Crackfics, satires, or otherwise humorous stories.
Cultural Differences
by Mini Boss Majoring- Recommended by: Sithking Zero, Gamerex27
- Status: Complete
- Pairings: M!Shep/Tali, F!Shep/Garrus (story switches between the viewpoints of two different Shepards. Romance is NOT the point of this story.)
- Synopsis: One-shots during ME1 and ME2. With several species on the Normandy, it was rather obvious that differences between them would be mistaken at times. Continuing.
- Comments: a more humorous look at some of the ways that humanity and the other races differ. Case in point? The first chapter contains an account of Tali tackling Shepard because she thinks he's trying to commit suicide by slitting his throat with a sharp blade. He was shaving. It only gets funnier from there.
- Gamerex27: I was considering adding this to the recs page until I saw someone else did it first. This is a hilarious story, and every chapter gives a few great jokes and hilarious moments. The characters are also IC to a fault: one could be forgiven for thinking that an actual Bioware employee wrote this.
Fifty Shades of Blue
by Raptor Assassin- Recommended by: Maymei
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: Sordid tales of eroticism from the darkest corners of the galaxy, hot from the most degenerate pages of Fornax. It's pretty much Caligula, you guys. But with aliens. Hot aliens. That are hot. Rated MA for NSFW xenophilic blasphemies that will forever destroy your headcanon
- Comments: Destroy your headcanon, indeed. Took this troper 1 week to look and Shiala or Garrus normally again. The way the author making fun of her own writing style (that she uses in her serious fic) does help, too.
Good Morning Zakera Ward, a Mass Effect Fan Podcast
- Recommended by: HumanTorch2
- Status: Unclear (Somewhere between Dormant and effectively Complete)
- Description: An In-Universe morning drive-style radio program on the Citadel hosted by a human woman and a male turian who are Vitriolic Best Buds. They are joined by an asari Expy of American radio personality Delilah Rene who gives relationship advice at their expense, the volus owner of the radio station in question and his Valley Girl Bratty Teenage Daughter, and gain a salarian Loony Fan / Stalker with a Crush right off the bat. It follows a bunch of civilians reacting to the events of the first game.
- Comments: It starts more or less at the same time as the geth attack on Eden Prime, and has a Female Shepard. Shepard has not been a guest on the show. The first season can be listened to in full here and the full series as of this writing can be found on YouTube via the official channel here.
Infiltrait0r N7
by ranubis- Recommended by: ultimatepheer, ace45ray, owlbot
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: We all know that Legion is deadly in combat. Rumors are he also is a gamer. Let's take a look at his interactions on the extranet...
- Comments: Humorous, and the writer nailed the personality of both legion and the typical FPS player.
- The best thing about this short fic is that it perfectly explains why Legion was able to overturn multiple infractions that it cheated, yet paradoxically accepts an infraction for taunting (for a machine, you'd think it would be the other way around) as according to its Shadow Broker file.
- Of particular note is Infiltrait0rN7: Do you require assistance?
Joker's List
by Made Nightwing- Recommended by: Ghastdream
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: From the summary: The Command Team of the Normandy SR2 are sick of Joker's pranks. They make up a list of 182 things that Joker is no longer allowed to do. Based on Skippy's List, the life and times of a Special Forces Medic.
- Comments: Perhaps not everything on the list are in character for Joker, but it's hilarious all the same. Additions to the list by commentors can be found in the comments section.
- YMMV: If you've read Skippy's list, there's not much new to see here.
- Agreed. If you like reading "Things Mr. Welsh is no longer allowed to do in RPG's," "The Supervillain Checklist," or or Skippy's list, you'll like it because of that. However, this really isn't in character with Joker, or any of the ME characters, really.
Layin' Down the Law
by Nuclear Bacon- Recommended by: Mrtaco6
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: More Crucible trolling, lots of similarities to the fic above. It's a list of 100 things the crew working on the Crucible is not allowed to do.
- Comments: A good fic, similar to other rulefics like 100 Things Commander Shepard's Crew will Mutiny Over and such. Lots of focus on geth trolling.
Mass Effect: Grunt Sticks It In
by Gregg Landsman- Recommended by: Liangnui, USA Bobcat
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Upon deciding that hanging herself out as the cyborg carrot on a stick for the Asari Sex Vampire was not a good idea, Commander Jane Shepard decides to use her varied team of specialists to set an actual trap. In theory.
- Comments: Similar in tone to Landsman's major work, Nobody Dies, this fic is hilarity on par with anything in this category. Special moments include Tali's reaction to LSD, Thane playing tonsil hockey with Aria, and Grunt being the bait for Morinth. And that's not even close to the entirety of the fic's comedy.
- Horngeek: The line that killed me was Morinth not coming out because the Illusive Man is chatting her up.
Mass Effect 3 A Crucible in More Ways Than One
by Sudentor- Recommended by: Wild Goose, Tropulastic, USA Bobcat, Chris54325, GrantMK2, owlbot
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Forget Commander Shepard and Admiral Anderson; being responsible for organizing the construction of a doomsday device with that many zany races and organizations, Admiral Steven Hackett is clearly the true, most long-suffering hero of Mass Effect 3.
- Comments: A very crackfic take on the trials of Admiral Hackett as he supervises the construction of the Crucible, deals with being the Only Sane Man in a fleet of Crazy-cool scientists (and just plain crazy) and tries to keep everyone focused on getting the job done. Highlights include challenging Kasumi to a Touhou duel to keep her from stealing Jacob from Bryn Cole.
- Ahahahaha. I found this to be a very hilarious read. Definitely recommend it.
- Utter nonstop hilarity. Good crackfics are hard enough to find. Good crackfics that still keeps the humor in touch with canon lore is a rarity amongst rarities. There's a reason this is the most recommended Mass Effect humor fanfic on TV Tropes.
Mass Effect: Records of an Irken Defective
by KiwiDayDreams- Recommended by: Kalaong and Navllyk
- Status: Dead
- Synopsis: FemShepard is summoned back to Earth to investigate an... oddity. She ends up adding the saddest, most obnoxious alien invader in existence to her squad. Invader Zim.
- Comments: Start reading and feel something inside your head snap and slide sideways. Jhonen Vasquez's insanity meets BioWare epicness. Even Legion's mind is blown. You get your first hint that not all is comedy when it is discovered that the Reapers turned the Irkens into the Citadel's Keepers. Then Zim is taken back to Irk only to find that the Reapers wiped out his species. Poor Zim.
Mess Perfect
by Epantiras- Recommended by: Borkless, Maymei
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: A brilliant parody comic of Mass Effect poking good natured fun at almost all aspects of the game.
- Now with an in-progress sequel, Mess Perfect 2 (Dead)
- Now with an in-progress sequel, Mess Perfect 2
- Comments: Very funny, featuring a renegade FemShep who does actions most of us only wish were in the game.
- Recommendation seconded by Alynnidalar. This fic is hilarious! Much of it is lampshading the more facepalmy moments of the two games, but there's also the hilarious characterization, humorous side stories (like Shepard's continual hitting on Jack, with painful consequences), and an exaggerated, stylized art style that is perfect for the light-hearted tone of the comic.
My Big Fat Quarian Wedding
by AndrewJTalon- Recommended by: DiScOrD tHe LuNaTiC
- Status: Completed
- Description: Post-Mass Effect 3, where Male Shepard romanced Tali. Shepard promised to build Tali a house on Rannoch, but she's a little surprised to learn he, the soldier with no training in architecture or construction, intends to do it himself. Hilarity Ensues. Later on, Tali enlists the help of several Geth platforms (including one created with input from message board forums) and Kal'Reegar shows up in just his underwear.
- Comments: This is quite possibly the funniest ME story I've read in some time. Imagine The Money Pit if instead of a restoration, it was construction, with wacky hijinks and one Geth whacking another over the head with a pipe whenever it does anything wrong (which is frequently).
One Hundred Things Commander Shepard's Crew'll Mutiny Over
by The Mad Dragon- Recommended by: decoy73, rehberre
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: Shepard's crew, having had enough of some of her antics, has come together to compile a list of things she's no longer allowed to do.
- Comments: Incredibly funny, in character, and forbidding all the things we have done, wish we could do, and then some. Also with shout-outs to other games and movies.
- Seconded. This is awesomely hilarious, especially if you've read Skippy's List. Now has a page!
- Hilarious in Hindsight: 82. We're not making clones of you. The galaxy would shit itself. Funny, because it was before the "Citadel" DLC was released.
Threesome
by Remenants- Recommended by: Anthurak
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: FemShepard, Garrus and Tali get to know each other better. Not what it sounds like! Honest!
- Comments: A fun little one-shot. Won't spoil anything, but quite funny. Any Garrus or Tali fan will enjoy.
A Trail a Mile Wide
by Heuksal- Recommended by: Anthurak, Doctor Worm, Joysweeper, pcy623, Maymei
- Status: Complete
- Synopsis: After destroying the Collector base and saving the galaxy, the crew of the SR2 Normandy go on shore leave. Hilarity Ensues. Pretty much one giant reference to "Banned from Argo" by Leslie Fish & the Dehorn Crew — a song about spacers misbehaving so badly as to become Personae Non Gratae.
- Comments: Basically, Shepard is nursing a colossal hangover while Garrus gives her a whole shopping list of the crazy shit she and her crew has done. A fun read.
- BioWare take note: an interlude like this would be perfect for Mass Effect 3. It would be a great way to develop the characters and a nice breath of fresh air between drama-heavy missions.
- Alynnidalar would like to second the recommendation for this one. It is hilarious!
- Hilarious and in character to boot! The entire piece is so utterly hilarious that I almost didn't realize it, but if you consider both their personalities and the circumstances, everyone's behavior is completely believable! Seriously, someone get this to Bioware's attention pronto!
