Viewtiful Mel

Bill Nighy

Hugh Laurie

James McAvoy

John Lithgow

Katherine Parkinson

Keira Knightley

Kit Harrington

Leo Woodall

Mackenzie Crook

Mathew MacFadyen

Matt Berry

Nick Frost

Paul Whitehouse

Peter Serafinowicz

Riz Ahmed

Shirley Bassey

Simon Armitage

Simon Pegg

Stephen Fry

Stephen Mangan

As a former music teacher, I can also say that "learn the fundamentals first" is the death knell for a vast percentage of beginners, especially adult learners.

I've run into this with drawing several times, where some well-meaning artist has lectured me on needing to study anatomy properly or not use shortcuts like CSP brushes. And oh, believe me, I know. I know exactly how to learn an artistic discipline in a structured way. I just...don't want to!

The thing is, I'm not aiming to be a professional artist. I want to draw my gay little anime guys. I would undoubtedly improve at art much faster if I approached every gay little anime guy drawing as a study exercise. But I would also have quit drawing a decade ago if I couldn't just let myself enjoy drawing imperfect fucked-up little guys with whatever shortcuts I needed to body myself across the finish line.

With my adult piano students, my approach was always "What's your goal?" If their goal was to learn exactly one Elton John songbook to play at parties, then...that's what we did. We'd put tape on the keys to label the notes, and just fuckin go for it. Learning exactly one Elton John songbook is a good and noble musical goal, full stop.

Some of my students needed and enjoyed a more structured approach to learning; if they wanted to be able to play classical music, then yes, scales were going to have to enter the equation at some point. And yet others would learn the Elton John songbook, catch their white whale, and realize they wanted to explore more of the ocean. The scales were still there for them to learn!

Often the choice isn't between "learn art well" and "learn art imperfectly" - the choice is between "learn art imperfectly" and "don't do art at all." To which I say, learn imperfectly! Or, what the hell, don't 'learn' art. Just do, and enjoy the doing of it.

By far the best photo I've taken in this game. 🖤

i've seen enough posts parroting this sentiment that makes me believe it's not just one person's dumb take, but a growing belief and that boggles my mind.

Kaidan by the time ME1 starts has completely finished his character arc and matured. From a characterisation point of view this is good work, not all characters would be going through it. However for a video game companion it’s unsatisfying to deal with and makes him bland.

Where they did this well was with Captain Anderson. He’s long since had his arcs and his own nemesis and matured as a person from this. But he’s not a companion so this works.

Kaidan’s later character development which takes place in ME3 also mostly takes place off screen. While this is likely done because recording and animating for two Virmire survivors was likely not in budget. But it results in his interactions after the citadel being pretty boring honestly. The stand off on the citadel is the peak of his arc, which is still mostly driven by external characters (udina and again this is baked into text files and the codex). It means it falls quite flat when it comes to the rest of the game.

However, where Kaidan becomes more interesting from this is the m!shepard romance. And this is really because it feels like Kaidan has some development in his character! Realising he is attracted to Shepard after all this time is interesting and adds another dimension to his characterisation that feels like it takes place around the player character. I think this is partly why you also see a lot of Kaidan love coming from people who romance him on a male Shepard.

Generally, we all want to experience a character's journey as closely as possible. When we go through it with them, it gives us context for who they are and a sense of proportion to the growth they ultimately achieve, makes their story feel satisfying, and makes us feel closer to them. This has been a core part of good storytelling for forever.

As you said, the bulk of Kaidan's character development happening off-screen is counter to that tradition, to the detriment of his wider popularity.

Your point about the mShenko romance being the most significant character growth that the player experiences with Kaidan in the trilogy, and how that has improved his popularity because it makes him more interesting and compelling as a character, is fascinating and true. I've never thought of it as part of his character development (partially because for my Shepards it isn't) but it makes perfect sense and I think you're exactly right.

I guess that for me, not playing through Kaidan's personal arc in real time and not being able to influence him to the extent that you can other companions is consistent with and contributes to my understanding of who he is as a character. It actually reinforces what I consider to be some of his core traits: someone who is self-reliant, kind of a loner, has very clear ideas about what's wrong and what's right (or doesn't stop ruminating until he gets there) and who's pretty stubborn.

It's realistic that a character like that wouldn't look to someone else for their own growth; his off-screen development strengthens my impression of him as someone uniquely independent of Shepard compared to literally every other squadmate (the closest analog might be Samara, the other "paladin-esque" squadmate). I think that's inherently interesting. It's one of the things I enjoy most about him. It makes him feel more like a peer to Shepard (others may disagree and that's absolutely fine).

I also know it makes him harder to get to know, because you aren't going through his arc with him in real time, seeing how he works through it and how it changes him. You're just hearing him briefly summarize it in a conversation or two, and you either care enough to think about it on your own time or you don't. And when you have a ship full of interesting and charismatic squadmates with truly compelling arcs, I honestly do get why most people don't bother.

How we meet and get to know Kaidan doesn't neatly conform with our expectations for a fictional character, it aligns more closely with how we meet and get to know people in real life. Things start out professional/impersonal, become more casual and then more personal, you learn about him and he asks about you. I like it, it feels natural to me. It makes him feel more real to me in a deep way. He feels like a regular guy just living his life, and in a lot of ways he is. And I think for a lot of his fans that's actually the appeal. I know it is for me, definitely. I think he makes a great stabilizing element for Shepard, an anchor.

So yeah. It works for me, but I do get why it doesn't work for others and I respect it.

Alistair Week is back, September 6th through 12th!

We hope you'll join us for another week of creativity and community! Just post your works using the tags #alistairweek and/or #alistairweek2026 to participate. Whether you use one prompt, combine prompts, or decide not to use them, all forms of creation are welcome!

See our rules/guidelines here and FAQ here for more information. We can't wait to see whatever the prompts inspire in you! Find us on other platforms: Twitter | Bluesky

Day 1: Origins