Episode 260 - Girl on Fire, chapters 11-12

Episode 260: Girl on Fire, chapters 11-12

She's been singing at this rowdy, grubby, frontier family restaurant, probably packed to the brim with
trappers and embittered prospectors since she was nine years old? And everyone's okay with this?

It's that time again! Time for superheroes to order dinner! Time to type out inane song lyrics! Time for the world's greatest heroes to stand around and do nothing while Phoenix is imperiled, kidnapped and saves everyone! That's right, it's time for more of everything you love about Girl on Fire. But this chapter is different. This chapter brings to light Phoenix's greatest, most dreaded weakness. A trap so complex, an item so fiendish, that you won't believe your eyes. No seriously, you won't believe it because it's just too ludicrous to comprehend. So amazingly brain-numbing that I can't even repeat it in the promo. You'll just have to find out in the latest installment of Girl on Fire!

Riffers: Dan, Maya Gold, Celena Harte and Tsuneo Tateo
Written by: Zogster

Episode 259: Robotech Resurrection, chapters 2-3

Episode 259: Robotech: Resurrection, chapters 2-3

Admiral Exposition here came back from the dead just to tell you all this. I hope you’re happy.

How the hell do I summarise a fic like this one? I think that is the only good way to do it, because sure as heck after the next two chapters of Robotech: Resurrection, you won’t be able to manage much more then primitive grunting noises either. The best I can offer is that yes, it does manage to take a break from telling us about things that we already know and yes, there is indeed a resurrection in it, but that’s about all I can say without my brain imploding from thinking about it anymore. And so, instead you’ll be left to wonder about such things as why Lisa glows in the dark, why Shade’s metal band are the only people qualified to save the planet, why everyone keeps talking about that one scene from episode three endlessly and what the hell exactly was it you just read.

Riffers: Dan, Rebecca Bartley, Tsuneo Tateo and Rick R. Mortis
Written by: Zogster and Rick R.

March Update and The Strategic Badfic Reserve

Good news and (vaguely) bad today.

First up is the good. Episode 259 is nearly finished and should be out by this weekend or early next week at the latest. Episode 260 is also in progress, with the goal of having it out within a week or so as well. Episodes 261 through 264 have also been lined up, just pending on fic sizes and other matters.

Now for the bad. Unfortunately, our Strategic Badfic Reserve has been getting rather low of late. When we started the Rebuild of Elmer Studios, we lined up a number of fanfics early on for potential use. By this point, we have used all of those, as well as a good number of ones that we have found along the way. Unfortunately, a number of those that were lined up early on have also gone missing since then, victims of the vagrities of the interwebs.

The end result is that we're largely down to our last few "reserve" badfics. And, while we are always searching for new material, we're also facing a very high rejection rate along the way. Besides, let's be honest, wading through The Pit is not fun at the best of times.

So as a result, we're open for badfic donations. We're mostly in the market for ones from our favorite target series, Robotech/Macross, Bubblegum Crisis, Cowboy Bebop, Transformers, GI Joe, and Marvel and DC Superheroes (ps: we are old), but will gladly a fic outside of those if it's amusingly bad and we can get lines off of it. Donations can be left here via comments, or emailed to us at elmerstudios00 (at) gmail.com

Episode 258 - Robotech: Resurrection, chapter 1

Episode 258: Robotech: Resurrection, chapter 1

Tolkien had his poetic references to bygone ages and elaborate world-building. Homer had his
elaborate similes that made his work so hard to translate. Hunter S. Thompson had his rambling, stream-of consciousness style of writing. And Heavymetalhooligan gives us the shouted All Caps.

From the author of Legion of the Black X-1 comes Robotech: Resurrection! And with a title like that, you know what it’s going to be all about. That’s right, block recaps of things that we all already knew. Seriously, if you were expecting something else (like, say, a resurrection) you may be a bit disappointed. But if you were expecting some new character to show up, talk smack to everyone and be rewarded for it because his name is just that goofy he’s awesome, then you’re in for a treat. So as Shade Night (no really) and Trix Kane (seriously) stand around talking about other peoples’ personal lives and some random guy tries to force the plot along and gives up trying, we all get to enjoy the awesome reiteration action that is Robotech: Resurrection.

Riffers: Dan, Rebecca Bartley, Tsuneo Tateo and Rick R. Mortis
Written by: Zogster and Rick R.

Fanfic Retrospective - The Apocalyptic Battle

When we first began the Rebuild of Delta Invasion, there was one big obstacle that nearly sunk the project at launch, being the lack of any "raw" copies of Delta Invasion itself. As near as could be determined, the archived copies of our original MSTings were the only source of the fic remaining, the author having disowned the fic over a decade ago. The result was that, while they were adequate for the task at hand, there was always the chance of old errors creeping in, or confusion over what was fic versus riff.

In order to counter this, we went to work on finding a source for the originals. And, while this quest was successful, it also yielded an unexpected development. Previously, we had assumed that Delta Invasion represented one end of Tom Dyron's career, and that Gates of Oblivion was the other. We had no idea that anything lay between the two.

Instead, what we found changed everything.

Episode 257 - Brother Hunters

Episode 257: Brother Hunters

Of course! That makes perfect sense. I’m glad they gave such a rational and sensible explanation, because I was worried that it might be something silly.

Fanfiction is a fantastic thing because, through it, you can explore elements that aren't normally found in the canon. Such as, what if Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow were actual brothers? And what if not only that, but they were actually secret ninja werecat brothers? No, even better, secret telepathic ninja werecat brothers! And what if Snake was also a unique, super-special secret telepathic ninja werecat in addition to all else? And what if Scarlett was also a secret telepathic ninja werecat but didn't know it because she's a different sort of super-special secret telepathic ninja werecat? And what if you just wrote your own original story because this has nothing at all to do with the source material anyway?

Riffers: Dan, Rebecca Bartley, Tsuneo Tateo and Rick R. Mortis
Written by: Zogster and Rick R.

Episode 256 - The Apocalyptic Battle, chapter 15

Episode 256: The Apocalyptic Battle, chapter 15

It's a sort of of inverse Turing test for the not terribly bright..

Well, it’s been a long and crazy journey to get here. Lots of violent over-reactions, lots of shallow characters defined mostly by their hair, lots of swords, lots of space lighting, lots of Steve being an arse and lots of mountains exploding. But now, here we are at the end of The Apocalyptic Battle, and it’s time for a satisfactory and rewarding conclusion to this epic that will have made it all worth it. Oh, who am I kidding? If you've got this far, you know it’s going to be bad. And so, much like its predecessor, the fic ends with a sudden derailment off into the wilderness with a conclusion that has nothing to do with anything and makes you feel just that extra bit dumber for thinking otherwise. So sit back, grab a watery Tomweiser, kill a Matt and enjoy the Toad Elevating Moment.

Riffers: Dan, Rebecca Bartley, Tsuneo Tateo and Rick R. Mortis
Written by: Zogster and Rick R.