Mass Vexations

Mass Vexations is a Self Insert fanfic set in the Mass Effect universe written by Herr Wozzeck. It concerns what happens when he winds up on the Citadel after playing the piece Vexations by Erik Satie. With a 'fuck it' attitude and ramblings that go on for some time, he sets out to help the group stop Saren and the Geth. As he goes with the group, he gets to really know them, and as he searches for a way home he forms friendships and becomes a more useful squad member than even he originally thought.

It tends to go by Rule of Funny: it recognizes that some things in there are preposterous in the first place. While there are some very serious moments throughout, a large piece of the story is played for laughs. It hangs lampshades constantly, it has more pop culture references than you can count on one hand, and it parodizes stuff. But it can be serious when it wants to be, and when it does get serious it results in some very honest emotional moments.

It's posted on both fanfiction.net and Deviant ART. Word of God has stated that it will become a full-blown trilogy of its own right. Mass Vexations 2 can be found here. Mass Vexations 3 is also out and can be found here. It also has a spin-off featuring several other characters in Mass Vexations: Redemption, a collaborative effort with Nord Ronnoc.

The following tropes apply to all three parts of the Mass Vexations trilogy, in addition to the tropes found in the source material:
"Art: And trust me, I know that if she were a Renegade Shepard, she would've put the mission first, killed all the colonists, killed the rachni, and punched the annoying reporter who really deserves it."
 * A Day in the Limelight: The entirety of chapter 17 is told from Tali's POV. The trope is even invoked in the chapter title.
 * A Man Is Not a Virgin: Averted by Art, who had never been in a long-term relationship until he met Tali.
 * A Wizard Did It: Mystical elements start to show up at the end of Part 1 in a series that has always been strictly science-fiction. Word of God has stated he intends to stick mainly to divination and other spiritual ideas, though.
 * Actor Allusion: To Aria being voiced by Trinity.
 * Alien Arts Are Appreciated: Wrex starts making Art lose with surprising regularity when Art introduces it to him. Also, Garrus mentions liking District 9 early on.
 * This goes to the point where Wrex
 * Also occurs with Thane in the sequel, when it's revealed he's fond of Baroque and Romantic music.
 * Art is an alien to Tali, and she sure seems to appreciate him.
 * : Paellix Mirani.
 * Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Played with. The head count increases to Shepard and four squad members on a typical mission, and it even becomes a minor plot point as it allows the squad to split to accomplish a few tasks quicker. Subverted in the mission to Ilos; Shepard tells the entire squad to come along, thus ignoring the head count.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:

"-- "No, I'm not planning on killing myself." In the conventional sense, anyway."
 * As You Know: An interesting variation occurs whenever Art hears exposition. He's already heard it all in the game; however, the characters giving the exposition aren't aware of this fact, so to them they're just telling the story of the game as it happens. It's lampshaded repeatedly, and a few times it cuts away before said exposition can be said.
 * It's generally played straight later whenever Art tells anybody about the truth about himself.
 * Ascended Extra: Al, who made a small cameo in the middle of the first Mass Vexations, joins the Normandy, thus becoming a supporting character.
 * Author Avatar: Art, very obviously. Leads to a bit of Author Filibuster and a lot more Author Appeal when he lampshades a few things.
 * Badass Normal: Art eventually becomes this. He starts out as someone who has never fired a firearm in his life, has never led anyone into combat, and lives in an age without DNA modification technology. By the time he gets to Virmire, he's able to hold his own in Shepard's squad, he leads a salarian STG unit into battle and manages to avoid extremely high casualties, and he's able to be a pretty decent Soldier class fighter, even without the modifications to his DNA. In fact, the only medical procedure he's undergone in the ME universe is surgery to correct near-sightedness, and such a surgery already exists in his home time period. Wrex lampshades his improvement at a couple of points, and then there are the two CMoA's he racks up below. Took a Level In Badass indeed...
 * Batman Gambit: For his failure he gets a What the Hell, Hero? speech from Shepard.
 * Better to Die Than Be Killed: Art takes this approach when plotting how he'll return back to his world. His first thought? Rather than get shot down on the battlefield where someone could use medigel on him, he'll allow himself to get caught in the blast on Virmire.
 * Bi the Way: The narration mentions that Art is bisexual. Of course, it's also being mentioned while he's being seduced by an older turian.
 * Said turian happens to be
 * Big Brother Instinct: Jenny's brother Gregor apparently has this. It's off-camera, however, so we have no way of knowing just yet.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Art and Jenny pull one of these moments during Kasumi's loyalty mission.
 * Big No: In Art's mind in the sequel, after he finds out that
 * Big "What?": From Tali when Art tells her and the rest of the Brotherhood about.
 * Bizarrchitecture: In Art's recurring dream in part two; the hallway is all sorts of this, including a table.
 * Black Comedy: A few instances pop up.

"Art: You know how things are when people just run on and on in circles waiting for their turn to talk. Garrus: No I don't, apparently. Because I don't know what you're talking about. Art: That's kind of the point."
 * BLAM Episode: The April Fool's Day chapter.
 * Blue and Orange Morality: Played with in reference to the game's Paragon/Renegade meters. Throughout the first fic, Shepard remains in full-Paragon mode. This changes in the sequel to where she is mainly Paragon with a slight Renegade streak.
 * Brick Joke: . More specifically, how the krogan characters all seem to latch on to it.
 * Brutal Honesty: Used on Conrad Verner when Art runs into him on Illium.
 * Came Back Wrong: Shepard goes from Paragon to Paragade after she comes back.
 * Captain Ersatz: Turian mythology apparently has its own versions of Kratos and the Grey Wardens. And then there's Contact Point 3, which is essentially Dead Space on the Normandy. On top of that, there's a fairly obvious Expy of Norman Jayden that appears at the Citadel at one point. Art is quick to lampshade the similarities when he hears about them.
 * In every case, it's turned out to be foreshadowing:
 * Catapult Nightmare: From Art's Dream Sequence in the sequel.
 * Catch Phrase: "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff."
 * May or may not have an F-Bomb or a "Goddamn," to denote emphasis.
 * Character Development: See Took a Level In Badass below.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Aside from the many examples from the Mass Effect universe?
 * The cell phone that Art holds on to ends up helping him explain himself to Tali when she presses about his past.
 * Shepard mentioning she has a younger brother (who happens to look almost exactly like the default Male!Shepard.)
 * Children Are Innocent: Art invokes this trope several times in the sequel in reference to Grunt's status as a fully-grown baby krogan.
 * Christmas Episode: The seperately-published oneshot Christmas Vexations.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Art, who sometimes leaves a few nonsensical sayings here and there and then goes on to confuse the person he's conversing with even more.

"[impostor]Art: You'd understand, right? Art: Yeah, I understand. I understand that you're nothing but a whiny, manipulative little attention whore who can't just leave things well enough alone!"
 * Some of his trains of thought are a little crazy as well. It gets to the point where he ends up deciding to go talk to Kelly Chambers after one such train of thought.
 * Cluster F-Bomb: Art tends to drop these whenever he gets really angry or really desperate about something.
 * Cool Teacher: Sturge in his previous life, if Art's interaction with him is anything to go by.
 * Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story: Art creates a rather elaborate cover story for the rest of the Mass Effect crew to bite into to hide the fact that he's from another universe. Subverted in that he's not actually a mole for anyone.
 * Contrived Coincidence: The Spectre who escapes from the Aurigos and gets rescued by Art and co just happens to be.
 * Crazy Enough to Work: After, Kasumi suggests that she, Art, and Thane should go It takes a little bit of convincing for the other two parties to agree to such a plan.
 * Cultured Warrior: Art, even if all of his cultured qualities are about a hundred and seventy years behind everyone else.
 * Curse Cut Short: After the last time Wrex makes Art lose, Art starts a swear line; it cuts to the next scene before he can even get in the first word.
 * Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Art mock-threatens to kill Garrus in various silly ways whenever he makes fun of his voice. Two years hasn't quelled this banter, either.
 * Dance Party Ending: The sequel.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Ethan Sunderland.
 * Did Not Do the Research: As much as one gets into the franchise's lore, the author seems to refer to firearms as though they were real world weapons rather than Mass Effect weapons.
 * Dirty Old Man: Tonn Actus in the fic's reworked version of the Family Armor assignment.
 * Dream Within a Dream:
 * Driven to Suicide: An asari who's just found out she's an ardat-yakshi is driven to this in the sequel's prologue... at least, until Art steps in and plays psychiatrist. She lives.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Art punches Kaiden for what he did on Horizon. As questionable as that is, he even contemplates shooting him.
 * Tali admonishes Art about his behavior towards Kaidan in the very next chapter.
 * Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Art pulls this trope to save Tali at the beginning of the fic.
 * Dynamic Entry: Art pulls off a decidely Joker-esque one (complete with Shotgun) when returning to Tali's trial from the Alarei.
 * Early-Bird Cameo:
 * Epigraph: The fanfiction.net version has these. Most of the time it's played straight, but it has also been played for laughs. Eventually, it drops them, and there have been none in both versions of the sequel.
 * Expy: Eltarn and Sawrik are basically
 * Fantastic Drug: Vexations. Mixed in with a bit of Truth in Television as those that tried performing all 840 repetitions by themselves had to stop due to hallucinations, even if it wasn't as bad as what Art winds up with.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Tali is at first distrustful of Art's attempts to save her. But, when he follows up on his promises without any strings attached, they become more or less this. Also happens between Art and Wrex to a certain extent.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Subverted. Art may be out of his element, but given that he knows most of the rules of where he is he's able to blend into the crowd pretty easily. It is played relatively straight with the Mass Effect universe backstories of Sturge and, though.
 * It is played straight, though, in that he still has to figure out that.
 * Fix Fic: What happens in the sequel when Art finally decides to
 * For Want of a Nail: Art's presence in the ME universe serves as a rather big nail; it's speculated early on that if Art hadn't been at the right place at the right time due to Shepard being held up, then Tali would have died in the alley, which would have given the Reapers an automatic win. It also changes a few events (Benezia giving him a paperweight that was never mentioned in the games, Wrex's personal mission being completely different.) Surprisingly, though, it's not played all that often: see The Stations of the Canon below.
 * It's played a lot more extensively in MV2; As you'd predict, it completely changes the tone and objective of  loyalty mission. And then Art's presence is enough to do a couple of other things; for one, . And for another,
 * Perhaps most interestingly, however, is that he eventually finds himself in a situation that could lead to a loyalty mission.
 * Freaky Friday Flip: With John of Spellbinding Radiance in the April Fools' Day chapter.
 * Freudian Excuse: Art's impostor says that he was having a rough life on Earth, and felt that Art took away any chance he could've had to feed his family and give them a better life when he came into the picture. Art doesn't bite into it.
 * Freudian Excuse: Art's impostor says that he was having a rough life on Earth, and felt that Art took away any chance he could've had to feed his family and give them a better life when he came into the picture. Art doesn't bite into it.

"Art: And how the hell is it that certain people just so happen to be able to stop time with this thing to give me information that only I can hear for some possibly very contrived reason?"
 * From a Certain Point of View: Art is from Earth; it's just that he's from an Earth that was there 173 years before Mass Effect takes place. He chooses to omit the time factor when making up his backstory.
 * Genre Savvy: More like Game Savvyness. It's all exclusive to Art, of course, as he's the only one who consistently knows what's going to happen next.
 * He does demonstrate some general Genre Savviness from time to time, as well.
 * Give Me a Sword: Jenny is throwing a fit when Art goes to get himself into Garrus' recruit mission. He walks in, simply gives her a gun, bam, problems end. It leads to a temporary alliance where they agree to save Garrus (albeit for differing reasons).
 * Green Rocks: The orange paperweight; it allows Benezia and to stop time to give some exposition at certain points.

"Ashley: You take things too literally. Art: Thanks. It's one of my many specialties."
 * Grumpy Old Man: Sturge has traces of this.
 * Heroic BSOD: Art goes into one in Virmire
 * It's parodied when Art finds out how old Tonn Actus is.
 * Art kind of goes into one upon finding out that.
 * Heroic Self-Deprecation: Art does this a lot, stemming from the fact that he is not actually a soldier.
 * Hollywood Atheist: Art, who is fed up with the hypocrisy of the church. He even blames the Catholic Church for the Dark Ages, even though they really didn't cause them.
 * Looks to be broken down in the sequel, as Art signs the cross on the arm of one of Okeer's rejects. The rather odd logic of this is lampshaded by Garrus shortly afterwards.
 * Homage: loyalty mission is basically a reworked version of the plot of
 * I Warned You: Subverted:
 * Info Dump: Chapter 39 of the sequel.
 * Insult Backfire:

"--Garrus refused to give us a name, saying it would probably compromise something. (Compromise what, a plot twist? Gimme a break, Garrus.)"
 * Interspecies Romance: Between and Garrus, Thane and Shepard, and Art and Tali.
 * It Only Works Once: Because didn't stop  the first it happened.
 * Also how Art traveled to the Mass Effect universe to begin with.
 * Jerkass Has a Point: While it's easy to argue that Art should have told the crew his origins and what was going to happen,
 * Garrus has a brief BSOD when he realises that his girlfriend, a Serial Killer Killer, has become a serial killer herself. Jack, of all people, points out that she hasn't killed any innocents, and nobody gives a fuck about Blood Pack anyway.
 * Just Friends: Art and Tali. Oh, dear Lord. The build-up to their pending relationship is really about as un-subtle as it gets. Jenny is quick to point this out when she meets Art for the first time. Leads to copious amounts of both authorial and very literal Ship Tease when Tali finally joins the crew of the Normandy in the sequel.
 * Relationship Upgrade: Art and Tali finally admit their feelings for each other in Chapter 23 of the sequel--after an entire installment and 22 chapters' worth of UST. And then they go on a date in Chapter 25.
 * Kick the Dog:
 * Kick the Morality Pet: Shepard going Paragade in the sequel. It's especially noticeable since Art has a tendency to mentally freak out whenever Shepard partakes in any actions he knows earns her renegade points since he's so used to her being full Paragon.
 * Played with, in Art's case: he'll sometimes engage in these renegade actions himself if the person they're performed on grates on his nerves enough.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Mass Vexations 3.
 * Love At First Sight: Art seems to think this is the case between Thane and Shepard.
 * MacGuffin: The mysterious paperweight that Art obtains at Noveria.
 * I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Benezia gives him the odd paperweight before she completely loses herself to Sovereign's indoctrination. Subverted in that neither of them really know what they're supposed to do with it nor even what it is.
 * manages to shed some light on the object: doesn't really say anything more than that, however, so it's still left up to Art to figure out what else can be done with it.
 * It turns out to be
 * It also has properties that aren't revealed until the sequel: It brings to mind the question of  It gives Art the idea that he'll need to go on a Fetch Quest while at the Collector base.
 * And then it's implied that the device functions as
 * Medium Awareness: When Garrus refuses to give the identity of the Journalist away, it's lampshaded in the narration as thus:

"Art: I don't know about you guys, but it seems to me that whenever some group with tons of money studies a biological life form and its possibly adverse effects on humans it never ends well for anybody involved."
 * Mental World:
 * The Mentor: Sturge to Art in the past. Whether the old man will take this banner up again is yet to be seen.
 * Mind Screw: Chapter 17 of the sequel has introduced  so we pretty much assume one is coming.
 * Mock Millionaire:
 * More Dakka: Whatever you do, steer clear from an airship if Art is manning the guns. If the bullets don't get you, the missiles can get you. And if those don't get you, the warehouse itself most certainly will as it collapses on you.
 * Let's put it this way: he was channeling the Super Mecha Death Christ 2000 BC 4.0 Beta as he was doing it. Yes, you just read that correctly.
 * Mushroom Samba: Played with. Art doesn't really take anything, but at the same time he gets insane hallucinations while playing Vexations. His cover story ends up involving elements of drug use as a result.
 * My Fist Forgives You: When Art goes to Wrex, the krogan doesn't listen to him. So Art tells him to headbutt him. Wrex eventually does so after a brief back and forth, and then things are good between them.
 * Averted in the sequel when Art reveals the truth about himself to Wrex. Oddly, they don't end up having to resort to this to sort out that problem.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Art Shepard calls him out on it during debriefing in addition to
 * No Name Given: Art is only known by his nickname to the reader. The other characters know his full name, as some of them refer to him by his last name; however, any time his last name or full first name are used it's asterisked out.
 * However if You notice that.
 * Oireland: Played with by Jenny McKansa. The physical qualities check out, but most of her mannerisms and her background go against the trope.
 * Old Friend: Sturge to Art, in more ways than one.
 * One-Woman Wail: At the end of the Virmire mission.
 * Open Says Me: Inverted when Art locks himself in his room and the entire Mass Effect crew sans Shepard ends up trying to get him out. His insistence that he be left alone means the entire crew has to make rounds. Kaidan? Does as he says and doesn't push the subject after a brief discussion. Garrus? Drops the subject after a brief discussion. Liara? Same reaction. Wrex? Stomps off angrily after Art is forced to insult him to make him go away after a long exchange. Tali? Hacks the door open after two lines of dialogue.
 * Oracular Urchin:
 * Overprotective Dad: Averted by
 * Pensieve Flashback:
 * Pinch Me: Art speculates that he is in a dream upon showing up at the Citadel. He promptly slaps himself, realizing that he is, in fact, in a real world.
 * Playing with Syringes: Lots of examples, as per the original game. Art even lampshades it in front of the crew:

"-- But that works for my advantage. So I'll chalk it up to happening because the plot says so."
 * Plot Induced Stupidity: Whoever built the warehouse that Art snipes at in part 2 forgot to install a window pane in one of the windows. It's mercilessly lampshaded when Art finds this out:

"Wrex: You're fearless. And if you're afraid, you sure as hell don't show it. And plus, you've learned how to use guns faster than any of us. That takes... something. You've got a quad on you, kid. Wrex: (later that same conversation) Just thinking about the krogan my father was... It makes me wonder... Art: I thought being a thinker would get you killed on Tuchanka. Wrex: This isn't Tuchanka. I should be allowed to indulge."
 * Poor Communication Kills: Art constantly neglects to tell Tali about her loyalty mission. Predictably, he very nearly loses Tali's friendship during the course of events on the Rayya. They manage to make up before the mission ends. The whole debacle has such an effect on Art that he tells Tali (and the rest of the Brotherhood) about almost immediately after.
 * Prince and Pauper: Art and his impostor. Played with as Art wasn't aware that someone was taking his place when the switch began.
 * Public Domain Soundtrack: Believe it or not. The author actually supplied a movement from a Mahler symphony to match a scene in one of the chapters.
 * Pyrrhic Victory: Chapter 18 of Mass Vexations 3.
 * Quit Your Whining: During the Journalist's recruitment, Garrus start to despair when the group finds evidence that she's involved in a series of murders against the Blood Pack. He is promptly given this by Jack.
 * Random Teleportation: It's assumed that this is how the fic begins.
 * Rant-Inducing Slight:
 * Rape as Drama: Jack is not the only one this applies to in the story.
 * Recurring Dreams: Art reveals that he's been having the same recurring dream for two years towards the start of the sequel: he wakes up in a strange hallway, walks down it, finds a door, and then promptly gets attacked by a mob.
 * In Chapter 27, the dream ends up very similar to a deleted scene from
 * Revenge Before Reason: Art's impostor, who tried to ruin the real Art's life for a rather stupid reason.
 * Rule of Fun: Art seems to operate by this rule on some of his trains of thought.
 * Running Gag: Art losing the Game. It becomes a favored method of teasing on Wrex's part, so much so that an Ironic Echo shows up when he tries to coax Art out of his room.
 * It simmers down during the sequel. However, when Art returns to Tuchanka, it returns.
 * Tali's combat drone being destroyed whenever it comes out for a mission. Art even lampshades it in the derelict Reaper.
 * Secret Keeper: Tali eventually becomes one for Art, being the only one to know about Art's secret.
 * Art can never seem to keep his secret from certain people for very long in the sequel; Sturge shows up, giving Art an extra person to talk to, and then in the space of one chapter and Garrus both find out. It gets to the point where Art founds the Brotherhood of Secret Keepers. And then Thane, Kasumi, and Shala'Raan all find out during the course of Tali's loyalty mission. And then Art tells Wrex when the crew is on Tuchanka.
 * Ultimately, he slips up with Shepard.
 * Seinfeldian Conversation: Art has a tendency to have these with himself from time to time.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Wrex and Art, in one case where the two warm up to each other as the fic goes on.
 * They even get a small assosciation reversal after the Family Armor chapter:

"-- And now, the countdown to Mass Effect 2 begins."
 * Sequel Hook: At the end of part 1, Art saves the Citadel. However, he drops plenty of thoughts on what's coming up in Mass Effect 2.

"Jacob: I wonder if animal blood would cut it. Or maybe I could even be a vegan vampire. It would be interesting to see what would- Art: Uh, no, it would not. Vegan vampires are idiotic. I hear that if you're a vegan vampire, you sparkle. Jacob: *beat* You're right, that does sound idiotic."
 * Ship Tease: Quite a bit for some of the less important characters. Of particular note is Al and Jack, as well as Sturge and Chakwas.
 * Shipper on Deck: Art for Kaidan and Shepard. It's played with, however, given that Art mentions several times that he personally prefers pairing fem!Shepard with Thane in the games. He comes to regret it when.
 * Art outdoes this in part two with shipping Thane and Shepard. He's even more enthusiastic about it than he ever was with Kaidan and Shepard.
 * Shout-Out: Oh, boy. There are so many packed in here that your brain would start to hurt if you tried to find them all. Here is a list of the more obvious ones:
 * The Shepard siblings are named Al and Joc. Ironically, the Mass Effect canon provides just as many Mythology Gags for Royal Fanatic's fanfic as the traits deliberately put in by Herr Wozzeck.
 * Art gives himself the name Zevran Aranai while trying to get Wrex's armor from Tonn Actus. Oddly, Art resisted the urge to ask if there was something in his apartment that needed assassinating.
 * Another shout out to Dragon Age comes up during Virmire: one of the salarian cities that Art assigns as squad names is Orzammar. He chooses Jarel Brosca to lead that team.
 * The music shop Tali goes to on the Citadel is named Paul Shar's Music Shop. This is a reference to the Shar music catalogue, which is noteable for being a top resource for players of string instruments.
 * When Art pilots the Mako on Ilos, the entire sequence is portrayed as a very large Back to The Future reference, complete with the use of Doc Brown's catchphrase. It's promptly lampshaded when the Mako crashes on the Citadel.
 * And while he's at it, he executes a near-flawless powerslide.
 * And he makes another Back to The Future reference during Garrus' recruitment mission, when he introduces himself to the Blue Suns mercs as Marty McFly. To sweeten the deal, he gives Jenny McKansa the name of Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer Parker.
 * Art makes a massive reference to Super Mecha Death Christ during Garrus' recruitment mission.
 * What is Art's first weapon in the story? A crowbar.
 * This combined with a Take That is used in reference to Jacob Taylor being a black guy; combine it with some insane Fridge Logic from a Cloudcuckoolander, and the next thing you know Art's linking him to a certain shirtless werewolf played by Taylor Lautner...
 * Brought Up to Eleven when Jacob reveals that he'd rather be a vampire than a werewolf. See the Take That entry below.
 * Pushing Daisies is mentioned (and referenced) a couple of times during Garrus' loyalty mission.
 * CSI: Miami is referenced when Art makes a really bad pun while putting on fake sunglasses.
 * That Guy With The Glasses is mentioned a couple of times, most prominently when Art does an impression of the Ask That Guy videos.
 * Art brings up Ludicrous Speed at one point when referring to Mordin's typing speed.
 * Owing to it's cube shape, he affectionately dubs it the All-Spark.
 * Whenever a Brotherhood meeting is called, they do it in code based on references to something. These are the codes they have used so far:
 * A four-sentence structure laced with references to four very different movies of Mel Brooks.
 * Another four-sentence structure laced with references to the three main ballets of Stravinsky's Russian period (The Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring.)
 * A meeting is called with Star Wars references about how Darth Vader could be considered the hero of the story. It becomes hilarious when you realize that it's called during the AFD chapter and you realize that "Art" didn't actually know he was calling a meeting.
 * A rather large, spoilerific reference to Tales of Symphonia.
 * Two of the memes that were brought into popular circulation by the Nostalgia Critic.
 * During his speech to the admiralty board, he calls them all Muppets a lá Gordon Ramsay.
 * Art references Captain Falcon twice: the first comes during Tali's loyalty mission when he commands Kasumi to use her punch move on a geth, and the second time comes when he headbutts Uvenk.
 * And of course, Art usually finds a way to work in song lyrics from various musicals/musical movies into his trains of thought. Popular songs for him to use have come from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and West Side Story, though he has referenced other songs on occasion. (Beauty and the Beast even comes up at one point.)
 * A blonde guy with a British accent turned out to be Garrus' partner pre-fic. It sounds familiar to a lot of people...
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: At one point when taking control of a Collector, Harbinger is interrupted in the middle of his memetic 'assuming direct control' speech... by Grunt ramming into the Collector in question.
 * Happens again during Lair of the Shadow Broker, during
 * Significant Birth Date: Art mentions his new birthdate in the epilogue of part 1. It's used mainly to demonstrate how integrated into the Mass Effect universe he's become at that point.
 * Small Reference Pools: Heavily and gleefully averted throughout.
 * Socially Awkward Hero: Art, when it comes to romance. Sure, he can give big speeches and take down bad guys without breaking a sweat. But any situation referring to romance (and especially Tali)? Gets incredibly nervous. Justified in that he had never been in a long-term relationship before coming to the Mass Effect universe.
 * Something They Would Never Say: According to anyone in the Mass Effect universe, at least: when Tali comes to convince Art out of his catatonic sadness, they get into a brief argument, during which Art accidentally lets slip that.
 * Spared by the Adaptation: Mass Vexations 3 has already gone through the cure the Genophage mission and Mordin is still alive afterwards.
 * Spin-Off: Mass Vexations: Redemption is a mix of type 1 and type 11.
 * Spotting the Thread: Kaidan doesn't buy into Art's made-up backstory all that much after Feros, and he gets good at this. Fortunately for Art, Kaidan sees that he means well regardless of how much of the truth he's omitting and thus doesn't Pull the Thread on Art as is usual for the trope.
 * It's important to note that  And keep in mind, this is without Kaidan knowing that.
 * Straight Gay: Will Moskas from Mass Vexations 3. Also, his husband Nadeire.
 * Supporting Protagonist: Art tells the story of Mass Effect from his POV as a member of Commander Shepard's team. Art is even left behind on a few missions while Shepard advances the main story.
 * Played further when he gets a loyalty mission.
 * Suspiciously Apropos Music: Art and Tali go to a karaoke bar on their first date. And on this first date, Art ends up singing Some Enchanted Evening and Tali gets to sing I Could Have Danced All Night.
 * Take That: Given the Author Filibuster nature of some of Art's ramblings, there are a few of these scattered throughout. The two most prominent are a long internal monologue decrying a troll that attacked most of the Kung Fu Panda fandom and Armond White being compared to a Reaper during Art's second Crowning Moment of Awesome.
 * Mass Vexations 2 has take thats to Tommy Wiseau and Eric Douglace. And then there are several to Twilight that are spoken to other characters that fly right over their heads:

"--And I cue the Rocky-style montage!"
 * The Talk: Given to Art by Mordin, in a much more awkward way than in the game.
 * Talking Appliance Sidekick: An interesting variation comes up towards the end of part one.
 * Tempting Fate: Art mentions how it's a good thing that Jack can't activate the casual sex scene dialogue because Shepard is a woman early in the sequel. Eight chapters later, he gets the casual sex scene dialogue.
 * Chapter 24 of MV 2: "I think I'll be the first to shoot myself in the face should I ever be unfortunate enough to encounter a chase in a fucking taxi while I'm here."
 * The last line of Chapter 35 of Mass Vexations deals with the crew being called to Aite, where the Project Overlord DLC takes place. Art hadn't played through it, and he believes the mission to be a very simple one to shut down a VI. He actually ends the chapter on "What's the worst that could happen?"
 * Textual Celebrity Resemblance: Ethan Sunderland, who is compared to Shia LaBeouf.
 * The Chosen One: Art, much to his chagrin.
 * The Name Is Bond, James Bond: Done in Tonn Actus' mission when Art introduces himself as Zevran Aranai.
 * And then done again during Garrus' recruitment mission in part 2 when he introduces himself as Marty McFly.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: This, combined with World Of Cardboard, constitutes
 * The Stations of the Canon: Played with. Not a whole lot seems to change with his presence. Art is given a few hints that he does have the power to change things by simply being there (see For Want of a Nail above). However, the basic story missions are still there, and they still mostly go according to how Art remembers them.
 * An important thing to note is that it's actually justified at one point: Art attempts to make the events at Virmire occur as close as they did to the actual game while being in the place of Kaidan in the hope of steering Shepard's decision towards what it could be in the game so that he can get caught in the blast and get sent home.
 * This Is Unforgivable!: Art to Gavin Archer near the end of the Overlord chapter.
 * This Loser Is You: Art doesn't always excell at everything. He actually has to learn how to use firearms, injures his instructor very unintentionally at one point, very nearly gets his ass handed to him by an asari commando on Noveria, and is not exactly a stand-out member of Shepard's squad by any means. He doesn't get biotics, either. Probably his only advantage is that he can learn how to handle firearms quickly. That said, he doesn't stay this way for too long...
 * Throw It In: The referral to the MacGuffin as 'the orange paperweight' throughout the fic was actually spurred after a reviewer comment referred to it as such.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Art takes several by the time he gets to Virmire.
 * The cincher comes even before he leads the salarians when Art stands up to a krogan who is aiming a shotgun in his face. After having cast his weapons to the ground.
 * Transplant: Happens to
 * Also,
 * Training Montage: Not really given the medium, but Art does more or less lampshade a possible scenario for a montage.
 * Training Montage: Not really given the medium, but Art does more or less lampshade a possible scenario for a montage.
 * Training Montage: Not really given the medium, but Art does more or less lampshade a possible scenario for a montage.

"-- It's going to be Tali's form of siha, I'm sure of it..."
 * Trapped in Another World: Art, obviously.
 * Trying Not to Cry: The entire reason Art locks himself in his room is because he doesn't want anyone to see him cry. Also, because he doesn't have to tell anyone his origins that way.
 * Two Lines, No Waiting: In part three, the story splits into two narratives after : the one follows Art and the crew of the Normandy on their typical adventures trying to unite the galaxy against the threat of the Reapers, and the other
 * Twofer Token Minority: Nogond'Viraliz, gay biotic quarian not from the Fleet.
 * Unlikely Hero: Art, a musician with no military training, is dropped into the events of Mass Effect and becomes a member of Commander Shepard's elite team. Adapts surprisingly well.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Art flies into one after
 * Use Your Head: Art headbutts Uvenk instead of Shepard.
 * Weirdness Magnet: Ethan Sunderland, full stop.
 * Wham! Episode: Art's loyalty mission.
 * Chapter 39: We learn the exact circumstances that brought Art to the Mass Effect Universe, and they're much worse than Art thought.
 * Chapter 4 of Part 3. That's all that needs to be said.
 * Chapter 18 of Part 3. All that really can be said is that Tali gets hurt. Badly hurt.
 * Wham! Line:
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Let's just say that Art creating a Conveniently Unverifiable Cover Story was bound to create numerous instances of this at some point or another.
 * Garrus, Wrex, and Shepard don't take to finding out Art knew everything about what had been happening for the past two years all too well...
 * Tali also doesn't take too kindly to Art not saying anything about It's also a case of Poor Communication Kills when you consider Art had intended to tell Tali, but . And It Got Worse when she finds out about
 * This trope pretty much kicks Art around throughout a large part of the sequel after . Among other things:
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue: Inverted in part 2 with a pair of paragraphs of 'where are they now' towards the end of the prologue.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Art has an acute fear of heights. It's mentioned towards the beginning of Thane's recruitment mission. Sure enough, it comes back to bite him in the ass when they're fighting on the bridge towards the end of the mission.
 * World of Cardboard Speech: As given by, it's more like a World Of Cardboard Lecture.
 * Write Who You Know: Art, obviously,
 * You Are Not Alone: Tali comforts Art after by hearing his actual backstory and giving him a long hug.
 * You Are the Translated Foreign Word: Art mentions in the prologue of part 2 that when he met Shala'Raan, she referred to him as Tali's hesh'alan. It slowly transforms into a Running Gag where Art gets frustrated that no quarian in the vicinity will tell him what it means.
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue: Inverted in part 2 with a pair of paragraphs of 'where are they now' towards the end of the prologue.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Art has an acute fear of heights. It's mentioned towards the beginning of Thane's recruitment mission. Sure enough, it comes back to bite him in the ass when they're fighting on the bridge towards the end of the mission.
 * World of Cardboard Speech: As given by, it's more like a World Of Cardboard Lecture.
 * Write Who You Know: Art, obviously,
 * You Are Not Alone: Tali comforts Art after by hearing his actual backstory and giving him a long hug.
 * You Are the Translated Foreign Word: Art mentions in the prologue of part 2 that when he met Shala'Raan, she referred to him as Tali's hesh'alan. It slowly transforms into a Running Gag where Art gets frustrated that no quarian in the vicinity will tell him what it means.

"Kasumi: I mean... a yo momma joke? Really? Art: Yes, really."
 * He eventually does find out what it means:
 * Art eventually starts calling Tali a translated foreign word of his own, using "querida" as his chosen word for her.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: Art ends up separated from his family, friends, sense of home, and even his way of life thanks to winding up in the Mass Effect universe. A large part of the fic is subsequently spent wondering about what happened to everyone he ever knew, and wondering what could have been. A very big part of the Virmire mission is also him hoping he'll go home, too,
 * Part of his wondering if he'll ever see his friends again is mitigated in the sequel when.
 * Your Mom: Used against Zaal'Koris when they go to the Fleet. The extremely poor taste of Art's insult is lampshaded by Kasumi soon after:


 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: