Lurking in the Background

Wait says the yellow light, twinkling in between. 

Shepard wasn't done cooking. Wilson forced Miranda's hand. And then everyone was just trying to make things work.

shepard:

I do it too, I’m not going to pretend I don’t make jokes about the hets, or the down with cis bus, or whatever

But I recently befriended a cis, straight dude and I have watched him be dismissed, degraded, and unambiguously insulted for the perceived “crime” of being straight — all in queer environments where he is allegedly “completely welcome” and surrounded by “friends”

This guy is not a toxic person! But I have seen him be made to feel so small and like his comfort and safety in those spaces are conditional on his silence and acceptance of being treated like a human dunk zone, and I think that some of y’all have had so much shit from straight/cis people that the second you feel like you’ve got an inch, you want to luxuriate in the perceived catharsis of bullying someone who— actually —doesn’t deserve it

And until he very, very carefully mentioned to me in private that it makes him feel bad, I didn’t even clock that I was involved in doing that, that it had become so instinctive for me to make casual jokes like that, and that— well meaning or otherwise —I had been contributing to an environment that made someone I really really like feel like shit

I’m gonna say this point blank— you’re a tar pit if you think this way

Your suffering does not make you special, you are not granted brand new permissions to be belligerent and cruel because you have been treated poorly, straight people aren’t an oppressed class, no, but they’re people who are entitled to the same amount of basic decency that you, yourself, are entitled to

Example 1: A very sad scene is ending when Shepard suddenly yells "THIS COULD BE USEFUL!"

Example 2: Same order of idea: you end a loyalty mission that destroys your heart (let's say, Kasumi dealing with Keiji's graybox), the 'Mission Complete' screen appears and you hear Shepard say, as if commenting the weather: "This is valuable."

It doesn't sound mean at all, I think it's said with great affection. One character that is also extra is Kai Leng. Just pure drama

And MShep's line delivery... I love him obviously but his delivery can be so hilarious. I still laugh and laugh at "STEEEEEEEEEEEEEVE !"

This movie got made because Robin Williams said yes to it (and it's important that Gene Hackman did as well). Williams in the 90s was a mega-star of a type that's not present in the current media environment (maybe Tom Cruise, but I personally think that's echo from his salad days). Even his flops made money on the back end in the video rental market, which also doesn't exist anymore (streaming is different). Hackman was on the other side of his A-list career but still Hollywood nobility if not full royalty.

Playing gay was considered career suicide in the 90s. There had been a number of actors who put lie to that belief stretching back decades, but this was Williams and Hackman (yes, being on screen next to a gay character was enough to get you blacklisted) saying "screw that" and doing it anyway.

Being gay and out was career suicide in the 90s.

Nathan Lane had a really nice gig going for himself. The Lion King put him into the Disney rep company with people like Williams, Bette Midler, and Whoopie Goldberg (check their IMBD list from the 90s--they were making bank at Disney).

Lane didn't come out until several years later (nice summary: https://deadline.com/2024/06/nathan-lane-robin-williams-advice-coming-out-birdcage-1235975010/).

I don't want to imply that this was a Sorkinized moment where everything changed because of one thing, but this was a very important movie that caused real movement in the needle on queer acceptance.

Shepard: "Stop them? This isn't about strategy or tactics. This is about survival.

"The Reapers are more advanced than we are. More powerful. More intelligent. They don't fear us, and they'll never take pity on us.

Alliance Council: "But... there must be some way."

Shepard: "If we're going to have any chance of surviving this, we have to stand together."

Alliance Council: "What do we do?"

Shepard: "The only thing we can. We fight or we die."

This is what I mean by generic. This is an awful opening.

Shepard's been in confinement for six months. They've known that a Reaper invasion is imminent the whole time.

And when asked how to stop the Reapers as the invasion starts, this is the advice they provide?

The Reapers are superior to us! We must survive! Fight or die!

This is not impressive. It's cookie cutter dialogue about the might of the enemy and how the underdogs must struggle to overcome it.

The authorities are useless. This lone hero is the only one wise enough to save the day, with their platitudes that have no actual applicability to the situation.

I will take a moment to comment on how it changes the tone of the entire game.

The opening tells you the Reapers are an overwhelming force. Shepard spells out how they are superior and it will take everything just to survive.

Then immediately afterwards in the next mission you're told they can be defeated. They were nearly defeated in the last cycle!

All this cycle needs to do is buy enough time to build the Reaper defeating device.

That... is a direct contradiction the game never really overcomes.

The rest of ME3 tries to hammer home how powerful the Reapers are that they're unstoppable. But the rest of the game is also Shepard gathering the resources to build the win button.

There's never a moment of full despair that this cycle can't win. It's if this cycle will be able to win.

Liara even develops a time capsule to ensure they cycle after this one can win if this one fails.

The tension between the deux ex machina and the hopeless war BioWare wants to portray undermines ME3's atmosphere. The Reapers are never undefeatable past the prologue. Just very, very hard to fight.

If BioWare really wanted to portray the might of the Reapers, it would have been more effective to delay Shepard finding the means to defeat them until closer to the end of the game.

Have Shepard win 'small' victories only to see the Reapers immediately overcome them. Have Shepard chase every possible lead to a dead end. Have the final success be a desperate measure that doesn't work. Shepard has to improvise at the last moment. (Maybe Shepard can fail.)

And the whole time, have Shepard bear witness to the destruction the Reapers create. Knowing they have no means to prevent it unless they can spin a victory out of nothing.

Everyone remembers meeting Sovereign. I hardly ever hear anyone mention he Rannoch Reaper:

my design for Liara as matriarch :)

"password is incorrect"

Shepard and Bailey are dressed the same.

Yes, I know the real reason is probably to save resources and cut development time but I'd love to know the in-universe one.