Fandom

Fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by individuals coming together for a common interest, often spending large amounts of time with this interest and can include many things, such as cosplaying, fan games, art, music remixes, and so on. The Mega Man franchise created by Capcom has a large fandom, and is often centered around his video games, with many often remixing their favorite songs or attempting to make their own Mega Man game through various methods.

This article outlines the Mega Man fandom. Additional fandom content can be found on the Mega Man Fanon Wiki.

Fan activities
Members of a fandom engage in a large variety of activities to show off their love of the franchise. The advent of the Internet has significantly facilitated fan association and activities, and it is also used for archiving detailed information pertinent to their given fanbase. Often, fans congregate to share their love for and criticism, leading to a high level of organization and community within the fandom. There are multiple websites and forums dedicated to it, as well as internet memes and animated GIFs, fan art, fiction, wallpapers, videos (even a fan film), music, games, among other content.

There are also active fan organizations that participate in philanthropy and create a positive social impact. For example, the Games Done Quick events are speed running marathons done for charity. GDQ has done several Mega Man games since their inception.

Cosplay
Cosplay (a portmanteau between costume and play) is the creation and wearing of costumes designed in the likeness of characters from a source work, which can also be combined with role-playing and reenacting scenes. Mega Man fans cosplay as the various characters and iterations of Mega Man in the franchise from all different expects, even cosplaying as characters such as Bad Box Art Mega Man and Air Man.

Fan art
Fan art is artwork drawn by fans of a given series that is normally not commissioned or licensed by the company that owns the series. Sometimes fan art appears in official media, such as the ending credits from Rockman DASH 2 and in a dedicated section from the Archie Comics Mega Man series.

Fan club
A fan club is a group of dedicated fans that is usually run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. Despite the name, there are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person or organization the club is centered on, such as My Capcom and its predecessors Capcom 'Fun' Club and u-Capcom.

Fan fiction
Fan fiction, or fanfic, is a type of written, drawn, or recorded made piece of media that is made by fans and it may or may not tie in with the story's canon. This may also portray a character in a wildly different tone, personality, or atmosphere that is not at all like the character they are derived from. Despite this, at times the fandom has had influence over what is generally accepted by the community or even the franchise's story itself.

Fan fiction is almost never regarded as canonical. However, certain ideas may become influential or widely accepted within fan communities, who refer to such ideas as "fanon" (fan + canon). Similarly, the jargon "headcanon" is used to describe a fan's personal interpretation of a fictional universe. One example of this is the "cataclysm" theory from Bob and George.

Fangames
Fangames are video games created by fans of the series. Many fangames attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, gameplay and characters, but it is equally common for fans to develop a unique game using another only as a template. Though the quality of fangames has always been variable, advances in computer technology and in available tools, e.g. through open source software, have made creating high-quality games easier. Fangames can be seen as user generated content, as part of the retrogaming phenomena and as expression of the remix culture.

Examples

 * Street Fighter X Mega Man - Was given official funding and input from Capcom when the creator, Seow Zong Hui, showed Capcom U.S.A with a proof of concept.
 * 2D Ver. Mega Man Legends 3: The Prologue! - Developed by Japanese fans of the cancelled Mega Man Legends 3, with the assistance of Hideki Ishikawa and Makoto Tomozawa.
 * Mega Man Unlimited - A fangame that was formerly known as Mega Man 10. The official North American Mega Man 10 website accidentally used content from this game.
 * Mega Man 8-bit Deathmatch - Takes the style of the Doom series and turns Mega Man into a multiplayer first-person shooter game.
 * Mega Man Maker - A Mega Man level creator based on Super Mario Maker and the cancelled Mega Man Universe.
 * Mega Man 2.5D - A 2.5D multiplayer game.
 * Rockman 7 Famicom and Rockman 8 Famicom - "Demakes" of Mega Man 7 and 8, bringing the series back to its 8-bit roots, whereas 7 and 8 were 16 and 32-bit respectively.
 * Rockman 4 Minus Infinity - A ROM hack of Mega Man 4 made by Japanese ROM hacker Puresabe. It is a redesign of Mega Man 4, changing the weapon functions, stage design, and boss patterns. This hack has been covered by Destructoid and The Mega Man Network in the past.

Doujin games

 * MegaMari - Marisa no Yabou
 * Rockmen R: Dr. Wily's Counterattack - A PC game starring Roll.
 * Rosenkreuzstilette
 * Rosenkreuzstilette ~Freudenstachel~

Fansites
A fansite, fan site, fan blog or fan page is a website created and maintained by one of more fans. The content of Mega Man fansites vary, including specialized information on the franchise (e.g. The Mega Man Network), specific elements (Sprites Inc), and dedicated to a single subject (Dust Man's Domain).

Most fansites are unofficial, but a few are officially recognized and may interact with each other. To state that they are unofficial, many fan webmasters put a disclaimer on a visible place on the website, which sometimes also includes the copyright of the site.

Relationship with the industry
The entertainment industry refers to the totality of fans devoted to a particular area of interest, whether organized or not, as the "fanbase". The Mega Man franchise often received fan content via boss character contests.

Media fans, have, on occasion, organized on behalf of canceled series, one successful example being Star Trek in 1968. The cancelation of Mega Man Legends 3 led to the creation of the Get Me Off the Moon group. Such outcries, even when unsuccessful, suggests a growing self-consciousness on the part of entertainment consumers, who appear increasingly likely to attempt to assert their power as a bloc.

The relationship between fans and professionals has changed because of access to social media platforms. These give fans greater access to public figures such as creators, authors, and actors.

Music from OverClocked ReMix's album For Everlasting Peace: 25 Years of Mega Man was used in the Mega Man Legacy Collection 3DS trailer, and three fans from the series were invited for the Mega Man 30th Anniversary podcast that unveiled Mega Man 11.