Year four of Elmer Studios was, admittedly, a slow one. With
twenty-five episodes done (and a twenty-sixth in progress as of this writing)
it was the slowest year so far of the rebuild. There were a number of reasons
for that slow-down, however, which do merit some explanation. One of the biggest
reasons was simple length of the fics involved, with the last year featuring almost
entirely long ‘series’ fics spread over the course of many episodes. If you
looked at it in terms of actual numbers of fics done, there’s surprisingly few.
Even then, that’s still a good amount of work, and bringing us a lot further
along than we expected when we started the Rebuild.
This last year featured a number of highlights and
interesting moments, including fictive firsts, the return of old favourite
authors, lost prequels and fanfic reboots. It also featured its own story arc
for a portion of its run. Finally, it marked some significant milestones in the
history of the (new) Elmer Studios.
One Hundred Badfics
on the Wall
The biggest milestone for us was passing episode 300 (or
100, or 303 or whatever) of the “new” Elmer Studios. By anybody’s standards,
that’s a good run; even in the good old days of the MSTing community, I’d be
hard pressed to think that anybody reached 100. The fact that, strictly
speaking, it was 251 (or 254…) makes it even more of an accomplishment. That
alone also meant that we were now at two-thirds of the original Elmer Studios
run, but in significantly less time.
Rebuilding Rebuilds
that are not Rebuilds
Our celebration of episode 100 was done with a fic that was
very near and dear to us, albeit one that was not actually a part of Elmer
Studios history. Tales of the Red Knight Saber was one of the first MSTings that we read, and one of the very first
with an entirely non-standard cast. It was what planted the idea that ‘we could
do this’ in our heads. Using our own cast made more sense to us given that we
had very little exposure to actual MST3K episodes at the time
If not for Red Knight Saber, and that MSTing in specific,
Elmer Studios might have never happened. As such, our “rebuild that is not a
rebuild” version is our own little tribute to that. Plus, and let’s be honest
here, it’s actually a wonderfully bad fic; not enough to offend, just enough to
be amusing.
unRebuilding its sequel/prequel/something ESPer Chronicles made a certain amount
of sense as well, given that it was a part of the same continuity (Maybe) and
sort of had similar themes and concepts. Like, say, a new grossly overpowered
OC that was identical save for the name. Once again, it helped that the fic
itself was inadvertently goofy and, as a bonus, was laden with awesome homoerotic
undertones.
As an interesting side-note, while doing side-research I discovered
that Bert “Skyknight” Van VIllet never ‘approved’ of his character appearing in
either fic. He caused a stink about it and tried to demand that the author
remove the fic and his character. Of course, given that this was all fanfic, he
really had no leg to stand on.
The Horrible Secret
of the Hanging Apostrophe
The year boasted a number of stand-out finds. Ordinarily, Zoids Chapter Two was the most prominent
of them, being a fic that had been eye-balled back in the first Elmer Studios run
but had never made it for obvious reasons. Long and featuring a classic
god-mode over-powered centre of the universe OC, it was prime riffing fodder. Plus
it also lead us to find more material that we will be using in future.
Another good find was Life’s Gunpla Battles Mk II, the replacement for a fic that was the replacement
for a fic about a show about the fandom of a long-running franchise. It doesn’t
get too much more metafictional then that. In many ways, it out-did its predecessor,
becoming a long, morose tale of a character who seemed to genuinely hate their
chosen fandom while seemingly being written by an author who felt compelled to
write fanfic without enjoying it. (In fact, the only thing that could have been more Meta was The Ultimate Crime, which was a comic about the villains stealing that same comic)
But the real gem of the year was AYNGEL Project, the second in the Dyronverse trilogy that bridged
the gap between DELTA Invasion and The Apocalyptic Battle. Or, rather, it
would have had it not abruptly ended midway through a sentence. And while all
efforts to find the rest of it have since come to naught, it still was a rich
source of material.
In many ways, AYNGEL was
the stand-out fic of the year. Not only was it more Tom Dyron (Which, as
strange as it may seem, is actually welcome) but it helped to explain a lot
about the ‘world’ of Apocalyptic Battle. It
also served to bring us more of Steve, helping to cement his place as our least
likeable (or most hated) character by pretty much out and stating that he was a
creepy paedophile. On the other hand, his relationship with Tom proved to be a
rich source of material, especially given all the naked wrestling. But in some
ways, its greatest single legacy might be its lack of ending, leaving us to
ponder what was meant to happen and, perhaps more importantly, where the hell
it went.
In addition, AYNGEL saw us bring back our ‘villain’ in the
form of Voice 2.0. Her clearly malicious and gleefully nasty nature made for a
fantastic compliment to this fic. And, of course, we know that it’s not the
only Dyron she still has at hand…
My God, B-Teams
This was another good year for the B-Teams. Their single
greatest moment, however, has to be the conclusion of the long-running Girl on Fire, a Fanfic that seemed to stretch
out over all eternity to the point where space and time seems to have no meaning
any more. At several points, it seemed that the fic had been abandoned, going
months between updates. And yet, it made it all the way through to its finale
and, in the process, became the longest single fanfic we have ever covered in
terms of wordcount.
And then we found its spiritual sequel…
Both Light-Flash and
The Amazing Star Spider (Both by the
same author) provided some interesting material simply because of the way they
were written. Both fics are clearly ongoing, but by an author who has no clear
idea where they are going or what they want to do. Inste
On the other side of the B-Team, comics continued to provide
a lot of material. A rebuild of Robotech:The Sentinels Rubicon was perfect Voice 2.0 material, while also reuniting
us with one of our most beloved of characters (And by that we mean the White
Light of EEEEE). Likewise, a couple of digressions into nineties “Bad Girl” comics
proved to be less ‘edgy and extreme’, and more ‘inadvertently goofy.’ In many
ways, because Areala versus Razor tired
so hard, it became dumber for it.
Things that don’t stink
It’s hard to call on the real stand-outs of the year. In
many ways, AYNGEL Project was the
most memorable fic of the year for simply managing to be so stupid in its
efforts to seem tough and edgy. Plus, of course, it had Tom Dyron and some massive
inadvertent but hilarious undertones which are always appreciated. In many
ways, its lack of an ending proved to be an oddly fascinating twist, making the
fic more strangely compelling for its lack of completion.
Conversely, Life’s
Gunpla Battles Mk II was probably the most painful fic to work with of the
last year. It became so profoundly miserable as it went along that portions of
it became a hard uphill slog. And while the end results were amusing, it was
definitely a hard-fought battle. Similarly, Leagueof Champions #6 proved to be harder going then expected due to a number of
really icky plot elements that seemed to be starkly at odds with its intended
tone.
The characters of the year would probably have to be Locke
Cole and Kyrind Brandford from ESPer
Chronicles and Tales of the Red
Knight Saber. It wasn’t just that they were classic god-boy self-inserts or
that they were basically the same character with the details (sometimes)
changed, but the fact that they were both so damned stupid along the way. And,
of course, an honourable mention also goes to the White Light of EEEEE for
being the most strangely fascinating.
So what now?
That’s a good question. As mentioned, Episode 319 is currently
in progress, and should be done soon. Following on from that, however, is going
to be something entirely new for us. It’s very different and not our usual
fare, but it’s definitely something that we’re looking forward to. So stick
around, and enjoy the show.
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