Mystery Science Theater En Masse (MST 'EM)
Obviously inspired by the cult TV series "Mystery Science Theater 3000"
"Yes, they encourage writing. They just don't encourage you to
write like this."
Four groups of four are forced (or not, depending on the season) to read and riff fanfics, advice articles, and opinion columns. Most of them are terrible, but only a select few are actually good. Keep your eyes out for those little gems that are few and far between. There's a basic story on each page that summarizes the current situation, but you can feel free to imagine what each member may be doing when s/he is not riffing.
Here are the current groups in question:
The Egg Spiral members can hold their punches, but only
up to certain points. On the fanfic spectrum, they often get the typical odd
Mary Sue or Gary Stu fics with mostly decent grammar. Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose
seem to lead the way, but Sonic's siblings, Sonia and Manic, often steal the
show in the series' (allegedly) calmest group.
The Black Crow members are usually harsher than the Egg Spiral by
default, so their fics often consist of bad grammar, formatting, and/or
spelling... and they almost always deal with a Mary Sue or Gary Stu to boot. This group is
led by the only guy in the group, Kyo LeMaire.
The Neo Esaka members are prone to riffing incredibly terrible fics that contain explicit material. This group is lazily led by Kyo
Kusanagi... and technically led by his scene stealing best friend, Benimaru
Nikaido. (Note: This group is not present until Season 3.)
The Crazy Train members mostly deal with "Anti-Riffings" and the
occasional article. However, they might riff a Mary Sue or Gary Stu fic from time to time. Mai James, the lone
lady of
the bunch, leads this foursome. (Note: They also debut in Season 3.)
The Riffer Recruits tend to handle the fics and articles that the
first four groups don't want to deal with. (Note: The four riffers that make
up this group appear in different riffings in Season 5, but they don't appear as
a whole until Season 6.)
Also, here's a little key to understand the numbered riffings:
M - This is the number of the riffed item. I like to keep
track of what was riffed in order. For example, M11 means that this is the
eleventh episode that was being worked on. Keep in
mind that M will follow one of these numbers or letters:
Any number between 2 and 7 - The minimum amount of riffers needed to
snark on anything is set at two (because one is a lonely number, you know).
Seven is the maximum for a regular "episode". This usually happens when any
random riffers snark on the material. (Note: This begins in
Season 4.)
A - Indicates a riffing by the Egg Spiral
(Sonic, Sonia, Manic, Amy).
B - Indicates a riffing by the Black Crow
(Kyo L., Miyu, Jessie, Cassy).
C - Indicates a riffing by the Neo Esaka (Kyo K., Benimaru, Emi,
Keiko).
D - Indicates a riffing by the Crazy Train (Mai, Axl, James, Rory).
E - Indicates a riffing by the Riffer Recruits [highlight the text in
parentheses for the spoiler] (Tails, Akiko, Miyuki, Tomoko).
S - This indicates a "Special", where eight people riff on the
item of question at the same time. They're normally set to two groups of four,
but eight random people can still do the deed. These are usually
saved for odd special occasions or the worst of the worst.
SS - This indicates a "Super Special" or a "Movie", where every last main riffer
is present for at least one whole part. These are saved for very lengthy fics.
(Note: The first movie happens after Season 6. Movies only occur between
seasons.)
Also, I will usually not riff anything that has a well-known MSTing, like "My Immortal", "Agony In Pink", or
"Celebrian". Why? Because my riffings can't compare to the ones that have
lasted longer than my own material. The whole point of this series is to mainly introduce
"new" badfics (and a few good ones) into the MSTing circle. Yes, I
will mainly stick to this rule, but that doesn't mean that I won't riff a few
fics that have already had the MSTing treatment.
Now it's time to pick your season:
Or maybe you'd like to select something quickly? Don't care about who's riffing what? Then head on over to the Episode List if you want to jump to something and avoid all the kerfuffle. The warnings for any fics in question are also there and in the riffings themselves as a precaution.
Also: This is "MST 'EM"
Want to know how "MST 'EM" works? Want to know what the writer and editor's
fandoms are? Go click that link if you feel like it.
Once again, no money is being made off of this. All of the fics and articles are owned by their respective authors. "Mystery Science Theater En Masse" is simply pure entertainment and nothing more. And writers? If you (somehow) find your work here, you should keep in mind that you can't throw a temper tantrum or pull a Meyshi, because you did post your works on public locations for everyone to read... and in the case of fanfiction writers, used copyrighted characters in your fanfic to boot. Long story short, if you didn't want it to be critiqued in any way, whether it's via a MSTing or a constructive review, you shouldn't have posted it on the Internet.