#also love liara though :')

[revvethasmythh]

i know i played this game before, but i don't think it really sunk in last time the way shepard's image and myth were so distorted and used after her death. the general public was never even informed that she died--this, at least, sheds some light on why the normandy was left a wreck on a forgotten planet, the remains of the crew who died with her equally forgotten until shepard personally retrieved their tags and placed an (alliance commissioned) performative memorial on the site. (if the alliance did anything about this before shepard came back, they'd have to admit what actually happened to her, and that the best ship in their fleet was taken down by a terrifying unknown enemy). when she was dead, the alliance used her image to drum up recruitment, made her the actual face of military propaganda, but when that didn't bring in enough new people they swapped her real appearance for a composite that tested as more appealing to a broader audience. in death, she was a tool for the alliance, in this new life she's a tool for cerberus. everywhere she looks, she is resurrected to be used by someone else, even down to mindoir putting her face on their colonial seals. she is so astoundingly dehumanized by these institutions she is a part of and the world writ large

[awesomechocolatesauce]

The thing I don't like about "Mass Effect: Genesis" is how it recalls some of the events of the first game.

I chose not to romance anyone, and Shepard's narration explained it along the lines of "Despite how I may have felt for Kaidan or Liara, I had to put the mission first over the matters of the heart."

Um...what? No. That isn't what happened AT ALL. I didn't romance either of them simply because I had no desire to. (One of the reasons being I'm not a fan of how the romances are written in the first game, where if you're not straight up mean to them, then you MUST be interested.) Genesis didn't register that. It assumed I was prioritizing the mission over everything else.

Sorry, Garrus. I can't romance you this time. THE MISSION COMES FIRST! (Just kidding. I'm definitely coming for some calibrations. 💕)

The other thing is it registers as Shepard killing Saren by fighting him. That...is also not what happened. Saren offed himself. No fighting occured before Sovereign took over.

The art style for it is really good, but I never use it because those inaccurate retellings breaks the immersion for me a little bit.

[luane-horlis]

I’ve never liked, reblogged, followed, tagged, or interacted with a single hetero ship post of any kind in the history of tumblr and yet I keep getting recommended nothing but hetero ships from various fandom tags. I would be less irritated with this if I’d actually interacted with said ship tag in some way before but I haven’t, so why is it constantly being rammed down my throat?

I don’t want to see another FemShep macking on Kaidan or a FemRook with Emmerich or Lucanis. This is a NO HETERO zone, I want those blorbos FRUITY.

[ninashiki]

ok i desperately need to know. whats the song for the video game poll. i love it dearly and would like to know where its from and a week is a long time.

hi anon ^_^ it's from mass effect 3, and it only plays during the garrus vakarian romance route on his date with shepard while they're dancing at a bar. the track is called "shepard's tango". the rest of the soundtrack is very different!

[azimuth-only-one-ill-follow]

[mrabubu]

How do you think the turtles from ROTMNT would deal with their feelings if they were in love with someone (be it human, mutant, Yokai, etc.)?

Oh man... Hmmm...

I really hope that wouldn't be a problem if I mostly ramble about Leo (I'M SORRY GUYS THE BLUE TURTLE LIVES IN MY MIND RENT FREE), and maybe a couple of words about the rest. I'll also be talking about both young and adult Leos, so, here we go.

I'll give short opinions on other turtles before Leo:

Donnie: Would be neglecting his feelings and emotions at first. Even though, in my opinion, he was established as the one prone to romance, I think when he'd actually feel anything towards anyone, he'd be really conflicted, because it's one thing to see this stuff on the TV and all, and another when it's in real life. But once he'll deal with all this mess in his head, he's a real gentleman.

With Raph and Mikey I'm going to refer to @souperwrites words, I hope they don't mind xd

"Mikey is confident and lovey dovey." And I totally agree with it. I feel like he would be the one who'd have the least problems with his feelings.

"Raph is shy but very genuine in his affection but also super nervous because of his size and the potential harm he could cause without meaning to." But honestly, I think my friend @daysofmoron could also give their opinion, since they love the red turtle. xd OKAY, NOW MY BOY LEO.

If start with young Leo, in the show he was always all "EWW!" whenever any sign of romantic love is shown, be it Big Mama and Splinter or Warren and Hypno (at least I remember them being all cuddly, and Leo's was just barfing at them on the background), but I imagine once his own heart goes "doki-doki" for Y/N (let it be Y/N or "you" for now), he's a total mess at first. Remember that episode when they met Jupiter Jim actor, and Leo couldn't even put the syllables together? Yeah, that's him at the start, especially if Y/N doesn't know about his feelings towards them. He'll be trying to impress Y/N but since his emotions are all over the place, he messes up more than usual, maybe even ending up hurting himself (like, he'd try to impress you with his skateboarding skills, but ends up eating concrete because he's too distracted).

And here I'm going to add a bit of my own ideas, because I've been thinking of some scenarios, like, if taking that previous idea with skateboarding, or, more easily, let's take the episode "The Longest Fight" when he fell, I imagine if on the contrary from others you'd actually show any genuine concern about if he's hurt, he'd be like "Oh..." and blushing, because usually his brothers would make fun if him, and here comes in you who doesn't laugh at his failure and worries if he needs help. I think after a moment like this he could begin to feel something.

And with Future Leo HO OHO I have an entire game reference on how I imagine him handling a romance.

First of all, I think as an adult he would be more confident with his feelings if he ever feels anything towards anyone, because, well, he's an adult now, and because when you at war you kinda already went through a lot to be all this blushing mess over feeling butterflies in your stomach.

So, as a reference, whenever I thought of him in a relationship, I though of a romance with Garrus from Mass Effect. I imagine Leo being kinda awkward, trying to make jokes at first that are much more sloppy than usual. Especially if talking about Garrus, I always think of that scene from Mass Effect 2, when he comes into Shepard's room before the final mission, trying to lighten up the mood, flirt and all, but ends up just being an awkward (but adorable) mess, and saying: "I've seen so many things have gone wrong... I want something to go right. Just once. Just..."

And it's just really easy for me to imagine Leo say that. And instead of touching scars you touch his prosthetic.

And also that dialogue with Liara after "The Lair of the Shadow Broker" DLC, when she asks if you fight for giving Garrus some peace, and you say that he's been hurt and deserves something better.

But once Leo's over all the awkwardness and let himself relax, he's just enjoying this new experience with you, having fun.

This scene with Garrus and Shepard trying the "first date" thing which ends up them dancing tango together. With all the teasing and all, I can easily imagine Leo would do something like that.

Honestly, I think that's it? There are more scenes in Mass Effect with Garrus and Shepard where I could easily imagine Leo would do something like that, but it's a lot. If you know, you know, If don't, well, I hope I was able to gave you an idea.

[katrotica]

You know what's sexy? Beyond having a gorgeous face and hairy pits and awsome tits? Being silly. Being silly is sexy. And here's Liara Roux doing all those things and being silly—and she knows it. That perfect mischievous smirk as she does the bunny ears to herself as though she doesn't know who's bombing her photo. I sure like her. She seems like a lot of fun. She's also pretty serious, actually. I love that on her wikipedia page she's described as an author, sex worker, pornography director, internet personality and sex worker human rights activist. And she's described as a high-end escort who supports the "decriminalization and protection of consensual adult activity including queer and sex worker rights and safety worldwide." That's cool. I actually knew a tumblr mutual waaaaay back in the days who hired Liara for one of her specialties, which was to help couples who were interested in a threesome but had no idea how to go about it. Him and his wife hired her and had the best time and glowed about what a great experience they had with her. I think that's just really cool. It also says that she was prominently against Tumblr's decision to ban porn from their platform, so I'm glad that at least things have turned around enough that I can post pictures like this one of her.

[ageless-aislynn]

SPOILERS FOR THE ENDING OF MASS EFFECT 3

...if anybody cares. Yeah, it's been 13 years since it came out but hey, I'm just getting here myself, so I figured I ought to at least lob in a warning, just in case. 😉

Anyway, I'm not done yet but I realized, as I'm about to do the Priority: Rannoch mission, what's about to happen to Legion. 😭😭😭

Which has led me to really trying to figure out which ending I plan on going for. Note: despite this being my first trilogy playthrough, I've known about the various endings for years now, so I decided to try and RP my Shepard in the best way I can to achieve an ending that felt the most like he would've selected.

But here's the thing (as I'd imagine I'm hardly the first to struggle with): my Shepard doesn't want any of these endings. (My understanding may be off on certain points but this is the gist of what I understand about all of the endings.)

Synthesis offers the most survivors, with not only your Normandy crew including EDI but the Geth as well, though not Shepard. However, the incredible lack of consent just skeeves me out. Forcing every living being to be merged down to their DNA into an organic/synthetic hybrid is bad enough but the idea that this will keep the Reapers from continuing their cycle so therefore everybody's going to be fine is ignoring the fact that every species has fought amongst itself since time began. So what's to stop a future person/species from coming up with something that will wipe out all life anyway, no help from Reapers required? So, while I like the idea that EDI and the Geth survive (and even seem to thrive a bit more with them gaining organics), this ending is off the table for me and my Shep.

Control keeps EDI and the Geth alive as well as saves the Normandy crew but again sacrifices Shepard, just in a different way. Shepard merges with the Reapers to take them over and thus end their cycle of killing all organics in the universe. But this is predisposing that this new Shepard!Reaper being won't eventually be corrupted and decide to resume killing organics or certain species or whatever might be. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, after all, and Shepard isn't immune to that. Even worse, this ISN'T Shepard, this is a Reaper with Shepard's memories, creating a new being. If I were Shepard, I'd consider that all you're doing is HOPING that the Reapers don't, at some point, decide to restart their cycle but you've got no way to ensure that they won't.

Destroy is the only ending that I can see really being an option because the Reaper threat will be GONE. But you're also killing EDI and all of the Geth, including those Legion sacrificed itself to save and who have become your allies. To put it another way, it would be like saying, "Okay, we can guarantee that the Reapers will be destroyed but this will also kill all Turians, including Garrus." (Or insert name of other species/squadmate like Asari/Liara, Quarians/Tali, etc.) Would Shepard be willing to do that? I know he wouldn't want to sacrifice anybody, other than himself, and I think it sucks that no matter which ending you take, you have to sacrifice something significant. Yeah, I get that it makes it more realistic but, darn it, I get enough realism in real life, lol.

I also find it really odd that, according to the colors, Control is the Paragon choice and Destroy the Renegade one. I mean, yeah, Destroy and Renegade do go together but Shep becoming a Reaper Godlike being is Paragon? That just doesn't track for me. 🤔😬

There's also the fact that Destroy, with a high enough War Asset Score, is the only ending with a hint that Shepard survives.

At the moment, I'm leaning the most towards Destroy but, mannnnn, I wish there was a way to save EDI, whom I adore, and the Geth, whom I also love because of Legion and when they're allies and not shooting at me, lol! I'll have to just hope that someway, somehow, EDI and the allied Geth can somehow be resurrected, even if we don't see it in-game.

So, to those out there who've played the trilogy, which ending did you get/want? I'd love to hear about it! Let me just scribble down some notes as we chat...

😉Love you all, my friends, and I hope you're doing well! 💖

[once-a-traya]

Sometimes getting a review code early is a blessing. Getting it a month before release, a miracle. Until you play the goddamn thing and realize it's something you've always wanted, and yet when the credits roll there's no one you can talk to about it because it'll be a week before anyone gets to know anything but leaks and speculation. You can't even yell "seriously don't worry" at people fretting about the quality of the ship. (and then when you write your piece, it has to be about all the other things you loved about it, and not the thing that spoke to you most of all)

I am an old. I was there when BioWare first started including queer relationship options, and it felt transcendant, a way to finally explore nuances of life and thought and emotion that often get swallowed up in mainstream story templates about romance. But that became commonplace, and it started to feel more like a template all itself - something to copy and repeat, instead of finding ways to make those romances work into the very fabric of the story told, to make them call and respond.

I feel this way about a lot of romantic media in my assigned domains (genre tv/film and games), mind you. Maybe it's my age. I find myself longing for stories about people who grow and face trials together, who weave into each other's lives, but that's rarely the focus. Romance is drama and big kisses.

I think in some ways the best BioWare romances have always been the ones interrupted: a Liara who goes to build her own life in between adventures, who can be an equal partner. A Kaidan who, because you played a man, didn't make awkward we-must-get-them-to-kiss advances on you in the first game and instead got to know you as a person. The timeskips and careful layering of Dragon Age 2. Building a relationship, not tacking it on. Hell, my favorite BioWare-adjacent ship will always be Atton and the Exile from KotOR 2: an unfinished game by a studio whose difficult questions never mixed well with BioWare romance structure, leaving us with two traumatized people who never got over their own limitations and pain enough to love each other openly.

So it's meaningful to me to trip over something that feels like it cares enough to really build and make the journey itself meaningful. (at least this relationship, as my poor Henry spent copious hours dodging people flinging him at Katherine) Though it means more waiting, since you're all still playing, and I'm serious when I say that the beauty of this particular romance sits in its context, the events and dialogues that have little to do with hearts, and the stuff the game forces you to think about as you play (do I want to take this risk? Hans begged me not to).

I am very glad it's out there, though. I crave meta and fic about all the gaps - what happens to Hans while he's angry at Henry, how Henry's feeling, the events at Von Berglow's stronghold after they get captured, Maleshov, Zizka-and-crew, adventures in Kuttenberg, but also all the stuff you guys probably haven't reached yet. Samuel. The siege. Boot soup. That quiet but important little conversation when both Henry and Hans get their first serious commands at the same time and struggle with the weight. And whatever the hell went through Hans's head in those thirty seconds before Henry reciprocated.

There is just so much here to talk about. I really hope we all will.

(though let's not talk about the solid five hours i thought i'd hallucinated the first romance dialogue check with Hans because i didn't know yet and I assumed they would never, ever actually do anything with the clear subtext)

(and now I slink away, feeling gratuitous, as always. Thank you for the nonfannish friends who got me through that terrible post-credits week, you are relieved of duty.)

[brekkie-e]

I think the reason that the lack of multi-dimensional relationships within the party, and for Tav, is eating away at me so much recently is because it’s significantly affecting BG3’s replayableness for me. It’s a huge game, and I’m ever guilty of taking a completionist approach. Now, there are many branching narratives in BG3 which means there’s endless new content to explore by taking different approaches. Personally though, that’s not quite enough of a reason for me to want to keep revisiting a story. I don’t feel compelled to replay hundreds of hours worth of content just to see what happens to Sazza if you rescue her in Act 1 instead of leaving her in the cage. But if I’m invested in a story and the characters in it- I will replay a game 10,000 times just to rewatch my oc become ride or die besties and trauma bond with their companion. Thinking of Liara’s relationship with an unromanced Sheperd in ME3. Tali declaring herself Tali’zorah vas Normandy?? Gut wrenching. Garrus taking you out on a friend date and making fun of your go to catch phrase in the process? Iconic. Varric writing Cassandra a book to bury the hatchet between them? Unforgettable. Solas and Varric co-parenting a kid together? Can’t get enough of it. Those are the interactions that keep me coming back to replay a game over and over again. Seeing the effect my character has on the lives of their friends, and the effect their friends has on them. Absolutely, I adore the romance aspects of these kinds of rpg’s. It is also a reason I will replay a game. But I don’t want to replay a game as massive as BG3 if the only real significant connection my character develops during it is with their love interest. There’s too many hours that have to be invested to just be playing for a couple of scenes with their boo.

Same goes for trying different romances! If I want to try out the game taking a different approach, and exploring a different character’s romance- I’m dedicating a significant amount of time just to get a handful of scenes over the course of the entire game that focus on an emotional connection for my character. If replaying the game with a different oc meant that I could explore their friend dynamics differently as well? Heck yeah. But as it stands, it just feels like you pick your romance option and then have to stand awkwardly while you’re surrounded by acquaintances who want to bang you.

[n7punk]

For some reason I've never considered playing Mass Effect, even after I desperately started looking for games with sapphic romances. Anyway starting reading In The Great Beyond, saw legendary edition was on sale for 90% off, promptly got addicted and fell in love with Liara. Thank you for the new obsession lol.

LOLLLL see this is why I can't write Dragon Age 😂

Real talk though, I love Mass Effect, and there are polyamoury mods as well so you can experience multiple romances in one run (if y'all want me to put together a list of recommended mods I easily can). I highly recommend Samantha's romance in ME3 even though I don't normally romance humans, she's just so fun and I've been taking some of her scenes for Catra in this AU lol

Also there's not going to be an update again today because work is kicking my ass and I've barely started on chapter 14, but I'm hoping tomorrow, otherwise definitely after the weekend starts

[chemicalkatz]

why I accept bisexual kaiden

and you should too !

Outside of the fact nobody deserves hate for who they love- I understand that many may view this revelation of his as “too sudden” or how it’s (sadly) lost on others narratives simply because they play the opposite sex.

But to me it makes sense, and let me explain why.

Now I believe that it is up to player interpretation to decide whether or not Kaiden has always been bi or M!Shephard helped him realize this. Kaiden has always showed an interest in women, the most notable being Rahna, who he met at BAat

and this is general information any shephard can learn. Proving that there is no gender lock on someone who made him into the person he is. (Unlike Anders in DA2)

(ie. Anders had a former male love interest who he does not disclose to a romanced female Hawke, but does so to a romanced Male Hawke)

He never explicitly stated he didn’t show an interest in men- however he can get disturbed(?) by the idea of a bisexual F!Shephard which I believe stems from paranoia that she could leave him for Liara.

(I find this whole thing stupid, especially given the rumors he was always intended to be bi. I just like to void this as a “dw guys we’re not woke” coming from inside the closet moment from bioware.)

But honestly the tension between a paragon M!Shephard and Kaiden speaks absolute volumes to me. People say that they never got queer vibes from shephard to which I say that is the dumbest thing ever. YOU are Shephard- his/her sexuality is up to your interpretation- even if you don’t explicitly reject Liara by going “sorry I’m not into women!” as M!Shep (though I confess I used the same sex mod so I DID get this option sorry console players)

But anyways, if you don’t think he was always bisexual- he had 2 years to ponder Shepherds death- 2 years to consider “hey maybe I liked this guy?” and then seeing him working for who you considered the enemy? an absolute gut punch. plus you don’t even properly make up until ME3. Him not confessing to you until after makes sense he’s literally having an inner turmoil wondering if the man he might love is still working for the enemy. (albeit he’s was being crazy unfair to shephard)

PLUS the reapers were literally destroying earth in ME3 (like we all saw what happened to London…) and the Normandy crew were going to fight in a war they weren’t even sure they were going to SURVIVE. If the prospect that you are most likely going to die doesn’t convince you to hash out your issues so you can die with no regrets- idk what will.

Now, to discuss the whole “But he doesn’t tell a romanced Female!Shepherd he’s bisexual!” - this answer is basically up to the player interpretation as mentioned previously.

In the case that Kaiden realizes his sexuality through a M!Shepherd he simply just never acknowledges his sexuality. He knows he likes women, that’s cool, he knows he likes Fem!Shepherd- also cool. He only has his eyes on a female shep if they had gotten together ME1. (or even later idk I never romanced him with Fem!shep in ME3) He has no reason to seek out other romantic connections outside of the doctor in-between ME2 whose gender I (believe/don’t remember) was undisclosed. (and also as an attempt to get over fem!shep or even m!shep if you agree with my previous theory)

It’s not unusual to go for what you like and even if he doesn’t realize he’s bisexual he fully could later in the future, but he definitely only struck me as an “everyone is unattractive to me except my partner” type of guy so I don’t see him seeing a guy on the street and thinking he’s hot, but that’s just my headcanon.

On the flip-side he discovered his bisexuality some time between ME2 - ME3, (because again the doctor’s gender could be a man) , He doesn’t have the need to bring it up. Hell, even with Male shepherd he never outwardly comes out as anything to him. He only talks about how he wants a romantic relationship with M!shep not properly coming out saying “I’m bisexual”. Sexuality mostly comes into play when it comes to pursing the same sex, as in order to like a man as a man you have to be some kind of queer (ie. gay, pansexual, bisexual, etc.)

In a straight relationship there’s not that necessity behind it, especially with a pre-established f!shep and Kaiden. He doesn’t need to tell her about his attraction to guys because he only wants her. There is no proper reason for him to come out unless what they’re talking about actively involves that, or he feels it’s necessary to bring up. otherwise f!shep perceiving him as straight is fine- He’s not actively trying to deceive her and even if he did talk about his bisexuality it would change nothing he would still love a fem!Shepherd as much as he would a Male!Shepherd. It’s a video game.

Genuinely a Kaiden x M!shep feels a lot like two men who have spent most of their life fighting for others- whether it’s for humanity, the citadel, or both. They both lost each other for a time (ie. Shepherd’s death / Kaiden trying to emotionally isolate himself from Shepherd post ME2 - pre ME3) Their time is almost up in their eyes and they understand they’ve spent too much time on other things that they deserve this happiness.

Anyways queer video game characters matter!

Thanks for coming to my TED talk

( this was a tangent I made in notes app back in march and I feel the need to show it… )

[callmearcturus]

redoing this ask because fuck that poll lmaoooo i have a persona question, IMO persona's romance system can sometimes fail when its clear the devs wanted one character to be the "canon" love interest for the overall story, but added in side romances to please fans (p2 with [spoiler redacted], p3 with aigis, and p4 with rise based on how much time is focused on their dynamic and bond) but i feel like P5 *intended* for Makoto to be the go-to romance option (especially with how she was handled in the anime) but Royal switched it to Akechi. Do you think that Persona should just stick with one romance option, have a small number of options that they develop, or have it be "every npc is an option" type deal. personally i think it depends on the game? but i feel as if P5 would have benefited from only having 5 romance options (Haru, Makoto, Akechi, Hifumi, and maybe Yusuke?)

Hmmmmm.

It's hard to consider this without also thinking about the other dating sim RPGs, i.e. Bioware. What's interesting there is that some of the romances felt intended (Liara in Mass Effect especially) but there were multiple really good options.

What I find interesting is how Persona and Bioware games handle the shared authorship of the characters. There's an entire Game Maker's Toolkit video about how the narrative designers had to design on a tightrope, keeping the cinematic nature of the story rolling but also making the player feel like they had a handle on the direction (even when the latter was mostly imagined).

Okay, here's two weird thoughts:

The wide array of Persona romances are pretty shallow and would benefit from a shift to much fewer romances that are far more fleshed out.

Akechi is so shocking and compelling because the comparative shallowness of the other romances, because he is a subversion of them.

To me, what makes Akechi the far-and-away best 'romance' of Persona 5 Royal is that he's not a romance 'option.' The player has very little agency over how Joker feels about Akechi. If you hit a couple of flags, then Joker is fucked up and in love with Akechi. That's just it. Maruki gives everyone what they want, and what Joker wants is Akechi.

The fact that Joker is a partially player-directed character that autonomously decides to be in love with Akechi is the secret sauce, imo. Ergo, if you improve the romances overall, you lose some of the specialness inherent in Akechi.

I had a LOT of problems with P5R's writing and especially its structure. I would remove Makoto entirely but for pacing issues, not for the strength of her writing. I'd cut a lot of cruft from the game.

I don't know if I would take away the gutpunch of Akechi though. Not for P5R. For other Persona games, 100% yes, I would. Narrow the scope of romances, maybe even stick just to party members so its easier to build a coherent, meaningful narrative with the love interest.

i hope some of that makes sense, i'm a bit sick and meandering today

[jacknought]

i do think that what bioware did with james was sexist but not in the way a lot of the people in the fandom describe it. i think it's sexist that male shepard has this flock of younger women (ashley, tali, jack to a certain degree and even though liara is technically older they sure love to make a point about her still being considered "a child" by other asari) who all swoon over him, we have miranda who is six years older than shepard and none of this is an issue. sure it's technically breaking ranks with ashley and that's briefly discussed but ash and kaidan really don't care at the end of the day.

the difference here is that kaidan is also older than shepard (if you're following canon) - they have a four year age gap.

so why is bioware treating james and shepard like this ridiculous thing that could never happen? male shepard has his younger love interests look up to him, yet female shepards love interests are always older than her and on equal standing rank-wise (slight exception might be traynor but they also have different positions so idk). james even points out that shepard reminds him of another "older" woman even though shepard is also only four years older than him.

why isn't female shepard allowed to have james swoon over her and think she put the moon in the sky herself and never outrank her and still fall in love head over heels? (that's not the romance dynamic id go for for them but this is hyperbole)

a woman in her thirties meeting a younger man who thinks she's the coolest mfer the galaxy has ever and they both get into a relationship where she "still wears the pants" is something so ridiculous in biowares eyes they couldn't even commit to it. he can't just respect shepard normally, he also has to flirt with her for ? reason (even though shepard can shut that down and he will stop).

and then they make things even worse with the citadel dlc. because no, an older woman could never actually flirt with a younger man without being an absolute predator, without waiting until her subordinate is drunk and then pressuring him into sex.

because an older woman pursuing a younger man is absolutely ridiculous.

but male shepard sleeping with tali, who the game went to great lengths to describe as a very young woman freshly fled the coop and who describes shepard as a very influential person in her life, is totally okay

(warning: short mention of sexual assault related ptsd in this paragraph)

male shepard sleeping with a crying 24 year old jack, who just put herself into a very vulnerable position, retriggered her ptsd regarding sex and relationships, is totally okay. no the tear streaks on her face while shepard bangs her are cute you see.

once again, not strictly younger per se, but it's not beyond me that liara verbatim describes herself as "merely a child" in the eyes of other asari. yes she goes through crazy character development during the trilogy but that's the dynamic initially.

but female shepard gets the storyline about creepily preying on the younger crewmate who looks up to her.

(mind you, I am not saying the women in these relationships don't have agency or that male Shepard is some perverted sex pest, I am critical of the framing and writing of a lot of these romances, especially when it comes to the hypocrisy and misogyny in BioWares writing. However, I also think it's worth to point out that out of five female love interests, only two of them are older than male Shepard, while female Shepards love interests are almost all older than her except Garrus. However, once again, Garrus is also not framed as inexperienced and wide eyed.

Another disclaimer: The ages might be a little off and/or I have the wrong information, because I do recall Tali and Jack as 24 years old in Mass Effect 2, but feel free to correct me respectfully)

tldr: f!Shepard should've been allowed to have a proper romance with James without BioWare treating it as some weird perverted cougar preying on a younger man kind of thing, especially because m!Shepards love interests are also almost always younger than him.

[sol-consort]

I actually would like the concept of being the only human in a crew for a Mass Effect game (maybe a smaller standalone game instead a full on main story one) but that may just be because I always preferred the alien characters over the humans in Mass Effect. No clue what the plot would be but for smaller game maybe hostile creature on board like Alien but I’m just thinking that because I’ve binged the Alien movies

But outside plots what would be your top three alien species in Mass Effect you’d want to be stuck with on a ship? I think Quarian, Asari, and Krogan would be mine

Dude, that's an absolute nightmare combo—for the quarian, at least. They're 100% getting sick every other day.

Krogans have heat and ruts, so....there is that. Oh, and the asari is 100% boning them, like you and the qaurian are going to be thirdwheeling 90% of the time.

It's going to like one of those drama reality tv shows, not one of those people gets along.

I mean, I do like humans a lot. Half the human kink stuff is stuff I genuinely find attractive in other humans. I am my own main source of filth, I would absolutely hate being the only human in a ship.

But if I had no other choice...hmm. My brain is just turning this into a list of aliens I want to bone rather than thinking about the logistics.

Well, I don't want to be charged with involuntary manslaughter, so turians and qaurians are off the table. The knowledge I could accidentally poison one of them by my mere existence is too haunting + I'm a curious creature with grubby fingers and will touch all of their stuff and food.

I would actually enjoy being stuck with a hanar on a ship. Toning out people trying to convert you into their religion comes naturally to me. Not to mention how refreshingly polite and well-behaved they are! Hanar forbid animal fighting sports in their entire planet because it lowers empathy! I love the hanar so much, aaa. I wanna get close enough to one to learn their soul name. They're so pretty and pink and jellyfish, my beloveds <33

A drell, though? No. I don't want them to feel subservient to the hanar, but also, I don't want to get drugged each time I used a spoon they haven't washed properly. It's a shame, I adore their raspy voice, but even touching one will give you a rash, so yeah.

I've always wanted to kiss frogs since I was a little human, not in search of princes but because I found frogs pretty and felt bad that people would only kiss them in hopes of them turning into something else rather than kiss them for them, so i swore to kiss any frog I saw. Now I'm older and realise the health complications and risks—that what living with a drell would be like, kissing a frog every day.

Elcor absolutely yes! They're big majestic elephants and I love elephants and I love their clear way of speech and I find them so adorable and I wanna be friends <33

I'm still not over the asari being an eldritch abomination that alters your perception of reality, so absolutely not. Plus, most of them aren't as nice or humble as liara. Instead, they're snotty and often look down on humans for being the youngest, newest species. I'm not bunking with one! They freak me out.

Salarians? Absolutely not. They only require one hour of sleep and have a perfect memory. They can't be gaslight into thinking it's their turn on the chores. They will be up ALL NIGHT every single day. They will wake me up at 3am. to continue an argument from 2 weeks ago. Plus they really dislike the eclor and I don't want them being mean to my favourite guys :( or else I'll slap a bitch.

Korgans? Fuck no. Anything with any heat cycle is not stepping foot in my world. Go deal with your rut elsewhere! I don't even wanna think about it. otherwise they'd be so chill and nice...albet too strong. Krogans need to go I'm sorry.

Angara? No, because I'd feel too bad separating them from their family. BPD and other emotional constipation things make me the worst person to deal with to an angara bc I would legit rather die than acknowledge any feeling ever. They're too emotionally intelligent and open for me, It will be frustrating for us both bc I will look for hidden bad meanings in their sincere worda and kind actions, and they'll take all my impulsive words and actions to heart. Also, I'm very touch repulsed, hug me, and I'll claw your eye out.

Now, you'd think, okay, there are no species left??

AND YOU'D BE WRONG.

The best roomates! The geth!

They're built helpers! they take care of the chores, they stay in a dark room like a hermit connected to the web, you barely hear a beep from them.

Besides the risk of shattering my skull if I accidentally bump into them in the middle of the night in a dark hallway, everything else is very dandy.

So here you have it:

Hanar

Elcor

Geth

That's the realistic version.

Now if we're talking about my fantasy ideal alien foursome roommates dating sim:

Turian

Drell

Angara

[robotravanger]

Mass Effect Harem Fanfic: Harem x reader: Harem list and relationships

Kairo Shepherd (Futanari/G!P):

Lieutenant Commander Kairo Naija Shepherd is the first captain of the SR-1 Normandy and eventually it's successor the SR-2.

She was born to Hannah Shepherd and Jeffrey Shepherd, her parents.

Like many biotic individuals, she acquired hers from birth when her mother was exposed to Element Zero.

Anyways, she spent her life as a Spacer kid, living from starship to starship, freighter to freighter and station to station.

But it wasn't all bad though....

She had her childhood friend, Y/n, to hang out with. As the two grew up together, they made a vow, no matter where one of them went, the other would always follow. Never leave each other behind.

And another vow they made when they were teens is that Shepherd would be the one to steal Y/n's first kiss and... her virginity included 😅😐.

They've been through a lot together. Joining and passing the N7 program, surviving Akuze and lot's more to come.

When it comes to Shepherd's feelings for Y/n, it's completely whack.

Our loveable commander loves Y/n a lot and as such will tend to bud heads with individuals like Major Ashley Williams

For Y/n's love and overall affection. Shepherd will even grab Y/n's ass and boobs infront of the girls and the guys to assert her dominance over them as the Alpha in this harem, atleast on the female side.

She likes to call Y/n many nicknames such as sweetheart, baby girl, N/n-boo, cutie, sexy, biotic princess or just princess.

And as mentioned before likes to grab Y/n's ass and tities either to spite the rest of the harem or just cause.

To Shepherd, Y/n means everything cause she's been there for her so she feels very protective of her and cares for her more than anyone else.

Ashley Williams (Futanari/G!P):

Major Ashley Madeline Williams is someone who has lived a very harsh life. Having been born into a family that basically was blacklisted cause her grandfather was caught lacking, and ever since then, it ruined the Williams family's reputation.

And thanks to the family curse, Ashley's options for promotion were practically slim to none.

Despite this, she got through it all thanks to her training and genetic enhancement.

Ashley would serve on Eden Prime where the Geth would attack and where she meets Shepherd and the beautiful Y/n herself.

And let's say, Ashley was head over heels. Well, not away but it was gradual.

After joining the Normandy, Ashley would go on to bond with Y/n and develop a good friendship which then led to Ashley grow feelings for Y/n.

To Ashley, Y/n is a kind, sweet, loveable and nurturing girl who saw Williams not for her family name but for her individual characteristics.

So yeah, Ashley was sold and decided to make Y/n hers. Ashley would become psychically possessive of Y/n and at the time when she was very wary of aliens, would even watch Y/n talking to said alien crew members like Tali or Garrus.

She also has a bit of rivalry with Kairo over who can fuck Y/n better and I'm not kidding when I say this... in every position.

Ashley's nicknames for Y/n are as follows: Skipper, Bio-girl, Sweet Girl, Babe, Doll.

For the rest, I'll just add pictures and shit.

Kaidan Alenko:

Garrus Valkarian:

Liara T'soni (Futanari/G!P):

Tali Vas Normandy:

Kasumi Goto(Futanari/G!P):

Samara (Futanari/G!P):

Jack: (Futanari/G!P)