Lurking in the Background

Asari Soldier: "Lieutenant, Outpost Tykis is running out of ammunition!"

Lieutenant Kurin: "We all are! Tell them to make every shot count!"

Wow. If only the Mass Effect universe had some kind of technology to fire weapons that didn't rely on supply lines. Some kind of infinite ammo.

Asari Soldier: "Lieutenant, Outpost Tykis is running out of ammunition!"

Lieutenant Kurin: "We all are! Tell them to make every shot count!"

Wow. If only the Mass Effect universe had some kind of technology to fire weapons that didn't rely on supply lines. Some kind of infinite ammo.

sorter is here, tagged by @onedismay, thank you!!

i kept having to reset cause i kept realizing i was going back and forth between reasoning, couldn't keep it straight between "who do i like better as a character" and "who do i prefer to have in the squad mechanically". ended up going with the former just cause so many of them are redundant mechanically or being in different games makes it harder to compare mechanics.

im sorry grunt and jack my darlings but i'm actively writing morinth's intro in my fic rn so her juicy backstory potential is on the brain

no one's gonna be surprised at my #1, right

I am very biased, on account of my personal headcanons disregarding some canon choices for some characters cough Jacob cough

I'm sure my top three were a REAL shocker. /s

Shepard has two hands and Uncle Urdnot is officiating.

Speaking to TIM on Thessia after meeting the Prothean VI Vendetta:

TIM: "Stick to your talents, Dr. T'Soni. You've helped uncover the key to subjugating the Reapers."

Shepard: "Or destroying them."

TIM: "Damn it, Shepard. Destroying the Reapers gains us nothing."

Shepard: "How about peace?"

TIM: "They're just trying to control us. Think about it: If they wanted all organic life destroyed, they could do it. There would be nothing left."

Shepard: "What the hell are you talking about?"

TIM: "I know them, Shepard. I know how they think."

Shepard: "I think you've gotten a little too close to the enemy."

TIM: "No... I'm saying they've got it right. Why kill when you can control?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Shepard (Paragon): "You've been spending too much time with the enemy. They're dragging you over to their side - their way of thinking."

TIM: "No. I just... see things differently."

Shepard: "If you truly care about humanity, you'll stop fighting me. You'll join me."

TIM: "Don't ever question my intentions. I've sacrificed more for humanity than you'll ever know.

"And don't assume you know me.

"My methods for dealing with the Reapers are simply more refined than yours."

Shepard: "You've forgotten everything you stood for! Cerberus was supposed to be humanity's sword, not a dagger in our back."

TIM: "Poetic, but as usual, you miss the point. The world is more gray than you care to admit."

Shepard: "With the Prothean data in this beacon, I can end this conflict, once and for all.

"You're either with me or against me. There's nothing gray about that."

TIM: "No, I suppose there isn't."

..................................................................................................................................

Shepard: (renegade): "The Reapers have it right? You're indoctrinated! You're doing just what they want."

Shepard: "I could say the same of you, wasting time on a war that can't be won."

Shepard: "At least I'm fighting."

TIM: "Never question my ability to fight! I've been fighting them longer than you can imagine.

"And don't assume you know me.

"My methods for dealing with the Reapers are simply more refined than yours."

Shepard: "I might have believed you once, but you've gone too far."

TIM: "Shepard, you're out of your depth. There are choices coming that you're not equipped to make."

Shepard: "At least I'll be making them as a human being. You're just some Reaper-puppet."

TIM: "No. There's a better way forward. Humanity can be so much more..."

Shepard: "I'm finishing the Crucible, and I'm sending the Reapers back to hell."

TIM: "I can't let you do that."

A couple of points:

-This is highly reminiscent of speaking with Saren on Virmire.

I consider that to the trilogy's detriment. TIM's arc is just a repeat of Saren's: He's indoctrinated and with enough effort Shepard can talk him into suicide. Otherwise Shepard has to kill him.

If this had occurred in every entry in the trilogy - so, an indoctrinated main villain in ME2. Perhaps the Collector General? - it would have been thematic. To defeat the Reapers you must defeat their indoctrinated agents.

Since it only occurs in ME1 and ME3, it feels like BioWare ran out of ideas and just reused one of their greatest hits in ME3 since it worked so well before.

TIM just isn't fresh enough for it to feel like mirroring.

-This once again makes it clear that Control is the indoctrinated ending.

The Reapers use the lure of Control to distract their greatest potential enemies from fighting them.

TIM is an amazing administrator. If he turned the might of Cerberus against the Reapers he could be a credible threat.

So the Reapers use Control to waste his resources and pit him against their actual opponents.

This is the game pounding it home: Control is a trap. It's not a viable ending.

So why does the actual ending treat it as one?

-While it can be perceived as Shepard just saying it to persuade TIM, I resent the writers sneaking in the possibility that Cerberus was ever a force of good if Shepard goes paragon.

Same. "Sacrificed more for humanity"? More like "Sacrificed more OF Humanity". Shepard died trying to protect the whole galaxy and is willing to do it again, all TIMmy has done is kill (mostly Humans) for his own benefit.

And yeah, the Reapers find someone dangerous and whisper poisoned promises in their ears to create infighting, turning what could have been a threat to them into an ally.

Saren was a great Spectre, the Council's golden boy. So they convinced him the best way to do his job protecting the galaxy was to work with them, that fighting back was pointless.

TIMmy had wormed his way into gaining incredible reach and resources once they retcon'd Cerberus again. So they convinced him that the best way to give Humans a leg up on the other species was to steal their power, that fighting them was counterproductive.

Shepard was the Hero Of The Galaxy, the Tip Of The Spear. So the Catalyst started whispering...

That blog with a tagging system you love? A person curates those tags by hand.

That rec blog with a great organization scheme and pretty graphics? Someone designed and implemented that organization scheme and made those graphics.

That network that posts a cool variety of stuff? People track down all that variety and queue it by hand, and other people made all the individual pieces.

That post with umpteen links to helpful resources, and information about them? Someone gathered those links, researched the sources, wrote up the information about them.

That graphic about fandom statistics? Someone compiled those statistics, analyzed them, organized them, figured out a useful way to convey the information to others, and made the post.

That event that you think looks neat? Someone wrote the rules, created the blogs and Discords, designed the graphics, did their best to promo the event so it'd succeed.

None of this was done automatically. None of it just appears whole out of the internet ether.

I think everyone realizes that fic writing and fanart creation are work, and at least some folks have got it through their heads that gif creation and graphics and moodboards take effort, and meta is usually respected for the effort that goes into it, at least as far as I've seen, but I feel like a lot of people don't really get how much labor goes into curation, too.

If people are creating resources, curating content, organizing the creations of others, gathering information, and doing other fandom activities that aren't necessarily the direct action of creation, they're doing a lot of fandom labor, and it's often largely unrecognized.

Celebrate fan work!

The co-pilot was a local and knew all the local airstrips

...including the decommissioned 10,000 foot military runway they ultimately chose as their destination

...but because it had been decommissioned, was now utilized by a local go-kart club for racing

...which, on that day, was indeed having a great time racing go-karts on the old runway

...and because there was no way to alert the people on the ground and the plane’s approach was utterly silent (NO ENGINES) with kids in go-karts were whizzing around on the runway, the final approach was, shall we say, alarming

...until a parent looked up and noticed a giant fucking airplane getting bigger and bigger

OH GOD HE’S LANDING HERE

Thus within seconds the whole area was cleared by frantic parents

Plane lands perfectly, but without power they had to drop the gear via gravity and the nose wheel failed to lock into place

Front gear collapses

Plane screeches to a halt, and because they landed at a go-kart event pretty much every dad has a fire extinguisher, so they manage to extinguish the small fire caused by friction

The only minor injuries were due to passengers jumping from the emergency exit slides, which dangled off the ground due to elevated tail height