#original male shepard

[edains]

MELE2: Kal'Reegar Romance Scene

Alternate Beard Mod for Custom Male Shep

Children of Rannoch - A Quarian Overhaul (LE2)

Halcyon Hairpack (LE2)

Turtlenecks for Male Shepard (LE2)

Same-Gender Romances for LE2

Primitives - A Facial Appearance Overhaul

[gemsbokk]

I know I’ve yapped here a lot about me killing BioWare if they revivify Shepard again in ME5 but I also like my self indulgent art once in a while

Based on this art because well I haven’t seen a single artist who hadn’t done their otp in this and I felt like it was my time

Also the go is in sepia but I decided to go with a monochrome of the biotic blue

[clericofshadows]

MOD UPDATE

This is something I've been meaning to do for a while, but I separated out the breathers from the helms so that they can now be cycled between the two appearances for both Kaidan and Male Shepard :)

I'll also be updating my Kaidan Alenko's Armory LE1 and Ashley Williams's Armory LE1 with similar features soon, likely later today and in the weekend.

[therealmofamorus]

(Ask, OG Stud) Has anyone ever walked in one Commander Shepard and Jack fucking during a mission?

“I am officially blind after seeing Jack and John having raw animalistic sex during one mission.” Kaidan replied with a traumatic laugh as he thought about the image of John and Jack having some of the most intense and insane sex.

[queenie-the-court-jester]

Yandere farm x farmhand reader 🌾

A/n: this contains few nsfw mentions, mdni please! They're not all that yandere, just a bunch of dumb silly hybrids trying to catch their favorite humans attention. This is their intro

✩̣̣̣̣̣ͯ┄•͙✧⃝•͙┄✩ͯ•͙͙✧⃝•͙͙✩̣̣̣̣̣ͯ┄•͙✧⃝•͙┄✩ͯ•͙͙✧⃝•͙͙✩ͯ•͙͙✧⃝•͙͙✩̣̣̣̣̣ͯ┄•͙

★yandere farm x farmhand reader. I know this isn't original, but I always love the concept. Just minding your business, sweaty and hot from the sun, when suddenly a certain German Shepard hybrid starts sniffing you up and down, lapping up your sweaty skin and grinning when you swat him away. How did you end up here?

★maybe you came here for a summer job, maybe some relatives owned the farm, maybe you were always working here. Either way, it doesn't take long for the hybrids to notice you once you arrive.

★the bulls and cows watching curiously from the fields, the centaurs trying to peek from their stables, the merfolk living in the lake just down the property poke their little heads out. The dogs barking from their Little homes, and the cats watching from the windows. You couldn't help but gawk at the variety of hybrids, there were so many! Merfolk, avians, cattle, cats, dogs.

★your first week there was nice, the other farmhands were nice, and the owners were so sweet! Always speaking fondly of their pets, the old couple would watch them run in the field or play by the lake. You yourself found them a little annoying. Always sniffing, grabbing, nipping at your clothes. You've had to fight your overall bottoms free from one of the pooches one too many times. The cats were no better.

★your second week you meet the cattle and centaurs. And unlike the house cats and guard dogs, they're less handsy. Simply observing from afar. Occasionally sniffing you before nodding their heads and pulling away. Letting you do your job of combing, cleaning and fixing up them and their stables. The cattle would happily let you milk them, applying the breast pumps to the females and a cock pump to the males. You ignored how they looked at you strangely during milkings

★the third week you meet the avians. Odd little bunch, hopping around and puffing up their chests. They watched you enter their enclosure curiously, you were busy picking up their molten feathers because you thought they were pretty. So bright and colorful! Walking around bent over a little when you finally notice the peacock male standing right Infront of you. He gave you a pointed look before his tail feathers expanded. Looking prideful, tilting his chin up as if in an arrogant way. Swaying side to side and closer to you, while you just held the feathers in your hands, a little confused. He got closer until he let out an incredibly loud squawk. Turning around abruptly to glare at the cuckoo who bent down to poke his butt. The cuckoo gave you a grin before climbing back up the tree, using this time as distraction, you quickly escaped.

★on the fourth week, you meet the merfolk. Having been here a month, they were eager to meet you. Watching you walk on the dock with fish feed, eagerly Perking up and swimming closer. You shook out a good handful and chucked it out for the koi fish to eat. They swarmed the area until all the food was gone, simply staring up at you. One poked her head out, tilting it a bit and making a 'click' sound with her tongue. You mimicked her, doing the same. She seemed elated, making various whistles and clicks, splashing up and down the lake. The lake was manmade and filled with koi fish when it was finished, but then again there may be more fish not even the owners know about since it was so deep. How'd they get in there? You're not sure, but you just know it.

★on the fifth week your owners told you about how they had bought multiple sheep, and goats. One male for each group. Watching the loading truck approach the little barn they were finished building. So that's why it was there, they started construction when you arrived the first week. You helped the other farmhands get them situated, at first they were rowdy and a little aggressive but for some reason calmed down when you approached them. Your colleagues now called you the sheep whisperer. You quickly learned how to shave their wool and milk the goats properly. Sometimes braiding their long hair, you just wish the ram would stop headbutting the nearest male colleague for your attention.

★On your sixth week, you went for a walk in the forest when suddenly a little body of fluffy fur tackled you, growling with it's teeth barred. You looked up to see a Pomeranian hybrid, trying it's best to look intimidating. Their fluffy tail gave them away, it was wagging 100mph. They visibly deflated when you reached up a hand to pet them, letting you for A couple minutes before getting off. Walking back into the woods towards three wolves. Dissapearing with them. Not soon after you found a friendly garden naga. Just lounging on a rock and enjoying the sun. You asked to join and they let you, laying there for a good while until you had to go back to the farm. Noticing they had wrapped their tail around you, oh boy. It'll take a good while to get out. Welp, might as well make yourself comfortable and wait for the dogs to come find you

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

HYBRIDS AND THEIR NAMES:

Week one, cats and dogs;

Brutus, dog hybrid, 18, German Shepard, he/him

Dolly, dog hybrid, 26, doberman, she/her

bladviba, dog hybrid, 25, black Russian terrier, he/him

Molly, dog hybrid, 17, chow chow, she/her

Sweet pea, dog hybrid, 17, samoyed, they/them amab

bubba, dog hybrid, 37, borzoi, he/him

Princess, cat hybrid, 18, ragdoll, she/her

Prince, cat hybrid, 19, Norwegian forest cat, he/him

King, cat hybrid, 27, Khao manee, he/him

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

Second week, cattle and centaurs;

Miss bené, cow hybrid, 49, white park cattle, she/her

Miss blackberry, cow hybrid, 22, Aberdeen Angus, she/her

Miss Polly, cow hybrid, 26, Aberdeen Angus, she/her

Miss frufru, cow hybrid, 28, Aberdeen Angus, she/her

Miss Vivian, cow hybrid, 35, Aberdeen Angus, she/her

Big daddy, bull hybrid, 52, Aberdeen Angus, he/him

Johnny, bull hybrid, 18, Aberdeen Angus/white park cattle, he/him

Jacqueline, centaur, 19, shire horse, she/her

Timothy, centaur, 21, galineers cob, he/him

maya, centaur, 17, fjord horse, they/them

Casper, centaur, 23, ardennais, he/him

miguel, centaur, 18, Andalusian horse, he/him

harmony, centaur, 25, Breton horse, they/them

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

third week, avians;

Sydney, avian, 22, cockatoo, they/he

Evangeline, avian, 19, peacock, she/her

Gabriel, avian, 20, peacock, he/him

fajarah, avian, 24, indian ring necked parakeet, she/her

Foolish, avian, 26, owl finch, he/him

simon, avian, 28, tyto alba, he/him

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

Fourth week, merfok;

tancho, koi fish merfolk, 19, tancho koi, he/him

kiko, koi fish merfolk, 19, kikokuryu koi, she/her

hime, koi fish merfolk, 19, hirenaga koi, she/her

Tsu, koi fish merfolk, 19, doitsu koi, they/them

koromo, koi fish merfolk, 19, koromo koi, he/him

Mason, lake 'monster' (crocodile), 20, freshwater crocodile, he/him

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

Fifth week, goats and sheep;

Sally, goat, 25, angora goat, she/her

Opal, goat, 24, Tennessee fainting goat, she/her

Sasha, goat, 26, australian cashmere goat, she/her

kim, ram, 23, dutch landrace goat, he/him

Poka, sheep, 19, Valais black nose, they/them

Juniper, sheep, Valais black nose, she/her

violet, sheep, 18, harri, she/her

azucar, sheep, 17, Columbia sheep, she/her

Wehrner, ram, 21, American black belly, he/him

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

Sixth week, the forest creatures:

roxy, wolf hybrid, 19, grey wolf, she/her

Silas, wolf hybrid, 21, grey wolf, he/him

Milo, wolf hybrid, 20, albino Grey wolf, they/them

Kiki, dog hybrid, 18, Pomeranian, they/them

Coachella, naga, 27, garden snake, they/him

•°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆ •°. *࿐ ⋆

[scapinoz]

MY MAD DOG (all mine).

yandere male oc x male reader.

prologue.

first of all, thanks for reading. this is my first time publishing one of my original works :) disclaimer that English isn’t my first language and that i don’t pay attention to grammar lessons at school, so there might be a few errors. sorry in advance about that !!

warnings: mentions of firearm and cursing. maybe a bit of child neglect. nothing too dark…yet (we’re just getting started)

Ilarion Lucero had always wanted a dog– a german shepard, to be precise– when he was younger. He had always gotten everything he had ever wanted back then; Ilarion was his father’s only heir, the young master of the household. Everyone– the maids, the servants, the butlers, his father’s men, even his mother– was at his beck and call all the time back then; when he was young. Because God forbid that the young master should ever once feel yearning or sorrow.

Ilarion Lucero had never once asked for anything; because everything he ever desired was handed to him in a bloody silver platter before he opened his mouth to ask for it.

Yet, despite the endless parade of silver-plated indulgences, there was one thing Ilarion had asked for.

A dog.

Ilarion, perhaps when he was five or perhaps six, went to his father’s office, barging in without knocking. (back then he hadn’t paid much mind to the gun that sat atop his father’s maghony desk). He had demanded that his father should get him a dog, because a boy from his class got one; a white one, covered in fur and had wide and glossy eyes. Ilarion had also wanted one. He begged, he cried, he pleaded with all the fervor of a child who had never known denial. And yet his father’s answer remained the same.

No, his father had said, you’re not responsible enough to take care of a dog.

He didn’t face his father for three days after that. His mother had begged him to eat; even had the chefs make his favourite food. But he did not budge. He had hoped that his father would feel some kind of remorse in his cold heart and buy him a dog so that he could brag to his classmates about having a dog as well.

But his father did not do that.

Ilarion had always known that his father was rather unsympathetic (it was the kindest word Ilarion could scavenge to describe his father). His father smiled, of course, the man never compressed his emotion (though it was only in his later years that he realized the smile was fake). The older man loved his son, his mother had always told that his father loved him when he was younger whenever he would ask about why his father never quite kissed his cheek and embraced him as his mother did. Love, he thought, was not something that should be hidden. Love was warm kisses, soft words and long embraces (things his father never gave him).

Illarion never quite believed it. He wasn’t stupid after all (in his six year old brain acing his exams made him feel smart). His father did not love him. Nor did his father love his mother. He had heard them argue back and forth; his mother asking his father to quiet down so that their son wouldn’t hear them and his father said, ‘let him hear then.’

And Illarion knew that he was only his father’s heir; not his son, or his beloved boy, but only his heir.

And an heir should be kept happy, right?

So, he asked for a dog once again.

He cornered his father during breakfast, pleading more. This time his father simply looked at him before walking away, the man that was always with the older man (Rylan, his father’s right hand man) following him.

Later that day he asked again (Illarion really wanted that dog), during dinner. Surely, in the warmth of their home, with food and wine laid before them, his father might soften. But his father did not. his father left the table and his mother, silent and withdrawn, didn’t say a word.

Illarion sought out his mother after dinner. Seeking solace and perhaps an ally in his crusade for a puppy. Hence he made his way to his parents’ bedroom, more than ready to risk his father’s wrath.

His mother wasn’t there in the bedroom. Rather he only found his father and Rylan conversing. And for a moment illarion could swear that he heard his father say, ��take the fucking kid outside.”

and Rylan, ever the loyal servant, took illarion out of the room.

“What kind of dog do you want?” He asked.

And Illarion didn’t waste a second answering (he had rehearsed the answer to this question, in case his father was to ask). “A big one,” Illarion said, “like those dogs that the guards had in the last gala.” And then Illarion realized that Rylan didn’t attend the gala which took place last week, which could possibly mean that the older man didn’t know what dog Illarion was talking about. “The big one, full of fur and like a long nose,”

Rylan cut him off, “A German Shepherd, kid. I know. Your father told me.”

“Oh.”

“Do you really want a dog?”

“Yeah,” illarion nodded, “I want one.” Maybe he’ll try asking during Christmas or his next birthday.

“I’ll see what I can do, kid.”

Illarion doubted that Rylan could do anything about it. After all, Rylan was just his father’s lackey and would just follow his father’s words like it was the holy scripture.

But two days later Illarion was proven wrong.

His mother didn’t join him for dinner that day. It was just him and his father eating in silence until the door opened, revealing Rylan accompanied by a boy.

Illarion immediately focused on the boy, who seemed to be around his age. But tall, so incredibly tall. Perhaps the boy was at least two or three years older than Illarion. Ilarion blinked. The boy had striking features that mirrored Rylan’s. But where Rylan stood rigid and composed, the boy exuded an air of defiance (Another difference was that Rylan wasn’t covered with bandages and dinosaur bandaids like the boy was).

“I’m sorry about the delay,” Rylan said, ushering the boy towards the dinner table. “This is my son.”

illarion heard the boy scoff and cross his arms over his chest. And it took him a minute to notice what the boy was wearing…a pair of jeans and a tank top— so casual that it bordered on insolence.

“It’s a pleasure,” Illarion’s father murmured, taking a sip from his glass of wine. “I’ve heard so much about you, Y/N.”

The boy— who Illarion now knew as Y/N— didn’t reply until Rylan nudged him . “Likewise,” came the reply, bored and nonchalant.

Ilarion watched in disbelief as his father allowed the insolence to pass unchallenged. It was the first time he had seen anyone address the man with anything less than deference and leave unscathed.

While his father was amused, Rylan looked the opposite. Perhaps a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance (the same expression that was mirrored on his son’s face).

“Y/N,” Rylan said through gritted teeth, “Go sit beside Illarion. He’s your friend now.”

And the boy complied, dragging his feet as if the short distance to the table was a long gruesome journey in the desert with no water. Illarion watched, bewildered, as Y/N plopped onto the chair beside him with all the grace of a sullen street cat.

Illarion’s father turned to look at him for the first time that night. “He is yours to look after now, illarion.”

Ilarion stared at the boy beside him, at the bandages on his arms and the fire in his eyes. He had asked for a dog, a loyal and silent companion. What he had been given was something else entirely— a mad dog, wild and untamed.

quick yap session :) it was like three a.m. when i wrote this, partially high on caffeine and sugar. idk what i was trying to achieve with this, actually. side note, im doing this just for shit and giggles actually. don’t take this seriously.

and if you’re interested in reading, comment down below and it might encourage me to write quicker and release more parts or else this might just collect dust like most my books.

[felassan]

Video from Fall Damage: 'Can Mass Effect Actor Remember His Iconic Lines?'

Mark Meer plays the male version of Commander Shepard in the original Mass Effect trilogy. In this interview he re-enacts his famous lines and sees if he can remember some of Shepard's best quotes. He also answers questions about the best companion characters, punching the reporter, and some of his iconic catchphrases.

Mark Meer: "Would I play Shepard again? I think I would have to say yes. I would be more than willing. But only under any circumstances."

[source]

[fereldanwench]

apropos of nothing and certainly not my tag rant from a few posts back

did you know that out of 150 popular video games released between 1985 and 2022, only 6% of them feature sole female protagonists?

did you know that prior to mass effect 3, female shepard was never used in any promotional material for the series?

(and there's no hard data available on this, but i very distinctly recall a lot of gamerbro outrage when me3 had an optional reversible cover so you could pick between male and fem shep on your personal game)

did you know that only 18% of players chose femshep in any shape or form (default or customized) during the original release?

(anecdotally, i know a few people who didn't even realize you could play a female at all in me1 bc of how the cc is setup)

did you know with the release of the legendary edition in 2021 the percentage of femshep players didn't even double (despite jennifer hale's seemingly enormous popularity amongst the broader playerbase over the past decade) and is reported at 32%?

did you know that dragon age inquisition has the same breakdown between male and female inquisitors (68% to 32% respectively)?

did you know during the playtests for assassin's creed odyssey, it was a 50/50 split between kassandra and alexios, and ubisoft suits actually thought when the game was released, kassandra would be more popular? and yet once again, about 70% of players chose the male protag

did you know evie and aya were both supposed to have a much larger roles in assassin's creed syndicate and origins but were forced into a smaller role bc the ubisoft marketing team didn't think the games would sell well with a female lead?

cdpr hasn't released data on male vs female v, probably because the game handles gender a little differently than just two strict options like many other rpgs, but it was revealed that panam was the most popular romance, sitting at about 68%, which means at least 68% of players chose the male v body. I'm sure some players did not make that choice as a cis male v, but i would also guess that those who didn't are a small minority of this demographic, and if you factor in kerry romancers, this split is probably very similar to other games in the genre

now i realize that a lot of the male v players who are in more transformative fandom spaces (like tumblr) are not the str8 gamer dudebros of reddit angry about pores on a female character's face and whatnot. i realize that a lot of you are also on the outskirts of the perceived norm and also feel under-represented by mainstream male protags and that's incredibly frustrating and alienating and i genuinely feel for you

but female protagonists and female gamers who want to play as female protagonists and who have a few niche spaces to celebrate female protags are not the reason for your lack of representation

and frankly you don't sound a whole lot different from the angry incel gamer boys when you say shit like "fem v gets too much attention"

so maybe try advocating for male protags who don't fit the generic boring gruff white guy mold without throwing women under the bus. we're should be allies in this fight, not rivals

[chaifootsteps]

Hi Chai,

Since I know you are not a transmisogynist, what are some of your favorite transfem characters or characters you hc as transfem?

Btw this is the Malva anon again, I've been sending asks more than once but I realized I may be a regular asker now lol

GL with Bluesky

*Rubs hands eagerly*. Gladly! Let's talk about some ladies!

Rachel Bighead from Rocko's Modern Life

My friend and I were watching this in VC the other night and Rachel's probably my favorite example of how to "trans" a character, especially one that's been around for a long time, right. Nothing about it feels shoehorned or asspulled or like it was done to appease a board somewhere. Ralph's defining characteristic throughout Rocko's original run was being absolutely miserable all the time, no matter how much success in life he achieved, and so when we learn that he went off soul searching and discovered Rachel was the answer? It made perfect, beautiful sense.

Rachel's just...amazing. She's dry as ever, but unflappably confident. She's Ralph at perfect peace, and the journey we see the Bighead family go on? Bev's immediate acceptance, Ed's tearful epiphany that that little tadpole who damaged his retina is still right in front of him, and the three of them hugging? God, this part of the special was so good. Rachel's so good.

Also, I ship her with Rocko like whoa.

2. Grell Sutcliffe from Black Butler

I freaking love Grell. She's absolutely nuts, has an awesome design and a kickass weapon, and was surprisingly poignant and not-meanspirited considering the time period the show came out in. I love how the English dub has her give a kind of orgasmic bird squawk every time something goes right for her. 10/10, would support every last one of her woman's wrongs.

(Incidentally, Grell's one of the reasons it annoys me when people call me transmysogynist based off my opinions on Arcee, because let me tell you, I did my tour of duty back during the Grell Wars.)

3. Jerry/Daphne from Some Like it Hot

First of all, this movie's amazing and if you haven't watched it and don't know the very famous ending, go remedy that right now. And then chase it with this fic. I'll wait.

I'm firmly in the camp that believes Jerry/Daphne is genderfluid, and holy cow, is this a lovely little story of self-discovery and falling in love. It's just so special to me. It makes me smile like a damn fool every single time.

4. Fem!Shep from Mass Effect

Okay, this one's kind of cheating because Shepards are customizable and can be anything you want, but I loved the idea from the get-go. That's in part because fem!Shep's model still moves like male!Shep, and it's especially noticeable when she sits, but it also just kind of feels fitting with a lot of the dialogue options. In conclusion, my Shepard was great and I need to replay that game with Legendary Edition because I miss her deeply.

5. Maevaris Tilani from Dragon Age

Mae's wonderful on so many levels and she's a character I'm very excited to meet face-to-face in Veilguard. She's stunning, an absolute powerhouse, she's good friends with my my beloved Dorian, and her relationship with her late chubs hubby was beautiful. I'm pretty sure she's not going to be romanceable, but if she was, I think my Rook would be doomed.

6. Hana from Tokyo Godfathers

This movie's a treasure and so is Hana. I like that she's old, she's stubbly, she doesn't pass flawlessly, but by god, if anyone deserves to be a mom, it's her.

7. Angel from Rent

Another genderfluid character! At least, that's my best guess. I've always loved that we have no fucking clue exactly what flavor of genderqueer Angel is, that not even the cast seems unanimous on it.

I loved Rent when I was younger, thought it was so deep and profound, and it's kinda not but Angel was easily my favorite character. Still is.

8. The Laughing Cow and the Lactaid Cow

They're cows that don't have udders and they're gay and in love, I don't make the rules.

9. Anode and Lug

Transfem lesbian bots from RiD's (the comic run IDW Arcee is from) much more competently written sister series, they're a demonstration of how to do it right. I like that one transitioned medically and the other didn't. Anode features very prominently in my Arcee fix-it fic and I grew very attached to her while writing it.

10. Marco from Star vs. the Forces of Evil

I'm gonna level with you, I never actually watched this show. But I was very invested in this one back in the day and disappointed when it never came true.

Honorable mention: Art the Clown from Terrifier

While I don't exactly headcanon Art as transfem, there's a fic on ao3 that explored the idea and I kind of dug it. I could see Art much younger, with many possible futures laid out, and that being one of them. I think if something fundamental hadn't broken in his soul/brain, he would have been either trans or a fruity old drag queen, happy as a clam.

Mind you, this is all fanon talk. My jaw would hit the floor with horror if this became canon and Art would go straight on the pile of characters I get yelled at for "misgendering" because if I refuse to swallow rotten food.

[holly-poly]

Nominations Open

Nominations are open, and they'll stay open through 11:00am UTC on 2 November - you can see a countdown timer at this link. You're allowed to nominate up to 10 fandoms, with up to 10 relationships per fandom. This year we have imported a subset of the tagset from Holly Poly 2023 via our pre-nominations phase to try and reduce the workload for us mods - please make sure to check the tagset before you nominate a ship to see if it is already included in the tagset. We recommend expanding all tagset categories before searching the page for any ships since some fandoms may not be in the section you expect due to us using slightly different fandom tags in some cases.

The tag set is located here: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/21262

You can also view this year's tagset on AO3 Automagic app at the link below to more easily search for ships included in it already, but it needs a re-scrape requested periodically to ensure it's up to date: https://autoao3app.fandom.tools/#/holly_poly_2024/tagset

In order to nominate a relationship, simply click the Nominate button located in the top right-hand corner of the tag set. If you do not have an account on the AO3, please let us know, and we should be able to get you an invite. On a similar note, if you have any questions, or if you're nominating something that you think might be confusing, please either post a comment to this post or send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com if you'd rather keep it private.

For relationships that do not already have canonical tags, please nominate them in alphabetical order by last name (and, if they don't have a last name or multiple characters share a last name, then by first name). For example: Anders/Fenris/Bethany Hawke/Carver Hawke/Isabela/Merrill/Varric Tethras/Aveline Vallen, or Astrid Beck/Eadwulf Grieve/Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, or Sirius Black/Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks.

Please don't panic if we add some type of disambiguation to relationships that you nominate. Especially for ones where the same characters fall under different fandoms (various comic fandoms, movie/TV show vs. book fandoms, etc.), as doing so helps keeps tags from wandering to fandoms where they don't belong.

This is an exchange for romantic and/or sexual relationships, not friendships, so make certain to nominate relationships that use a "/" rather than a "&". If you want to request that a relationship be asexual/queerplatonic/etc., then that's something to include in your optional details when signing up.

Please make sure to read through the extra information below as some fandom disambiguations have changed since last year. In general, when nominating a fandom or ship consider whether there are multiple sources/versions and how to nominate in a way that makes it clearest which version you want.

Please nominate original works under Original Work for the fandom.

Please nominate crossovers under Crossover - Fandom for the fandom. List characters in alphabetical order by last name (and, if they don't have a last name or multiple characters share a last name, then by first name), and please put the fandom or a clear abbreviation of it after the character name. For example: Thirteenth Doctor (Doctor Who)/Ms. Frizzle (Magic School Bus)/Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins), or Female Hawke (Dragon Age)/Male Hawke (Dragon Age)/Female Shepard (Mass Effect)/Male Shepard (Mass Effect), or Hal Jordan (Green Lantern 2011)/Ryan Reynolds (RPF)/Wade Wilson (Deadpool Movieverse). If you have any crossover ships that hit the 100 character tag length limit, you can abbreviate the fandom names or leave out surnames to condense it down so long as it will still be clear which characters in the fandom and which fandoms you mean. If there's any ships that are still difficult to do that for or you're not sure if it will be clear to us/others, do let us know the ship by either commenting here or emailing us and we'll try to figure out a way to condense it.

Please nominate all relationships involving characters from the MCU movies, Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter, Hulu Marvel series, Netflix Marvel series, and/or Disney+ Marvel series under Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you nominate a ship with Peter Parker in for MCU we will assume you mean Tom Holland's Peter Parker unless stated otherwise. If you want to nominate a ship with one of the other Peter Parkers in for the MCU please use "Peter Parker (SM 2002 Tobey Maguire)" or "Peter Parker (TASM 2012 Andrew Garfield)" - you can shorten the fandom disambiguation in the brackets if you run out of character limit but it still needs to be obvious which Peter Parker you mean. For Peter Parker ships in crossover - Fandom you will need to state which Peter you mean in each instance, identified by the specific film or comicsverse, with Tom Holland's version as Peter Parker (MCU).

Please nominate all of the X-Men movies under X-Men (Original Timeline Movies), X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), and Deadpool (Movieverse). The Wolverine movies go in Original Timeline. Any relationships featuring characters from movies that fall under different categories should be nominated as a Crossover.

Please nominate Marvel comics under the universe they belong to: Marvel 616, Marvel Adventures, MC2, X-Men Evolution (Comics), etc. If you feel the specific title they're from is complicated enough that it should be listed separately, please either leave a comment or send an e-mail with more information. Characters like America Chavez who are originally from another universe but canonically spend time in a different one can be included as part of relationships requested for either universe.

Please nominate standalone Marvel movies/TV shows such as Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes or X-Men Evolution (Cartoon) separately under the name of the specific movie/show.

Please nominate DC films set in the current movie universe (Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, and The Suicide Squad) under DC Extended Universe.

Please nominate relationships from various DC comics under DCU (Comics). If you feel the specific title they're from is complicated enough that it should be listed separately, please either leave a comment or send an e-mail with more information.

Please nominate standalone DC movies/TV shows such as Birds of Prey (TV), Gotham, and Smallville separately as individual fandoms.

Please nominate the various DC shows on The CW (Arrow, The Flash, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Batwoman, and Superman & Lois) under DC's Arrowverse. Relationships including characters from The Arrowverse as well as from other DC shows like Birds of Prey or Smallville who appear due to crossover events can be nominated under this umbrella fandom, while relationships solely from Birds of Prey, Smallville, and the like should be nominated separately under the name of the show they're from. Crossover relationships featuring characters from other DC shows who do not canonically appear in The Arrowverse, even if other characters from that show do, should still be nominated under Crossovers. If nominating ships where the canonical tag uses "Behrad Tomaz | Behrad Tarazi" please change the character name to one or the other to specify which timeline Behrad you mean.

Please nominate the various cartoons considered part of the DCAU (Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, The Zeta Project, Justice League, and Justice League Unlimited) under DC Animated Universe (Timmverse).

Please nominate everything set in the Doctor Who universe under Doctor Who (including Big Finish Audios, Class, Sarah Jane Adventures, and Torchwood). For characters that have multiple incarnations, please specify which you mean by number or actor, e.g. "First Doctor" or "The Master (Simm)". If you don't mind which version, please add "(any)" after the character name, e.g. "The Doctor (any)".

Please nominate The Good Wife and The Good Fight under The Good Wife & Related Fandoms.

Please nominate Chicago Med, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Chicago Justice under One Chicago.

Please nominate Tolkien fandoms under Middle Earth – J.R.R. Tolkien or Middle Earth (Movies) or The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022), depending on whether you want bookverse, movieverse or the new showverse. The Silmarillion would fall under the books. Any relationships featuring a mixture of movie, book or show canon (which would include anything set in the movies but with characters who aren't in them, such as Elladan, Elrohir, Glorfindel, etc.) should be nominated as a Crossover; please specify which characterization you want for any characters who are in more than one of the bookverse, movieverse or showverse, ie. Aragorn (movies)/Elladan/Elrohir.

Please nominate One Piece (TV) separately from One Piece (Anime & Manga).

Please nominate The Wheel of Time (TV) separately from the book fandom Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan.

Please nominate Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) separately from League of Legends (Video Games).

Please nominate Percy Jackson and the Olympians (TV) separately from Percy Jackson & The Olympians (Movies) and the book fandom of Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan. If you want to nominate a ship from a specific book series please add the series acronym after the ship details, e.g. (PJO Books), (THOO Books) etc.

Please nominate the Star Trek TV shows (live action or animated) under Star Trek: Classic Timeline and AOS under Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)‎. For ships that include characters that are in both Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds or Star Trek: Discovery, we will assume the TOS version is meant by default - if you want to specify the SNW version please add "(SNW)" after the character name(s) to differentiate from TOS version, e.g. "Christine Chapel (SNW)/Spock (SNW)/T'Pring (SNW)" and for Discovery please add "(Disco)" after the character name. If the ship has a mix of TOS and SNW/Discovery character versions, please add SNW or Disco or TOS in brackets after each of the character names that need clarification. Any relationships featuring characters from both the original timeline and AOS (other than those who canonically are in both of them like Spock) should be nominated under Crossover - Fandom

Please nominate Stargate SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate Universe under Stargate - All Media Types.

Please nominate Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: The Series, and the assorted spinoffs (including Fray and other comics) under Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Related Fandoms.

Please nominate all of the Dragon Age video games and books under Dragon Age - All Media Types.

Please nominate all of the Mass Effect video games and books under Mass Affect - All Media Types.

Please nominate anything Star Wars related under Star Wars - All Media Types.

Please nominate Game of Thrones (TV) and A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin and House of the Dragon (TV) as separate fandoms.

Please nominate Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), The Witcher (TV), and Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski as separate fandoms. Use the appropriate names for characters based on the source rather than the longer canonical tags that include multiple names (ie, for the TV show it would be Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier/Yennefer of Vengerberg rather than the canonical tag of Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg or for the video games it would be Dandelion/Eskel/Geralt of Rivia rather than the canonical tag of Eskel/Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion).

Please nominate anything related to Once Upon a Time or Once Upon a Time in Wonderland under Once Upon a Time (TV).

Please separate anything related to the Power Rangers television shows under Power Rangers (TV), the comics under Power Rangers (Comics), and the more recent(ish) movie under Power Rangers (2017).

Please nominate anything set in Exandria under Critical Role (Web Series), including Exandria Unlimited and one shots such as The Screw Job or The Darrington Brigade. Non-Exandria one shots such as Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Crystal Palace should be nominated under their own names. The Legend of Vox Machina (Cartoon) should also be nominated separately.

Please nominate Yu-Gi-Oh! fandoms under their individual series names, unless you have ships that cross several series in which case you can nominate under Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types.

Please nominate relationships featuring characters from various Disney/Pixar animated titles (ie, Jasmine/Megara/Mulan or Jafar/Maleficent/Ursula) under Disney - All Media Types. Relationships featuring characters from a single Disney and/or Pixar movie can be nominated under the specific movie/movie series name (ie, Cobra Bubbles/David Kawena/Nani Pelekai would be nominated under Lilo & Stitch (2002)).

Please nominate Teen Wolf (TV) or Teen Wolf: The Movie (2023) under Teen Wolf (Jeff Davis) - if you don't want the movie events mentioned for your gift please mention it as Do Not Want in request details when signing up. Other Teen Wolf movie ships should be nominated under Teen Wolf (1980s Movies). Anything crossing over the Jeff Davis verse with the original movies should be nominated under Crossover - Fandom. 

Please nominate both original movie and book Harry Potter ships under Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling but ships from the Fantastic Beasts movie series should be nominated separately under Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies). Anything crossing over both should be nominated under Crossover - Fandom. Please nominate both Leverage (2008) and Leverage: Redemption (2021) under Leverage (US TV) and Leverage (2019) under Leverage (Korea).

For what was previously Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, this has now been separated out into the following three fandoms in our tagset. Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake and Rebirth (Video Games 2020-2024), and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. Anything crossing over two or more Final Fantasy fandoms should be nominated under Crossover - Fandom.

For what was previously Mortal Kombat (Video Games) this has now been separated out into Mortal Kombat (Video Games 1992-2020) and Mortal Kombat (Video Games 2023-). Please nominate the Avatar: The Last Airbender cartoon, as well as the related ATLA comics, under Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005), the new live action TV series under Avatar: The Last Airbender (Netflix) and the live action movie under The Last Airbender (2010).

Please note that while [Specific Character]/[Specific Group of Characters] is acceptable as a nomination, [Specific Character]/Everyone is too broad.

For example: Lex Luthor/Lionel Luthor's Board Members is acceptable because "Lionel Luthor's Board Members" involves a finite group of people. The same goes for Voldemort/Death Eaters, Shipwrecked Sailor/Mermaids, and Peter Pan/Lost Boys. While Carol Danvers/Anyone and Everyone or Jack Harkness/Everyone He's Ever Met are understandable, they're too broad because it could essentially involve an infinite number of people.

If you have any questions about a relationship you want to nominate that might potentially be too broad, leave a comment or send an e-mail.

RPF characters must be 18+ at the time of nomination. Significant others/children/etc. of public figures are not permitted unless they are public figures in their own right. For smaller RPF fandoms, providing information/links to help us verify the characters are eligible would be appreciated and will speed up RPF noms.

If you have any questions about what fandom to use when making nominations, or any other questions in general - or if you find any errors in the tagset - please feel free to leave a comment on this post. You can also send an e-mail to holly.poly.exchange@gmail.com.

Collection: https://ao3.org/collections/holly_poly_2024 Tag Set: https://archiveofourown.org/tag_sets/21262 Tumblr: https://holly-poly.tumblr.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/holly_poly_ex Google Groups - Holly Poly Updates: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-updates Google Groups - Holly Poly Pinchhits: https://groups.google.com/g/holly-poly-pinchhits

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

I'm really tired of the "Who voiced Shepard better?" argument. I think they both have strengths and flaws. I think ME1 male Shepard was the weakest but I do not blame Mark Meer because his line reads were filler that would be replaced, so there was NO direction, so he just deadpanned them. There was originally going to be another voice actor for male Shepard but it fell through. They used what was recorded by Meer instead. Male Shepard was so much better in ME2 and ME3.

I think both actors did a fantastic job. They each have their own style and while I do think Meer and Hale delivered some lines better than the other, they were both great to me and I feel no need to pit then against each other the way many in this fandom enjoy doing

[jbk405]

In my ME2 playthrough, I began to think about which Romance Option characters should have been available for both male and female Shepards based on the content in the game. Several characters were originally intended to be and then had the content cut out, but some had content left in that still hinted towards a possible romance even though it couldn't happen.

The most obvious is Jack, who is almost the poster child for "She was obviously supposed to be an option for FemShep before they chickened out". She makes reference to having relationships with both men and women in her past, and though her past relationships ended horribly, they all ended horribly. Up until she shuts down what she thinks is FemShep flirting with her -- saying she's not a "girls club" person -- she treats all of her past relationships exactly the same.

The next is Tali, who actually does flirt with FemShep in the game. It's brief, but the dialogue is identical to when she is flirting with MaleShep. Even more glaring is the info you get from the Shadow Broker's files. They may be DLC, but they're officially canon. In her files you learn that she is attracted to Shepard regardless of gender, researches human courtship and mating rituals, and (most tellingly) uses "Nerve-Stim Pro" while thinking of her.

Thane is less obvious, since there's no affirmative attraction towards MaleShep. However, he has the same near-religious fixation on Shepard regardless of gender. Before joining the Normandy Thane was depressed and passively suicidal, eventually admitting that that he hoped (planned?) to be killed during the Dantius assassination. It was only the challenge of trying to beat Shepard to the kill, and then connecting with Shepard in honest friendship afterwards, that pulled him out of that state. Shepard's mere presence is life-changing for him.

Based on the in-game content, all three of these characters should be an option for Shepard regardless of gender.

[anghraine]

ngl, video games have made this year livable, especially Guild Wars 2 and the Mass Effect trilogy. They have significant overlap in voice actors (unsurprisingly), and I felt like just shouting out some major voices of the games that got me through 2024:

Steve Blum, famous in my corner of the Internet as Amon/Noatak in Legend of Korra, is also famous for many other roles! Most relevantly to my interests, though, he's the voice of male player characters in the first two Guild Wars games (Guild Wars: Prophecies and Guild Wars: Factions), along with being the VA for Justiciar Hablion (Prophecies) and charr revolutionary Pyre Fierceshot (Guild Wars: Eye of North). But in addition, he voices my beloved space godson Grunt (in ME2&3) and Rytlock Brimstone and Phlunt (and many, many others) in GW2.

Jennifer Hale, obviously iconic as female Commander Shepard from the Mass Effect trilogy, is also the voice of female sylvari PCs in GW2, and of Queen Jennah of Kryta as well as various other supporting characters.

April Stewart was not only the voice of Raava in LOK, but the narrator of the original Guild Wars, the voice of female PCs in Prophecies, Nightfall, and Eye of the North, the voice of human female PCs in Guild Wars 2, and Consort Sha'ira's acolyte/scheduler Nelyna in Mass Effect.

Kari Wahlgren was the Vabbian aristocrat-hero Tahlkora in Nightfall and my beloved Gwen Thackeray in Eye of the North, but is also Caithe (among many, many others) in GW2.

Lex Lang has been the voice of male charr PCs for many years now, but also played one of my favorite minor characters in Mass Effect, Din Korlack.

Yuri Lowenthal voices various background characters in Mass Effect, but also Lord Faren(!) and my guy Ho-Ho-Tron (also known by other aliases), among others, in Guild Wars 2.

Sumalee Montano voices queer necromancer noir detective Marjory Delaqua (<3) among other characters in Guild Wars 2, but was also Nyreen in Mass Effect! She's also been in a LOT of Dragon Age roles, though I've never played those.

Catherine Taber has voiced both Padmé and Leia in a ton of SW projects, but to me she'll always be GW2's Countess Anise first!

Claudia Black is obviously well-known anyway, but she's Matriarch Aethyta and Admiral Daro'Xen in Mass Effect!

[glasseyeartspy]

Redesign: The Delta Hive

So I've been a lifelong Alien fan and Romulus got me out here redesigning one of my hives. Formerly known as the Zalox hive, this is a two part family, with heavy interference from the lab that studies them. (Delta Zwei)

Queen Gaia and her younger sister Mya, as well as their one surviving drone, Ni'kita. Mya was temporarily separated from her sister to prevent the queen from killing her. The scientists knew enough time would cause the young Gaia to grow to the point she no longer saw her sister as a threat. At least, that was the goal. She was re-accepted, as the hive had gone into collapse leaving the sole drone, Ni'kita, and the queen alone. (This was done intentionally, as all eggs were being destroyed behind the scenes.) Their desperation was the goal.

Once in this state, the scientists integrated five other experimental drones. Each had been taken from previous hives, and propagated in either a host, or artificially spliced with various species. Xi' is the eldest female of this set, artificially spliced with a Malayan Tiger. Siam is the eldest male, and was hosted by a Maine Coon Cat. Klaus is the middle male, artificially spliced with a Snowy Owl. Kronos is the youngest male, artificially spliced with a Yautja. Cinder is the youngest female, and in the hive over all, hosted by an Australian Shepard Dog.

After a successful integration, the Delta Hive is doing exceptionally well. The eggs produced by Queen Gaia are sold to various defense contractors, highly prized due to their strength and relatively low-rate of going feral due to further chemical intervention in the egg phase.

(Original under the cut)

[pirunika]

Masterpost ᐖ

last updated: 8.2.25

Tags :

#sudraws #my writing #xx #music #reference #photography #self reblog #video etc.

Art Blog @mandoart

A03 (being revised)

LIs of choice bc why not :

Lann (Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous)

Heinrix (Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader)

Alistair, Fenris, Blackwall (Dragon Age)

Garrus, Jaal (Mass Effect Trilogy)

Danse (Fallout 4)

Torian, Aric (Swtor)

Elliott (Stardew Valley)

Astraeus, Alain, Reiner, Nav (Lovestruck)

Liod, Andvari, Chris (Romance Club)

Asra, Julian (The Arcana)

Jumin Han, Zen (Mystic Messenger)

Lucifer, Mammon (Obey Me)

Sylus, Zayne (Love and Deepspace)

Hanzo (Nightshade)

Raze honestly all 3... (Demonheart)

Ernol, Haron (Ebon Light)

Leander (Touchstarved WIP)

Flannan (The Good People WIP)

Mason (The Wayhaven Chronicles)

Ricardo Ortega (Fallen Hero)

Hadrian (The Golden Rose)

Ulysses (Whiskey-Four)

Toshie, Junko (Samurai of Hyuga)

Zhu (Relics of the Lost Age)

Preston (Tin Star)

Marcel for now (Thicker Than WIP)

Blade (Shepherds of Haven WIP)

Laurent (Perfumare: Avulsion WIP)

O, G, Seven (Infamous WIP)

Games I play/ed not mentioned above

Dragon Raja Mobile

Sims free2play, mobile, 3, 4

Black Desert Mobile

Fate Grand Order

Cookie Run Kingdom

Vampire's Fall: Origins

Eldarya

Lovelink

MeChat

Blush Blush

Choices

Ikemen Sengoku

Samurai LBP

A Date with Death

Andromeda Six

Tailor Tales

Hollywood Red Embrace

When the Night Comes

Guild Wars 2

Slay the Princess

Fear & Hunger

Cultist Simulator

Soul Stone War

Tally Ho

I, the Forgotten One

Blood Moon

Fields of Asphodel

Choice of the Deathless

Werewolves series

Playlists :

Astraeus (Astoria Fate's Kiss - Lovestruck)

Astoria MC (aka Eos just below)

Sails in the Fog (Romance Club)

Shepherds of Haven WIP IF

Infamous WIP IF Band

Mason (Wayhaven Chronicles)

Some random OCs/MCs :

Manolya 'Mili' Rosebud Sackville (Lord of the Rings Online) #oc: mili 4"

Gulsary (DnD Online) #oc: gulsary 4'5"

Vorawin'ther Vandree 'Vora Winter' (Neverwinter/1/2, Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous — a drow in one and dhampir in the latter) #oc: vora, #oc: vorawin'ther 4'10"

Balta Granar (Elder Scrolls Online) oc: #balta 6'5"

Ayka Delgerdzaya Aeducan (Dragon Age Origins) #oc: ayka 4'8"

Aurora Hawke (Dragon Age 2) #oc: aurora 5'5"

Talas Adaar (Dragon Age Inquisition) #oc: aysha 6'8"

Sue (lol i made a self insert for Fallout New Vegas) #the courier 5'4"

Anna Arslanowicz (Fallout 4) #oc: anna 6'1"

Elnara 'Ellie' Seitosmanovna Krymsky (Saints Row series) #oc: ellie 5'10"

'Lia' Shepard (Mass Effect trilogy) #oc: lia 5'3"

Valentina 'Tina' Ryder (Mass Effect Andromeda) #oc: valentina 5'8"

'Nino Balkish' (Star Wars the Old Republic, Chiss Mando Bounty Hunter) #oc: nino 5'11"

Emija Prizrak (Star Wars the Old Republic, Chiss Republic Trooper) #oc: emija 5'1"

Berra H'akan (Star Wars the Old Republic, Cathar Mando -by birth- Bounty Hunter) #oc: berra 4'11"

Kartili Kelborn (Star Wars the Old Republic, Twi'lek Smuggler mando ) #oc: kartili 5'7"

Yvadin Stagard (Star Wars the Old Republic, Twi'lek Bounty Hunter) #oc: yvadin 5'2"

Lirash Paaran (Star Wars the Old Republic, Togruta Bounty Hunter) #oc: lirash 5'9"

Koalcha (Star Wars the Old Republic, Chiss Imperial Agent token male oc) #oc: koalcha 6'6"

Eos Eremenko surname may vary (MC of Astoria Fate's Kiss / Lost Kisses, interactive fiction - guess all of them with exceptions- & Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader & my WIP interpretation of the titan goddess with the same name) #oc: eos 5"

Ela (The Arcana, Fictif, interactive fiction where Eos isn't the mc lol - Blood Moon for one) #oc: ela 5'6"

Eve Mac Diarmada (Obey Me / Nightbringer, my WIP interpretation of Eve herself!) #oc: eve 6"

Others :

Star Wars Clan H'akan (original Mandalorian clan settled on Werda, led by Danyal H'akan - also, father of Berra ) #clan h'akan

Star Wars Clan Strillir (also my Mandalorian clan on Werda, led by Sidar Strillir) #clan strillir

ASOIAF House Dawnbreak (a semi-noble household) here

Cultist Simulator (Follower) OC here

My Writing :

Homecoming, gen but Lucifer being Lucifer (OBEY ME)

My Moodboards, Edits, Others :

SHEPHERDS OF HAVEN EOS TEMPLATE

SHEPHERDS OF HAVEN EOS MOODBOARD

BLADE X EOS MOODBOARD

BLADE X EOS MOODBOARD 2

TROUBLE X EOS MOODBOARD LOL KINDA

ASTRAEUS MOODBOARD

ASTORIA FATE'S KISS EOS MOODBOARD

ASTRAEUS X EOS MOODBOARD 1

ASTRAEUS X EOS MOODBOARD 2

ASTRAEUS X EOS MOODBOARD 3

ALAIN RICHTER MOODBOARD

SWTOR NINO MOODBOARD

NINO MOODBOARD 2

ABOUT BERRA

[felassan]

Article: 'The Industry Is Divided On How To Write Video Game Romance', by Kenneth Shepard

Baldur’s Gate 3 is the latest big game to follow an inclusive (but divisive) trend in video game courtship

excerpts from the article are under a cut due to length and mentions and discussions of queerphobia, biphobia etc.

(note: I have censored the term "pl****sexual" throughout these quotes).

Some excerpts:

"In 2011, BioWare’s Dragon Age II portrayed its four main romantic conquests as bisexual, allowing them to be pursued by either the male or female version of main character Hawke. At the time, I was a young, mostly-but-not-completely out gay high school student, and I spent hours each week on the BioWare forums, hoping for some information about which men I’d be able to pursue as I ventured through the fantasy city of Kirkwall. When the game finally came out, much to my delight, there were no restrictions. I wasn’t forced into one choice like I was with the roguish elf Zevran in Dragon Age: Origins, or excluded completely like the first two Mass Effect games. The approach was met with predictable pushback from bigots, and Lead Writer David Gaider responded to criticisms that the game neglected the “main demographic” of the “straight male” in what became a core text about who deserves to be depicted in video game romances. He wrote: “The romances in the game are not for ‘the straight male gamer’. They’re for everyone. We have a lot of fans, many of whom are neither straight nor male, and they deserve no less attention. We have good numbers, after all, on the number of people who actually used similar sorts of content in DAO and thus don’t need to resort to anecdotal evidence to support our idea that their numbers are not insignificant... and that’s ignoring the idea that they don’t have just as much right to play the kind of game they wish as anyone else. The ‘rights’ of anyone with regards to a game are murky at best, but anyone who takes that stance must apply it equally to both the minority as well as the majority. The majority has no inherent ‘right’ to get more options than anyone else.” The idea that romances could be “for everyone” stuck with me, and with the video game industry. Dragon Age II was an early example of what has become colloquially known as “pl****sexual” experiences, in which every romanceable character is pursuable regardless of your character’s gender. Everyone got an equal piece of the pie. Queer people weren’t relegated to table scraps while straight people got to have a feast. But it turns out, giving everyone all the same options brings its own baggage, and in the years since Dragon Age II, developers are still struggling to find the best approach. The mother of invention According to Gaider, while Dragon Age II’s love stories have become a model for inclusive romance design, they originally took this form due to the sequel’s breakneck development timeline. “We were working on far fewer resources compared to Dragon Age: Origins,” Gaider told Kotaku. “The whole game was gonna be done within a year and a half. So when it came up to how are we gonna do the romances, it was really a matter of economy. We’re gonna have four romances. If we decide to make them sort of a spread of sexualities that are immutable, then there’s no choice for the player. They have one character available to them, and we didn’t like that idea.” Resource division and lack of choice remains a cloud that hangs over even the biggest games that feature romance."

-

"When every romanceable character is pursuable regardless of who the player is, it creates a perception that these characters’ identities are defined by the protagonist’s presence. Gaider likens this to treating characters like a “toy” just meant to be romanced. This is part of how the “pl****sexual” moniker came to be, as it implies that characters weren’t bisexual or pansexual, but adhered to whatever main character they came across in any given playthrough. Dragon Age II has a specific plot beat that added to this: If the player chose to play a male version of Hawke, Anders would be forthcoming about his past relationship with another man, but that conversation doesn’t come up when playing as a woman. Gaider explained this was meant to distinguish how Anders related to male and female versions of the same character, with the BioWare team believing he might keep a past relationship with a man “close to his chest” if he were interested in a woman. In retrospect, he says he understands how it could be read as something only real in one version of the story. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough time to get enough feedback and iterate on those situations,” he said. “We would hit a particular interaction, we would make a judgment call either as a group or the writer on their own, and that was it. There was no time for anything more than one gut-check, which is probably not the way to go.” Room to explore While Dragon Age II was written to accommodate any pairing because of the economic realities of its development, it’s become a recurring blueprint for several romance-driven games."

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"As Dragon Age II has been pivotal in discussions around the pl****sexual design philosophy, its successor Dragon Age: Inquisition has been hugely influential on relationship systems featuring more defined identities. Gaider said the decision to tweak the approach came from a desire to decenter the protagonist in each of these character’s lives. “We didn’t like how [pl****sexual] made the characters feel like they existed in service of the player; like they were there in the game to be a toy. [...] We felt like that wasn’t why those characters existed. That wasn’t the kind of game we were making. These characters were characters first, and they had their own stories, and the player could interact with them, but it wasn’t always about the player.” The result of this shift is characters like Dorian Pavus, a mage from the land of the Tevinter Emperium, who is a gay man. His backstory involves nearly being put through a magical version of conversion therapy, an abusive and baseless real-world practice reliant on mental and often religious conditioning. Dorian’s parents planned to use dark magic to make him straight and take part in an arranged marriage, prompting him to run from his family. His story touches on real-life experiences of queer people, and fills in Dragon Age’s world in the process. “Dorian’s story could not be told if he was in a game where pl****exuality was the rule of the day,” Gaider said. “When I say that it opens up different types of stories, Dorian is the best example, because his story is about being homosexual and that doesn’t work in any other context. So that was very special. [...] it meant a lot to me as a gay man that I had this opportunity.” Defining Dorian as a gay man is intrinsic to his story, but sometimes the effects of this approach aren’t as grandiose. Cassandra, the first party member you get in Inquisition, is a straight woman, and if you flirt with her as a female protagonist, she takes you aside and tells you…well, straight up. Whether that’s a fun wrinkle to your story or feels like the game is gating content is in the eye of the beholder. “For players who just wanted to romance whoever they wanted, they would do something like encounter Cassandra as a female character and get turned down and be like, ‘that’s not the game I wanted,’” Gaider said. “But then you had other people who were like, ‘that was really cool that Cassandra has her own identity, and it has nothing to do with who the player is.’ I think that makes for more realistic characters, and a more coherent world, and allowed us to create characters that were more self-realized.” The middle ground between opting for pl****sexual romances and representing the queer experience is making sure those bisexual and pansexual identities exist whether the player is there or not. Baldur’s Gate 3’s party is a solid example of this. Characters like Gale, Wyll, Astarion, and Shadowheart have established relationships and flirt with others of different genders, regardless of whether the player romances them. This ensures their identity doesn’t come off like a switch to be flipped depending on which protagonist shows up at the beginning of the game. Gaider points out that part of circumventing the weaknesses of the pl****sexual approach is adding “a metric ton of content” as Baldur’s Gate 3 did. Overcoming those hurdles is “possible, just very expensive.” Howard-Arias cited Dorian from Inquisition as an example of a story that could not be told in a pl****sexual game"

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"When you’re on the outside looking in, it’s tempting to assume developers are intentionally snubbing certain groups of people. The Mass Effect series pushed the envelope for sex and romance in its time, but it was deeply dismissive of queer men, and BioWare’s explanations of Commander Shepard supposedly being a “predefined” character weren’t satisfactory considering the series’ emphasis on choice. Breaking down choices to numbers isn’t telling the whole story, but it does ultimately leave some people feeling burned. “[Some players reacted to limited romance] like it was unfair that I didn’t get more options, as if in-game romances were a matter of social justice,” Gaider said. “Like, in terms of how fairly you allotted them to players, like candy being divided. It’s such an awkward conversation to have because it’s so removed from the realm of game development. But still, game developers do need to stop and have that conversation.”"

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"Even the word “pl****sexual” sounds like it’s an identity, which can be problematic. Gaider points out this is especially touchy for bisexual and pansexual people, who often face erasure in the real world, so labeling characters as something other than what they actually are sours the discussion before it even starts. Hunter echoed the sentiment, saying having characters “flip flop” felt like a betrayal. “The difference between a bisexual character versus a pl****sexual character really is a matter of context,” Gaider says. “By calling a character ‘pl****exual,’ you’re sort of erasing the fact that they are bisexual, but, the part where having a term for that becomes useful is when you start to investigate, like, why is this character bisexual?” So these two distinct approaches aim to be inclusive, but both can carry a perception of unfairness to either queer identity or queer experience. The sentiment from everyone I spoke to was that both approaches are legitimate; they just have their own pitfalls that anyone making a game should be aware of. Sometimes you just have to accept when one game is aspiring to something different than another. Gaider says the key to making either approach work is to stop trying to please everyone. “Say something with your writing, with your game, with your romances. Because if you don’t say anything, if your goal is to make it inoffensive, then it’s gonna land like a wet fart. It’s not gonna have any substance to it,” he said. “So say something and just be aware of how it can be interpreted and stand by it. That’s all you can do as a creator.”"

[source and full article link. the full article also discusses and covers other games]