Megatokyo Campfire Story

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Nine here: this story is one where I participate, and since there is enough tropes and story, I supposed it would do well with a page here (although the Clans should've had theirs first).

This page is to describe the Megatokyo Campfire Story, for lack of a better name, set up in the MT Forums, specifically the SD Fanworks section, known for being? well, out there and quite different from normal people.

This story started out innocently enough as a single thread created by xp194, one of the forumgoers, describing it in the first post as "Chinese whispers with a plot" and that it took place in the world of Megatokyo.

From then on, all bets were off.

The story quickly got large in more ways than one, incorporating stuff from all genres and all tastes, where the forumgoers put themselves in as Author Avatars alongside the original MT characters, and essentially started chaos.

After a while, people began to set everything into a plot where the forumgoers were trapped in MT as their forum personas; the story was usually spearheaded by the unofficial GM, Grimblaze, who also set up the wiki for this story, which has reached 140+ pages across four separate threads, not including the Christmas spinoff (only two more pages, but still?). The core of the story is Tom Johnson (aka Grimblaze) working against the Norse gods in some sort of prophecy involving Destruction or something along those lines (Needless to say, it's quite complicated).

There is now a "sequel" of sorts, subtitled "School Days", incorporating some characters/elements from the first, but mostly starting over from scratch, making it easier for new people to drop in; there is also a cap on powers/abilities. The plot is also (mostly) controlled by Grimblaze: the local high school now finds itself under the control of one Grigori Rasputin, who decides to mold the schoolchildren into his personal army as part of his return from power; there are many 'specials' with notable talents attending the school as well, some who will have to fight against "Rasp-sensei's" minions?

Tropes used in Megatokyo Campfire Story include:

If it's a critical plot element, it's in spoilers. Many of the original tropes from Megatokyo still apply, along with these:

• Author Avatar: A newer character to the First Campfire, Logan, appears to be an Avatar of Author Avatars.
• All Just a Dream? ?Or Was It?
• Author Appeal: How else would you explain the variety of characters found in the story?
• Sdrawkcab Name: Close, but a bit off; "Enam Resu" = Username
• Back from the Dead: B. Katarn.
• Badass Normal: The Australian Mercenary Patrick; despite his lack of powers he is a terrifying enemy to have against you... And sometimes with you.
  • Well, he's survived being hunted by a squad of gunmen who left him for dead in a burning warehouse, an assassin who was quite a bot more equipped than him, taken on a squad of fifty yakuza, annihilating them with superior tactics, though he almost died then and had to magically healed, has proven to be a quite brutal hand to hand opponent, volunteered to be bait against yet more yakuza, got the crap beaten out of him in several bar fights, had a gun on Dom from Sega of all people and survived that, got attacked by Smith in giant deamon wolf form and WON, has been personally marked by Jack the Ripper for immolation, and just recently went on a nigh suicide mission with John into a Yakuza controlled nightclub with some deep dark secrets to save a pair of students. He failed apparently, but those Yakuza ain't gonna be a problem no more.

Oh, and he spat on the floor in front of a Youkai who had set him and his team up to fail, and constantly questions the Youkai's integrity and honour. Said Youkai has access to a rather large CIA-esque agency. Who can see a bloodbath!

• Bazaar of the Bizarre: Saxon's House of Guns. Also a Little Shop That Wasnt There Yesterday
• Becoming the Mask: sort-of happens during the cosplay duel between Hatsu and 'Zero', as people 'become' the characters whose costumes they were wearing.
• Berserk Button: Don't call Brigid middle-aged.
• Big No: Tech Knight, upon learning reality-warpers had caused all the coffee to loose flavor.
  • Which is actually a Crowning Moment of Funny considering the next action:

... .. . . adds sugar*

• Cannot Spit It Out: Ryo only admits his love for Brigid when he realizes that at least two people know already. Unfortunately, she rejects him.
• Canon Immigrant: Teddy-Werebear and Tangent from their fight thread, GrimmNomad from the "Miho-Thrall Rolecall" thread. Hatsuharu and mistersaxon within Campfire 2.
• Cast of Snowflakes
• Catgirl: Several: the invented owner of the club "Cave of Evil" her daughter, and various characters such as Brigidwho are given the ability to become them at will.
• Cerebus Syndrome: You know it's happened when Cthulhu shows up.
• Continuity Nod: An orbital creme pie hits Tokyo, making a nod to a previous thread involving a rather incredible pie-fight between Tangent and Teddy Were-bear, two of the storytellers that near destroyed Chicago.
• Continuity Snarl: Exemplified with a quote found in a OOC moment in Campfire 2:

Hatsuharu: ?no one could keep up with the first Campfire, not even the participants.

• Cool Ship: Suicidal Insanity and the Incredulous.
• Cosplay Otaku Girl: Hatsu is a strange example of a cosplay otaku guy. In a disturbing twist he's also able to undress and redress people at the speed of light, often in the interests of Fan Service.
• Creepy Twins: Invoked when any pair of twins (i.e. Jin/Ser, Lifinia/Isari) talk at the same time (which creeps Ryo out, even when it happens between him and Ryoko)
• Dead Fic (at times)
• Defeat Means Friendship: B. Katarn. After his proper defeat and destruction of his base courtesy of Ryo, he's thought dead but then Enam Resu comes in. After a time, he finally gets around to the 'Friendship' part? only to have to give himself up to save the rest of them from an Evil Twin of sorts. Might also qualify as a Deadly Change-of-Heart
• Empathic Weapon: Brigid and Hatsu both carry them, apparently styled after zanpakuto at first glance. Kiyo, Maldrul, Gabriel, and Smith N. Wesson in Campfire 2.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He refers to himself as "the fellow", but people call him "Ryo".
• Expy: Several: B. Katarn happens to look like Cless, Ryo happens to look like Kyon, Hatsu like, well, Hatsuharu.
  • There's an AU version of Lifinia found within Campfire 2, and Kiyo (Campfire 2) does show shades of similarity to Ryo from the first Campfire as well?
• Future Badass: Enam Resu, actually the eight-year-older version of B. Katarn, who's Badass in his own right.
• God Modders: Throwing moons at each other. Usually followed by a reset.
• Half-Identical Twins: Jin and Ser, Lifinia and Isari, Ryo and Ryoko, the last seeming almost intentional?
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Lifinia in both iterations.
• It Only Works Once: Ryo using the Campfire Key to get into B. Katarn's lab, to fight him and save Brigid
• Kill'Em All: Brigid Katarn.
• Last-Name Basis: Katarn until right before he logs out permanently.
• Opposite Gender Clone: Ryoko. Who she's a clone of should be obvious (and technically, she's from another dimension, so it might count as a Distaff Counterpart as well?).
• Our Angels Are Different: Two cases, with Ser and Lifinia once she Ascends.
• Paper Fan of Doom: Brigid's weapon of choice. Also transforms into a Hyperspace Mallet. She finds out later that it has a personality and is actually a she.
• Playing with Fire: Hatsu, upon obtaining Natus Flamme.
• Power Armor: Tech Knight and Saxon wear different varieties. TK's is apparently a Swiss Army Weapon.
• Reality Warper: The 'storytellers', although this ability is ignored or relinquished in later Arcs. Is invoked in a conversation between Ryo and Hatsu.
• Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Jin, Ser, Lifinia and Isari.
• Reset Button: Several used; one even involves Ragnarok. Actually are a main point of the plot. The most recent reset started everything all over again.
• Revenge: The whole point to everything B. Katarn does up until after his battle with Ryo.
• Round Robin, except there are a couple or rules to be followed: it has to go with the story, and some understanding of the story needs to happen. Difficult, since there appears to be Continuity Snarl? The medium does lend itself to equal amounts of Throw It In and Canon Discontinuity, along with heaping helpings of Retcon.
• Split Personality: Tom, but each project outside of him, and each is actually a part of Tom's own personality (Ego, Id, Superego, and a couple more)
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: The Story was originally meant to be about the MT characters themselves, but it quickly and almost permanently changed to focus on the storytellers.
• Stable Time Loop: All time travel with the exception of Brigid Katarn.
• Tarot Motifs: The Aces are used as weapons that grant total control and mastery of each of their elements to their respective King/Queen. They are: Jin (Air), Isari (Water), Lifinia (Earth), and Hatsu (Fire)
• Trust Password: "Pudding".
• Tsundere: Brigid shows shades of this every now and then. Sometimes kicking off the heads of overly familiar robots, sometimes cuddling up with and squeeing over squirrels and rabbits. Could also show shades of Yandere-ism under certain circumstances.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy - Isari in the first; Kiyo in the second, but he acts like a brat.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Brigid fairly frequently. Understandable considering the genre keeps changing and she really can't tell if she's The Hero, the Sidekick, or (gag) the Damsel in Distress.
  • To be fair, she's been each of them at least once before.