Title: Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario

Author: Ze Dybbuk

Category: Super Smash Bros

Genres: Comedy/Crack

Rating: T

Chapters: 4

I must say a brief word first to those who do not know what a crack fanfic is. A crack fanfic, almost always a comedy, is a fanfic that defies logic, one which often includes the craziest of settings and situations that would be deemed absurd even for the very series the fanfic is written for. Crack fanfics are easy to write and brimming with humour but are often weak on description, have miss-presented characters, and lack both grace and intelligence. Ze Dybbuk’s four chapter work on the other hand is a genre breaking crack fanfic that is fleshed out to the fullest and is layered with intelligence.

Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario is the first in the Fatty and the Kid series, otherwise known as the Fluff series, and stars Ike and Pit as its central protagonists. The story starts by introducing us to the focal character, Ike, who since being knocked out of the current season’s tournament has put on weight, a lot of weight. He was eating his chicken as per usual when his roommate, the completely insane Pit, storms in upset that he lost in a cut-off match against Lucario. It seems though this loss had inspired Pit though as he now believes Lucario is an unspeakable evil plotting something with his cohorts, Mario and Wario (deduced from how their names all end with ario). Pit drags the reluctant Ike into finding out what the Cult or Ario are up to and amazingly enough Lucario, Mario and Wario are plotting a sinister scheme. Along with Link and the Ice Climbers it is up to the dynamic duo to find out the cult’s scheme and put an end to it. I’m serious, that is the plot to this story.

First off, do not let the ridiculous plot fall you into thinking someone simply decided to write a bunch of random things with no correlation and publish it as a story, everything bit of plot details fits together and ends up making perfect sense by the end. It is amazing how such a thing is done, but even minor details are clues as to how all of this will end and what exactly the truth behind the Cult of Ario is. Such a thing is even mentioned by Pit in chapter three when he says “it’s very disturbing how well it all fits.”

The writing in this fanfic is top quality. Descriptions are vivid but not heavy enough to slow the fanfic down. Details are to the point and allow the story to continue without hindrance and word choices are often of a higher standard seen in most fanfics. Any time a poorer spot in writing occurs it is almost always intentional, being a part of the narrative humour. Furthermore, every drop of this fanfic is funny. Every description is either a joke, or something that is building up to a joke. Every character line and action is both purposeful and hilarious, and there are hundreds of references to both the fandom of Super Smash Bros and each series the characters of Super Smash Bros are from. Nothing is wasted as the sole goal of this story is to make you laugh, and I believe it accomplishes it quite well. The intelligent part I often praise this fanfic for comes from its never wasted humour. The setting is one of crack and yet there is logic within the sprawling madness. Jokes lead on to other jokes and events build up to bigger events. Other demonstrations of intelligence come in collaborating of the humour with everything, narration and description are not scrapped to make this fanfic funnier, and they are included to make this fanfic funnier.

My final point of praise (though I shall warn you this is also a major point for criticism) is the characters. Ike plays the typical straight man, an overweight straight man but he plays his role well by being the only character whose sense of logic is exactly the same as the normal person. When things are weird, which is always, he is the one who questions the reality of the situation. Pit plays as the main funny man, being the funniest and most out there character of the entire cast. He does thing on a spur of the moment basis, often drags Ike into whatever problems are at hand, and all the crazy events are either his doing or revolve around him. However Pit’s insanity actually finds its best expression through Ike, the receiver of most of the problems caused by the wacky crack events. Pit’s seemingly illogical ideas begin to make sense through his conversations with Ike and yet he retains the role of being utterly impossible to predict. Interestingly enough, a norm for most crack fanfics, Ike is alone in being the straight man as he is truly the only sane character. Every other character has their own quirks and while Pit defeats them all in performance, they all play brilliant funny men. The closest to straight men other than Ike would probably be Lucario, who goes about his actions as if it normal. For him, the strange events are the norm for this world and thus he is unaffected by the very things that make Ike question reality, but at the same time Lucario does not act crazy one bit.

Criticism is hard to find in a fanfic where every inch is lovable but analysing this story would be useless if I could not find faults to it. First off, while the plot is absurd anyone, the subject is a serious matter but the characters still take it in their stride. The reality of the seriousness of the end result is unfortunately something that is missing and though this is not the type of fanfic that tends to have such elements it would be one that would cause the story to excel. The introduction to the story is also a bit loose, as though this fanfic is the first in the series it does not bother to explain the grouping of the smashers or the first encounters between each of the characters, events that often brought to light in most fanfics which are sadly missing in this one.

I have praised the humour nonstop, particularly it’s wide coverage, however this wide coverage also proves a problem. The drive to make every part humorous has left spots where as a fall back the author has used swearing to create the comedic moment. While it is funny the path the fanfic had been taking was child friendly but those odd moments of cursing, particularly the use of a C-word that us British folks have always considered the worst and most offensive swear word of all ruin this. It may be minor, and it may only occur in the odd spots, but is disappointing to see such talent fall back on foul mouth humour tricks.

Thus the final point of criticism is reach, the characters. While they are funny and used to the best of effects they are not themselves. Many of the characters do not seem to be the characters they are supposed to be and the route which is taken can appear at times to be simply using the characters names and background but adding new personas. This can easily be avoided, simply exaggerating some features (such as Mario’s accent or Navi’s annoyingness) do not change the character, and noting ironic nods (such as having the bearer of courage Link as a coward) is a nod to the perception of the character and thus pays tribute while still fiddling round with how the characters are supposed to be. At times in this fic, other than their names, the characters act nothing like the ones they are supposed to be, or at least are supposed to be based on.

Here ends the analysis of my 9^th favourite fanfic of all time. Fluff and Circumstance or The Cult of Ario by Ze Dybbuk is a crack comedy and the first in the ever growing Fatty and the Kid series of fanfics. It maybe crack but this fanfic is deep and is brimming with astonishing description and detail. It demonstrates the potential of all crack fanfics out there, and proves that though such a writing style maybe easy to make, it takes a true master to polish it to perfection. The reward for this fanfic is an obvious choice, ‘Best Crack fanfic’. Congratulation Fluff and Circumstance of The Cult of Ario.