Episode 319 - Son of Zor

Episode 319: Son of Zor

Hey guys, I've just transcended beyond the physical plane of existence. But it's all right, because it's perfectly normal and happens all the time.

Meet Mike. Sure, he might  just seem like your average clone space baby found in a stasis pod and then palmed off to the first people that came along (and trust us, it happens all the time), but Mike has a secret. He has the amazing ability to get freaky with giant robots in a way that everybody is perfectly okay with as if it was the most natural thing in the world. In fact, they’re so okay with this that he gets to take part in an absurdist wargame based around capturing flags and causing other people’s giant robots to turn different colours! That’s right, it may be a man’s life in this modern Generic Anime Army, but it’s the Cosmic Space Aliens who are the real heroes.


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

Rebuild of Elmer Studios, year four

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.

Art Fail - Reusing the panel

Ben Dunn had something of a reputation of being lazy, unimaginative and unoriginal, as well as copying artwork. In fact, he even was supposedly known for copying his own art. But is that reputation justified? Well, let's just take a look at some panels from Warrior Nun Areala versus Razor and see.

Episode 318 - Bubblegum Crisis Urban Hunter

Episode 318: Bubblegum Crisis Urban Hunter

His years of police training and practical experience allowed him to determine that the guy was indeed dead. That and, you know, he was thrown out a window, fell five stories and hit a car.

Did I mention that it’s hot, because it’s hot. And in case I didn’t mention that it’s hot, I feel that I should say that it’s hot because of how hot it is. But the heat is not the only thing plaguing MegaTokyo, as hard-boiled macho-man cop Leon McNichol has to deal with rampaging robots (caused by the heat), bank robbers, car crashes and interfering government agents. But when some guys are killed by something in some place, he can’t just blame it on how hot it is, and instead has to go out and investigate this grizzly affair by standing around, having coffee, committing perjury and above all else, complaining about the heat. Sure there might be something about a massive data theft and sabotage of Genom’s latest murderbot design, but mostly it’s about the heat. (Oh, and there might also be a Predator and the Knight Sabers too. Maybe. I can’t tell because it’s so hot.)

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

Episode 317 - Gundam Build Fighters: Life's Gunpla Battle Championship MkII, chapters 7-10

Episode 317: Gundam Build Fighters: Life's Gunpla Battle Championship MkII, chapters 7-10

I know you're lying and that this kit was made by my dead twin brother because my one-dimensional prop girlfriend told me so.

Having run out of Gundams to beat up, Kale decides instead to beat up plastic toy robots from other shows instead. His team reacts to this decision in the most basic and obvious of ways that would come naturally in such a situation: they run around making strange noises, force comparisons to episodes of Gundam 00, wonder about Kale’s pre-pubescent brother and if he’s getting his rocks off (ewww) and find new ways to humiliate Darren. Throw in a trip to the biggest Gundam convention in all of Maryland (with attendance figures in excess of three) and the return of Kale’s infinitely more interesting evil twin brother (goatee optional) and you have the non-definite un-conclusion to this replacement fic for a replacement fic for a show about the fandom of a show! Eargblergh!

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

Art Fail - Headband people fight headband people

It's tempting to call all of Robotech: The Sentinels Rubicon one gigantic art fail. It's... a mess, with awkward characters that don't look anything like their original animated designs, skewed perspectives, weird-looking mecha and ships, cluttered backgrounds full of techno-junk and all manner of other things. Added to that is the heavy-handed and ugly inking and then the awkwardly executed tones in part one, and you have one gigantic mess.

Oh, and the terrible dialogue doesn't help any either.

Episode 316 - The Amazing Star-Spider, chapters 17-31

Episode 316: The Amazing Star-Spider, chapters 17-31

She beat up his men, broke up his arms deal, defeated his pet supervillains, crank called his office, slashed his tires, spammed his inbox and ran a leaf blower outside his mother's house at two in the morning.

The Amazing Star-Spider might actually be continuing! That's right, it's time for shadowy people to stand around in nondescript surroundings and vaguely introduce other indistinct characters. Meanwhile our heroine sort of fights crime, arguably battles bad guys and might actually fall in love if you want to be really creepy about it. However the real action comes when her new mysterious mentor (hint: not Hawkman) uncovers the most shocking and radical thing he can - a plot! That's right, our villain plans to... stand around in nondescript surroundings and vaguely introduce other indistinct characters, it seems. So join us for what promises to be the abrupt conclusion of The Amazing Star-Spider... Or is it?


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