Elmer Studios
is a long-running MSTing series that uses a quartet -more or less- of original characters. The series primarily focuses of bad fanfiction from a variety of sources; while there is a lot of anime focus, they have also covered ones based on Western cartoons, comics, video games and other material. They have also done MSTings of a few professionally published works, mostly old comics.
The series has two writers who have gone by a variety of aliases over the years, including Rick R. and Zogster. At various stages, they have had a variety of guest writers, as well as taking part in collaborative events.
Elmer Studios began in 1997 and ran until 2002 on the now-defunct Shinji's Vault of AnimeMSTings and ran for 151 episodes (not counting several guest appearances in other projects and a variety of lost side projects). After being effectively abandoned, it was resurrected in 2012 on the Elmer Studios Blog (linked above) and has continued since. As of this writing, the relaunched version has 259 episodes and continues with a slow, if semi-regular release schedule.
The main cast consists of four characters:
- Dan, who generally makes casual, jokey comments and will not take things too seriously.
- Rebecca Bartley, who likes to pick at holes in the story and logic.
- Rick R. Mortis, who usually makes general jokey comments and revels in obscure references.
- Tsuneo Tateo, who is very nitpicky as well as being dry and sarcastic at times.
In addition, there is a supporting cast (known as the B-Team) who are used in single-author riffs. The original iteration of Elmer Studios also featured a number of guest characters in collaborative works.
Mostly remembered by their Neon Genesis Evangelion II: DELTA Invasion lambasting.
Elmer Studios provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: It's clear that there was "something" planned with Voice 2.0 and Natasha, but the writers seem to have dropped it completely.
- Affectionate Parody: There are several cases where the authors clearly like the work they're riffing. Neon Genesis Evangelion II: DELTA Invasion and Battle Storm Force are good examples.
- Berserk Button: Rebecca tends to get worked up over the mistreatment of female characters in the fics they review. It happens a lot.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Rick is supposedly an ace pilot and successful creator, but acts like a total idiot. He puts a lot of his success down to "blind luck".
- Call-Back: The writers call back to prior fics a lot.
- Continuity Reboot: The launch of the 'Rebuild' was a full continuity reboot.
- Dead Fic: The majority of the fics covered were simply abandoned by their authors with no resolution (and many never progressing beyond a setup). The most extreme case is AYNGEL Project which cuts off in the middle of a sentence.
- Flat "What": Used a when a fic does something really stupid. It happens a lot.
- Hollywood Cyborg: Rebecca has a cybernetic arm that contains a variety of spy tools. The pre-reboot version had a gun hidden in her arm.
- Invincible Hero: A common element in the fanfics covered, where the protagonist is never even remotely challenged.
- Lost Episode: A number of the fanfics Elmer Studios have covered that now no longer exist.
- Mood Dissonance: Many fanfics will include elements that are completely tonally at odds with the source material, something the reviewers call them out on.Rebecca: Hey, you know what would go great with your whimsical story of fantasy plastic toy robot battles? A dead hooker.
- Mythology Gag: The rebooted iteration of Elmer Studios has had a number of references to the original iteration.
- Shout-Out: The group will include a lot of references to past MSTing culture, especially the Marissa Picard series and Mystery Octagon Theatre.
- Sociopathic Hero: Happens a lot in the fics covered in the series.
- Tom Dyron of DELTA Invasion enjoys getting into fights and and killing Invadors, and gleefully relishes in mowing down SEELE soldiers. This being DELTA Invasion, everyone laughs it off.
- Kevin from The Dark Spiner is a violent, trigger-happy bully who pulls a gun on his girlfriend after she plays a practical joke on him. However, the fic reassures us that "Kevin always does the right thing".
- Lance Andrews of Chronicles of the Mad Dog Squadron is a full-blown date-rapist who brags about using his mental powers to take away a woman's ability to consent and erase her memories after.
- Space Western: Dan's character and background has a lot of both Western and sci-fi influences.
