Day 305:

I am still not over Mass Effect 3

I’ve been thinking way too hard about Shepard’s death scene

What if

What if Shepard has actually stayed dead

What if the entirety of ME2 and ME3 is a kind of post-death dream she’s caught in because she can’t move on from the galaxy

Because she regrets not fighting the Reapers any more and so imagines coming back to save the galaxy

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theivorytowercrumbles:

One thing I never commented on in the Omega DLC is that Bray is great. Unfortunately, he gets the title of being the only batarian that got consistent screentime in all of ME3.

So have a screencap of him posing like a dashing model.

consulting-corellian-time-lord:

I am the very model of a scientist salarian…

Thank you to the lovely tankfromvenus for showing me this

There are no words to describe my feelings

Absolutely none

Shakarian one-shot 

“This sucks,” Shepard mutters as she rolls out of cover. Duck, aim, shoot. The moaning husk’s head splatters on the floor and walls of the cave, only for its body to be trampled by the next two creatures who are running towards her. As she shoots again and turns on her tactical cloak, she hears a chuckle on the radio line.

“Which part?” a familiar snarky voice in her earpiece asks. “The one where we’re called as pest control in an abandoned Alliance post or the part about the actual Husk shooting?”

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Dear Mass Effect fandom 

Nyreen

does not

have

breasts

Turians have naturally prominent chests, and Nyreen’s chest seems just like a Turian male to me

You are making a huge debate out of nothing

Nyreen

does

not

have

breasts

This has been a service announcement everyone go home and either boycott or be excited for the DLC

(Note: If she does turn out to have breasts [which I am 99.5% sure she doesn’t, I mean look at the images, these aren’t breasts], I will be the first in line to condemn Bioware but she doesn’t have breasts so that’s that)

Everyone’s making a N7 day post so here’s mine 

About two years ago, while browsing youtube for good video game moments, I stumbled upon the video of a group of fictional characters participating in a suicide mission. The graphics looked wonderful, the cast interesting, the voice acting stellar. Curious, I looked up more about the game, learned its name— Mass Effect. Seeing its stellar reviews, I decided to buy the two first games for my PC. Unfortunately, my computer was too old to support the disks, so after a lot of negotiation with my parents, a deal with my brother to split the prices, and a bargain at my local game store, I bought an Xbox and both games, and finally slid into the world Bioware had created.

I have never come back from that world.

Two years later— I’ve changed. I’m less naive, more mature, more organized, I’ve been through several new fandoms and obsessions, but unlike all the others, this series always haunted me. No matter what change I went though— or perhaps because of that change and how the games accompanied me, I still fell in love with these games every time I popped the disk in the Xbox. To put it simply, I fell in love. I fell in love with the lore and universe. I fell in love with all the little details and NPCs. I fell in love with the characters and story, with the writing and voice acting, with the beautiful graphics and stellar soundtrack.

Most of all, I fell in love with the life of that universe. Since two years, Mass Effect has been a second home to me, its characters as familiar as family or friends, the locations like an old childhood home.

To say it’s been a rocky relationship is to put it mildly. Mass Effect is a far from perfect franchise— its representation of women, PoC, and LGBT people might be better than most games this generation, but it is still very problematic (I’m looking at you, people at Bioware who decided to spend several hours on Miranda’s perfect ass and how it comes into view constantly, but spent five minutes on Thane’s last battle). Further than that, the story failed in many ways, and not just in terms of ME3’s ending.

But despite all that, all three games have so many qualities that even their most gaping flaws (and there are a lot of them) pale in comparison to what Bioware has achieved. I’m an emotional person. I sniffled at Maria’s death in AC:R, cried a few times while watching Doctor Who, but nothing, absolutely nothing has made me sob as much as this franchise. Not just the deaths— so many little things. Tali breaking down when she finds her father’s body, Joker mentioning his sister on a colony planet when you’re aware she was killed by that asari commando, Garrus’ voice breaking as he pleads for you to let him take his revenge so he can sleep at night, Samara losing her daughters, Mordin singing softly as he goes to meet his fate, your LI’s voice as they say they love you and you leave them behind—

You did good, child. I’m proud of you.

It hasn’t been all tears and heart hurting for hours as I curled up in my bed sobbing quietly. It’s also been anger (Eva Harper hurting Kaidan/Ashley), laughter (Blasto and Elcor Hamlet), familiarity (watching James and Garrus comparing their exploits), horror (finding out Project Overlord really was), contemplation (talking to Samara, Vigil, Mordin and all the others), love (Garrus telling my Shepard he’d always have her back), triumph (Beating the suicide mission with nobody killed), despair (Thessia falling to the Reapers) and beauty, so much beauty alongside the ugliness (Vigil playing as the Genophage is cured, I was lost without you and so many others).

I have put so much emotional investment in these games. While technically the series is finished, I relish every piece of DLC and every extra moment of story we have with Shepard and her crew. When the day comes Bioware announces its last addition to Shepard’s story, there is not doubt that I will break down. I am terrified of that day. I am terrified of never hearing Garrus’ snark again, a NPC complaining about his credits, EDI making her terrible attempts at jokes, Shepard’s own grief and belief in a better future. The day Mass Effect— or at least, Shepard’s part in it— ends, I will be hurting even more than I am now.

So while I still can, I want to do something. In this N7 day, where we come together as fans, developers, characters and parts of the Mass Effect universe, I want to offer you all a great, big thank you.

Thank you to everyone in the fandom, whether I know you or not, for being so inspiring, creative, hilarious and open-minded. Thank you for helping shape the games and giving us wonderful stuff like Garrus’ romance or Blasto. Thank you for your devotion when the ending broke our hearts and when you came together as one to demand a new ending for all our Shepards. You are all incredibly brilliant people and I have no doubt that you are my favourite fandom.

Thank you Bioware, for creating such a brilliant series. You have your shortcomings, you made mistakes, but oh, how much you’ve achieved. You have created the finest series sci-fi series in any media. Thank you to the writers for giving life to the characters and making us laugh or cry. Thank you to the animators for breathing that life. Thank you to the voice actors for convincing us with your energy and devotion. Thank you to the people who listened to the fans and gave the feedback to the rest of the team. Thank you Jack Wall, Sam Hulick, Cling Mansell for making the best soundtrack for any series. Thank you all, for the time and attention you have given to these games and to your fans. Bless you all.

And finally, thank you to the people who accompanied me for the last two years. Thank you Mordin, for teaching me the world isn’t always black and white. Thank you EDI, for teaching me what it means to be human. Thank you Illusive Man and Anderson, for teaching me the importance of making the right choice. Thank you Ashley, for being brave and strong when others couldn’t. Thank you, Bakara and Wrex, for inspiring me. Thank you Garrus, for teaching me the meaning of loyalty.

And thank you, Shepard. Not just you, Deborah, or Michael or Martha. Thank you John and Jane and Jillian and Rebecca and Elizabeth and George and Donovan and Akito and all the others. Thank you for making our games so much more personal. Thank you for teaching us your strength, your beauty and how it inspired so many of us to be like you. Thank you for being there, for being us.

Thank you all.

Keelah Se’Lai.