Fanfic / Ponyriffs

Saving the ponynet from bad fanfics, one riff at a time.

"Hasn't somepony already done this? Seriously, SOMEPONY has had to have done this already!"

— Author, upon hearing that he's being pranked with having to read Cupcakes'', in Mystery Pinkie Pie Theater 3000's first episode

In January 2012, brony writer RatherHomely posted an MST of Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and his Original Character Author (to provide the pop culture references) reading Cupcakes on his Fimfiction.net account, with the frame story of being pranked into it by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, under the title Mystery Pinkie Pie Theater 3000. This was followed up with several other MSTs by the author with Author riffing other horrible or disgusting fanfics with other members of the Mane Six in a rotating fashion. It soon became a central hub of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic MSTs and riffs, as guest riffers submitted their own riffs to put on the site, many of which Follow the Leader on RatherHomely's formula of a human Author Avatar riffing while accompanied by one or more of the Mane Six. Eventually, though, the moderators found out, ruled that the guest riffing was circumventing the "no MSTs" rule standard for online fiction archives (MPPT3K itself predated the addition of the rule), and MPPT3K itself was stripped of its guest riffs and locked from public viewing. ^note It's still there, though it requires the password "password" to read.

Recognizing that the MSTing community now lacked a proper base to stand on, another brony writer known as TheAuthorGl1m0 decided to found a site originally known as "The MLP/MST Archive" in January 2013. Initially intended to save the MPPT3K guest submissions and provide a haven for MSTs to be stored without fear of deletion, members of Fan/fic/ Theater 3000 soon discovered the Archive and the current "head" riffer Fallen Prime publicized it on his blog. Since then, the MLP/MST Archive had become the central hub of the pony riffing community, and was updated moderately regularly with new content.

Starting in the summer of 2013, Gl1m 0 announced that the site would be renamed "PonyRiffs", and split off from the main Archive as part of an expansion into other fandoms. The MST Network was launched around the same time as Ponyriffs, and acts as the hub that connects the riff archives and fandoms. (Currently, only Ponyriffs is up-and-running, representing the My Little Pony fandom, but plans are made to add and include sites for other fandoms.)

The site has both a submission page for small-time snarkers to put forth pony riffs for safekeeping on the Archive, as well as the "Rifflist"; a list of fanfics nominated by other riffers for the community at large to MST. Also hosted on the site is a forum board and even an IRC chatroom (#ponyriffsArchive), though neither see much activity.

The site also provides access to Fan/fic/ Theater 3000, creators of The Conversion Bureau MST and Past Sins MST.

PonyRiffs carries a Not Safe for Work warning, for even the clean(er) stories don't always have clean-mouthed riffers.

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The community in general has examples of the following tropes:

• Accentuate the Negative: Most fanfics that are riffed are outright terrible, and the riffers waste no time in pointing that out. There are some legitimately good fics there as well, though the badness is usually highlighted over the good in most cases.
• Character Development: The riffs feature some character arcs that affect the riffverse as a whole, including ships.
• Continuity Snarl / Alternate Character Interpretation: Sometimes different riffers give their ponies different characterizations that don't match up very well with each other; the most notable are Vinyl Scratch and Octavia for Fallen and Atlas, and Doctor Whooves for twow and Simon. In order to avoid Continuity Lock-Out, the generally accepted explanation is a sort of shared multiverse.
• Crossover: Frequently occurs between the riffers.
• Drinking Game: They have one. Your liver is not ready.
• Enraged by Idiocy: Practically everyone.
• Loose Canon: The different series are these to each other for the most part.
• MST: The entire point.
• Masquerade: Generally, Equestria at large in the riffverse doesn't know that there are humans among them.
  • Though riffverse canon is that Ponyville in general is acclimated to them.
• The Nicknamer: Pinkie Pie, in almost any series she stars in (which is quite a few), has a habit of referring to the riffers by a nickname of some sort.
• Trapped in TV Land: Pretty much riffverse-wide, although "trapped" may not always be the correct term, depending on the series.
• World of Snark: As is typical of the MST style.

Subsection roll call!

Primary Riffverses

Mystery Pinkie Pie Theater 3000

Mystery Pinkie Pie Theater 3000

Author: RatherHomely

The one that started it all.

Along with the original on FIMFiction (though locked behind a password ^note which is password), a mirror is hosted on the archives.

MPPT3k has examples of the following tropes:

• Author Powers: Author, obviously.

Fallen Prime Riffs

Fallen Prime Riffs

Author: Fallen Prime

One of the most notable riffers in the community, Fallen Prime often gets trapped in his own extremely extensive armory by a pranking Pinkie and Dash, and apparently going through the fic is easier than just blasting the door down. Also has a comic adaptation hosted on the archive.

FP Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Affably Evil: Not evil per se, but Pinkie's choice of stories is diabolical at times.
• Berserk Button: A great deal of them; human in Equestria, alicorn OCs, bad clop/gore, the dreaded Mary Sue, etc.
  • Dakari-King Mykan. Fallen hates him.
  • DO NOT TOUCH FALLEN'S RUSTY SAWBLADES.
• Brick Joke: Fallen's rusty sawblades.
  • Any call backs to Living the Dream.
• Dark and Troubled Past: A mild one for Rarity, and an implied one for Rainbow Dash.
• Deadpan Snarker: Everyone, to an extent, though especially Fallen, Twilight and Rarity.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Fallen and the mane six have grown close throughout their trials.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: Pinkie putting Derpy through hell with Derpy's Finest Hour.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Which led to the gang making Pinkie revisit the works of mrhappyface.
• Interspecies Romance: Of all the shipped riffers, Fallen may be the only one to avert this. However, the relationships between Fluttershy and twow, Rarity and Draklox, and Rainbow Dash and Killer Steel still affect FP Riffs canon.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Somewhat. Fallen is just as likely to console a friend as he is to make the situation worse.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: Events revolving around certain stories have influenced how long quickly the story gets riffed and how the riff is handled.
• Refuge in Audacity: Vinyl Scratch has a habit of pushing the envelope in ways not even Fallen would.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: Every time Fallen butts heads with his co-riffers.
• Troll Fic: Fallen marathoned four of these with Vinyl Scratch and Octavia.
• Up To Eleven: Certain riffing partners inevitably crank up the insanity with their very presence.
  • "The Tail (Get It ;P) Of pRince Martin Willis" turned out to be so chaotic, Discord was released before canon did so.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Fallen with most of the ponies he riffs with, but most notably with twow.
• Weapon Of Choice: Fallen's rusty sawblades.

twow's Riffs

twow's Riffs

Author: twow443

A human living in Derpy's basement invents all sorts of crazy gadgets... that is, when Pinkie hasn't locked him and some ponies in the lab to read horrible fanfiction.

twow's Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Added Alliterative Appeal
  twow: (facedesks)
• All Stories Are Real Somewhere
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Shown frequently when twow and Fallen Prime are in the same room. Crosses frequently with Slap-Slap-Kiss.
• Berserk Button: twow has a special hatred for rapefics and foalcon. He also loathes stories that have bad things happen to Fluttershy or show her in a bad light, even more now because she's his girlfriend.
  • Bringing up 120 Days of Blueblood around him is a bad idea.
  • Threaten Yaazi. I fucking dare you.
  • Threatening or hurting twow in anyway will earn you the full fury of Yaazi and Fluttershy.
    Yaazi: I'll tear your throat out.
    Fluttershy: You leave him alone!
• Beware the Nice Ones: twow has shown many signs of this. Hurt any or his friends or upset them, be it riffing or outside the riffs and he will not hesitate to fuck you up.
  • Fluttershy has shown shades of this since becoming twow's girlfriend.
  • Derpy also shows this whenever a story talks badly about her, the Doctor, or Dinky. Also shown whenever a story agitates twow.
• Dark and Troubled Past: twow has one. 120 Days of Blueblood ends up bringing some bad memories from it back.
• Deadpan Snarker: Most of the ponies show this, but twow and Derpy are the most prominent.
• Despair Event Horizon: twow lapses into this at the end of chapter nine of the 120 Days of Blueblood riff.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Blueblood forces twow to riff 120 Days of Blueblood because twow and Rarity insulted him.
• Dual Age Modes: twow's inventions have given this to Dinky Hooves, Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Yaazi, and Diamond Tiara, switching them between child/toddler and teenager. Conveniently, each form doesn't remember anything the other form experienced, which is good because the fics they come in to riff are DEFINITELY not ones a child should be reading.
  • To be specific, they don't remember the stories themselves, but they remember the experience of riffing.
• Friend to All Children: Not only is twow best friends with Dinky Hooves, he's also does his best to be a good father to Yaazi.
• Interspecies Romance: twow and Fluttershy.
• Mad Scientist Laboratory: twow lives in one, which is conveniently located in Derpy's basement. The riffs generally take place here.
• Made of Iron:Throughout the riffs, twow has been smacked around by his co-riffers. It's escalated to the point where he's been curb-stomped repeatedly, dropped from the ceiling, shot and smacked by the universe.
  Rarity: I'm starting to enjoy the grip on this rifle.
  Derpy: You shot him!
  Fallen: He'll be fine. Can't keep a good riffer down.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Twow delivers one in the penultimate entry of "Saving Twow" to 120 Days!Blueblood.
  "Consider your holiday permanently cancelled.
• Refugee from TV Land: 120 Days!Blueblood, the Big Bad of the "Saving Twow" story arc.
• Story Arc: "Saving Twow." It involves an aged-up Yaazi and Dinky, virtual reality gas, and 120 Days!Blueblood trying again in our world.
• Troll Fic: twow hates these and will avoid them whenever possible.
  • He has riffed two, although one was written by his friend to troll the moderators of Fimfic.
  • Averted with fics written by Regidar, which he even performed a riff marathon of, which is colloquially refered to as the "Regithon".
• Up to Eleven: Shown whenever a story takes a dark turn. Taken to extremes in the 120 Days of Blueblood riff. In chapter 3, Pinkie Pie flat-maned when her character was raped by Blueblood. In chapter five, twow started to show signs of Sanity Slippage when the foals were forced to eat the waste of the libertines. And in chapter nine, not only were Celestia and Luna forced to riff the chapter with twow because of Blueblood's cruelty (he was going to make twow riff the chapter alone) , but twow broke completly near the end of the chapter. And when the chapter was over, Fallen Prime, KillerSteel, Pinkamena and Nightmare Moon joined forces to give Blueblood a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown while Celestia stayed behind to attempt to cheer twow up.
  twow: I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! PLEASE MAKE THIS END!!!
• Vampiric Draining: Yazzi inadvertently does this to her father whenever she feeds on his love. It has gotten to the point where he's slept for a day and passed out during a riff. twow has waved this off as because he's a human, but still continues to test his theory.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Fallen Prime.
• Weapon of Choice: More recurring examples include his black hole gun and a sword that can slice into the space/time continuium. He also created a electric rusty sawblade for Fallen Prime.

Atlas Riffs

Atlas Riffs

Author: Atlas_Nebula

Atlas riffs fanfics, often accompanied by Babs Seed and/or Vinyl Scratch.

Atlas Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Acceptable Targets: A lot of examples, but pretentious writers especially.
• The Alcoholic: Berry Punch is the only pony co-riffer who could challenge Draklox in a drinking contest, although she's not interested in doing such a thing.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: His Vinyl Scratch and his Octavia are radically different from those established within the riffverse. Justified in that they're from an alternate universe.
• Berserk Button: Any mention of the name Bronystories is enough to set Atlas off. Within the stories, he takes issue with foalcon, incest, and references to an estrus cycle.
• Big Brother Instinct: Towards Babs.
• Boldly Coming: Atlas is attracted to some of his pony co-riffers, especially Vinyl.
• Character Development: Octavia has seen significant evolution as a character throughout the riffs.
• Cuddle Bug: Vinyl Scratch will not hesitate to hug someone she likes.
• The Cynic: Bastion is the biggest cynic in a cast full of them.
• Dark and Troubled Past: An implied one for both Octavia and Spitfire.
• Deadpan Snarker: Octavia and Carlos are like this, while Bastion was programmed to be one.
• Downer Ending: There's a good possibility that the relationship between Spitfire and Fleetfoot is going to be cut tragically short.
• Even Evil Has Standards: If Carlos is going to suck the love out of you, then he's probably going to be polite about it.
• Everyone Has Standards: Atlas frowns upon the more extreme fetishes. Hence his typical revulsion towards characters like the riffverse's Vinyl.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Atlas and various pony co-riffers meet and befriend each other over the course of their trials, although this especially goes for Babs Seed, Spitfire, and Berry Punch.
• Friend to All Children: Atlas frequently riffs with Babs Seed, and has the means to instantly contact and summon the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
• Gender Bender: Twilight and Shining Armor are gender swapped for the majority of the Mother riff.
• Hidden Depths: Vinyl becomes smarter and less naive as she adjusts to life in the universe she and Octavia end up in.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The way Carlos is characterized is pretty much spot-on to how changelings in the show ended up being. There's also the fact that there's an A.I. character named [[Video Game/Overwatch Bastion]]...
• Interspecies Romance: Atlas with Vinyl Scratch.
• Refuge in Audacity: In earlier riffs, Octavia was unusually creepy and perverted.
• Troll Fic: If it's not a clopfic or grimdark, it's this.
• Smarter Than You Look: Despite being a changeling drone, Carlos turns out to be one of the more intelligent characters among the riffers, mostly due to his abilities as a precog.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: This tends to happen between Carlos and the human riffers, especially Draklox.
• Vampiric Draining: Carlos feeds off of the other riffers, especially Something (since they're roommates).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Sigma and Something.
• The Xenophile: Atlas gets along much better with his pony co-riffers than with his human ones.

Natural Glitch Riffs

Natural Glitch Riffs

Author: Natural Glitch

A human known only as Anon gets stuck in the usual situation: pranked by Pinkie with bad fanfics.

Glitch Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Acceptable Targets: Prince Blueblood
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Points this out often, as well as putting his own spin on things.
• Bloody Hilarious: Anon getting a nosebleed from how terrible a story is.
• Brain Bleach: Anon regularly calls for this.
• Everybody Calls Him "Barkeep": Anon always called "Anon". He even refers to himself as such.
• Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: During the riff of Spike's Harem, Anon repeats the word, door, until Twilight s;aps him out of it
• Hurricane of Puns: His style depends heavily upon puns.
• Only One Name: Anon is simply Anon.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: If Anon starts being vindictive, you know that something is awful.
• Once an Episode: "We've got story sign!"
• Only Sane Man: Anon plays this roll, often pointing out logical flaws in stories.
• Sanity Slippage: Undergoes this during some of the worse stories.
• Self-Deprecation: Anon does this frequently.
• Shout-Out:
  • Silent Hill
  • "Here's Johnny!"
• Suckiness Is Painful: Anon gets physical symptoms from bad fics.
• Take a Third Option: Decides to walk out at the start of one riff. Of course, it doesn't work.
• This Is Wrong on So Many Levels!: The horrid grammar and syntax of the Spike's Harem riff provoked this reaction.
• Unlucky Everyman: The core of his character is to be an everyman shoved into madness.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Happens multiple times to Anon, who is rather naive.

Drunken Drak Riffs

Drunken Drak Riffs

Author: Draklox

Draklox riffs fanfics, often while drunk. He also usually has a guest riffer.

Drunken Drak Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• A Date With Rosie Palms: Heavily implied to be one of his favourite methods of keeping himself entertained between riffs.
• The Alcoholic: Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Berserk Button: Doing perverted things to young characters is not wise.
• Bow Chicka Wow Wow: Said this word for word during a riff.
• Catchphrase: Around the CMC's, "I'll tell you when you're older."
• Children Are Innocent: He tries to preserve this, in spite of himself.
• Chivalrous Pervert: If it's adult and female (usually), he'll make very brazen passes at it.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon
• Dark and Troubled Past: Both in real life and the fic.
• Dirty Old Man: By his own admission. Subverted in that he's actually only in his early thirties.
• Double Entendre: When he's not being outright lecherous.
• Exact Time to Failure: Sigma does this one time as a guest riffer.
• Fate Worse than Death: Discussed — that's his reaction to the notion of being left alone for days with Pinkie Pie.
• Frothy Mugs of Water: He has "special" drinks.
• Gun Nut: Likes firearms, but not to a crazy degree.
• Incredibly Lame Pun: Not too much, but he loves double meanings.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: In keeping with his character, this comes up a lot during especially awful fics.
• Interspecies Romance: Drak and Rarity.
• Noodle Implements: Jumper cables.
• Oh, Crap!: When he sees Scootaloo
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "SPOOOOOOOOON!!!!"
• Shipper on Deck: Did this for Rainbow Dash and Steel.
• Shout-Out: Many
  • "What can brown do for you?"
  • "Cleanup on aisle 3."
  • "For everything else, there’s Mastercard."
• Testosterone Poisoning: He's a grizzled tough man and don't you forget it!
• The Glomp: Various
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sweetie Belle loves brownies.
• Unusual Euphemism: Really likes this one.
• You Do Not Want To Know: His answer to a lot of things, especially when trying to protect the innocence of children, or discuss his past.

Steel Riffs

Steel Riffs

Author: KillerSteel

KillerSteel riffs fanfics, though usually in tandem with other riffers.

Steel Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Better than a Bare Bulb: Out of all the riffers, Steel is incredibly quick to lampshade everthing and everything.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: For losing a bet, he and Rainbow Dash once had to go without alcohol for a week.
• Drinking Game: Comentates one between Vinyl and Drak.
• Flat "What": Gives this reaction when the level of stupidity in a fic reaches critical levels.
• Gargle Blaster: Mentions moonshine.
• I Think You Broke Him: Vinyl after she lloses the drinking contest against Drak.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Steel will point out particularly odd things and say that yes, that really was written.
• Obfusicating Stupidity: Coping with this makes up half of his humor.
• Only Sane Man: Has a tendency to play the straight man.
• Sarcasm Mode: His default.
• Shaped Like Itself: This is how he imagine train cocks look.
• The Stoic: Prone to brief one-liners and seldom displays strong reactions.
• Stunned Silence: His reaction to learning that he'd be riffing a fic called "There Are No Breaks On The Rape Train".
• Take That!: Does this to particularly crass and clumsy authors.
• Tempting Fate: "How bad could it be?"
• This Is Gonna Suck: "Oh, this is gonna hurt."
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rainbow Dash.

Secondary Riffverses

Norse Fic Ravagers

Norse Fic Ravagers

Author: Simon o'Sullivan

Simon o'Sullivan's family was destroyed by a bad fanfic transformed into a monster, and so he seeks justice by becoming a riffing vigilante. Assisted by Dakkar and Doctor Whooves, they hunt down and destroy bad fanfics. By riffing them.

Norse Fic Ravagers has examples of the following tropes:

• Berserk Button: Each character has his own.
  • Drakkar, being a Norse pony, despises when his culture is portrayed with wrong stereotypes, like showing them wearing horned helmets or giant swords.
  • The Doctor, among other things, takes Physics and other sciences very seriously, and attacks with rage when the author ignores them.
  • Simon is usually calmer but, when sex comes into play in a horrible way, he mocks the scenes mercilessly.

Something's Silly Riffs

Something's Silly Riffs of Shittiness

Author: Something Eight

Something's Silly Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Cool Pet: Of the Alien Pet variety. Something's pet Xenomorph, Queeny.

Sigma's Strange Storytime

Sigma's Strange & Stupid Storytime

Author: Sigma

Sigma's Strange Storytime has examples of the following tropes:

• Aborted Arc: Several. The author of the riffs, Sigma, had no idea what he wanted to do with his story arcs, and never got beyond a basic description for them. So, he's settled on an arcless, classic MST3K-style riff format with no boundaries of any sort of canon.
• Character Development: He's gone through several changes, mostly thanks to the author maturing, and has shown much better riffing along with it.
• Growingthe Beard: Happened sometime around either the time he read about Dash getting an unrealistic abortion, the time he riffed a trollfic about Christopher Lloyd with Steventheman, or when he read about Dash banging a watermelon.
• MST3K Mantra: He has recently started using a variation for his introduction, beginning with Episode X: The Moron And The Machine.
• Old Shame: He has a section of riffs literally titled "Old Crap That You Should Skip." ...I don't see why it should be skipped it just cause it's old.

Elec's Riff Shack

Elec's Riff Shack

Author: electreXcessive

electreXcessive riffs fanfics, usually with the help of another co-riffer.

Elec's Riff Shack has examples of the following tropes:

• Berserk Button: Elec tends to get angry whenever foalcon and futa are put into play.
• Deadpan Snarker: Elec a lot of the time.
• Flat "What": Happens quite often
• Large Ham: Elec has his moments

OtterRiffs

OtterRiffs: The Continuing Adventures of Matt and Rainbow

Author: OtterMatt (creator), and LastAmongEquals (current writer)

After finding himself stranded in Equestria thanks to a certain pink pony replacing his bathroom door with a portal, Matt is forced to take up the riffing lifestyle in order to preserve his freedom, and perhaps even to save all of Equestria itself...

OtterRiffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Cool and Unusual Punishment: Due to a... misunderstanding between him and Luna, Matt is forced to riff stories as penance for publicly embarrassing the Princess of the Night.
• Drinking Game: OtterRiffs has its own modified version of the PonyRiffs drinking game, tailored more towards Matt and Rainbow's standard fare. Following along with the riffs is rather strongly warned against.
  Make it two drinks if the song is an Earth song just copy-pasted into the story. Three drinks if the song lyrics used contain elements that would be utter nonsense in Equestria. If the artist of the lyrics used is Linkin Park, just keep drinking until your life stops hurting ^note disclaimer: do NOT just keep drinking until your life stops hurting..
• Embarrassing Nickname: Rainbow hates being called "Dashie". She doesn't mind "Skittles", though, weirdly enough.
• Everyone Has Standards: By choice, the fics presented by the OtterRiffs crew are almost always SFW (and even the NSFW riffs aren't the brain-melting painfests other riffers like to "test" themselves with), though the language contained is sometimes not. This does not make the stories any less painful, however.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Multiple other ponies help out with riffs while Rainbow is away.
• Just Friends: Matt and Rainbow. Eeeyup.
• Inconvenient Summons: Matt was brought to Equestria when Pinkie replaced his bathroom with a portal. He really needed to use the bathroom at the time, too...
• Interspecies Friendship: Matt and Rainbow Dash bonded fairly quickly due to their similar natures. Rainbow even refused to let him go through his punishment alone, leading to their riffing duo being established.
• Not What It Looks Like: In Queen of Cloudsdale, Pt. 1:
  "I mean, she fell on me, not the other way around!"
  The mare's snorts were almost constant now, her eyes starting to water from holding her laughter in.
  "And it only looked improper at first glance! Any pony could clearly see that I was being suffocated by her flank!"
  The dam broke, and Rainbow fell off the couch, rolling on the floor in a fit of belly laughs. I scowled at her, not that she noticed. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, Skittles."
• Poke the Poodle: Luna's hardcore punishment for Matt is to... make him riff stories. Though, this might not be the only reason he's there...
• Remaster: When LastAmongEquals picked up the riffverse, the biggest change he made was to go back through the old riffs, edit the jokes, and turn all the intro and outro segments into first-person narrative instead of the typical script formatting.
• Story Arc: The riffs are presented as a full story line for Matt's stay in Equestria, complete with plot arcs that depend rather heavily on the riffs themselves. Reading out of order could potentially cause confusion.
• Running Gag: "Convenient excuse is convenient," and "HOW DID I USING TENSE?"
• Two Gamers on a Couch
• Unconventional Formatting: OtterRiffs is the only riffverse to forgo the use of the MST script formatting for the intro and outro segments.

Cutting Room Floor

Riffs from the Cutting Room Floor

Author: TheAuthorGl1m0

In a mobile Elaborate Underground Base, one Cloud Cuckoolander pony, one actually insane pony, and one human of questionable sanity sort away bad fanfics so they never see the light of day. Unfortunately, they have to do one manually every day.

Cutting Room Floor has examples of the following tropes:

• Berserk Button: TheAuthorGl1m0 appears to show hatred for past and present-tense mix-ups, certain Human in Equestria fanfics, and glaring logical fallacies. He also wears a fez, and heaven help you if you were to touch or blemish it in any way.
• Dysfunction Junction: The core CRF crew (Gl1m 0, Screwball, and Screwloose ("Lucy")) are each a little bit nuts in their own way. Gl1m 0 is an OCD stickler for grammar and prone to explosive fits of anger when annoyed enough by his partner; Screwball is a batshit-insane part-time Reality Warper that takes pleasure in causing her boss misery; and Lucy, quite simply, thinks she's a dog.
• Elaborate Underground Base: The CRF is a mobile variation of this. A bulk of its size is mainly used as storage space, while a scant few facilities support the three (now five) inhabitants.
• Flat "What": This line from the riff of Oh to be Old Again.
  ...'profession,' 'address,' and 'I hoped you liked dinner before I violated you.'
  Gl1m 0 & Applejack: What.
• Insane Troll Logic: Screwball operates on this trope.
  Screwball: It’s a proven scientific fact; painting racing stripes on something makes it go faster.
  Applejack: That don’t make any sense…
  Screwball: Precisely. That’s why it works.
• Nice Hat: Gl1m 0 likes to wear a fez, because fezzes are cool. He's quite protective of it, and doesn't take kindly to others either touching or making fun of it.
• Only Sane Man: When with the core CRF crew, Gl1m 0 is this. When on the surface or with another co-riffer, Applejack is this.
• Quip to Black: Parodied in Cutting Room Floor.
  Gl1m 0: Heh, I guess you could say she just gave Pinkie... (puts on sunglasses) ...the cold shoulder.
  Applejack: Uh... yeeeeah?
  Gl1m 0: ...You disappoint me, Applejack. (throws away glasses) I am so disappoint.
• Running Gag: Gl1m 0 writing made-up words he finds in Twilight's dictionary, and responding to every sentence that asks "What's up?" with "The ceiling/sky!" (much to the other's chagrin).
• The Unpronounceable: TheAuthorGl1m0's name is... difficult to speak correctly, at least to others besides himself. Though, both Pinkie and Screwball circumvent this by referring to him as "Glowy."
  Gl1m 0: Well, er... I'm TheAuthorGl1m0. Gl1m 0, if you wanna shorthand it.
  Applejack: Uh... who?
  Gl1m 0: Gee. El. One. Em. Zero. There, got it?
  Applejack: ...Ah guess?

Game Over MST MLP

Game Over MST: My Little Pony

Author: supercomputer276

A Spin-Off of the non-pony riffs the author does, the boys from Game Over (SC, Sparkz, Calcutta Joe, and 666) are suddenly dropped into Equestria with their portable riffing theater RV and no way back. To pass the time while trying to repair the RV and get back home, all while trying to avoid letting the locals know they're actually semi-retired supervillains, they riff stories turned into movies with SC's literature projector.

Game Over MST: My Little Pony has examples of the following tropes:

• And Now for Someone Completely Different: Episode 5 focuses on SC Doll and the changeling he ran into at the end of Episode 2, Fassad.
• Berserk Button: SC abhors bad spelling and grammar in an era of free word processors and blatant contradictions of canon. He also hates Mary Sues and Marty Stus, though he's less prone to admitting it due to being a former one himself.
  • Having multiple speakers in the same paragraph.
  • SC has psychological issues with anything concerning the Theory of Narrative Causality or anything Doylist. In particular, he despises the MST3K Mantra itself, because All Stories Are Real Somewhere and it is never "just a story" (the theory he provided for his Interdimensional Travel Devices to work).
    • You confuse SC with being an Author Avatar at your own peril. He still technically is, since that connection is unbreakable, but he's trying to distance himself from it.
  • 666 takes umbrage at the suggestion he's just a fanboy of the U.S. military.
• Brutal Honesty: Sparkz is explicitly stated as having this trait in the Info Dump, though none of the operatives pull their punches when they hate a fic. They even have a "review" bit at the end of every riff where they go over everything they thought was wrong with it.
• Crossover: There is a co-riff with Draklox currently out, and ones with TheAuthorGl1m0 and twow in progress.
• Deadpan Snarker: SC and 666 most prominently, but the others get their moments.
• Dimensional Traveler: The Game Over.
• Dysfunction Junction: The Game Over has very dark shades of this, mostly concerning SC and Sparkz. The former is a Mad Scientist whose Medium Awareness has driven him even more insane and prone to nonsensical rants if pressed too hard (and that's not even getting into the Superpowered Evil Side Ztar Sealed Inside a Pony-Shaped Can that threatens to break loose if his anger peaks), and the latter is misbehaving ball of id who doesn't have a filter on his thoughts and actions. 666 and Calcutta Joe are fairly normal by comparison, but the former is trying to assert he's proper military material and not a fanboy, while the latter is a speed freak that becomes extremely uncomfortable if he doesn't move enough, and that's not counting the fact that both of them are technically organic robots created by SC.
• Flat "What": SC's standard response to bad Plot Twists and Shocking Swerves is "Excuse me, WHAT."
• Grumpy Bear: Fassad the changeling, though given how the hive has fallen on very hard times since the Canterlot wedding, it's justifiable.
• The Gunslinger: Calcutta's still got his guns, but it's currently unknown what entering Equestria has turned them into, or even how he's going to wield them with hooves.
• Info Dump: One specifically labeled as such is presented at the beginning of the first episode to prime new readers about the histories behind the four main characters. Thankfully, it's for the most part optional and clearly set apart from the riff itself.
• Instant Expert: Averted; Calcutta Joe doesn't know how to use his new wings to fly, since he used his hovercraft outfitted with rocket jets and a glider to fly previously. Sparkz and SC are able to use their magic, but Sparkz only electrical magic since it's just another form of his natural Raichu ability and SC's horn is implied to be his G.O. Wand / GO-yo which he is already proficient in casting spells with.
• Interdimensional Travel Device: A plothole portal, one of SC's creations, is used against the Game Over to transport them to Equestria. It's actually an important plot point that SC has lost access to the spare portals he usually keeps on his person, since his pony form doesn't have his clothes.
• Loose Canon: "Offline" entries.
  • Which is interesting, as the MLP spinoff is Loose Canon to the main riffing series, which itself is Loose Canon to the main Game Over stories.
• Mad Scientist: SC.
  • He once converted a Decanter of Endless Water into a Decanter of Endless Orange Juice, which when put in a cardboard carton gave the appearance of a bottomless juicebox.
• Medium Awareness: All the Core Corps are to some degree, but it's heaviest with SC, and he's lost his mind over it; the others are only medium-aware by association.
• Morphic Resonance / Fisher Kingdom: In a break from most other series on the archive, SC and the others become pony versions of themselves when they arrive in Equestria (except 666, who becomes a baby dragon). This is in key with how things work in their home series.
• Noodle Incident: Sparkz isn't allowed to plan parties anymore.
  Sparkz: Aw, c'mon! “Pin the Tail on the Hostage from the S.W.A.T. Team” was a great game!
• Only Sane Man: 666 to the rest of the Game Over.
  • When riffing, this is Calcutta Joe's main shtick, as he mostly questions the story's events and logic.
• Playing with Fire: 666 retained the ability to generate fire as a baby dragon, but has to actually breathe it instead of using a Finger-Snap Lighter.
• Plot Armor: The projector may not be as "delicate" as SC asserts it to be, given it's survived every crash the RV has gone through completely intact and functional. Though SC claims it's because he built it that soundly, not because if it was broken, they wouldn't be able to riff.
  Sparkz: What'd you build this thing out of anyway, Nintendium?!
• Running Gag: Plenty. Some are specific to a story, others are general to the whole series.
  • Sparkz coming up with definitions for typos and misplaced words so the sentence makes sense (at least out of context).
  • When the fic presents a question, all four riffers will give their own humorous answer before the story reveals it, to which they respond, "Or that. That too."
  • "Excuse me, WHAT."
  • Anything disappearing, exiting the scene, or escaping is trying to get out of the story.
  • Variants of "Does no one read these things out loud?!" which is one of the Author's usual proofreading methods.
  • Characters doing Wario impressions (either through exhibiting brutish might or by saying "Hurry up!" which is Wario's Catchphrase in Japan). Other impressions are less common.
    • Doing Fluttershy impressions, however, is becoming increasingly more common.
  • Frustration and lampshading, especially by Sparkz, over riffing nothing but Teen-rated fics.
  • "Because _____!" with the blank filled most commonly with "reasons," "logic," "Pinkie," and "Stu."
• Shock and Awe: Sparkz still has his electric powers as a unicorn, but his power level is lower than in his natural Raichu form.
  • Psycho Electro: ...and he's one of the more unhinged operatives.
• Shout-Out: A key part of the humor is comparing the elements of the fic to elements from other works, mostly video games.
  • Fassad has the name of a character from Mother 3, which the SC Doll lampshades. The SC Doll himself is based on the Tails Doll.
• Stealth Insult: Whenever SC explains the purpose of the projector is to turn "written literature" into a movie, Sparkz points out it also does the same to fanfiction.
• Story Arc: For whatever reason, The SC Doll is somehow connected to why the Game Over is in Equestria.
• Suckiness Is Painful: Their Running Gag reaction to bad puns is: "Ow. Ow. OW."
• Trapped in TV Land: The Game Over's RV theater was thrown into Equestria and their spare portals were lost, stranding them there.

The Appleverse

The Appleverse

Author: Apple Bot

The Appleverse has examples of the following tropes:

• Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Apple Bot.

Silent Riffs

Silent Riffs

Author:The Silent Hero

Silent Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

Tertiary Riffverses

G&H Read Fanfics

Glassed & Hydkore Read Fanfics

Authors: Glassed and Hydkore

A pair of writers get trapped in Vault X kept in the core of Fimfiction's archives by Pinkie to sort out the worst stories in there. Unfortunately, they're all bad. Unlike others, usually they are not joined by a member of the Mane 6.

G&H Read Fanfics has examples of of the following tropes:

Muleicious Riffs

Muleicious Riffs

Author: Muleicious

Wherein Discord puts Muleicious through bad fanfics.

Muleicious Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

• Enemy Mine: Discord actually accepted to riff a fic. Though he was counterbalanced by Princess!Twilight.

Brony Nerd Theater 42, 000

Brony Nerd Theater 42,000

Author: Luigilewis 889

Lewis was just an ordinary human living on Earth, until Pinkie Pie contacts him across dimensions and teleports ponies into his room for riffs. And occasionally he's teleported to Equestria himself.

BNT42k has examples of the following tropes:

• Berserk Button: Lewis tends to be calm, but when someone mentions Friendship is Ninjas to Twilight...
  • Lewis and smiley faces in stories do not mix. Unless you want Lewis to be angry.
• Brain Bleach: His own specialized kind; Brain Fortifier. Oh, and he has original variety too.
• Dimensional Traveler: Due to his teleporter.
• Rule63: Pegasister Nerd Theatre 42000.
• Inconvenient Summons: Adam is once summoned naked.
• Mad Scientist Laboratory: Lewis' study, where most of the riffs take place.
• Reality Warper: Lewis admitted to be able to influence reality.
• Running Gag: He will never say "We Got Story Sign" or the like, despite it being convention. And he will almost always reference this.
  • Also, the persuasion powers from Friendship Is Ninjas keeps resurfacing.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Lewis has one.
• Troll Fic: Lewis often riffs these.

Sing Riffs

Sing Riffs

Author: MrSing

Life's not easy when you're a human trapped in the changeling hive and Queen Chrysalis decides to use you to discover her ultimate weapon against ponykind.

Sing Riffs has examples of the following tropes:

Steventheman Presents

Steventheman Presents

Author: Steventheman

A terrorist named Steven Theman is forced to read bad fanfics.

Steventheman Presents has examples of the following tropes:

• Doomed Hometown: Wales, for Steven.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Steven hasn't had a particularly happy life.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Steven thinks he's a major threat to the Equestrian government. The Equestrian government barely know he exists.
• Weapon Of Choice: Steven's AK-12.
• Child Soldier: Steven is a minor, yet he is fighting in a so-called "Resistance" against the Royal Sisters.
• Ninja: Surprisingly, Applejack is an avid ninja fan.

Carts' Unicorn Theater

Carts' Unicorn Theater

Author: CartsBeforeHorses

Carts' Unicorn Theater has examples of the following tropes:

Bitt Player Productions

Bitt_Player Productions

Author: Bitt_Player

Bitt_Player Productions has examples of the following tropes:

Jack and 'Shy Riff Fanfiction

Jack and 'Shy Riff Fanfiction

Author: FlutterJack7

Jack and 'Shy Riff Fanfiction has examples of the following tropes:

Regi's Traveling Circus

Regidar & Lyra's Traveling Circus

Author: Regidar

Regi's Traveling Circus has examples of the following tropes:

• Berserk Button: Regi seems to be lacking one
• Dark and Troubled Past: Regi and Lyra both have a shared troubled past, but Regi coped with it a bit better than Lyra did.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Regi seems to be the physical embodiment of this trope.
• Not What It Looks Like: Quite often with Regi and Lyra.
  Regi: Ah yes. Because when I see an attractive potential mate, I just go sniffing around her.
  Lyra: That would explain those noises in the night.
  Regi: WHAT? No, that’s just a runny nose! It gets cold, you know

Non-RiffVerses Series

These entries are not part of the Archive community's shared canon.

Mystery Equestria Theater 3000

Mystery Equestria Theater 3000

Author: RJ Bachler

In a series that pays closer homage to MST3k than most, but doesn't tend to be part of the main "verse" that the archive has formed, Nightmare Moon has returned and imprisoned the Mane 6 on an orbital satellite to force them through bad fanfiction.

MET3k has examples of the following tropes:

• The "Fun" in "Funeral": In the break of "The Return of the Diamond Dogs" where Pinkie supposedly dies, Rarity holds a funeral for her... after Pinkie left for five minutes to get a juice box. Pinkie ends up climbing into the casket herself. Also, Applejack and Rainbow Dash are watching sports on TV while there. And so is Pinkie in the casket.
• The Scrappy: In-Universe. The Mane Six don't seem to be very fond of Griffy, the prominent griffon character in the trilogy of fanfics they are currently riffing. Becomes deliberate in the closing bit of "The Return of the Diamond Dogs" when Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy discuss how the story be improved.
  Fluttershy: What about Griffy?
  Rarity: Why do you think we are not even mentioning him?
  Fluttershy and Pinkie: Ohhhhhhhh.
• Seldom-Seen Species: At the end of "When the World Comes to a Screeching Halt", Fluttershy lists some obscure animals the author of the titular story could have used other than an ordinary wolf: namely a colugo, a tiger quoll, a wood frog, and a leatherback sea turtle.
• Those Two Bad Guys: Snips and Snails, Nightmare Moon's assistants.

Mystery Pony Theater 20, 000

Mystery Pony Theater 20,000

Hosts: Afro Circuit & Plot Point

A video series where a pair of people riff actual episodes of the show.

MPT20k has examples of the following tropes:

Others / Misc Riffs

...and a host of others. These riffs aren't associated with any of the other series.

If a riff here is moved to a different section, please remember to move the corresponding tropes.

These riffs have examples of the following tropes:

• Berserk Button: Most — if not all — of the riffers have something that'll set them off.
• Brain Bleach: Pretty much a staple product of the RiffVerse (and one that sees frequent use). Comes available in several convenient brands, including "Everclear."
• Flat "What": A common reaction to more nonsensical story elements.
• Gender Bender: During the Dirty Sexy Pony crossover riff, Typewriterpony (somehow) turns Something Eight into a 'Riffing Princess', complete with wings and... other parts. Much awkwardness (and flirting, courtesy of Draklox) ensued. It gets reversed in the end, though.
• Giving Up on Logic: Minor example, as many riffers will eventually give up on the story's logic.
• Only Sane Man
• Running Gag: Varies from series to series.

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