#makemeleinclusive

[iberiandoctor]

Same-Gender Romances for LE1

This mod allows Ashley and Kaidan to be romanced by both male and female Shepard, utilizing unused dialogue in the game files.

Bringing this across from the Other Place with enthusiastic sanction from @mkhaar , and to the sweet sounds of shrieking from excited Mass Effect fans across the globe!

#SameGenderRomancesForLE1 is out now by #Rondeeno himself. https://t.co/LrHCy867sA Download and endorse! #MakeMELEInclusive #MassEffectModding

[magicrobins]

Make MELE Inclusive Master Post

Petition

Includes a petition, still open for signatures, that currently has over 1,300 signatures from LGBTQ+ fans and allies and comments from both named and anonymous signers explaining why this matters so much to them.

Tag Announcement

Includes a brief description of the goals of #MakeMELEInclusive. The goals have since been widened to include all of the following characters: Kaidan Alenko, Ashley Williams, Thane Krios, Tali’zorah vas Normandy, Jack, Miranda Lawson, and Jacob Taylor. The tag campaign itself is being headed by @mshenko2187, @magicrobins, and @dgcatanisiri as we have combined our efforts after the tag’s announcement was made.

Open Letter

Includes an open letter directed toward EA/BioWare and the Mass Effect leadership team written by the heads of the Make MELE Inclusive movement, with the aid of named and unnamed modders as well as petition signers that wished to stay anonymous.

Tech Write-Up

Includes details of the content currently present in Mass Effect Legendary Edition for each same-sex romance as informed to us by those from the modding community. Includes and explains a tier rating for each cut romance based on how much content is currently present in MELE’s files and thus how much extra work each romance would individually require.

Podcast Response

Includes a detailed response to a podcast interview given by Mac Walters, on EA/BioWare’s behalf, with Vic’s Basement on Electric Playground Network where the question of returning Kaidan’s romance with mShepard to Mass Effect 1 and 2 in Mass Effect Legendary Edition came up. Includes a dissection of Mac Walters’ answer and a detailed response by @mshenko2187 on behalf of Make MELE Inclusive.

To Take Part In The Campaign: Simply use #MakeMELEInclusive on Twitter, where the tag is being primarily used and focused on. For more information on the tag, you may search @mshenko2187, @magicrobins, or @dgcatanisiri tumblrs for “MakeMELEInclusive” or “make mele inclusive” to find out posts keeping the fandom here up to date.

You are also encouraged to sign the petition at the very top if you haven’t already.

Make MELE Inclusive does NOT under any circumstances support attacking or harassing developers or anyone on the MELE creative team. Our goal is to keep the tag as polite and professional as we can while also making our pain and frustration clear. We do not support or condone using our tag as an excuse to personally attack any developer or anyone from the MELE creative team.

Make MELE Inclusive is also only asking for bisexuality to be returned to characters that it was erased from. We do not support the idea of making gay characters like Steve Cortez and Samantha Traynor bi.

[dgcatanisiri]

Tried to make a brief summary of the issues of Mass Effect Andromeda’s handling of queer men and how it relates to why we’re (broad use here) upset with the Legendary Edition failing to provide better representation than the originals, and it kinda turned in to what amounts to an open letter for BioWare.

So, what the heck, here it is.

A little personal background. I spent my high school life completely in the closet. After graduating, I had a new computer and the opportunity to play a new game. The game chosen was BioWare’s Jade Empire. Still a fairly recent release, and I was a big fan of Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, also by BioWare. So, being a young gay man, still uncomfortable and uncertain of who I was, I was very excited when I got to play this game that would allow me to play a gay romance, a romance that featured two men. I burned through two playthroughs of the game within less than a week, enjoying that rush of acknowledgement that yes, gay guys could be the hero. It was a massive affirmation for me at the time, something that said that my sexuality was not going to prevent me from being the hero, which legitimately was a message that I felt like most media was giving me to that point, because gay men barely appeared in anything other than guest roles for an episode or two on a TV show, but certainly not in video games. That game, that experience... I’ve said for years that it had cemented me as a BioWare fan for life.

If I say that now, it is a statement with a few caveats.

The history of the failure of Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2 to provide any male/male romances is well documented. I was excited, very eager to romance Kaidan Alenko in Mass Effect 3. But even then, I noticed that there were things that were lacking in the romance. It was noticeable, for instance, that the basic dialogue between male Shepard and female Shepard was unchanged, if either was starting a new romance with Kaidan. The thing that always felt... WRONG about that was that if I’d had the option to begin a romance with him in the first game, I would have. Yet there’s not even a bit of dialogue that even references that inability, no comment of “I didn’t think you were available,” or anything of the sort, nothing to say that, say, Shepard was interested in Kaidan at the time, but didn’t believe he’d be receptive, didn’t want to damage their friendship, something of the sort. There was even a cut in the romance scene, where female Shepard will sit in Kaidan’s lap before being lifted up and carried to the bed, but with male Shepard and Kaidan, just fades to black. And then in the Citadel DLC, while all the other pairings walked in to the casino arm in arm, male Shepard and Kaidan are leaving plenty of room between them. There’s also the absence of any cuddling as they return to the Normandy.

To say nothing of the lack of Steve Cortez during the story segments of Citadel – he is not part of the big team entrance to the apartment, just spontaneously appears in the lounge room. He doesn’t participate in the briefings, and he is not a casino date, despite being part of the assembled team. Cortez also suffers from the fact that his romance spends so much time on how he needs to move on from the death of his husband, Shepard can come across as predatory towards him, trying to push him out of his grief and his pants. Due to the lateness of his arrival in the story, in game three, as opposed to game one or two, there is significantly less time to establish him as a person – beyond his past as a pilot and the death of his husband, we gain almost no concept of his personality or personal history.

I bring all of this up to help set the stage of what was expected when Mass Effect Andromeda was nearing release. Mass Effect had been full of problems of representation of queer men specifically (not that they were perfect on the count of female/female relationships either, because there’s plenty to talk about there, but as I’m not a lesbian or bisexual woman, I don’t feel comfortable talking about their experiences for them). While there were flaws, Dragon Age, what is often considered Mass Effect’s sister franchise, HAD managed to provide male/male romances in every iteration of that franchise.

In fact, considering that Dragon Age’s most recent installment, Dragon Age Inquisition, had been put out with a lot of fanfare about the first gay male companion, who was considered rather popular in the fandom, and the game itself receiving the Game of the Year award that year, indicating that, if there was any risk in the business sense of providing representation of queer men, it was negligible at most in the bottom line of that game, the attitude of a lot of gay men in the lead up to Andromeda’s release was some variation of “okay, Mass Effect has been flawed, but BioWare’s learned from their past mistakes, and they’re coming off the heels of a hugely successful game that had a gay character whose gayness was front and center in his storyline... We can expect that things will be fine, and we don’t have to worry.” That was the dominant attitude I found in a lot of my queer-oriented spaces.

But we started getting uncomfortable as the developers remained cagey about romance options in Andromeda – there were Twitter responses to “we’re concerned about Mass Effect’s history of gay representation, we would like to know about the options” that came out as “we checked and yep! They’re there!” These responses came across as flippant and even tone-deaf – the reason that the question was being asked was because of prior failures to be included, and not simply a desire to get all the details before launch.

As the trailers started coming out, the questions continued from the fans, and the response from the developers... continued to be uncomfortable. When asked directly for a listing of romances prior to release, the response was that the developers wanted players to learn as they played, that “the fun is in experiencing it!” This was a specific response when it was learned that the romance options could be flirted with regardless of orientation, but they would shut it down. Despite the fact that the trailers DID include content from certain romances – specifically, the male Ryder/Cora and male Ryder/Peebee romances.

This was uncomfortable for a lot of queer players like myself because it spoke to a lack of consideration of what it is like to be queer. In many places, it is a serious question of safety to even put yourself out there to find a partner, to flirt with someone openly unless you are already certain that there is a chance for a positive response. There are places where a queer person flirting with the wrong person can get them harassed, assaulted, even killed for doing so. Even in the safety of a virtual construct of video games, these are honed instincts that queer people have developed. And no matter how many times we would say this to the developers, no one seemed to understand. Likewise, the fact that the trailers felt free to show off heterosexual romances, but not queer ones felt... questionable.

Then, finally, firm details started coming out, and... There were problems. Early data-mining said that there was an even split of romances between orientations. But there was a bit of discomfort around the reveal that the gay characters, Suvi and Gil, were limited to the ship, rather than being companions who would accompany Ryder on missions. There is a history of companions being given more involved storylines and involvement than secondary characters. It also didn’t help the disappointment from queer people who’d been eager for Cora or Liam as romances, who were firmly established as straight (Cora herself had a popular lesbian following).

That discomfort increased when it came out further that, ACTUALLY, Jaal would not be available for Male Ryder. This caused a lot of upset. Now it was a case where there was NO M/M squadmate romance option. This on top of the group of fans who were uncomfortable with the idea that, in a sci-fi series, gay men couldn’t romance an alien, while this had become a staple of the series, considering Liara, the character from a species described as equivalent to Star Trek green-skinned Orion girls, had been available for straight men and lesbian/bi women from ME1, and straight women got in on the act with Garrus and Thane in ME2, on top of straight men also getting Tali.

This got worse when the achievement listing for the game was released and there was an achievement for “romancing three different characters.” Meaning that it was absolutely impossible for a gay man to play the game and get this achievement without playing a sexuality other than his own.

This is why I led with my experience with Jade Empire, why it was so affirming to me. Because to hear all this, ten years later, to see what had been so affirming to me a decade prior be functionally dismissed, be shown to take a secondary position at best... It hurt.

And the game proper did not help that feeling at all.

So first we meet Gil Brodie. Engineer of the Tempest. One of the first things we learn about him is that he has a close friendship with a woman named Jill. And then he immediately tells us that one) she is a fertility specialist, and two) she “says [he’s] part of the problem” because he won’t have kids the natural way. This is immediately setting off red flags to me – I can think of plenty of my friendships where we give one another grief for various things, but I would never think of introducing any of them to someone else with that fact. So my reflexive thought in this situation is “what kind of a friend is this really?”

And then, as the game goes on... This is the only thing that Gil’s conversations involve, the prospect of having kids. We do not learn much more about him, just have him talking about considering the idea. The lock-in for his romance requires Ryder to meet Jill, who Gil again says that she will talk his ear off about his “civic duty” to reproduce, a fact that makes those earlier red flags wave higher and more furiously, because who DOES that to a total stranger? And this is passed off as being “charming.” This leads to the culmination of the romance, where Gil says that Jill has decided she wants to get pregnant and she wants Gil to be the dad.

There’s... A LOT going on here, so let me work through this. First, one of the few things Gil says as a bit of establishing his character is that he is impulsive, that he joined the Andromeda Initiative, the journey from the Milky Way galaxy to the Andromeda galaxy without really thinking through what it would mean, that it was a one-way journey with no way to back out once he’d gotten there. So this is already saying to me that this is not a person who really SHOULD be a parent, at least at this point in his life.

We also get a couple of emails from him in-game that paint him as putting in thirty-six hour workdays into the engines on the Tempest, that he cares about and puts a lot of time into those engines. So when I think about him as a father, I see him having to give up something he’s deeply passionate about to do it, because the Tempest is certainly no place to raise a child – they can’t exactly put a playpen in the cargo hold, for example.

This would be one of the first things that I would think of as a discussion element, but... it’s not there. All that we get is a couple of casual comments about how Gil should know that bringing a child into the world is a big thing, something that shouldn’t be done lightly. But this is framed as Ryder questioning Gil’s fitness to be a parent at all, rather than questioning if he’s thinking this through and having considered this enough to be ready to take on this responsibility, or if it’s even something that he even wants.

Because that’s the other big thing here – this is not Gil’s idea. This is not something that he makes clear is his desire. No, it’s Jill who has decided that she wants to get pregnant and use Gil’s sperm. For all that he matters in this whole thing, he might as well be a turkey baster. He’s basically an accessory in his own story, because he goes in to this with all the passion of a math equation: “The Andromeda Initiative is a colonization effort. Therefore, the idea is to have babies. Therefore, I should find some way to reproduce.” This isn’t him having a passion or desire to have kids, just it being “something you do.”

This is, genuinely, a failure to understand the character who was being written. Gil’s writing reeks of having been written by someone who does not know what they are talking about. There is an element to the gay experience that is not innate but learned. When we realize that having children is not a thing that will just happen, that if we want this to happen, it will require a lot of additional steps, there are many who will simply say “this isn’t for me, this is more work than I’m willing to put in to for this.”

Now, Gil could have been someone who had decided it was worth it, but that butts up against the idea of him being impulsive, that he doesn’t think things through. There is no time given to focusing on the reason he decides this is the right choice for him, to the point that many players felt that this was not Gil’s decision but something that Jill was pushing, that she expected him to jump on her command. Because we have so little of Gil, as a character and an individual, but plenty of him talking up her, this “friendship” feels toxic to many.

Just about everyone I have ever spoken with about Gil is deeply uncomfortable that literally, the only way that he will not have a child at this point is if a romanced Ryder stops him – if I am playing a game where I don’t romance him, I actively just stop interacting with him at a certain point so that this never comes up, because this does not come across as happy. It comes across as forcing a gay man into a heteronormative experience to satisfy some traditional idea of “man and woman, raising kids.”

And, as the cherry on top, if you do tell Gil that you’re not comfortable having kids – a very real thing, whether gay or straight – then, unlike other romances, Gil and Ryder do not share a kiss at the finale of the game. And, during the last conversations on Meridian, the only thing Gil even brings up is Jill being pregnant, whether or not it’s his child.

This is what “representation of gay men” amounted to in Mass Effect Andromeda. A homophobic story that was about a gay experience written by someone who is not a part of this community and does not know or understand the experience personally, going through the motions of development when really, all that is cared about is the end result. To say that most of the gay men I know who have played this game find this homophobic is to undersell the point.

It doesn’t help that, of all the Tempest romances, Gil also clocks in with the least amount of romance exclusive material – a few flirts, the romance lock in and scene, and being able to stop Gil from having kids. Other than that, his friendship and his romance are virtually identical.

Speaking of, the romance scene consists of a make out session that fades to black, before coming back in with Ryder and Gil, shot from about shoulders up, briefly wrapping up their conversation that preceded the fade to black. This is noteworthy when the heterosexual romances between Ryder and their human love interests, as well as Peebee and Jaal, the former having a similar body model to naked human women, just blue, and Jaal, who is naked at other points in the game, have much more involved romance scenes – Cora’s in specific received special attention.

All of this, individually, may have just been reflective of time crunch and other external pressures – we all understand the realities of game development, that for all the ambitions that go in, when the deadlines are nearing, something has to give. But taken collectively... The kindest question is to ask why all of the “give” happened in regards to the gay man?

The end result with Gil honestly feels like he was written in response to the bad faith arguments that had come up in the period after the name for the game was revealed and it was made clear that the game would follow a colonization effort. There were a contingent of people who said that “there shouldn’t be gay people coming along, a colonization effort needs to reproduce.” This is a bad faith argument from homophobes, trying to justify why they don’t want gay people in “their” games. In answering their question, the question they only “ask” in order to explain why they don’t want to have gay people in the game without saying that, it comes across as catering the gay content for a heterosexual audience. It should go without saying that this is a bad position to take.

So, that’s Gil. What about Reyes? Well, Reyes himself is bound to a single planet, which, again, points to a minimizing of how much content he will even get, since his content can only be accessed on this single planet. Likewise, Reyes, as a character, is someone who falls in to several old, tired tropes with regards to bisexual men – he is a shady, untrustworthy character, in this instance literally a criminal, meant to be evocative of the “dashing rogue” archetype. This is a characterization that has often been BioWare’s go-to with regards to bisexual men, because we see this archetype drawn on in Jade Empire’s Sky, Dragon Age Origins’ Zevran, Dragon Age 2’s Anders, and even elements exist in Dragon Age Inquisition’s Dorian (even if he is a gay man). It’s a well that BioWare has frequently tapped when it comes to a romance option for queer men, to the point that it starts to feel like BioWare in general believes that this IS what queer men are.

There’s also the questionable portrayal of Reyes that leads to a description of the trope “the depraved bisexual,” an explicitly bisexual character who uses sex and sexuality as a manipulative tool, that they treat others as simply there to be their toys. Over in Dragon Age Inquisition, one of the romance options was specifically NOT made bisexual in order to avoid this trope, but Reyes himself seems to be a candidate for that trope all the same.

All this, and, again, the romance options for gay men were unequal to those for everyone else. This prompted the campaign #MakeJaalBi – Jaal was, notably, the character initially assumed to be the bisexual male companion, and on release, his romance was heterosexual exclusive. But datamining revealed that there was code for him to be romanced by male Ryder. Indeed, on release, it was noteworthy that Jaal could not even be flirted with by male Ryder. Liam had a distinct turndown for male Ryder, a couple of them, depending on when Ryder flirts with him. Jaal had no such turndown.

And this worked. BioWare released the patch for Andromeda that gave Jaal a bisexual romance. However, this was the only change that Mass Effect Andromeda received in regards to the issues of the romances before support for the game ended. While it was seen as an improvement, it was also questioned why this was the only change, when... Well, I spent the better part of two pages outlining the problems of Gil’s portrayal.

(I feel I would be remiss to not mention there was also a character, Hainley Abrams, who would, upon interacting with her, proceed to deadname herself to Ryder, as if that is the only way to establish that a transgender person is trans. This was also changed in a patch after the trans community complained, and, in conjunction with the above, led more than a few people to wonder if the Andromeda script had been looked over by any queer sensitivity readers, given the earlier issues with Gil. This does go out of the scope of everything else in this discussion, but it is worth mentioning.)

When Mac Walters says players will talk about how Shepard is each of theirs, that every individual player approaches Shepard as being “their” Shepard, he isn’t wrong. He says the characters, and the relationships we have with the characters is the heart and soul of the series, he isn’t wrong. And yet... When I play the trilogy, my heart and soul are being torn apart, because I do not get to see myself in the trilogy. I am not there in this story, at least for two thirds of the way. And in that third that I am there, I feel like I am cared about less than my counterparts who are heterosexual.

The idea that “making” characters available for same sex romance changes them is like saying that there is some inherent difference in a person because of their sexualities. While it’s true that the experiences of queer people does offer different perspectives on matters, it does not fundamentally alter the person, the individual that we are. It does not change our heart and soul. Restoring the bisexuality of characters like Jack, Jacob, Ashley, Thane, or Tali is not changing who they are. Making Kaidan bisexual in ME3 did not change who he was, and restoring a romance between him and male Shepard in ME1 would not change him either.

Every game has some cut content surrounding queer content specifically, and a great deal of that content is specifically for gay players like myself. I said at the beginning that I once thought of myself as a BioWare fan for life, but that now comes with caveats. The caveats are pretty simple – while the games produced by BioWare once felt affirming, now they feel like they’re only grudgingly allowing me to be there. That if I must be there, I should just take the scraps I’m given and be content with that, rather than being treated as an equal.

I like to think that this is not the message that the people at BioWare wish to impart to their players. I like to believe BioWare’s statements of wanting to be an inclusive and welcoming environment for their players, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, orientation, whatever identity and label one chooses. But based on the experience of the last four games, of the Legendary Edition perpetuating the homophobia of over a decade ago... I have a hard time believing that.

BioWare games once made me feel like I was equal to the straight heroes across my media. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that way about their games anymore. Not when, after having the opportunity to restore the bisexuality of Kaidan – of multiple characters, really – in the Legendary Edition, I am still being told that offering representation for people like me is something that only comes grudgingly.

And if that’s what I see now... What does it say about what the future of the franchise will offer? If every game in this series involves fighting for content that, in particular, heterosexual players will see offered as the rule, what motivates me to want to continue to be invested and involved in this franchise?

[magicrobins]

Make MELE Inclusive

Hi! Are you frustrated that Mass Effect Legendary Edition didn’t fix the trilogy’s problem with bi erasure? Are you frustrated that characters like Kaidan, Jack, and Jacob are still without their bisexuality (Kadain’s still “straight” until Mass Effect 3 after all!)?

Do you remember how a group of fans got together when Mass Effect Andromeda launched and we campaigned on Twitter to get Jaal’s bisexuality returned to Andromeda? Do you remember how it took time but in the end, we were successful? Guess what? We can do it again!

Returning Kaidan’s bisexuality to Mass Effect 1 and adding it to Mass Effect 2 is the least BioWare and EA can do but this is the LEGENDARY EDITION so we shouldn’t stop at asking for just one character. Jack is a canon bi or pan woman who is only romanceable by male Shepard - that needs to change. Jacob was going to have a mlm romance but that was cut - that needs to change.

If they want this remaster to be truly legendary, they need to do right by their LGBTQ+ fans and gamers who have been the backbones of their fanbases for far too long now all the while getting shafted by the representation in Mass Effect games.

If you’re interested in taking a stand and making a change, I encourage you to use #MakeMELEInclusive on Twitter! I was there from the start to the end of the Make Jaal Bi movement. I assure you we can do this! We simply have to stand together! Let us remind BioWare and EA that even with Jaal’s bisexuality returned, we have never stopped watching them and we will hold them accountable! Let us remind them that bi representation still matters!

And while you’re at it, consider signing this petition (link).

I’ll keep you updated on any news here like I did during Make Jaal Bi.

I believe in us and I believe we can once again make a change that matters! 💕

[magicrobins]

Update on #MakeMELEInclusive

Both Jennifer Hale and Raphael Sbarge have liked Tweets for #MakeMELEInclusive!

Just like with Make Jaal Bi, we are assuming voice actors cannot directly address the tag and our campaign due to contracts with EA/BioWare. During Make Jaal Bi, Tom Taylorson (voice of male Ryder) liked Tweets with #MakeJaalBi to show his support for us! This is a good sign, I’m sure!

It’s understandable if you don’t want to get your hopes up yet, I totally get that! I just wanted to keep everyone in the loop as we continue to fight for all the bi romances cut to be returned to MELE. 💜

[magicrobins]

Make MELE Inclusive Spotlight: Jacob Taylor

Let’s take a look at one of the seven characters who we’re asking to have their sexuality and same-sex romances returned to them with post release patches (or patch) for Mass Effect: Legendary Edition!

Starting with: Jacob Taylor! 💖💜💙

(original twitter thread found here)

Jacob is a human biotic and former Alliance marine that joins Cerberus. He’s the first black man to be a companion in a Mass Effect game and is one of the first companions recruited in Mass Effect 2. If he survives the Suicide Mission, he even reappears in Mass Effect 3.

In both Mass Effect 2 and 3, he is romanceable by a female Shepard only, however he was originally going to be a bisexual man, romanceable regardless of Shepard’s gender. Unfortunately his same-sex romance was cut before the game was launched. (source)

Like the other six romances that we’re asking for, there remains content for Jacob’s same-sex romance in the files of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Unfortunately Jacob has the least amount of unused same-sex romance content within the remaster’s files.

The first minor flirt between Jacob and a male Shepard is accessible to modders. This means that in order to finish and patch it in, Jacob’s same-sex romance would need the most work out of the romances we’re asking for. (source)

There’s also the issue that Jacob’s romance is one that cannot be continued in Mass Effect 3 due to his story within the game. Now we behind Make MELE Inclusive are aware of all of this. We are aware that Jacob cheats on Shepard in Mass Effect 3. We are aware that as much as we would love for that aspect to be changed, it is highly unlikely. We are aware that returning his bisexuality to him walks the thin line of the Bisexual Cheating stereotype/trope.

But Jacob is still an amazing and complex character.

The fact of the matter is that we are aware of all of these and yet we are still asking for Jacob’s bisexuality and same-sex romance to be returned to him with a post-release patch to Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. We are aware of all of this but Jacob still matters and is worth the fight.

Even with how his romance ends in Mass Effect 3, Jacob’s romance in Mass Effect 2 is beautiful, sweet, and romantic. And we recognize that m/m players deserve the chance to experience his romance with their Shepards as well.

It would also make Jacob the first (and so far only) bisexual black man in Mass Effect. That is powerful representation. That representation matters.

Because we are aware of how much work is needed for Jacob’s same-sex romance, we want to make it clear that we don’t care how long it takes. We want the Mass Effect team to be able to complete and reinstate his same-sex romance in whatever time frame is best and healthiest for their employees. We don’t want anyone to be forced to work unhealthy hours or undergo crunch in order to patch in Jacob’s bisexuality and same-sex romance.

Around 1,750 people as of this moment agree with us that Jacob Taylor matters and the representation he was meant to be matters. (source - still available for signatures)

Choice matters so much in the Mass Effect franchise and all we are asking for all of us to be given the choice and chance to romance Jacob in Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.

Like the other six romances we’re asking for, Jacob Taylor matters. His fans matter and the representation he was meant to be matters. He matters enough for us to ask BioWare to make Mass Effect: Legendary Edition inclusive.

We with Make MELE Inclusive want to work with BioWare, not against them.

For more information on Make MELE Inclusive, please check out our Master Post.

[magicrobins]

@pathfinderlittleduck replied to your post “Update On #MakeMELEInclusive...”

Legit never would have finished Andromeda if bi Jaal didn’t exist. I have friends who flat out refused the LE because of the lack of bi Kaidan.

Also do you have links to the tweet thread so I can share that as well

Oh def! I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done if they hadn’t returned Jaal’s bisexuality to him. I had already owned Andromeda at the time because I’d preordered it. I definitely think I wouldn’t have enjoyed Andromeda as much as I do if Jaal wasn’t made bi again.

And honestly I’m one of those people who are refusing to buy MELE. With the continued biphobia and homophobia -gestures to how Kaidan is the only love interest that doesn’t walk arm in arm with mShep in the Citadel DLC-, I can’t justify spending my money on it and I honestly don’t see what’s so “legendary” about it considering it’s still the same problematic bi-erasure that EA and BioWare served us years ago.

I’m not sure which tweets or threads specifically you’d like links to but I do have some I’ve made bookmarked!

This is the tweet Jen liked - her and Mark have also since linked the reply @mshenko2187 made to this tweet!

This is the tweet that Raphael liked.

Both, regarding the threads, only liked the first of my tweets in those threads so idk if they read the rest, esp. since RIP the one Raphael liked is pretty long LOL (I felt bad about the length).

There’s also this informational (kinda rant-y, I apologize ahead of time) thread I made prior to MELE’s launch.

And this is a tweet where I use two visuals (the original pic was made for use during Make Jaal Bi but I have edited it to fit Make MELE Inclusive) to show what the representation in MELE currently looks like vs. what it could look like if they listened to us.

Hope that helps! 💜

[magicrobins]

Make MELE Inclusive Update 2

Shortly after I tweeted and @’d Mac Walters and Jay Ingram asking to know whether or not we’ve been ignored or muted, I got a notification that Jay liked a retweet I had done. The retweet wasn’t related to Make MELE Inclusive but considering he doesn’t follow me, the fact that I got notified for it means he was viewing my profile which I think makes it safe to assume that Jay at least hasn’t muted us and we are still showing up in his notifications.

Often times the employees of EA and BioWare can’t outright address campaigns like ours without permission from EA/BioWare - or at least this is what we assume due to the nature of contracts - so just like we did back with Make Jaal Bi, any sign we can get that they are at least seeing our tweets and seeing our words, our feelings, our pain; well we take what we can get and use it as fuel to keep on fighting for what is right, fighting for better representation.

Check out Make MELE Inclusive’s master post here.