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1ARSENAL is a ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' DeconstructionFic by the Sage of Toads and Andrew Joshua Talon.
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3Starting out as your typical PeggySue fare, ARSENAL dispenses with that notion and wastes no time in establishing that Shinji is an [[AxCrazy insane]], [[MagnificentBastard brilliant]], and [[SociopathicHero completely amoral]] young man with an extensive agenda. Armed with the knowledge of the future, training, and careful planning, he intends to not only avert the future that is canon, but do it in the most violent and over-the-top fashion possible.
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5The original version was erased and replaced with ''Reload of Arsenal'', which Sage of Toads also ended up erasing after several years without updating.
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7Since the tropes described below pertain to the deleted original version, there will be no spoiler tags.
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9----
10!!Tropes found in the original version:
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12* AndIMustScream: Gendo is shot repeatedly and left bedridden at the end of the coup. Later on, before he is moved to Terminal Dogma to remove all sense of time from him, Shinji returns and beats his invalid father with a hammer, shattering his jaw and rendering him incapable of speech.
13* AxCrazy: Shinji's first official act in the story is to bash a pay phone in for failing to connect him to his father. This is followed swiftly by him holding NERV hostage with a suitcase nuke. And that's just the beginning.
14* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Ramiel's arrival at the very end of Chapter 8 has been hailed as this.
15* {{BFG}}: Kensuke gets a 20mm anti-material rifle.
16* BlackAndGrayMorality: It would almost be more accurate to say EvilVersusEvil, but Shinji's altruistic motives manage to make him half a shade grayer than the people he's fighting. His motives, however, are the ''only'' thing keeping him from being a monster.
17* BrickJoke: Early into the story, Shinji mentions that he can kill someone with wet paper and a paper clip. Guess what happens in chapter 10?
18* TheChessmaster: Shinji constantly makes references to playing chess, and lives up to it by predicting everything that happens during the entire Black Bunnies arc. Notable in that none of them are part of his foreknowledge but he's able to recognize every single ploy they attempt to stop him.
19* CurbStompBattle: Directly invoked in the fight between Sachiel and Unit 01.
20* DeadFic: The original got discontinued and the rewrite is officially dead.
21* DeconstructionFic: It deconstructs both the PeggySue and FixFic archetypes by showing Shinji emotionally and mentally damaged for having gone through it once.
22* {{Determinator}}: Shinji fights Ramiel after receiving several blows, each the equivalent of a shotgun blast to the chest. He follows this up while still recovering by having a knockdown drag-out brawl with Satsuki and essentially surviving on will alone.
23* EngineeredPublicConfession: Pulled on Aoi.
24* EvenEvilHasStandards: Gendo is disgusted by Shinji's treatment of Aoi, and even near-VillainProtagonist Shinji is disgusted by the stuff Gendo and SEELE are responsible for in canon.
25* FateWorseThanDeath: Shinji reveals to Gendo that all three of the Black Bunnies have been infected with nanomachines that play havoc with their nervous systems; each was then subjected to horrific punishments that have completely broken them.
26* ForTheEvulz: Shinji invokes this occasionally. He's been known to carry a baseball bat to big fight scenes just so he can beat someone to death with it. What he does with Satsuki is even more horrible.
27* FreakyIsCool: Touji and Kensuke's opinion on the eyeball Pen-Pen plucked from a SAS trooper that is now kept in a jar.
28* FreudianExcuse: Aoi claims that Satsuki and Kaede have this. Misato slaps it down as "a shitty excuse".
29* {{Gorn}}: Lots and ''lots'' of graphic violence. Special mention goes to Pen-Pen in chapter 11.
30* FunWithAcronyms: A Really Sadistic Evangelion... Now Action Laser! You try.
31-->'''[[WordOfGod Sage Of Toads]]''': ''Yes, it's an acronym, and no, I'm not telling you what it means. You'll have to find that out for yourself.''
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33* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Shinji's behavior comes down to fighting people ruthless and efficient beyond measure, meaning he has to be willing to hold nothing back in order to win. The punishments dealt to the Black Bunnies and the petty motives for such (revenge, getting a new bodyguard, etc), none of which contribute to stopping Third Impact in any way, push him completely into "monster" territory if he wasn't there already.
34* ICallItVera: Shinji names all of his weapons. Sterling example: "Hiroshima-kun" for his suitcase nuke.
35* ImprobableWeaponUser: Ai puts a belt sander and reciprocating saw (among other tools) to good use in Chapters 10 and 11.
36* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Satsuki.
37* ItsAllAboutMe: Aoi says something to this effect.
38* LaserGuidedAmnesia: The ultimate fate of Kaede. The overwhelming pain caused by the nanomachines leaves her in such a state that she refuses to even try and remember what happened before she became a bodyguard for the Suzuharas.
39* LaserGuidedKarma:
40** Shinji's punishments for the Black Bunnies
41** His reveal that the nanomachines had originally been developed by NERV as a means to control the pilots through sensory deprivation works as this for Gendo.
42* LittleMissBadass: Ai Suzuhara, Touji's sister who avoided injury thanks to the above-mentioned CurbStompBattle.
43* MeaningfulName: "Roach" is the sole survivor of the SAS men.
44* MotiveRant: A short one in chapter 11 is given by [[OmnicidalManiac Aoi]]
45* NecessarilyEvil: Shinji's view of himself.
46* NightmareFuelStationAttendant: Ai Suzuhara, again, when she is introduced in Chapter 9.
47* NumberTwo[=/=]TheDragon: Misato is either to Shinji.
48* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Mr. 850 threatens to put Roach in jail on false premises to find out what happened in Tokyo-3.
49* OnlySaneMan: Hikari and Maya both qualify as this. Fuyutsuki as well, but he's playing along.
50* PapaWolf: Touji saved Ai from a NearRapeExperience and saves her from Kaede as well.
51* PayEvilUntoEvil: Cited specifically as the reason for the Black Bunnies' torturous fates.
52* PeggySue: Shinji somehow has complete knowledge of how things went in canon!''Evangelion'', including ''End'', and seems to be haunted by Asuka's final words.
53* RefugeInAudacity: The only reason most will be able to take most of the events as they unfold without screaming in horror is simply because it's too outrageous to believe -- ''even in-universe''.
54* SamaritanSyndrome: Alluded to; Shinji recognises that he's not {{God}} and doesn't let himself be guilt-tripped about it.
55* SarcasticConfession: Shinji, twice:
56-->'''Misato/Ritsuko:''' What's in the briefcase?\
57'''Shinji:''' It's a suitcase nuclear bomb, six-kiloton yield.
58* ShellShockedVeteran: Shinji survived Third Impact and came back in time. A lot of his more monstrous acts are because of this.
59* ShoutOut:
60** Ai is a ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' fan.
61--->''Blood for the blood god!''
62** Gary Sanderson sounds [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare oddly familiar]]
63** Ghost screaming [[WebAnimation/RedVsBlue this doesn't seem physically possible]]
64** Allusions to ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' when SEELE's members are involved.
65** ''Film/{{Fargo}}'' is mentioned when Shinji tells Gendo why his plan failed.
66** "Your mission is complete, [[Memes/StreetFighter go home and be a family man.]]"
67** "I guess a sense of humor is one that's…" [[Series/CSIMiami In the back of his mind, he wished he had a pair of sunglasses]], "…Evolved." [[strike: YEEEAAAHHHH!]]
68** Some to ''Fanfic/ShinjiAndWarhammer40K''
69* SociopathicHero: Shinji, to the ninth degree.
70* TapOnTheHead: Done to Aoi.
71* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Shinji's answer to Aoi's MotiveRant
72* WellIntentionedExtremist: Shinji, emphasis on the "extremist" part.
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