Real talk, the first Mega Man game I played was X5. I was like nine or ten when I played it and I was absolutely sure that Zero was a girl. Now, with all these fanarts, I kinda wish he was one.

Since i, as a kid, saw HER… i mean, "his" art design in Mega Man X1, i always thought that Zero was supposed to be a heroic female android (gynoid?) and companion to Mega Man. I mean, look a the green "breast thingies" in her original design:

https://nameless353.deviantart.com/art/Classic-Zero-Megaman-X1-294670612