Mass Vexations: Difference between revisions

* {{spoiler|[[Amoral Attorney]]}}: 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.

{{quote| '''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.}}

* [[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.

* [[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 In Badass]] indeed...

* [[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.

* [[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 {{spoiler|Garrus' squad survived with most of its members still living.}}

* [[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.

'''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.

* [[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.

* [[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.

* [[Dynamic Entry]]: Art pulls off a decidely [[The Dark Knight Trilogy|Joker-esque]] one (complete with Shotgun) when returning to Tali's trial from the Alarei {{spoiler|with Rael'Zorah}}.

* [[Early Bird Cameo]]: {{spoiler|Tela Vasir, of the Type 1 variety.}}

* [[Expy]]: Eltarn and Sawrik are basically {{spoiler|[[Heavy Rain|Ethan and Shawn Mars]], except as turians.}}

* [[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.

* [[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 {{spoiler|Madison}}, though.

** It is played straight, though, in that he still has to figure out that {{spoiler|some composers don't exist in said universe}}.

** 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.}}

* [[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| '''[impostor]Art''': You'd understand, right?<br />

** It's parodied when Art finds out how old Tonn Actus is.

** Art kind of goes into one upon finding out that {{spoiler|Garrus' squad is still alive}}.

* [[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 [[You Fail History Forever|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.

* [[Insult Backfire]]:

{{quote| '''Ashley''': You take things too literally.<br />

* [[Interspecies Romance]]: Between {{spoiler|Madison}} and Garrus, Thane and Shepard, and Art and Tali.

* [[It Only Works Once]]: Because {{spoiler|killing him}} didn't stop {{spoiler|Scott Shelby from killing children}} the first it happened. {{spoiler|Art catches on to this, and instead of killing him manages to work things so Scott is arrested by C-Sec.}}

* [[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.

*** {{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.}}

* [[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.

* [[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]]}}.

* [[Oireland]]: Played with by Jenny McKansa. The physical qualities check out, but most of her mannerisms and her background go against the trope. {{spoiler|And then it's more or less played straight with her brother Gregor.}}

* [[Old Friend]]: Sturge to Art, in more ways than one.

* [[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]]: {{spoiler|Orange.}}

* [[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.

* [[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. {{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.}}

** 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 (Theatre)|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 (Disney)|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. [[Masses to Masses (Fanfic)|It sounds familiar to a lot of people...]]

** Happens again during Lair of the Shadow Broker, during {{spoiler|Tela Vasir's death scene.}}

* [[Significant Birth Date]]: Art mentions his new birthdate in the epilogue of part 1. It's used [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|mainly to demonstrate how integrated into the Mass Effect universe he's become at that point]].

* [[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 By the Adaptation]]: Mass Vexations 3 has already gone through the cure the Genophage mission and Mordin is still alive afterwards.

* [[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]].

* [[Straight Gay]]: Will Moskas from Mass Vexations 3. Also, his husband Nadeire.

* [[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.

* [[Textual Celebrity Resemblance]]: Ethan Sunderland, who is compared to Shia LaBeouf.

* [[The Chosen One]]: Art, much to his chagrin. {{spoiler|1=To be fair, though, it's not played totally straight: Vigil does say that his role can be taken up by anybody not of the ME universe, it's just that [[Jumped At the Call|Art was the first one to come across Orange.]]}}

** And then done again during Garrus' recruitment mission in part 2 when he introduces himself as Marty McFly.

* [[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. {{spoiler|It just ends up not being ''his'' decision when everything unfolds as it should and Shepard has to make her choice.}}

* [[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 In Badass|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.

* [[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.

* [[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 In Badass|surprisingly]] well.

** Chapter 4 of Part 3. {{spoiler|Shepard gets arrested.}} 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.

** 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... {{spoiler|'''''Especially''''' not Shepard.}}

** Tali also doesn't take too kindly to Art not saying anything about {{spoiler|her loyalty mission.}} It's also a case of [[Poor Communication Kills]] when you consider Art had intended to tell Tali, but {{spoiler|[[Cannot Spit It Out|couldn't find the words with which to tell her]]}}. And [[It Got Worse]] when she finds out about {{spoiler|her father; Tali basically punches Art and tells him she never wants to speak with him again.}}

*** {{spoiler|Zaeed also doesn't take the news particularly well, such that he tries to pin the events of his loyalty mission on Art not saying anything. Ironically, it results in pretty much the only moment of What The Hell Hero after Art's loyalty mission that ''isn't'' directed at Art.}}

*** {{spoiler|Hell, even Jenny doesn't take it entirely well, and with good reason: her brother is one of the colonists that got taken away, and Art pretty much hid what he knew of their fate from her. And when he finally tells her what might have become of her brother, she starts flinging ''repair tools'' at him.}}

* [[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.}}