#commander shep

[bioshvcks]

I feel like miranda lawson, who by far has one of the most interesting character arc’s and relationship with shepard gets really overshadowed both by the fans and the narrative in lieu of other more familiar character’s or LI’s but -

there is something so powerful about watching the dynamic between shepard & miranda evolve over the second game especially. 

like, there’s this woman who dedicated years of her life to shepard from scratch, who knows what it is to be moulded and manipulated and shaped by others now having to do the same to this complete stranger versus shepard experiencing a lot of what miranda went through (including both physical modification & emotional manipulation) -

there’s miranda, who’s struggled her whole life to be perfect and ended up badly damaged, and there’s shepard, who’s struggled their whole life to overcome damage and ended up a hero, and it would’ve been so easy to make miranda a minor villain or antagonist for those reasons (reminscent of clone-shepard in the citadel dlc) but!! they didn’t!!

I don’t know, it’s like the complete antithesis to the kind of frankenstein-esque framework that their relationship could have potential for? instead of how something like that could be damaging or unbalanced (as the “traditional” take would be on it), it’s about how the two of them help each heal and become humanised and equals instead. 

I always wished we got more of shepard’s struggle with dying & being resurrected, but I think they channel it instead through a lot of shep’s relationship with miranda, and in some ways it’s so much more rewarding. 

[illusivesoul]

“Everybody knows you can’t dance, Shepard”

[bioshvcks]

we remember the sin of femshep’s black party dress and we do not forgive

[bioshvcks]

Never heard a complaint. Never once got “No, sir. I can’t do that.” She never hesitated. Few people know what Shepard’s been through. I’d like to think I come pretty close. And I worry sometimes she forgets: there’s a whole bunch of people who lose sleep over her getting back home. Maybe it doesn’t need to be said. Maybe we’re too dumb to say it. Soldiers like the Commander are rare. Women like Shepard… even more rare.

[bioshvcks]

2 8 and 14 for the mass effect asks :D

2. Share a screenshot of your main Shepard:

I WISH! I can’t unfortunately I had to uninstall a whole bunch of games recently bc they were slowing down my computer too much which includes the mass effect trilogy....I was going to replay soon and reinstall them but for now I guess I’ll just describe my shep? I always play as femshep so female, dark cropped hair (that she eventually grows out by me3) w brown skin and green eyes (I have two mains that I can never decide who’s my MAIN main bc I love them both but. my other main femshep is the classic redhead femshep with some scarring and LOTS of muscles.)

8.  Share a headcanon about your main Shepard:

Okay I have two main femsheps (I REALLY CAN’T DECIDE) but no matter what my general feeling towards femshep (especially post-war) that they both share is like. Post-war they both disappear for a bit (once the normandy is home & she’s reunited) to travel & to contemplate survival & just have some peace & quiet (regardless of LI’s and other hc’s).

I have this really kinda specific image in my head of the first shep I mentioned (that one is Jane, the redhead is Valerie - it’s confusing ik) getting stuck on this desert planet (from a crash landing after being reckless or trying to escape someone & getting injured) in this like tiny colony full of (predominantly) Asari and other races.

And there’s this Asari kid that is part of the family that’s helping her heal (they take Jane in bc she gets injured upon impact and she’s still sore & recovering from her injuries during the war as well). And her translator is broken, her ship is down & so are her communications so she can’t really communicate w anyone but this family still takes her in anyway and she starts to learn the Asari language. And she bonds with them all & other members of this tiny town in a literal desert planet that she doesn’t even know what system it’s in, and she bonds esp. with this Asari kid and it’s just like. Forcing her to stop and live everyday life and be surrounded by something ordinary where no one knows her. And after a while and after putting off fixing her communications & ship (bc she could’ve left within days after she healed up if she had wanted to) and trying to decide whether to leave or not, she does. And it’s like a carthasis for her in a way, this forced vacation (bc even when she was travelling she was finding fights and throwing herself into them and being totally stupid).

And I have an idea about how she takes the Asari kid under her wing as the Asari learns human and whatnot and a whole bunch of other stuff (she takes her hunting, there’s a whole bunch of mini adventures and she almost gets the Asari kid killed at one point which forces her to reconsider a lot of Things but yeah.) And the whole point of this journey/detour would be like, not quite dealing w her PTSD but recognising it and who she is and what she wants now that the war is Done.

(And there’s some symbolism about her not having any of her usual armour or anything bc it got destroyed so she is just. Herself. Not the great commander shepard and she can’t communicate who she is and she doesn’t really want to, and there’s so many other factors like her awe at this tiny little planet surviving the war and how these people kept on living and everything. It’s a lot)

THAT GOT SO MUCH LONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED OOPS

14. Is there a squad member you disliked in the beginning, but started to appreciate later? If yes, who and why?:

I had to think about this one for a while

I think the person that comes closest (DON’T CRUCIFY ME) would be Kaidan. I never liked him as a character (and ESP. as a romance) and I disliked him bc he was so boring? And flat? And I still get that vibe from him even now when I replay ME1 and he’ll never be a favourite but I think in ME3 they gave him a lot more character (i.e. they gave him a sense of humour) which made me warm up to him a lot more. I’ll never understand his appeal but yeah.

Ask me more from this list about mass effect !

[bioshvcks]

commander shep means a lot to me as a woman and as a figure in a video game thats very important to me. she goes through hell and she keeps going and she keeps going and she keeps going. she's literally been an inspirational figure for me because she's so strong and so well developed; her character is all about resilience and it's a part of why this series means so much to me

[bioshvcks]

i keep thinking about this post because like? femshepard inhabits a space that was never meant for women, was never even considered. 

and yet, one of the greatest characters in recent video game history, whose female counterpart became just as recognisable who, for a lot women, became about empowerment for them. 

and it was by simply being allowed to exist.

it was just having the option of being able to play a woman, by just being allowed to be a main character. to be unsexualised. to occupy a space that was meant for a man, and being treated as an equal. it’s both parts wonderful and fucked up. 

[bioshvcks]

bioware devs: say it! say femshep doesn't have muscles!

me, tied to a chair: *spits in their faces* fuck you!