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{{work}}
'''''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5833881/1/Mass_Vexations Mass Vexations]''''' is a [[Self Insert]] fanfic set in the ''[[Mass Effect]]'' universe written by
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 [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6228253/1/Mass_Vexations_2 here]. Mass Vexations 3 is also out and can be found [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7309142/1/Mass_Vexations_3 here]. It also has a spin-off featuring several other characters in [http://nordronnoc.deviantart.com/gallery/36491128 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: ===▼
▲
* [[A Day in
* [[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 [[The Matrix|Trinity]].
* [[Alien Arts Are Appreciated]]: Wrex starts making Art lose {{spoiler|[[Schmuck Bait|the Game]]}} with surprising regularity when Art introduces it to him. Also, Garrus mentions liking [[
** This goes to the point where Wrex {{spoiler|introduces The Game to ''all of Clan Urdnot''.}}
** Also occurs with Thane in the sequel, when it's revealed he's fond of Baroque and Romantic music.
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* [[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]]:
{{quote|
* [[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 [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|CMoA's]] he racks up below. [[Took a Level
* [[Batman Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Art attempts to pull this almost on the spot to make sure he dies at Virmire. Unfortunately, Shepard goes for him instead of Ashley.}} 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 [[Wham! Episode|Virmire]]. {{spoiler|[[Your Princess Is in Another Castle|Unfortunately...]]}}
* [[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.
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* [[Bizarrchitecture]]: In Art's recurring dream in part two; the hallway is all sorts of this, including a table. {{spoiler|And then inside... he finds his apartment, with the edges of it pulled up into a donut hole and with very strange gravity.}}
* [[Black Comedy]]: A few instances pop up.
{{quote|
* [[
* [[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]]: {{spoiler|The Game}}. 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 [[God of War (
** In every case, it's turned out to be foreshadowing: {{spoiler|1=it turns out that the Fade exists in the ME universe, and it behaves much the same way. As well, [[Dragon Age|Teryn Loghain]] and [[God of War (
* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: From Art's [[Dream Sequence]] in the sequel.
* [[Catch Phrase]]: "Jesus Christ on a pikestaff."
** May or may not have an [[Precision F Bomb Strike|F-Bomb]] or a "Goddamn," to denote emphasis.
* [[Character Development]]: See [[Took a Level
* [[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.
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* [[Christmas Episode]]: The seperately-published oneshot [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6575279/1/Christmas_Vexations 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.
{{quote|
'''Garrus''': No I don't, apparently. Because I don't know what you're talking about.
'''Art''': That's kind of the point. }}
** 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.
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* [[Cultured Warrior]]: Art, even if all of his cultured qualities are about a hundred and seventy years behind everyone else. {{spoiler|And especially since some of the things don't exist in the Mass Effect universe...}}
* [[Curse Cut Short]]: After the last time Wrex makes Art lose {{spoiler|[[Schmuck Bait|The Game]]}}, Art starts a swear line; it cuts to the next scene before he can even get in the first word.
* [[Cut His Heart Out
* [[Dance Party Ending]]: The sequel.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Ethan Sunderland.
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** It's played a lot more extensively in MV2; {{spoiler|Garrus' squad survived with only three casualties, and Sidonis doublecrossed the mercs that would have killed Garrus' squad to save them. All because Sidonis fell in love with an ardat-yakshi-- the very same one that would have committed suicide during the prologue [[Butterfly of Doom|had Art not talked her out of it]].}} As you'd predict, it completely changes the tone and objective of {{spoiler|Garrus'}} loyalty mission. And then Art's presence is enough to do a couple of other things; for one, {{spoiler|Kal'Reegar is no longer the only survivor of Tali's recruitment mission}}. And for another, {{spoiler|Tali's father survives her loyalty mission.}}
*** Perhaps most interestingly, however, is that he eventually finds himself in a situation that could lead to a loyalty mission. {{spoiler|The thought terrifies him, however, and it's when he first finds this out that he tells Tali of his fears.}}
* [[Freaky Friday Flip]]: With John of [[
* [[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.
{{quote|
'''Art''': Yeah, I understand. I understand that you're nothing but a [[Wangst|whiny]], [[Magnificent Bastard|manipulative]] little [[Attention Whore|attention]] [[Troll|whore]] [[We Could Have Avoided All This|who can't just leave things well enough alone]]! }}
* [[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.
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* [[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 {{spoiler|Vigil}} to stop time to give some exposition at certain points.
{{quote|
* [[Grumpy Old Man]]: Sturge has traces of this.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: Art goes into one in Virmire {{spoiler|after Shepard orders him to call Joker over to the AA Tower, thus sparing him instead of Ashley.}}
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* [[Info Dump]]: Chapter 39 of the sequel.
* [[Insult Backfire]]:
{{quote|
'''Art''': Thanks. [[It's What I Do|It's one of my many specialties]]. }}
* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Between {{spoiler|Madison}} and Garrus, Thane and Shepard, and Art and Tali.
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** 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 [[Unresolved Sexual Tension|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. {{spoiler|Art eventually admits to himself that his feelings for Tali go far beyond friendship-- and it takes [[Poor Communication Kills|nearly losing said friendship]] for him to realize this.}}
** [[Relationship Upgrade]]: Art and Tali ''finally'' admit their feelings for each other in Chapter 23 of the
* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Tela Vasir kills Maelon right after Mordin spares him.}}
* [[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.
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* [[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.
*** {{spoiler|Vigil}} manages to shed some light on the object: {{spoiler|it's a [[Priceless Paperweight]] designed by the Protheans. It was also kept in a Reaper for 50,000 years to build the ability to repel indoctrination. It's also capable of doing other things. Vigil}} 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 {{spoiler|the housing of the spirit of an ancient Prothean diviner. See [[Talking Appliance Sidekick]] below.}}
** It also has properties that aren't revealed until the sequel: {{spoiler|it can find other objects that Art needs to carry out what he needs to so he can save the galaxy.}} It brings to mind the question of {{spoiler|what else the Protheans have planned for Art, in addition to making it clear that there is more than one [[MacGuffin]] that Art needs to find.}} 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 {{spoiler|a kind of [[Dream Weaver]], especially when combined with the second [[MacGuffin]]; it's implied and then outright stated that the one gives Art the same recurring dream for two years, and the other makes him far more lucid in that dream.}}
* [[Medium Awareness]]: When Garrus refuses to give the identity of the Journalist away, it's lampshaded in the narration as thus:
{{quote|
* [[Mental World]]: {{spoiler|The Fade is a combination of someone's base subconscious and a shared dreamspace.}}
* [[The Mentor]]: Sturge to Art in the past. Whether the old man will take this banner up again is yet to be seen.
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* [[Mock Millionaire]]: {{spoiler|Art's impostor.}}
* [[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 [[The Angry Video Game Nerd
* [[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 {{spoiler|to mend their friendship after the 'stupid fucking krogan' insult after Virmire}}, the krogan doesn't listen to him. So [[Hit Me Dammit|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 {{spoiler|splits the salarian STG team up when he could have managed to get through the geth with the whole team together so he can force Shepard's hand and get himself to die. That fails, unfortunately.}} [[What the Hell, Hero?|Shepard calls him out on it during debriefing]] in addition to {{spoiler|his insubordination prior to Art calling up Joker.}}
* [[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 {{spoiler|Art is the first three leters of his six letter first name, some google reasearch can give you an approximation of his actual real name, Hint: look to the [[Mists Of Avalon]]}}.
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* [[Pensieve Flashback]]: {{spoiler|Orange pulls Art into one of these so he can witness his death in his home universe.}}
* [[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
{{quote|
* [[Plot Induced Stupidity]]: Whoever built the warehouse that Art snipes {{spoiler|Tarak}} at in part 2 forgot to install a window pane in one of the windows. It's mercilessly lampshaded when Art finds this out:
{{quote|
* [[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 {{spoiler|Legion, and the truth of the geth}} 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.
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* [[Random Teleportation]]: It's assumed that this is how the fic begins.
* [[Rant-Inducing Slight]]: {{spoiler|Art's [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] during his loyalty mission is triggered by his impostor casually commenting on how neither of them could have expected things to turn out the way they did.}}
* [[Rape
* [[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. {{spoiler|It may have some significance with Orange and the All-Spark; the All-Spark makes this dream more lucid, and he's able to get past the door before the mob can kill him.}}
** In Chapter 27, the dream ends up very similar to a deleted scene from {{spoiler|[[Heavy Rain]], complete with drowned child. And then it ends up serving the exact same function it did, as well as tipping off Art that Scott Shelby is once again the Origami Killer.}}
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* [[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:
{{quote|
'''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''': [[Exact Words|This isn't Tuchanka.]] I should be allowed to indulge. }}
* [[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. {{spoiler|As well, Orange's true nature is revealed and the mystical elements are introduced, meaning there is a lot of room for development to occur in the next installment.}}
{{quote|
* [[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
** 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]]: [[Reference Overdosed|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 [[Once Upon a Shooting Star|Al and Joc]]. Ironically, the [[Mass Effect]] canon provides just as many [[Mythology Gag
** Art gives himself the name [[Dragon Age|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 [[Meaningful Name|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 [http://www.sharmusic.com/ 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 [[Mario Kart
*** 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 [[The Angry Video Game Nerd
** What is Art's first weapon in the story? [[Half Life|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 [[Twilight (
*** 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
** Art brings up [[Spaceballs
** {{spoiler|Art finds a second [[MacGuffin]] on the Collector ship.}} Owing to it's cube shape, he affectionately dubs it the [[Transformers|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 [[Spaceballs
*** 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 ''[[
*** Two of the memes that were brought into popular circulation by the [[That Guy With
** During his speech to the admiralty board, he calls them all Muppets a lá [[Mean Brit|Gordon Ramsay]].
** Art references [[Super Smash Brothers|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 (
** A blonde guy with a British accent turned out to be Garrus' partner pre-fic. [[Masses to Masses
* [[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 ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|ramming into the Collector in question]]''.
** Happens again during Lair of the Shadow Broker, during {{spoiler|Tela Vasir's death scene.}}
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* [[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 {{spoiler|after Virmire}}, they get into a brief argument, during which Art [[Wham! Line|accidentally lets slip]] that {{spoiler|he knew Ash was going to die before he ever met anyone on the Mass Effect crew}}.
* [[Spared
* [[Spin-Off]]: [http://nordronnoc.deviantart.com/gallery/36491128 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 [[Subverted Trope|as is usual for the trope]].
** It's important to note that {{spoiler|during debriefing after Virmire, Kaidan is the first person to jump to Art's defense after Shepard's [[What the Hell, Hero?]] speech. He says he doesn't trust some of Art's information, but that he still trusts Art himself because according to Kaidan he 1) somehow knew that the events of Virmire were going to happen, and that 2) he tried to make sure that ''he'' was the one who died, not Ash. Thus, Kaidan reasons that Art only has the best interests of the crew of the Normandy in mind.}} And keep in mind, this is without Kaidan knowing that {{spoiler|Art saved his life by suggesting that Shepard keep him close to her no matter what happens}}.
* [[
* [[Supporting Protagonist]]: Art tells the story of Mass Effect from his [[Point of View|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 [[South Pacific|Some Enchanted Evening]] and Tali gets to sing [[My Fair Lady|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 [[Bias Steamroller|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 (
{{quote|
'''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. }}
* [[The Talk]]: Given to Art by Mordin, in a much more awkward way than in the game.
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** 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. {{spoiler|It just ends up not being ''his'' decision when everything unfolds as it should and Shepard has to make her choice.}}
* [[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, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|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, [[Took a Level
* [[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
** 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''. {{spoiler|Granted, said krogan is Wrex, but still, it's incredibly brave and pretty awesome, especially when you consider that it helps to save Wrex from his [[Final Death]] before Virmire.}}
* [[Transplant]]: Happens to {{spoiler|Ashley, who ends up joining the cast of [[
** Also, {{spoiler|[[Heavy Rain|Madison Paige and Scott Shelby]].}}
** {{spoiler|[[Fallout: New Vegas|Ethan Sunderland]], even if he did get to the universe in a different way from the others.}}
** {{spoiler|[[Dead Space (
* [[Training Montage]]: Not really given the medium, but Art does more or less lampshade a possible scenario for a montage.
{{quote|
* [[Trapped in Another World]]: Art, obviously.
* [[Trying Not to Cry]]: The entire reason Art locks himself in his room {{spoiler|after Virmire}} 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 {{spoiler|Shepard's arrest}}: 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 {{spoiler|follows Shepard's trial from the point of view of her defense lawyer, Will Moskas.}}
* [[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 [[Took a Level
* [[Unstoppable Rage]]: Art flies into one after {{spoiler|Shepard goes to him on Virmire.}}
** {{spoiler|Art and [[Papa Wolf|Rael'Zorah]] both fly into one when they find out what happened to Tali in Chapter 18 of the third story.}}
* [[Use Your Head]]: Art headbutts Uvenk instead of Shepard.
* [[Weirdness Magnet]]: Ethan Sunderland, full stop. {{spoiler|Justified in that he's not really from the Mass Effect universe.}}
** {{spoiler|Also, he has the [[Fallout: New Vegas|Wild Wasteland]] trait.}}
* [[Wham! Episode]]: Art's loyalty mission. {{spoiler|All goes reasonably well until they get to the end. They find the impostor looks almost exactly like Art, and after enough provocation he finally flies into a rant in which he spills the beans about the truth of his origins... in front of Shepard, who had been out of the loop until that time. She doesn't take it well.}}
** Chapter 39: We learn the exact circumstances that brought Art to the Mass Effect Universe, and they're ''much'' worse than Art thought.
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* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: As given by {{spoiler|Art when he tells the rest of the ground team after Jacob tells}}, it's more like a World Of Cardboard Lecture.
* [[Write Who You Know]]: Art, obviously, {{spoiler|but a man the author knew IRL gets transplanted into the story as well.}}
* [[You Are Not Alone]]: Tali comforts Art after {{spoiler|Virmire}} 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.
{{quote|
** He eventually does find out what it means: {{spoiler|Rael tells Art that it means 'captain of the soul'.}}
** Art eventually starts calling Tali a translated foreign word of his own, using [[Gratuitous Spanish|"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, {{spoiler|before Shepard keeps him from doing that. And then it's revealed in the sequel that even if he had died at Virmire, it wouldn't have sent Art home, as he was [[Dead All Along]] in his home universe.}}
** Part of his wondering if he'll ever see his friends again is mitigated in the sequel when {{spoiler|Sturge shows up as a character}}.
* [[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:
{{quote|
'''Art''': [[Cloudcuckoolander|Yes, really.]] }}
* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: {{spoiler|Art with the Virmire mission. He's said goodbye to the entire crew, he's bracing himself for dying by nuclear explosion... and then Shepard goes for him. It was obvious, though; the orange paperweight was still mysterious, and there were still a few loose ends about Art's speculation on Mass Effect 2.}}
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Troper Works]]
[[Category:Mass Vexations]]▼
[[Category:Fanfic]]
▲[[Category:Mass Vexations]]
[[Category:Mass Effect/Fan Works]]
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