#Shakarian Critical

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

Because of some recent confessions I now feel safe to submit my own confession.  My favorite romance will ALWAYS be Thanes so I did not romance Garrus until the  legendary edition came out and that was due to the bitterness and resentment I felt toward Garrus and Shakarian fans back in the days of the trilogy especially during Mass Effect 2.  Now before people get on me I 100% believe people have the right to romance who they want. What I resent is how many Shakarian fans invaded spaces  for fans of Thane and the romance.  Some Shakarian fans openly mocked Thane for how emotional he was and they made fun of and openly harassed Thane fans for not choosing Garrus.  And yes I fully expect one person will read this and say you should ignore it. Well I have to tell you, its pretty difficult to ignore when this sort bullying goes on every single day.  I know not all fans are this way but there is an extremely toxic subculture of Garrus/Shakarian fans who are extremely cruel people.  And people are too scared to call them out. 

So I held a grudge to the point where I even killed Garrus off in one play through. But when the legendary edition came out I finally decided to try the romance and I had fun but I was also thinking "Is that it?" I guess I was expecting more.  Thane will always have my heart though.

#submission

[stormcallart]

Beach day and date night 💙❤️

[girafficparka]

How’s the fanfic going?

Fine…fine. Just my brain shorting out on me.

How many is too many times to describe a sexy turian in hot outfits?

This fic is essentially becoming ‘Garrus as a Barbie Doll’ but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa]

Give me your recs of Reader x Mighty Nein fic. Or Reader x Vox Machina. A girl has needs and I'm literally in love with them all so all characters are welcome.

And if there are none, so help me god, I'll make it.

Orrrrrrr reader x overwatch? (i.e. Moira, Mercy, Cassidy, Pharah)

Shakarian? Shrios?

Fenhawke? Alistair x Warden?

I beg.

[tigereyes45]

Today (Oct. 16th) is my 26th birthday!

As many who have been following me for at least a year now know, I always open my asks to writing prompts from everyone to celebrate my birthday.

This year I'll be accepting requests from October 16th - October 23rd. (My hand has been sore due to a bee sting so this post is a little late. As a result me accepting requests will last a little longer than typical this year.)

As always you can send as many prompts/requests as you want, for any fandoms/characters/ships/etc. Under the Keep Reading there will be a list of the fandoms I am the most into at this moment in time. As far as shipping goes I'm a multi-shipper and enjoy most ship(s)/ship dynamics. I'll only write smut for the listed star trek shows. My inbox is open and anon is on.

The list includes my current favorite fandoms/shows/ships/characters. However you can also make requests for ships/people/and shows not on the list. So here's what I'm most into writing at the moment:

Star Trek TOS (Mcspirk, Uhotty (uhura x scotty), Chulu)

Star Trek AOS (Mcspirk)

Star Trek Lower Decks (Mariner, T'lyn, Tendi, Rutherford and basically any ship of the core four or any of them plus T'lyn)

Star Trek Voayger (Especially Janeway x Tuvok, Mark x Janeway x Tuvok x t'Pel, T'pel x tuvok x Janeway, and B'Elanna x Tom x Harry)

Star Trek Ds9 (they are such a polycule, in so many shapes and forms, my favorite characters are jadzia, kira, odo, Ben Sisko.)

Star Trek Enterprise ( Trip x Archer, Archer x T'pol x Trip, Mayweather x Hoshi)

Star Wars (Ahsoka, Hera, Kalluzeb, Kanera, Plo Koon, Captain Rex)

Red vs Blue ( I will never not be a grimmons fan though all the other ships are fun too! Not to mention any gen fic of any of these characters is always a blast to write!)

Fire Emblem Awakening (Kellam, Yarne x Lucina, Morgan x Nah)

Fire Emblem Fates (Siegbert)

Fire Emblem 3 Houses (Claude, Raphael, Marianne, Byleth)

The Walking Dead Game (Clementine, Violet, Louis, Lee, Kenny, Nick)

RWBY (Nuts and dolts, Nora, Ren, and Sugar rush)

Mass Effect (shakarian, tail x shepard x garrus, kandros x ryder, vetra x ryder, jaal x vetra, jaal x vetra x ryder)

The Librarians (Cassandra, Jenkins, Fleve)

Merlin (Merwaine my love)

Dragon Age (All games/books, I adore Sten, Shale, Warden Surana, and Varric x Hawke)

Tales of Arcadia (Blinky x Aaarrrgghh, Draal, Barbara)

Fallout (tv series)

Fallout 4

Critical Role (I like campaign 2 the best, Caduceus. Veth, and Caleb)

TMNT (all versions)

[areindeerlime]

I haven't had wifi for a solid week, I ***NEEED*** the stimulation of answering this rn

Three Ships: Shakarian (Commander Shepard X Garrus Vakarian [Mass Effect]), Junpei X Snake ([9] Hours [9] Persons [9] Doors),

First Ship Ever: God, I can barely remember this, but I think it was Luigi x an MLP character???? Or Yoshi x an MLP character

Last Song: "Hitman Soundtrack: 01. A World of Assassination" I was playing the mission in ME2 where you're trying to stop an assassin and I was imagining Agent 47 in the ME universe, so I played it in the bg of the mission

Last Movie: Captain Underpants, Unironically the best animated movie ever. No, I do not take criticism.

Currently Reading: I'm not exactly reading anything atm, haven't really read anything in like a year, but technically I was midway "One of Us is Lying" before going on my reading hiatus

Currently Watching: Again, not really anything, but I *do* wanna get through Better Call Saul, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Helluva boss

Currently Consuming: Nothing, i'm lying in bed about to sleep

Currently Craving: Nothing really, i'm not hungry, I guess a glass of ice water could be nice, but I don't wanna get up to pee at night

Nine tags: @weepingmillow @cyberr-v0id @art1sty @blu-cheavy-main @maes-chocolate-cookie @anarchistpeanut @voice-of-mischief @tcustodisart

I do not have a 9th

9 people you would like to get to know better

was tagged by @lagomorphlady! wanted to make my own post for it because the og was very long and kinda fucked up? at least whenever I tried to look at it... anyway!

Three ships: Klapollo, Casphardt, Homuruu

First ship ever: Razaya (how fitting for me that it's a rarepair)

Last song: THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND by Bad Omens

Last movie: Resident Evil: Damnation

Currently reading: The Last Dogs: The Long Road (it was probably the first chapter book series I ever read, and it thankfully holds up very well!)

Currently watching: Fairy Ranmaru (for like, the third time)

Currently consuming: mac and cheese and a glazed cinnamon roll :3

Currently craving: there was this one really good restaurant in my hometown that had the BEST steak fries... I wonder if it's still open...

9 tags: @roseverdict @corvinho @tomaturtles @cinnamon-bunni @corvidfool @aroacenanami @rosethorn-zz @arithemadlad @strzygoncze

[dr-ladybird]

Why does FShep x Garrus fanfic get so much creepy heteronormativity? The woman’s the galaxy’s greatest soldier, and she’s probably a superpowered undead combat cyborg by the time they hook up. The man’s her faithful (maybe a bit too faithful?) sidekick who’s younger than she is, very keen on supporting her, and started out hero-worshiping her before he grew up a bit. Their relationship’s more controversial in-universe than the actual gay relationships, and features non-normative moments like “use protection because alien body fluids might be toxic” “your boyfriend can’t kiss you the normal way because he doesn’t have lips” and literal inability to eat the same food.

So why the FUCK is it so attractive to the Fifty Shades of Grey, “man is strong and hard and active and woman is soft and weak and passive, and I refuse to consider anything else because that would be disturbing and unnatural” crowd?

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

I really enjoyed my Shakarian playthrough. What I didn't appreciate was people telling me its the only meaningful pairing.  When people try to force their favorite pairings on me, it always has the opposite effect on me. I begin to resent the pairing. I tend to practice what I believe in. I don't force people to like my faves. Its called being respectful. Wish some in the fandom would understand that.            

[crescentbunny]

WHAT IF

Garrus is keyed into whatever frequency the ground team used from the SR2, so he finds out Shepard is on Menae because his coms kick on on that long dead channel and “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen is suddenly blasting through his helmet speakers with Shepard cursing in the background and James asking what the holy fuck this old music is.

“SHES HERE” He breathes to himself and runs off to find her using the signal.

That’s the real reason he just magically shows up when she’s talking to Corinthus.

[heat-sink]

Keep writing shakarian if you have the desire to. Fuck the haters and I say that with full understanding of how difficult it is for your work to be passed over and ignored or given particularly negative criticism. Everyone is gonna have personal preferences about what is good and what isn’t and we can’t please them all.

I mean just take myself for example: one of the most popular and highly recommended fics in the fandom is, in my opinion, absolutely heinous from a storytelling point of view. It actually disturbs me and yet people love it and ignore all of the flaws and unhealthy dynamics.

I used to write fics for other fandoms and while I would have maybe five people that always read my work and loved it, they never got any attention from anyone—maybe because I didn’t write reader insert, maybe because I wasn’t writing dominant man/submissive woman tropes, maybe they didn’t like that I was trying to write healthier dynamics in favor of ~dangerous and sexy~ (aka gaslighty and aggressive). Who knows. I still write though not for fandoms anymore simply because I now prefer to write original work, but if I had an idea for shakarian or one of those past fandoms, well��. Why the hell not? Likely wouldn’t get any attention for it and yeah that sucks but if the act of writing is bringing me joy, then fuck yeah.

I say if you haven’t found your group yet, keep looking. People who like your writing but also want to encourage you to improve. I know I wouldn’t be working on my first novel had I not had those people. But also remember this is your hobby. You can write whatever the fuck you want and you don’t have to try to get better if you enjoy your work as it is.

That’s a long response you didn’t ask for from a stranger, but damn dude do I know how the fuck you feel. I really truly have been there.

Sometimes I wonder why i still bother writing Shakarian. It's not like I get much out of it: I get all those negative comments and anon hate, never get put on rec lists or link lists, have my work overlooked or disparaged amongst other Shakarian fics...

But then I play like 5 seconds of ME3 and I'm like. Oh. This is why I write Shakarian. Look they.

I fkin love them so much i can't

I'll never be able to write anything else they're just too good 🥺😭

[awkward-activate]

SOMEONE IN CHAT JUDT SAID “YASHA HAS REACH AND BEAU HAS FLEXIBILITY” IM-

[teatimemols]

So far (and all the little knowledge I have), I headcanon Shakarian like this:

I can't talk for ME1, but I am pretty sure Shepard and Garrus were already very close back in ME1 (even only knowing the content from the second game.)

For me, no way Garrus dropped that info about having sex to ease tensions before battle without, at least unconsciously, trying to bring the subject (of sex, romance, etc) up (to conversation).

I bet he has been crushing on Shepard for a while, since somewhere in the first game, and, before the Suicide Mission, he really felt compelled to let some feelings out.

If Shepard brings the subject up directly, he's hesitant but he's never completely against it.

He really seems to have thought about it, maybe more than he would like to admit. But they are friends - hell I think they've been best friends for a while, so of course he wants to make sure they really want it to happen.

It's not just the sex, it's not just the trust, it's about changing their relationship in a way that would be very hard to change back and pretend nothing has ever happened between them.

Now, if you don't show constant interest, he doesn't say anything else (or much), doesn't make you an ultimatum or anything - not that I remember.

And then, when you romance someone else in the second game...

Well, I would bet that he thinks he should move on then from her. It probably hurts more to just keep wishing she chose him first.

And this is what leads to Talibrarions. They're getting close by how Tali goes to him to talk about personal issues and then, at some point, she probably suggests a something between them and, like how it happens with Shepard, they slowly come together.

It's not a bad relationship. They seem to like and trust each other well enough, but...

It feels wrong to me.

Especially when they start flirting in front of whatever Shepard they have. It feels pushy to make we watch them.

Anyway, when Garrus and Shepard talk on Earth, though, it just feels like they were meant to be, anyway. They're such a duo, they ever were. It's difficult to see all this and then see Tali with Garrus and he saying "it's good to have something to come back to."

It hurts, even from a friend, ya know.

In actuality, the constant treatment of romantic relationships as something sacred and superior that we barely have the chance to hug and kiss the cheek/forehead of our besties is so ridiculous and depressing.

[expertmakodriver]

Okay... it pains me to say this about my boy, but looking at my old ME3 recordings has made me realize that Garrus in the third game kind of irks me.

His character from ME1 to ME2 does undergo a decent amount of change, but he went through a lot during the TWO YEARS between the first game and the second game. The jump from ME2 to ME3, which is only six MONTHS, is just... weird. I can't really explain it that well, but I know that I'm not a fan of how egotistical and "suave" he is and how he sometimes lowkey belittles Shepard (to be fair, 1. He does have a new writer in ME3, and 2. Shepard is just a doormat in general in the third game). It just seems like the writers tried too hard.

I know that the writers probably just wanted to show that Garrus and Shepard are close enough to take cracks at each other, which is fine, but he's sometimes downright condescending.

Like, his line "[I have] the aim to make sure [that I don't lose you and that I can protect you]. Nobody better hurt you, is all I'm saying" to Femshep seems cute on the surface, but... she's... not a damsel in distress... she's Commander Fucking Shepard who could disassemble a damn Reaper with her bare hands.

He had a bit of an ego in the first game, but it was countered-out but his naiveté. The second game is a low point for him for sure. But seeing him in the third game wave his name around all smugly just doesn't sit right with me. It's great that he feels confident, but he doesn't seem humble anymore, if that makes sense? It just doesn't seem like him. He has some vulnerable moments with Shepard, which are nice, but I kind of find him obnoxious. Garrus sweetie I'm so sorry

[turianhousewife]

I realise I'm part of this conversation since I made the post on the kaidan overhaul mod.

I didn't do it to disparage the efforts of modders, I LOVE modders and I think what people can do with games was amazing.

My critique was mainly that for me, as a poc with naturally textured hair, the overhaul mod specifically felt strange. Primarily because he was never a character who had straight hair in canon. He's one of the only ME characters who has canonically textured hair. So to see an enhancement mod that specifically goes out of its way to remove that unique feature from him struck me as strange, and added to a large pile of generalised micro-aggressions that people with textured hair face.

I love Kaidan, always have done, always will do. He's the character that feels like home, a proper source of grouding amongst the ME cast. I physically cringe when fanfics (particularly the shakarian ones) cast him as a lovesick puppy or the jealous type. Hell Kaidan has even inspired some of my own characters, I think he's a great personality to have around. And of course I've drawn him too. So seeing folks removing something that's a part of him that I value for the sake of enhancement did strike me as upsetting, and I made a post according to those feelings. I'm sorry if I created/added to a negative chorus, but I also think it important to have critical fandom discourse about these things. Hopefully we can strike a balance of being respectful and productive about it.

I'm so tired of seeing all those posts complaining about Kaidan mods... we get it you hate primitives Kaidan and you hate mods that give him "straight hair" (even though there's only two of them and they mimic the vanilla hair cap shape).

crazy idea, but maybe make your own mods instead of complaining about what's already there?

[kirkwallers]

Ugh I wanna write a fic but I feel like it would be really long to get it all out.......

[meggannn]

garrus’s top 5 shakarian moments as decided by me

5. the out of breath panic in “shepard? can you hear me? you okay?”

4. when his voice falters in “i had hoped [our reunion would go like that]. i mean, i didn’t know... if...”

3. “you should catch some shut-eye”

2. “it’d be an awfully empty galaxy without you”

1. the H A N D S H A K E