rebels head to Wily's castle to watch his announcement, which is revealed to be Light's public execution. The rebel army, including the girl, watches Wily's robots push Light onto a gallows in fear and confusion right as Megaman finally arrives to the city. Light sees "a flash of blue" in the crowd as the rope slips around his neck and thinks of Emily before being hanged in front of the crowd.
Track listing
Release
On October 3, 2025, the album's first two tracks, cover art, and full title were revealed.The album was released via Bandcamp in weekly waves, with the band revealing tracks each week from October 3 to December 5, 2025, while having a release date of January 9, 2026.
The band performed three concerts at Super MAGFest in 2026, with each night highlighting one of their act albums, with the last one being of Act III to promote its release.