Dragon Aspect @thedragonaspect - Tumblr Blog

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Something that annoys me from Mass Effect 2 on is how beauty = goodness.

(Well, really this starts with the batarians in ME1's Bring Down the Sky, but it's clear BioWare was in the ME2 mindset when it was created.)

All of the new species in ME2 that are usually cast as the villains are designed to be repulsive by most people's standards:

-Vorcha are sinewy with their teeth always bared and are in BDSM outfits.

-The Collectors are bugs with the same sinewy/bare muscle as the vorcha. They don't get any clothes.

-The yahg have hollows for eyes and a triangle mouth with their teeth always showing. The Shadow Broker does at least have a nice suit.

While I'm sure there are some that are attracted to these designs, I think most people would find them off-putting to ugly.

Meanwhile, the new species on the good side is the drell. Thane was designed to be attractive since he's a love interest. (Source: https://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2010/02/09/drawing-mass-effect-the-creation-of-thane.aspx)

So all the new 'villain' species are ugly and the 'good' new species is attractive.

...That certainly has some implications.

Yet in ME1 BioWare managed several neutral species that players may or may not find attractive but are obviously designed not to be repulsive. Hanar, elcor, turians...

As is so often the case, ME2 feels like a step back in worldbuilding. BioWare wanted an easy method to convey 'these are the bad guys' and went with a 'villain' design without considering the broader impact on the universe.

And it leaves me grumpy. Would Bioware have been so casual in the vorcha's poor treatment in-universe if they were beautiful? If they looked like the asari, would they have gotten an arc that improved their conditions in ME3?

I'd have preferred BioWare kept more neutral designs, but if they had to go this route they could at least have pulled on that thread.

omegastation

I don't really agree with the critical main point about ME2 taking a step back in worldbuilding (sorry, love this game too much) but I do agree that Mass Effect often confuses beauty with good morals.

It's been a point of debate for years because the scars on a Renegade Shepard and Chakwas' words about them really reinforce this idea.

The vorcha can be canon fodder, so I'm not surprised they have what people perceive as an "ugly" design.

But I think the situation with species can be a bit more complicated than that because we must never underestimate the misogyny in a dev team. Derek Watts can't even fathom women and children. If you have trouble designing female members of a species, there's something wrong there.

I mean, it's my personal opinion here, but I think Mass Effect is very male-centric, so yes the asari are beautiful, but men don't trust women they find beautiful or they project a lot of things into them. And while I have nothing but respect for sex workers, putting asari as strippers, dancers, barely clothed all over the games is not, I believe, about lore and how it makes sense for the different stages in an asari life. It's about the fantasy of those men working on the dev team, and also their need to acknowledge this beauty but in a way, to humiliate it at the same time. There are many quotes, even coming from asari themselves, that show they have little respect for sex workers. Which is INSANE to me considering the context they're in and the respect they should have. But it's not an accident. And even the Matriarchs are designed to attract and allure, with gigantic breasts and not even comfortable and protective armors.

And men's distrust of beauty can go very far: that's why asari's morals are always going from one extreme to another. They're peaceful, wise, everything you could expect from a species that lived for so long and seem to know so much, but in reality, the game tells us many times that they're also dangerous and untrustworthy. Illium, one of their planets, is one of the most dangerous places on the galaxy.

It implies that beauty -> seduction -> wrong morals -> watch out.

And their own beauty plays against them: they can't reproduce among each other without being judged.

And that's also why they're at the core of one of the biggest secrets hidden to the galaxy, as we found out in ME3 and the Protheans.

So idk, I'm not going to write a full essay here but I think beauty doesn't automatically mean the dev team will treat people or characters well, it just means they chase it and will spend more time on it, with sometimes a very clear bias as we see with the asari.

While I'm sure there are some that are attracted to these designs, I think most people would find them off-putting to ugly.

It's a matter of perspective for sure. I'm not attracted to species at all, but I do find the batarians extremely beautiful. I've always found it very weird how they're supposed to be ugly. Often wondering if I'm the only one thinking that way.

thedragonaspect

The artwork notes for Mass Effect 2 and 3 are both funny and sad for how skewed the dev team was.

Designing Miranda - make her sexy.

Designing Jack - make her sexy.

Designing Samara - make her sexy.

Redesigning Tali - make her sexy.

Redesigning Ashley - make her sexy.

Redesigning EDI - make her sexy.

Sexy meaning boobs, butt, makeup, combat heels, let her hair down, standard male gaze stuff.

Designing Thane - make him attractive to women...a harder design process because they had to think about it.

As far as men go – like with the Asari – you make her blue and give her the perfect body and you’re good to go. Women are more sophisticated than that.

(from Drawing Mass Effect 2: The Creation of Thane)

This isn't to diminish the artistry that went into capturing personality and history in each character's design - just that male gaze sexy was so innate it needed no explanation, but female gaze sexy threw them for a loop. I can imagine them sitting around with Sherlock's ????? vision trying to find a starting point until someone throws out "boob window!" and that's how we ended up with Thane's medically-prescribed peephole.

I think Mass Effect 2 was trying to convey civilized (Council races) vs uncivilized (Terminus Systems) rather than good vs evil per se, but that doesn't diminish the critique, beautiful vs ugly was a lazy way to show it.

#mass effect critical #thane

apolladay

Have you ever been bitten by an animal?

yes

Voting ended onMay 2

I don't mean like when baby animals and/or pets play fight/nip at you.

#horse #mouse #cat #dog #seagull #budgie

studentlifeproblems

agentsofpuppies

@millenniallust4death enrichment for your enclosure or whatever

thedragonaspect

7+8=15

20+40=60

60+15=75

Crosscheck my maths with Excel. Yep. 75.

Item: A Half-blank Notebook Rarity: ⏶ Common

What video game do you most regret not finishing?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Kings Quest 6. We tried. As kids, we simply could not figure out that the way to cross the pool of boiling water was to throw in the iceberg lettuce. And then one day, we accidentally donated the old PC with the Kings Quest disc still inside.

#by the time we got to the wall with the secret language #the manual with the code was long gone #kings quest

Item: The Map Rarity: ✦ Uncommon

What is the most beautiful world you've played on?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Pandora (Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora) - especially the Kinglor Forest biomes.

Ontarom (Mass Effect) - a lush world with distant lightning. Also Altahe for a shadowy world of sharp spires - alien, but beautiful.

Lehon (Knights of the Old Republic) - that world, the shade of an ancient temple and the low-poly sea...my computer could barely run it, but it absolutely stuck with me.

#pandora #frontiers of pandora #afop #honorable mentions #mass effect #ontarom #kotor #lehon #i've never forgotten the vibes from the temple of ancestors

#tumblr snek

Today is the launch day for my nearest and dearest's debut novel (and ebook and audiobook)!

Fast and Fastidious

Pride and Prejudice meets The Fast and the Furious in this rollicking, romantic Regency adventure in which a meticulous young woman must abandon the rules of propriety to save Britain—and perhaps even find love along the way. . . .

Is this book for you?

There is no ravishing in this book. Nothing wrong with a good ravishing, but you won't find it here.

What you will find is Looking Respectfully, Sisterly Solidarity, Found Family, Improvised Weapons, Neurodivergent Leanings, Mysterious Happenings in the Woods and Life-or-Death Coach Racing by the Light of the Full Moon.

New Zealand Edition <<>> US Edition

#fast and fastidious #book launch!#pride and prejudice meets fast and furious #looking respectfully #sisterly solidarity #found family #improvised weapons #what happens when an austenian heroine gets involved in secret underground coach racing

dragonflight203

Mass Effect 2, Shepard's post death treatment (12):

At Donovan Hock's party:

Party Guest: "Some say Commander Shepard is still alive. Really!"

Party Guest: "Oh, please. It's wishful thinking at best."

Now this is the behavior I would expect from most people.

Sightings of Shepard are like sightings of Elvis - complete nonsense.

wardencommandershepard

Yes!! I get so annoyed by how ME2 handles Shepard dying.

I know a lot of people don't like that Shepard died and was resurrected. I personally fucking love it, it's one of the core elements of my love of Mass Effect and I will NEVER forget my first playthrough of ME2.

But they really dropped the ball on execution in so many ways. I would accept losing like, half the squad if it meant that Shepard's death and resurrection was handled with the gravity it actually deserves.

Instead, it's either barely mentioned or isnt mentioned at all. Everyone takes it so in stride throughout the entire game that when the VS reacts more in line with what one would expect, like "hold up you died, were brought back from the dead, and now you're just.. going about your business????", they are the outlier and catch a lot of player ire as a result.

You want to kill Shepard and rebuild them I'm all for that, I'm foaming at the mouth for that actually, but I want the fully formed version.

I know no one wants to spend the whole game continually having the conversation "yes I'm alive" but at least in the beginning, and especially with our squad and close friends, let me have that conversation. Let me have a few variations of it, explore it from a few angles, let Shepard express how they feel about literally dying and being brought back. Let Shepard's friends tell them what it was like for them, going through Shepard's death.

If you're so afraid players will hate talking about it, make some renegade interrupts where Shepard cuts the conversation short and doesn't want to talk about it.

I mean honestly, give me an ME2 where my loyalty missions are partially taking care of business for new squadmates, and proving I'm actually Shepard to my old squadmates.

thedragonaspect

The most obvious way to prove you're the real Commander Shepard would be to walk away from Cerberus and light some fires on the way out. But the game needs Shepard to stay with them too badly - to keep the game in a manageable scope of outcomes and game assets. Under-exploring Shepard's death and range of reactions I think is a flow-on effect.

Shepard leaving Cerberus because of the level of violation and distrust would be game-breaking, possibly a Critical Mission Failure. There's not enough narrative space (or disk space) in the game to flesh out two viable paths against the Collectors, so Shepard has to stay onboard literally and figuratively.

The poor VS catches undeserved flack because the dialog tree is infuriating - the VS is right (Cerberus can't be trusted) but the game doesn't allow the player to agree.

The weirdness continues into ME3. The VS is still mad, the player still acknowledge that ME2 didn't make sense, and so, still can't meaningfully talk about their death and reconstruction. Building on a busted foundation, the end result can't square up.

#mass effect #mass effect critical #virmire survivor #cerberus

Don't call your pet "Baby".

Spare a thought for the person who recognizes it as a lost pet from the internet and calls out "Hey, Baby!" to the bird perched above several workmen.

I feel like tumblr staff can't get their heads around the idea that their userbase came to tumblr on purpose. Or at the very least, stayed on purpose.

Staff - just block the damn porn bots and stop pitching unasked-for change to the change-averse.

#thanks i hate it

tumblr

Reblogs in a chain now get their own notes

The reblog chain is one of the things that makes Tumblr unlike anywhere else. All the notes on reblogs are attributed to the original post, no matter which branch people actually liked or reblogged. We want to keep encouraging conversations, and give contributors the recognition they deserve.

Soon, you'll be able to like, reblog, or reply to any part of a reblog chain, and that note will go to that reblog's author. Each reblog will have its own counts, instead of one aggregated number from every version of the post. And yes, you’ll be able to like multiple posts in one chain.

If a reblog doesn't add anything, the love flows up to the last person in the chain who did. Your post doesn't lose notes just because people spread it quietly.

Past notes will stay on the original post — we're only changing what happens from here on out. Retroactively re-attributing all of them would be... a lot.

This is just the beginning. More changes are coming as we keep building this out – stay tuned!

changes

It’s very clear that you all have strong feelings about Tumblr and about this change. We hear you. The passion people have for how Tumblr works is one of the things that makes this place special.

As this rolls out over the next few days and you explore it, we’ll keep reading your replies and reblogs, so please keep sharing your questions, concerns, and ideas.

Your creativity has always been the heart of Tumblr, whether you’re the original poster or adding something brilliant in the reblogs, and nothing about this change is meant to limit that.

If you’d like to talk directly beyond the comments, leave a reply and we’ll follow up with as many of you as we can. We want to work with you to make Tumblr better.